WJI's Daily Reads for Aug. 31, 2022

Madison.com: Wisconsin legislative committee discusses ways to increase job opportunities post-incarceration.

The committee chair, Sen. Mary Felzkowski, R-Irma, said Wisconsin had hit a crisis point between overcrowding in prisons and the need for employees outside them. She called for creating a pathway that would allow more people to put their mistakes behind them and forge new opportunities for themselves and their families.

Associated Press: Department of Justice filing provides more details on search for classified documents at Mar-a-Lago.

Though it contains significant new details on the investigation, the Justice Department filing does not resolve a core question that has driven public fascination with the investigation — why Trump held onto the documents after he left the White House and why he and his team resisted repeated efforts to give them back. In fact, it suggests officials may not have received an answer.

Politico: Why possession of classified documents should be easier to prove than other possible charges against Donald Trump.

White-collar crimes like fraud or obstruction usually turn on the defendant’s intent. There is usually no question that the defendant filed his tax returns. But did he do so with the intent to defraud the IRS? . . .

Most of the statutes at issue in the Mar-a-Lago documents case are more similar to a narcotics case than a complicated bank fraud or obstruction of justice case. Top Secret classified documents are a lot like narcotics from a criminal law perspective. You really don’t want to possess them if you are not authorized to do so. If you take Top Secret classified documents from a government facility and store them at your home, you’re guilty.

United Press International: Biden Administration and government of American Samoa ask Supreme Court to decline review of case about citizenship in territories.

Fitisemanu vs. United States stemmed from a challenge by John Fitisemanu, Pale Tuli and Rosavita Tula -- who were all born in American Samoa -- to a federal law that denies them the right to vote because, technically, they are not considered U.S. citizens.

Slate: Judge orders Georgia governor to testify before grand jury investigating 2020 election tampering by Donald Trump.

The Baynet: Maryland appeals court vacates man's conviction because bailiffs wore masks with thin-blue-line insignia during trial.

The Court noted that “the thin blue line, among other things, can be viewed as expressing general support for law enforcement, or expressing the belief that police stand between civilized society and criminals, or expressing support for white supremacy. Although these messages range from benign to malevolent, none of them should be conveyed to the jury in a criminal trial.”  

Courthouse News Service: Seventh Circuit appeals court affirms dismissal of case seeking life insurance payment for show horse.

Horse owner Julie Greenback first brought the case at hand against Great American Assurance Company in 2018; she says she should have been allowed to euthanize her $500,000 show horse Thomas, aka Awesome At This, after he sustained career-ending injuries.

Great American, Thomas’ insurer, prevented her from doing so. Citing an element of the horse’s insurance policy that allows the company to take control of Thomas’ medical care, it instead brought him to two veterinarians in 2018 who helped treat his injuries, including chest abscesses and a right leg tear. Thomas is still alive thanks to those veterinarians’ work, but his days as a show horse are over.