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Subscribe to RSSA federal prosecutor came in for some biting criticism today from two Supreme Court justices for a racially charged remark made during a criminal trial.
The comment by the justices came as the court declined to hear the appeal of a man who was convicted in a Texas federal court of being in on a drug conspiracy.
The issue for the defendant, Bongani Charles Calhoun, was whether he knew that the people he accompanied on a road trip were about to buy illegal drugs, or whether he was merely along for the ride.
During cross-examination, Calhoun said he distanced himself from the others when one of them arrived at their hotel room with a bag of money.
The prosecutor, an assistant US attorney in the Western District of Texas, pressed him to explain why he didn't want to be there. The prosecutor asked, "You've got African-Americans. You've got Hispanics, and you've got a bag full of money. Does that tell you -- a light bulb doesn't go off in your head and say, 'This is a drug deal?'"
After he was convicted, Calhoun -- who is African-American -- claimed the prosecutor's racially charged remark violated his constitutional rights by appealing to the jury's prejudice. The court today declined to take up his appeal, because his lawyers failed to properly pursue the issue in the lower courts.
But Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Stephen Breyer said they couldn't let the case pass without writing to dispel any doubt of whether the Court's denial of the case "should be understood to signal our tolerance of a federal prosecutor's racially charged remark. It should not," they wrote.
"By suggesting that race should play a role in establishing a defendant's criminal intent, the prosecutor here tapped into a deep and sorry vein of racial prejudice that has run through the history of criminal justice in our Nation.
"It is deeply disappointing to see a representative of the United States resort to this base tactic more than a decade into the 21st century," they said.
"We expect the government to seek justice, not to fan the flames of fear and prejudice."
The justices also said it was troubling to see the Justice Department fail to immediately condemn what happened. Instead, they said, during the appeals in the lower courts, the government called the prosecutor's remark "impolitic" and said it did not affect the outcome of the trial "even assuming the question crossed the line."
Only when the case reached the Supreme Court did the Justice Department concede that the remark was "unquestionably improper."
"I hope never to see a case like this again," wrote Justice Sotomayor for herself and Justice Breyer.
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Man, I know it's not PC but I'd be suspicious of that meeting in that hotel room if I saw the players....sorry...
It doesn't matter a group of White, Japanoese, Mexican, Black, Chinese or Taliban Guys meeting any other group of any ethenticity it is a good guess that it is for drugs or it's a Battle of the Bands or Amaricas got Talent.
LOL, ya 6dogs, there's that too.... :-)
Ummm.. If I saw a group of Mexicans and a group of blacks meeting someplace and one group had a large satchel of money while the other had a large satchel of drugs, I'd assume it was a drug deal. Maybe I am wrong, but usually when drugs are exchanged for cash, it is a drug deal. Anyway, none of that matters. The dude was involved in a drug deal. Who cares what ethnicity the people involved were?
The real injustice in this case would be if they were dealing marijuana. Legalize it already and take the burden off the legal system in this country. The day they stop wasting tax dollars to prosecute some clown with a dime bag, the sooner we can get this country back on track.
... and "therein lies the rub", "citizen-xx"! You've "hit the nail on the head", as it were! Many (too many) of the "criminals" doing time in today's "prisons-for-profit" system are there for marijuana possession, trafficking and/or conspiracy / intent to distribute / sell. And, moreover, since most of the prisoners detained in this way are relatively "low-risk / low-profile offenders, recent studies are suggesting that, on a per ca pita basis, it is more expensive to hold these prisoners than it was prior to the institution of "for-profit" incarceration. And what groups do you think are being arrested, found guilty, and jailed, most often, for relatively minor drug related offences? Well... I won't spoil it for you; I'll let you hazard a guess. And here's a clue for you (and for anybody else who might be reading this) it's not that, as a percentage of marijuana users, fewer whites folks indulge (especially in the larger metropolitan areas (the middle-class bedroom and college communities that are "home" to the vast majority of white Americans) it is that more inner-city black and Hispanic "suspects" are arrested, detained and ultimately imprisoned (as a ratio) for these "offences" than are their white counterparts. Policing in white communities is by-and-large (and has always been) a "passive", non-invasive endeavor, where policing in minority communities is precisely the opposite; to wit, "active" and, most often, aggressively so. The mind-set of to many police officers, and the agencies they work, for is that variations on the LAPD's slogan "To protect and to serve" applies to suburbia, and not the inner city. Many in LA area inner-cities (where I was born 67 years ago) will tell you that it should more accurately be "To search, detain and destroy". As is the case with "most things American", over the past 200 years or so, if one wants to know how and why things in this country work they way they do, all one has to do is "follow the money"...
yodaass, How many years did you live in Africa? I bet done. I can bet why to. Watch t.v. and see how things are working out there. And your crying about what gos on here in America. Get a life dud and get over it. Your not helping any one by crying and crying . Things are better all around , But there is all ways the yous that can't see that.
Ah... the republic of Texas. A real hotbed of stupidity and republican values. What an embarrassment to our country and our people. Build the wall and rename Texas North Mexico!!!
If the country as a whole would act like texas there would be a lot less problems!! I take it you would love to see the country act as Chicago, Detroit, LA, Miami? Lots of minorities highest crime rates in the country. Democrat controlled huge Obama supporters, yet more murders, drugs, crime in general and some of the highest taxes and union support. Anybody see a connection with the mindset of these takers of society?
Some Republicans are racist. Some Democrats are racist. I bet the two are in a dead heat when it comes to racists on either side. Why is it that people assume Conservatives are a bunch of racist rednecks? Isn't the case at all. I am a conservative leaning cat (not a far right bible thumping moron) and I don't view people based on their race. I don't assume anything about anyone I do not know. I have seen some bad black folks, some bad Mexicans, bad Asians, and bad white people. Know some good ones in all the groups too. There is good in everyone and there is bad in everyone. It is all about how people want to live their life. Blaming other people for racism is a reach. There are really very few racists in this country. Look at how it is reported and you would think every white person in the USA hates every other ethnicity while every ethnicity loves white people and has given white people no reason to ever look at them in a bad light. Just isn't the case.
Shawn, what can you really say to redsky's comment? Their clear lack of info on Texas proves that they have no idea what part Texas plays and how much Texas contributes. Given their lack of any good info on the subject, I really don't think "discussing" it with them will be fruitfull.
Well said citizen.
Redsky,
Typical liberal ignorance at its summit! Compare Texas to let's say those liberal paradises such as Illinois, California, and New Yourk
Shawn, you do know welfare was around long before President Obama has been in the White House, right? ROFLMBO, the things idiots post, rush and hannity said it, so it must be true:-/ SMDH
We should actually concentrate on getting the illegal immigrant out of the White house.
Hey Pat, that would have been the case if George Romney had been elected (his BC says Mexico) and you really look stupid with this birther nonsense:-( ROFLMBOAU
as a % of the population whites are the least likley to be on government assiatance. Again the progressive liberals anti americans distort facts to "protect" the behavior of minorities just because they are minorities.
That makes the progressive liberal socalist more raciet than anybody!
If the minorities (or anybody) is held accountable for there actions then they will eventually change and will start contributing to society. But as long as we keep giving them a "pass" because they are a minority things will just stay the same.
Shawn, I am a so-called minority (only in this country but globally it's a different story) and I have always taken responsibility for my actions. You don't know ALL minorities but you put us all in the same box, I know plenty of white people who don't take responsibility for their actions. What makes a person wise is knowing that each person on earth is an individual and unless you speak to each and every person, you will never have a clear picture of a whole group of people. I went to school in the same neighborhood of David Duke's bookstore, I experienced racism 1st hand but I REFUSE to lump all white people in the same box. I really feel sorry for people who think the way you think:-(
Aww, the big, bad prosecutor hurt the widdle criminal's feelings.
In what world do groups of blacks hang out with groups of hispanics as BFFs?
So it's racist to suggest that a situation involving a group of blacks, a group of hispanics and a bag of money would not suggest to anyone with a brain that a crime is being committed? I guess it's sexist to suggest that a grown man in a raincoat hanging around a playground might be up to no good? If we really want to get serious about crime, we have to stop letting criminals go because of ridiculous technicalities.
I think he's fine if it's raining.
A man pulls up and parks in a parking lot, and waves to a group of other men standing on the corner. The group of men crowd around, you see money coming from the man in the car and something being given to him. The man in the car drives away.
You observe this same pattern 10 more times. QUESTION: is this a drug deal OR is the group of men on the corner (and the drivers) just buying tickets for today's NFL game at their local stadium? Things are not always as they seem, so do not be TOO quick to judge. A grown man in a raincoat hanging around a schoolyard, might just be a father waiting for his son and daughter on a rainy day!
P.S. In Major League Baseball, "groups of blacks hang out with groups of hispanics as BFFs"!
If its raining, chances are the kids aren't at the playground!
jack, isn't scalping tickets illegal too, given the tickets are not allowed to be resold at a profit? It seems they are still coming together to break a law.
... yep, "ridiculous technicalities" like "guilt or innocence", justice or the lack of it; next time you think about how "good" minorities (especially blacks and Hispanics) have it. as subjects of our legal system, as it is practiced in too many inner-city jurisdictions in this county, jurisdictions within which which most of us live, I suggest you take a drive downtown, to your local criminal courts building, and spend a little quality-time taking it all in. from the accused's point of view. Or, better yet, find a couple of brothers who'll be willing to take your white azz for a ride down to Slauson and Broadway in LA, or to the corner of Lennox and 117th in Harlem, so you can see how long it will take for a white cop to throw your azz "spread-eagle" over the hood of a patrol car with your hands locked behind you back. Then, ask yourself whether you'd want be on the receiving end of the "justice" you find there. I, you see, have "been there / done that, while you've probably learned most of what you think you know, from the folks at Fox, or worst, Rush Limbaugh. And, if you haven't your first personal experience yet (or aren't willing to do so) you might want to think about keeping your uninformed, BS to yourself, moving forward.
yodaass, So your saying the law in America is not as good as it is in Mexico or other country's. I think not .Thank God the people you talk about are here . In Mexico and some other country's there's no courts or they just shoot you . Hell you can get killed there all day long.
However, Sotomayor and Breyer seem not to recognize that, while making up 13-14% of the US population, blacks make up 65% of US prison population. So the "offending" judge can do math. Why can't SCOTUS?
What's that got to do with racism in TX courts?
I'll answer that for you: nothing.
stanboy, you ever heard of a little thing called drug sentencing disparity (100:1/16:1) or mandatory minimums (1st drug offense 5-10 years)?
Take race out of the equation: you get into a car with a group of friends; you travel to a hotel room where you meet up with another group of people;one group throws a bag full of money onto the bed; and, the other group throws a bag containing pills or a green leafy substance or white powder onto the bed.
NOW!!!! Is there any real doubt that this is a drug deal...and I didn't need to tell you the race of the parties. The prosecutor in this case was wrong to pull the race card, but did it affect the outcome? Using the above example, it still seems rather clear what was going on.
And I think that's exactly what the Supreme Court justices were saying.
We also don't know the racial makeup of the jury. Shouldn't matter, but it obviously does.
I know, from now on lets all make believe that the majority of drug deals and trafficking out of Mexico and in the Ghettos is perpetrated by "Whitetino's"
That should just about make the "matrix complete.
It is what it is folks; Mafia guys were mostly Italians and today drug runners are mainly...... what they are, liberals like it or not.
The govt is in the race business. In fact, it is big business to them. Racism is deemed appropriate unless it is directed at the white male and then all is fine and good. Im so sick of race being issue these days. Discrimination exists in many forms, not just race based discrimination. None of us are immune to it. The difference is many use discrimination as an excuse for their own failings. Discrimination is just another roadblock along the way in our life. We all will face and those of us that simply negotiate around it instead of dwelling on it will be miles ahead.
I find it amusing at how you goofballs continously take shots at Texas and yet people are moving here by the thousands every month. What you fail to underestand is that Texas isn't Texas anymore because our whole way of life has been poisened by all of you foreigners and illegals who come here....YOU are responsible for what Texas has become, not Texans. You could pull 10 people off of any street in Dallas and wouldn't find one Texan amongst them, all you would end up with are illegals, Californians, New Yorkers and the like. So before you go on criticizing Texas, remember, one, stay the hell out of our state, we don't need or want you here screwing everything up and, two, all you are doing is criticizing your own kind for the most part.
Agreed Jim. I wish they would all go back to their liberal freaking utopias. On top of coming here after running their own cities and states into the groud, they then try to push their stupid agendas on us, as if they have anything to offer. What are they missing here? They screw up their homes, then come here and try to tell us how to screw up Texas.....idiots.
Jim in Dallas,
I came to Texas as a child for a couple of years when I was 8. I always felt that I belonged here and that I was just misplaced when I was born. Later in life I was in the Military and got stationed here and it brought back that feeling that I belonged here again. I finished a career in the Military came here, my wife is from here, I own a home here, I grew older and retired here. I vote here because I care about it here. I am well aware of the problems that Texas has. I also have an understanding of Southern Politics. It is the only state I've lived in where the Governor doesn't run the state. With Perry, That's a good thing. Just what is your Idea of being a Texan? The true feeling of what something is in the Heart not of the Mind. I have more Texan in my little finger that you have in you whole body. The same for In the Middle.
I forgot to tell you something. I've got something you don't, Oil Rights.
6dogs....spoken like a true outsider.
Well, doesn't sound like you learned much about being a Texan, as you claim to be. A foreign transplant will never have anything over a born and bred Texan, without oil rights, but with natural gas rights. Owning a home in Texas doesn't make one a Texan just like wearing a pair of boots you bought at Cavenders doesn't make you a cowboy. Remember, when you brag about having oil rights, you prove you don't have what it takes; a real Texan doesn't need to brag about what he has because he doesn't have the need to try to outdo his neighbor.
... you do realize that there's another side to the story you tell about Texas, don't you? I wasn't born in Texas; conceived in Texas yes, way back in 1945, just after the War, then born in California, just a few months later. This because my mother, threatened to leave my father, a man she dearly loved, if he didn't follow her to California because she didn't want her baby (me, as things turned out) to be born in Texas. My entire family, mother's side and father's side, plus untold numbers of us, have called Texas home, from Dallas / Ft. Worth, "up-east" to "Lake Tex" and over into Oklahoma. Places like Windom, Bohnam, Honey Grove, Rowlett, and more; any of these ring a bell? How 'bout Paris? I grew up hearing from the "ole folks" about things, unspeakable Texas things, like a lynching that took place in Paris TX, at the Paris County Fair grounds, years upon years ago. The youngster they lunched that day, was first beaten, then flayed, they say, then hung and, finally, burned. The story goes, that 10,000 onlookers were present that day, some of them having traveled hundreds of miles to be part of the festivities. It took him almost an hour to die. They made sure that the time he had left would be a living hell-on-earth. I've even got an old and grainy picture of the scaffold on which he died, taken over the heads of the tumult in attendance. It was taken from so far away that you can barely make out the blurred images of the monsters who murdered him. His last name, by the way, was the same as mine. He was black and so am I. I'm 67 years old now, retired; a vet who wore the uniform from 1962 to 1969; and I know the Dallas / Ft Worth area like the back of my hand. I too am American. Born and bred in Texas, no! But, I think my "roots". deep as they have grown in the black loam that is Texas soil, qualify me to think of myself as a being something of "step-son emeritus", if you will; don't you? Yes, I know much, too much, about the Texas that you know, if you are the "real Texan" that you profess to be; the Texas that Texans no longer talk about in "polite company". And I know what all too many Texans are capable of, even now. As a matter of fact, I probably know things about Texas, things that even you may not know, or would just as soon forget. Now that I think about it, we both know Texas, don't we?
yodaass, That may be your problem man. You need to get over it. Or no lets just keep the ball rolling right. Tell your kids and grand kids and so on the story of your hard life in America. And how white people are so bad. I could be wrong but i thought white people helped black people get there rights. MORE THEN NOT. Life is not fair. People in other country's are having it bad right now, Dieing daily. I know white people that have had the same thing happen as blacks, Unfair and wrong. But now it's about more or less, That being not fair. Life is just that way.
... precisely the vacuousness I'd expect from a "fellow Texan"; "all hat & no cattle"! Have a nice day today, "toad"...
Do you know what retaliation is? It is a grown woman who has worked her entire life and because she sued a corporation who owns banks, and several other outlets, has been denied money that is to her education level, while they pay federal agencies to make certain that she is paid since that is what Congress has said is retaliation for reporting them. The financial losses that I have sustained for seven years with a few crumbs of money most of which has been borrowed while my hand is twisted behind my back to make me submit to the rape of money by a court house that can't be fair, because they failed to pay attention in school. I am a hostage to Indiana because of the trash in the courthouse. Two to three court house employees (prosecutors, country party chairmen, political party affiliates, elected officials) were related to January Portteus who now works for Greg Zoeller in the Indiana Attorney General's office, and they wanted what I was suppose to earn in that litigation to pay for their @!$%# relatives law degree's while they pretended to not know how to read a law at all, including the bill of rights, they included former party VP Vickie Kivett, Monte Kivett former prosecutor and now on the sheriff's revue board, and Rick Kivett who works as Maintenance for the Morgan county. Their daughters Daphne and her husband Matt wanted to have their degree's paid for at any cost to me and showing that Ohio can't teach law in their law schools because those kids can't read the bill of rights. They seized me and held me hostage to pay the @!$%# coming out of law schools who had no discernible interest, because the former federal judge had probably had sexual encounters with the business man I sued.
your basic left wing nut case...see above
you're sounding just a teeny bit crazy, Cheryl.
Either Cheryl is nuts, or this is a secret message within the message. Could someone try to decode it?
What in the WORLD are you talking about??????? How are your comments related to this article?
When I did not like the working conditions or pay I just went and found another job.
My motto has always been I was looking for a job when I found this one
I guess that is why I have been successful self employed business , I may want your work but I don't have to eat your sh!t. I have walked off a few jobs and probably will walk off a few more before I amdone.
Oh Cheryl - I love you!
gee a couple of unemployed black and mexicans with a bag full of cash? gee what a stretch
Do you people really have any idea how painfuly long we must evolve as a species to eliminate the basic and primal instinct of fearing all that are not just like our group?
We need to keep trying to have any chance of it taking place at all, but waiting 10 million years for racism to be overcome in the human species as opposed to tolerated? Please, don't make me laugh.
Y'all need to deal with it. Or anihalate each other, which is a possibility. We've tried it many times before.
I'm just sitting back watching this with a muse, I can't wait fir it to get to the Last Man Standing part.
The sad fact is that the majority of the top dogs in the drug trade are white, wealthy and influential - in politics, government and law enforcement.
jeroc, Ya and they all live in Mexico and places like that. And all those black people in jail are in there because of money. In fact there good people never did a thing wrong. There God like and all that. Don't make me laugh.
You can't say that there are such things as racial slurs when Notorious Bigg, and tupac and other black rappers have made a claim to fame using racial slurs to acclaim wealth. Furthermore the Asians who are brought here now feel they have super powers to steal money for. That is just stupid when you turn on the radio and those black rappers are going crazy with those comments. Furthermore, to say Asian is not a racial slur at all, it shows how stupid the courts are.
A good portion of Hip Hop, Rap are filled with Racial derogatory remarks usually against whites. But wait they can get away with it. Try and reverse that and see what happens. Gangsta rap is a form of hip hop that reflects the violent lifestyles of inner-city American black.
Cheryl- Tupac and Biggie have both been dead for 16 years, so what are you talking about? Please name 1 song by either Pac of B.I.G, bet you can't without google...LOL...I cannot tell you what's said in heavy metal because I don't like it or listen to it, I always LOL when some random poster says something about Hip/Hop or Rap, they are 2 completely different things, but you already knew that, riiight?
Dr. of CS- I LOVE Hip/Hop and I have NEVER heard not even 1 song about whites:-/ LOL at your explanation of "gangsta rap" Too Funny, thanks for the laugh!
You are so beautiful Cheryl!
Maybe the money came from cashing their welfare checks.
No, it probably came from your mom and sisters working the stroll:-)
browneyewhatever, Your not nice.
He got caught and was convicted , so he doesn't have a leg to stand on and starts screaming RACE in an attempt to evade justice. The supreme court justices that commented on the verdict are the most racist of all. This is why the current administration wants as many minorities in power as possible. Look at the accusation of the attorney general giving guns to drug dealers that are used to kill our border guards .
It would have been nice if the other seven justices had joined the statement by Sotomayor and Breyer. Guess they thought there was nothing wrong with what the prosecutor said. Thomas, the self-loathing black justice, probably agrees completely with the prosecutor.
No, the others just realized that it was not their problem, and they had no business doing anything with it. The case should have been declined, and done with. The two that made comments just wanted to give their speeches.
I believe everything, from prosecution argument to government policies, should be race neutral. The problem is that the government perpetuates race stereotypes. Government programs, district voting boundaries, political speech -- each are race based and racially motivated. The government presumes an election is flawed if representatives are not elected in strict racial quotas. Race-based governing by our federal and state legislators is rampant, yet Sota Mayor and Breyer choose to comment about this.
Lets face it - until government policy is race neutral, there will continue to be incidents like this. The problem is, race-division still serves the politicians' needs.
go to any city and drugs are everywhere...its how they make money. taxes to welfare payments to drugs
LOL, what grade did you complete, 5th?
what a crock of ShI$
why don't you all go f*** yourselves.
anytime someone disagress w/ this pos president it means you are a racist or must be a republican
is that not stereotyping at its best
Wow, and President Obama came into this story, HOW? I think it's a mental defect that causes some people to ALWAYS bring the President (only this one) into EVERY newsstory:-( Do yourself a favor and please seek help!
browneyewhatever, Can't you say any thing with out calling some one a name, Or are you just plan rude.
sotomeyer is a joke...
I though she was a proud latina woman?
The way I figure it with those remarks, this guy is good to go for the Republican gubernatorial primary in TX or any other state in the Confederate States of Bubbastan (now including the Mid West). Yet, after reading some of the racist screed in comments herein in reaction clearly show that we'll probably look back at the Prosecutor's despicable remarks as "the good old days." Winning the Civil War, allowing the States under rebellion back in, in retrospect, was one of the worst decisions in our history. I for one regret it.
of course those who separate people into little groups like african americcans arn't racist at all
Sure red, and your classification of Texas is enlightened and entirely accurate. Seems a little like being a racist.