November 19, 2004

Contempt

Posted by John Quiggin
There’s a story I read somewhere of a judge interrupting an unsatisfactory witness and asking
Are you trying to flaunt your contempt for this court ?
to which the witness replies
Oh, no Your Honour! I’m trying to conceal it.
I was reminded of the story by this NYT editorial, which accuses a Rhode Island judge of abusing the contempt power to pursue a vindictive campaign against a reporter, Jim Taricani, but then fails to name the judge in question. A one-minute Google search reveals that the judge in question is Chief U.S. District Judge Ernest Torres Given that it was defending the right of reporters to publish the truth without fear or favor, what exactly did the NYT have in mind here?
Posted on November 19, 2004 10:48 PM UTC
Comments

Doesn’t the Times have reporters of its own facing contempt citations in the matter of Novak’s revealing of Joe Wilson’s wife’s job?

The name of the Federal judge does nothing for me, though. (West coast parochialism? Go, Ninth Circuit!) Perhaps The Times left it out because nobody cares.

Posted by bad Jim · November 20, 2004 10:02 AM

Mae West, in My Little Chickadee.

Posted by theophylact · November 20, 2004 03:19 PM

The Times editorial doesn’t name the corrupt mayor (Buddy Cianci) or his bribe-handling aide, either. Hell, I don’t know the name of the aide, and I live in Providence. Yes, the name of the judge is more relevant to the Times’ complaint, but the cause of leaving it out is probably the same - parochialism and simple laziness, more than anything else. But in a national newspaper, to focus on one Rhode Island judge is hardly that important.

Posted by Iron Lungfish · November 20, 2004 08:03 PM

He owns Google stock?

Posted by msk08 · November 20, 2004 09:07 PM
Followups

This discussion has been closed. Thanks to everyone who contributed.