U.S. Court of Appeals

Kirby Dick Brings The Invisible War to UCI; Oscar-Nominated Doc on Military Sex Assaults

Women in combat is a hot topic and Kirby Dick is a hot documentary filmmaker.Both are coming to UC Irvine Tuesday, when Dick's Academy Award-nominated documentary The Invisible War will be screened, followed by a panel discussion featuring the provocative director and the lead attorney in several cl ... More >>

Marijuana To Remain A Schedule One Narcotic, Court Rules

To the great dismay of stoners and medical marijuana activists everywhere, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Washington D.C. Circuit ruled yesterday that marijuana will remain illegal for doctors to prescribe as medicine. Specifically, the court agreed with lawyers for the U.S. Drug Enforcement ... More >>

Lorenzo Oliver, Who Sued Anaheim Over Opossum Killing Arrest, Settles for $400k

The City of Anaheim can pretend all it wants that it is dead, but that will not disappear a $400,000 settlement with a father and son city cops arrested and detained respectively for the shovel killing of an opossum. Lorenzo Oliver's subsequent wrongful arrest lawsuit was rejected in federal court i ... More >>

To Barack Obama Administration, Government Forced Abortions & Sterilization Isn't Persecution

President Barack Obama felt compelled today to whine about tough words Susan Rice, his United Nation's ambassador, has taken from two Republican senators over the Sept. 11 Benghazi tragedy.At one point during his White House press conference, Obama looked as if he wanted to fist fight John McCain an ... More >>

Orange County Lawyer in Loan Modification Scam Loses Federal Appeal

For several years beginning in about 2008, Orange County attorney/businessman Paul Jeffrey Lucas and his Lucas Law Center ran a mortgage loan modification scam that ripped off numerous consumers between $1,000 to $3,995 each.From their Aliso Viejo offices, Lucas and his employees promised to perform ... More >>

Coyotl Tezcatlipoca Loses But So Does City in Ruling Over Costa Mesa Law Targeting Dissent

The Costa Mesa City Council was legally in the right to twice remove immigrant-rights activist and punk rocker Coyotl Tezcatlipoca (a.k.a. Benito Acosta) from council meetings in 2006 under a municipal ordinance that makes it a misdemeanor for members of the public to engage in "disorderly . . . or ... More >>

Kobe Bryant Settles Totally Bullshit Assault Case

We've taken our digs at Kobe Bryant over the years for calling a referee a faggot, marrying a wannabe Kardashian and, of course, his world-famous infidelity, but it's really coming out of love. Honest, Black Mamba is our favorite NBA superstar residing in tony Newport Coast--at least until Dwight Ho ... More >>

Lorenzo Oliver Can Sue Anaheim Cops for False Arrest in Opossum Slaying

Anaheim Police have enough on their hands when it comes to the questionable way they protect human citizens but now the department is coming under fire for the way it protects possums.A federal appeals court ruled Lorenzo Oliver can sue Anaheim Police for false arrest because cops detained him and h ... More >>

Disneyland Slammed By Federal Judges For Dissing Disabled Visitor

Anaheim, oh dear, Anaheim. You've had to endure the insufferable Curt Pringle, Harry Sidhu and the Rams. Lately you've watched your city literally on fire as cops clash with outraged residents alarmed over continual evidence of police brutality and hoodlum antics. How bad are things now in Anah ... More >>

Barbie Maker Mattel and Bratz Maker MGA Find Unusual Common Ground on Insurer Suit

Now we know why MGA keeps dragging Mattel back into a Santa Ana federal court that has already awarded the Bratz doll maker $310 million for damages, attorney fees and other court costs associated with a seven-year, back-and-forth battle with the larger company known for Barbie dolls.

Communist China Spy in Anaheim Loses Conviction Appeal

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has rejected the complaints of Chi Mak, the Anaheim defense company engineer who claims he was wrongly convicted of trying to deliver to communist China a CD containing data about sensitive methods U.S. Navy submarines and warships employ to avoid sound detection.M ... More >>

Remorseless Huntington Beach Kiddie Porn Distributor Heading to Slammer

A federal judge in Orange County has sentenced a Huntington Beach handyman to spend 240 months in prison for Internet transportation and possession of hard-core child pornography.Quay Phipps--who employed the username "Wefucumjung" collected more than 20,100 images and admitted that he likes to view ... More >>

Irvine Man Wants Off 'No Fly List,' Sues FBI

It's easy to complain about air travel, especially when TSA agents feel you up like it's prom night and then the guy behind you plops his flaking feet on your arm rest. But typically, the end reward is getting where you want to go in a conceivable amount of time. Not for Stephen Persaud. On May 11, ... More >>

What We Learned, Feb. 4-10

​It's a week worth of bite-size Orange County news and what it all taught us.FEB. 4: The Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange reveals on its website that it is accepting from parishoners new names for Crystal Cathedral through Feb. 20. Bishop Tod Brown's only requirement is that the new moniker be "C ... More >>

Chuck Smith on Proposition 8 Ruling: "Absolutely Tragic"

​Pastor Chuck Smith of Calvary Chapel today led off his daily radio program Pastor's Perspective not with a prayer, but a protest. Smith referred to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals striking down California's ban on same-sex marriage as "absolutely tragic", and wond ... More >>

Ditch 3-D Glasses for "Jesus Glasses" at One Irvine International Film Festival Screening

​"Irvine International Film Festival is Full of Hidden Gems" gives an overview of the inaugural event running through Monday at Edwards Westpark 8 in Irvine, but more advance word is in order for Vic Losick's In God We Teach. Though it mostly chronicles a New Jersey high school student outing his ... More >>

Quick Ruling for Gay Marriage in California Expected Despite Today's Prop 8 Ruling

​The California Supreme Court ruled today that gay marriage foes can fight the reversal of Prop 8.Because the offices of the governor and state attorney general refuse to defend the same-sex marriage ban, legal scholars such as UC Irvine School of Law Dean Erwin Chemerinsky had opined that Prop 8 ... More >>

Souhair Khatib Can Sue County of Orange for Having to Remove Her Hijab: U.S. Supreme Court

​The U.S. Supreme Court today upheld an Orange County woman's right to sue the County of Orange for its jailers making her remove her hijab, or traditional Islamic headdress, in a Santa Ana courthouse holding cell in 2006. The high court essentially rejected an appeal by the county of a March ruli ... More >>

Appellate Court Upholds That Dongfan Chung, An Orange County Aerospace Engineer, Is Guilty Of Stealing Trade Secrets For China

ArmsExpo.ruDongfan "Greg" Chung​The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals yesterday upheld the decision a Santa Ana-based judge made last year about an Orange County man with espionage ties to The People's Republic of China. The appellate court agreed that 75-year-old Dongfan "Greg" Chung, an a ... More >>

Ruling Likely Kills Bans on Day Laborers Seeking Work on Streets of Costa Mesa and Mission Viejo

​Laws in Costa Mesa and Mission Viejo that ban day laborers from standing on public sidewalks to seek work from passing motorists are in jeopardy following a federal appeals court ruling.When the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decided 9-2 Friday to affirm a district court's previous ruling th ... More >>

Ivan Von Staich, Convicted Murderer Who Scored Win in Parole Bid, Has Menaced Courts for Years

​The state parole board Wednesday found suitable for parole a two-time jail escapee convicted of bludgeoning a former girlfriend with a claw hammer and fatally shooting her husband in 1983. District Attorney Tony Rackauckas opposed Ivan Von Staich's parole bid, but if the 55-year-old is ultimately ... More >>

George Saieg, Anaheim Muslim-to-Christian Evangelist, Wins Free Speech Ruling

​Somehow we missed this one from a couple weeks ago, but George Saieg recently won an appellate court decision regarding his free-speech rights and mistreatment by the city of Dearborn, Michigan, which had barred the Anaheim evangelist from passing out pamphlets urging Muslims to convert to Christ ... More >>

South Orange County Community College District Settles Prayer Lawsuit

The South Orange County Community College District has settled a suit brought by some of its teachers and one former student over the practice of opening prayers at various official district events.The plaintiffs in Westphal v. Wagner--which references Karla Westphal, a Saddleback professor who ... More >>

As State Supremes Vow to Rule on Prop 8 Backers' Standing, Tom Harman Tries to Make Matter Moot

Presumably non-gay State Sen. Tom Harman​The California Supreme Court yesterday agreed to analyze whether Proposition 8 proponents have standing to appeal a federal judge's ruling that lifted the ban on same-sex marriages in the Golden State--a legal detour that could delay an appellate decision o ... More >>

Ninth Circuit Upholds Sheriff Mike Carona's Corruption Conviction

Teflon Mikey loses his magic​Orange County's long, disgusting law enforcement nightmare is finally over.Disgraced ex-Sheriff Mike Carona, once absurdly hailed as "America's sheriff" by CNN's Larry King, is going to federal prison.This morning an all Republican panel of federal judges at the Ninth ... More >>

Prop 8 Backers Want Their Rainbow Flags Back

It's mine!​When Dr. Jennifer Roback Morse, an anti-gay/pro-straight marriage proponent with the San Diego-based Ruth Institute made her way into a recent Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals hearing on Prop 8, she wore a rainbow-colored scarf around her neck.No, Morse was not switch-hitting. She wa ... More >>

Birthers Cling to Case With an OC Connection Claiming Obama is Ineligible to be President

​Political Vel Craft ("Veil of Politics") is an amazing site with ads against the climate change "con," a link to the U.S. Debt Clock and blanket coverage of the WikiLeaks-exposed marriage between the United Kingdom and The Illuminati. There's also a call for U.S. Supreme Court C ... More >>

The U.S. Supreme Court Battle for Free Speech in Video Games: How This Will Affect You

Flickr user SomeGeekinTN​This past Tuesday, the U.S. Supreme court convened in order to hear arguments for the case of Schwarzenegger vs. Entertainment Merchant Association/Entertainment Software Association (EMA/ESA). Here, the court will decide whether to overturn the decisions made by the Ninth ... More >>

City Wins One, Loses One in Supreme Week

​It's rare for a city to be involved in one case before the U.S. Supreme Court, let alone two. By refusing to hear Long Beach-related appeals this week, justices handed the city one loss and one victory.After serving nearly 14 years in state prison for a 1988 child rape, Leonard McSherry of Santa ... More >>

Court Reinstates Evangelist's Defamation Suit Against ABC

The Price is Right!​The United States Court of Appeals has overturned a federal judge's ruling that ended a wealthy Southern California preacher's defamation lawsuit against ABC "20/20" and former correspondent John Stossel.Judge R. Gary Klausner had decided that even though Stossel's broadcast to ... More >>

UCI's Chemerinsky to Represent Teacher in 'Jesus Glasses' Appeal

James Corbett​The Register's Scott Martindale reports that the lovably liberal UCI Law dean, Erwin Chemerinsky, will help represent James Corbett in his appeal of the ruling earlier this year that he violated the Constitution by criticizing Creationism in a Capistrano Valley High School classroom. ... More >>

Court Slams LAPD For Illegally Seizing Medical Marijuana Profits

​In a remarkable opinion issued today with potential Orange County implications, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit blasted the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) for committing "highly objectionable," "tainted," "reckless," "misleading" and "illegal" conduct in a 2005 atte ... More >>

Free Speech Triumphs Over Gestapo in OC!

Oppression didn't end in 1945​Folks are always complaining that Congress and state legislatures should not be allowed to meet except for a couple of weeks a year. It's an idea to help curtail the nanny-state notions of politicians of both major political parties. Good enough. But what about city ... More >>

Anaheim Ducks Owner, Broadcom Co-founder Samueli May Be Prison Bound

Wikipedia.org Henry Samueli's next uniform may be an orange jumpsuit.The Anaheim Ducks owner, Irvine's Broadcom Corp. co-founder and UC Irvine Henry Samueli School of Engineering namesake may be prison bound. Orange County Register reports a federal court today dismissed an appeal ... More >>

Cell Phone Towers Make Waves, Angry OC Residents Cry Cancer

Yoo in Clear or Not So Fast?

World events are moving so fast and furious, one wonders how participants in the Saturday and Tuesday Chapman University School of Law debates featuring visiting professor and Bush White House torture enabler John Yoo at the center of each are keeping up with their talking points.CBSNews.com Legal A ... More >>

Spain, Chapman University Debaters Are Out to Get John Yoo

So the big question when John Yoo speaks at Chapman University next week about presidential power is: Will he be shackled? Probably not, seeing as how this is not Spain, but were Orange within the Iberian Peninsula nation and NATO ally, he'd be under criminal indictment for sanctioning torture at Gu ... More >>

Resentencing for another Sheriff Carona felon/pal

In May 2006, OC Weekly broke the news that then-Orange County Sheriff Mike Carona had allowed fellow con man Joseph M. Medawar to film the county's top secret anti-terrorism training procedures three years earlier. (See "Department of Homeland Stupidity.") A native of Lebanon, Medawar used the foota ... More >>

Taken to School

Judge dismisses a multimillion-dollar lawsuit by professors alleging class-hour fraud against Chapman University

OC Lawyer Tossed From CA Republican Bribery Case

A federal judge in San Diego removed Mark Geragos from a sensational bribery case yesterday because the (in)famous Orange County-based defense lawyer refused to agree to a federal background check before receiving classified national-security-related data. Geragos—who worked for convicted wife-a ... More >>

Diary of a Mad County

May 3 - May 9

Porn-secution

The Bush administration has a new weapon in its war on porn: stalkers

Diary Of A Mad County

Diary of a Mad County

Perp Walks

The Pledge: God and the Devil are in the Details

And Connie Chung is dung

Court Jousters

Reg Squawks as Box Blocks Cox!

Case study of a flip-flop-flip at The Orange County Register

Objection!

Bush set to name Cox to U.S. bench

What Happened?