Photo Credit: ReutersA federal judge has refused Attorney General Eric Holder’s request that he be allowed to proceed now with an appeal in a case where the House of Representatives is seeking to enforce subpoenas for documents related to the controversial Operation Fast and Furious gun investigation.
In a ruling Monday afternoon, U.S. District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson said her September 30 ruling rejecting Holder’s request to dismiss the lawsuit was not such a close call that it deserved immediate review from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.
“While the Court agrees with defendant’s characterization of the matter as significant, that is not the test,” Jackson wrote in her new four-page decision (posted here). ”
Jackson’s latest ruling means it is likely the Justice Department will have to produce a detailed log of what was withheld from the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee and why. Rounds of protracted litigation over the legitimacy of the withholdings seem all but certain, unless the sides come to an agreement which has heretofore eluded them.
“The Court is not of the opinion that its denial of the motion to dismiss involves a controlling question of law as to which there is a substantial ground for difference of opinion,” she wrote in her Monday order, issued just one business day after Holder’s lawyers asked for the immediate appeal. “The ruling was based upon Supreme Court precedent and Circuit precedent, and it was decided in accordance with an opinion issued by another judge of this court in a substantially similar matter…. Defendant has not pointed to any precedent that would supply the grounds for a difference of opinion.”
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2013-11-19 00:54:492016-04-11 11:14:02Judge Won’t Allow Holder Appeal Now in Contempt Case
Photo Credit: opposingviews.com A woman from Northampton County, Pa., became angry after being told by a judge that she could no longer breastfeed her 10-month-old daughter.
Jessica Moser, who has been in a custody battle with her daughter Jasmine’s father, was ordered by a family court judge two weeks ago to stop breastfeeding Jasmine so the child can spend two days overnight with her dad, WFMZ-TV reported.
Pumping breast milk is not an option because Moser says she can’t pump enough for two days, and Jasmine will not drink from a bottle.
“I’m feeling frustrated, hurt,” Moser told WFMZ-TV. “I’m trying to keep myself from crying, it’s very emotional.”
Moser says she has been the only one taking care of Jasmine since she was born last December.
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00kathleenhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngkathleen2013-11-16 02:10:512016-04-11 11:14:16Mom Told By Judge To Stop Breastfeeding (+video)
A federal judge on Wednesday ordered the appointment of an independent monitor and a community advisory board to ensure that an Arizona sheriff is complying with constitutional requirements after finding his office engages in racial profiling.
U.S. District Judge Murray Snow found in May that the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office singled out Latinos and deputies unreasonably prolonged detentions.
It was the first finding by a court that the agency covering Arizona’s most populous county engages in racial profiling after a small group of Latinos sued the Arpaio for violating their constitutional rights, saying they were being detained simply because of their race.
Snow had delayed ordering remedies in the case to allow time for both parties to reach agreements, but disputes over key issues prevented consensus.
In his ruling Wednesday, Snow ordered that a monitor be appointed to oversee the agency’s re-training of deputies and ensure the Sheriff’s Office is complying with constitutional requirements. Snow also ordered the creation of a community advisory board aimed at helping restore the public’s confidence, among other remedies.
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2013-10-03 00:10:572013-10-03 00:10:57Judge Orders Monitor to be Appointed to Oversee Arizona Sheriff Arpaio
The United States Senate Judiciary Committee will vote this week on President Obama’s nomination of Cornelia Pillard to the court that many consider the second-most powerful and important in the land, the Court of Appeals of the D.C. Circuit. Of President Obama’s judicial nominees who have exhibited hostility towards unborn children, perhaps none is as flagrant, or as out-of-touch, as Cornelia Pillard.
In a 2007 law review article, Pillard wrote that “[r]eproductive rights, including the rights to contraception and abortion, play a central role in freeing women from historically routine conscription into maternity” (emphasis added). She believes there is an “equal protection” right to abortion—a position never adopted by the United States Supreme Court.
In other words, she believes that women cannot be equal citizens unless they have an unlimited right to abortion, and rather than suggest that the Constitution be amended if her views win favor with the American people, she asserts that the Constitution already protects abortion by forbidding states to deny anyone the equal protection of the laws.
Given Pillard’s views on equal protection and abortion, she would likely find most laws enacted to protect unborn children and their mothers invalid, including such widely-supported measures as late-term abortion restrictions, parental involvement and informed consent requirements, and clinic regulations.
Pillard writes that “[a]ntiabortion laws and other restraints on reproductive freedom not only enforce women’s incubation of unwanted pregnancies, but also prescribe a ‘vision of the woman’s role’ as mother and caretaker of children in a way that is at odds with equal protection” (emphasis added).
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00kathleenhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngkathleen2013-09-17 01:22:042013-09-17 01:22:04Obama Nominee for Judge Says Abortion Frees Women From “Conscription Into Maternity”
On Wednesday, Ugandan L.G.B.T. activists heard news that was exciting even though they had assumed it was inevitable: U.S. District Court Judge Michael Ponsor said that a lawsuit brought by Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG) against the anti-gay American pastor Scott Lively over his involvement in the effort to persecute gay people in Uganda can move forward. (Ponsor ruled against Lively’s motion to dismiss the suit.) The activists launched the case last year after months of collecting evidence of Lively’s anti-gay teachings over several of his trips to Uganda since 2002, and of his influence on the conception of the country’s “Kill the Gays” bill.
SMUG is being represented by the Center for Constitutional Rights, of New York, and the suit is based on the Alien Tort Statute, which allows foreigners to file civil lawsuits against Americans for violations of international law. I spent much of last year with Frank Mugisha, who leads SMUG, and wrote about him for the magazine in December. “We want to name and shame the people spreading homophobia here,” Mugisha told me.
Judge: foreigners can sue U.S. pastor over sermons
By Bob Unruh.
[T]he ruling from Judge Michael Posner in a case brought by Sexual Minorities Uganda against Pastor Scott Lively of Abiding Truth Ministries could … establish that an international consensus disavowing long-held biblical standards could trump the U.S. Constitution.
SMUG alleges Lively must be punished for criticizing homosexuality, calling his speech a “crime against humanity” in violation of “international law”…
[Lively’s attorney said:] “We are disappointed with the decision because we believe SMUG’s claims are firmly foreclosed, not only by the First Amendment right to free speech, but also by the Supreme Court’s recent decision in Kiobel, which eliminated Alien Tort Statute claims for events that allegedly occurred in foreign nations”…
The judge took nearly 80 pages to say that he thought the allegations by SMUG were substantive and needed to be adjudicated.
He sided with the “gays” in his first paragraph, explaining that while SMUG is made up of groups “that advocate for the fair and equal treatment of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) people,” Lively is an “American citizen residing in Springfield, Mass., who, according to the complaint, holds himself out to be an expert on what he terms the ‘gay movement.’”
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2013-08-17 23:15:062013-08-17 23:15:06Judge Allows International Law to Trump US Constitution’s First Amendment Right to Criticize Homosexuality
Photo Credit: APThe judge at US soldier Bradley Manning’s sentencing hearing rejected some government evidence Wednesday that the classified information he disclosed through the anti-secrecy website WikiLeaks had a “chilling effect” on US foreign relations.
The judge ruled that such testimony is admissible only if the effect came directly after the information was published.
She threw out State Department undersecretary Patrick Kennedy’s testimony that leaked information published more than two years ago continues to hurt US foreign relations and policymaking.
The judge also has rejected acting assistant secretary Michael Kozak’s testimony that the leaks had made some foreign citizens, including human rights activists, less willing to speak privately with US diplomats.
By Associated Press. Hobby Lobby Inc. was given a temporary exemption Friday from a requirement in the new federal health care law to offer insurance coverage for the morning-after pill and similar emergency birth control methods or face steep fines.
U.S. District Judge Joe Heaton issued the preliminary injunction for the Oklahoma City-based arts and crafts chain and stayed the case until Oct. 1 to give the federal government time to consider filing an appeal with the U.S. Supreme Court.
The ruling was welcomed by the Christian owners of Hobby Lobby and its sister company, the Mardel Christian bookstore chain. Attorneys for the Green family have argued that their religious beliefs are so deeply rooted that having to provide every form of birth control would violate their conscience.
“We’re just very excited. This is a great step for us,” Hobby Lobby president Steve Green said.
Members of the Green family say they believe life begins at conception, and oppose birth control methods that can prevent implantation of a fertilized egg in the uterus, such as an intrauterine device or forms of emergency contraception. Read more from this story HERE.
Photo Credit: WNDCourts prevent feds from enforcing abortion-drug mandate
By WND. A federal court Friday granted a preliminary injunction to Hobby Lobby, preventing the Obama administration from enforcing the Obamacare abortion-drug mandate against the Christian-run company while the case is in progress.
The case brought by Hobby Lobby is just one of dozens pending in courts now over the Obamacare demand that employers provide abortifacients to their employees – irrespective of whether such actions violate the employers’ beliefs.
The Becket Fund, which is representing the company, said the court found there is a “substantial public interest in ensuring that no individual or corporation has their legs cut out from under them while these difficult issues are resolved.”
“The tide has turned against the HHS mandated,” said a spokesman for the organization.
Matt Bowman, senior legal counsel for the Alliance Defending Freedom, said every American, including family business owners, should be free to live and do business according to their faith. Read more from this story HERE.
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00kathleenhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngkathleen2013-07-20 04:17:262016-04-11 11:18:49Judge Grants Exemption for Hobby Lobby in ObamaCare Challenge
Photo Credit: Dale G. YoungBy Gary Heinlein. Ruling the governor and Detroit’s emergency manager violated the state constitution, an Ingham County Circuit judge ordered Friday that Detroit’s federal bankruptcy filing be withdrawn.
“It’s absolutely needed,” said Judge Rosemary Aquilina, observing she hopes Gov. Rick Snyder “reads certain sections of the (Michigan) constitution and reconsiders his actions.”
The judge said state law guards against retirement benefits being “diminished,” but there will be no such protection in federal bankruptcy court.
State-level legal skirmishing over the Chapter 9 bankruptcy effort by Snyder and Detroit Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr now will quickly move to the Michigan Court of Appeals. Read more from this story HERE.
Photo Credit: Fox Confusion in Detroit as judge challenges legality of bankruptcy
By Fox News.The ongoing crisis in Detroit took another — and confusing — turn Friday after an Ingham County judge ruled the city’s historic bankruptcy filing violates the state’s constitution and must be withdrawn.
“I have some very serious concerns because there was this rush to bankruptcy court that didn’t have to occur and shouldn’t have occurred,” Judge Rosemarie Aquilina said Friday in a spate of orders arising from three separate lawsuits.
There was no immediate response from Detroit Emergency Manger Kevyn Orr, who filed the bankruptcy document Thursday, and no indication if city officials planned to take any action in response to Aquilina’s ruling.
Aquilina said Michigan’s constitution prohibits actions that will lessen the pension benefits of public employees, including those in the city of Detroit. She added that Gov. Rick Snyder and Orr overstepped their authority and violated state law by proceeding with the bankruptcy filing because they knew the outcome could affect benefits to thousands of Detroit residents. Read more from this story HERE.
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2013-07-20 04:08:582016-04-11 11:18:51Largest Municipal Bankruptcy in History on Hold: Judge Says it’s Illegal (+video)
Photo Credit: YouTubeMark Levin, a constitutional law attorney, took real offense at “obnoxious and pathetic” Judge Debra Nelson for improperly questioning defendant George Zimmerman.
Levin hit the judge – a Jeb Bush appointee and reportedly a lifelong Democrat – for not only failing to allow the defendant’s last witness to be called prior to her inquiry of Zimmerman, but also in the way she did it.
For instance, she did not allow the attorney to state his objection, but cut him off and plowed forward with her questioning of Zimmerman.
Listen to Attorney Levin’s aggressive critique here:
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2013-07-13 03:43:462016-04-11 11:19:22Mark Levin Blasts Democrat Zimmerman Judge – a Jeb Bush Appointee – For Being “Way Out of Line!” (+video)
Photo Credit: Fox NewsBy Fox News. Defense lawyers will be permitted to show that Trayvon Martin had marijuana in his system when he and George Zimmerman had their fateful encounter in a gated community in Florida last year, the judge in Zimmerman’s murder trial ruled Monday.
Judge Debra Nelson denied a motion by prosecutors to keep toxicology results showing THC in Martin’s system from the jury, paving the way for Zimmerman’s lawyers to argue the drug may have influenced the teen’s behavior. Defense attorney Don West noted that in Zimmerman’s statement to the non-emergency 911 dispatcher that it appeared the person he was observing in the Sanford, Fla., community was “on drugs.”
Late Monday, Zimmerman defense spokesman Shawn Vincent said the defense could rest by the end of the day Tuesday or early Wednesday morning. The prosecution would then have rebuttal witnesses, with closing statements by Thursday or Friday. Vincent stressed this scenario depended on everything going as expected.
Nelson’s ruling on the toxicology results came after the jury was dismissed following a day of conflicting testimony about whose voice could be heard screaming on a subsequent 911 tape. A parade of Zimmerman’s friends said they recognized the neighborhood watch volunteer’s voice, but Martin’s father, who police said initially told them he did not recognize the voice, said he came to realize it was his son after hearing the tape some 20 times.
The testimony, in week three of Zimmerman’s murder trial, came after the mothers of both Zimmerman and Martin testified Friday it was their son doing the screaming in the Feb. 26, 2012, 911 call made to Sanford, Fla., police. The issue is critical because Zimmerman, a 29-year-old neighborhood watch volunteer, says he shot the 17-year-old in self-defense as he was being beaten.
Photo Credit: Breitbart Broward County Sheriff’s Office Prepares Zimmerman Verdict Riot Plan
By Ben Shapiro. On Monday, the Broward County Sheriff’s Office released a video calling on the public not to riot in the wake of the George Zimmerman verdict, expected this week or next in Florida. The Sheriff’s Office released a statement explaining that it was “working closely with the Sanford Police Department and other local law enforcement agencies” to coordinate “a response plan in anticipation of the verdict.”
The video, titled “Raise Your Voice, Not Your Hands,” focuses on attempting to channel reaction into non-violent response. It depicts two youngsters, one black teenage boy, one Hispanic teenage girl. “Raise your voice!” says the girl. “And not your hands!” says the boy. “We need to stand together as one, no cuffs, no guns,” says the girl. “Let’s give violence a rest, because we can easily end up arrested,” says the boy. “I know your patience will be tested,” says the girl, and then both conclude, “but law enforcement has your back!”
“Let’s back up and choose not to act up, and deputies are with us, so no need to act up,” says the boy. “Let it roll off your shoulders,” says the girl, “it’s water off your back, don’t lack composure, because in one instant it could be over.” Both conclude: “So let’s make the choice to raise your voice and not your hands.” Sheriff Scott Israel says, “I’m Sheriff Scott Israel, and law enforcement does have your back.” Read more from this story HERE.
By Jack Cashill. On Monday afternoon, the State of Florida’s case against George Zimmerman all but collapsed when the defense put a lie to the State’s claim that Trayvon Martin was the one whose voice was heard on the 9-1-1 tapes.
A critical part of the evidence to support the second-degree murder affidavit against Zimmerman was the identification by Martin’s mother, Sybrina Fulton, of her son’s screaming voice on what the defense calls the “Lauer tape,” the 9-1-1 call that recorded forty seconds of cries for help.
On Friday, July 8, the State closed its case by calling Fulton to the witness stand. As expected, and as highly anticipated by those wanting Zimmerman’s head, Fulton claimed that it was her son’s voice on the 9-1-1 tape…
Under defense attorney Mark O’Mara’s guidance [on Monday], Chris Serino, the lead investigator in the case, told how he played the 9-1-1 tapes for Tracy Martin, Trayvon’s father, two days after the shooting.
When Serino asked Martin if the screaming voice on the 9-1-1 tape was his son’s, Martin said “no.” Sanford PD officer Doris Singleton testified next. She witnessed the exchange and confirmed what Serino had said. “[Tracy Martin] was telling Chris it was not his son’s voice,” said Singleton. Read more from this story HERE.
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2013-07-09 02:42:432016-04-11 11:19:40Judge Rules Defense Can Show Trayvon Martin Died With Marijuana in His System; Sheriff Prepares for Riots (+video)
