A Collection of Information Available to the public. "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with
certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness." This IS IT ~ TIME to reclaim our Freedom from an out of control Tyrannical Government. LIVE FREE and Fight the Good Fight To Keep That Right.
Plaintiff
Edith Windsor greets the crowd outside the Supreme Court after
arguments in her case against the Defense of Marriage Act. (Jonathan
Ernst/Reuters)Where you stand on the legal
events of 2013 depends entirely upon who you are. If you are an advocate
of gay rights, for example, it was a year of breathtaking success in court and state legislatures. So, too, if you are a corporate executive or shareholder or lobbyist benefiting directly from the U.S Chamber of Commerce's remarkable string of victories at the United States Supreme Court. And it was a great year for George Zimmerman, at least for a few months anyway.
If you are a poor person of color in the South, or a young or elderly person who doesn't drive, it was a terrible year after the Supreme Court gutted the heart of the Voting Rights Act. So, too, if you are a woman who might want to visit an abortion clinic in the 24 counties in Texas now without one. It wasn't a good year either for the nation's spiesor for the hundreds of millions of people they spied upon. And it was another bad year for O.J. Simpson.
Boston Killers Face Justice
A courtroom sketch of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev in federal court in July 2013 (Margaret Small/Associated Press)If
you are a federal prosecutor it was a good year. America's most
notorious mobster, James "Whitey" Bulger, age 84, finally received some
measure of justice. After being convicted in federal court following a dramatic trial trial he was given two life sentences for the murder and mayhem he caused for decades in South Boston. Bulger never will leave prison alive. Nor, likely, will Dzhokar Tsarnaev, the alleged Boston Marathon bomber. He ends 2013 wondering whether the feds will seek the death penalty against him.
Secret-Tellers Deal With Consequences
Kevin LaMarque/ReutersIf you are Chelsea (né Bradley) Manning it was a bad year. The former Army intelligence analyst got a 35-year sentence from a military judge for leaking classified information to Wikileaks. Whether fellow leaker Edward Snowden
had a good year or a bad year in 2013 depends entirely upon whom you
ask. He began the year as a consultant. He ends the year as an
international fugitive—or hero—depending, again, upon your point of
view.
The President Finally Fills Empty Ropes
President
Barack Obama nominated Patricia Ann Millett in June for the D.C.
Circuit Court of Appeals. The Senate finally confirmed her this past
Tuesday. (AP)If you are a federal judicial nominee, 2013 ended up being a pretty good year. The end of the judicial filibuster for lower-court nominees
means that you and dozens of your fellow candidates are finally getting
substantive votes on your nominations so you can get robes and begin to
chip away at the dozens of "judicial emergencies"
that now exist in one jurisdiction after another all across the
country. This also makes 2013 a good year for frustrated federal
litigants, whose trials have been long delayed because of understaffed
benches.
