Note: We are crunching Supreme Court of Wisconsin decisions down to size. The rule for this is that no justice gets more than 10 paragraphs as written in the actual decision. The "upshot" and "background" sections do not count as part of the 10 paragraphs because of their summary and very necessary nature. We've also removed citations from the opinion for ease of reading, but have linked to important cases cited or information about them. Italics indicate WJI insertions except for case names, which also are italicized. The case: St. Augustine School and Joseph and Amy Forro v. Superintendent of Public Instruction Carolyn Stanford Taylor and Friess Lake School District Majority/Lead Opinion: Justice Ann Walsh Bradley (23 pages), joined by Justices Rebecca F. Dallet, Brian Hagedorn, and Jill J. Karofsky Concurrence: Hagedorn (20 pages) Concurrence: Roggensack (6 pages) Dissent: Rebecca Grassl Bradley (29 pages), joined by Justice Annette K. Ziegler The upshot The state Supreme Court was directed by the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals to answer a specific question: "For purposes of determining whether two or more schools are "private schools affiliated with the same religious denomination" for purposes of Wis. Stat. [§] 121.51, must the state superintendent rely exclusively on neutral criteria such as ownership, control, and articles of incorporation, or may the superintendent also take into account the school's self-identification in sources such as its website or filings with the state." The Supreme Court asked the parties whether it should revisit two precedential decisions it relied on in its deliberations.... The cases were State ex rel. Vanko v. Kahl and Holy Trinity Community School, Inc. v. Kahl. None asked for reconsideration. *** We conclude that, in determining whether schools are "affiliated with the same religious denomination" pursuant to Wis. Stat. § 121.51, the Superintendent is not limited to consideration of a school's corporate documents exclusively. In conducting a neutral and secular inquiry, the Superintendent may also consider the professions of the school with regard to the school's self-identification and affiliation, but the Superintendent may not conduct any investigation or surveillance with respect to the school's religious beliefs, practices, or teachings. Accordingly, we answer the certified question and remand to the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit for further proceedings. Background St. Augustine is a private, religious school located within the boundaries of the Friess Lake School District (the School District). On its website, St. Augustine describes itself as "an independent and private traditional Roman Catholic School." The Forros and St. Augustine plaintiffs sought from Friess Lake schools transportation for the Forros' children to and from St. Augustine. In the request, St. Augustine asserted that it is unaffiliated with the Archdiocese of Milwaukee. It stated: "Our governing body is our Board of Directors and we receive no funding from nor communicate with the Diocese on matters of education." As such, St. Augustine distinguished itself from St. Gabriel Catholic School, a diocesan Catholic school also located within the boundaries of the School District. The School District denied St. Augustine's request. In doing so, it noted that the Forros' address "is within the boundaries already approved for a Catholic School." Because the School District already bused students to St. Gabriel, it determined that it could not approve St. Augustine's request as it would constitute an overlapping attendance area. With St. Augustine and the School District at odds, they sought a determination from the Superintendent. As it did before the School District, St. Augustine argued that it is not affiliated with the same religious denomination as St. Gabriel within the meaning of (the law). In support of this argument, it asserted: "Neither St. Augustine School, Inc., nor the school operated by the corporation, has ever been affiliated by control, membership, or funding with the Archdiocese of Milwaukee. No representative of the Archdiocese or a parish church of the Archdiocese has ever been a director or officer of St. Augustine School, Inc. No employees of St. Augustine School have ever been hired or compensated by the Archdiocese or a parish church of the Archdiocese. None of the religious instructors at St. Augustine School have ever been employed, assigned, or compensated for their work at St. Augustine School by the Archdiocese or a parish church of the Archdiocese." Then-Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Evers denied the transportation request. He concluded that "St. Augustine School, Inc. is a private, religious school affiliated with the Roman Catholic denomination." Further, he determined that "[t]he District already provides transportation to students attending St. Gabriel School, another private, religious school affiliated with the Roman Catholic denomination, the attendance area of which is co-extensive with the attendance area of the District." As a result, the Superintendent concluded that St. Augustine's attendance area overlaps that of St. Gabriel and thus "the Friess Lake School District is not required to provide transportation to students attending St. Augustine School, Inc." Evers examined school documents, such as bylaws and papers associated with a school name change and found that they were not useful in determining the school's religious v. non-religious nature or its affiliation with a particular denomination. Evers turned to St. Augustine's own website. Relying on statements on St. Augustine's website, the Superintendent agreed with the School District that St. Augustine is affiliated with the Roman Catholic denomination. He cited in his decision "two of a number of statements in the website pages from which any reasonable person would conclude the School is a religious school affiliated with the Roman Catholic denomination." The first of these statements sets forth that St. Augustine is "an independent and private traditional Roman Catholic School . . . [that is] an incorporation of dedicated families, who believing that all good things are of God, have joined together to provide the children of our Catholic community with an exceptional classical education." Additionally, the website provides: "[St. Augustine] loves and praises all the traditional practices of the Catholic faith." St. Augustine sued, alleging its First Amendment free exercise of religion rights were violated. A federal judge sided with Evers; St. Augustine appealed and the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the district court. The Seventh Circuit majority saw no free exercise problem with the Superintendent and School District's application of (the law), determining that "[t]he reason why St. Augustine cannot demand services within its desired attendance zone is not because it is a Catholic school; it is because – by its own choice – it professes to be affiliated with a group that already has a school in that zone." St. Augustine appealed again, this time to the U.S. Supreme Court. That court vacated the Seventh Circuit's decision and remanded to the Seventh Circuit, which then sent its question to the Wisconsin Supreme Court. The guts State law includes this definition of a private school attendance area: [T]he geographic area designated by the governing body of a private school as the area from which its pupils attend and approved by the school board of the district in which the private school is located. If the private school and the school board cannot agree on the attendance area, the state superintendent shall, upon the request of the private school and the board, make a final determination of the attendance area. The attendance areas of private schools affiliated with the same religious denomination shall not overlap unless one school limits its enrollment to pupils of the same sex and the other school limits its enrollment to pupils of the opposite sex or admits pupils of both sexes. The natural question that arises from the definition of "attendance area" is what it means for private schools to be "affiliated with the same religious denomination." After all, assuming that schools are co-educational and not single-sex, only one school of each "religious denomination" may receive the transportation benefit in a single attendance area. This court first addressed this language in 1971 in State ex rel. Vanko v. Kahl. In Vanko, the court addressed a constitutional challenge to the attendance area statute. The court acknowledged that there would be a constitutional problem if the statute were interpreted to include "a restriction placed upon children attending religious schools and not placed upon those attending private, secular schools." This problem would arise because "[r]eligious affiliation would be the sole basis of the classification." Accordingly, the court engaged in a saving construction to avoid the constitutional infirmity, interpreting the statute to apply to both religious and nonreligious schools.... In a later case, Holy Trinity Community School, Inc. v. Kahl, the court found that a religious school's corporate charter and bylaws are generally enough to show that it is independent of, and unaffiliated with, a religious denomination. Further inquiries would impermissibly involve the state in religious affairs. *** St. Augustine argues that the manner in which the Superintendent considered such information impermissibly places the Superintendent in the position to decide "what is Catholic" and thus constitutes an excessive entanglement with religion. In contrast, the Superintendent and the School District advance that simply accepting St. Augustine's self-identification does not require any investigation at all or any determination of whether St. Augustine is Catholic – they are simply taking St. Augustine at its word.... Vanko established that "affiliated with the same religious denomination" is "the test of affiliation in a single school system rather than operation by a single agency or set of trustees or religious order within a particular religious denomination." It further establishes that the statute applies to both religious and secular schools "affiliated or operated by a single sponsoring group." Holy Trinity is particularly apt in guiding our approach to the certified question. There, the court engaged in a similar exercise of line-drawing to that which we undertake in the instant case. The line the Holy Trinity court drew between the constitutional and the unconstitutional was at the investigation and surveillance of a school's religious practices. With regard to statements made by a school, the court set forth: "We are obliged to accept the professions of the school and to accord them validity without further inquiry." Just as in Holy Trinity, accepting a school's professions that are published on its public website or set forth in filings with the state does not necessarily require any investigation or surveillance into the practices of the school. It need not require any religious inquiry at all. As long as the Superintendent considers the school's professions and not its practices, the Superintendent remains on the correct side of the line. In other words, a superintendent attempting to determine that a school is affiliated with a specific religious denomination may rely on any evidence of affiliation between the school and a denomination that does not violate the First Amendment and that does not inquire into the religious beliefs of the school or the denomination.... Vanko highlighted that "affiliated with the same religious denomination" is the test to be used within a school system "rather than operation by a single agency or set of trustees or religious order within a particular religious denomination." We thus conclude this methodological inquiry, determining that in examining whether schools are "affiliated with the same religious denomination,", the Superintendent is not limited to consideration of a school's corporate documents exclusively. In conducting a neutral and secular inquiry, the Superintendent may also consider the professions of the school with regard to the school's self-identification and affiliation, but the Superintendent may not conduct any investigation or surveillance with respect to the school's religious beliefs, practices, or teachings. Concurrence: The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals poses a methodological question to this court: what evidence may be considered when determining whether private schools are "affiliated with the same religious denomination" under (Wisconsin law)? The parties agree the answer includes both the self-representations of a school as well as corporate documents. In a narrow opinion, the majority reiterates this conclusion, which I agree with and join. However, this answer may not be of much assistance to the Seventh Circuit without the requisite statutory analysis explaining what this information may be used for under the law. Therefore, I write separately to examine what a "religious denomination" is under the statute and what it means for a school and a religious denomination to be "affiliated with" one another.... As the subsequent analysis will show, a religious denomination under the law is not the same thing as a religious faith; rather, statutory context reveals that "religious denomination" is a kind of religious organization. A school – itself an organizational entity – must be "affiliated with" this type of religious organization. And "affiliated with" in this context involves a mutual organizational relationship. Both the private school and the religious denomination must agree to be affiliated with each other. This statutory inquiry is organizational, not theological. Therefore, (the law) prohibits overlapping attendance areas only when multiple schools have a mutual organizational relationship with a single religious denomination. In answer to the Seventh Circuit's certified question, a school's general description of its religious beliefs is unlikely to constitute relevant evidence because a statement of faith, even shared faith, does not demonstrate a mutual organizational relationship with a religious denomination. Affiliation requires more than a shared faith. On the other hand, a school's statement on its website or elsewhere that it is or is not affiliated with a religious denomination is relevant evidence of a mutual organizational relationship. Likewise, corporate documents, by-laws, and other types of organizational documents can also (oftentimes conclusively) demonstrate the presence or lack of a mutual organizational relationship between a school and a religious denomination. *** The phrase "religious denomination" appears in more than a dozen statutory sections. Many of these are in Chapter 187, titled "Religious Societies," which governs the state's relationship with religious organizations. These sections describe how religious organizations meet, incorporate, govern themselves, and own or manage property.... The statutory context paints a clear picture. When the legislature uses the phrase "religious denomination," it is referring to an organizational entity. To be sure, a religious denomination need not take a specific corporate form under Wisconsin law. As the majority observes, "'religious denomination' is a broader category than 'corporation.'" But every single use of the phrase in the Wisconsin statutes demonstrates that a "religious denomination" is an organizational entity, not a synonym for religious faith generally. Thus, when (the law) asks whether two schools are "affiliated with the same religious denomination," the question is not whether both schools share the same creed, but whether they are both affiliated with a particular kind of religious organization – a religious denomination.... It is one thing for a school to self-declare their allegiance to a particular religious faith. It is quite another to affiliate with a particular religious organization without that organization's agreement. If a private school could unilaterally affiliate itself with a religious organization, it would deprive that organization of its liberty to decide with whom and with which organizations it chooses to associate. On this basis alone, the most reasonable reading of "affiliated with"...requires some mutual relationship between the private school and the religious denomination, whereby both agree to be affiliated. *** In answer to the certified question, I join the majority's conclusion that statements of affiliation by a school on its website, in filings with the state, or otherwise, along with corporate documents, may be permissible sources of evidence regarding whether two schools are affiliated with a religious denomination. This statutory inquiry, however, is organizational, not theological. A religious denomination under the law is a kind of religious organization, not a religious creed. And a school is affiliated with a religious denomination if there exists a mutual organizational relationship between the private school and the religious denomination. With this understanding, I respectfully concur.
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Above the Law: Nine-month suspension for lawyer who, upset about COVID protocols, pulled a gun.
She answered essentially every question by citing the Fifth Amendment or indicating that “you have my response.” Some testimony was disrespectful, the hearing board said. As an example, the board cited Legus’ response to one question: “Are you asking me to do pushups?” The New York Times: The conservative lawyer behind the Texas abortion ban. Jurist: Federal appeals court blocks Tennessee abortion restrictions. Kansas Reflector: Kansas to pay ACLU and others $1.9 million in fees and costs of suit over Kris Kobach's baseless voter fraud allegations. The high-profile lawsuit was filed 2016 in response to former Secretary of State Kris Kobach’s signature law, which required residents to prove their citizenship before registering to vote. The law blocked more than 35,000 eligible voters from participating in elections. U.S. District Court Judge Julie Robinson held Kobach in contempt of court following his embarrassing performance in a 2018 trial. The judge determined there was no evidence to support Kobach’s claims of widespread voter fraud and ruled the law unconstitutional. Electronic Frontier Foundation: Geofence warrants threaten rights in Kenosha and elsewhere. In the days following the police shooting of Jacob Blake on August 23, 2020, hundreds of protestors marched in the streets of Kenosha, Wisconsin. Federal law enforcement, it turns out, collected location data on many of those protesters. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) used a series of “geofence warrants” to force Google to hand over data on people who were in the vicinity of—but potentially as far as a football field away from—property damage incidents. These warrants, which police are increasingly using across the country, threaten the right to protest and violate the Fourth Amendment. Madison.com via APG Wisconsin: State Supreme hears case that could allow governments to play games with public records law.
WPR: U.S. Justice Department sues Texas over abortion law. Herald-Tribune: Florida anti-riot law blocked by federal court. The Washington Post: Texas governor signs bill prohibiting social media "censorship." Eric Goldman, a professor at Santa Clara University School of Law, said the Texas law does not “survive critical scrutiny,” and he expects that it will be struck down by the court system like the law in Florida was. He said both the Florida and Texas laws “represent an effort to play for partisan crowd, not to make good policy.” “Even if it’s struck down, it’s a symptom of a much bigger structural problem we have in the country that politicians think this is how they should be spending their time,” Goldman said, noting that taxpayer dollars would likely be spent defending the laws in court. CNN: White House withdraws nomination of David Chipman, pro-gun-law candidate to head ATF. Chipman, a former career official at ATF, came under scrutiny from pro-gun rights supporters and the National Rifle Association for his work as a senior adviser to Everytown for Gun Safety and Giffords -- the organization started by former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, who was shot at an event in her Arizona district in 2011. Top Democrats had been quietly moving to lock down support for Biden's nominee, but Chipman struggled to gain support because some senators questioned if his past record as an advocate for stricter gun laws would make him a less effective director. More stories and links on the WJI Facebook page. Lowering the Bar: Nirvana cover baby sues band members for showing him naked.
In this telling, what you might have thought was a funny picture of a four-month-old baby in a pool was, in fact, “commercial sexual exploitation” of said baby by a gang of international baby exploiters. In perhaps the stupidest of the allegations, the complaint accuses defendants of deliberately depicting Baby Spencer “like a sex worker,” because he is grabbing for a dollar bill being dangled in front of him while naked. KKTV: California moves to outlaw "stealthing," or removing condom during sex. Wired: Texas abortion "whistleblower" website cannot find a home. Politico: A U.S. Supreme Court precedent strongly supports vaccine mandates. Politico: U.S. Supreme Court delays Texas execution. The U.S. Supreme Court blocked John Henry Ramirez’s execution about three hours after he could have been executed. He is condemned for fatally stabbing 46-year-old Pablo Castro, who worked at a Corpus Christi convenience store.... Seth Kretzer, Ramirez’s lawyer, had argued the Texas Department of Criminal Justice was violating the death row inmate’s First Amendment rights to practice his religion by denying his request to have his pastor touch him and vocalize prayers when he was executed. He called the ban on vocal prayer a spiritual “gag order.” “It is hostile toward religion, denying religious exercise at the precise moment it is most needed: when someone is transitioning from this life to the next,” Kretzer said in court documents. Filter: Marijuana possession arrests plunge in New York City after legalization.
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Milwaukee Ald. Chantia Lewis charged with misusing campaign funds. Reuters: Texas governor signs bill curbing voting rights, access. Plaintiffs in two federal lawsuits, filed against Texas officials in San Antonio and the state capital Austin, included the League of United Latin American Citizens, the Texas Alliance for Retired Americans and Texas community development groups. They said the law unduly burdens the right to vote in violation of the U.S. Constitution's First, 14th and 15th Amendments, while also saying it is intended to limit minority voters' access to the ballot box in violation of a federal law called the Voting Rights Act. The Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law filed a third lawsuit in state court in Houston, arguing that the measure violates provisions of the Texas Constitution protecting the rights to vote, freedom of speech and expression, due process and equal protection under law. The Cap Times: Gov. Evers announces new pardons, additional eligibility. The New Yorker: The link between Texas' new abortion law and its new voting laws. Though the two laws address different domains, they are connected: in Texas and elsewhere in the country, a ligature of racism connects efforts to deny people of color their right to vote and women—disproportionately women of color—their right to terminate a pregnancy. Unsung hero: William T. Green, lawyer and activist, author of the state's first civil rights law9/8/2021 By Gretchen Schuldt Fewer than 30 years had passed since the end of the Civil War when Canadian-born William T. Green graduated from the University of Wisconsin Law School in 1892, one of the first Black people to do so. He was by then 31 or 32 years old. Law degree in hand, he settled in Milwaukee, where he became the city's first and only Black attorney. By that time, he already had authored the state's first civil rights bill. Green's enrollment in law school was fortuitous, according to a September 1893 Milwaukee Journal newspaper story. The short, one paragraph account announced a benefit for Green, "a colored lawyer of the city, who was stricken with paralysis some time ago." "Years ago he was an errand boy in Milwaukee, but later obtained a position about the state university building," the newspaper reported. "He was without money and although eager to learn was unable to provide himself with an education. One of the professors one day found him with his ear to the keyhole listening to a law lecture. Attracted by the lad's earnestness to learn the professor helped him through college and he graduated a year or two ago with high honors." Green, as a young man, watched as the country moved away from its commitment to civil rights. In 1883, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a federal law prohibiting discrimination in public accommodations. The move had ramifications in Wisconsin. Black people were turned away from taverns and other public places; some attending a teachers' convention in Madison were not allowed to register at hotels, according to the summer 1966 issue of the Wisconsin Magazine of History.
The small Black population (304 people in 1880) began pushing for a state law that would do what federal law no longer did. Then in 1889, Owen Howell, a Black man, bought a ticket to a play. When he went to the Bijou Opera House in Milwaukee, he was denied his seat and an usher instead directed him to the gallery. Howell sued in Milwaukee County Circuit Court. Black leaders in the city, including Green, held a convention to show off their increasing political strength – the city's Black population was by then about 449 – and to push for a new civil rights league, which was indeed established. Green also helped organize a meeting to censure the Bijou's owner. The meeting drew about 75 people – about 17% of the city's Black population. Howell won his case and was awarded $100 and costs. Law student Green, meanwhile, was busy with his civil rights bill. It was drafted in late 1889, and introduced in January 1891 by a one-term legislator, Orren T. Williams. Republicans at the time were the advocates for civil rights. They also were in the legislative minority that term. The bill would have provided equal access to a variety of public accommodations, including restaurants, saloons, barber shops, theaters, and transportation conveyances. Violations would be punishable by fines of $25 to $500 and incarceration for up to one year. The debate in the Judiciary Committee was overtly racist. "Where is the man on this floor who will say the colored man is the equal of the white man?" Assemblyman John Winans asked. "God did not create them equal." First the bill was watered down. Then it was defeated. "Mr. Williams, who introduced it, wanted it killed because it had been limited to hotels and common carriers," The Milwaukee Journal reported. Filter: District attorneys could be key in future abortion battles.
The Washington Post: Police don't deserve their impenetrable legal shield. The doctrine may sound innocuous, but its consequences are often unjust. In a 2017 decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit found that a police officer who ran a suspect off the road and shot him three times, killing him, had acted unreasonably, violating both police procedures and the Fourth Amendment. But the court also found that the legal system had not “clearly established,” through prior cases with sufficiently similar fact patterns, that this misconduct infringed constitutional rights. (If your behavior as an official is so outrageous that nothing like it has come to court before, you’ll get qualified immunity.) Politico: Biden administration ponders a "Remain in Mexico Lite" policy. The new proposal — what some have dubbed “Remain in Mexico lite” — would require a small number of asylum seekers to wait in Mexico for their cases to be processed but give them better living conditions and access to attorneys, according to three people familiar with the discussions. Marijuana Moment: Neil deGrasse Tyson says President Biden opposes cannabis legalization because he is part of the "Reefer Madness" generation. Book Riot: Copaganda in crime books. The Washington Post: What the U.S. Justice Department should do to thwart the Texas abortion law.
Jacobin: More criminalization is not the answer to gun violence. A gun control regime that grants constitutional protection to the “right sort” of gun owners but criminalizes the “wrong sort” invites a host of predictable injustices across lines of race and class. Gun violence is a major problem in the United States, and calls for lawmakers to “do something” in response to lives lost are certainly understandable. Unfortunately, “doing something” tends to involve passing more criminal statutes, imposing longer prison sentences, or further empowering police officers. In many jurisdictions, police and sheriffs hold almost unfettered discretion in determining who can obtain a license to own or possess a handgun. Licensing requirements frequently rely on criminal records, which in turn reflect race- and class-based disparities in enforcement. The Guardian: Opioids killed 600,000 Americans. The Sacklers got off basically scot-free. Astonishingly, the Sacklers seem to have been able to work the bankruptcy process to buy themselves immunity from accountability in the civil courts – in return for handing over only a small fraction of the money they made from OxyContin – and still remain one of the richest families in the country. All while continuing to deny their responsibility for their role in creating the opioid crisis. Patch: Wiretap expert fears wiretap bill in Legislature gives too much power to police.
(Ben) Levitan fears that this new law essentially amounts to a back door for law enforcement, cutting out the service provider and freeing police investigations from legal restrictions. "The only intention of this law is to allow law enforcement in Wisconsin to claim that they have a court order, but that's just lying," stressed Levitan. "They're basically saying, 'Hey we got permission to do a wiretap.' No, you don't have permission to do a wiretap. You have permission to order the cell phone company to help you." He added, "You know, I support law enforcement, this is just B.S." Politico: How progressives are knocking out judges around the country. Ms. The Texas abortion ban is history revisited. Equally worrisome, by enacting S.B. 8, the Texas legislature empowers and legitimizes harassment and uses the tested tools of slavery to carry out its antiabortion agenda. Aspects of the law are eerily reminiscent of Congress’s enactment of the Fugitive Slave Acts (FSAs), which in the 19th century similarly empowered private citizens to seek bounties on individuals who sought privacy, liberty and freedom from laws and social conditions that undermined their bodily autonomy. Such laws traumatized Black people for fear of being tracked, stalked and charged with violating the codes of slavery. The FSAs bestowed incentives and rewards to carry out troubling, inhumane aims, undercutting the autonomy and liberty of Black people—freed or enslaved—and often leading to violence. And these laws served other purposes too: They skillfully deployed citizen participation in propping up and preserving slavery as a social, political and legal institution—an American way of life. They emboldened people committed to the enterprise of slavery and effectively legitimized various means of provocation and harassment. Sadly, this is history revisited. AP: Deal with OxyContin maker leaves families angry and conflicted.
There was no apology from members of the Sackler family who own Purdue Pharma, they weren’t forced to give up all of their vast fortune, and there was no chance to confront them face-to-face about the lives lost to opioids. Talking Points Memo: The U.S. Supreme Court is corrupted and corrupt. The Washington Post: Former prosecutor indicted in Ahmaud Arbery case. Ex-Brunswick Judicial Circuit District Attorney Jackie Johnson is accused of violating her oath of office and obstructing police after the Black man’s death in February of 2020. A viral video of White men chasing and shooting 25-year-old Arbery drew comparisons to a lynching, sparking public demands for accountability and also accusations of a coverup by local authorities. Arbery soon became a rallying cry in a massive racial justice movement ignited by the murder of George Floyd as protests sought justice in high-profile killings of Black Americans. Thursday’s indictment says Johnson showed “favor and affection” to suspect Greg McMichael, who was previously an investigator in her office, and also failed to “treat Ahmaud Arbery and his family fairly and with dignity” when she sought help from another district attorney — now also under investigation — who argued the shooting was justified before recusing himself. Vice: Remington subpoenas report cards of five children murdered at Sandy Hook. “In mid-July, the defense served a subpoena on the Newtown Public School District seeking: ‘Any and all educational records in your possession including but not limited to, application and admission paperwork, attendance records, transcripts, report cards, disciplinary records, correspondence and any and all other educational information and records pertaining to’ each of the five first-graders whose Estates are plaintiffs in this case,” according to the motion filed today that sought to protect the victims’ families from further subpoenas. “There is no conceivable way that these [records] will assist Remington in its defense, and the plaintiffs do not understand why Remington would invade the families’ privacy with such a request. Nonetheless, this personal and private information has been produced to Remington.” Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: No prison for man who sold more than 200 guns illegally. Prosecutors say (Gary Schroeder) could sell guns at a premium, a larger markup, because his buyers were willing to pay it to avoid the background checks that legitimate, federal licensed firearms dealers would require, mostly likely because they knew they wouldn't pass because they were felons or otherwise prohibited from possessing guns. |
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