Prosecutors allege Mirkarimi hurt his wife during an argument in the presence of their two-year old son and told her not to discuss it with anybody.
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Filed under: Law, News, Politics
What underlies the Citizens United decision is the assumption that corporations are natural persons within the meaning of Section 1 of the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution and therefore, have First Amendment rights. Corporate personhood dates back to the controversial 1886 Supreme Court decision in Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad. Although the Supreme Court supposedly did not make a direct ruling on the question of “corporate personhood,” the misleading notes of a clerk finding corporate personhood were incorporated in the Court’s decision. Whether this is myth or reality doesn’t matter at this point. This result was a Supreme Court precedent finding that a corporation is a “natural person.”
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After the US Department of Justice advised that Guantanamo prison could be considered outside US legal jurisdiction, the first twenty captives arrived at Guantanamo on January 11, 2002. Guantanamo has become a place of prisoner mistreatment, torture and indefinite detention. It is an international embarrassment.
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Filed under: Law, Opinion, Politics, War
In 1921, the California Legislature passed the Public Defender Act after Clara Foltz, California’s first female lawyer, spent years advocating for the creation of Public Defenders’ offices to provide legal assistance to poor people in criminal law cases. Later in 1921, responding to the Public Defender Act, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors passed an ordinance creating the Office of the Public Defender.
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Thirty-four states impose the death penalty, including California and there are 41 Federal capital crimes for which the death penalty can be applied. Each state has its own list of capital crimes. For example, in 1977 California reinstated the death penalty for first degree murder under special circumstances, including murder for financial gain, murder by a person previously convicted of murder, murder of multiple victims, murder with torture, murder of a peace officer, and murder of a witness to prevent testimony.
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Filed under: Law, Opinion, Politics
Sometime after OWS occupied Zuccotti Park, Brookfield promulgated rules, prohibiting, among other things, camping and/or the erection of tents or other structures; lying down on the ground, or lying down on benches; the placement of tarps or sleeping bags or other covering on the property; and storage or placement of personal property on the ground, benches, sitting areas or walkways which unreasonably interferes with the use of such areas by others. These rules were clearly aimed at OWS.
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Filed under: Economy, Law
A “robo-call” is when you answer your phone and hear a recording. These calls are placed by machines that store hundreds, even thousands, of telephone numbers, and then dial them automatically and play a recorded message.
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Filed under: Business, Law, Technology