Paul Minor and Me, Part I

I live in Birmingham, AL, and started Legal Schnauzer primarily to shine a spotlight on my experiences with corrupt attorneys and judges in Alabama's state courts.

From the outset, I wanted the blog to look at matters beyond my little world; I didn't want this to be an exercise in navel-gazing. From conducting research on the Web, it seemed pretty clear that I was not the only one out there suffering at the hands of a warped justice system.

Little did I realize just how far afield Legal Schnauzer would go. Perhaps that has made the blog seem a little disjointed and hard to follow at times. But on the plus side, I think it's important to tie my experiences into the bigger picture of a justice system out of control.

So I'm pleased that we've found a niche when it comes to reporting on the Bush Department of Justice scandal, focusing particularly on the Don Siegelman case in Alabama and the Paul Minor
case in Mississippi.

I find it ironic that Legal Schnauzer has received its widest notice because of our reporting on the Minor case, which, on the surface, has nothing to do with Alabama. Scott Horton, of Harper's.org, cited our reporting on the Minor case (which caused our readership to pretty much double or even triple on many days.) And when the U.S. House Judiciary Committee recently held a hearing on selective prosecution, Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN) introduced the Minor case into the investigation and included documents that liberally cited our reporting on the case.

I guess that means Legal Schnauzer will forever be ensconced in the Congressional Record. Never thought that would happen.

Perhaps now is a good time to look at why the Paul Minor case matters, regardless of where you live and regardless of what political persuasion you hold. We will take a closer look in just a bit.