[PAA-Discuss] Fwd: Separated at Birth - He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named

[Sarah Gonzales]

Alright - so the picture is funny, the article is quite scary.

July 20, 2007, 4:33 pm
He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named

Posted by Peter Lattman


The frenzy over Harry Potter’s latest has reached a crescendo. Way  
back, when to see what all the fuss was about, we read the first  
installment and enjoyed it, but haven’t read the others. We do,  
however, fondly recall Lord Voldemort, aka “He-Who-Must-Not-Be- 
Named.” What ever came of that evil guy? We’re not sure, but there  
is another “He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named” lurking among us. His name  
(at least according to two lawyers): George W. Bush.

Here’s the backstory, courtesy of the Philadelphia Inquirer and the  
Legal Intelligencer. Michael Laffey and Robert DiDomenicis of Holsten  
& Associates are defending the township of Upper Darby in a civil  
rights lawsuit brought by Harold Lischner, who says he was falsely  
arrested in 2003 for displaying an anti-war sign at a President Bush  
election stop.

Lischner held a sign that said “Withdraw our troops from Iraq. Give  
the $87 billion to the Iraqi governing council and U.N. for immediate  
relief and repair of the destruction we caused.” The lawyers for the  
town asked Judge Gene Pratter to prohibit the Lischner from  
mentioning President Bush in his testimony, and limit him to  
testifying that “he displayed a sign in opposition of a  
‘presidential candidate.’”

The motion reportedly said Bush has “the worst approval rating of an  
American president in a generation,” and that 62% of Americans  
believe that Bush’s handling of the war in Iraq shows he is  
“stubborn and unwilling to admit his mistakes.” They say that  
“the identity of George W. Bush has no relevance to plaintiff’s  
claim and should not be admitted” and that any “probative value”  
of Bush’s identity “is substantially outweighed by the danger of  
unfair prejudice to defendant.” Mentioning Bush “in and of itself,  
presents the danger that the jury will favor plaintiff,” they said.

Nice try, ruled Judge Pratter in this 23-page opinion. Judge Pratter  
found Bush’s identity “relevant” to the case. “The facts that  
the political candidate was not only a candidate for arguably the  
most important office in our government, but also the current  
president participating in a campaign for re-election” are important  
to the facts of the case, ruled the judge. And the content of the  
sign is also germane, the judge ruled, because it indicates the sign  
wasn’t “aimed at inciting violence.”

“There is no requirement that trials be made up of the blandest  
theories, facts and arguments available,” concluded the judge. “By  
the same token . . . trials are not stages set for sensationalism,  
and the Court intends to guard against this trial becoming a platform  
for public polemics.” A trial is set for later this month.

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