All posts tagged: judges

The British judges ruling on the law in authoritarian Hong Kong – podcast | News

The British judges ruling on the law in authoritarian Hong Kong – podcast | News

Published by skeptic

Since 1997, British and Commonwealth judges have sat in the highest court in Hong Kong. The Hong Kong legal system is derived from English common law and foreign judges, including those from the UK, have been said to add expertise and prestige to its court system. But in 2020 Beijing imposed a strict national security law to clamp down on pro-democracy protests. Since then the number of foreign judges has fallen as fears grow that the judges are lending credibility to a system where basic rights and freedoms are not being respected. On Monday one of Hong Kong’s best known pro-democracy activists, the jailed media mogul Jimmy Lai, will be appealing against one of his convictions. Like many people in Hong Kong he is a British citizen, and one of the judges who will hear his appeal is also British. Campaigners have said it is a shocking situation and called on the three remaining British judges – who are retired but are all in the House of Lords – to quit. Amy Hawkins explains how …

The Guardian view on the rule of law in Hong Kong: the verdict of foreign judges is damning | Editorial

The Guardian view on the rule of law in Hong Kong: the verdict of foreign judges is damning | Editorial

Published by skeptic

Seven years ago, Lord Neuberger, a judge of the Hong Kong court of final appeal – and formerly president of the UK’s supreme court – described the Chinese region’s foreign judges as “canaries in the mine”. Their willingness to serve was a sign that judicial independence remained healthy, “but if they start to leave in droves, that would represent a serious alarm call”. That was before the extraordinary uprising in 2019 to defend Hong Kong’s autonomy, and the crackdown that followed. The draconian national security law of 2020 prompted the resignation of an Australian judge, and two British judges quit in 2022. Last week, two more birds flew: Lord Sumption and Lord Collins of Mapesbury. Lord Sumption (with other judges) had said that continued participation was in the interests of the people of Hong Kong. Now he says that those hopes of sustaining the rule of law are “no longer realistic” and that “a [once] vibrant and politically diverse community is slowly becoming a totalitarian state”. He cited illiberal legislation, Beijing’s ability to reverse decisions by Hong Kong …

Meet the lawyer who’s trying to flag judges who harass their clerks

Meet the lawyer who’s trying to flag judges who harass their clerks

Published by skeptic

Aliza Shatzman created the Legal Accountability Project database to gather stories from law clerks about the judges they’ve worked for — to help warn law students about hostile situations. Aliza Shatzman hide caption toggle caption Aliza Shatzman Aliza Shatzman created the Legal Accountability Project database to gather stories from law clerks about the judges they’ve worked for — to help warn law students about hostile situations. Aliza Shatzman Aliza Shatzman is devoting herself to giving judges a hard time. She spends a lot of time fielding complaints from law clerks, who tell her stories about bullying, gender discrimination and harassment. She said those complaints come from mostly young law school graduates at the start of their careers who have few places to turn inside the federal judiciary to report their concerns anonymously. That’s why she’s created a database to gather such stories and warn students about hostile situations, before it’s too late. “The judiciary needs some more people to poke at it,” Shatzman said. “There are far too many judges who are mistreating their clerks …

Trump Risks Fresh Gag Order Violation With Tirade At Judges

Trump Risks Fresh Gag Order Violation With Tirade At Judges

Published by skeptic

Former President Donald Trump has risked the wrath of his hush money trial judge after railing against “sleazebags, lowlifes, and grifters” who “say absolutely anything that they want” in an apparent attack on witnesses. Despite a gag order restricting what Trump can say about witnesses and jurors, the presumptive 2024 Republican nominee bemoaned on social media on Wednesday that he has to “listen to lies and false statements” be made against him without being able to respond. Trump also called New York Supreme Court Judge Juan Merchan “corrupt and highly conflicted.” Trump didn’t mention any witnesses by name, but his rant arrived one day after testimony from adult film star Stormy Daniels that lifted the lid on the pair’s alleged relationship. A transcript from Tuesday’s session showed that Merchan spoke with Trump’s attorney to warn him his client was verging on witness intimidation during Daniels’ testimony. Earlier this week, Trump was found in contempt of court for violating his gag order once again. He was warned by Merchan that, going forward, overstepping the bounds of …

Judges with machine guns: the part-time drone hunters defending Kyiv | Ukraine

Judges with machine guns: the part-time drone hunters defending Kyiv | Ukraine

Published by skeptic

In a small wood in the Kyiv region Anatoliy Shyshak stared at the night sky. Dusk was falling. The only sounds came from a thrush nightingale and a faraway yapping dog. Shyshak – a sergeant in Ukraine’s territorial army – was listening for something else: an enemy drone. “It sounds like a moped. Not a classy Italian one, but something cheap and horrible,” he said. “They fly between 100 and 300 metres above the ground. You hear a rattling.” For the past year Shyshak’s brigade, the 241st, has scoured the heavens for Russian flying objects. Its task is to shoot them down before they can reach the capital. He and his territorial defence colleagues are based about 100km east of Kyiv, along one of several drone flight paths. “I like my job. We are pretty successful. We stop death here. Our families are in Kyiv so we are protecting our wives and children,” he said. Since its full-scale invasion in 2022, the Kremlin has launched numerous air attacks across Ukraine, against towns and cities. It …

Another Trump Trial Derailed: Fani-Donating Judge’s Decision To Keep Her On RICO Trial Under Scrutiny By Appeals Court

Another Trump Trial Derailed: Fani-Donating Judge’s Decision To Keep Her On RICO Trial Under Scrutiny By Appeals Court

Published by skeptic

One day after former President Donald Trump’s classified documents trial was postponed indefinitely after we learned that the DOJ mishandled evidence in the case (with Judge Aileen M. Cannon citing a mountain of ‘outstanding’ pre-trial matters that would make a May 20 trial ‘imprudent’), another Trump case appears to have no chance of going to trial before the 2024 election. On Wednesday, a Georgia appeals court agreed to review a lower court ruling which allowed Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis to remain on the Trump RICO prosecution despite being highly conflicted. To review, Atlanta Judge Scott McAfee of Fulton Superior Court, who donated to Fani Willis when she was running for office, ruled in March that the Fani simply had to kick her lover, Nathan Wade, off the case after she paid him more than $600,000. The two notoriously took several lavish vacations together on Wade’s dime (which Fani swears she repaid in cash). According to McAfee, while he found the “appearance of impropriety,” no “disqualification of a constitutional officer necessary when a less …

Jurors Should Have Considered Stand-Your-Ground Defense in Sawed-Off Shotgun Killing, Judges Rule

Jurors Should Have Considered Stand-Your-Ground Defense in Sawed-Off Shotgun Killing, Judges Rule

Published by skeptic

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — A man convicted of killing his landlord’s adult son with a sawed-off shotgun is entitled to a new trial because the presiding judge failed to instruct jurors about a possible self-defense argument, the state Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday. A three-judge panel vacated the first-degree murder conviction of Ronald Wayne Vaughn Jr. in the 2017 shooting death of Gary Somerset. Vaughn was on the porch of the Lincoln County trailer he was renting and had the weapon when Somerset yelled “Let’s end this” and rushed at him, according to Tuesday’s opinion. The two and Somerset’s mother had been in a heated argument. Vaughn was sentenced in part to life in prison without parole. Possessing a gun like the one Vaughn used —a Winchester .410 caliber shotgun with a sawed-off barrel that makes it easier to conceal and potentially more destructive — is a felony, and Vaughn was also convicted on that count. The state’s “stand-your-ground” law says a person is justified in using force and has no duty to retreat when …

Meet the judges of the 2024 GamesBeat Visionary Awards

Meet the judges of the 2024 GamesBeat Visionary Awards

Published by skeptic

Are you looking to showcase your brand in front of the gaming industry’s top leaders? Learn more about GamesBeat Summit sponsorship opportunities here.  Today we’re announcing our seventh annual GamesBeat Visionary Awards and the team of judges we’ve selected to help pick the winners of this year’s awards. (You can sign up for 25% off using this code: gbs24dean25). The GamesBeat Visionary Awards started in 2018 to recognize industry leaders who took a daring, visionary approach to shaping the future of gaming, forging new paths that have mesmerized audiences and redefined the very nature of video games. We give out two awards every year: the Visionary Award and the Up-and-Comer award. This year’s ceremony will be hosted by Leah Hardy, a global marketing leader with decades of experience from companies like TikTok and Meta. Judging for the Visionary Awards for GamesBeat Summit 2024 (May 20-21 in Marina del Rey, California; see the agenda here) is now complete and we’ll have new winners to announce at our event. We’ve chosen a panel of 12 judges for this year’s contest. …

Many judges fail to fully disclose free luxury trips, NPR finds

Many judges fail to fully disclose free luxury trips, NPR finds

Published by skeptic

Many federal judges receive free rooms and subsidized travel to luxury resorts for legal conferences. NPR found that dozens of judges did not fully disclose the perks they got. Chelsea Beck for NPR hide caption toggle caption Chelsea Beck for NPR Many federal judges receive free rooms and subsidized travel to luxury resorts for legal conferences. NPR found that dozens of judges did not fully disclose the perks they got. Chelsea Beck for NPR Dozens of federal judges failed to fully disclose free luxury travel to judicial conferences around the world, as required by internal judiciary rules and federal ethics law, an NPR investigation has found. As a result, the public remained in the dark about potential conflicts of interest for some of the United States’ top legal officials. Federal judges — occasionally with family members or even their dog in tow — traveled to luxury resorts in locations as far-flung as London; Palm Beach, Fla.; Bar Harbor, Maine; and the outskirts of Yellowstone National Park for weeklong seminars. The judges received free rooms, free …

Why New York Court of Appeals Judges Reversed Weinstein’s Conviction

Why New York Court of Appeals Judges Reversed Weinstein’s Conviction

Published by Sam

It was Valentine’s Day earlier this year when, in an Albany courtroom, the seven judges that make up the New York State Court of Appeals spent part of their day hearing oral arguments about potentially overturning the nearly four-year-old landmark trial in which Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein was found guilty of two of five felony counts of rape, resulting in a prison sentence of 23 years. On Thursday, more than two months later, the court announced it has reversed the mogul’s conviction in what is a shocking move to many and a pivotal moment in the #MeToo era. Others who were closely watching the case and the proceedings on that February day in Albany may feel less shocked by the reversal. That Wednesday, the court’s seven judges — four women and three men — held both defense and the prosecution attorneys to account for their arguments, which centered around the 2020 trial judge’s out-of-the-ordinary decisions that defense attorney Arthur Aidala argued — often with booming outrage — crushed any chance of a fair trial for Weinstein. …