Search Results: federal-judge (4)

Speckled Axe
Judge Richard A. Posner: “I think it’s really absurd to be criminalizing possession or use or distribution of marijuana”

Most-Cited Judge In America Criticizes Drug War As ‘Absurd’

A widely respected federal judge called for the legalization of marijuana in a lecture at Elmhurst College in Illinois on Thursday.

Judge Richard A. Posner of the influential Seventh U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago “is an intellectual giant who is the most-cited judge in America,” reports Larry Bodine at Lawyers.com. “His call for legalization is considered significant because Posner is considered a legal conservative,” Bodine wrote.
“I don’t think we should have a fraction of the drug laws that we have,” Posner said. “I think it’s really absurd to be criminalizing possession or use or distribution of marijuana. I can’t see any difference between that and cigarettes.”

Council of Conservative Citizens
U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton: Gov. Jan Brewer and her Attorney General “have not shown that any action against state employees in this state is imminent or even threatened”

​A federal judge on Wednesday granted an American Civil Liberties Union request to throw out a lawsuit filed by Arizona Governor Jan Brewer seeking to strike down the state’s voter-approved medical marijuana law that would allow sick patients to access important medicine.

Gov. Brewer, a notorious opponent of medical marijuana, argued in the May lawsuit that state officials fear federal prosecution for implementing the law — this in spite of the fact that Arizona’s former top federal prosecutor specifically said publicly that the federal government “has no intention of targeting or going after people who are implementing or who are in compliance with state law.”

The Weed Blog
Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer won’t allow medical marijuana dispensaries to open in her state, and now she’s trying to shut down the clubs that opened to provide safe access while patients wait for dispensaries.

​The lawyer for one of Arizona’s medical marijuana clubs on Friday accused the governor and state attorney general of conspiring to undermine the voter-approved initiative legalizing cannabis for medicinal use.

“We believe that there’s a clear and blatant pattern that has transpired over the last few months,” said Thomas Dean, reports Howard Fischer at Capitol Media Services. Dean said that both Gov. Jan Brewer and Atty. Gen. Tom Horne had worked to stymie the will of the voters.
“There’s plenty of evidence that it was done in a way that was conspiratorial, fraudulent,” Dean told Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Dean Fink.
Dean told the judge he wants to question both Gov. Brewer and Atty. Gen. Horne under oath to prove his point.
But that’s not going to happen, at least not in the way Dean envisions, Assistant Attorney General Lori Davis told the judge.

Graphic: MotivatedPhotos.com

​A well-respected senior federal judge in Georgia pleaded guilty on Friday to helping an exotic dancer buy cocaine, marijuana and prescription pain pills.

Jack Camp, 67, pleaded guilty in federal court to a felony charge of aiding and abetting a felon’s possession of cocaine and two misdemeanor charges, illegal drug possession and unlawfully giving his U.S. District Court-issued laptop computer to the stripper for her personal use, reports Reuters.
Judge Camp resigned as part of his plea, and he could be facing up to four years in prison. He will be sentenced March 4.
Camp was reportedly involved with the stripper over the past several months, reports Bill Rankin at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. His arrest and revelations of his affair with the stripper shocked the state’s legal community.
The judge will be forced to serve at least 15 days in custody. Federal sentencing guidelines recommend a term of four to 10 months in prison, although Camp and his attorneys can ask for a more lenient sentence.