Chicago Connections to Minor Case?

A federal court case in Chicago could wind up shining light on the Bush Justice Department and its targeting of Democrats who provided financial support to John Edwards. One such Democratic supporter could be Mississippi attorney Paul Minor, whose questionable conviction on bribery charges has been the subject of ample attention here at Legal Schnauzer.

Scott Horton, of Harper's, reports that a Chicago court has order the DOJ to turn over documents in a civil case, Beam v. Gonzalez.

Horton earlier reported that Bush supporters expected Edwards to be the Democratic candidate for the presidency in 2004. That led to DOJ raids at the offices of several trial lawyers who were known to be supporters of Edwards.

Horton's latest post notes that similar raids also took place at financial institutions. One wonders if this might have occurred in Mississippi related to the Minor case.

The Minor prosecution has yet to be clearly identified as growing from these raids. But Minor was known as a strong Edwards supporter, and The New York Times this week identified his case as part of a growing list of questionable prosecutions by the Bush DOJ.

Horton also notes that the testimony of Alabama attorney Jill Simpson, released this week by the House Judiciary Committee, shines considerable light on unethical tactics used by the Bush DOJ.