WJI's Daily Reads for Aug. 26, 2022

NPR: Redacted affidavit for Mar-a-Lago search released.

Reuters: Federal judge in Milwaukee denies request to sanction attorney Sidney Powell for 2020 election challenge.

U.S. District Judge Pamela Pepper in Milwaukee ruled that she no longer had jurisdiction over the case, and that sanctions would not be appropriate because she had quickly dismissed Powell's lawsuit before delving into the merits of her claims.

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Former Milwaukee alderwoman Chantia Lewis gets three years of probation with 30 days in jail.

Lewis was removed from office in July after pleading guilty to a count of misconduct in public office and no contest to a count of intentionally accepting an illegal campaign finance disbursement.

Prosecutors said she took at least $21,666 in campaign funds and false travel reimbursements from the city between 2016 and 2020.

WisPolitics.com: ACLU of Wisconsin issues report on immigration enforcement in state, noting local and federal coordination.

Between 2016 and 2020, Wisconsin’s biggest local sheriff beneficiary of SCAAP (State Criminal Alien Assistance Program) funding was Dane County, which collected more than $634,000 for handing information over to ICE (federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement). Although Walworth County has a much smaller immigrant population, it received the second highest SCAAP payout.

“ICE is continuing to work to build and strengthen its deportation pipeline despite the change in administration in Washington. It is xenophobic and racist to contact ICE every time a foregin (sic) born person enters your jail as some sheriff departments do. And the federal government is continuing to incentivize this kind of behavior by dangling millions in SCAAP funding in front of local sheriffs,” said Tim Muth, a staff attorney at the ACLU of Wisconsin. “The local sheriffs who are willing collaborators with ICE are betraying immigrants who live in their counties by inviting the threat of ICE and the prospect of deportation into their lives.”

NPR: Federal judge holds that virtual scan of room before online test was an unconstitutional search by public university.

Aaron Ogletree, a chemistry student, sat for a test during his spring semester last year. Before starting the exam, he was asked to show the virtual proctor his bedroom. He complied, and the recording data was stored by one of the school's third-party proctoring tools, Honorlock, according to the ruling documents.

NPR: Seventh Circuit Judge Diane Wood talks favorably about term limits for federal judges and justices.

Currently/Yahoo!: Paul Newman's daughters sue Newman's Own Foundation over donations.

Susan Kendall Newman, who lives in Oregon, and Nell Newman, of California, worry the foundation is setting the stage to completely remove them from having any say in how some of profits from Newman's Own products are donated to charities. They also accused the foundation of “contradicting” their father's wishes and intentions for years.

Slate: Predicting legal challenges to student-debt relief.

Going by the plain language of the law alone, Biden’s plan is likely legal. Sure, it’s probably not how Congress envisioned the Heroes Act functioning. But the program fits into the text that Congress actually passed. These days, however, the Supreme Court no longer uses textualism to assess administrative actions. Instead, it asks whether a federal program involves a “major question”—which just means anything five justices deem a big deal. When handling a “major question,” the court demands an explicit grant of authority from Congress, even if existing law appears to permit the program already. As Justice Elena Kagan put it, the “major questions doctrine” serves as a “get-out-of-text-free” card that can “magically appear” whenever it serves the conservative majority’s “broader goals.” (Specifically, the dismantlement of the administrative state.)