WPR: Assembly Speaker Robin Vos produces 10,000+ emails in response to open records request, though judge says he can stop searching private email and voicemail for deleted messages.
"I just don't see that at this point, any more time, expense or money is really relevant to the issues at hand to see if there's possibly some way to recover deleted messages on a private phone," (Dane County Circuit Judge Valerie) Bailey-Rihn said. "Speaker Vos is the speaker of the house, but he also is a private citizen. And I don't see how you can separate his private messages from his public messages, if in fact you could even recover deleted messages, which I think is doubtful." The Guardian: Hon. Ketanji Brown Jackson confirmed for Supreme Court; President Joe Biden and Judge Jackson watch confirmation hearing together. (President Joe) Biden shared a photo taken with Jackson at the White House, saying on Twitter: “Judge Jackson’s confirmation was a historic moment for our nation. We’ve taken another step toward making our highest court reflect the diversity of America. She will be an incredible justice, and I was honored to share this moment with her.” The Guardian: New York attorney general asks judge to hold Donald Trump in contempt of court. (Attorney General Letitia) James asked that Trump be fined $10,000 a day until he complies. “The judge’s order was crystal clear: Donald J Trump must comply with our subpoena and turn over relevant documents to my office,” James said in a statement. CBS: Six moderate Democrat senators join Republicans seeking to continue pandemic border restrictions. Reuters: Two more named plaintiffs in class-action lawsuit alleging discrimination against top-level Black coaches and management by National Football League and its teams. In the amended complaint, two new plaintiffs - former Arizona Cardinals head coach Steve Wilks and league veteran Ray Horton - were included. NBC: In Prison TikTok posts those who've experienced incarceration tell the world what it’s like and humanize the issue of mass incarceration. “People are just giving you a real example about what that life looks like,” (Michael Lacey a/k/a Comrade Sinque) told me. And the community of formerly incarcerated creators and their followers have been overwhelmingly supportive, he said. “It’s kind of ironic,” he added, “but prison TikTok is one of the most positive places on the app.”
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LBy Gretchen Schuldt Defendants facing bail-jumping charges are among the favorite targets of those pushing for tougher bail standards in the wake of the Waukesha parade tragedy. "If someone has proven through past behavior that they...cannot abide by the conditions of a bond imposed by the court, it only makes sense that they should be required to have a minimum vested interest in attending court dates and integrating into society," said Ryan Windorff, president of the Wisconsin State Lodge of the Fraternal Order of Police. Windorff was testifying in support of a bill that would establish a $5,000 minimum bail for criminal defendants previously convicted of bail jumping. Another proposal under consideration would amend the state constitution to allow judges setting bails to take into consideration factors including criminal histories and amorphous physical or non-physical "serious harm" to the public that would be defined by the Legislature and could be changed by legislative whim. Backers of both those proposals and others cite the case of Darrell Brooks, the man allegedly responsible for killing six and injuring others when he ran a vehicle into a crowd at the Waukesha parade. Brooks was out on bond at the time and faced domestic violence and bail-jumping charges. Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm has acknowledged that Brooks should not have been released from the Milwaukee County Jail and that his office erred in seeking a bail of just $1,000. The stakes behind these bail-tightening proposals are huge, and not just for defendants. Any bill that would make it harder for people to win pretrial release will hit counties hard because counties, not the state, pay for the local jails where those awaiting trial are held. There were 45,454 felony cases and 56,870 misdemeanor cases opened in the state last year. The median number of days it took to close out a case was 161 for misdemeanors and 241 for felonies. None of the bills proposing tougher bail rules would provide assistance to counties to pay for the increased cost and there is a lot of room there for lengthy stays and jail overcrowding if onerous bail restrictions are adopted. As for bail jumping, there were a total of 29,791 misdemeanor and felony cases filed in the state last year. Bail jumping is one of the most common charges filed in the state. While the tough-on-crime crowd cites Brooks endlessly in their quest to keep the presumed innocent behind bars, not all people accused of bail jumping are Darrell Brooks – far from it. A bail-jumping charge can be (and is) issued for any violation of a condition of a bond, whether or not that violation is a crime itself. A person doesn't even have to be charged with a crime – a mere arrest is enough – to be guilty of bail jumping for violating a bond related to it. Case in point: Melodie Taylor was arrested by Platteville police for disorderly conduct and released on $150 bond issued with a condition that she not drink alcohol, according to a brief filed in the Court of Appeals. Some time later, she contacted the police about the bond and was told that if she didn't hear anything in a few days, she could assume that she would not be charged with a crime. Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Judge Maria Lazar beats Judge Lori Kornblum for Wisconsin Court of Appeals seat.
Above the Law: Justice Amy Coney Barrett tells people to "read the opinion" while signing on to shadow-docket decisions that lack written opinions. Reason: Sen. Ted Cruz's disdain for public defenders and the U.S. Constitution in comments about Hon. Ketanji Brown Jackson. "She came out of law school, and she clerked for Justice Breyer on the Supreme Court. And she became a federal public defender," Cruz said. "And you and I have both known public defenders. People go and do that because their heart is with criminal defendants. Their heart is with the murderers, the criminals, and that that's who they're rooting for. A lot of the same reasons people go and become prosecutors—because they want to lock up bad guys—public defenders often have a natural inclination in the direction of the criminal. And I gotta say that inclination was not just while she was a public defender, but she carried it onto the bench." Brennan Center for Justice: Examining our overuse of excessive punishment. Reckoning requires a commitment to truth-telling, beginning with the tangle of fictions that stand in the way of change: Punishment keeps us safe, justice is found in courtrooms, conflicts are best resolved through an adversarial process, harmed parties need retribution, prisons are places for rehabilitation, punishment ends once one leaves prison, the wealthy and the poor receive equal treatment under the law. Perhaps foremost among the fictions of justice is the notion that monumental racial disparities were necessitated by patterns of crime and demanded by communities of color. A reckoning is needed to set the record straight. The Oregonian: Federal judge certifies class action lawsuit over how state officials handled COVID in prisons. WBUR: Massachusetts conviction from 1983 overturned due to juror's remarks about Jews during deliberations. In her sworn statement, (Berkshire County District Attorney Andrea) Harrington said a sitting juror told the court that, “From the beginning of our deliberations, the forelady of the jury … repeatedly made references to Mr. Jacobson (sic) as being ‘one of those New York Jews who think they can come up here and get away with anything.’ ” Harrington said (Barry) Jacobsen's conviction was now vacated, and the case against him dismissed. She made her announcements alongside Jacobsen's attorneys, members of The Innocence Project and members of the Anti-Defamation League. . . . "For nearly 40 years, he was haunted by this wrongful conviction," (Jacobsen's attorney, retired state Supreme Judicial Court Justice Robert) Cordy said. "It affected his career, his business, his family and his community. His one hope is that the unveiling of what can go wrong in our criminal justice system — as in this case, whether it disproportionately affects persons of color or other religious groups — will help others similarly situated and in the end prevent future victims of injustice." WSAU: Trial date set for Wisconsin Rapids man accused of putting abortion drug in girlfriend's water bottle.
NPR: U.S. Supreme Court decision makes it easier to sue for malicious prosecution. Until this decision, in many jurisdictions "it didn't matter that framing an innocent person completely upended their lives," said Amir Ali, who represented (plaintiff Larry) Thompson in the Supreme Court. "If the charges were dismissed, there was no redress for the wronged person," unless a court affirmed his innocence. "I think it's a long overdue ruling," said Michael Bromwich, who has spent years as a prosecutor, a defense lawyer and as inspector general for the U.S. Justice Department. "Prosecutors get away with way too much" when they realize they may not have a case and want to protect law enforcement from liability, he said. Daily Beast: Justice Thomas' concerning choice for his public relations firm. When Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas was promoting a new release of his 2007 memoir last October, he made an interesting choice for his public relations firm, a company run by one of the most influential figures in conservative legal circles: Leonard Leo. Leo, the former head of the Federalist Society and a top fundraiser for right-wing judiciary activist groups, wasn’t just in charge of Thomas’ memoir; Leo’s PR firm, CRC Advisors, was also tasked with promoting a Thomas documentary, and the firm was the registered agent for four Thomas-centric web domains. The interesting part of this choice is not that Leo’s firm was incapable of handling the work—far from it. What makes Thomas’ decision notable is that Leo happens to have a vested interest in the Supreme Court, and his dark money network actively tries to influence rulings. CNN: Three states sue Biden administration over lifting of pandemic border-entry barriers. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced Friday that on May 23 it will end Title 42, a public health authority invoked by then-President Donald Trump at the onset of the coronavirus pandemic. The restrictions had been criticized by immigrant advocates, public health experts and even officials within the Trump administration who believed it to be driven by political motivations. CNN: Senate Democrats pressing forward with lower-court confirmations before November. Democrats have outpaced the numbers of judges former President Donald Trump had confirmed at an equivalent point in his presidency, though they don't currently stand to match his imprint on the Supreme Court, with Jackson's confirmation not shifting that court's fundamental conservative lean.As Democrats face the risk of losing the Senate gavel in November's midterms, (President Joe) Biden might not also have the benefit that Trump had of four years of a Senate controlled by the same party -- adding pressure to the push to put Biden's appointees on the bench. The Freeman (AP): Defense attorneys seek delay of trial in Waukesha Christmas Parade case, citing volume of evidence and delays in production by prosecutors.
Fox6: Audit causes Milwaukee Police Department to reissue more than 7000 citations. The New York Times: Opinion on the use of rap lyrics to convict, with focus on case of young man in Racine County. Tommy Munsdwell Canady was in middle school when he wrote his first rap lyrics. He started out freestyling for friends and family, and after two of his cousins were fatally shot, he found solace in making music. “Before I knew it, my pain started influencing all my songs,” he told me in a letter. By his 15th birthday, Mr. Canady was recording and sharing his music online. His tracks had a homemade sound: a pulsing beat mixed with vocals, the words hard to make out through ambient static. That summer, in 2014, Mr. Canady released a song on SoundCloud, “I’m Out Here,” that would change his life. In Racine, Wis., where Mr. Canady lived, the police had been searching for suspects in three recent shootings. One of the victims, Sémar McClain, 19, had been found dead in an alley with a bullet in his temple, his pocket turned out, a cross in one hand and a gold necklace with a pendant of Jesus’ face by his side. The crime scene investigation turned up no fingerprints, weapons or eyewitnesses. Then, in early August, Mr. McClain’s stepfather contacted the police about a song he’d heard on SoundCloud that he believed mentioned Mr. McClain’s name and referred to his murder. Slate: District judge blocks military vaccine requirement with new order after Supreme Court vacated last one. How close can a district court judge come to disobeying the Supreme Court without technically defying it? Judge Reed O’Connor wants to find out. Last week, in a 6–3 order, the Supreme Court halted his unprecedented injunction attempting to order the deployment of 35 Navy SEALs and other special warfare troops who refused to get the COVID vaccine on religious grounds. In a concurrence, Justice Brett Kavanaugh explained that courts may not exercise their power “in a manner that military commanders believe would impair the military of the United States as it defends the American people.” But O’Connor, a George W. Bush appointee, didn’t seem to get the message. Just three days later, he issued a far more sweeping order granting 4,095 service members a religious exemption from the COVID vaccine. The Navy already denied these exemptions, but O’Connor overrode its judgment, holding that there is no “compelling interest” to justify the mandate. Above the Law: Navy plans to name ship to honor Hon. Ruth Bader Ginsburg. ABA Journal: Protest leader may be held liable for officer's injuries caused by third party at protest event says Louisiana Supreme Court. JD Supra: Federal court in Texas says law barring drone use for newsgathering violates First Amendment. Fox6: Gov. Tony Evers vetoes bill that would create penalties for attending a riot.
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Gov. Tony Evers vetoes bill changing Milwaukee and Madison fire and police commissions. Madison.com: Former Dane County Circuit Judge calls for an end to business courts. Marijuana Moment: Congressional Budget Office estimations of revenue and cost savings from marijuana legalization. Overall, the office said that it expects the proposed federal taxes included in the Marijuana Opportunity, Reinvestment and Expungement (MORE) Act to bring in $8.1 billion in revenue from 2022-2031.... It estimated that the policy chance (sic) would mean that time served in federal prison would be collectively reduced by 37,000 person-years for current and future inmates. CBO predicted that the Bureau of Prisons would save about $800 million because there would be fewer people in prison amid sentence reductions. WeAreGreenBay.com (AP): University of Michigan historian sues New York prison officials to end ban of her book on Attica prison revolt. The lawsuit contends that the ban is unconstitutional, particularly because the state has blocked inmates from accessing her book, prevented her from sharing it with inmates and denied her an opportunity to contest the ban. “People have a right to read, and people have a right to history,” (author Heather Ann) Thompson said in a release. “We also have a right to have our books read. It’s a shame we live in a country where we censor people and ideas.” Politico: Court overturns parts of Florida's new elections law. A federal judge on Thursday struck down key provisions of a 2021 Florida election law championed by Gov. Ron DeSantis and, in a remarkable move, ruled the state must get court approval for the next 10 years before it enacts further changes in three areas. Chief U.S. District Judge Mark Walker, in a blistering 288-page decision, said the law placed restrictions on voters that were unconstitutional and discriminated against minority citizens. Those included limits on drop boxes used for mail-in voting, on giving items to voters waiting in line and new requirements placed on voter registration groups. |
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