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"Judge Kimba Wood, the brilliant legal mind who has served in Manhattan Federal Court since 1988 and was once nominated for the U.S. Attorney General post, briefly worked at a Playboy casino in 1966."
So, she would have been nominated by Ronald Reagan.
Anyway, Googling her name (I see she is now 74) I see that the knifes are out for her. I wonder why?
Funny thing about the disclosure of Mr. Hannity's name in court: Judge Wood had only asked for the 'third client's' name be revealed TO HER. Mr. Cohen or his attorney could have merely slipped her a piece of paper. It was not Judge Wood's fault that the attorney decided to blurt out Hannity's name in front of the spectators.
By the by: since Mr. Hannity has publicly stated that Mr. Cohen was never his attorney, then the attorney-client privilege does not apply. Mr. Hannity can't have it both ways.
No--My info came from NYTimes's recent article, her wiki page, and a CBS news article and an attorney's post on a legal blog
As point of clarification--
She never "WORKED" as a Playboy bunny/hostess--she trained for several days at the London Mansion/casino (Britian has legal gambling in quite a few "private" clubs) when she was student at Cambridge---then decided it was silly--went on to Harvard Law...but never worked as a Playboy Bunny
She was nominated by Reagan after a referral from former, very powerful GOP Senator Al diAmatto...
And she was with very prestigious and conservative white shoe law firm in NYC...
The "knives" are out for her because the Trump acolytes can't afford to have anyone but one of their own judging their idol...
Woods has extremely high reputation w/in the legal community for being ethical but demanding of the attorneys practicing on either side before her court...she also sets a high bar for any politicians coming before her...
They are afraid she will follow the law and the law will take down Cohen and Trump and anyone they did business with--because their business was illegal 90% of the time...
And re her nanny-gate moment...at the time she hired the woman, it WAS legal to do so. Judge Wood was sponsoring her for a legal Green Card/resident alien/right to work immigration status AND Judge Wood was paying all applicable taxes related to her employment---all above board...
But Clinton was too scared to fight for her nomination after being burned once--so Wood withdrew--she likely would have been a better AG than Janet Reno--because Wood has a sense of humor...Reno apparently had none--just like Trump, in fact...
Wood was classy then...and today...
Plus, as I have noted before, the odd fact about libel or slander suits is that the plaintiff's reputation is at issue.
For instance, in this case, by filing such lawsuits, Mr. Cohen must show to any jury that he had a 'good' reputation that has suffered 'harm' by the libelous or slanderous statements.
I heartily recommend the book "My Life In Court" by famed (now dead) attorney Louis Nizer. One of his cases involved the libel suit brought by Quentin Reynolds (a famed WWII columnist and photographer) against the right-wing columnist Westbrook Pegler (the Alex Jones, one could argue, of the 1940s) It is considered a landmark case, with Mr. Reynolds prevailing in court, with Mr. Pegler's career ruined.
When Mr. Reynolds first met with Mr. Nizer to file his libel suit, Mr. Nizer first tried to talk him out of it, saying something like "libel is like wet mud splashing against your trousers; best to let it dry and then it easily brushes off".
Mr. Nizer then warned Mr. Reynolds that,during trial, the defendant would seek to destroy Mr. Reynolds reputation. Mr. Nizer was correct.
However, Mr. Reynolds had such a sterling reputation, and Mr. Pegler was shown during the trial to be such a creep, that the jury:
1) decided that the libel did not materially harm Mr. Reynolds reputation, as such, awarding Mr. Reynolds One Dollar in actual damages; and yet:
2) awarded Mr. Reynolds $175,000 in putative damages (a lot of money in 1954).
The reason that the case is 'landmark' is because Mr. Pegler appealed, arguing that the putative damages were way out of proportion to the actual damages. The Court upheld the verdict.
So! I believe it is for this reason that Mr. Cohen is dropping his libel suits. He would not want his reputation to be put on trial.
Edited to add: as an interesting side-note, Mr. Nizer was going to be Mr. Nixon's attorney during any impeachment trial. In one of his books Mr. Nizer sets forth the legal argument he had prepared to argue, rendered moot by Mr. Nixon resigning.
Thanks--an excellent example from history both of the rule of law and the idea that people who try to abuse the system for their OWN ends vs the ends of Justice often come out the worse...
And I think we might all agree that Mr. Cohen's reputation has already been "put on trial" and frankly, found wanting...
He has stepped in his own do-do too many times to count...and is still waiting to find out the criminal charges
The fact that Ryan and McConnell prefer to be ostriches w/their heads in the sand about Trump's ability to stop/thwart the Mueller investigation illustrates they won't cross Trump--even to protect an investigation into Russia's attempt to suborn the US election...that's real patriotic, isn't it...
Loyalty not to country--but to tribe...first and foremost...
This is why it's important that there's a large and continous protest all across the USA if Rosenstein or Mueller get fired.
I have never attended a protest in my entire life but I plan to protest, peacefully, if Rosenstein or Mueller are fired. It won't be a 1 day event. It will take place every day until congress is forced to take action. If it means having a 2 hour shift every day, standing with a group and protesting, then this is what concerned Citizens will need to do. Enough is enough.
US law does not allow the current president to pick and choose judges. Thought GOP loved the rule of law.
Fortunately or unfortunately (as your party waxes and wains) the POTUS does have the power to pick and choose judges for some courts in the US--
He has to abide by the "advise and consent" oversight rule however
Trump has had some nominees approved--
This link is about one of the more egregious failures
And while it points to a weakness in the system that makes finding a good choice difficult
Trump's choice Matthew Peterson had never been a practicing attorney--of any kind--
So how could he know anything about the legal process???
He was a political appointee of the first order simply because someone in the GOP wanted him to get a lifetime appointment to the bench where he could implant his conservative conscientious on legal precedent
This is why it's important that there's a large and continous protest all across the USA if Rosenstein or Mueller get fired.
I have never attended a protest in my entire life but I plan to protest, peacefully, if Rosenstein or Mueller are fired. It won't be a 1 day event. It will take place every day until congress is forced to take action. If it means having a 2 hour shift every day, standing with a group and protesting, then this is what concerned Citizens will need to do. Enough is enough.
Saw a story where the Pittsburg police Dept issued a notice that if Mueller is fired, everyone comes to work with riot gear
I am not sure if this is storyline encourages as much by the alt-right because it would allow them to come out not as the initiators of the protests but as the "saviors" of democracy---in their propaganda...
I know these sign ups have been making the rounds--
I just don't know how peaceful they might be if the alt-right comes around...
Such a surprise!
Just as McDougal "won" her case last night or at least reached settlement--
She came away with no financial damages paid to her
Her attorney said on Maddow's show last night that she was not seeking that
She just wanted to be released from that contract
I agree with Maddow--doesn't seem after all her time/effort/expenses that she was "made whole" but the attorney insisted the judgement was as much as she would have gotten if it had actually gone to trial...
So lot of late night legal decisions happening...
Last edited by loves2read; 04-19-2018 at 08:45 AM..
There is so much information out there about Judge Wood--most of it accurate although with the alt-right gunning for her, I guess that will change
But YES--she was nominated by Reagan after he received a nomination request by former, very powerful GOP Senator Al DiAmatto...Amatto was impressed by her legal knowledge and professionalism--not her political ties
That ability to be unbiased when seeking jurists has surely suffered with the new tribalism of GOP politics...
I know these sign ups have been making the rounds--
I just don't know how peaceful they might be if the alt-right comes around...
The signups for the protest stress several times that they plan to be peaceful. They insist on it being a peaceful protest. They tell people not to make antagonistic signs that could cause friction.
Of course, if the other side gets into their faces and starts fights, then that's unfortunate. Hopefully everything stays peaceful. Hopefully the fighters on both sides stay away from the peaceful people.
Unfortunately, if there is a protest, Trump likely will antagonize his followers because he'll likely attack the protest via twitter to get his followers stirred up.
Although the Cohen related lawsuit won't be impacted since it's separate.
Last edited by sware2cod; 04-19-2018 at 08:43 AM..
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