WJI's Daily Reads for Aug. 23, 2022

WisPolitics: Ozaukee County judge says complainant must be included in settlement negotiations regarding Cedarburg schools racial harassment case.

The ACLU of Wisconsin applauded a judge’s ruling last week that the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction and Cedarburg School District were wrong to attempt to settle a racial harassment case without the input of the family impacted by the harassment. . . .

“This ruling is a victory for students and families, and it is a win for transparent government,” said Elisabeth Lambert, Equal Justice Works Fellow with the ACLU of Wisconsin and attorney on the case. “Students impacted by discrimination have a right to participate fully in the legal proceedings that arise from their experiences. The other parties were wrong to sideline my client in this way.”

CNN: Immigration and Customs Enforcement phones wiped of data per Trump-administration rules.

"We cannot stand by as agency after agency admits that it destroys public records," said Heather Sawyer, executive director at American Oversight, in a statement. "Text messages often contain crucial information on what federal employees are doing and why they are doing it. The obligation to retain these records is not optional — it is the law."

Electronic Frontier Foundation: Federal government releases previously classified rulings from the secretive Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.

The seven newly released opinions and orders are heavily redacted, but they reveal new details about the FISC’s resolution of several different legal and technical questions, which often resulted in the court approving new ways for the government to access people’s private data.

NPR: Jury convicts two men of conspiring to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.

ABA Journal: Dissenting judge in federal Second Circuit Court of Appeals case criticizes New York attorney general's office.

(Circuit Judge Dennis) Jacobs contended that the attorney general’s office knew from state appellate opinions that (Terrence Sandy) McCray was denied the right to defend himself but “labors hard to maintain the advantage.” As a result, he said, the defendant still hasn’t been provided the opportunity to review documents that could acquit him in his case.
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“This is a sinister abuse,” Jacobs said. “The last-ditch defense of such a conviction by the attorney general is disreputable. Were I a lawyer for the state, I would not have been able to sign the brief it filed on this appeal.”

WABE (NPR): The risk of reincarceration with little warning for those released from prison during COVID pandemic.

This week, the Bureau of Prisons told NPR that 442 people who were released during the pandemic have now returned to prison.

Only 17 people out of more than 11,000 who were released committed new crimes, mostly drug related ones, while they were out. More than half, some 230 people including Eva Cardoza, got sent back for alleged alcohol or drug use. Other cases involved technical violations.