Judge Orders Palin Custody Battle Open To The Public

by Glynnis MacNicol | 9:34 am, December 29th, 2009

» 17 comments

2008+Republican+National+Convention+Day+3+BnTvKZvUJDbl Much to the delight of media folks everywhere, and the understandable dismay of the Palin family, an Alaskan judge has forced the custody battle between Bristol Palin and Levi Johnston to go public. Up until now the court case, filed by Bristol Palin back in November in order to obtain sole custody of Tripp Johnston-Palin has been closed to the public. Apparently this measure did not sit well with Levi Johnston. From the Alaska Dispatch:

In an opposition to Palin’s motion for a gag order, Johnston’s attorney, Rex Butler, said: “Simply put, this matter is public in nature, the courts are not refuges for the scions of the elite to obtain private dispensation of their legal matters because the public at large has an interest in the proceedings.”

“The courts are not refuges for the scions of the elite!” Sounds a bit like Sarah Palin is getting Palinized. And then there’s this from Johnston, himself:

“I do not feel protected against Sarah Palin in a closed proceeding,” Johnston said in an affidavit accompanying Butler’s filings. “I hope that if it is open she will stay out of it. … I think a public case might go a long way in reducing Sarah Palin’s instinct to attack and allow the real parties in this litigation, Bristol and I, to work things out a lot more peacefully than we could if there is any more meddling from Sarah Palin.”

It’s unclear whether the inclusion of the press where the Palin’s are concerned will be conducive to anything getting done “more peacefully” but considering the uproar over Levi’s Playgirl photo shoot, not to mention Palin’s Going Rogue, perhaps they have a different definition of the word.

Alaska, Alaska Dispatch, Bristol Palin, Going Rogue, Levi Johnston, Sarah Palin, Tripp Johnston-Palin

http://www.swissarmyjew.com Keeva

As I have repeatedly said before, I am not a fan of Sarah Palin. That said, I am stunned at this court decision. Custody hearings tend to usually be closed proceedings. Johnston’s claim that he needed a public hearing to ensure “fairness” is ludicrous and most likely designed to get him extra free PR as the media descends on this hearing, praying for a juicy Sarah Palin morsel.

This is a private family matter and not more fodder for the consumption of a lazy media looking for a cheap sensational headline.

The Alaska Dispatch should know better. This is not about a political battle or some ethics issue. This is about the future of a child. If Johnston cared one iota about the child, he would have already settled this matter.

And if the media (including Glynnis) had even one-fourth the respect and concern for children that they claim, the Dispatch would not have brought this suit and this story would not be here.

As I said at the top, I am not a fan of Palin’s, but I am a big fan of responsibility – something both Levi Johnston and the working media (again this include Glynnis and the rest) apparently can no longer even spell.
Relic

Conservative values…RIIIIGHT. What a joke the GoP is. Hypocrites the lot of them.
http://www.nukethefridge.com MartiniShark

What’s the surprise here? Levi has already shown he has no problem with public exposure.
Pat Doherty

Todd Palin should take Levi fishing a la Neri and Fredo in the The Godfather, Part II.
roxsteady

Perhaps Todd should not have allowed Levi to live under his roof with his daughter who had no clue about birth control. That said, this should be a real hillbilly hodown that would make the Clampett family look like the Vanderbilts.
LNSmithee

Roxie — what do you have against “hillbillies?” Explain.
http://www.karlspensen.blogspot.com Karl Spensen

ONCE AGAIN the beautiful, smart, hot, intelligent, sexy, FUTURE OF THE GOP Sarah Palin is PERSECUTED by the LIBS … this time, ACTIVIST JUDGES!!1 The SOCIOFASCISTS and LEFTIES are so PETRIFIED of Sarah that they are pulling out ALL THE STOPS to humiliate her!!1 We’ll see who gets the LAST LAUGH in 2012!!1
ImNotBlue

Christian Larson is that you again? So glad to see you’re still playing “Karl,” even though college ended.

But tell me, since I wasn’t there… was it funny then? Because it’s not now.
LNSmithee

I would like all the other Palin-haters to explain why they believe “Ricky Hollywood” — who moved 3500 miles away from his infant child and whose only discernible skill is sponging off people who despise his almost-mother-in-law with the heat of a thousand suns — should have joint custody.

Go ahead, make the argument. I’m interested in seeing how minds so twisted with hate think.
http://www.karlspensen.blogspot.com Karl Spensen

SRSLY!!1 There is so much HATE towards SARAH that is blinds people from the TRUTH — that she is an AMAZING True American Patriot who will TAKE BACK our Once Proud Republic!!1 The LEFT is so filled with HATE – which is only 2 letters away from HOPE (look it up)!!1

And INB, your borderline-homoerotic OBSESSION with my cousin, while funny in its DESPERATION, is beginning to get SERIOUSLY CREEPY!!1 For the last time, Patriots like us should STICK TOGETHER!!1 Your snide, condescending tone plus my PASSION could make for a POWERHOUSE of conservative awesomeness!!1 THINK ABOUT IT … and in the meantime, PLEASE stop STALKING my family!!1 It’s TOTES weird!!1
Ted

Here’s LNSmithee asking others to make an argument.

You hate filled Palin haters, you make me sick with your hate, and all you do is hate hate hate. Explain why the hate obsessed father should get custody of anything except a big bag of french fried hate!! He is a hate filled sponger of bob or something equally repugnant…and hateful!!

Go ahead you hate filled haters, make your stupid twisted Palin hating haters case.

I hate you!! But, please, join the argument and thanks in advance!
http://www.facebook.com/people/Ryan-Litterer/203001246 Ryan Litterer

Karl,
How are you going to get the last laugh in 2012? Your party has no chance, especially if Palin is going to try and run. Your only chance is with Romney, but everyone hates Mormons so their is still no chance there either.
LNSmithee

Ted wrote:

Here’s LNSmithee asking others to make an argument.

(snip)

Go ahead you hate filled haters, make your stupid twisted Palin hating haters case.

I hate you!! But, please, join the argument and thanks in advance!

You see, this is the difference between me and people like you, Ted: I DON’T hate you for hating Sarah Palin. I live in San Francisco — I couldn’t function if I hated liberals. On the other hand, there ARE liberals who hate me for the crime of (a) Being overwhelmingly conservative, and (b) African-American. I have seen and met people who are sweet and kind and thoughtful and helpful just as long as you don’t reveal you don’t share their hatred for George W. Bush. Then, they can barely look you in the eyes if they choose to acknowledge you at all.

I don’t know you well enough to hate you. There are few people I don’t know personally whose misdeeds effect my life enough for me to hate them. While there are some people whom I would give an earful if I ever met them (as I have a couple of times when I met members of San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors in public), I would never wish physical or emotional harm to them just because I disagreed with them politically.

I would never grab some eggs out of the refrigerator upon hearing that a former VP candidate (such as Al Gore) was at a nearby book signing with the goal of assaulting him, or filing baseless lawsuits against him for the purpose of bankrupting him through a loophole in the law, or making up and maliciously spreading lies of extramarital affairs and pending divorce, false rumors of a never-existent FBI investigation, or an outlandish accusation that his youngest child wasn’t his. I certainly wouldn’t be Photoshopping the head of a malformed child molester on his youngest’s baby pictures. And I wouldn’t be cheering on anyone who did such things, either. All those things were done to Sarah Palin, and people like you eat it up with your bare hands.

I hope Barack Obama is a one-term President just like Jimmy Carter. And yes, I will say it — in his drive to “fundamentally transform the United Sttes of America,” I hope he fails. Bill Clinton said “There’s nothing wrong with America that can’t be solved with what’s right about America.” Obama doesn’t seem to believe there’s enough right about America for him to solve anything without employing the advice and counsel of big-government spendthrifts with a Marxist outlook about wealth distribution. But I don’t want to see his marriage crumble. I don’t want to see horrible things happen to his children or his grandchildren. I want Obama to be defeated, not utterly destroyed.

Can you, or Glynnocchio, or roxsteady and the rest of you say the same about Palin? Or would that damage your bona fides in the circles in which you associate?

I notice, Ted, that you didn’t want to make a case for Levi to gain full or partial custody, as I requested. Maybe you tried, and you realized the only case in favor of a vengeful absentee cad like Johnston is that it would cause pain to his ex’s famous mother.
LNSmithee

Ryan — Karl’s not for real. He’s a Colbert wannabe. But he never will.
Ted

Uh… LN – Don’t look now but I think something went right past you.
LNSmithee

Ryan Litterer wrote:

Karl,
How are you going to get the last laugh in 2012? Your party has no chance, especially if Palin is going to try and run. Your only chance is with Romney, but everyone hates Mormons so their is still no chance there either.

How interesting you should say such a thing. Here are a couple of interesting facts that may explode your idea of what “everybody” thinks, Ryan.

When Sarah Palin was announced as a guest on the Oprah show November 16, there were a LOT of people who called themselves loyal viewers who said they either wouldn’t watch the show or that they would no longer watch Oprah at all anymore! Why? Because she extended an invitation to Palin, betraying her friendship with the Obamas, whom she hosted on the program twice.

The day after the Palin interview, the numbers were in — it was the highest rated Oprah show in over two years, even higher than when the Obamas were on! Who was the guest on the most-recently high rated show? Tom Cruise? Whitney Houston? Al Gore? Bon Jovi?

Nope, nope, nope and nope. An Osmond family reunion.
SWWT

Levi Johnston: Father of the Year