Eighth Amendment Dead in California, US Supreme Court denies cert.

US Supreme Court Docket ^ | Mar 22, 2004 | US Supreme Court

[El Gato]

No. 03-1023	Status: DECIDED
Title:	Carl R. Howard and Steven J. Cicero, Petitioners v. Fair Political Practices Commission
Docketed:	January 16, 2004
Lower Ct:	Court of Appeal of California, Third Appellate District

Case Nos.:	(C038246)
Decision Date:	May 29, 2003
Discretionary Court
Decision Date:	September 10, 2003

~~~Date~~~	~~~~~~~Proceedings  and  Orders~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Nov 28 2003	Application (03A475) to extend the time to file a petition for a writ of certiorari from December 9, 2003 to February 7, 2004, submitted to Justice O'Connor.
Dec 3 2003	Application (03A475) granted by Justice O'Connor extending the time to file until January 10, 2004.
Dec 30 2003	Application (03A475) to extend further the time from January 10, 2004 to February 7, 2004, submitted to Justice O'Connor.
Jan 7 2004	Application (03A475) denied by Justice O'Connor.
Jan 12 2004	Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due February 17, 2004)
Feb 17 2004	Brief of respondent Fair Political Practices Commission in opposition filed.
Mar 3 2004	DISTRIBUTED for Conference of March 19, 2004.
Mar 11 2004	Reply of petitioners Carl R. Howard and Steven J. Cicero filed. (Distributed)
Mar 22 2004	Petition DENIED.

---

~~Name~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~	~~~~~~~Address~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~	~~Phone~~~
Attorneys for Petitioner:
Carl Russell Howard	1500 Voorhees Avenue	(310) 878-0555
	Manhattan Beach, CA  90266
Party name: Carl R. Howard and Steven J. Cicero
Attorneys for Respondent:
Julia Bilaver	Fair Political Practices Commission	(916) 322-5660
	428 J Street, Suite 620
	Sacramento, CA  95814
Party name: Fair Political Practices Commission

[El Gato]

This case involves Russ Howard, former NRA director, and Steve Cicero of Californians Against Corruption, have been fined $808,000 (1.5 Million with interest) as a result of their successful campaign to oust CA State Senator David Roberti, author of the CA Assault Weapons Ban. Because of the harrassment and threats they were recieving at the time, they withheld the names of donors, temporarily, a technical violation of CA law, but also apparently allowed under several US Supreme Court decisons. The fine was larger than the sum of all other fines issued by the "Fair Political Practices Commission" in it's 15 year history. They got the max fine for each name, each address, each donor address and each donor occupation they failed to provided, which in many cases they did not even have.

But they were "Gun Nuts" so the US Supreme Court denied their petition to be heard, just as it earlier denied the petition of other California "Gun Nuts" regarding the Constitutionality of the CA AWB. Thus the Eighth amendment's freedom from excessive fines is dead in the state of California. As is the second in the entire ninth circuit

For a discussion of the case see: http://www.jpfo.org/cac-info.htm

[El Gato]

BANG!

[FairOpinion]

IN the meantime:

Socialists Party donor reporting requirements exempted (again).
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/886729/posts

04/06/2003

On Thursday, the Federal Elections Commission extended an additional six-year exemption to the Socialist Workers Party which allows them to keep the names of their donors secret. The commies are the only political party in the country that continue to enjoy being able to play politics under this different set of rules from everybody else

[Defender2]

http://www.dsausa.org/

The Enemy Within!!!!:-(

[Sam Cree]

I guess they will be going to debtors prison. Either that or the rest of their lives will be spent as slaves to the PRC of CA.

[Robert_Paulson2]

and they want us to trust the government.

[coloradan]

In case your blood pressure was a little low.

[Brandon]

Hmm. Well, I'm pro-RKBA, but reading the material you posted, it looks like our guys had 90 days to file their request for a writ of cert, wound up asking for an extension, were given an additional month, and wound up blowing that deadline by two days. It's my understanding that the Supremes do not look kindly on people who miss deadlines.

Just a thought.

[Squantos]

Looky here !

[GAGOPSWEEPTOVICTORY]

It's noone's business who is giving money to whom. I am appauled by these assenine campaign finance laws that we have in this country from the ridiculously low donation limit to public disclosure. It shouldn't be my neighbor or boss's business who I give money to.

However, with that said, and public disclosure, unfortunately part of the law, the socialists should not get a break just because they are swarmy socialists.

[TLI]

and they want us to trust the government.

Of course you can trust the government. They will lie, cheat, steal, bear false witness, deny your rights, shoot and burn your wife/kids/yourself, steal your land, money, property, put you in prison and "fine" you millions... hell, they will do just about any damn thing they please and you can trust them to appear SHOCKED at the mention that they are any less than perfect little angels blowing halos and cherubs out of their collective butts.

personally I think we should have a national vote once a week and hang one deserving government employee, every monday at noon.

[philetus]

Why are they getting a break?

[GAGOPSWEEPTOVICTORY]

Why are they getting a break?

Donors to the Socialist Party, unlike the Democrats and Republicans are not publically disclosed.

[kingu]

The opportunity for bringing up all these issues were far in the past. Whatever legal consultation they sought and received was of the poorest quality. With a documented history of failure to comply with legal dates for filings, in addition to the failure to follow the procedure written into California law, I'm hardly surprised that the Supremes denied without comment.

[neverdem]

How depressing. No cases regarding the BOR should approach this SCOTUS.

[El Gato]

Supremes do not look kindly on people who miss deadlines

Yeah I noticed that too, but it's also not all that unusual. The State of California missed their reply deadline in Silveria, but then replied after some "encouragement" from the Court.