Law

Are The Feds Unfairly Targeting Muslim Students Who Oppose Israel?

In Washington D.C. today, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) opened a probe of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), following reports that the IRS was unfairly targeting conservative non-profit groups affiliated with the Tea Party movement. Closer to home, the California chapter of the Counc ... More >>

Erwin Chemerinsky and Rick Hasen of UCI Law Weigh in Far and Wide on Voting Rights Act

Something more supremely has overshadowed the news that UC Irvine School of Law Dean Erwin Chemerinsky has been named a new endowed chair in First Amendment Law through a $1.5 million gift from Raymond Pryke, owner and publisher of the Valleywide Newspapers chain based in Hesperia. Chemerinsky and ... More >>

Ron Paul Delegates' Lawsuit Over Intimidation Linked to Mitt Romney is Tossed ... For Now

Federal judge David O. Carter in Santa Ana today dismissed the lawsuit accusing Republican officials and especially Mitt Romney supporters of thwarting Ron Paul's bid for the party's presidential nomination.However, the Clinton appointee did leave the door open for an amended complaint.

Kurt Duncan Naegele Sentence in Hearst Castle DUI Crash That Killed a Man Satisfies None

No one was happy when Kurt Duncan Naegele was blamed for causing a 2009 car crash near Hearst Castle that injured him, two others and killed a fourth. And they weren't happy when a mistrial was declared in his vehicular manslaughter trial after the defense said it would present evidence showing a di ... More >>

Ambulance Chasing? There's an App for That

​You're sitting there at the side of the road with another slack-jawed driver you've just engaged in a fender bender. Time was, you'd fumble for paper and pen and switch names and digits with the other bumper carsman for insurance deductible considerations to be figured out later. But now, a Newpo ... More >>

Dana Rohrabacher Co-Sponsors Bill Saving Pot Clubs Cash

​Everybody's favorite surfing congressman, Dana Rohrabacher, (R-Surf City), has co-authored legislation on Capitol Hill that would save medical marijuana dispensaries untold thousands of dollars per year in tax charges. We heard this amazing news courtesy of our Bay Area sister paper, the SF Weekl ... More >>

[UPDATED with Promotion for Liar:] Deanna Fogarty-Hardwick Wins Supreme Court Ruling Against County Taking Her Daughters

​UPDATE, APRIL 26, 11:52 A.M.: You might assume--wrongly, it turns out--that lying to a juvenile court commissioner so a woman's two daughters would be taken away from her for years would cost two County of Orange social workers their jobs. Even if you didn't believe those workers lied after the f ... More >>

Petition Filed with US Patent Office to Cancel "Urban Homestead" Trademark Held by Dingbat Dervaes Family

The Ma and Pa Kettle of the legal world?​Remember that humongous controversy earlier this year when a weirdo Pasadena family not only successfully got a trademark for the term "urban homesteading" (used in American English for decades), but began sending threatening legal letters to entities who u ... More >>

Fox News Darling of Trumped-Up New Black Panther Voter Intimidation Case to Speak in Newport Beach

​J. Christian Adams, founder of the McLean, Virginia-based Election Law Center and frequent conservative media talking head, is coming to Newport Beach Wednesday to perpetuate something that has been labeled a right-wing fantasy: that New Black Panther Party for Self-Defense members intimidated P ... More >>

[UPDATED] Irvine 11 Charged With Misdemeanors, Face Jail, Probation, Community Service if Convicted

Photos by Christopher Victorio/OC WeeklySeven of the Irvine 11​UPDATE, MARCH 11, 4:08 P.M.: The arraignment of the Irvine 11 was continued this morning until April 15 so the court can consider defense motions to seal grand jury documents, remove the Orange County District Attorney (OCDA) from the ... More >>

[UPDATED] Irvine 11 Charged With Misdemeanors, Face Jail, Probation, Community Service if Convicted

​UPDATED, FEB. 28, 8:33 A.M.: The Islamic Institute of Orange County hosts "Stand With the Irvine 11: Community Town Hall and Action" at 6:30 p.m. Saturday in the IIOC Multipurpose Room, 1220 N. State College Blvd., Irvine.The event flier follows after the jump. (Also, scroll down a couple posts i ... More >>

Bradley Stewart Wagner, Ex-Cop Who Forced Immigrants to Sex Him Up, Heads to Federal Court

​Bradley Stewart Wagner, a former Anaheim police officer who was sentenced last month to four years in prison for forcing immigrant women to blow him lest he have them deported, has more legal entanglements ahead. The 63-year-old Perris resident is due in federal court in Los Angeles on Feb. 22, w ... More >>

Obama Signs "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" Repeal

​As expected, President Barack Obama signed legislation today that repeals the 17-year-old "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" law that prevented gays and lesbians from serving openly in the U.S. military. However, it could still take months for military officials to completely lift the old policy.Still, Ob ... More >>

Election Monitor Named for People's Republic of Orange County

​An election monitor has been appointed for the People's Republic of Orange County. No, Jimmy Carter isn't coming Tuesday.  Assistant United States Attorney Dennis Mitchell, as he has done before, will serve as the District Election Officer for the Central District of California, which includ ... More >>

Grinding Justice

Operation Streamline costs millions, tramples the Constitution, treats migrants like cattle, doesn't work

Groups Step Up Opposition to Punishment for UC Irvine's Muslim Student Union

​Meant to get this up yesterday, but a group that protects the legal rights of Asians and Pacific Islanders sent word that it has joined 14 other civil rights organizations and professional bar associations from across the nation in condemning the recommended suspension of UC Irvine's Muslim Stude ... More >>

Thanh Viet Jeremy Cao Indicted for Allegedly Filing Tax Liens Against Fed Officials, Tax Returns With $20 Billion in Refunds for Himself

​A Rancho Santa Margarita man has been indicted by a federal grand jury in Las Vegas, where he also lives, for allegedly filing 22 false liens ranging from $25 million to $300 million against four federal judges and employees of the IRS, Secret Service, Securities and Exchange Commission and the ... More >>

Celebrate Tax Day With a High-Tech Toilet, "An Inconvenient Tax" Film

Second prize: steak knives.​Ah, Tax Day. What better day to get a spritz up your butt crack?

Ramona Ripston Retires as ACLU/SC Executive Director

Ramona Ripston​Ramona Ripston, who has been executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California for 38 years, announced her retirement today."This organization has not only been my work but also my life for a long time, so a decision like this one certainly comes with m ... More >>

Man Who Drowned 4-Year-Old Son Over Child Support Sentenced to 25 Years to Life in Prison

​A 38-year-old Fullerton father who was angry about having to pay child support was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison this morning for murdering his 4-year-old son by drowning him in a bathtub. Gideon Walter Omondi, who previously tried to burn the boy and himself to death by dousing the car ... More >>

Judge Finds Both For and Against OC Teacher of "Jesus Glasses" Fame

Keith MayThe headline-grabbing lawsuit filed in 2007 by Chad Farnan, a senior at Capistrano Valley High, against history teacher James Corbett for allegedly expressing hostility towards Christianity in class, came to a close today, and it's still a little unclear who really won. The federal judge wh ... More >>

Protect the Children, Sign Church's Petition to Ban Mormon Marriage

When California's gay marriage legal debate gets tough, the tough get weirder: Universal Free Church has now launched a national petition drive to ban Mormon marriage.Mary Cristos, leader of the new, St. Louis-based "Free" religious denomination, says the UFC believes in "religious freedom and relig ... More >>

[Moxley Confidential] Clint McCall Gets His Man, Again

Letters From OC Weekly Readers

Letters From OC Weekly Readers

OC Sex Inventions

Inspired by an exhibit of sex inventions at the New York-based Museum of Sex, I thought I'd do a little trolling through the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's online search for anything interesting coming out of our fair county. Anaheim inventor Wayne Manska was awarded patent #6,645,164 in 2003 ... More >>

Caught in Violation of the Act

WEB EXCLUSIVE! DAs report finds Capistrano Unified held illegal closed meetings

Letters

'Dude, what were you thinking?'

Andy Get Your Gun

OC arms dealer with AK-47s, rocket launchers escapes prosecution

You've Been Warned: Pacific Legal Foundation, CATO Institute come to Chapman

Someone from the Chapman U Federalist Society asked that we notify our readers about the event we're going to notify you about in a couple secs. But, as we explained to the chap/chapette, we will not be able to notify readers in the print edition about this event because we got the notice from the F ... More >>

Another good reason to be rich

Sure, there are plenty of good reasons to be rich– don't have to worry about the rising cost of living; the greater likelihood of attracting a pneumatic mate (or at least being able to afford to surgically alter your mate into a more pneumatic state, until a newer, pneumatic-er model comes alo ... More >>

Putting the Right in Civil Rights

Charlie Savage, the excellent Boston Globe reporter who broke the story of President Bush's governing-by-presidential-signing-statement trick, brings us more disturbing news. The Bush administration is quietly remaking the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division, filling the permanent ranks with ... More >>

Confused Voters, Stupid Congressmen

How far do you have to go in trying to stomp on the huddled masses yearning to breathe free before even Congressman James Sensenbrenner, the man whose draconian immigration bill sparked all those protests, calls bullshit? As far as trying to gut part of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. And unfortunately, ... More >>

'Showing 95-Year-Old Old Dick Isnt a Pretty Sight'

OC Law Enforcement 'Poisoned'

Assemblyman Todd Spitzer questions the District Attorneys judgment, fairness

Gag Order

The war inside the DAs media department

Tony Baloney

Two weeks ago, he was oddly the harshest critic of local justice. Meet the new Tony Rackauckas

Lo Siento

An open letter of apology to the Spanish people

Two Down, One to Go

With Carmona and Moore free, George Lopez should be next

Vote for Me, the SOB!

Son of Bill (Steiner) tries to follow in Daddys footsteps

Night Drop

Argyros debacle reminds us of another HB scandal, this one involving a bank

You Dont Wanna Be Dave

Former HB mayors case goes to the DAs office

'Where Is Edward Quinones?'

The case of the missing Santa Ana inmate

Rifling Victorias Drawers

The Smoking Gun picks copyright fight with panty peddler

We Already Hate Kids Here

Proposition 21 wont change much in OC

Letters

Testilying

Video embarrasses DA, Newport cops

Party's Not Over Yet

GOP insider maneouvers for DA's office

Rohrabacher: 'I Am Not a Homosexual'

Angry Republican stirs up OCN