Tag: federal judge

Federal judge crushes “moderate Republican” John Kasich’s latest attempt to defund Planned Parenthood

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❝ A federal judge on Friday blocked an Ohio law that would have defunded Planned Parenthood — by kicking it out of state grant programs for public health and education services, like maternal health and HIV prevention programs.

“Today’s ruling supports the rights of all Ohioans to access needed health care,” said Iris E. Harvey, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of Greater Ohio, in a statement. “This law would have been especially burdensome to communities of color and people with low income who already often have the least access to care.”

❝ …Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine says he will appeal, blah, blah, blah…Not only was Planned Parenthood a major provider of these health services that couldn’t easily be replaced but the bill was also written so poorly that it could have accidentally defunded Ohio’s public health departments in the process of trying to go after Planned Parenthood…

❝ The law would have blocked Planned Parenthood, and other entities connected to abortion services in almost any way, from receiving funding for:

The “Healthy Moms, Healthy Babies” program that supports mostly black mothers before, during, and after pregnancy. The program is aimed at reducing abysmally high infant mortality rates in Ohio, which are the highest in the nation for black Americans

Several federal programs that help low-income people access breast exams, Pap smears, and screenings and treatment for STIs and HIV

Funds from the Violence Against Women Act to provide education for high school–age youth, including youth who are in jail or foster care, on domestic violence, intimate partner violence, and healthy relationships

“The defunding law in Ohio would have stopped Planned Parenthood from providing HIV tests, cancer screenings, and assistance for poor mothers with newborn infants,” said Kellie Copeland, president of NARAL Pro-Choice Ohio…

❝ Attorney General DeWine did claim — falsely, as it turned out — that Planned Parenthood improperly disposed of fetal remains…The state of Ohio was forced to pay Planned Parenthood’s legal fees as a result.

Couldn’t happen to a more representative leader of liars and bigots. America’s conservative politicians – mostly led by Republican godly pretenders like John Kasich – specialize in a War on Women that ranges from rationalizing inequality in wages to blocking access to education, health and well-being.

Once again, federal court explains to Mississippi religious bigotry doesn’t trump constitutional law

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❝ A federal judge has blocked a Mississippi law intended to allow people who object on religious grounds to same-sex marriage and believe gender is determined at birth to refuse wedding and other services to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.

❝ U.S. District Judge Carlton Reeves found…that the wide-ranging law adopted this spring unconstitutionally allowed “arbitrary discrimination” against the LGBT community, unmarried people and others who do not share such views…

❝ By citing…religious grounds, the law would have allowed people to refuse to provide a wide range of services from baking a wedding cake for a same-sex couple to counseling and fertility services. It also permitted dress code and bathroom restrictions to be imposed on transgender people…

The Republican governor can be counted upon to waste even more taxpayer dollar$ on what he called “an aggressive appeal”. In bigot-speech, that means he is certain his best chance at winning more elections in Mississippi requires continuing the elevation of bigotry, hatred and religious foolishness to political gospel.

RTFA for details of this backwardness and corruption.

Federal Judge clears the way for San Francisco’s sugary drink warnings

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❝ Soda pop manufacturers will be forced to include warnings about the potential dangers of their products on certain advertisements in San Francisco after a federal judge declined to halt a new law.

U.S. District Judge Edward Chen refused Wednesday to block the measure from taking effect July 25, meaning the soda pop companies will be required to sound the alarm about the health effects of sugary beverages…

❝ The American Beverage Association, California Retailers Association and California State Outdoor Advertising Association had filed a lawsuit seeking a temporary injunction blocking the rule from implementation. They argued it violated their free speech rights.

Supporters of the law say it’s critical to warn consumers about the connection between sugary beverages and health problems. The language that must be included on the ads states: “WARNING: Drinking beverages with added sugar(s) contributes to obesity, diabetes, and tooth decay. This is a message from the City and County of San Francisco.”

❝ Chen wrote in his order: “The warning required by the city ordinance is factual and accurate, and the city had a reasonable basis for requiring the warning given its interest in public health and safety.”

Kudos to Judge Chen. A pleasant exception to business-as-usual judiciary and assorted political hacks too busy playing ring-around-the-rosie with fundraisers and lobbyists to give attention to health hazards affecting the nation’s population.

Congressional committee ordered to court – hiding info on insider trading

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A U.S. judge on Friday directed the House Ways and Means Committee and a staffer to appear at a July 1 hearing to address their alleged refusal to respond to U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission subpoenas as part of an insider trading probe.

The order by U.S. District Judge Paul Gardephe in New York covers both the committee and Brian Sutter, staff director for its healthcare subcommittee and came at the SEC’s request.

The SEC said it is examining whether material nonpublic information concerning an April 1, 2013 announcement by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services of 2014 reimbursement rates for a Medicare program was leaked improperly, and whether anyone traded on that information…

According to the SEC, the House committee has resisted the subpoenas, in part by arguing that the U.S. Constitution shields lawmakers from having to testify or turn over documents…

As usual, the creeps in Congress think they are above the law.

In court papers on Friday, the SEC said it was looking into an email that a lobbyist at the law firm Greenberg Traurig sent to broker-dealer Height Securities regarding a deal struck in Congress about the Medicare rates.

It said that email was 70 minutes before CMS announced the rates after U.S. markets closed, and about 30 minutes before Height issued a report suggesting that the change could help companies such as Humana and Health Net.

The SEC said the share prices of both companies jumped after the report, with Humana’s rising 7 percent in the last 15 minutes of trading.

Sutter, meanwhile, had on the day of the announcement been emailing the Greenberg Traurig lobbyist about the termination of a client from the Medicare program, the SEC said. Both then spoke on the phone for three minutes, which was 10 minutes before the lobbyist emailed Height, the SEC said.

I would love to see US Marshalls march into the House of Representatives and handcuff some of these sleazy bastards and cart ’em away for refusal to answer a subpoena. Ordinary mortals, plain old American citizens don’t get to behave like monarchs. Congress-critters consider it as much of a right as being able to lie unchallenged.

Federal judge says minorities are predisposed to commit crimes

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Civil rights advocates in Texas said they will file a complaint against a federal judge for telling a law school audience minorities “are predisposed to crime.”

The Texas Civil Rights Project, based in Austin, said on its website Wednesday it would join with other organizations to file the judicial-misconduct complaint against Edith Jones, a senior judge of the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans, over remarks she made in February during a speech at the University of Pennsylvania School of Law.

The complaint alleges Jones’ remarks “violated basic rules of judicial ethics, including the fundamental duty of impartiality,” and were biased against minority groups and people with mental disabilities. It says Jones told her audience certain “racial groups like African-Americans and Hispanics are predisposed to crime,” and are more apt than others to commit “heinous” crimes and other acts of violence.

The complaint alleges Jones told the law school audience she is disgusted by capital case defendants’ claims of “mental retardation” and execution is a service to such defendants because they are “likely to make peace with God only in the moment before their imminent execution,” the TCRP said in the release…

Jones was considered as a potential U.S. Supreme Court nominee during the administration of former President George W. Bush, the San Antonio Express-News said.

Of course she was considered. She fits the model approved and recommended by neocons, the Tea Party and old-fashioned rightwing creeps enjoying their newfound “leadership” status within the Republican Party.

Federal judge demands source of Arizona execution drug

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Take the rocks outta his pockets, boys – make it slow!

A federal judge Saturday night ordered that the state of Arizona “immediately and publicly disclose” where it obtained a drug it intends to use to execute condemned murderer Jeffrey Landrigan on Tuesday.

The drama has played out for weeks as defense attorneys have tried to discern where the state found sodium thiopental, a barbiturate that is in short supply. Executions nationwide have been postponed because of the shortage…

On Sept. 30, the Arizona Department of Corrections announced that it had obtained thiopental, though court hearings revealed it had not come from its only apparent source approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. FDA representatives have repeatedly said they are not aware of any other approved source of the drug in the U.S. or abroad.

The state has nonetheless declined to say where it got the drug, with Assistant Arizona Attorney General Kent Cattani citing a state law concealing the identity of executioners.

The Arizona Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to delay the execution because of the debate, and so attorneys at the Federal Public Defender’s Office, which represents Landrigan, took the case to federal court. They maintain the drug may have been illegally imported.

1st – did anyone expect the state of Arizona to comply with federal law? They are a nation unto themselves – just like Texas. Remember, the Constitution is only a convenience for rightwing nutballs when they use it as a defensive weapon.

2nd – it gets even more strange when you consider both the Feds and the great state of Arizona [and creepy old politicians like John McCain] would have you or me arrested on the spot for reimporting American-made prescription drugs back across the border from Mexico.

For state officials and federal officers having at each other – politeness rules. After all, they’re probably playing golf at the country club together, next week.

Oil Industry’s latest favorite Louisiana judge

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The judge who overturned deepwater drilling bans allowing BP to resume oil extraction in the Gulf of Mexico, had shares in Transocean and other firms in the industry, it was revealed.

A Louisiana-based judge Martin Feldman ruled that Barack Obama’s six-month drilling moratorium in the Gulf was unjustified because it assumed that all deepwater drilling was as dangerous as BP’s…

Feldman’s most recent financial disclosure forms show that he was paid dividends from his shares in Transocean, the firm that owned the Deepwater oil rig that exploded in April killing 11 oil workers, prompting America’s worst environmental disaster.

The forms, which relate to the calendar year 2008, also show that he sold shares in Halliburton, which was also involved in the disaster.

Feldman’s other interests included Ocean Energy, Quicksilver Resources, Prospect Energy, Peabody Energy, Pengrowth Energy Trust, Atlas Energy Resources, and Parker Drilling…

Feldman has yet to respond to the disclosures. He is one of many federal judges across the Gulf Coast region with money in oil and gas. Several have disqualified themselves from hearing spill-related claims, while others have sold their holdings so they can preside over many cases being filed.

Sounds like business as usual in Louisiana – and in the Oil industry. A pretense at objectivity may be affected in some American courtrooms; but, not especially for cases involving corporate wealth and power.

It’s the American Way.