From: NYT Legal Profession
The government needs to do a better job of protecting judges and
prosecutors against threats.
Respond to this topic on your own blog
Click and press Ctrl+C to copy and paste this discussion on your blog or site
Related Articles
Judges Can Take Pay for Some Artistic Activities, Ethics Panel Rules
A New York judicial ethics panel has loosened the ethical
guidelines for judges who wish to work on the side as artists,
modifying an earlier opinion that had barred judges "in all
circumstances" from offering artwork for sale directly to the
general public. The committee found that artist-judges may engage
third parties, such as agents or publishers, to market their work.
The queries that spurred the opinion were part of an influx of
inquiries from judges regarding "extra-judicial" work.
Judicial Perks Come Under Fire in California
Judges are nervously watching Yolo County, Calif., where local
leaders are considering whether to stop providing county-funded
benefits to Superior Court jurists, potentially making it the first
county in the state to rescind judicial benefits since state
legislation addressed the issue in 2009. Judges' groups are
pleading with county leaders not to trigger a domino effect, and
the Alliance of California Judges has warned that eliminating
benefits might discourage "lawyers of the highest caliber" from
joining the bench.
Pentagon Official Reveals Computer Security Breach... As Part Of Effort To Get More Power Over Critical Infrastructure?
You may have seen the various stories making the rounds about how
some malicious trojan originally on an unsecured USB key was put
into a military laptop in 2008, and then propagated around the
military, hitting both classified and unclassified documents. Why
is this massive security breach being declassified now? Well, to
warn us how scary computer threats out there are: Lynn's decision
to declassify an incident that Defense officials had kept secret
reflects the Pentagon's desire to raise congressional and public
concern over the threats facing U.S. computer systems, experts
said. We've already noted that various government officials have
been engaging in a massive hype campaign about "cyberwar" threats,
in an effort to get more control over certain networks. But there's
also a bit ...
Justices making new push to abolish elected judges
An old debate about whether judges should be elected or appointed
is heating up again.Former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day
O'Connor and several state Supreme Court justices are planning a
nationwide push during next year's state legislative sessions to
end the practice of electing judges. Nevada already has such a
proposal before voters on the 2010 ballot.Many judges and the
American Bar Association argue the legal system is tainted by
judges seeking campaign donations."It doesn't support the
fundamental principle of judges acting fairly and impartially,"
Ohio Chief Justice Tom Moyer told The Associated Press.A judicial
think tank at the University of Denver has assembled a group of
prominent judges, including O'Connor, to push for the abolition of
directly elected judges in the 33 stat...
The BP Mess: Judging Judges' Impartiality
In their latest column, Joel Cohen and Katherine A. Helm turn their
attention to the Gulf Coast oil spill and its impact on the
perennial issue of when judges should recuse or be disqualified
from hearing a particular case. They conclude that, not only is it
unrealistic to think we can eradicate all judicial biases, but it
is also unwise. Say Cohen and Helm: We want our judges to live in
the real world, so that they can bring their life experiences and
common sense to the table when deciding cases.