Source: https://marygsykes.com/2013/10/
Timestamp: 2019-04-19 13:26:56+00:00

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From KDD – additional case law and Nov. 8, 2013 at 11 am is an important day!
KDD has found some wonderful case law, courtesy of the ACLU. And in the meantime, as some of you are aware Atty Lanre Amu, and African immigrant to this country, has been prosecuted by the ARDC for speaking out against the troubles and travails over at the Daley center!
Since many of your are probate victims, I am sure you will want to come out to his oral argument and cheer him on this Nov. 8, 2013 at 11 am. I will be there. Meet and greet and support him. His brief will be published shortly (with my comments, of course), but take a look at the case law Ken has found–good going Ken!
What I would like to know is HOW IN THE HECK CAN A BLOG CAUSE AN “IMMEDIATE AND SEVERE THREAT TO THE JUDCIARY OR ANY JUDICIAL PROCEEDING”?
These are all good questions and Mr. Amu, just let me know when we can meet tomorrow.
The issue in this case is whether an attorney may be disciplined for true statements critical of a court simply because the court dislikes the tone of the statements.* Robert Snyder was suspended from practice solely because the Court of Appeals found his letter to the District Court to be “disrespectful.” In re Snyder, 734 F.2d at 337, 343 (8th Cir. 1984). The Court of Appeals agreed with Snyder that there are major problems with the implementation of the Criminal Justice Act. 734 F.2d at 337-341. Nonetheless, the court suspended him because it did not like the tone and words he used in addressing the court.
*8 Speech by attorneys is an essential way of exposing problems in the system and pressuring for reform. By virtue of their knowledge and dealings with the judiciary, lawyers have a unique ability to help improve the administration of justice. At times, attorneys must vigorously advocate their clients’ positions and criticize the way in which the courts are treating their clients’ cases. See In re Sawyer, 360 U.S. 622, 631-32 (1959). At times, attorneys must speak out about injustices they perceive in the administration of the courts. Such speech serves an invaluable public purpose and is protected by the very core of the First Amendment. See New York Times v. Sullivan, 376 U.S. 254, 270 (1964).
Robert Snyder’s letter to the secretary of the district court was exactly the type of speech which should be encouraged. He was writing to a branch of the United States *9 government for redress of his grievance: his failure to receive prompt payment for services provided to an indigent criminal defendant. Furthermore, his letter complained about the administration of an important government program and the failure of the government to provide adequate representation of indigents. Attorneys perform an essential public function when they complain in this manner. Snyder’s letter prompted the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit to propose a reconsideration of the manner in which the CJA is implemented in North Dakota. In re Snyder, 734 F.2d at 337-341. Snyder thus was performing the highest mission of the bar in seeking to improve the system.
Speech about courts does not lose its protection just because it is harsh or even disrespectful. In re Sawyer, 360 U.S. 622, 631-32 (1959); *10 Craig v. Harney, 331 U.S. 367, 372 (1947). Courts, like all parts of government, may be criticized, even in intemperate tones. Landmark Communications, Inc. v. Virginia, 436 U.S. 829, 839 (1978).
It is firmly established that speech about courts may be punished only if it poses a clear and present danger to the administration of justice. Landmark Communications, Inc. v. Virginia, 435 U.S. 829, 845-46 (1978); Wood v. Georgia, 370 U.S. 375, 388 (1962); Craig v. Harney, 331 U.S. 367, 372 (1947); Pennekamp v. Florida, 328 U.S. 331, 348 (1946); Bridges v. California, 314 U.S. 252, 262 (1941). Speech never poses a clear and present danger just because it is critical of the courts. In order to discipline an attorney for his or her speech, there must be proof that the attorney’s statements actually interfered with a pending judicial proceeding. No such interference is even hinted at in this case.
These e-mails suggest that you have oral argument on early November 2013.
6 This was strong language, intemperate language, and, we assume, an unfair criticism. But a judge may not hold in contempt one ‘who ventures to publish anything that tends to make him unpopular or to belittle him * * *.’ See Craig v. Hecht, 263 U.S. 255, 281, 44 S.Ct. 103, 108, 68 L.Ed. 293, Mr. Justice Holmes dissenting. The vehemence of the language used is not alone the measure of the power to punish for contempt. The fires which it kindles must constitute an imminent, not merely a likely, threat to the administration of justice. The danger must not be remote or even probable; it must immediately imperil.
As many of you know, I have a lot of probate victims where property, cash, coin and other items have simply fallen off inventories and have not been accounted for.
If any of you know of a professional investigator that can help or you are one and can do this on a pro bono or reduced cost basis, please contact me ASAP.
The Sykes coins are gone, but they are so unique, I am sure they have left a trail.

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