U.S. District Judge Virginia A. Phillips: Thank you for CHANGE!

[Bluebear]

“She’s just one of the hardest-working judges I know,” said Stephen G. Larson, who served on the federal bench with her in Riverside for 10 years before returning to private practice last year. “No matter how early I came in, no matter how late I stayed, her car would still be there.”

Appearing in her courtroom can be a daunting experience, said William J. Genego, who represented Bruce Lisker, the man wrongfully convicted on the basis of tainted evidence in 1985 of killing his mother, and who was released after 26 years in prison. “She’s a very strict, no-nonsense judge who is always completely prepared, and expects the same from the lawyers who appear before her,” he said. “If she gets anything less, you will know it.”

Bruce E. Disenhouse, the lawyer who represented the health clinic in the case of the nurse who refused to provide birth control to patients, said: “Every now and then there’ll be some levity in her courtroom, but it’s rare. I don’t think you can put a label on Judge Phillips. She does what she believes the law directs her to do.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/11/us/politics/11judge.html?_r=1

[MannyGoldstein]

1. That deserves a k&r

Change we can actually believe in.

[sabrina 1]

2. Some of the court rulings over the past few weeks have

restored my faith in our system of justice. I thought we could rely on Congress to do the right thing in many of these cases, such as the fraudulent foreclusure issues and DADT eg. But I am all but giving up on Congress for doing anything about important issues and was beginning to wonder if there was any hope at all for this country.

But, citizens who decide to go over the heads of Congress and take their cases to court, have reminded me that we do have other avenues to find justice.

In so many cases eg, on the Mortgage Crisis where individual went to court, judges have ruled time and again against the Banks and as a result the uncovering of the corruption began. Hearings in Congress achieved nothing other than a show with little to no real results.

And this judge will most likely go down in history for cutting through the BS and doing the right thing while we wait around for Congress to finally understand that ALL Americans are entitled to equal treatment under the law, and that any law that singles out any one group for punishment IS, as the judge pointed out, unconstitutional.

She does derserve a big 'thank you' for doing Congress' job for them.

[Bluebear]

5. Thank goodness for other branches of government, eh?

[Major Hogwash]

3. Wow, she looks totally innocent, like some cookie-making mom of a cub scout in Iowa.

Not like the ball-breaking judge I imagined who just sat Obama back on his heels!

Good for her!!

[BzaDem]

4. K & R.

[Hepburn]

6. LOL...Bruce Disenhouse....

...know him well. Figures he would represent a clinic that refused to provide birth control.