S04.E19: The Sovereigns

[thewhiteowl]

Bull defends a state judge who helped a witness evade federal arrest in her courtroom.

[Dowel Jones]

This was finally a somewhat interesting case.  Two flaws that I could see, based on the FBI testimony:  the nurse did not administer the drugs, therefore she could argue that she is not guilty of the federal statute (there is no federal law against assisted suicide itself); and, secondly, the FBI would require a warrant to arrest her, which means the federal attorney for that district would have to sign off on it first.  They couldn't just go off by themselves and say 'this person needs to be arrested'.  Anyway, I think a far better solution would have been for the nurse to call the Public Defender from the judge's office (forget about the 'there's no time' excuse) and submit to arrest. The PD could make arrangements for her and then someone could bail her out.

I was interested in Benny's argument invoking the 10th Amendment.  Do federal authorities have the right to interrupt a state trial? Regardless of the outcome, that state ADA should get reprimanded by her office.  She done screwed up big time.

I did like the federal judge.  He didn't take no shit from anybody.  Benny actually had to contain his grandstanding somewhat.  And that was a surprise at the sentencing hearing when I thought that the judge in question was going to be the defendant.

Edited April 14, 2020 by Dowel Jones

[Grrarrggh]

I didn't like that nurse. Don't do things if you can't live up to the courage of your convictions. We never did find out what happened to the nurse or the doctor....

I also can't believe that judge had NO opinion at all on assisted suicide.

Edited April 14, 2020 by Grrarrggh

[Passepartout]

The agent did not seem bright when questioned by Benny. As did not know he caused a mistrial and did not know that taxpayers had to pay for it. He should had done the arrest in private if there was on and not in front of a court. Really guy should not be wearing a badge.

[LuvMyShows]

And there was no explanation as to why the nurse lied about what the judge said in private.  It wasn't necessary in terms of believability, for the nurse to say that, so it just seemed weird, especially the specific wording that she said.

[jabRI]

I was going to watch the episode, but they just did the same topic on ALL RISE.

[shefajs]

Well I got a shivering from this episode. At first it all looked like a fantasy/sci-fi then I realized they probably mean this can actually happen...

In Europe anything close to this is totally unthinkable, and the reason is one of the most fundamental principles.

We do have 3 pillars/forces of law - the Law makers (parliament, president, senate, etc.), Judges and Law execution (Police, ADA, etc).

They have to stay absolutely independent on each other. As it is impossible and unthinkable a police would come and arrest the president, the same unthinkable is that they would arrest the judge. Only judge commission can allow a judge prosecution by another force of law.

The police/FBI would not be even allowed to come to the hearing armed. Of course they would be immediately arrested by judicial security if they would interfere with the judging process in any way during the hearing.

How do You ensure a fair ruling without a Judge independence? Imagine a cop with a family member about to be prosecuted can they just come to a hearing and try to arrest a judge on some bogus charges (as a reciprocity or an attempt to disturb a process). And how easy for a drug lord would be staging some crime and bribing some individuals to get a Judge for his case removed or prosecuted?

It seems so absurd that I can't even imagine the same principles are not actually applied in US.

So can that actually happen?

[Passepartout]

Really the FBI does come off on TV as know it smug know it alls who think the rules apply to everybody except them. 

[Netfoot]

So, a fairly accurate portrayal, then?

[Dowel Jones]

No, the hairstyles on the show are much better.