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Book Review: The Betrayal Of America: How The Supreme Court Undermined The Constitution And Chose Our President (2001), And Supreme Injustice: How The High Court Hijacked Election 2000 (2001), Donald E. Wilkes Jr.

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Book Review of THE BETRAYAL OF AMERICA: HOW THE SUPREME COURT UNDERMINED THE CONSTITUTION AND CHOSE OUR PRESIDENT, by Vincent Bugliosi (Thunder's Mouth Press/Nation Books, 2001), and SUPREME INJUSTICE: HOW THE HIGH COURT HIJACKED ELECTION 2000, by Alan Dershowitz (Oxford University Press, 2001).

The U.S. Supreme Court Hears The Mickey Mouse Case, L. Ray Patterson

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The case of Eldred v. Ashcroft, argued before the U. S. Supreme Court on October 9, 2002, is the most important copyright case since 1834, when the court decided its first, Wheaton v. Peters. In Wheaton, the court ruled that under the Copyright Clause of the U.S. Constitution only Congress can grant copyright for published works. In Eldred, the court will decide the scope of Congress’ copyright power. May Congress grant, in the words of the Copyright Clause, copyright only for a "limited time" or may Congress extend the time already granted for existing copyrights? This is what Congress did …

Employee Interests In Bankrupcy: Lessons From Enron, Lorie Johnson

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Enron employees lost over $1 billion in retirement savings when the company failed and filed for bankruptcy protection. Many of these employees also lost their jobs. Enron employees were both visible and vocal about their losses, quickly obtaining the support of both the AFL-CIO and Jesse Jackson’s Rainbow/Push Coalition in their fight to get some redress for their losses. Since Enron was current on its payroll at the time of the bankruptcy filing, employees’ losses consisted of severance payments totaling $145 million and the losses associated with investments in Enron stock through their 401(k) accounts.

The Rosetta Stone Of The Jfk Assassination?, Donald E. Wilkes Jr.

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In his book November 22, 1963: You Are the Jury (1973), David Belin, Assistant Counsel to the Warren Commission and one of the chief defenders of the Warren Report, asserts that “[t]he Rosetta Stone to the solution of President Kennedy’s murder is the murder of Officer J. D. Tippit. . . . Once [it] is admitted that Oswald killed Patrolman J. D. Tippit, there can be no doubt that the overall evidence shows that Lee Harvey Oswald was the assassin of John F. Kennedy.”

Sneak And Peak Search Warrants, Donald E. Wilkes Jr.

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In his recent article "Taking Liberty with Freedom," author Richard P. Moore reminds us that the USA Patriot Act, signed by President Bush last Oct. 26 in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, "gives the government the kind of sweeping powers of arrest, detention, surveillance, investigation, deportation, and search and seizure that ... assault ... our most basic freedoms."

I want to examine here a single section of the USA Patriot Act--section 213, definitely one of the most sinister provisions of this monstrous statute.

Sneak And Peek Search Warrants And The Usa Patriot Act, Donald E. Wilkes Jr.

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A sneak and peek search warrant (also called a covert entry search warrant or a surreptitious entry search warrant) is a search warrant authorizing the law enforcement officers executing it to effect physical entry into private premises without the owner’s or the occupant’s permission or knowledge and to clandestinely search the premises; usually, such entry requires a stealthy breaking and entering.

The Trial Of The Century--And Of All Time, Donald E. Wilkes Jr.

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The defeat of Nazi Germany brought to the forefront a problem the Allies had been grappling with for years -- what should be done with the Nazi leaders who had not been killed, committed suicide, or escaped into hiding? The Allies agreed that the top Nazi leadership could not allowed their liberty. But beyond that the Allies were in sharp disagreement. Some wanted to summarily execute the Nazi leadership without further ado. Others wanted to place the Nazi leaders on trial and punish them only if convicted. On August 8, 1945 the four principal Allies -- the United States, the …

Government Appeals In Criminal Cases In Georgia, Donald E. Wilkes Jr.

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At common law the government was not permitted to appeal in criminal cases unless government criminal appeals were expressly authorized by statute.

Human Rights And Devolving Standards Of Decency, Donald E. Wilkes Jr.

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In 1958 in Trop v. Dulles the U. S. Supreme Court, construing the Bill of Rights provision prohibiting cruel and unusual punishments, struck down a statute under which American soldiers convicted of desertion in wartime were to be stripped of their American citizenship. In his classic opinion for the Court, Chief Justice Warren stated that the Bill of Rights provision at issue, the Eighth Amendment of the U. S. Constitution, "must draw its meaning from the evolving standards of decency that mark the progress of a maturing society."

Book Review: The War Journal Of Major Damon "Rocky" Gause (1999), Donald E. Wilkes Jr.

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Book Review of THE WAR JOURNAL OF MAJOR DAMON "ROCKY" GAUSE, by Damon Gause (NY: Hyperion, 1999).

Admissibility Of Confessions Under Ocga § 24-3-50, The "Hope Of Benefit, Fear Of Injury" Statute, Donald E. Wilkes Jr.

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Georgia criminal defense attorneys know that in a state criminal trial aconfession may be inadmissible on federal constitutional grounds if itwas coerced in violation of the 14th Amendment due process clause, elicited in contravention of the right to counsel under the 6th Amendment, seized in violation of 4th Amendment protections, or compelled in violation of the 5th Amendment self-incrimination privilege as construed in Miranda v. Arizona4 and its progeny.