TEN COMMANDMENTS UNDER ATTACK IN LOUISIANA!

June 27^th, 2024

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

 

TEN COMMANDMENTS UNDER ATTACK IN LOUISIANA!

 

You just cannot keep Louisiana out of the national news. As Roseanne Roseannada used to say on Saturday Night Live: “It’s always something” Here in the Bayou State, there are happenings that stir up both interest and dismay from coast to coast. In recent weeks, it’s been our Baton Rouge gal, Stormy Daniels. And for months now, the national press has been consumed with stories about our former obscure congressman from Northeast Louisiana, now speaker Mike Johnson.

 

Recently, news outlets all over the country have been expressing concerns and publishing columns over the appropriateness of a new law, just signed by Louisiana’s governor, requiring every public school classroom to display the Ten Commandments. That’s right! The laws of getting along with one another, handed down by the good Lord himself, are deemed by many in the national press to be right down inappropriate for public display. 

 

Most opponents to the new law argue that religion has no place in the classroom. But is a mere display of rules to live by on a small sheet of paper posted on the wall have that much undue influence on school children? It’s not like they are specific requirements of adherence to any specific religion.  And only three of the ten commandments make any reference to the Lord. So just how far should we go with such an argument?

 

There are numerous references to God and religion from the founding of America right up to the present.  Let’s start with the US Constitution (“the year of our Lord – Article IV). State Constitutions?  God is mentioned in all of the 50 state constitutions and nearly 200 times overall, according to the Pew Research Center. Check out any federal banknote or all paper money as well as coins and you will see the phrase “in God we trust.” In the signing of the Bill of Rights, the document ends with “the year of our Lord.”

 

A trip to the nation’s capital will let a visitor see numerous religious artworks and religious references on virtually every public building and monument. “In God we Trust” is prominently displayed throughout the United States capital, along with numerous other religious symbols and paintings. And how about Moses, who went to the mountain to receive the law of God, who can be seen looking down on the proceedings of the U.S. House of Representatives. It would be hard for you to find a federal building that does not display images of the Ten Commandments including the U.S. Supreme Court itself.

 

I took an oath to uphold the laws of Louisiana on eight different occasions as a public official. As Secretary of State, I gave the same oath to literally hundreds of state and local officials. In every instance, the last words of the oath stated, “so help me God.”  

 

Groups are coming out of the woodwork to say they are ready to challenge this new law, including The American Civil Liberties Union, Americans United for Separation of Church and State and the Freedom from Religion Foundation. These groups, plus other national organizations, site a Supreme Court ruling back in 1980 that found unconstitutional a similar statute that was approved in Kentucky. But the whole makeup of the US Supreme Court has changed radically since this ruling.

 

 The current court is obviously much more conservative as we have witnessed from a host of contemporary rulings. A recent decision by this more conservative court ruled that a Washington state high school football coach, who had been fired for praying at midfield after football games and inviting players to join him, was able to get a favorable ruling stating that such prayers do not amount to any endorsement by the school of Christianity.

 

The law requiring the displaying of the Ten Commandments received overwhelming support from Louisiana legislators with immediate backing of the governor. Considering the make-up of the US Supreme Court, the opponents to such a display will face an uphill fight. Outside of a lightning strike against the law from the good Lord himself, you can expect to see the Ten Commandments soon to be on the walls of Louisiana Public schools. My opinion? It just ain’t no big deal. With all the negative things that happen in public schools, this might be refreshing.

 

Peace and Justice

Jim Brown

Jim Brown’s syndicated column appears each week in numerous newspapers throughout the nation and on websites worldwide. You can read all his past columns and see continuing updates at http://www.jimbrownusa.com.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

APPOINTING FEDERAL JUDGES A BAD IDEA!

Monday, June 17, 2024

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

                                          APPOINTING FEDERAL JUDGES A BAD IDEA!

Several business groups in Louisiana, including the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry, have suggested that the state do away with the election of judges and the undue influence of campaign funds. Their proposal would be to follow the federal path of appointment. But is the appointive process really better than electing judges? Do citizens get better choices and more competent jurists? Certainly not the way the system works at the federal level.

First of all, presidents do not really choose federal judges outside of the Supreme Court. At the district and court of appeals level, the president, as a general rule, defers to the choice of the state’s U.S. senators. If the president is a Democrat, the Democratic senator in the home state of the proposed appointee makes the recommendation. So to qualify in most states as a federal judge, it’s not what you know but whom you know.

Huey Long said it best: “I’m all for appointin’ judges as long as I can do the appointin.” Cronyism has been the deciding factor in numerous Louisiana federal appointees to the bench.

At the court of appeals level, incompetent judges have sparked a wave of concern and criticism. Because the U. S. Supreme Court is hearing fewer cases as each year goes by, the federal court of appeals is the last vestige of hope for any effort to overturn a lower court decision. Out of more than 10,000 appeals filed last year at the nation’s highest court, only 65 were even considered. The action is at the court of appeals level. And hands down, the worst such court in the nation sits right there in New Orleans.

If you have any doubt of this, google the U.S. Fifth Circuit, and you’ll see these headlines pop up:

Fifth Circuit Covers Up Serious Judicial Misconduct
Another Conflict of Interest Uncovered on the Fifth Circuit
Judicial Diva Gone Wild? Chief Judge Tells Fellow Judge to “Shut Up.”
Chief Judge Attacks Fellow Judge
Judge Clement Makes Friends with Big Oil
Pattern of Misconduct Demands Full Investigation of Fifth Circuit Judge

These are just some of the most recent headlines. Similar conflicts and personal vendettas have been going on at the Fifth Circuit Court for years. The Fifth Circuit regularly leads all appeals courts throughout the country in its decisions being overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court. In an exposé of the Fifth Circuit’s recent rulings, the Times Picayune quoted both Justices on the Supreme Court as well as prominent law professors who regularly lambasted verdicts handed down in New Orleans. University of Houston law professor David Dow said it seems clear that the Supreme Court “has lost confidence in the Fifth Circuit’s handling of capital cases.” And retired Justice Sandra Day O’Conner was equally blunt in criticizing the Fifth Circuit saying it was “paying lip service to principles of jurisprudence, and that often the Fifth’s reasoning “has no foundation in the decisions of this court.” 

It’s a shame for those who have to deal with the Fifth Circuit that its standing is so soiled, and that the reputation of some of its members has degenerated to the point of such serious criticism. During the civil rights era, Louisiana federal judges like John Minor Wisdom, J. Skelly Wright and Albert Tate were held in high regard nationally. Their work was admired and quoted in the nation’s best law schools. But with such a mediocre judicial stature on the Fifth Circuit today, Louisiana won’t be in the running for one of its own to move up to the nation’s highest court.

Federal court watchers have a name for federal judges who lack the scholarship, the temperament, the learning, and who are simply in the wrong occupation. They are called “gray mice.” It seems pretty obvious that the Fifth circuit Court of Appeals is full of such critters. Unfortunately, there is not much, short of impeachment, that the disciplinary system can do about them. But the court’s continuing incompetence places one more stain on the reputation of Louisiana.

               
This stinging criticism certainly does not apply to a number of hard working and well-meaning judges within the federal system. But the Fifth Circuit out of New Orleans has set itself up as the poster group for how not to pick federal judges. There needs to be a better way.

 

Peace and Justice

 

Jim Brown

 

Jim Brown’s syndicated column appears each week in numerous newspapers throughout the nation and on websites worldwide. You can read all his past columns and see continuing updates at http://www.jimbrownusa.com.

 

 

 

BIDEN AND TRUMP-WHO COULD HAVE BELIEVED IT!

Monday, June 10^th, 2024

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

 

BIDEN AND TRUMP-WHO COULD HAVE BELIEVED IT!

The county is just weeks away from our two national conventions. The Republicans meet in Milwaukee in the middle of July and the Democrats convene in Chicago several weeks later. We all know it will be Trump vs Biden. I wonder what candidates would be picked if the selections were like the old days where party bosses selected the party candidates.

This time-worn system produced Presidents Dwight Eisenhower and John F. Kennedy. The current process gave us George Bush and Barack Obama along with either Donald Trump or Joe Biden this year. You be the judge as to which process has worked out better for the country.

My first Democratic convention was in Atlantic City back in 1964. On a summer break from Tulane Law School, I was driving my fifteen-year-old Volkswagen convertible up to New York for a summer job, and I stopped in Atlantic City on the way. The Democrats were gathering in the old civic auditorium on the boardwalk, which for many years was the site of the Miss America pageant.

I was able to park my car about half a block from the auditorium and walk right up to the front door. A guard asked me where I was going, and I said I wanted to join the Louisiana delegation.

“Are you supposed to be with them?” he asked.  “I sure am,” I said. I might have exaggerated a bit, but I really wanted to get in the door. “Well then, welcome to Atlantic City. Go right on in.”

I stood about fifty feet away from the stage where President Lyndon Johnson kept the crowd in suspense until he announced that Senator Hubert Humphrey would be his running mate. Johnson was a cinch to be re-elected, and the Democrats pulled together as one big happy family. What a contrast to what happened four years later.

The next Democratic convention was held in Chicago. I was living in Ferriday, Louisiana at the time with my wife and our two-month-old daughter Campbell. On the spur of the moment, we decided to travel to Chicago and visit old friends, so we packed up the car and headed north.

The main party headquarters was at the Sheraton Hotel, which faces Lake Michigan in downtown Chicago. Major opposition to the Vietnam War was building, and a large number of protesters had gathered in Grant Park across from the Sheraton.  I knew I could get a better view from the top of the Sheraton, so I headed for the elevator in the lobby. When the doors opened, there were two people inside: Senator Russell Long, and Louisiana Governor John McKeithen.

Sticking my hand out, I introduced myself. “Governor, I’m Jim Brown from Ferriday.” McKeithen smiled. He was visibly surprised.

“Why Jim, what are you doing up here?” he asked.

“Governor,” I said, “I came all the way up here to support you for vice-president.”

McKeithen laughed, slapped me on the back, and told me he could not be more pleased.  I later learned that the Senator and the Governor had been on their way up to Vice President Humphrey’s suite to urge him to put McKeithen on the ticket. When he was not tapped for the job, the Governor left in a huff and headed back to Louisiana.

Both Trump and Biden will no doubt stir up plenty of animosity in the host cities, and we can look forward to a rancorous outpouring of support by delegates and major protests by onlookers at both party gatherings.

As a side antidote, can you believe that Trump will be traveling to New Orleans in just a few weeks for a fundraiser? And guess who is also performing in the Crecent City for two nights at a local night club about the same time as Trump’s appearance? Our Louisiana gal from Baton Rouge-Stormy Daniels. You just can’t make this kind of stuff up.

Subsequent conventions produced numerous additional Louisiana antidotes. I attended seven conventions in all, both Republican and Democratic. I’ll fill you in on more political yarns next week.  Stay tuned.

Peace and Justice

Jim Brown

Jim Brown’s syndicated column appears each week in numerous newspapers throughout the nation and on websites worldwide. You can read all his past columns and see continuing updates at http://www.jimbrownusa.com.

 

TRUMP’S CONVICTION NO SURPRISE !

 

Monday, June 3rd, 2024

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

 

TRUMP’S CONVICTION NO SURPRISE !

 

I wrote in my  column over a month ago that no one should be surprised over former president Donald Trump’s conviction in a New York Court last week. As we say in the South, Trump was a gone pecan from the get-go. There are a number of reasons why. Some emanated from his prejudicial surroundings in New York City. But other causes were of his own making.

 

If you had to pick the worst place for Trump to be tried in America, New York City would be it. The prosecution certainly had the home-court advantage. It was like LSU having to go to Tuscaloosa to play Alabama. Voters in New York City are overwhelmingly Democratic, and numerous polls have shown that Trump is very unpopular there. The judge was a contributor to Democratic causes, and his daughter was a major consultant and fundraiser for Democratic candidates. The former president’s prosecutor had run on a  platform of “getting Trump.” The playing field could not have been more uneven.

 

But Trump and his legal team certainly did not help themselves by the former president’s antics, and by the strategy put forth as a defense. Trump’s running abuse of the system played well to his voters across America, but hurt him with the voters who count, the New York jury. Whenever the judge wanted to admonish Trump and fine him for ignoring the court’s numerous gag orders, he had the jury removed from the courtroom. He did the same when dressing down witnesses for Trump on a number of occasions. But then the jurors went home for the evening, watched the evening news, and read the daily newspapers. They  were able to see all the venom thrown at Trump and his team by the judge outside the presence of the jury.

 

Trump did himself no favors by either looking bored or shutting his eyes, giving the  

impression that he was sleeping. It was a sign to the jury that the former president was not taking the case seriously. Then he would go outside the courthouse and blast the entire proceedings, all played on the nightly news as jurors watched from their homes . My experience with juries, and I’ve tried a number of cases as practicing lawyer in my day, is that jurors are not impressed with verbose and cocky defendants who don’t seem to be taking their fate seriously. Trump came across as just such a defendant.

 

The case was not supposed to be about porn star Stormy Daniels. It should have  been focused on money and failure to report under the  federal campaign laws. No one observing the trial believed that Trump did not have a tryst with Stormy. And her testimony came across as quite believable to jurors. Trump’s team made a big mistake but not just admitting there was an affair, but it had nothing to do with any violation of state or federal laws. The jury would have been much more willing to accept such an explanation.

 

Then there was the incoherent rationalizations and responses from Trump’s defense team.  There was no alternative, no believable answer as to why the charges were wrong. Trump’s lawyers seemed to do a little more than splatter the prosecution witnesses, particularly Michael Cohen, with responses that he and other witnesses were liars. Cohen was a liar, and he was the only witness to confirm that Trump was directing the entire hush money episode. 

 

Much of the alleged illegal activity took place after Trump became president. He could have offered the jury a believable response that he was extremely busy being president, and that the decisions of taxes, any nondisclosure agreement, and funds paid to Stormy Daniels were left up to Cohn and Trump’s financial chief Allan Weisselberg. It would have given the jury an alternative explanation of what took place, and why Trump knew so little.  But the Trump team never offered a coherent alternative, and so the jury had little choice but look to the facts offered by the prosecutors.

 

All this is not to say that Trump will stay a convicted felon in New York. I could write several columns on defects allowed by the judge in the trial, and what grounds there are for appeal.

 

 And maybe the conviction will actually help Trump politically. He apparently raised over $29 million in the 10 hours after his trial concluded.  He has an appeal to pursue in his New York case, and three additional criminal cases yet to be tried. His legal team needs to reevaluate their tactics in the courtroom. Their strategy proved to be a failure in Trump’s first trial this past week.

 

Peace and Justice

Jim Brown

Jim Brown’s syndicated column appears each week in numerous newspapers throughout the nation and on websites worldwide. You can read all his past columns and see continuing updates at http://www.jimbrownusa.com.