WJI's Daily Reads for July 12, 2022

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Court approves UWM demolition of Columbia Hospital.

State Bar of Wisconsin: Kelli Thompson on current issues at the State Public Defender's Office.

Reuters: Call for federal judicial code of conduct to bar retirement contingent on particular successor.

The U.S. Judicial Conference's Codes of Conduct Committee should step in to address a pattern of "unseemly behavior" by judges trying to dictate White House nominations, Gabe Roth, Fix the Court's executive director, said in an email last week that he released on Monday. . . .

Roth cited U.S. Circuit Judge Michael Kanne's 2018 decision to take senior status contingent on an ex-clerk, Indiana Solicitor General Tom Fisher, being nominated to take his place on the Chicago-based 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Kanne reversed course after learning then-Republican President Donald Trump would not nominate Fisher after then-Vice President Mike Pence, the former governor of Indiana, opposed the pick. Kanne died in June still an active 7th Circuit judge.

Slate: Federal judge rules that poor mental health care in Arizona's prisons constitutes cruel and unusual punishment.

In 2015, the parties reached a settlement, which required the state prison system to comply with a lengthy list of performance measures—but there is little evidence anything has improved. Between 2016 and 2021, the state prison system was held twice in contempt of court and fined, literally, millions of dollars. Finally, in July 2021, federal judge Roslyn Silver vacated the settlement. In November of that year, she held a three-week trial, which led her to conclude “the conditions are now the same, or worse, than the conditions present at the outset of this litigation.”

In a searing 200-page ruling published June 30, Silver wrote that the case boiled down to two questions: “Are Defendants violating the constitutional rights of Arizona’s prisoners through the existing medical and mental health care system? And are Defendants violating the constitutional rights of a subset of Arizona’s prisoners by almost round-the-clock confinement in their cells?”

The answer to both questions, she wrote, is yes.

CNN: Federal judge denies Steve Bannon's request to postpone next week's trial on contempt charges and limits evidence regarding executive privilege.

Women's Health: The struggle for women to access mental health care in prison.

Women represent less than 10 percent of the country’s incarcerated population, but they’re more likely than men to suffer from co-occurring substance use and mental health disorders, according to Holly Ventura Miller, PhD, a professor and graduate program director at the University of North Florida’s Criminology and Criminal Justice Department.

These compounding factors put women at the highest risk for relapse and recidivism (returning to prison); it also, however, makes them ideal candidates for receiving in-prison mental health care and social support.

CNBC: Justice Department investigating PGA Tour for anti-competitive actions.

The investigation, first reported by The Wall Street Journal, comes after the tour last month indefinitely suspended 17 players, including major championship winners Phil Mickelson and Dustin Johnson, after they chose to compete in the Saudi-backed LIV Golf tournament.

Herald & Review: Federal appeals court upholds right to record video of police.

The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver ruling came in the case of a YouTube journalist and blogger who claimed that a suburban Denver officer blocked him from recording a 2019 traffic stop. Citing decisions from the other courts over about two decades as well as First Amendment principles, the 10th Circuit said the right to record police was clearly established at the time and reinstated the lawsuit of the blogger, Abade Irizarry.

A three-judge panel from the court said that “Mr. Irizarry’s right to film the police falls squarely within the First Amendment’s core purposes to protect free and robust discussion of public affairs, hold government officials accountable, and check abuse of power.”