THE EVOLUTION OF JUDICIAL TYRANNY IN THE UNITED STATES:

"If the judges interpret the laws themselves, and suffer none else to interpret, they may easily make, of the laws, [a shredded] shipman's hose!" - King James I of England, around 1616.

“No class of the community ought to be allowed freer scope in the expression or publication of opinions as to the capacity, impartiality or integrity of judges than members of the bar. They have the best opportunities of observing and forming a correct judgment. They are in constant attendance on the courts. Hundreds of those who are called on to vote never enter a court-house, or if they do, it is only at intervals as jurors, witnesses or parties. To say that an attorney can only act or speak on this subject under liability to be called to account and to be deprived of his profession and livelihood by the very judge or judges whom he may consider it his duty to attack and expose, is a position too monstrous to be entertained for a moment under our present system,” Justice Sharwood in Ex Parte Steinman and Hensel, 95 Pa 220, 238-39 (1880).

“This case illustrates to me the serious consequences to the Bar itself of not affording the full protections of the First Amendment to its applicants for admission. For this record shows that [the rejected attorney candidate] has many of the qualities that are needed in the American Bar. It shows not only that [the rejected attorney candidate] has followed a high moral, ethical and patriotic course in all of the activities of his life, but also that he combines these more common virtues with the uncommon virtue of courage to stand by his principles at any cost.

It is such men as these who have most greatly honored the profession of the law. The legal profession will lose much of its nobility and its glory if it is not constantly replenished with lawyers like these. To force the Bar to become a group of thoroughly orthodox, time-serving, government-fearing individuals is to humiliate and degrade it.” In Re Anastaplo, 18 Ill. 2d 182, 163 N.E.2d 429 (1959), cert. granted, 362 U.S. 968 (1960), affirmed over strong dissent, 366 U.S. 82 (1961), Justice Black, Chief Justice Douglas and Justice Brennan, dissenting.

" I do not believe that the practice of law is a "privilege" which empowers Government to deny lawyers their constitutional rights. The mere fact that a lawyer has important responsibilities in society does not require or even permit the State to deprive him of those protections of freedom set out in the Bill of Rights for the precise purpose of insuring the independence of the individual against the Government and those acting for the Government”. Lathrop v Donohue, 367 US 820 (1961), Justice Black, dissenting.

"The legal profession must take great care not to emulate the many occupational groups that have managed to convert licensure from a sharp weapon of public defense into blunt instrument of self-enrichment". Walter Gellhorn, "The Abuse of Occupational Licensing", University of Chicago Law Review, Volume 44 Issue 1, September of 1976.

“Because the law requires that judges no matter how corrupt, who do not act in the clear absence of jurisdiction while performing a judicial act, are immune from suit, former Judge Ciavarella will escape liability for the vast majority of his conduct in this action. This is, to be sure, against the popular will, but it is the very oath which he is alleged to have so indecently, cavalierly, baselessly and willfully violated for personal gain that requires this Court to find him immune from suit”, District Judge A. Richard Caputo in H.T., et al, v. Ciavarella, Jr, et al, Case No. 3:09-cv-00286-ARC in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, Document 336, page 18, November 20, 2009. This is about judges who were sentencing kids to juvenile detention for kickbacks.

Wednesday, February 17, 2016

"Americans in Danger" report points out political persecution of human rights defenders in the U.S. and unavailablity of efficient remedies for human rights violations

The legal abuse syndrome, where the government undermines enforcement of human rights and targets human rights defenders, in violation of the International Covenant for Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), is not something new.

 It existed for a long time, but started to be brought to the surface with the advancement of the Internet and the social media, and thus availability of non-mainstream media sources, including individuals, to address large audiences directly.

 I have been writing extensively on this blog about the erosion of the rule of law in the U.S. by judges, unlawfully self-gifted with impunity, and acting in collusion with other branches of the government, thus undermining the "checks and balances" written into the U.S. Constitution, by far an idealistic document that government officials are sworn to uphold, but instead disregard and undermine.

Some efforts are being made by various grass roots movements to systemize knowledge about the pattern utilized by various government officials in the U.S., on state and federal level, separately and in collusion with one another, to carry out the goals of legal abuse, keeping the non-elite citizenry of the U.S. under governmental control and quashing any criticism of misconduct in the government, and especially criticism of misconduct of well-connected individuals.

 Today, a grassroots movement OPT IN USA issued a press-release about its report, AMERICANS IN JEOPARDY: When Human Rights Protection Becomes America’s Executive, Legislative, and Judicial Branch Shell Game”. 

The report points out the existence in the U.S. of the so-called "The Third Degree", or TTD,  a “persistent pattern of persecution and mental torture imposed through U.S. legal system abuse” on some Americans, and specifically on human rights defenders.

The press-release mentions "in a September 15, 2015 letter to the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, a coalition of 38 NGOs (non-governmental organizations)
described TTD as “unchecked judicial misconduct” and claimed “the ineffectiveness of domestic remedies is an integral part of its pathology.”
 
I encourage my readers to read the report "Americans in Jeopardy" interlinked above.  
 
Yet, here is the full description of TTD from the report:
 


 
 
 
I wonder how many of my readers were subjected to each and every point of TTD described in the report.  I know a lot of people who was.
 
The existence and further emerging of grass-roots movements that are addressing this issue is certainly encouraging.
 
I wonder whether the United Nations and the international community will take notice and apply international pressure to the U.S. to stop political persecution of human rights defenders and start giving its people real effective remedies for violations of human rights.
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