Would it be possible for a corrupt attorney, one with family connections to Karl Rove and the Bush White House, to essentially steal an individual's rights to his own property?
That sounds impossible, you might think.
But hey, this is Republican-dominated Alabama in the Age of Rove. And this is the state where Karl Rove made his national name by turning state courts into a GOP playground before going on to become "Bush's Brain."
In the corrupt environment that Rove has wrought, the seemingly impossible can happen. And in fact, it has happened.
The Alabama blog Legal Schnauzer will show you how an attorney named William E. Swatek used the "umbrella of protection" he enjoys from the Bush Justice Department to actually steal a citizen's rights to his own home.
And get this? This most recent act of thievery is nothing new for Mr. Swatek. He has an almost 30-year history of unethical behavior in the legal profession. Legal Schnauzer will soon be telling you all about that, too.
Long after George W. Bush has left the White House, historians might decide that Dubya's greatest "legacy" is this: He provided shelter for all sorts of unsavory characters to run amok in our justice system. These bad actors range from the prosecutors and judge who ramrodded the Don Siegelman case in Alabama, the prosecutors and judge who ramrodded the Paul Minor case in Mississippi, to the prosecutors who took weak cases and went after Georgia Thompson in Wisconsin and Dr. Cyril Wecht in Pennsylvania.
But Dubya's "legacy" does not end with corrupt prosecutors targeting public officials--as happened in all of the cases noted above. No, it also includes rogue attorneys like Bill Swatek, getting away with actually stealing property rights from regular citizens.
www.legalschnauzer.blogspot.com
I live in Birmingham, Alabama, and work in higher education. I became interested in justice-related issues after experiencing gross judicial corruption in Alabama state courts. This corruption has a strong political component. The corrupt judges are all Republicans, and the attorney who filed a fraudulent lawsuit against me has strong family ties to the Alabama Republican Party, with indirect connections to national figures such as Karl Rove. In fact, a number of Republican operatives who have played a central role in the prosecution of former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman (a Democrat) also have connections to my case.
I am married, with no kids and two Siamese cats. I am the author of the blog Legal Schnauzer. The blog is written in honor of Murphy, our miniature schnauzer (1993-2004)who did so much to help my wife and me survive our nightmarish experience with corrupt judges.
I grew up in Springfield, Missouri, and I am pretty much a lifelong St. Louis Cardinal baseball fan. I've lived in Birmingham for almost 30 years and have adopted the UAB Blazers as my Southern college football and basketball team to follow. Also, follow East Tennessee State basketball.
An avid reader, both fiction and non-fiction. Influential writers on public affairs are Kevin Phillips, Michael Lind, Thomas Edsall, E.J. Dionne, Molly Ivins, and Scott Horton.
Georgia, now controlled by the Republican party has courts that do the same thing.
The courts here can steal with complete immunity from the law. In fact according to the Georgia Supreme Court you can be sued here in Georgia under laws that don’t exist and be subject to penalties for laws that don’t exist even if you are outside the courts personal and subject matter jurisdiction.
In other words I can sue you here in Georgia, in some cases without personal service if you find the right judge, subject you to penalties for laws that do not exist, win my law suit against you if I pay the right people, and the when the Georgia Appeals court, and Supreme court do not review (they don’t have time to review everything) the Georgia case can be used to steal everything you own in any other state under the 4th Amendment even if your states judges are honest.
What a country!
by
Gallaher (2 articles, 0 quicklinks, 3 diaries, 754 comments)
on Friday, June 20, 2008 at 7:59:06 PM
1 comments
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