O'Brien
Cheap Shot: Attacking a Lawyer for Her Client's Crimes
01/11/12 12:09 CategoriesMichigan Politics |Michigan Supreme Court
A colleague I like very much (Bridget McCormack) is running for judge. She is being attacked because she volunteered to consult on the Gittmo cases. I find it deeply offensive. I can't even believe that people would honestly think that you should vote against lawyer because of who our clients are. I've had close friends give up years of their life volunteering to defend war crime trials for little or no money just to make sure that the trial is fair. If Colleen O'Brien (Bridget's opponent) is as committed to the rule of law as her advertising claims,she'd be out there disavowing this attack ad.
I joined the ACLU when they defended the rights of Nazis to march in Skokie. I'm Jewish. My counsel took six months out of his life to take a court appointed cases defending folks who the FBI claimed were planning on overthrowing the US government (the Hutari militia). The judge found the case unfounded and acquitted his client. My old mentor James C. Thomas defended a mentally ill man the Government claimed was a terrorist. The Government dropped charges and fired the Assistant United States Attorney who was caught hiding evidence showing this man was innocent.
The Judge Judys of the world are not the "tough judges." They are the bullies. The lawyer who risks having his house fire bombed to represent the unpopular individual is like this pathetic woman's soldier-son. They are carrying out their vow to uphold the constitution. They should be applauded, not condemned. The tragedy is the type of person who extends themselves in this way is precisely the type of person who would make the best judge. They are driven to these acts for concern for the system, rather than personal gain. For example, I'm reasonably good friends with Judy Clarke, the attorney who defended Timothy McVeigh (Oklahoma City), Susan Smith (accused of drowning her two children in North Carolina), Ted Kaczynski (the uni-bomber) and Jared Loughner (the nut job who shot Gabrielle Giffords). She is one of the most decent persons I know, a retired public defender, and the exact opposite of "money grubbing." She is certainly not in favor of blowing up people, courthouses, shooting elected officials, or drowning children. These individuals are the type of person who will rule the way the case law takes them even if it is politically unpopular. It is a shame if this type of attack strategy drives the people most capable of being the best judges out of the running.
A friend of mine reminded me that our second President of the United States (John Adams) defended British Regulars accused of killing civilians during the Boston Massacre. This is what lawyers do. I know all the jokes made about us, but most of us work twice as hard as the average joe to earn an ordinary pay check. We are not Geoff Feiger, we are folks who are slugging it out to make sure the system is fair. The more society hates our client, the bigger the chance that people will cut corners to get a conviction. Many of the folks arrested on suspicion of terrorism are ultimately freed because even the Government isn't sure they are guilty. As Shakespeare recognized , if you want to destroy a society “first kill all the lawyers."
I joined the ACLU when they defended the rights of Nazis to march in Skokie. I'm Jewish. My counsel took six months out of his life to take a court appointed cases defending folks who the FBI claimed were planning on overthrowing the US government (the Hutari militia). The judge found the case unfounded and acquitted his client. My old mentor James C. Thomas defended a mentally ill man the Government claimed was a terrorist. The Government dropped charges and fired the Assistant United States Attorney who was caught hiding evidence showing this man was innocent.
The Judge Judys of the world are not the "tough judges." They are the bullies. The lawyer who risks having his house fire bombed to represent the unpopular individual is like this pathetic woman's soldier-son. They are carrying out their vow to uphold the constitution. They should be applauded, not condemned. The tragedy is the type of person who extends themselves in this way is precisely the type of person who would make the best judge. They are driven to these acts for concern for the system, rather than personal gain. For example, I'm reasonably good friends with Judy Clarke, the attorney who defended Timothy McVeigh (Oklahoma City), Susan Smith (accused of drowning her two children in North Carolina), Ted Kaczynski (the uni-bomber) and Jared Loughner (the nut job who shot Gabrielle Giffords). She is one of the most decent persons I know, a retired public defender, and the exact opposite of "money grubbing." She is certainly not in favor of blowing up people, courthouses, shooting elected officials, or drowning children. These individuals are the type of person who will rule the way the case law takes them even if it is politically unpopular. It is a shame if this type of attack strategy drives the people most capable of being the best judges out of the running.
A friend of mine reminded me that our second President of the United States (John Adams) defended British Regulars accused of killing civilians during the Boston Massacre. This is what lawyers do. I know all the jokes made about us, but most of us work twice as hard as the average joe to earn an ordinary pay check. We are not Geoff Feiger, we are folks who are slugging it out to make sure the system is fair. The more society hates our client, the bigger the chance that people will cut corners to get a conviction. Many of the folks arrested on suspicion of terrorism are ultimately freed because even the Government isn't sure they are guilty. As Shakespeare recognized , if you want to destroy a society “first kill all the lawyers."