By Joseph Schuman

Judge: Bill of Rights protects anonymous, nasty Twitter posts

12/16/11

Twitter is the contemporary equivalent of public bulletin boards from Colonial times, according a federal judge who dismissed a criminal case against a man who posted violent messages online.

That reach back through history could influence how the First Amendment is interpreted in the Internet age.

The government case accused Californian William Lawrence Cassidy of inflicting "substantial emotional distress" on a Maryland-based Buddhist leader, Alyce Zeoli, the New York Times reports. His Tweets, issued under Twitter identities that frequently changed, included the likes of "Do the world a favor and go kill yourself. P.S. Have a nice day." Cassidy was charged under a federal cyberstalking law that was recently expanded. But district Judge Roger Titus in Maryland ruled that "while Mr. Cassidy's speech may have inflicted substantial emotional distress, the government's indictment here is directed squarely at protected speech: anonymous, uncomfortable Internet speech addressing religious matters."

When the Bill of Rights was composed, the judge said, bulletin boards were what blogs are today. "If one colonist wants to see what is on another's bulletin board, he would need to walk over to his neighbor's yard and look at what is posted, or hire someone else to do so," the judge wrote. He equated Twitter with the ability to automatically post on another colonist's bulletin board and added that the postings can be "turned on or off by the owners of the bulletin boards." No one is forced to read them. "This is in sharp contrast to a telephone call, letter or e-mail specifically addressed to and directed at another person," Titus said.

That distinction "is likely to be quite influential," UCLA law Professor Eugene Volokh told the Times, because "this is an area where there has been very little case law." That's not how Zeoli sees it.

Her lawyer, Shanlon Wu, said his client was "appalled and frightened by the judge's ruling." There was no immediate decision from the U.S. Attorney's Office in Maryland on whether it would appeal the dismissal.

Appellate ruling on guns and immigrants offers perfect question for White House candidates

12/16/11

Talk about timing. The federal 8th Circuit Court of Appeals today issued a ruling that offers a perfect storm of issues roiling the race for the Republican presidential nomination: guns, immigration and, well, the federal courts themselves.

A day after the latest primary debate featured several rhetorical volleys at the federal judiciary, the court issued a one-paragraph ruling saying illegal immigrants don't have Second Amendment rights to bear arms.

Here is the paragraph: "Joaquin Bravo Flores was indicted on a charge of being an illegal alien in possession of a firearm, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§922(g)(5)(A) and 924(a)(2). Flores moved to dismiss the indictment, arguing that § 922(g)(5)(A) was facially unconstitutional in light of District of Columbia v. Heller, 554 U.S. 570 (2008) [the landmark 2008 Supreme Court ruling bolstering gun rights]. The district court denied the motion, and Flores appeals. Agreeing with the 5th Circuit that the protections of the Second Amendment do not extend to aliens illegally."

So Summary Judgments nominates today's circuit ruling as the subject of a perfect question for Republican White House aspirants at the next debate: Do you agree with this decision, or should the Second Amendment trump the government's efforts to get tough with undocumented immigrants?

Trying to comply with Muslim law, Goldman may be flouting it

12/16/11

There's only one big problem with a $2 billion securities offering designed by Goldman Sachs to be its debut Islamic bond complying with sharia law. The sukuk may not comply with sharia law.

Goldman announced creation of the security in October, saying it was established in a way that gets around the Muslim ban on usury, which under sharia includes all interest, as the Financial Times explains.

The investment vehicle, set to be registered in the Cayman Islands and listed on the Irish Stock Exchange, will sell certificates to investors, whose funds would be spent on commodities. Those commodities would then be bought by Goldman itself. The deferred payments for the commodities would then go to the certificate holders, mimicking a bond yield without being actual interest.

But sharia legal experts say the Goldman sukukmay be breaking the rules.

Saudi-based sharia adviser Mohammed Khnifer tells the FT the deal's structure has some "flaws": The security's prospectus leaves open the possibility a third party could buy the underlying commodities; Goldman could end up getting the funds directly; and the securities could in theory trade beyond the par price. Just one of these could violate sharia, Khnifer says. Lawyers who put together other Islamic investment vehicles say investors could be put off by even the suggestion that sukuk doesn't comply. "Goldman can list this program on the Irish Stock Exchange, but that does not mean they will get the buyers," one lawyer tells the FT. "They may well find there is not much demand because of the widespread doubts over the issue in the market."

Asked about the doubts, Goldman issued a statement saying, "We are entirely confident in the certification we received that our program is in compliance with sharia law." And Asim Khan, managing director at the Islamic investment consultancy Dar Al Istithmar, which advised Goldman, insists the credentials of sukuk are solid "This particular transaction has been vetted and approved by various scholars [who are] very well known, very well reputed," he says.

ICC prosecutor suspects Gaddafi's death might be war crime

12/16/11

It's official: The International Criminal Court (ICC), already prosecuting the Gaddafi family for alleged war crimes against Libyan civilians during the Arab Spring, wants answers about the killing of the late Libyan strongman, too.

Since Moammar Gaddafi was killed in the custody of former rebels in October, his children have been calling for an ICC probe, Al Jazeera recounts. On Thursday, ICC Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo said he, too, thinks the matter is worth investigating.

"I think the way in which Mr. Gaddafi was killed creates suspicions of ... war crimes," Moreno-Ocampo said. "I think that's a very important issue." Under the treaty that created the ICC, the court can investigate the matter only if the new Libyan government can't or won't, the prosecutor added. And Moreno-Ocampo said he has written to the head of the National Transitional Council (NTC) to ask if the government plans to look into possible war crimes by all sides in the conflict.

U.S. and European officials have already pressed the NTC to examine Gaddafi's killing, but the details of such an inquiry haven't been clear. Also unclear is whether the NTC will hand over to the ICC Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, the son and one-time heir of the late leader, and ex-Libyan intelligence chief Abdullah al-Senoussi -- both indicted by the ICC in March. Moreno-Ocampo said his investigators were in Libya last week to seek information on the pair from the NTC, which now has them in custody. In theory, he added, the government must tell the ICC what it will do with them by Jan. 10. It's not even clear who would make the decision, but much of the rhetoric out of Tripoli suggests the current Libyan rulers want to handle the any trial themselves.

When the FBI investigated Gingrich ... and found nothing

12/16/11

Was Newt Gingrich for sale? We'll tell you right away, the answer was no. But there was a time in mid-1990s when a tip from an arms dealer triggered an FBI investigation of the then-Speaker of the House and current presidential candidate.

It all began when arms dealer Sarkis Soghanalian met with FBI agents and federal prosecutors in Miami, the Washington Post reports. At the time, Soghanalian was pushing for an end to the U.S. arms embargo on Iraq, which owed him $80 million. He told the agents that he had met with Marianne Gingrich, the woman then married to the speaker, and that she said her husband would help provide congressional favors. Though Soghanalian was a convicted felon, the FBI managed to get approval from Washington to open a major investigation.

Soghanalian told the feds that he had been contacted by someone who once traveled with him and Marianne Gingrich, a Miami car dealer named Morty Bennett. Soghanalian secretly recorded the arms dealer saying that for the right price, the arms embargo could be lifted. Marianne Gingrich "wanted 10 million dollars to get the job done, five million of which would go directly to Marianne Gingrich," Bennett said on the recording, according to an FBI document. Interviewed yesterday by the Post, Bennett said: "I knew somebody and introduced them to somebody and that was it."

Ultimately, the FBI found no evidence that Gingrich knew about the arms dealer's recordings of conversations with Bennett and called off the probe in 1997. "There was no basis whatsoever for an investigation," says Victoria Tensing, Marianne Gingrich's lawyer. "These were people puffing, which means they were making up access to a high-level government person." Newt Gingrich's presidential campaign declined the Post's request for comment.

NYC investigation finds most online gun sellers willing to sell to unqualified buyers

12/16/11

It was nearly five decades ago that the American public was shocked to learn that Lee Harvey Oswald used a mail-order catalogue to buy the rifle that killed President John Kennedy. It turns out such long-distance arms buying remains possible today.

The administration of New York City Michael Bloomberg sent investigators around the Internet to see how easily they could procure guns from sellers willing to commit a felony by hawking weapons to people who admitted they probably wouldn't pass a background check, the Wall Street Journal reports. Turns out it wasn't that hard. The investigators called 125 private sellers who'd posted ads for guns on Craigslist and other sites in 14 states. Seventy-seven of the gun sellers -- 62 percent - agreed to sell guns even when told the buyer was underage or otherwise probably off limits.

Under federal law, private sellers are allowed to sell guns online without background checks, but it's a felony to do so if the seller "has reason to believe" the buyer wouldn't pass one. At a news conference Wednesday, Bloomberg played a recording of one of the calls, regarding the purchase of a Ruger 9mm handgun -- the same kind of weapon used to kill an NYC police officer on Monday. "No background checks or anything like that?" the investigator asks of the Arizona-based seller. "No, I'm just a private person," the seller answers. "Oh, that's good, 'cuz I probably couldn't pass one," the investigator says. "Yeah, I probably couldn't either," the seller responds, and then they both laugh.

The Bloomberg administration said it has turned over the result of its investigation to the director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and ATF field offices near where it purchased the guns.

Summary Judgments for Dec. 15

Summary Judgments for Dec. 14

Summary Judgments for Dec. 13

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