Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Milwaukee mayor removes director of Office of Violence Prevention.
Associated Press: Wisconsin Elections Commission won't recommend charges against man who admitted he fraudulently ordered absentee ballots. The Wisconsin Elections Commission also deadlocked on a Republican commissioner’s proposal to tighten access to the website after Democratic commissioners complained that such a move would make it harder to vote. The Daily Beast: Another sexual misconduct allegation against Justice Brett Kavanaugh. Minnesota Reformer: What happened to the Supreme Court investigation into the leak? This Sphinx-like response is contrary to the public interest. Because such a high-profile fuss was made about the matter, the tribunal owes it to the public to disclose what is taking place. That public funds — taxpayer dollars — are being used for whatever inquiry is supposedly occurring adds — to borrow a word from Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s dissent in the Dobbs case — judicial “stench” from this entire episode. Slate: What the results of the Kansas referendum vote can tell us. The newest polling from Gallup suggests that abortion has become a newly salient issue this summer, and that the gender gap between men and women on the issue of abortion has increased since Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization overruled Roe in June. This was borne out in Kansas, where voter registration surged among women after Dobbs. Efforts of those who have taken the position that forced birth is somehow pleasant and rewarding, even for America’s 10-year-old rape victims, have backfired spectacularly, as have their claims that abortion rights advocates are lying about new dangers that abortion bans pose to patients with high-risk pregnancies or who are experiencing a miscarriage. Politico: The status of cannabis legalization efforts across the country.
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Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Racine County Sheriff Christopher Schmaling is member of "constitutional sheriffs" movement.
The Constitutional Sheriffs was founded in 2011 by former Graham County, Arizona, Sheriff Richard Mack. The organization is similar to the Oath Keepers, which encourages members to refuse to enforce laws that they believe are unconstitutional. . . . In bold letters on the Constitutional Sheriffs website, the mission statement reads: "The vertical separation of powers in the Constitution makes it clear that the power of the sheriff even supersedes the powers of the President." Wisconsin Public Radio: Staffing shortages and safety concerns cause closure of part of Dane County Jail. Sheriff Kalvin Barrett announced the department would be closing the east section of the 7th floor of the City-County Building in Madison. It’s the oldest part of the county’s jail facilities, dating back to the 1950s. "A lack of safe and humane jail space, along with ongoing staffing shortages, has brought us to the difficult decision to place some of our jail residents in other counties. I will continue to advocate for a facility to be built in Dane County which reflects our community values," said Barrett in a press release. NBC: U.S. Department of Justice sues to block Idaho abortion ban, claiming violation of supremacy clause. NBC: Federal judge rejects Donald Trump's claim of absolute immunity from claims relating to Jan. 6. The lawsuits, brought on behalf of four U.S. Capitol Police officers, seek to hold Trump liable for emotional and physical injuries they sustained when a pro-Trump mob stormed the Capitol and disrupted the electoral vote count. Brennan Center for Justice: Pres. Joe Biden introduces $15 billion grant program called Accelerating Justice System Reform. . . Rather than reflexively locking up Americans with substance addiction, who pose virtually no public threat, the grants would divert them into mandatory treatment and harm-reduction programs. Grants would also fund alternate responder programs, which send trained counselors to deal with mental health crises, either alongside or instead of armed police officers. These solutions are proven to reduce violent interactions with police, who will also benefit from focusing on true public safety calls. The grant program addresses the stubborn problem of recidivism, providing money for job training and housing to smooth the transition from prison back into society. Reuters: and at the same time calls for more police funding. But the centerpiece of Biden’s Safer America plan is the fund the police measure: a request for nearly $13 billion to hire 100,000 police officers around the country over the next five years. WTTW: Confirmed Monkeypox case at Cook County Jail. Amanda Klonsky, research and policy fellow at the COVID Behind Bars Data Project at University of California Los Angeles Law School, said after watching how jails and prisons have handled COVID, it is a cause of concern for how monkeypox will be controlled. APG Wisconsin: Secretary of State sends out documents, avoiding legal action.
(Doug) La Follette’s office officially received the resolution in March, but he hadn’t sent out the documents because, he said, Republicans had stripped away his office’s resources to the point where it didn’t have enough money or staff to send them. Between February and June, (Sen. Kathleen) Bernier’s office sent La Follette several reminders to send the documents. The situation culminated in Bernier’s threat in early July to bring legal action if he didn’t send them out by Monday. Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Wisconsin taxpayers owe another $163,000 in attorney's fees for investigator Michael Gableman's court battles. Wisconsin Examiner: Milwaukee County Board approves two advisory referendums for November. ABA Journal: Erwin Chemerinsky on the U.S. Supreme Court's recent Indian-law decision. The Guardian: Warnings from the U.S. Supreme Court's dissenters. The dissents went beyond polite disagreements over jurisprudence. They amounted to the sounding of an alarm, alerting the nation that equal rights, constitutional government, and even what it is to be an American, are all under threat. ABC: Group of major businesses files U.S. Supreme Court brief supporting consideration of race in university admissions. More than 80 major American companies that employ tens of thousands of U.S. workers are asking the Supreme Court to uphold the use of race as a factor in college admissions, calling affirmative action critical to building diverse workforces and, in turn, growing profits. The businesses -- some of the most high-profile and successful in the U.S. economy -- outlined their position in legal briefs filed Monday ahead of oral arguments this fall in a pair of cases expected to determine the future of the race-based policy. The Hill: Chemical-manufacturer trade group sues Environmental Protection Agency over nonbinding advisories for certain chemicals. In the complaint, announced Saturday, the American Chemistry Council (ACC) said new EPA advisories governing two forms of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) contravene the agency’s own scientific integrity practices. Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: No criminal charges will be filed related to four Milwaukee County Jail deaths.
All four deaths were investigated by the Waukesha County Sheriff’s Department and reviewed by the Milwaukee County District Attorney’s Office. But only one incident was the subject of an internal investigation for potential rule violations by staff, and it did not launch until almost a year afterward. Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: State Department of Justice now investigating fraudulent requests for absentee ballots. The probe comes a day after Racine County Sheriff Christopher Schmaling revealed he was aware of the plot but blamed state elections officials for the violations instead of arresting the offenders who had confessed to the crimes. Schmaling thanked one of the offenders for committing voter fraud instead of arresting him for his part in the effort, the sheriff's office also acknowledged Friday. WisPolitics.com: Gov. Tony Evers appoints new Adams County district attorney. Slate: Thoughts on Justice Samuel Alito's (not funny) jokes at conference in Rome. But to focus on Alito trolling American women, reproductive justice advocates, his liberal colleagues on the bench, and his international critics is to take his feeble bait. Alito is quite transparent about the fact that he delights in disapproval. He invites it! He welcomes it! His “comedy” is actually just a distraction from his gleeful effort to decimate whatever remaining legitimacy the Supreme Court still possesses in the eyes of the secular, liberal world order. Focus on that fact and there is really nothing hilarious to report from Rome at all. LawSites: Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, now in bobblehead form. Associated Press: Federal judge in Mississippi takes control of jail away from county. “After ample time and opportunity, regretfully, it is clear that the county is incapable, or unwilling, to handle its affairs,” the judge wrote. “Additional intervention is required. It is time to appoint a receiver.” Reuters: Federal judge in South Carolina reprimanded for financial deal with former employer. A U.S. district judge in South Carolina is being reprimanded for signing a contract with Charleston County, where he long served as county attorney prior to his judicial appointment, that guaranteed him $216,000 plus a fee for any opioid litigation settlements it won after he joined the federal bench. The White House: Pres. Joe Biden announces eight more judicial nominees. NBC News: Staff shortages and poor training are impeding releases under First Step Act. "It's not going at all," Joe Rojas, the literacy coordinator at the Coleman Federal Corrections Complex in Florida, said of the First Step Act's implementation. . . . Rojas said employees like him who should be operating programs that can help inmates earn time credits aren't able to do so because they're being diverted to other correctional officer-type duties during the staffing shortage — a practice known as augmentation. "Most of us are augmented," Rojas said. "There's no programming. If there's no programming, you can't do the First Step Act." Green Bay Press Gazette: Legislators propose changes to law on strip searching students.
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Racine sheriff won't investigate Trump supporter's admitted voting fraud. Harry Wait, the leader of the Racine-based government transparency group H.O.T. Government (Honest, Open and Transparent), told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel he requested Vos' and Racine Mayor Cory Mason's absentee ballot on Tuesday through the state Election Commission's myvote.com website. . . . "Basically, I committed a crime when I ordered them," Wait said. "I emailed Sheriff Schmaling, asked if he was going to arrest me and he said 'hell no.''' Associated Press: Conservative law firm Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty calls for legislation strengthening open records laws after recent SCOW opinion. Reuters: Justice Samuel Alito joked about foreign leaders' criticism of Dobbs decision in his first remarks since the final opinion issued. "One of these was former Prime Minister Boris Johnson, but he paid the price," Alito joked, referring to Johnson's plans to step down following criticism of his leadership from within Britain's ruling Conservative Party. "But what really wounded me - what really wounded me - was when the Duke of Sussex addressed the United Nations and seemed to compare the decision whose name may not be spoken with the Russian attack on Ukraine," Alito added in a sarcastic tone, referring to his ruling overturning the Roe decision that had legalized abortion nationwide in the United States and recognized a woman's constitutional right to terminate her pregnancy. Alito's references to the abortion ruling, which came during a speech about the importance of religious liberty (hosted by Notre Dame Law School and held in Rome), were met with laughter from the audience. Politico: Justice department investigating second breach of federal courts' document-filing system. The Daily Record (Maryland): Court order barring communication between attorney and criminal defendant didn't violate Sixth Amendment. “We hold that, although an order to the defendant not to discuss his or her testimony with anyone during an overnight recess is improper, it does not, by itself, constitute a deprivation of the right to counsel,” Judge Kathryn Grill Graeff wrote for the majority. The Capital Times: Dane County judge orders Wisconsin Assembly to pay legal fees incurred by American Oversight in records case.
At the hearing, the judge criticized Gableman’s work. “Here, I guess what we found out from this long and tortuous road is that, at least for the first part of this investigation, there was no actual work being done,” (Judge Valerie) Bailey-Rihn said. “The taxpayers were paying $11,000 for somebody to sit at the New Berlin Library to learn about election law because they had no experience in election law,” she added about Gableman. Bailey-Rihn also said Gableman’s work uncovered “absolutely” no substantial election fraud. The Hill: House Jan. 6 committee to share evidence with federal justice department. The New York Times: Understanding the severe impact of Alabama's reliance on fines and fees. In states like Alabama, almost every interaction a person has with the criminal justice system comes with a financial cost. If you’re assigned to a pretrial program to reduce your sentence, each class attended incurs a fee. If you’re on probation, you’ll pay a fee to take your mandatory urine test. If you appear in drug court, you will face more fees, sometimes dozens of times a year. Often, you don’t even have to break the law; you’ll pay fees to pull a public record or apply for a permit. For poor people, this system is a trap, sucking them into a cycle of sometimes unpayable debt that constrains their lives and almost guarantees financial hardship. While almost every state in the country, both red and blue, levies fines and fees that fall disproportionately on the bottom rung of the income ladder, the situation in Alabama is far more dramatic, thanks to the peculiarities of its Constitution. Over a century ago, wealthy landowners and businessmen rewrote the Constitution to cap taxes permanently. As a result, today, Alabama has one of the cruelest tax systems in the country. Courthouse News Service: Federal judge says female high-school football player can sue for discrimination under Title IX by religious school that refused to play against her. First Baptist sent a letter to her school saying she wasn’t welcome to participate in games at Valley Christian (the church's school) and that the school was changing its football schedule to avoid having to play against her. . . . Andrew Miltenberg, an attorney for the student, said in a statement that the judge had set a precedent for private and independent schools in California that receipt of PPP funding constitutes federal financial assistance and thus, mandates their compliance with anti-discrimination laws such as Title IX. “There is a scarcity of law in this area and we are pleased that a California court has addressed this matter as it gives clarity and future guidance for other jurisdictions to follow,” Miltenberg said. “In the year 2022, it is unacceptable for any educational institution, public or private, to blatantly discriminate against women in this country.” Worth Rises: Comparing the price of prison and jail calls nationwide. Associated Press: Protest at Pope Francis' mass in Montreal about papal decrees that backed the taking of indigenous land. The brief protest underscored one of the lingering issues facing the Holy See following Francis’ historic apology for the Catholic Church’s involvement in Canada’s notorious residential schools, where generations of Indigenous peoples were forcibly removed from their families and cultures to assimilate them into Christian, Canadian society. Francis has spent the week in Canada seeking to atone for the trauma and suffering of First Nations, Metis and Inuit peoples. Beyond the apology, Indigenous peoples have called on Francis to formally rescind the 15th century papal decrees, or bulls, that provided European kingdoms the religious backing to expand their territories for the sake of spreading Christianity. Those decrees have been seen as underpinning the Doctrine of Discovery, a legal concept coined in a 1823 U.S. Supreme Court decision that has come to be understood as meaning that ownership and sovereignty over land passed to Europeans because they “discovered” it. Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Trial set for Shorewood woman charged with spitting on teen after she rejects plea deal.
Associated Press: Bureau of Prisons director faces bipartisan pressure during testimony before Senate subcommittee. (Director Michael) Carvajal said several times that the Bureau of Prisons, the Justice Department’s largest component with a budget of more than $8 billion — was a “very large and complex organization” and that there was “no possible way” for him to know everything that was going on. Carvajal’s attempts to deflect responsibility for his leadership failings didn’t sit well with the subcommittee’s chairman, Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., nor its ranking member, Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., whose scrutiny of the Bureau of Prisons was spurred in part by Associated Press reporting that has exposed myriad crises at the agency. Reuters: In testimony before House committee, gunmaker execs blame criminals, not their products, for mass shootings. Marty Daniel, the chief executive of Daniel Defense defended his company and the firearms industry, saying that the semi-automatic assault-style weapons sold today are "substantially the same as those manufactured 100 years ago." "Our nation's response needs to focus not on the type of gun but on the type of person likely to commit mass shootings," he said in his opening statement. The New York Times: Hawaii keeps schizophrenic man in custody for more than two years, ignoring his accurate claims of mistaken identity. (Joshua) Spriestersbach was caught in a new nightmare: The more he said his name was Joshua — which the records show him insisting on Sept. 8, Sept. 13, Oct. 9, Oct. 16 and Nov. 6 — the more delusional he risked coming off. . . . From the moment he was diagnosed with schizophrenia, he was set on a path largely beyond his control. Whenever he left a psychiatric setting, he would go off his prescriptions. Without the meds to muffle the symptoms, he would break down and eventually cut himself off from his family. Because he was alone enough to withdraw unhindered, he became homeless. Because he slept outside, he got arrested. Because he had a mental illness, he was confined longer than others. Because he was not dangerous and yet noncompliant, he couldn’t be treated and couldn’t be released. And because those hospitals primarily exist to restore competency, his own doctors were unable to discover that he’d been wrongly arrested, wrongly charged and wrongly incarcerated. Associated Press: Subsidiary of Warren Buffet's Berkshire Hathaway settles racial discrimination case. Trident Mortgage Co., a division of Berkshire’s HomeServices of America, deliberately avoided writing mortgages in minority-majority neighborhoods in West Philadelphia like Malcolm X Park; Camden, New Jersey; and in Wilmington, Delaware; the DOJ and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said in their settlement with Trident. As part of the agreement with the DOJ and the CFPB, Trident will have to set aside $20 million to make loans in underserved neighborhoods. Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: City of Milwaukee files lawsuit against alleged reckless driver, claiming nuisance.
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Program held at UW Law School trains nonlawyers to advocate in tribal court. Unlike state and federal courts, most tribal courts do not require law degrees or state bar membership to represent clients. That opens up opportunities for people like (Louise) Padron to handle cases on tribal lands, where nonexistent or inadequate legal assistance remains typical. Padron and 27 others just graduated with certificates in tribal court legal advocacy from the National Tribal Trial College. They’re now scattered across the country to litigate cases ranging from divorce to domestic violence to child support. Slate: Understanding the proposed federal Respect for Marriage Act. In short, this bill goes as far as today’s Supreme Court could conceivably allow. If it passes and Obergefell falls, states can resume denying marriage licensing to same-sex couples. They might even be able to nullify the same-sex marriage licenses it provided under Obergefell. But couples who face such discrimination can travel to another state, obtain a new license, and compel their home state to recognize it, along with the rights and privileges it provides. And their marriage will receive full protection under federal law. As far as backstops go, it doesn’t get much better than the RFMA. Associated Press: Russian court in Brittney Griner trial hears testimony on medicinal use of cannabis. During Tuesday’s court session, a Russian neuropsychologist testified about worldwide use of medicinal cannabis. “The Russian public has to know, and the Russian court in the first place has to know, that it was not used for recreational purposes in the United States. It was prescribed by a doctor,” (defense) lawyer (Alexander) Boykov said. Associated Press: Testimony begins in trial to determine damages Alex Jones owes Sandy Hook families. Jones arrived at the courthouse wearing a piece of silver tape over his mouth with the message “Save the 1st” printed on it — a reference to the First Amendment right to free speech. He removed it before entering the courtroom. To take his seat at the defense table, Jones walked directly behind Neil Heslin and Scarlett Lewis, the parents of 6-year-old Jesse Lewis, who was one of the 20 first graders and six educators who were killed at Sandy Hook. Heslin and Lewis were escorted by plainclothes security to the courthouse and to the courtroom. The Chippewa Herald: Four disabled voters file federal lawsuit challenging requirement for in-person delivery and mailing of absentee ballots.
Four people in Wisconsin with disabilities have filed a lawsuit asking a federal court to ensure that they'll be able to get help turning in their ballots, even though the conservative-controlled state Supreme Court said no one other than the voter can return absentee ballots in person. . . . One of them, Timothy Carey, has Duchenne muscular dystrophy, and is unable to move his body and is on a ventilator. The lawsuit said he has always voted absentee with the help of a third party. Another plaintiff, Martha Chambers, is paralyzed from the neck down and always received help returning her absentee ballot since she can't use her arms or legs to place a ballot in the mailbox or return it to the clerk's office. Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: A new Office of Lawyer Regulation complaint filed against Michael Gableman. Among the allegations, (Kevin) Kelsay alleged Gableman broke a rule that forbids attorneys from knowingly making false statements about judges, public officials or candidates when Gableman alleged Wisconsin judges had held up his election review, accused state elections commissioners of helping steal the presidential election, and accused a Dane County judge of being a partisan. The Hill: Georgia, district attorney disqualified from investigating a fake elector due to conflict of interest. The ruling was a stunning rebuke to Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and came after a judge found that a conflict of interest barred Willis and her office from investigating state Sen. Burt Jones, one of the sham electors. . . . The order Monday rejected similar disqualification requests from 11 other phony electors who were subpoenaed by Willis’s office, meaning the Fulton County District Attorney’s probe of those targets may continue, and the investigation of Jones is expected to be handed off to another prosecutor’s office. Associated Press: July poll shows 67% approve of term limits for U.S. Supreme Court justices. Slate: First-person account of the effects on abortion clinics in Illinois after the fall of Roe. Just this morning, someone reached out and said, “I’m afraid. Am I going to get arrested if I come to Illinois? I know that it’s legal there, but it’s not legal in my state. So will I get arrested when I come back? Will I …” The New York Times: California governor signs law providing $10,000 reward to citizens who successfully sue gunmakers. No piece of legislation better encapsulates Mr. (Gavin) Newsom’s fight-fire-with-fire attitude than the bill co-opting a Texas anti-abortion tactic to enforce California bans on assault weapons and ghost guns. Senate Bill 1327 aims to bury those who deal in banned guns in litigation. Awards of at least $10,000 per weapon, and legal fees, will be offered to plaintiffs who successfully sue anyone who imports, distributes, manufactures or sells assault-style weapons, .50-caliber rifles, guns without serial numbers or parts that can be used to build firearms that are banned in California. “No one is saying you can’t have a gun,” said State Senator Bob Hertzberg, a veteran San Fernando Valley Democrat who was tapped by the governor to craft and shepherd the complex legislation. “We’re just saying there’s no constitutional right to an AR-15, a .50-caliber machine gun or a ghost gun with the serial number filed off.” Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Milwaukee police announce plans to address reckless driving and auto thefts.
CNN: U.S. Supreme Court refuses to block order barring Biden administration immigration policies. The court's 5-4 order is a loss for the Biden administration, which is trying to return to Obama-era policies that limit immigration arrests in order to focus on security risks instead of the more aggressive approach taken under the Trump administration. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas has argued that a priority-driven approach to immigration enforcement is a better use of the department's limited resources because it focuses attention on security risks. CNN: Department of Homeland Security now investigating missing Secret Service texts. The Department of Homeland Security inspector general has informed the Secret Service it is investigating what happened to January 6-related text messages that may have been deleted, describing it as an "ongoing criminal investigation" and directing the agency to stop its internal investigations into the matter, according to a letter reviewed by CNN. Reuters: U.S. Sentencing Commission nominees advance to full Senate consideration. A U.S. Senate panel on Thursday advanced a slate of seven nominees to the bipartisan U.S. Sentencing Commission, which has been unable to implement a major 2018 criminal justice reform law after losing its quorum shortly after its enactment. The Hill: U.S. Senate Democrats announce bill to legalize marijuana at federal level. (Senate Majority Leader Charles) Schumer worked alongside Sens. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) to craft the legislation after the three released a draft plan last year for public feedback. Schumer said the senators have received more than 1,800 public comments and worked with “numerous Senate committees to improve the bill.” Schumer said the bill would legalize cannabis by removing the drug from the Controlled Substances Act and “empowering states to create their own cannabis laws instead.” Associated Press: Lawsuit alleges Chicago police misused ShotSpotter in arrests and charges. The lawsuit filed by the MacArthur Justice Center at Northwestern University’s law school seeks damages from the city for mental anguish, loss of income and legal bills for the 65-year-old (Michael) Williams, who said he still suffers from a tremor in his hand that developed while he was locked up. It also details the case of a second plaintiff Daniel Ortiz, a 36-year-old father who the lawsuit alleges was arbitrarily arrested and jailed by police who were responding to a ShotSpotter alert. The Guardian: Study shows the racial-based gap in length of sentences is widening. “People of color are getting harsher sentences for the same crime,” says Amy Fettig, a task force member and executive director of the Sentencing Project, a nonprofit advocating for the reduction of bias in the criminal justice system. She said that even as crime overall has declined for decades, disparities in extended prison sentences have gone up, not just within the state prison system but also in the juvenile justice system. |
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