NOW HE BELONGS TO THE AGES

 Two different parts to this post. Stay with us. 

On April 15, 1865, at 7:22 a.m., (some reports 7:21 a.m. but we give him an extra moment of life) our greatest president died of wounds from an assassin. As part of his cabinet huddled around his bedside, Edward Stanton, the secretary of war, said "Now he belongs to the ages" as Lincoln took his last measured breath. (There is an alternate version of Staton saying "now he belongs to the angels" but we like ages better, as it is in fact where Lincoln belongs). 

There is something uniquely American about Abraham Lincoln. Self-taught; from dirt poverty; a life of continued failed ventures; never rich- an everyman (and woman's) struggle to provide for a family; a wife suffering from depression; Lincoln's brilliance would not let him fail. Prior to the presidency, he was not from a powerful family like the Roosevelts or Kennedys. He was not a hero on the battlefield like Grant or Eisenhower or Teddy Roosevelt, or George HW Bush.  But Lincoln's genius for the written and spoken word would not let him fail. In 1860 he engaged in a series of debates with Stephen Douglas, challenging the Democrat Douglas for his senate seat. Lincoln narrowly lost the election 54-46 as the State legislature voted for senators at that time. But Lincoln's performance, his words (he first spoke "A house divided cannot stand" in his acceptance speech for the Republican nomination for senate) and his uniqueness,  propelled him to the forefront of the nation's conscience as the leader of the anti-slavery movement. In a uniquely American turn of events, his loss in the senate race propelled him to the presidency. 

In the White House, he lost a child, won a war and saved the Nation. No president endured the tragedies Lincoln did. His leadership and wisdom endures, and he does in fact, belong to the ages. When the North captured a British ship supplying the South, and England threatened war unless their sailors were released, Lincoln quietly ordered them released, saying "One war at a time." We reflect on that decision often, when in the heat of a trial or defense, clients or prosecutors attempt to open a second front. 

When the first reports of casualties at the battle of Antietam came in - 23,000 in a force of 100,000- the deadliest day in American History, Lincoln, stunned, muttered "What will the nation say?" And yet, he endured, singularly carrying a nation on his back unlike any leader before him and something never repeated until Churchill and now Ukranian President Zelensky. In an ending that can only be described as Biblical, having won the war, Lincoln, like Moses, was denied entry into the promised land of peace.  

He is our greatest president, the greatest American, one of the great if not greatest figures from all of recorded time. Lincoln is the best example of the man meeting the moment, and he truly belongs to the ages. 

NO PAPER IN JAIL

We cannot end this post without commenting on the endless chatter on certain listservs we are morally if not legally prevented from mentioning in public (See The Rumpole Cannot Talk About Us Act, Fla. Stat. et. seq). 

Lawyers are now slowly realizing that they cannot bring paper into local jails. Something we posted about here  A Problem With Paper, a month ago (March 17). 

Lawyers cannot bring paper into jails because unscrupulous individuals are sending paper products like books and greeting cards laced with liquid drugs into jails. 

OK- we get that. The jails need to be careful. BUT please explain why lawyers cannot bring laptops and iPads into jails? The electronics cannot be laced with anything. What is the absolute worst that can happen? A lawyer will show a client a news article posted on the Fox website? Really? The jail needs to stop inmates from reading on TMZ that Ben and JLo went for coffee at Starbucks yesterday and were seen holding hands and sipping matching lattes?  "Warden we have a big problem! A lawyer showed an inmate a video of Chris Rock being slapped!" "OMG! Order a total lockdown. Condition RED!"

Think about it. Prosecutors send discovery digitally. Lawyers cannot bring the paper discovery into the jail and cannot show our clients the digital version. So we are left with using our imaginative description's of the discovery: 

"Close your eyes, imagine a video of you, entering a warehouse, it's wired, there are cameras on the walls. You have a hundred thousand dollars in a small satchel. The seller pulls out a brick of white powder from a Publix bag. In the background Glenn Frey's Smuggler's Blues plays on a radio: 

You've got to carry weapons
'Cause you always carry cash
There's lots of shady characters
Lots of dirty deals

Every name's an alias
In case somebody squeals
It's the lure of easy money
It's got a very strong appeal

You get the idea. 

The F. .DL (name we are not allowed to say)  is on this. They are shocked, shocked! to find out there is a problem. A committee has been formed. Emails (which we never see) are flying back and forth. A meeting has been demanded with the Jail. The jail has appointed a corrections officer six months on the job to meet with the committee ("I'm not even allowed to have a handcuff key yet, what do you want me to do?") 

Prediction: Nothing will happen. It is way too dangerous to allow the possibility of an inmate getting unauthorized access to Judgesgonewild.com to allow electronics into a jail. 

Happy Passover, Good Friday and Easter. 

ABRAHAM LINCOLN'S DEATH

 Abraham Lincoln, our 16th President, and our greatest, died today at 7:22 a.m in 1865. 

Secretary Of War Edwin Stanton  State William H.  Seward was reported to have said 

                                    "Now he belongs to the ages." 

Of all the wonderful things Lincoln said, perhaps this short sentence carries the most meaning after the last four years we have been through: 

“America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.”

THURSDAY APRIL 16 2020 CORONA UPDATE

We have nothing to report except we are really beginning to hate being home-bound, even in our digs. 

We do have a big blog related announcement in the works. 

In normal times we would written something interesting the other day (April 15) about the death of Abraham Lincoln at 7:22 am the Saturday after Good Friday in 1865, the religious comparisons being very obvious to everyone but the current POTUS who tweeted a "Happy Good Friday" tweet last week.  

Edward Stanton, a rival and then Lincoln's Secretary Of War was with the President as he drew he last breaths. A sobbing Stanton said either "Now he belongs to the ages" or "Now he belongs to the angels". The former is preferable for many reasons, including the recognition that Lincoln was larger than life and still casts a long shadow over the presidency.  It  is Lincoln against which all other presidents  are measured for greatness. 

We will leave you with a few Lincoln quotes to get you through the day: 

Whatever you are, be a good one. 

America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves. 

Nearly all men can stand adversity. But if you really want to test a man's character, give him power. 

You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all of the time. 

WITH CHARITY FOR ALL

We all have down days during this crisis. Today we awoke to a beautiful cool spring Miami morning feeling a bit blue. Exercise did not change our outlook, so we sought solace in the words of the greatest American President. A man who met his moment and took his country to the other side of the river. Although, like Moses and another great leader- Dr. King, he did not live to see the promised land, he took our bloodied and beaten nation through our worst time. And like all difficult times, we emerged stronger. 

These are the concluding words of the 16th President of the United States Second Inaugural Address. They were delivered on March 4, 1865. The President would be dead in forty-one days. But his words live on and inspire for as long as we have this Republic he saved:

Fondly do we hope--fervently do we pray--that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue, until all the wealth piled by the bond-man's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash, shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said "the judgments of the Lord, are true and righteous altogether"

With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation's wounds; to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan--to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace, among ourselves, and with all nations.

May the grace of the Lord shine upon all of us as we work to bring our nation, our community and our families through this crisis. 

Because we are in a charitable mood, we invite you to click over to DOM's FEDERAL blog, where he takes a tentative step into State Court waters by posting a Shakesperean slap-down order to an "emergency motion" by...you guessed it... Judge Milton Hirsch. 

CHIEF JUDGES-ARE YOU PREPARED?

The Corona virus is now a world pandemic. It has taken hold in South Korea, Iran, and is still expanding in China. It has by all appearances mutated into more and less lethal forms. Like it or not, it is coming to the United States. 
We in South Florida are at one of the cross-roads of the world. We are a hub for South Americans and South American travel. 

Are we prepared? Does Trump respect the CIA and Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer? 

Are the chief judges in Federal and State Court prepared to shut down the court system or modify it so that most of the public does not need to stream into the buildings, only to be shuttled into small, cramped, virus spreading incubators called elevators, jury rooms, and small courtrooms? 

We haven't seen any plans, so we will suggest some. 

Criminal Court: Suspend all misdemeanor trials. Starting NOW put additional resources to move the cases where people are incarcerated on misdemeanors. With all due respect to our misdemeanor judges, they are after all misdemeanors. Most people should not be in custody for petit theft or disorderly conduct or possession of an undersized Snook, so lets get them out. 

Second, prepare for Video Conferencing. Have judges create separate video calendars for defense attorneys who can call in from home or office to appear on cases. 
Have judges create sperate video conferencing calendars for unrepresented defendants so cases can be resolved or reset. No bench warrants will be issued.  

Civil Court: We care about civil court even less than we like it, which isn't saying much. But no civil case is worth spreading a virus. Judges have some type of  infamous proceeding called five minute calendars so motions to strike interrogatories and the like can be adjudicated. Face time it. Video conferencing. Let's drag our courts and judges technologically into the 2000's, even if its kicking and banging their gavels. Upgrade their 386 modems so they can stream video. 

Courts are one area where people do not need to congregate. Trials should be suspended- jury rooms are incubators of germs. Lincoln suspended the writ of habeas corpus during the civil war. Judge Soto can be Lincolesque and suspend speedy trial and civil time limits  until the virus threat passes. Or she can ask the Chief Judge of the Florida Supreme Court to put aside their research in overruling Gideon v. Wainwright and Roe v. Wade and sign the order suspending time limits. 

The point is that none of these things need to happen now. But we need to be prepared. Judge Soto and her 627 administrative judges need to create and  issue plans, disseminate them using their mimeograph machines to the legal community and the public, so that- and here's hoping it never happens- when the time comes, we are ready mentally and physically to practice law a different way for a few weeks. Spring is coming and the virus will not survive in warmer weather. 

Judges always sneer at lawyers who are not prepared. The door swings both ways. 
Get cooking your honors. 

INVESTITURES

It's that time of the year when our newest judges spend an hour luxuriating in their victory. Some are fun, some are boring. But it's polite to attend and wish the robed reader a bon voyage on their new career. 

Upcoming this week on Thursday March 7,2019 Judge Lizzett Martinez and on Friday March 8, 2019 Judge Betsy Alvarez-Zane. 

As we referenced in our post on Saturday, today, Monday March 4, marks the anniversary of the inauguration of our greatest President: Abraham Lincoln. 

Lincoln's first inaugural address pales upon his many other speeches and is outshone by his second inaugural. His first inaugural is a man contemplating the loss of his country. He beseeches the southern states to remain in the Union, assuring them he does not seek to end slavery, and will not give sanctuary to run-away slaves. Lincoln had so much more greatness in him then in this timid and tepid paean to the status quo. 

Tough times in the future- events more difficult than any president before or since had to handle-  would show that the man met his times. 

But Lincoln was our greatest wordsmith. And even in timidity and fear of losing the Union, his brilliance came through with an ending line that will last the ages:

In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow-countrymen, and not in mine, is the momentous issue of civil war. The Government will not assail you. You can have no conflict without being yourselves the aggressors. You have no oath registered in heaven to destroy the Government, while I shall have the most solemn one to "preserve, protect, and defend it."

I am loath to close. We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.

The better angels of our nature. 

If poetry moves you. If brilliance inspires you.
Then Lincoln the man, the writer, the poet, the president, must be studied and never forgotten.  

NOW HE BELONGS TO THE AGES

The President left the White House in the early evening. 
He and his party went down H Street NW for about 7 tenths of a mile. The presidential party made a right on 10 Street NW and went down three blocks before stopping in front of Ford's Theater.  The show that evening was the hit "Our American Cousins". 
April 14, 1865. Abraham Lincoln  had about 24 hours to live. 

Five days earlier General Lee surrendered the Confederate Army of Virginia to General Grant.

The Presidential party arrived late for the show, but the President was reported to be in a great mood. Lincoln and his wife were accompanied by Henry Rathbone, a young officer in the army, and Rathbone's fiancée- Clara Harris who was the daughter of New York Senator Ira Harris (the only Ira to serve in the US Senate we think). 

Sometime between 10:15 and 10:25, John Wilkes Booth, a famous actor who had failed in his attempt to kidnap the President on March 20. 1865, snuck up behind the President and shot him in the head.  Rathbone leaped up and grabbed Booth. Booth dropped his derringer and produced a knife and stabbed Rathbone in the arm. Booth then fled the presidential box, leaping on to the stage and shouting Sic Semper Tyrannis  ("Thus ever to tyrants") - the motto of Virginia. Booth's left foot and his riding spur became entangled with a flag draping the box, and Booth landed awkwardly, breaking his leg.  

Dr. Charles Leal was in attendance and gave aid to the President who was slumped over in his chair. He was soon joined by Dr. Charles Sabin Taft.  Leal removed a blood clot from the entry wound behind the left ear of the president, and Lincoln's labored breathing improved. Soldiers  arrived and took the dying president through a light rain to the house of tailor William Peterson. The doctors had judged the ride to the White House as too difficult for the dying president. 

Lincoln's oldest son  Robert Todd Lincoln arrived along with Secretary of the Navy Gideon Wells and Secretary of War Edward M.  Stanton.  Throughout the night more doctors and government officials arrived, as well as Lincoln's faithful secretary John Hay. 

At 7:22 AM on April 15, 1865, the 16th President of the United States died without regaining consciousness. 

Secretary Stanton was widely reported to have said "Now he belongs to the ages". 

WHEN THE RAIN FELL GENTLY FROM THE SKY

On this date April 15, 1865, when the "rain fell gently from the sky as if the heavens were weeping" Abraham Lincoln passed from man to immortal at 7:22 AM from the assassin's bullet which struck him the evening before. "Now he belongs to the ages" his  Secretary of War  Edward M. Stanton was recorded as saying in grief  by Lincoln secretary John Hay in his diary. 

We are reminded of Lincoln's letter to his friend Joshua Speed in 1855,  a decade before the end of the civil war. Lincoln was wrestling with slavery and the union and the Missouri compromise and whether Kansas would be admitted to the union as a slave state. 

This famous letter is remarkable for many things, and today it stands out for Lincoln's prescience for his interpretation of these most precious words upon which a great nation was founded: "All men are created equal": 

Dear Speed..

I am not a Know-Nothing. That is certain. How could I be? How can any one who abhors the oppression of negroes, be in favor or degrading classes of white people? Our progress in degeneracy appears to me to be pretty rapid. As a nation, we began by declaring that "all men are created equal." We now practically read it "all men are created equal, except negroes" When the Know-Nothings get control, it will read "all men are created equal, except negroes, and foreigners, and Catholics." When it comes to this I should prefer emigrating to some country where they make no pretence of loving liberty -- to Russia, for instance, where despotism can be taken pure, and without the base alloy of hypocracy ..." 

Although Lincoln's reference to the "Know Nothings" refers to an actual political movement of the day, there are different more literal "Know Nothings" in charge of our great country today. From these words we can extrapolate this- in these troubling times when the degeneracy of "all men are created equal" continues with alacrity, Lincoln would be moving to Moscow. 

From Occupied America, where "Know Nothings" sit in our Oval Office, Fight the Power!

SO- CALLED APPELLATE COURT AFFIRMS SO-CALLED JUDGE

This is why we celebrated the Trump win. The spectre of constitutional crises every day.

Thursday evening the 9th Circuit court of appeals ("Dude...affirmed!") affirmed the order of the District Court Judge.

The constitutional crisis in the Nixon administration started with the Saturday night massacre, and ended six months later when the Supreme Court upheld the district court judge's order requiring the white house to produce the tapes.  Nixon resigned in August 1974 and Gerald Ford declared "our long national nightmare over." (Over/under on Pence saying that is November, 2018).

In May, 1861, two months into office, President Lincoln suspended the great writ of habeas corpus and then defied the US Supreme Court. As Judge Hirsch has probably recounted dozens of times to dazed young PDs and ASAs,  John Merryman, a State Legislator from Maryland was arrested for hindering the movement of Union Troops.  Merryman was held at Fort McHenry. His lawyer (not Sy Gaer) filed a for a writ of habeas corpus to bring the body of the defendant to a district court. Lincoln issued an executive order (well before Trump ever did) that suspended the right for the great writ of habeas corpus on military bases. The commander of the fort followed the order of his commander in chief and refused to deliver Merryman.

US Supreme Court Chief Judge Roger Taney paused briefly in his penning the Dred Scott decision to rule that Lincoln did not have the authority to issue an order suspending habeas corpus. Lincoln sat tight. He didn't respond. He didn't reply. And he didn't order Merryman released, and we had our first constitutional crises.

We are a blogger of the people. We don't mingle with hoi polloi, but we sometimes visit and observe. And Thursday night was an exercise in the people's version of constitutional law. We sat transfixed, nursing a cheap (for us) Cabernet while a twenty-something SoBe bartender with rings in her nose, lips and ears, and a sleeve of tattoos not covered by a revealing tight black tank-top  lectured us about standing, the 9th circuit, and that their order had no basis in the establishment clause of the first amendment. Fascinating.

We wrote- what seems like an eternity ago- that Article III judges were all that stood between our president and a dictatorship. While we disagree with the 9th circuit's analysis, we are proud to live in a country where a Judge can tell a president "NO" and No means No -Lincoln and Taney not withstanding.

Lincoln refused Taney's order two months into his presidency while struggling to deal with a rebellious Maryland border state. Not to be outdone, 45 has provoked a crisis less than thirty days into office while struggling to deal with a rebellious white house staff. 

Here's the order from the 9th.

Washington v Trump (9th COA Opinion on Stay) by Anonymous espiON9E on Scribd

From Occupied America...fight the power.

BLOCH BLOCKED

Queen Elizabeth famously said that 1992 was her annus horribilus.  Two of her children divorced their spouses that year; the last part of the realm in Africa abandoned the Monarchy; her daughter-in-law Diana wrote a tell all book; while tapes of the first in line to the throne- Charles- canoodling with his long time love over the phone were released. And then on November 20- the Queen's  wedding anniversary, part of her home-Windsor Castle- caught fire and was severely damaged.

For Jason Bloch 2016 will be his annus horribilus.  
He received the political opposition for his judicial seat that a long-time opponent had promised. And although scandal rocked his opponent in the form of her being caught telling people she was a prosecutor when she wasn't, and the revelation that she resigned an internship at the State Attorneys Office because the hours were too long (a problem she need not worry about once she dons a robe)- Bloch couldn't capitalize on his opponent's problems. 
 Lawyers grumbled when he solicited them for donations despite his financial disclosures revealing an almost Rumpolian level of wealth. His ill-timed, poorly planned, and horribly executed lawsuit aimed at knocking his opponent off the ballot blew up in his face, with losses in the district court and Third District Court Of Appeals generating even worse publicity. Even the revelation that her family derives a significant amount of income from motels designed to assist in extra-martial assignations didn't derail her candidacy and Judge Bloch was defeated soundly at the polls.

And now to add insult to injury; a prime example of being kicked while down- the JNC declined to forward his name to Governor Scott to fill the seat of retired Judge Stan Blake (whose retirement tour continues with a night by the Miami-Heat honoring him in November)*.

Bloch couldn't elbow one of these guys/gals out:

Jason E. Dimitris; Ayana N. Harris; Spencer Jet Multack; Victoria del Pino;  Lourdes Simon; and  Andrea Ricker Wolfson. 

Judge Bloch can take solace in this fellow, lost mostly to history, who had a long and tortured path before he was unceremoniously shot and killed.
At age 23 he lost his job and ran for election to the state legislature and lost. The next year his business failed; a year later his girlfriend died and the year after that he suffered a nervous breakdown at age 25. At age 34 he was defeated in a run for congress. Six  years later his application to be a land officer was denied.
At age 45 he ran for senate and lost and four years later his second bid for senate also ended in  defeat.

This was a simple man with a law degree who had continually been defeated in his bid for elective office. He was a pretty decent lawyer, and one of his successful bids for congress only lasted two years, when by virtue of a promise he made, he did not seek reelection.

At age 51, having lost his last two elections for the senate, Abraham Lincoln was elected the sixteenth president of the United States and went on to save the Union and become our greatest president. 

So Judge Bloch, hang in there. Being rejected by the JNC is nothing like what President Lincoln went through.  Just be wary of the play "Our American Cousin" should Judge Altfield and his troupe elect to stage a revival.

See You in Court.

*The Miami Heat is not honoring the retirement of Judge Blake, although they appear to be one of the few establishments in town where a retirement party hasn't been held recently. 

Lincoln Trivia:  What does Fort Jefferson in the Dry Tortugas off of Key West have to do with the Lincoln Assassination?  Anyone but Judge Milton Hirsch may answer. 

THE CIVIL WAR ISN'T OVER .....

THE CAPTAIN REPORTS:

APPOMATTOX .......................

When you wake up this morning, look at your watch, and when you eventually see the hands of the clock strike one pm, think back 150 years and ask yourself this question:  Which side would you have been on?  At One PM, on April 9, 1865, Confederate General Robert E. Lee, walked into the home of Wilmer McLean, in Appomattox, Virginia, and surrendered to Union General Ulysses S. Grant, effectively ending the Civil War.

To think that our grand experiment of a democracy might have failed, well, those are some heavy thoughts.  We talk about American Exceptionalism today, but 150 years ago, our country was coming apart at the seams, and but for the strength and vision and leadership of a great President, Abraham Lincoln, that experiment may have failed.

The "Civil War" ended, the experiment didn't fail - but are we still fighting that war?

President Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863 and by its words, it proclaimed the freedom of slaves in the ten states that were still in rebellion.  The Union won the war, the slaves were freed, but would it be fair to say that, 150 years later, some people still haven't gotten the news?

There is a connection between yesterday's post and today's - and it has to do with how some in our society view the black man in the year 2015.  Yesterday it was the video of Walter Scott being shot in the back by Officer Michael Slager.  Today we were introduced to the video of a mentally ill Lavall Hall, walking aimlessly down the street in his underwear, with a broomstick in his hand, as he is shot multiple times by a Miami Gardens Police Officer.  Lavall's mother had called the police for help.  They knew the history of Lavall Hall.  On the video, the mother can be heard begging the officers, "please don't hurt my child".

Here is the video released by the Hall's family lawyer:

Over the span of the last few months we have read about, and sometimes seen, video of black men, unarmed black men, being shot and many times killed, by white police officers.
 
Back in 2007, ColorLines and the Chicago Reporter investigated fatal police shootings in 10 major cities, and found that there were a disproportionately high number of African Americans among police shooting victims in every city, particularly in New York, San Diego, and Las Vegas.
 
ProPublica reported that "Young black males in recent years were at a far greater risk of being shot dead by police than their white counterparts – 21 times greater ⁱ, according to an analysis of federally collected data on fatal police shootings.  The 1,217 deadly police shootings from 2010 to 2012 captured in the federal data show that blacks, age 15 to 19, were killed at a rate of 31.17 per million, while just 1.47 per million white males in that age range died at the hands of police."

The Atlantic's headline in today's lead story is telling: "The Civil War Isn't Over".  In the article, they recognize the end of the Civil War as happening 150 years ago today, but they go on to state that: "The questions at the heart of the war, though, still occupy the nation, which has never truly gotten over that conflict. The great issues of the war were not resolved on that April morning at Appomattox. In this sense, not only is the Civil War not over; it can still be lost."

Our Declaration of Independence may have been founded on the proposition that all men are created equal, but as Lincoln reminded us four score and seven years later, "the nation founded in a revolution against monarchy had to fight a second revolution against itself in order to determine whether the “proposition” of “equality” had a future in any republic."

The Atlantic piece closes on this note:  "Wars end loudly and in ruins, and sometimes on silent, beautiful spring landscapes such as the surrender field at Appomattox; but history keeps happening. Making “men equal on earth in the sight of other men,  ....., is a long-term proposition, and for that matter, a definition of the meaning of America."

On April 9, 1865, the Civil War ended.  Five days later, Lincoln was shot dead at Ford's Theatre.  Will Lincoln's dream of equality for all men ever come true?

Which side are you on ....................

CAPTAIN OUT .......
Captain4Justice@gmail.com