knoxtom said:
the most cool guy said:
aggiehawg said:
HoustonAg9999 said:
sorry what the outrage here supposed to be? SC judge can't talk to anyone in DC that's in politics? Do they not socialize at all?
More about Trump having a pending petition before SCOTUS at the moment regarding staying Merchan's planned sentencing tomorrow. Granted, that petition is directed to Sotomayor as the AJ having supervisory authotrity over the Second Circuit but court watchers expect her to bring in the rest of the Court.
Same as an ex parte communication. That is the issue here, at least for me.
It's literally not an ex parte communication if they didn't discuss any pending or impending matters.
And which State bar are you a member of again?
So you are saying you can just do whatever if you just say... "Well we didn't discuss that"
Any first year law student knows you do not do this and he did TWO ex partes. First he called when litigation is pending, second he asked for a advisory opinion from a decision maker.
It is absolutely an ex parte when you speak to a judge away from opposing counsel. The ONLY thing allowed is an exchange of pleasantries. You don't get to just say... "well we didn't discuss that."
Your naivety is adorable. To answer your question, I am a member of the State Bar of Texas and a very experienced trial lawyer and appellate lawyer. What any first year law student doesn't understand is that the legal community is very small, and we see judges and justices at fundraisers, luncheons, CLEs, and other social and professional events all the time, like weekly. I am also personal friends with judges I have cases pending in front of, as are countless other lawyers.
No, you cannot "do whatever" and just say "we didn't discuss that" if "doing whatever" involves improper ex parte communications. But what you can do is conduct yourself in conformity with the Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct, refrain from discussing anything that pertains to a pending matter (Texas did away with the "impending" language from the model rules), and THEN you can say "we didn't discuss that." And your response might be "but then you're just on the honor system; you and the judge could ex parte and then lie about it." Yep. Welcome to the practice of law, bud. Most of what we do is on the honor system.
The fact that you think judges/justices and attorneys in their courts cannot/do not talk other than to exchange pleasantries confirms to me that you basically never operate in a courtroom setting (if you're even a lawyer). That is completely and utterly false.
