Judge of Sibel Edmonds trials appointed to FISA court; court includes brother of 9/11 Commissioner
Below I have listed the members of the FISA court, almost all Reagan/Bush appointees.
According to Secrecy News, "Judge Reggie B. Walton was appointed to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court by the Chief Justice of the United States effective May 19." Walton was appointed as a federal judge by George W. Bush in 2001.
In the words of Wikipedia, Judge Walton "dismissed one of FBI whistle-blower Sibel Edmonds' lawsuits, after 'sitting on the case with no activity for almost two years,' and is 'randomly' presiding over her other suit as well. For some reason, Walton's required financial disclosure report for 2003 is completely redacted. According to Edmonds, this redacted statement 'appears to be in violation of the Ethics in Government Act,' which requires judges and certain high ranking government officials to file such reports annually.
Walton is currently presiding over the lawsuit that Dr. Steven Hatfill filed against against the former US Attorney General John Ashcroft, the Department of Justice and the FBI. Ashcroft publically described Hatfill as a 'Person of interest' in the FBI's investigations into the 2001 anthrax attacks. On the 30th of March 2007, Judge Reggie Walton issued an order warning Mr.(sic) Hatfill that he may lose his civil lawsuit over the leaks if he does not compel journalists to name their sources. He gave Mr.(sic) Hatfill until April 16 to decide whether to press the press to give up its sources."
Of course, Walton also presided over the Scooter Libby trial.
It's interesting how many 9/11-related trials Walton has judged. I decided to investigate the other names on the FISA court. They are:
Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly - Appointed by Judge Rehnquist to the FISA court in 2002.
John D. Bates - Appointed by Chief Justice Roberts in 2006. Judge Bates was on detail as Deputy Independent Counsel for the Whitewater investigation from 1995 to mid-1997. As a District Court Judge, Bates dismissed the GAO's effort to learn with whom Cheney's energy task force conferred.
Dee Benson - He was chief of staff to Senator Orrin Hatch from 1986 until 1988. In addition, he served as counsel to the Iran-Contra Congressional Investigating Committee in 1987.
Robert C. Broomfield - President Ronald Reagan nominated Broomfield on May 15, 1985 and was confirmed by the Senate on July 10, 1985. Broomfield served as chief judge from 1994-1999 and assumed senior status in August of 1999. Chief Justice William Rehnquist appoint judge Broomfield to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court in May 2002.
James G. Carr - President Bill Clinton nominated judge Carr on January 27, 1994 and confirmed on May 6, 1994. Chief Justice William Rehnquist appointed judge Carr to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court on May 19, 2002. Judge Carr may have a certain bias against Hispanics. In 2004, Carr rejected a bid by third-party candidates for a recount of presidential ballots in Ohio before the state certified final Election Day results.
Nathaniel M. Gorton - Apparently, his brother is Thomas Slade Gorton III, member of the 9/11 Commission.
Malcolm Howard - a federal judge on the United States District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina. He was appointed to that Court in 1987 by President Ronald Reagan. He assumed senior status at the end of 2005. According to The Washington Post, in an article about the illegal domestic spying, "But Judge Malcolm Howard of eastern North Carolina said he tends to think the terrorist threat to the United States is so grave that the president should use every tool available and every ounce of executive power to combat it."
George P. Kazen - "Judge George P. Kazen in the Southern District of Texas (Houston) ranked 1st with 66 convicted in immigration convictions. Judge Kazen also appeared in the top ten rankings one year (ranked 1st) and five years ago (rank 4th).... Virtually all federal criminal convictions for immigration offenses in January 2007 (99 percent) were referred by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS)."
Frederick J. Scullin - Here's a recent ruling:
"A federal judge has rebuffed a bid by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to press a pattern-and-practice claim against the owner of 350 Burger King restaurants in 13 states.
The EEOC had compiled statements from 511 women who worked at the fast-food restaurants over an eight-year period, complaining that they had either been directly harassed or subject to a sexually hostile work environment.
Northern District of New York Chief Judge Frederick J. Scullin Jr., who sits in Syracuse, found that 333 of the complaints made out potentially viable pattern-and-practice claims under a hostile work environment theory.
But that number, when compared with the 90,835 women who worked at the Burger Kings from 1993 to 2001, was not sufficient to support a pattern-and-practice claim, Scullin ruled in Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Carrols Corp., 98-1772."
Roger Vinson - Originally an appointee of President Reagan. He joined FISA just last year. His son voted for Bush.
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