JUSTICE BUILDING BLOG

WELCOME TO THE OFFICIAL RICHARD E GERSTEIN JUSTICE BUILDING BLOG. THIS BLOG IS DEDICATED TO JUSTICE BUILDING RUMOR, HUMOR, AND A DISCUSSION ABOUT AND BETWEEN THE JUDGES, LAWYERS AND THE DEDICATED SUPPORT STAFF, CLERKS, COURT REPORTERS, AND CORRECTIONAL OFFICERS WHO LABOR IN THE WORLD OF MIAMI'S CRIMINAL JUSTICE. POST YOUR COMMENTS, OR SEND RUMPOLE A PRIVATE EMAIL AT HOWARDROARK21@GMAIL.COM. Winner of the prestigious Cushing Left Anterior Descending Artery Award.

Thursday, April 11, 2019

A MORE PERFECT UNION

BREAKING: KING BUILDING EVACUATED! 
Which means this afternoon after lunch there are a bunch of lawyers wanting to work for Greenberg milling around outside the federal detention center. 
There is no truth to the rumor that the threat against federal employees was called in by someone with a New York accent from this number: 202-456-1414


There can be no more apt illustration of the emotional issues, explosive points of view, political divides than the Civil War and ….LOT 26 at the REGJB. 

The Civil War tested whether "Any Nation so conceived and so dedicated can long endure."
The Gettysburg Address, A. Lincoln, 11/19/1863; cited with approval by Hirsch, J, passim. 

Lot 26 tests every day  whether ebony and ivory (law enforcement and the defense bar) can park with perfect harmony. 

Thus, as you have come to expect, this blog addresses head-on the great issues of our time:

JUDGE HIRSCH'S CONSTITUIONAL CALENDAR April 11, 2019:

One of the great constitutional issues questions associated with the Civil War was whether any state was possessed of the lawful authority to secede from the Union.  The verdict of the battlefield was against the doctrine of secession.  But did that verdict also reflect the correct understanding of our Constitution, or was it correct only because, and for so long as, there were more soldiers in blue than in grey?


            In the post-war era, the Supreme Court was well aware of the need for a clear and jurisprudentially-persuasive resolution of the question:

We are very sensible of the magnitude and importance of this question, of the interest it excites, and of the difficulty, not to say impossibility, of so disposing of it as to satisfy the conflicting judgments of men equally enlightened, equally upright, and equally patriotic. But we meet it in the case, and we must determine it in the exercise of our best judgment, under the guidance of the Constitution alone.

The opportunity to provide the resolution to that question came in Texas v. White, 74 U.S. 700, decided April 12, 1969, from which the foregoing quotation is taken.  Chief Justice Chase, in his opinion for the Court, explained:


The Union of the States never was a purely artificial and arbitrary relation. It began among the Colonies, and grew out of common origin, mutual sympathies, kindred principles, similar interests, and geographical relations. It was confirmed and strengthened by the necessities of war, and received definite form, and character, and sanction from the Articles of Confederation. By these the Union was solemnly declared to "be perpetual." And when these Articles were found to be inadequate to the exigencies of the country, the Constitution was ordained "to form a more perfect Union." It is difficult to convey the idea of indissoluble unity more clearly than by these words. What can be indissoluble if a perpetual Union, made more perfect, is not?



            That being the case, secession was a constitutional impossibility.  “The Constitution,” the Chief Justice explained, in the turn of phrase for which he is best remembered, “looks to an indestructible Union, composed of indestructible States.”

NEW PROCEDURES LOT 26
Good afternoon Lot 26 patrons,



This is to inform you effective Wednesday April 17, 2019, MPA will go live with the newly installed equipment. You will be required to use the access cards, sent a couple of weeks ago.

These cards work on in and out loops, therefore in order to exit you must swipe an entry otherwise the card is taken out of synchronization and will require for you to contact our

Customer Service Department, which is open Monday – Friday 7:30 AM – 5:30 PM, for us to refresh your card.



We appreciate all the positive feedback we’ve received regarding the updates and look forward to continue provide you excellent service.



Thank you for your patronage.  

"But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate—we cannot consecrate—we cannot hallow—this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who have parked here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract.”
Rumpole's Historic Lot 26 Address. 

COMMING SOON: 
The lot 26 admission scandal. Paying for admission to a parking lot that has a lower admission rate than Harvard, Stanford, and the lot at Fifth and 56th in Manhattan. An expose' of Power, Privilege and how the 1% feel entitled to all the parking benefits of our great nation. 



11 comments:

Anonymous said...

That's 1869!!!!

Anonymous said...

How do I apply for a lot 26 permit and how much does it cost?

Rumpole said...

More than you can afford

Rumpole said...

9:27 am- Sir/Madam- if you are referring to the Gettysburg Address, having memorized it, I can assure you the date was 1863 for among many reasons including I am rarely wrong and POTUS16 was murdered in 1865- indeed 7:22 AM on April 15, 1865 to be exact.

When it's history, and Lincoln, I assure you we have more game than almost anyone you shall ever meet.

Anonymous said...

11:31 Rump. Can the parking fee be financed?

Vinny Bag of Donuts said...

I'll answer dat...we give 100K and charge 3 points a week. We take your hundred down to dat parking garage downtown and put it on the table and we promise dem we are either walkin outta dere with a sticker for youse or wit one of dem clerk's fingers.
You get your sticker and we get payments on our 100K
capiche?

History major said...

To be clear, Lincoln was shot on April 14,1865 at about 10 PM. He died the next morning as was aluded to by Rumpole.

Rumpole said...

Yes you are correct. I wrote that comment whilst in court being bored but multitasking. Lincoln was shot on April 14. He died at 7:22 AM the following day. He died in the house of William Petersen, a local tailor. He was attended by Drs Robert Stone, Anderson Ruffin Abbott, Charles Crane, and Surgeon General Joseph K. Barnes.
Cabinet Members Gideon Wells (Sec of Navy) and Edwin M Stanton (Sec Of War) were present, as was Lincoln's faithful secretary John Hay, Lincoln's wife Mary and his oldest son Robert Todd. When Lincoln died, Stanton famously said "Now he belongs to the ages" which is the version we choose to believe, although there is controversy and some claim Stanton said "Now he belongs to the angels"

Anonymous said...

How much for lot 26 and how do I apply? I am going to start a multi week trial this summer and would like not to deal with the parking mess at the building. I am an out of state attorney and am seeking help from the local bar. Thanks

Parking Czar for your car said...

Of course. Always glad to help a lawyer from out of town. Show them the real Miami hospitality.
It"s a 120 a month and we have a form for you to sign for pre-pay on your CC. Just fill it out, we will put you on the list, and like every other out of town Schmo at Joes who think they can get in, we will call you in 2022. Until then...NO SOUP FOR YOU!

Anonymous said...

A truly shocking decision!

Sleeping lead lawyer doesn't justify overturning capital conviction, federal judge rules.

A federal judge in Texas has rejected a habeas petition filed on behalf of a death-row inmate whose primary lawyer snoozed throughout the trial.

U.S. District Judge Lynn Hughes ruled against inmate George McFarland, who was convicted in 1992 for killing and robbing a grocer carrying a bag with $27,000 to cash customers’ payroll checks. The Houston Chronicle has coverage of the April 2 decision.

No one disputes that the lawyer’s sleeping “was pronounced, obvious and frequent,” Hughes wrote. But McFarland was never completely without counsel because a concerned judge had appointed another lawyer as co-counsel.

McFarland was charged after his nephew said he had admitted to the robbery and an eye witness identified him, although her initial ID was tentative. No physical evidence connected McFarland to the crime. The nephew was paid $900 from Crime Stoppers for his information.

McFarland had hired 72-year-old lawyer John Benn to represent him, although he had not tried a capital case in two decades, Hughes wrote in his decision. The trial judge recognized that Benn was unprepared to try a capital case and repeatedly asked McFarland whether he wanted to continue with Benn as lead counsel. McFarland kept Benn.

“The bailiff initially nudged Benn’s chair to rouse him but soon gave up,” Hughes wrote. “Benn’s sleeping was obvious to the entire courtroom.”

The trial judge appointed a second lawyer, Sanford Melamed, as co-counsel. Melamed had tried about 30 felony cases but had never represented a capital defendant. McFarland didn’t consent to appointment of Melamed, and Benn refused to coordinate with him on trial strategy.

Melamed did examine all but three of the prosecution witnesses, however. He had filed motions, tried to exclude evidence, hired an investigator and researched legal issues. He also was ready to try the case himself. At trial, Melamed questioned the nephew about his $900 payment form Crime Stoppers and his previous admission to a mental institution.

Benn had testified that reading the state’s case and briefing a few points of law on evidence was sufficient trial preparation, Hughes said.

But Benn did cross-examine the eye witness, bringing out that she initially told police she wasn’t sure she could make an identification. Benn also questioned her ability to recognize McFarland in an initial photographic array a month after the crime. In closing arguments, Benn told jurors that her memory was unlikely to have improved when she later identified McFarland in a live lineup.

Benn and Melamed are listed as deceased in records by the State Bar of Texas.

“The court does not approve of a sleeping lawyer,” Hughes wrote. “This is unacceptable by an attorney in any case, and particularly in a case of this magnitude. The question before the court is whether the court of criminal appeals unreasonably applied federal constitutional law. It did not. McFarland was never completely without counsel.”

The case had come before Hughes more than a decade ago, according to the Houston Chronicle. Hughes ruled months after a Houston-area activist wrote a higher court to complain about the delay.

http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/sleeping-lead-lawyer-doesnt-justify-overturning-capital-conviction-federal-judge-rules/?utm_source=maestro&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=weekly_email

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