Looks like Mr. Sizemore signed the tax forms that led to his contempt jailing yesterday. That proved to be his get-out-of-jail card. Mr. Sizemore called his jailing “political” and his wife referred to him as a “political prisoner.” She also referred to Portland as a “communist” town.

Mr. Sizemore and his family and friends seem to ignore a few important facts. Most notably, Mr. Sizemore was simply failing to comply with an order of the court. Oregon judges have the power to hold a party in contempt when the party fails to comply with the judge’s order. There are statutes and rules that govern the contempt process.  Judge Wilson apparently held Mr. Sizemore in remedial contempt. The process of remedial contempt ends once the party complies with the court order. You want out of jail? Follow the court’s order, and you’ll get out of jail.

Remedial contempt is certainly at odds with “political prisoners” and “communist” regimes, as people wind up in jail without proceedings and without any end. I suppose it’s something akin to a parent using the time-out method of gaining compliance from a wayward child. No one doubts the parent’s authority to do so and the importance of the role.

Judge Wilson did more than any parent, of course, as she stood for the integrity of the judicial system. In that way, she demanded of Mr. Sizemore what all of us demand, and that is that he follow Oregon law.

I don’t imagine we’ve heard the last from Mr. Sizemore. Bother.

David Sugerman

The web version here detailing Judge Janice Wilson’s ruling jailing Bill Sizemore on contempt charges doesn’t do justice to Oregon Public Broadcasting audio of Judge Wilson’s rulings.

Mr. Sizemore is the well-known racketeer who seems to have chosen a battle of wills with Judge Wilson. I don’t know whether Mr. Sizemore underestimated Judge Wilson’s resolve, or whether this is calculated as a form of protest. Regardless, he’s out of his league in choosing this battle with Judge Wilson. She’s among the brightest on the bench and as tough as any judge in this state.

I’m not privy to the details of this case. I’m not inclined to be the least bit sympathetic toward Bill Sizemore, as his reign of racketeering has done great harm to this state.  So I have to admit to laughing when I heard the report. I recognize that my reaction is very wrong.  But I’m sure that part of it was due to my first hand experience in both winning and losing in front of Judge Wilson. Like I say, she’s tough.

I take issue with one thing in the OPB report. It describes Mr. Sizemore as the “anti-tax” activist. True, he cut teeth circulating tax related initiatives. But he’s also gone after land use rules, political contributions, unions, trial lawyers, building code enforcement, bilingual education, and whatever else his patrons will fund.

If memory serves, he got completely skunked at the ballot box in the last round of elections. And now it appears that he’s thumbing his nose at the court. It’s nice to see that Judge Wilson is taking seriously her oath of office. It would be easy to duck from taking on Mr. Sizemore’s misconduct for fear of angering his constituents. Score another for judicial integrity, as Judge Wilson did not shirk her responsibilities to the justice system.

Update: More comprehensive story here. For those who may claim that Judge Wilson is “biased” the Oregonian story notes that she also criticized the unions for using the contempt hearing for political advantage.

David Sugerman

Sounds like it’s a long opinion–93(!) pages–but it looks like the Bush administration suffered a serious smack down in federal district court. Here’s the media report on the court’s ruling that President Bush’s aids must in fact honor Congressional subpoenas and appear and testify in response.

The district court’s ruling by Judge John Bates is a major blow to the Bush administration’s unprecedented claims of executive power. According to the MSNBC report, Judge Bates found that the assertion of immunity was entirely unsupported by existing law.  I have not yet read the opinion, so I can’t confirm the accuracy.

Side note and a bit of a digression: President Bush appointed Judge Bates.  This is of no import to most of us who work in the justice system. My experience is that most judges–especially those on the federal bench–highly value judicial independence.  It’s a core value of great importance, as we want judges to decide hard questions without political calculations.  While I frequently disagree with how a judge decides a particular case or issue, the value of judicial independence remains important. Nice to know that Judge Bates is not reluctant to find against the man who appointed him. To me, that’s the essence of judicial integrity and independence.

Bad week for the Bush administration. We got a re-run of the hack job done by Monica Goodling earlier this week. And now this slap down.

David Sugerman

I’m not a Bill Sizemore fan. My view is that he has taken Oregon’s treasured initiative system and turned it into a mockery for his personal aggrandizement and financial gain. So I was amused to read this account of how Judge Janice Wilson found him in contempt of court yesteday.

As most people know, “contempt” is actually a techical legal term.  So Judge Wilson’s findings ocurred after a hearing on the merits. It’s probably just coincidence that many people held Mr. Sizemore in contempt well before the news report.

The backstory is that an Oregon jury found Mr. Sizemore’s Taxpayers United PAC responsible for damages due to his illegal campaign practices (racketeering, forging signatures, falsifying campaign expenditure reports). The court entered a judgment against Mr. Sizemore’s organization. Mr. Sizemore appealed, and he lost.  It’s a long opinion, but here’s a copy from the Oregon Court of Appeals that affirmed the bulk of the trial judge’s rulings. That case is apparently on appeal to the Oregon Supreme Court.

Mr. Sizemore apparently decided that he could play a shell game with his money so that unions and the state could not collect on its judgment. And that’s where he ran into trouble in Judge Wilson’s courtroom.

Those of us who know Judge Wilson will tell you that she is smart and tough. She doesn’t suffer fools lightly, and she really dislikes game playing. Bad draw for Mr. Sizemore, I imagine.  In the article, Mr. Sizemore complained that Judge Wilson upheld “a blatantly unconstitutional ruling” by another judge. The answer to that is an appeal. So far, Mr. Sizemore has lost that argument, though who knows what will happen at the Oregon Supreme Court.

David Sugerman