by TChris

Individuals who claim to be abuse victims often seek a restraining order against the abuser. In many states, a judge will issue a temporary restraining order on the strength of the alleged victim’s affidavit. The TRO remains in effect until a hearing is held to determine whether to enter a lengthier injunction prohibiting contact with the victim.

Too many judges rubber stamp the initial request for a TRO without taking care to decide whether the allegations warrant relief. That seems to be what happened when a Santa Fe woman obtained a TRO against David Letterman. The woman claimed that Letterman “forced her to go bankrupt and caused her ‘mental cruelty’ and ‘sleep deprivation’ since May 1994.” She asked the court to order Letterman to “stay at least 3 yards away and not ‘think of me, and release me from his mental harassment and hammering.’”

The ultra conservative Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals showed some backbone today and denied the Government's request to move indicted detainee Jose Padilla to the custody of the Attorney General from military custody. You can read the opinion here. (pdf) Big defeat for Bush.

In a stinging rebuke to the Bush administration, a U.S. appeals court refused on Wednesday to transfer Jose Padilla from U.S. military custody to federal authorities in Florida until the Supreme Court considers his case.

The high court said bringing criminal charges against Padilla in Florida after he had been held by the U.S. military for more than three years as an enemy combatant created the appearance that the government may be attempting to avoid Supreme Court review of the case.

Saddam Hussein had another outburst at his trial today. While a witness was on the stand testifying about his agents torturing people by tearing off their skin, Saddam claimed that he has been tortured during his time in detention.

"I want to say here, yes, we have been beaten by the Americans and we have been tortured," Saddam said, before gesturing to his seven co-defendants around him, "one by one."

After sitting quietly through several hours of testimony, Saddam said he'd been beaten "everywhere on my body. The marks are still there."

Chief prosecutor Jaafar al-Mousawi said Saddam's claims will be investigated.

VP Dick Cheney cast the tie-breaking vote to pass the stalled budget bill that reduces spending for social programs and hurts low income Americans. The bill slashes money for Medicaid, student loans, welfare and child support, while giving new tax breaks to the rich.

Emergency Campaign for America’s Priorities says Cheney kicked the crutches out from under Tiny Tim. At least, the Senate put in some changes that will require House approval, so the bill will be deferred until 2006. From the press release (received by e-mail):

The Senate has rejected Arctic drilling for oil and the bill passed by the House last week. A press release by the Alaska Wilderness League praises the Senate (received by e-mail):

"We congratulate all the members of the U.S. Senate who have stood up to Senator Stevens’ attempts at blackmail. It was a national disgrace that Senator Stevens was willing to hold funding for our troops hostage just to cut a deal for Big Oil. We congratulate the moderate members of Congress for voting the will of their constituents and fending off Stevens’ giveaway to the oil companies. We are proud to have preserved one of our last remaining wilderness areas for our children and future generations."

Law Professor Doug Berman who writes Sentencing Law and Policy, the go-to blog on criminal sentencing, e-mailed me some thoughts on Bush and his warrantless electronic surveillance orders, the topic being a little off-subject for his blog. He says the fitting label for Bush's behavior is "executive activism."

Unwilling or unable to obtain the power they seek though the legislative process, this administration has made up the law themselves.

I like the label and will go with it. Prof. Berman continues,

It highlights the hypocrisy of this administration in regularly attacking judges for their open efforts to enforce constitutional protections, while it engages in anti-democratic secret efforts to undermine constitutional protections.

Bush is an Executive Activist. Spread the word.

Unidentified sources tell Raw Story's Jason Leopold that Fitzgerald will not be shutting down his probe in the Valerie Plame leaks case when he's finished with Karl Rove.

Individuals close to the probe say Fitzgerald is still investigating other unnamed White House officials. This part of the investigation, like that of Rove, is focusing on whether these officials committed perjury, obstruction of justice or lied to federal investigators during the early days of the investigation -- as opposed to violating an obscure law which makes it a crime to knowingly leak the name of an undercover CIA operative -- they say.

President Bush has granted a pardon to a former drug offender and current Denver lawyer, Wendy St. Charles.

A Denver lawyer was pardoned Tuesday by President Bush for drug-related crimes she committed more than two decades ago. Wendy St. Charles, now 49, was among 11 people who received presidential pardons.

In 1984, she was sentenced to four years in prison in Illinois for conspiracy to conduct a narcotics enterprise and distribution of cocaine, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. She was also put on four years of special parole and four years of probation, which were to run consecutively with her sentence.

Why Ms. Charles? My surmise is her employer lobbied hard for her.

D.C. District Court Judge James Robertson, one of the 11 secret judges of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, has resigned in the wake of the allegations that Bush couldn't even be bothered to get one of these rubber-stamped FISA surveillance orders, despite the fact that the government could monitor conversations for 72 hours before even applying for a warrant if the circumstances so warranted.

Two associates familiar with his decision said yesterday that Robertson privately expressed deep concern that the warrantless surveillance program authorized by the president in 2001 was legally questionable and may have tainted the FISA court's work.

....Robertson indicated privately to colleagues in recent conversations that he was concerned that information gained from warrantless NSA surveillance could have then been used to obtain FISA warrants. FISA court Presiding Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, who had been briefed on the spying program by the administration, raised the same concern in 2004 and insisted that the Justice Department certify in writing that it was not occurring.

The Washington Post reports on the most expensive lawyer in America, the only one to charge $1,000.00 an hour. It is former U.S. Attorney General Ben Civiletti, a partner in the Venable law firm.

Civiletti, who specializes in litigation, antitrust law and white-collar defense, topped the National Law Journal's 16th annual survey of hourly rates at more than 100 of the country's top law firms.

The Post points out that while Civiletti may charge more than any other lawyer, it doesn't mean he earns more than other lawyers:

Civiletti's rate doesn't come close to making him one of the nation's highest-paid lawyers. Trial attorneys can win multibillion-dollar verdicts and earn fees that break down into more than $1,000 an hour, said Coffee. And a firm working on a merger may charge its client a percentage of a deal instead of billing by the hour. The lawyers who successfully sued tobacco companies in 1998, for example, raked in billions of dollars in fees.

This is hardly a surprise, but lobbyist Jack Abramoff reportedly is engaged in serious plea negotiations with the Government. One reason: He says he's broke and can't afford extended trials. His Miami trial is set for January 9. He is also the subject of a Washington grand jury investigation. If he takes a deal, he will provide cooperation against members of Congress and others in exchange for a reduced sentence.

At issue is the complicated structure of the case against Mr. Abramoff. In August, he was indicted by federal prosecutors in Miami on charges of fraud stemming from his purchase of a fleet of casino boats in 2000. He pleaded not guilty in that case, and his lawyers say they are preparing him to stand trial. Mr. Abramoff has also been under investigation here in connection with his lobbying. No charges have been brought against him in that inquiry. The existence of what amounts to two separate but overlapping investigations partly explains why the plea negotiations for Mr. Abramoff have been so protracted and tough, said people with inside knowledge of the case.

Here's another aspect of the investigation that is bound to make some folks nervous:

Thanks to Jane at Firedoglake for asking bloggers and their readers to go help Digby. Just do it. Jane tells you why she thinks it's important to give bloggers a financial assist. Digby has more. Here are my thoughts on it.

In addition to December being the nominations month for the Koufax Awards for liberal blogging excellence, it is also the month that many bloggers must balance the ledger sheet. How many hours were spent blogging, how much money did it cost in lost income from the day job and how much did the blog make from blogads and/or donations?

College students, wealthy retirees and the independently wealthy can blog for love of their topic. Very few others can, and not suprisingly, a lot of the best bloggers fall within this group. The first year, they don't expect to make money through blogging. The second year, some donations and a few ads come their way and they are thrilled. But when the end of the third year rolls around, and still only peanuts are coming in, bloggers have to do an accounting and re-assess.

Digby writes today: