Tuesday, December 10, 2002

Silly-ass lawsuits, part 3 FAYETTE, Mississippi (AP) -- Two former Jefferson County, Mississippi, jurors have filed a $6 billion lawsuit against CBS' "60 Minutes" and a newspaper owner over comments about the size of jury awards in the county. Anthony Berry and Johnny Anderson said the news program defamed them in a segment that called the county a haven for "jackpot justice." Berry was among jurors who made a $150 million verdict in an asbestos case, and Anderson sat on a jury that awarded a $150 million judgment in a diet drug case. They are seeking $597 million in actual damages and $5.9 billion in punitive damages. After helping others get the jackpots, they now want a chance to pull the lever themselves.  Where are the tar and feathers? 8:53:27 PM     The Blogtrack at Jane's Blogosphere This is an excellent new resource, providing a single point where a number of entries on a number of weblogs can be reviewed and read at one time. 6:49:23 PM     Strict constructionism Many conservatives still claim to adhere to a doctrine of "strict construction" when considering the proper role of the judiciary in reaching its decisions.  I agree with Justice Antonin Scalia that the proper judicial attitude is not one of strict or narrow construction, but one of reasonable construction.  In his formulation, language "should be interpreted to contain all it fairly means".  He posits that the judge's function is to use a reasonable construction of language used in a statute or regulation in order to effectuate its purpose -- and he is careful to note that it is the purpose of the enactment, not the intent of the legislator, which is important.  He considers suspect any formulaic rule which calls for either strict or liberal construction of any statute, based on the context. He uses the example of the Supreme Court's decision in the case of Smith v. United States, which upheld a higher sentence imposed upon a defendant in a drug case because, contrary to the enhancement statute, a "firearm was used" in the crime.  The offense was that the defendant took a pistol from another actor in exchange for drugs.  Scalia dissented from the majority's ruling upholding the application of the statute, noting that a "strict construction" would support the decision but that the reasonable construction of the language would support its use only when a gun was used as a gun -- that is, either fired or used to threaten someone -- and not when it was used as a commodity for the purpose of a barter exchange. See Antonin Scalia, A Matter Of Interpretation: Federal Courts And The Law (1997). 6:48:39 PM     Algorithm for the family dog ON OpenDoor DO GoOut IF (FarDogs = 1) DO RandomBark ENDIF SET x=RAND() FOR 1, x, 1 DO Sniff DO Circle ENDFOR DO poop IF (FarDogs = 1) DO RandomBark ENDIF LABEL Backin DO SharpBark WAIT 900 SET y = Door(open, closed) IF y = Door(closed) GO Backin ENDIF DO Enter 7:55:16 AM

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