Rubashkin Reply Brief To Govt's Opposition To Supreme Court Appeal

Here is the reply brief from Sholom Rubashkin's attorneys that was filed in response to the government's opposition to the US Supreme Court taking Rubashkin's case.

Sholom Rubashkin

There is no way to predict how the US Supreme Court will view this brief or anything else. That said, this seems very weak to me. The idea that government has to defend what has been the normal practice of the 8th Circuit and its appeals court for many years is odd – especially when Rubashkin's objection to it is weak. Also, the idea that his sentence is "disproportionate," when it actually falls in the middle of the scale recommended by the US sentencing guidelines is bizarre. The courts have long held that varying circuits and varying judges can sentence as they see fit (within some small restriction), and in this case, the problem is the guidelines themselves being disproportionate, not the judge who followed them. (That is not to say that the sentence is just – I don't think it is.)

But, as I noted last time we covered this case, we'll find out in late September or early October.

The Rubashkin brief as a PDF document:

Download Rubashkin Reply-to-Govt-Opposition-Brief 8-9-2012

The Government's brief is posted here.

Rubashkin's petition for Writ of Certiorari is posted here.

Comments

[Jack]

I wish him luck.

[Korbendallas72]

I don't. Criminals belong in prison and the pieces of shit at Chabad with their campaign are all going to answer for their sodomy as well... especially certain Chabad "gedolim" that instructed children to write letters of support to a vile criminal. Way to poison the next generation, Jacobson.

[Bas Melech]

He really believes he didn't do anything wrong.
He'd dispute any guilty finding, even a fine of $100, or incarceration of 100 days.

He believes (knows) that the goyim are out to get him. Many other Jews think the same thing.

He and others cannot believe that the courts manipulation and payoffs cannot change the court's stand. They don't realize that what works in Brooklyn fails in other jurisdictions.

[David]

I wish him luck too.

[Eli, what me messiah?]

I did not think the brief itself was weak. The question is whether, even if SMR's lawyers are right, either of the two issues is compelling enough to get the Court to take it up this session.
1. 8th Circuit's "newly discovered evidence" rule. mmmm... doesn't seem more attractive to the Court than other issues on its docket.
2. 27-year sentence. From a policy perspective, this may be more interesting for the Court. But as Shmarya points out, SMR isn't exactly a poster child for disproportionate sentencing. If they do take it up, it will be the influence bought via the "bipartisan array of amici including former Attorneys General, United States Attorneys, and federal judges; leading criminal law, legal ethics, and sentencing scholars; and four national organizations..."

[chaim36]

Just get him to show REMORSE for what happened. This would mitigate this huge CHILUL HASHEM that this case has caused. Do NOT defend criminal behavior. Send the correct message to our children. Tsedek , tsedek tirdof.

[effie]

It's set for conference on Monday, 9/24. Typically, the court issues a decision within a week.

[effie]

If they do take it up, it will be the influence bought via the "bipartisan array of amici including former Attorneys General, United States Attorneys, and federal judges; leading criminal law, legal ethics, and sentencing scholars; and four national organizations..."

But it is still a legislative issue - not a judicial one. You don't see these people lobbying their legislatures, do you?

[Fleishike Kishke]

A cop pulled over two people for speeding. A man and a woman. One driver the policeman let off with a warning. He "threw the book" at the other. The male offender acknowledged he'd been speeding, apologized, and told the cop man-to-man he'd been in traffic for hours, and had to use the bathroom worse than he ever had in his life, and that his house was just a block away. The woman started shrieking that the cop was a woman hater and that she was in fact going under the speed limit and that she would have the cop's badge for sexual harassment. Who do you think the cop gave a ticket and who a warning?
And now, the one with the ticket is appealing because, "he let others off with a warning."

[1958279sdr]

Shmarya Rosenberg’s Grandfather Killed himself rather than face Federal Sentence

page 35) This unorthodox “politician” was born in 1894 in Minsk, Russia (today in Belarus), the third of eight children raised by Gershon and Nechama Gleckman, Gershon was described in his son’s prison records as “a strict disciplinarian, a total abstainer and law-abiding man.” Nechama (Nettie), originally from Austria [I knew there was a Hungarian there] and the daughter of a rabbi, was described in government files as “a religious, tolerant woman.” The Gleckmans came to United States from Minsk through London, Nova Scotia, and finally Port Huron, Michigan, during the winter of 1903. As a teenager, Gleekman married clerical worker Rose Goldstein, with whom he had three daughters. Salesman by inclination, a bootlegger by vocation, and a sports buff by avocation, Gleckman was described in prison records as “self-confident, glib, respectful.”

Psychological tests at Leavenworth prison highlighted Gleckman’s intelligence. The prison analysis said Gleckman’s problem-solving abilities and insight exceeded those of 92 percent of the inmates, “showing that this man is of a high degree of planfulness and efficiency.” The prison file concluded by observing that Gleckman was “a rather aggressive, pleasant appearing cooperative hebrew…. His aggressiveness is characteristic of his general impressions derived from members of his race, but there is nothing offensive about them.”

Gleckman was first arrested in 1922, when Prohibition agents raided his Minnesota Blueing Company on University Avenue in Minneapolis. The government estimated that Gleckman’s two-story factory, equipped with thirteen stills, was generating annual profits of a million dollars. Right away, Gleckman showed the inclination for bribery that was to elevate him to boss of the St. Paul underworld.”

And here is the final chapter:

(page 284) “Leon Gleckman, the liquor czar who dreamed of becoming mayor of St. Paul, died in a bizarre car accident in July 1941. En route to his home, contemplating yet another prison term, he drove his Chevrolet into an abutment at Kellogg Boulevard and Wacouta Street, adjacent to St. Paul’s Depot Bar. He died of a fractured skull; his blood alcohol level was .23 – the equivalent of drinking thirteen ounces of 90-proof liquor. The death certificate called Gleckman’s death “probably accidental.” “You can’t prove it, but in my heart, as a policeman, I think [he] wanted to do himself in,” sad Joe Sherin, then a St. Paul patrolman. “We all think Leon killed himself..,. He was due to go to federal prison. He was the king of the bootleggers and he didn’t fancy sitting in the Can.”

Leon Gleckman would not approve of his grandson being viscous towards people facing long federal prison terms.

[Allen]

Babbbabooey

Posted by: bob abooey | August 16, 2012 at 10:52 AM

I hear you, how can one overlook the pain and suffering of all those ranchers who were paid late? Certainly not the Supreme Court!

[JK2]

chaim36, it's been clear for years now that there IS no remorse from him or his cronies, so why offer an apology now? Because it would make things look better?

It's much too late for even a dishonest display of that. While I appreciate your point of view, fake teshuvah compounds the chilul hashem you refer to. It doesn't mitigate it.

[Eli, what me messiah?]

effie,
I agree completely. this "bipartisan" pack ain't out lobbying for any changes. I'm just saying it might help grab the attention of one or two judges who could propose it for discussion.

[dh]

Nope.

[Bas Melech]

1958279sdr | August 16, 2012 at 11:21 AM

What's the point of your comment? Are you making fun of Shmarya's family? pouring salt on wounds?

What would we find by researching your ancestry?

[rebitzman]

Leon Gleckman would not approve of his grandson being viscous towards people facing long federal prison terms.

Yeah, Shmarya - stop being so viscous. Drink some water - a soda perhaps.

[rebitzman]

@1958279sdr

It is predictable as heck - the site posts a Rubashkin story, one of you jumps in and copy/pastes the same stale story as though no one has read it before.

We have seen it - no one cares - no one thinks his family tree is relevant to what Shalom Rubashkin has been convicted of.

[Marvin]

Yeah, Shmarya - stop being so viscous. Drink some water - a soda perhaps.

Posted by: rebitzman | August 16, 2012 at 02:42 PM

... make that diet soda :)

[mp]

how many attorneys ? this is a squad .

how many millions wasted ?

i don't think the ruBASHkin fam cares .

as long as wealthy jewish org and wealthy
donors pay those hungry lawyers who enjoy this case of a lifetime , bc they are paid big , knowing this is a hopeless case .

but keep sucking the hefty fund that never runs out of money .

[amused]

1958279sdr

I agree with you. I believe Shmarya's grandfather, Leon Gleckman, would have been respectful of our rabbis and that if he would have ever known his grandson, Shmarya, he would have slapped him silly.

[Korbendallas72]

The Haredim are so fucking stupid that they don't understand how their own attempts at silencing their dissidents will bring about their destruction. They're just Hamas in black hats, that's all these little shitbags are. Now as their backwards, degenerate and immoral cult reached its necessary and merciful end, their leaders panic as their false theology is proven false time and time again.

May Hashem purge Haredi filth from among his chosen, speedily and in our days.

[Eli, what me messiah?]

Just noticed from the signature line of the reply that Rubashkin's lead appellate lawyer, Paul D. Clement (former Bush solicitor general), is no longer with the multinational law firm King & Spalding.
He resigned from the firm after it withdrew from right-wingy defense of Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA).
http://abovethelaw.com/2011/04/paul-clement-quits-king-spalding-after-ks-moves-to-drop-doma-defense/?show=comments#comments
His new firm is a right-wing boutique, Bancroft PLLC.

[FirstGenerationBavarianAmerican]

I just gotta think the Supreme Court knows who all the paid endorsers are in washington. Just like all the athletes who shill for Nike until they caught cheating, DUI, smokin' dope, performance enhancing substances, etc.

[sadisticstevestrong]

27 years...it could have been worse if the Feds would have stuck to the other charges they decided not to try. Besides he can get off in less time for good behavior. Considering he was offered 12 years on a plea deal, it means he took a gamble, rolled the dice and lost. What a putz!