Elena Kagan: Willing Accomplice in Don Siegelman's Prosecution

but more and more I realize this administration is a completely different animal than I believed I was voting for. Either they have misrepresented who they are and what they believe in, or it's like they are holding their seats for somebody else, trying to do as little as possible and solve as few problems as possible until that other person arrives in the near future.

Didn't they listen to Obama? WE are the people we have been waiting for.

I guess he didn't really mean that, come to think of it.

They're really upset at the entire affair. The initial judge on the 2004 charges, where the prosecution folded one day into trial, said that trial was the most political, worst prosecution he'd ever seen. That judge wrote Holder and said the second case was a crock too.

So why is Leura Canary, the Bush appointee for U.S. Attorney, Middle District, Alabama, still the U.S. Attorney?

Why did the attorneys who prosecuted get to investigate themselves?

When 91 AG's, prosecutors, say a prosecution was wrong - in public - what the heck is wrong with the recipients of that message?

I share your sentiment.

and was very impressed. He is obviously being railroaded and Obama needs to step up and take care of this travesty.

He's been through so much and held up. It is time to stand up. Never to late to do the right thing, imho.

seems like a nice guy, and the documentation on his case is shameful. I don't know why we continue to let the confederacy kick us in the ass.

Were you at that church up the hill that hosted the events for the Progressive Democrats? That's where I met him, talked for a while.

I met them all, Randi, Mike, Stephanie, Thom, some locals--I met all the Daily Show gang, and got some of them to sign my Daily Show America History (?) book.

As a normal mortal, I didn't have a pass like that, although I did get to hang with Howard and Andy
quite a bit, but I knew them both from way back, so I didn't have to go to Denver to do it. Still,
it was quite an event.

twas precious awesome...

justice and the justice dept. Can't get Holder to do a damn thing about it yet he sure rushed into Steven's case (rich repub senator) as fast as his corporate ass could move to make sure he didn't serve a day in jail despite obvious guilt.

Stevens got caught with both hands in the cookie jar while there's no case against Siegelman. So, you're right, blind justice is also bungling justice. These guys better get their act together soon or they'll be tossed. I didn't expect much but getting Kagan is quite an insult.

I have met most of those involved in this mess.

Don S was the best of the lot. I mean honest politician in the same sentence is rarely heard, but he was.

He actually won that second term. They went to bed and when they woke in the morning a bunch of votes from a Southern RPIG controlled county elections board changed the votes giving it to Bog Riley,who always made my skin want to crawl off to hide, my ex MIL was/is a big rp supporter even having fundraisers for him.

:P

And the notion that the "Commissions' will save us is so far fetched, it makes me wonder what school of thought was taught at the university that Obama attended.

Hard to believe that Greg Palast and Obama have the same alma mater.

So?

So, go oppose this appeal.

Do you think any Senator will ask about this?

This was a case in which the United States was a party, that was appealed to the Supreme Court level (though I don't believe the Court granted certiorari.) Elena Kagan's job as Solicitor General was to argue against the appeal request, because it urged the Supreme Court to review a ruling in favor of the government. This has nothing whatsoever to do with her personal views on the merits of the prosecution, or even the particular legal merits of the questions involved: she was representing the government, she was not an independent actor.

The reason I used Kagan "knew or should have known" is because it's standard legalese from
indictments. She knew or should have known what a lousy case the government had, how
political the prosecution was, etc. etc.

Knowing that, she had a choice. Follow her job requirements and take responsibility for
being on the very wrong side of justice or stand up and say, no way. That would mean
resigning but I seem to recall a guy named Elliot Richardson who did that. Worked out
well for him.

How much do you know about the merits of the appeal? About the chances the Supreme Court would actually have granted review? About the chance they would have overruled the 11th Circuit Court?

I don't know the answers to these questions. But they are worth answering before making strong pronouncements about what Kagan should have done--especially because it was ultimately up to the Supreme Court, not her, and the Supreme Court did nothing.

I've followed the case and I paid particular attention to the bipartisan group of state attorneys
general who put their names on petitions twice. I read their friend of the court brief as well.

I fully understand that prosecutors or, in her case, the Solicitor General, need to pursue cases
where they may have some fundamental disagreement. But when the case is so transparently awful
and so many people point out the deficiencies in detail over time, then I accept my conclusions
and utilize their legal expertise to form a strong opinion. If one has not followed this closely,
then it may seem a bit like an outlier. But it's not.

This article has a great background on the case and it's very well written.

Did Ex-Alabama Governor Get A Raw Deal? NEW YORK, Feb. 24, 2008 They do a nice job of
weaving the various threads together.

There is some salacious history here too. I saw Dana Jill Simpson speak on this case at the National
Press Club about a year ago. She went on for over two hours. It was fascinating. She was an
operative on the Republican side who was so revolted by what she was being asked to do, well beyond
opposition research, a specialty of hers, that she stopped working for the Republicans and blew the
whistle, very hard. (from Harpers, Scott Horton))

This is our Dryfus case, except we don't get an Emile Zola, although Scott Horton has done a fine job
from day one.

http://tinyurl.com/2vr7fao

The Supreme Court's reaction might be?

Abt four years ago, I had an attorney advising me who told me to my face that my main problem was that I thought the world should play according to rules based on "old-fashioned" values such as honesty.

Sad that that is the frame of so many who are in and out of the halls of "Justice", doing the work of the courts. Honesty, integrity, doing what is right, those are things that all worked at some other mythical point in time, according to these people.

I decided I didn't want this person as my attorney, and with another attorney's help, took the case on and represented myself and won. Good day for me, and for honesty, justice and the American way.

But I guess when it comes to Obama appointees we should just understand that the system is not about truth, justice and the American way.

No wonder Homeland Security people attempt to keep tourists out of the area around the Lincoln memorial. Those tourists, if allowed there, would see the tears streaming down the great man's stony face.

If not this, then what? Must there be bloodshed? What issue is worth resigning over in your view?

Never mind. I don't think I want to know.

USA!USA!

Thank you for an outstanding article, autorank. I wouldn't blame Kagan exclusively, however. She was doing what Holder and Holder's boss told her to do, which was to protect pretzeldent Bush Jr. and all the questions surrounding election fraud.

Know your BFEE: Bush and His Crooks with Badges Sent an Innocent Man to Jail

It has been a long time since this was a nation with liberty and justice for all.

That's the motto. If your a made man or woman, you're on easy street. Just screw up and you're covered.

Prosecute a case so outrageous top gun prosecutors cry out in outrage, you're covered.

And if you're the person behind the prosecution, you get to keep your appointment into the next
administration. I understand Sen. Shelby threatened to put holds on everything if Canary is removed.
So what. Call him out. Call him what he is - an unashamed cover up artist.

Kagan is responsible for her actions. Up the line, there's equal responsibility, especially if they
ever want to go to the Supreme Court.

Cheney and his flunky gwb destroyed this man's life.

What were they really after Siegelman for?

this is how a democrat gets treated by it's own party

But it makes me very uncomfortable with her.

The most important questions are left behind. More and more, the public processes of
governance look like Kabuki theater or some strange puppet show.

To Kagan

When has she laid it on the line? If she wouldn't in this case, when would she?

I'd agree!!!

Main Entry: 1ci·pher
Pronunciation: \ˈsī-fər\
Function: noun
Usage: often attributive
Etymology: Middle English, from Medieval Latin cifra, from Arabic ṣifr empty, cipher, zero
Date: 14th century

1 a : zero 1a b : one that has no weight, worth, or influence : nonentity

I hear it and automatically associate it with some form of a telegraph message. Go figure?

There ya go. Rousing the rabble.

This Rabble sez KnR

Thanks! (And I kept the language clean!)

Many who stood by their values were cast down with the riff raff. Once you get adjusted to living under reduced circumstances, it's a pretty good place to be.

It's easy to make your bones by going along with the 'Program.' It's another matter to give up everything to do the right thing.

I respect government service, particularly at the federal level. It's vital to have bright, dedicated
people. But when the come and ask you to do this stuff and you've got a choice, time to hold on to your soul.

"Ruckelshaus and his boss, Elliot Richardson, famously resigned their positions within the Justice Department rather than obey an order from President Richard Nixon to fire the Watergate special prosecutor, Archibald Cox, who was investigating official misconduct on the part of the president and his aides." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Ruckelshaus

They may or may not have known Nixon was guilty but they sure knew, without any doubt, that they couldn't fire Archibald Cox.

Elena Kagan had a array of evidence before her that was comprehensive.

My experience is that most people make the right choice the first time around or subsequently. They just don't want the burden. The price is awesome sometimes but, you're right, better to stand up in modest circumstances than grovel in a palace.

And get appointed to the scotus? In the old days maybe. Not anymore.

Once they're in, it's very hard to get rid of them. I can see a day when a bunch of them are
tossed off the court; either that or we'll be sunk in some oil drenched, Ruritania imagining our
days of glory.

Either we have ourselves a revolution, or we drown.

I'm ready for a revolution, but what use is it to be slaughtered and then everyone drowns?

Sorta resigned to just go along for the ride. I mean, shoot, they steal votes, still, don't they?

Yep, Robert Bork.

There's some irony in there, somewhere.

:hi:

:hi:

Paging Dr. Faustus

:hi:

Ole' Scratch always makes a profit.

Paging "greed for money, greed for life" Gordon Gekko. :hi:

I just realized that there was no mention of Zombies on this thread! Now it's complete!

Our prophet

but a lot of which stink.

Makes me very concerned and quite uncomfortable.

I don't trust it.

Kagan has virtually no written history. Who is she?

Sotomayer has turned out well. She's a tough questioner and not at all intimidated by
the right wing on the bench. But Kagan has way too much baggage, Siegelman being the
most prominent and revealing.

Damn. It's hard to support her knowing this.

I've followed this and found each turn outrageous.

Here's what really got to me (from the article):



(page 2 on OpEdNews)

:-(

We'll see if it is even raised at the hearings. The choreography might get out of sync if it is.

But to let it sit dormant is an injustice of it's own magnitude.

"We're through the looking glass now Bob."

And headed where?

Not likin' the smell of it.

in any wrongdoing associated therewith at any point of time and that imo includes Kagan et al. :P

It's just overwhelming, the stench. There's no good reason to be on the side of the Gonzalez
Justice Department, ever, on any issue that they really believed in.

...is that the Obama Justice Department could get corrupt Republican Ted Stevens out of jail fast enough.
It was the FIRST thing on their list. :mad:
.
.
.
Go figure.

Indeed!

That didn't happen in the Siegelman case. That is a big difference.

It was easy to get Stevens off.
Dealing with the injustices of the Siegelman jailing would be a little tougher, so better not try.
Besides, it would make the Republicans angry.
Better to just leave him in jail.

:hi:

is NOT a democracy, but an oligarchy run by her paymasters. I wish it wasn't so, but evidence shows it to be true.

Oligarchy reigns unless strongly resisted. We're in a period where that's become increasingly difficult! Thanks for the reminder on Hamilton.

There is so much fraud and corruption, thanks for writing the facts looking for the truth!

But the narrative is so intricate. But the essentials are there, easy to comprehend and digest
even if you've never heard Siegelman's name. Fair is fair and this isn't even close.

Have a great Summer!

!

:-(

Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, autorank.

We all have to say no at some point. It's not easy and it takes some practice but - good grief! - this one's a no brainer. I can't help but think of Elliot Richardson at times like this. That guy wouldn't quit anything but he had his moment and is well remembered.

Best regards. Uncle Joe for SCOTUS!

You know after rereading this history it occurred to me that the first person "Borked" wasn't Bork, it was Cox.

We need strong people on the court. I think Sotomeyer will work out. She's smart and tough.

But this one has such baggage. I'd like to see her explain it but no one will ask the question, I suspect.

Thank you for this brilliant piece. K & R.

and I am confused as to why Obama's attorney's aren't doing the right thing here. Why would a Dem attorney argue against righting this?

Take it too her, let her deal with it.

:kick: