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OCTOBER 23 2007
House Judiciary Hearing Proceedings
1. Judiciary Hearing on Allegations of Selective Prosecution
2. Former AG testifies
3. Video Siegelmania!
4. An Empirical Examination of the Political Profiling of Elected
Officials
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Judiciary Hearing on Allegations of Selective
Prosecution
by Jesse Lee of The Gavel
The Judiciary Subcommittees on Crime, Terrorism and Homeland
Security and Commercial and Administrative Law are currently
holding a joint hearing, “Allegations of Selective Prosecution: The
Erosion of Public Confidence in Our Federal Justice System.”
Witness include Richard Thornburgh of Kirkpatrick & Lockhart
Preston Gates Ellis LLP in Washington, DC; Donald C. Shields Ph.D.
of the University of Missouri - St. Louis; and G. Douglas Jones Esq.
of Whatley, Drake, and Kallas in Birmingham, AL.
Video of 3 testimonies on the "The Gavel" here.
Documentation and videocast links are here.
.............................................................................................................
Prosecutorial Misconduct in Justice
Department
Today, former Attorney General Dick Thornburgh testified that he
believes the Department of Justice (DoJ) sought to prosecute a
Pennsylvania Democrat for political reasons.
Video of a segment of Thornburgh's testimony is available
here.
...Supporting documents related to all of the cases discussed at
today's hearing are available here.
Video Siegelmania!
By Paul Kiel YouTube/TMP
... video from House Judiciary Committee hearing on selective
prosecutions, where ex-Gov. Don Siegelman's (D-AL) was the
marquee case:
....Rep. Randy Forbes (R-VA) made a hard run at Jill Simpson, the
Republican lawyer who's testified that Alabama Republicans ... would
take Siegelman down. Rep. Artur Davis (D-AL) rose to her defense,
and Doug Jones, a former U.S. attorney himself and lawyer for
Siegelman, testified that the case took on a new life in 2005 after
officials in Washington got involved.
<link to source>
An Empirical Examination of the Political
Profiling of Elected Officials:
A Report on Selective Investigations and/or Indictments by the DOJ's
U. S. Attorneys under Attorneys General Ashcroft and Gonzales
presented by Donald C. Shields, Ph.D.
Professor Emeritus Department of Communication, University of Missouri
[email protected]
rhetorical fantasy) depicting the lack of bias – and at the same time
implying the superiority – of federal investigation and prosecution
when compared to non-federal law enforcement. I find it ironic that at
this particular time anyone can regard U.S. Attorneys—our nation’s
“chief law-enforcement officers”—as independent or, in Dreyer's
words, “immune from petty party politics.”2
Irony appears an apt descriptor given the revelations provided by my
recent interim report of a study on federal political profiling of elected
Democrat officials and candidates3 and the concurrent disclosures
about partisan politics surrounding the firings of the “Gonzales 8”
(some say 15) – as revealed through U.S. Senate and House
Judiciary Committee hearings, witness testimony, and released public
documents.4
<link to PDF document (45 pages) of testimony before U.S. House of Representatives
Judiciary Committee's Joint Hearing : "Allegations of Selective Prosecution: The Erosion of
Public Confidence in our Federal Justice System." >
Or read a similar article based on this research at Political News:
<link to article>
House Judiciary Hearing Proceedings
1. Judiciary Hearing on Allegations of Selective Prosecution
2. Former AG testifies
3. Video Siegelmania!
4. An Empirical Examination of the Political Profiling of Elected
Officials
..................................................................................................................................................
Judiciary Hearing on Allegations of Selective
Prosecution
by Jesse Lee of The Gavel
The Judiciary Subcommittees on Crime, Terrorism and Homeland
Security and Commercial and Administrative Law are currently
holding a joint hearing, “Allegations of Selective Prosecution: The
Erosion of Public Confidence in Our Federal Justice System.”
Witness include Richard Thornburgh of Kirkpatrick & Lockhart
Preston Gates Ellis LLP in Washington, DC; Donald C. Shields Ph.D.
of the University of Missouri - St. Louis; and G. Douglas Jones Esq.
of Whatley, Drake, and Kallas in Birmingham, AL.
Video of 3 testimonies on the "The Gavel" here.
Documentation and videocast links are here.
.............................................................................................................
Prosecutorial Misconduct in Justice
Department
Today, former Attorney General Dick Thornburgh testified that he
believes the Department of Justice (DoJ) sought to prosecute a
Pennsylvania Democrat for political reasons.
Video of a segment of Thornburgh's testimony is available
here.
...Supporting documents related to all of the cases discussed at
today's hearing are available here.
Video Siegelmania!
By Paul Kiel YouTube/TMP
... video from House Judiciary Committee hearing on selective
prosecutions, where ex-Gov. Don Siegelman's (D-AL) was the
marquee case:
....Rep. Randy Forbes (R-VA) made a hard run at Jill Simpson, the
Republican lawyer who's testified that Alabama Republicans ... would
take Siegelman down. Rep. Artur Davis (D-AL) rose to her defense,
and Doug Jones, a former U.S. attorney himself and lawyer for
Siegelman, testified that the case took on a new life in 2005 after
officials in Washington got involved.
<link to source>
An Empirical Examination of the Political
Profiling of Elected Officials:
A Report on Selective Investigations and/or Indictments by the DOJ's
U. S. Attorneys under Attorneys General Ashcroft and Gonzales
presented by Donald C. Shields, Ph.D.
Professor Emeritus Department of Communication, University of Missouri
[email protected]
- The advantage of a federal prosecution is that prosecutors are
immune from petty party politics . . . . State prosecutions that
are the result of partisan politics are suspect in the minds of
American jurors who deliberate not only upon the facts but with
respect to issues of fairness.1
rhetorical fantasy) depicting the lack of bias – and at the same time
implying the superiority – of federal investigation and prosecution
when compared to non-federal law enforcement. I find it ironic that at
this particular time anyone can regard U.S. Attorneys—our nation’s
“chief law-enforcement officers”—as independent or, in Dreyer's
words, “immune from petty party politics.”2
Irony appears an apt descriptor given the revelations provided by my
recent interim report of a study on federal political profiling of elected
Democrat officials and candidates3 and the concurrent disclosures
about partisan politics surrounding the firings of the “Gonzales 8”
(some say 15) – as revealed through U.S. Senate and House
Judiciary Committee hearings, witness testimony, and released public
documents.4
<link to PDF document (45 pages) of testimony before U.S. House of Representatives
Judiciary Committee's Joint Hearing : "Allegations of Selective Prosecution: The Erosion of
Public Confidence in our Federal Justice System." >
Or read a similar article based on this research at Political News:
<link to article>
| photo: AL Gov Website The House Judiciary Committee begins hearings on selective prosecutions by the Justice Department today ( Oct 23, 2007). Of particular interest is the prosecution of Don Siegelman, former Democratic governor of Alabama. Some say his case was politically motivated. |
| House Judiciary Subcommittees Hold Joint Oversight Hearing on Selective Prosecution today. Under the microscope is the case of Don Siegelman and others. |
| Gary Tramontina for The NYT Democratic Representative Artur Davis challenges the "no harm, no foul" rule. In prosecutorial discretion, he states, you cannot justify improper bias from partisanship, race or self-interest. |
| photo: AP/Lawrence Jackson Former Attorney General Dick Thornburgh testified that he believes the Department of Justice (DoJ) sought to prosecute a Pennsylvania Democrat for political reasons. |
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| Transcript of the Shields Study: PDF 45 pages Title - An Empirical Examination of the Political Profiling of Elected Officials: A Report on Selective Investigations and/or Indictments by the DOJ's U. S. Attorneys under Attorneys General Ashcroft and Gonzales <LINK> |