Judge H. Lee Sarokin

Prison is Hell for the guilty; it is difficult to envision what it must be like for the innocent. Brian Banks is yet another story of a person not only wrongfully imprisoned, but imprisoned based upon his own "voluntary" act. He was exonerated after serving five years for a rape...

Although I deplore and disagree with legislation aimed at discouraging abortions and adversely affecting the rights of women, I recognize that such legislation is motivated by the good faith belief that abortions are morally wrong. Not so for the legislation aimed at disenfranchising voters for the faux purpose of preventing...

Virginia's Republican-controlled House rejected the judicial nomination of a gay Richmond prosecutor on the grounds that his past "indicated that he would press an activist agenda from the bench." Mr. Thorne-Begland, the nominee, had been a fighter pilot and Navy officer before serving as a prosecutor for a...

Today, January 1, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation freeing 3 million slaves. Critics of the President were quick to condemn his action. The town crier, using his megaphone, shouted that that this was further evidence of the President's war on families. He wondered how families would survive...

The quest for your vote has begun. Voters are courted during political campaigns through inspiring messages, false promises, misrepresentations, half-truths, fear and bigotry. We are told how important it is to vote -- which is true -- but the day after election we the voters are forgotten while the contributors...

Charges finally have been brought against George Zimmerman as I believe (and wrote) they should have been from the outset. The shooting was undisputed, and his claim of self-defense was sufficiently in dispute to warrant further proceedings. Although I have been critical of the police for failing to do so...

When innocent people are gunned down in schools or offices or when someone like
George Zimmerman shoots and kills Trayvon Martin, how do members of the NRA and gun-advocates truly feel? I really want to understand. I think I understand the desire to have a gun for self-defense or...

Based upon the undisputed facts in this case and this crazy Florida statute, if Trayvon Martin had a gun, he could have lawfully shot and killed George Zimmerman. If he could have shot him, he certainly could have punched him in the nose, knocked him down and beaten...

Imagine this scenario: a man shoots and kills someone. He tells the police he was temporarily insane at the time. So they say "OK you can go home and take your gun with you," because they can't contradict his claim of insanity at the time of the killing. Ridiculous? Yes,...

Remember the uproar over the proposed mosque near Ground Zero? People were opposed to it for a variety of reasons: its proximity to the World Trade Center; it symbolized victory for the terrorists; it offended the victims' families; it insulted those who lost their lives. The Muslim community and many...

The current controversy over giving the movie Bully an R-rating is akin to the current movement of conservative men "helping" women protect themselves against "evil" decisions. The movie is intended to battle widespread and ever-increasing bullying. There is an advantage to having parents see the film and learn more about...

I recently criticized The Good Wife for its portrayal of judges as arrogant and pompous fools and idiots, so you might suspect that if fictitious judges upset me, a real federal judge sending a racist email against President Obama would put me over the top, and it did....

I know that there was a lot of fuss over the failure of the Republicans to have any female witnesses on the issue of contraception for women. But I would have had no problem with the panel, if only they had been asked the right questions. The leader of the...

I am mindful of how Vice President Dan Quayle was mocked for criticizing Murphy Brown, a fictional TV character, for choosing to have a baby as a single mother. He suggested the program contributed to the "poverty of values," which, in turn, caused the 1992 Los Angeles riots. Nonetheless, I...

I thought watching and reading about politics and observing the low to which the discourse has fallen was depressing enough, but a recent inquiry into the treatment of returning veterans makes viewing the political arena seem almost uplifting. I was asked recently to aid in a project aimed at assisting...

Visualize a fantasy (as unpleasant as it is to contemplate) that Newt Gingrich is elected president of the United States. Immediately following his inauguration, he has a visit from
Sheldon Adelson, the man who single-handedly revived Gingrich's campaign and can be credited with his fictional election. Would there be...

As the Supreme Court (FCC v Fox Television Stations) once again wrestles with government control of profanity and nudity on broadcast television, I marvel at the focus. Children can watch murders, rapes, kidnappings, stabbings and beatings a hundred times a day, but it appears they need protection from profanity and...

The First Amendment metaphor of "the marketplace of ideas" envisioned the barter and exchange of ideas, not their purchase and sale. The concept has always been that the robust discussion of divergent views and principles would allow for the public to make informed decisions. But what happens when those with...

I would like to make one of Mitt Romney's $10,000 wagers with Newt Gingrich. I bet that if the United States Supreme Court were to declare President Obama's health care legislation unconstitutional that there will be no cries from him or any other conservatives that the decision was made by...

They were all punished and their lives disrupted based solely upon allegations of wrongdoing. Dominique Strauss-Kahn lost his high position at IMF and his bid to run for the presidency of France. Herman Cain was forced to withdraw from his campaign for President of the United States. Joe Paterno was...