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Monday, October 20, 2008

Hollywood Goes to Court

The worlds of Hollywood and the notoriously camera shy justices of the Supreme Court rarely collide. But today, the Court released a decision in the case Hollywood v. California. While there’s no doubt that Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas would love to take on that bastion of liberalism (Hollywood), this particular case draws its name from the plaintiff, Jesse James Hollywood.

The case not only involved a plaintiff named Hollywood, but Hollywood itself, in the form of a movie called Alpha Dog. The star? None other than Justin Timberlake! If you’ve seen it, you’re one of a very select few. Anyway, it seems that a Santa Barbara County deputy district attorney, Ron Zonen, cooperated with the movie’s producers, providing background information on the real life murder case on which the movie was loosely based. Hollywood, the man charged with the murder felt that this collaboration should disqualify Mr. Zonen from his prosecution.

Unfortunately for Mr. Hollywood (its tough to decide which name we like more, Hollywood or Jesse James), the Supreme Court disagreed, and will allow Mr. Zonen to continue his role in Mr. Hollywood’s prosecution. While this case might not have far reaching implications, it’s certainly a change from the normal run of cases we feature. You can see the Associated Press’ write-up here.

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