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Cops and Courts Quote of the Week – of the Supreme Court’s rarified air, and the lower courts’ reality

Cops and Courts is officially back from vacation, with this quote from U.S. District Court Judge Donald Molloy of Missoula (in photo by the Missoulian’s Kurt Wilson), who is trying to decide if he must recuse himself from hearing a lawsuit alleging fraud and falsehood by Three Cups of Tea author Greg Mortenson:

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Supreme Court – Does the First Amendment protect violent video games?

Missoula County courts might be closed because of today’s election (anybody else notice that it’s also Day of the Dead?) but the U.S. Supreme Court is going strong.

Specifically, the justices are examining the case of Schwarzenegger v. Entertainment Merchants Association. It involves a California law that tries to keep kids from buying the really violent ones featuring murder, maiming and sexual mayhem. Jesse Holland of the Associated Press has the story:

“We do not have a tradition in this country of telling children they should watch people actively hitting schoolgirls over the head with a shovel so they’ll beg with mercy, being merciless and decapitating them, shooting people in the leg so they fall down,” Chief Justice John Roberts said.

Roberts decried that one game lets a player “pour gasoline over them, set them on fire and urinate on them.” “We protect children from that,” he said. “We don’t actively expose them to that.”

Read the whole story below.

Continue reading Supreme Court – Does the First Amendment protect violent video games?

Cops and Courts Quote of the Day

“I appreciate that no offense was intended, but she can’t ask for an apology without suggesting that I did something wrong, and that is offensive.”

Anita Hill, on fact that Ginni Thomas, wife of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, recently called her seeking an apology

Anita Hill in 1991 (AP)

Think back [...]

Medical marijuana and campaign finance. No, not together – not yet

Couple of interesting court cases yesterday:

A medical marijuana provider has asked a judge to rule that his operation can’t be regulated by the city of Helena, which bans medical pot businesses within its boundaries, writes Matt Volz of the Associated Press. “Paul Schmidt, owner of Sleeping Giant Caregivers, said Monday that medical [...]