Contempt: Can the Courts Stand Up for the Rule of Law? - WhoWhatWhy

Contempt: Can the Courts Stand Up for the Rule of Law? - WhoWhatWhy

In July of 2007, I was the appellate chief in the US Attorney’s Office in North Alabama when Judge William Marsh Acker, may he rest in peace, requested that my office prosecute Dickie Scruggs for criminal contempt.  Scruggs was a well-known Mississippi lawyer with a civil case before Acker, involving allegations of insurance fraud that impacted Hurricane Katrina victims. Acker believed Scruggs had violated the terms of an injunction entered that…