Judge Marilyn L. Huff and Kevin Cooper

LA Times article on appeal ruling in Kevin Cooper's case:

In a Flashpoints radio program, December 21, 2007, judge in Kevin Cooper's trial was challenged as being "reactionary." In response, I did a little google digging and didn't come up with too much about Huff. Below are notes on what I found with associated links.

Huff Takes Time to Testify in Favor of Bush Nominee

Marilyn L. Huff testified in favor of Judge Benitez's nomination by George H. Bush despite strong opposition by Democrats and a "not qualified" finding by the ABA.

Opening Statement Of Senator Patrick Leahy
Ranking Member, Senate Judiciary Committee
Judicial Nominations Hearing
February 25, 2004

The ABA reviews nominees in three areas: competence, integrity and judicial temperament. In Judge Benitez’s case, based on interviews with 23 judges and 44 attorneys, more than 10 members of the ABA committee concluded that, based on his temperament, he is not qualified to serve a lifetime appointment on the federal bench.

Chief Judge Marilyn Huff of the Southern District of California who has come today to speak in favor of Judge Benitez’s confirmation. [Benitez was also in the Southern Dist. Court]

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Huff receives poor evaluations by attorneys:

According to nine attorney evaluations, provided by The Robing Room, Marilyn Huff's average evaluation score was 3.5 of 10 as of the date of this blog. Here are comments provided with five of the evaluations:

1. Weak on evidence. Tendency to let everything in rather than make hard (and correct) decisions. Has the intellectual capacity to make the right call, but appears too lazy to do so. Appears to decide early which attorneys/parties she likes and exhibits clear bias. Makes up her mind before all the evidence is in. Makes inappropriate comments to jury regarding their verdicts. She is the worst judge in this district by far. 2.8 of 10

2. Would not let me present closing argument on all of my causes of action. I felt like a slave to the courtroom timing device. Evenhanded Judge but not up to speed on the nuances of Civil RICO. 4.3 of 10

3. This Judge lacks even the most basic understanding of the law. What's worse, she is so afraid to reveal her own ineptitude, that she feigns knowledge and almost always gets it wrong. Should be removed from the bench. 1.2 of 10

4. The absolute worst judge on this otherwise good bench! 1.2 of 10

5. As soon as prosecutors began reporting judges for giving downward departures, she became a government hack. The only objection she understands is :"403, 403!" She is snippy, snippy, snippy. 2.9 of 10

Full set of scores: Of nine evaluations, she received an average score of 3.5 of 10.

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CIA and Cocaine:

Judge Huff presided over the famous case of Rick Ross, sentenced to life for cocaine sales, which had a CIA connection. Below is a blurb:

Rick Ross, 36, was arrested again on March 2, 1994 and convicted of attempting to buy 100 kilograms of cocaine from Blandon in a federally run sting operation. During the sentencing hearing, Ross' attorney Alan Fenster charged that Blandon was working for the CIA and that Ross was "a victim of the most outrageous government misconduct known to man." Sentencing had been set for September 13, but U.S. District Judge Marilyn L. Huff delayed sentencing so that she could study the allegations raised by the Mercury News series and receive a report from the CIA. On November 19, Huff denied Fenster's motion that his client's conviction should be set aside and sentenced Ross to life in prison. "The conduct of Ross [and two other accomplices] ... is not excused by any tenuous ties to the CIA," Huff said before the sentencing (Amanda Covarrubias, "Dealer Alleging CIA Drug Link Gets Life Term," Washington Post, November 21, 1996, p. A18; "Crack dealer who alleged CIA involvement gets life term," Chicago Tribune, November 21, 1996, s. 1, p. 10).
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Finally, Judge Huff might have used Yahoo Edgar to search for SEC information on the following cases before her:

GEN PROBE INC 11/9/2004
PURE BIOSCIENCE 2001

We're Different from those who are in Unaccountable Power

"Internationally-renowned investigative reporter and filmmaker John Pilger talks about the limitless occupation in Palestine, the war in Iraq, the current pathetic state of mainstream journalism, and his new book Freedom Next Time."

That's how Flashpoints Radio casts its May 17, 2007 interview of Pilger. Pilger's clarity of thought, founded on adherence to basic principles and sound logic, accounts for his concise and compelling explanation of current affairs. The following is the first in a two-part series of partial transcripts from the interview.

The interview began with the current situation in Gaza. Pilger understands that context is critical in any discussion. On Gaza he begins,

You have to understand, Gaza is a prison. On one side is the sea. On another side is Egypt, through which there is a boarder, but generally it's closed. And, on the other side, is Israel, which locks people in.

There are more than a million people living there... [he describes the malnourished children and lack of economy]... it's an enforced ghetto. And it's enforced by the United States. When I say the United States, yes Israel does it, but really, all of the wars conducted by Israel, and the impositions of Israel in the Middle East are American-backed, and they're done, as just described, with American aircraft, who happen to be flown by Israelis.

That's very important to understand that, in the reporting, I've just watched a television report here, in which it described the most horrific bombing, as even using that euphemism "air strikes," how anodyne that sounds, and four Hamas militants were killed. How do they know? And militants about what? Militants about running the Country? Hamas was voted in to run the Country, in democratic elections, and that sorely upset the United States, and they decided to stop it.

And the tragic civil war, of a kind, that has erupted in Gaza is entirely caused by outside forces, about people not being allowed to democratically run their own country, choose their own people.

If I sound somewhat strong about this it's because I've been to Gaza and I've seen the conditions there, and it's just unreal to come away from a place like that, and to really know what's causing this, horror, and then to be, sort of, transported into our safe and comfortable world.

Gaza is the metaphor, a very live and bleeding metaphor, for the whole Middle East, and probably for the whole world in terms of the imposition of great power on powerless people.

Dennis Bernstein asked about Pilger's two films and said, "We hear language like, 'a road map'"... "It's a cynical discussion to talk about a map." Pilger replied,

Yes, it's a cynical discussion... and it's a farcical discussion, and it requires the kind of contortion of intellect and morality that most people aren't capable of. In my opinion I think most people live their lives in a straight forward manner. Power does not. We're different. We're different from those who are in unaccountable power. And that's true now in the United States, it's true to a great degree here in Britain, and in other so-called democracies, the word itself has fallen into disrepute.

Yes I made two films. I made the first one, Palestine is Still the Issue I believe in 1975 I think. I made the second one, Palestine is Still the Issue in 2002. And the reason I kept the title was because it was still the issue. Fundamentally over those years, nothing had changed, fundamentally nothing had changed. The Palestinian people were subjected to the world's longest military occupation, were an indigenous people in their own homeland, denied the right of living peacefully in their own homeland. Denied the right to even live peacefully along side those who came later, that is the Israelis. Those who want to believe the Biblical story of three thousand years ago, go ahead, ah [chuckle] ah there are plenty of myths in the world, but we're dealing with lives now.

Israelis and Palestinians could be living together today in peace were it not for the power ambitions of the United States, combining with the more extreme power ambitions of Zionist Israel. I don't say that with a light heart, it's just true. Any any journalist who's been going backwards and forward to that part of the world for so many years, as I have, who denies that truth, because they're worried they're going to be attacked by Zionists and get a blizzard of e-mails, and the usual stuff, then they should stand up to that, because that's the truth.

And until Palestine, until the people of Palestine are given justice, which will automatically give security to the people of Israel, then the rest of the Middle East will remain in a sort of perpetual torment, ah and indeed, much of the world.

Bernstein turned the discussion to Iraq, bridging it with the common theme of the mainstream media coverage [See Part 2].

Sources:

Flashpoints Radio, WPFA, May 17, 2007.