Constitutional Law: March 2008 Archives
Here is a transcript of today’s argument before the Supreme Court in
Alan Milstein
Tuesday morning at
The Ninth Circuit yesterday issued its anxiously awaited Opinion in Lanier v. City of
The city had argued that it had a substantial and important interest in screening library pages mainly because drug abuse is a serious societal problem and might have an adverse impact on job performance. The court cogently rejected these arguments reasoning that prior decisions of the United States Supreme Court "make clear the need for suspicionless testing must be far more specific and substantial than the generalized existence of a societal problem of the sort that [the employer] has posited." The court noted that the need in suspicionless cases not involving high risk or safety-sensitive tasks must be "special" and not merely "symbolic."
Alan Milstein
Sending a message of understanding that candy popping addicts are only the victims in the war on calories, the
In today's Sacramento Bee, Peter Schrag has an excellent op-ed article titled "The State High Court's Gay Marriage Conundrum."
Where to begin?
Soon to be ex-Governor Elliott Spitzer was caught on federal wiretap in what appears to be an "integrity/public corruption investigation". Apparently, Spitzer was involved in what was described as the high-profile "Emporers Club VIP," which was accused last week of offering prostitutes to wealthy clients, some at $5,500 an hour.
The wiretap transcript with Spitzer and "Lewis" (whom allegedly was an agent of the prostitution service) purportedly reads:
Lewis said that "Kristen" would go directly to room 871.
Client 9 asked Lewis to remind him what "Kristen" looked like and Lewis said that she was American, petite, very pretty brunette, 5 feet 5 inches, and 105 pounds.
Client 9 said that she should go straight to 871, and if for any reason it did not work out, she should call Lewis.
According to the purported transcript, "Client 9" made it apparent to the service's agent that it wasn't the first time he'd used the service. "Yup, same as in the past, no question about it," he said when referring to payment arrangements.
Later, the agent told "Kristen" that the client would "ask you to do things that, like, you might not think were safe -- you know -- I mean that ... very basic things. ... 'Kristen' responded: 'I have a way of dealing with that. ... I'd be like, listen dude, you really want the sex?' ... You know what I mean.'"
The Web site of the Emperors Club VIP displays photographs of the prostitutes' bodies, with their faces hidden, along with hourly rates depending on whether the prostitutes were rated with various numbers of diamonds, with seven diamonds being the highest.
Again, allegedly, the story goes that Client 9 wanted a high-priced prostitute named Kristen to come to
That transportation across state lines created federal jursidiction over the matter because such conduct may be violative of the Mann Act. Additionally, Spitzer purportedly paid for the prsotitution services through a direct charge to his bank account to a vendor of anonymous origin. The frequency of those charges and their amount triggered bank officials to notify the Federal government of potentially suspicious activity.
Spitzer said:
"I have acted in a way that violates my obligations to my family and violates my, or any, sense of right and wrong," "I have disappointed and failed to live up to the standard I expected of myself."
The case is being handled by prosecutors in the Public Corruption unit of the U.S. Attorneys' Office. This one is going to go on for awhile.
