Lawyers know how to do it, but then, so do members of Congress.
Posts Tagged ‘U.S. House of Representatives’
Thomas Geoghegan runs for Congress
Left-leaning author, lawyer and union advocate Thomas Geoghegan is running for Rahm Emanuel’s House seat in Chicago. I’ve often in the past recommended Geoghegan’s first book on labor unions Which Side Are You On?, because of its force and originality, despite my (pretty much diametric) opposition to most of his ideas policy-wise.
His most recent book See You in Court: How the Right Made America a Lawsuit Nation (2007, New Press, and out in paperback this month) showed independence of mind and a willingness to rethink received ideas, as usual, but disappointed in other respects. For one thing, Geoghegan seemed more interested in blowing off steam against conservatives and litigation reformers than in trying to understand what they actually think about the issues he raised. The result was that some of his shots fell very wide of the mark, while he missed other points that might have advanced his case. Ted wrote a much more extended critique of the book that is linked here.
Note, however, that commenter “Vail Beach” stopped by the other day to offer a more positive assessment of “Lawsuit Nation” that is worth giving thought to. The House race, at any rate, should be fun to watch. More: Kaus.
Langston’s leniency letters
The lawyer defending disgraced Mississippi plaintiff’s lawyer Joey Langston asked that the hundreds of letters pleading for leniency in his sentencing be kept off limits to the general public — seems they were too personal in tone. Nonetheless, the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal has a list of the letter-senders, a group more local in flavor than the cadre of national big-namers who wrote letters on behalf of Master of the Universe and judge-briber Dickie Scruggs. One of the nearly 340 letters was from Langston’s “longtime friend and business partner”, U.S. Rep. Travis Childers, who wrote, “I only wish that every town and county in America had someone like Joey Langston.” (Patsy R. Brumfield, “Hundreds of Langston letters asked for leniency”, NEMDJ, Dec. 11; YallPolitics, Dec. 10). “Langston faces up to three years in prison after he pleaded guilty to conspiring to influence a circuit judge to help resolve a legal-fees lawsuit against then-Oxford attorney Richard “Dickie” Scruggs.” (related, same day). Because he has cooperated with prosecutors, Langston is expected to be given a reduced sentence; some of his supporters, including Rep. Childers, asked that he be let off with probation.