Posted on 09/11/2009 9:40:30 AM PDT by abb
Political commentator, author and writer for The Atlantic magazine Andrew M. Sullivan won't have to face charges stemming from a recent pot bust at the Cape Cod National Seashore - but a federal judge isn't happy about it.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Robert B. Collings says in his decision that the case is an example of how sometimes "small cases raise issues of fundamental importance in our system of justice."
While marijuana possession may have been decriminalized, Sullivan, who owns a home in Provincetown, made the mistake of being caught by a park ranger with a controlled substance on National Park Service lands, a federal misdemeanor.
The ranger issued Sullivan a citation, which required him either to appear in U.S. District Court or, in essence, pay a $125 fine.
But the U.S. Attorney's Office sought to dismiss the case. Both the federal prosecutor and Sullivan's attorney said it would have resulted in an "adverse effect" on an unspecified "immigration status" that Sullivan, a British citizen, is applying for.
In the decision, Collings observed that Sullivan would still have to state on his application that he had been charged with a crime. Collings said that he asked both the prosecutor and Sullivan's attorney, Robert Delahunt Jr. (cousin of U.S. Rep. William D. Delahunt), for more information about why paying the $125 would have "any additional adverse effect."
When no attorney could fully answer the question beyond citing advice from immigration lawyers, Collings requested that Delahunt submit a brief on the issue. But before Delahunt could reply, Assistant U.S. Attorney James F. Lang jumped in and said that Collings had no power to inquire why the U.S. attorney had decided to have the charge dismissed, the ruling stated.
Collings expressed concern in his ruling that "a dismissal would result in persons in similar situations being treated unequally before the law. ... persons charged with the same offense on the Cape Cod National Seashore were routinely given violation notices, and if they did not agree to [pay the fine] were prosecuted by the United States Attorney ... there was no apparent reason for treating Mr. Sullivan differently from other persons charged with the same offense."
In fact, noted Collings, there were several other defendants appearing in court the same day who were charged with the same offense.
In his opinion, Collings wrote that the U.S. attorney is "is not being faithful to a cardinal principle of our legal system, i.e., that all persons stand equal before the law and are to be treated equally in a court of justice once judicial processes are invoked. It is quite apparent that Mr. Sullivan is being treated differently from others who have been charged with the same crime in similar circumstances."
Ultimately, Collings acknowledged that he had no choice other than to allow the case to be dismissed, but "that the Court must so act does not require the Court to believe that the end result is a just one."
Calls to The Atlantic and Delahunt have not yet been returned.
“Now I understand why nobody understands Sullivan’s many about-faces.”
Was it “about-faces” OR “about-FECES”?
Why do I remember this guy having a connection to FR?
You may be thinking of Jeff Gannon? I can’t recall Sullivan ever posting here, but I could be wrong.
Cannabis-induced paranoid psychosis also goes a long way to explaining his bizarrly obsessive belief in the “Birther Conspiracy” - Trig Palin’s birth, that is.
Andrew used to say he was a fiscal conservative, and complained, reasonably, about excessive Republican spending. But he doesn’t seem to be bothered by much, much worse Dem spending this year! Mething he is much more concerned about the homosexual agenda advancing...
But Alinsky Rules for Radicals still apply & # 4 dictates: "Make the enemy live up to its own book of rules." So.....
Andrew Sullivan has contended it is evidence of racism that the US Justice system seems to favor white defendants in drug infractions over defendants of color.
We now know that Andrew Sullivan has been a beneficiary of preferential treatment by the US Attorney's office in the federal prosecution of his own drug arrest.
Therefore Andrew is a willing particpant in the inherently racist system he purports to condemn and this constitutes demonstrable proof that Andrew himself is a racist.
Since Sullivan has said that all criticism of Obama's policies stem from racism & are to be instantly disallowed in civil discourse & are to be considered automatically false, it follows that his own assessment of the Obama administration is invalid.
Andrew's assessment of the Obama administration is that it is manifestly brilliant, just & good. Ergo, Obama's administration is perforce manifestly. stupid, criminal & evil, precisely because Andrew Sullivan - the racist particpant in a racist system - says it is not.
Hey, thanks Sully, for helping us to prove the conservative case against the Obama regime!
So Andy smokes dope as well as baloney. Color me unsurprised.
High as a kite, he is.
Political commentator, author and writer for The Atlantic magazine Andrew M. Sullivan won't have to face charges stemming from a recent pot bust at the Cape Cod National Seashore... caught by a park ranger with a controlled substance on National Park Service lands, a federal misdemeanor... Both the federal prosecutor and Sullivan's attorney said it would have resulted in an "adverse effect" on an unspecified "immigration status" that Sullivan, a British citizen, is applying for.Yeah, that's why we have a process. Deport his sorry ass, and for that matter, kick the pinko out of the plane somewhere over The Atlantic.
Whoops, and thanks dervish!
Are there still milk cartons with the picture of the back of Sullivan’s head?
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