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Court won't release CA gay marriage trial videos
Lawyer Blog News |
2012/02/03 10:03
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A federal appeals court refused Thursday to unseal video recordings of a landmark trial on the constitutionality of California's same-sex marriage ban.
Siding with the ban's supporters, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco ruled the public doesn't have the right to see the footage.
The 2010 trial lasted 13 days and was the first in a federal court to examine if prohibiting gay couples from marrying violates their constitutional rights.
It was open to the public and received widespread media coverage, so the recordings would not have revealed any new evidence or testimony.
In deciding to keep the videos under seal, a three-judge 9th Circuit panel cited a promise by the trial judge that the footage would not be seen outside his courtroom.
Former U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker had staff members make the recordings with the caveat that the footage would be used only by him to help him reach a verdict.
Walker, who has since retired and revealed he is in a long-term relationship with another man, originally wanted to broadcast the trial in other federal courthouses and on YouTube.
The U.S. Supreme Court forbade him from moving forward with that plan after the ban's sponsors argued that distributing trial footage could subject their witnesses to harassment. At the time, the 9th Circuit did not allow the federal courts within its jurisdiction to televise trials. The appeals court since has adopted rules that would permit trials to be broadcast under limited conditions. |
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Miss. high court takes ex-gov pardons case
Court Feed News |
2012/02/02 21:00
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The Mississippi Supreme Court said Wednesday it will take up the legal challenge to the pardons ex-Gov. Haley Barbour gave out in his last days in office.
State Attorney General Jim Hood, a Democrat, wants to invalidate dozens of the 198 pardons that Barbour, a Republican, handed out before his second four-year term ended Jan. 10. Ten of the people were still incarcerated when they received reprieves.
Only about two dozen of the people pardoned followed the Mississippi Constitution's requirement to publish a notice about their reprieves in their local newspapers for 30 days, said Hood, who wants the others invalidated. Barbour has said the pardons are valid and that he gave them because he's a Christian and believes in second chances.
Most of the people who could lose their pardons already served their sentences and have been out of prison for years. Some of them were convicted of comparatively minor crimes as far back as the 1960s and 1970s and have never been in trouble again.
Five of the pardoned are being held on a temporary restraining order issued by Hinds County Circuit Judge Tomie Green. The Supreme Court extended that order until it can rule on the matter. It set a hearing for Feb. 9 and said it would try to rule quickly. |
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HIV-positive man who sued Atlanta gets new hearing
Legal Career News |
2012/02/02 18:01
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A federal appeals court on Wednesday granted a new hearing to a 40-year-old man who claimed the Atlanta Police Department rejected his job application because he has HIV.
The ruling was a victory for gay rights advocates and the health groups who had closely watched the case, which was brought in 2010 by a man using the pseudonym Richard Roe.
Among other findings, the three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said in the ruling that the city lulled Roe into believing he didn't need to prove his HIV was "non-serious." It ordered the judge who dismissed the lawsuit to take another look at that issue and others prompted by the lawsuit.
The ruling was no surprise, as the panel expressed skepticism about the city's arguments during oral arguments last week, and one judge suggested the court had little choice but to send the case back to the federal judge. |
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Providence mayor warns of possible bankruptcy
Headline News |
2012/02/02 18:01
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Mayor Angel Taveras painted a bleak picture Thursday of the city's finances, saying Providence faces "devastation" and could go bankrupt if retiree benefits aren't cut and tax-exempt institutions like Brown University don't pay more in lieu of taxes.
Taveras said he cut a projected $110 million deficit for the current fiscal year to less than $30 million but that the city is on track to run out of money by June. He said taxpayers and city workers have already sacrificed ? taxes and fees have gone up, several schools were closed and there are 200 fewer people on the city's payroll compared to a year ago ? and he called on retirees and nonprofit hospitals and universities to do the same.
"Everyone must sacrifice or everyone will suffer the consequences," he said at a news conference at City Hall. "We need everyone to be part of the solution."
He said the city can't afford retirees' guaranteed annual cost-of-living increases ? about 600 retirees get increases of 5 and 6 percent ? and that benefits will be cut one way or another, either voluntarily or possibly through court action. He suggested the city could go the way of Central Falls, which was taken over by a state-appointed receiver in 2010 and where pensioners' benefits were unilaterally slashed. The receiver declared bankruptcy on behalf of the city in August. |
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Ex-Calif. teacher in court on molestation charges
Lawyer Blog News |
2012/02/01 17:25
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The children at Miramonte Elementary School never complained about their third-grade teacher. Not, authorities said, when he blindfolded them, not when he put tape over their mouths or even placed live cockroaches on their faces.
He told them it was a game and then photographed them, creating images that would eventually lead to his arrest, investigators said of Mark Berndt, who is scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday on charges that he committed lewd acts on 23 boys and girls, ages 6 to 10, between 2008 and 2010. He has hired a lawyer and has made no statements to authorities, said Los Angeles County sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore.
The investigation began when a film processor found Berndt's photos more than a year ago. Since the discovery, the school district fired Berndt and police put him under surveillance.
"If it wasn't for the film processor, this could still be continuing today," said sheriff's Lt. Carlos Marquez.
Berndt was arrested Monday at his home in Torrance and was being held on $2.3 million bail.
Some parents picking up their pre-kindergarteners at the school on Tuesday complained that officials at the school in South Los Angeles should have notified them when the photos were found. |
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Judges skeptical of Texas in redistricting case
Headline News |
2012/02/01 16:25
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Three federal judges weighing the legality of Texas' new political maps reacted with skepticism Tuesday when the state's lawyer suggested the intent of the redrawn boundaries was to maximize the influence of Republicans, not to minimize the influence of minorities.
The U.S. Justice Department and a coalition of minority groups contend the legislative and congressional maps the Texas Legislature drew last year recut districts in a way meant to dilute the state's burgeoning minority voting population. They say the maps violate a section of the Voting Rights Act that requires states with a history of racially discriminatory voting practices to get so-called "pre-clearance" from the Justice Department before making electoral changes.
Texas is gaining four congressional seats this year due to population readjustments made in the 2010 census. That has increased the redistricting stakes, with Hispanics and Democrats often clashing with the GOP-controlled Legislature about how the lines should be drawn.
John Hughes, a lawyer for Texas, which is seeking to keep the maps in place, said during closing arguments before a Washington federal court panel that the maps were the result of partisan gerrymandering that didn't violate federal law. He argued that "a decision based on partisanship" is not based on race, even if it results in minority voters having less political influence. |
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