Tag: Court

Attorneys for Covenant Church File Motions to Intervene in Lawsuits Seeking Covenant Killer’s Writings

M.D. Kittle

Attorneys for the Covenant Presbyterian Church have filed a motion to intervene in Star News Digital Media Inc.’s lawsuit seeking the immediate release of the manifesto and related documents of Audrey Elizabeth Hale, the transgender killer behind the March 27 mass shootings at the private elementary school.

The 20th Circuit Court-Davidson County will hold a hearing on the motion to intervene, which seeks to protect the Covenant Presbyterian Church’s “interests relating to the release of records sought in this matter.” The court set a hearing for 9 a.m. May 26.

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Julie Kelly Commentary: Fair Trials Are Impossible for January 6 Defendants

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Odds are jurors in Douglas Austin Jensen’s trial took longer to fill out the verdict forms than they took to decide his fate.

After only a few hours of deliberations on Friday, 12 residents of the nation’s capital found Jensen guilty on seven counts related to his involvement in the Capitol protest on January 6, 2021. Jensen, an alleged QAnon follower, infamously confronted Capitol police officer Eugene Goodman inside the building that afternoon; he potentially faces decades in prison for convictions on impeding law enforcement officers and obstruction of an official proceeding, a dubious nonviolent felony punishable by up to 20 years in jail.

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Commentary: White House Border Policy Racks Up Losses in Court

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Joe Biden in 2020 promised he would return “normalcy” to the White House, that the adults would be back in charge, and that America would enter a new era of prosperity. In other news, the Titanic is an unsinkable ship and Enron stock is the foundation of a solid investment portfolio.

It is becoming difficult for even the most partisan Biden supporter to put a positive spin on the current administration’s growing list of failures. The centerpiece of the White House’s calamity is its immigration policy, which is deeply unpopular with a majority of Americans. It is even less popular in America’s courts, where judges continue to reject Biden’s attempt to impose a unilateral vision of a borderless country and all the suffering that comes with it.

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Tennessee Should Collect, Connect Data on Court Fines and Fees Statewide: Report

The Center Square
Tennessee Supreme Court building

As Tennessee lawmakers continue to examine reforms in the criminal justice system, two recently released reports showed that the state is not collecting the proper data to evaluate the fines and fees collected from its court system.

Non-profit policy think tank Think Tennessee found that, despite a 2019 law requiring all courts to create a payment plan system for those who financially will have issues paying court fees, the law has been implemented inconsistently throughout the state.

“For Tennesseans who face an endless cycle of penalties due to an inability to pay court debt, the county where they live could determine whether they have access to a payment plan that could help them break free,” Think Tennessee wrote. “Moreover, court fines and fees have a disproportionate impact on people who are low-income, Black and/or rural, and the financial hardship they experience may lead to increased recidivism with more significant impacts for communities as a whole.

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City Council President Requests Transparency for Flint’s Legal Fees

The Center Square
Kate Fields of Flint, Michigan, City Council

The president of the Flint City Council is asking a court to help her recoup the legal fees she incurred in a lawsuit she won against the city earlier this week. She is also challenging the city to disclose how much money it will spend defending itself from legal actions she initiated after the council imposed a gag order on her.

The Flint City Council voted 5-2 to censure President Kate Fields on Sept. 28. The resolution banned her from leading council meetings and openly speaking for 30 days, but still allowed her to vote. Fields is campaigning for reelection for Flint’s 4th Ward in next Tuesday’s election.

The resolution stemmed from an incident earlier this year, when Fields ordered the removal of 1st Ward Council member Eric Mays from a virtual meeting for disruptive behavior and denied him an opportunity to appeal her decision. Mays has a reputation for behavior deemed inappropriate, including a March 2020 incident during which he was removed from a City Council meeting in handcuffs and subsequently banned from council meetings for 30 days. 

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School Sees COVID Cases Decline after Court Said It Can’t Require Masks

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Group of young students working in classroom

After a judge told a school district it couldn’t require masks for students without a quarantine order, the district reported fewer COVID-19 cases, but it has faced other consequences.

It comes as a member of the Illinois Legislature’s Joint Committee on Administrative Rules said there is further evidence the Illinois State Board of Education can’t revoke a public or private school’s recognition status for failing to follow the governor’s mask mandate.

Attorney Thomas DeVore said since securing a temporary restraining order enjoining the Hillsboro school district from mandating masks on children on Sept. 17, cases have gone down.

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Tennessee Governor Lee Appoints Blake Neill to Serve as 25th Judicial District Circuit Court Judge

Kaitlin Housler

On Friday, Tennessee Governor Bill Lee appointed A. Blake Neill to serve as circuit court judge for the 25th Judicial District to fill the Honorable Joe H. Walker III’s vacancy, effective immediately, according to a news release from Lee’s office.

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Human Rights Campaign Fires Alphonso David for Advising Cuomo on #METOO Allegations

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Alphonso David

The nation’s largest LGBTQ rights advocacy group has fired its president for advising Democratic New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo on the #METOO allegations against the governor.

The two Human Rights Campaign (HRC) boards terminated Alphonso David “for cause” Monday evening, The New York Times reported. David called his termination unjust in a Monday evening statement and accused the HRC board of lying to him about its investigation.

“As a black, gay man who has spent his whole life fighting for civil and human rights, they cannot shut me up,” he said. “Expect a legal challenge.”

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‘Creepy Porn Lawyer’ Michael Avenatti Cries as He’s Sentenced to Prison for 30 Months for Trying to Extort Nike

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Disgraced former attorney Michael Avenatti was sentenced Thursday to 30 months in federal prison and three years of supervised release for trying to extort millions from the sportswear company Nike.

The former media gadfly and anti-Trump resistance hero reportedly cried in court as he made a statement thanking his family. According to Washington Post reporter Devlin Barrett, Avenatti admitted “I and I alone have destroyed my career, my relationships, my life, and there is no doubt that I deserve to pay, have paid, and will pay a further price for what I have done.”

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Biden Civil Rights Nominee Pressed Colleges to Adopt Policies Often Struck Down in Court

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Catherine Ilhamon

The Biden administration reached back into Team Obama to fill an Education Department slot that oversees civil rights, including Title IX enforcement.

Catherine Lhamon’s nomination last month drew immediate concern from advocates of due process and fair procedures in college Title IX investigations because so many court decisions — 200 by one count — have since challenged the approach she and others in the Obama administration took in investigating campus sexual assaults.

Two more rulings arrived this week, from the 8th U.S. Circuit of Appeals and an Iowa district court under its jurisdiction.

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Ohio Supreme Court Hears Arguments on Whether Jury Must Consider Ability to Pay Fines

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Darren Taylor, who was convicted of murder and other charges, is suing the state of Ohio because a trial court refused to waive his fees after doing an analysis of his current earnings from his prison job, but did not do an analysis of his ability to pay these fines in the future. Taylor, who is serving 36 years to life, will be in his 80s when he gets out of prison.

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Ohio Governor Mike DeWine Announces Plan for 30 New Drug Courts to Combat Opioid Epidemic

Andrew Shirley

Ohio Governor Mike DeWine unveiled the latest aspect of his plan Tuesday to fight opioid addiction by creating more specialty courts statewide. The plan is the latest announced component of his upcoming budget proposal for the 2020-2021 fiscal year.  If approved, it would allocate $2.5 million in 2020 for the creation of “15 specialty…

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Ohio 6th Circuit Court of Appeals Affirms State Can ‘Defund’ Planned Parenthood

Andrew Shirley

The Ohio 6th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 11-6 Tuesday that Ohio has the right to withhold public funds from abortion providers, most notably Planned Parenthood. On Feb. 21st, 2016, then-Republican Governor John Kasich signed House Bill 294. The bill’s intent is to prevent the use of public funds for elective (a.k.a. “nontherapeutic”) abortions.…

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Ohio Federal Judge Clears Way for Massive Opioid Lawsuit

Andrew Shirley

A massive lawsuit by 1,500 counties, cities, townships, and other communities nationwide, against the opioid industry has been permitted to move forward by a federal judge in Ohio. Over the past two years, local and state governments in Mississippi, Ohio, West Virginia, Kentucky, Nevada, Texas, Florida, North Carolina, North Dakota, Tennessee,…

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Oregon Senators to Use Senate ‘Blue Slip’ Privilege Against Trump Judicial Nominee

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Two Democratic lawmakers said they’ll flex senatorial privilege to block one of President Trump’s judicial nominations, erecting yet another roadblock as the White House tries to reshape the federal courts. Sen. Ron Wyden and Sen. Jeff Merkley said they won’t return their “blue slips” signaling acquiescence in the nomination of…

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Commentary: Another Federal Judge Seizes Presidential Power

Christina Botteri

by George Rasley, CHQ Editor February 15, 2017 Reprinted with permission from ConservativeHQ.com Emboldened by Judge James L. Robart’s anti-constitutional power grab and the refusal of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to vacate his order temporarily restraining President Trump’s Executive Order 13,769 temporarily pausing immigration from seven terrorist hotspots Judge Leonie Brinkema, of the U.S.…

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The Judicial Coup Against President Trump Proceeding As Planned

Christina Botteri

by CHQ Staff February 10, 2017 Reprinted with permission from ConservativeHQ.com As we predicted in our column “The Judicial Coup Against President Trump [29]” the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has left in place Federal Judge James’ Robart’s anti-constitutional order suspending President Donald Trump’s Executive Order No. 13,769 pausing immigration from seven terrorist hotspots. The Executive Order…

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Fifteen Federal Judges Have Been Impeached by the House of Representatives

Tennessee Star Staff

Fifteen federal judges have been impeached since the Constitution was ratified in 1789, according to the Federal Judicial Center. Eight have been convicted, three have resigned prior to trial in the Senate, and four have been acquitted. The list includes one associate justice of the Supreme Court, thirteen federal district…

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Critics: Whacky 9th District Court of Appeals Ignore Basic Legal Principals, Side with Open Borders Zealots

Christina Botteri

Thursday evening, America’s dinner hour was interrupted by an unsavory display of jurist malpractice as the 9th District Court of Appeals once again lived up to its reputation as the Most Incompetent Court in the nation. The Court ruled 3-0 to DENY the Trump Administration’s pleading to stay the lower…

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