WJI's Daily Reads for Sept. 12, 2022

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Milwaukee Fire and Police Commission sees almost complete turnover in two years.

Reuters: For new term, U.S. Supreme Court will open in-person arguments to public once again.

The Hill: Questioned sentence Justice Samuel Alito wrote eight years ago was just used to deny insurance coverage for HIV drugs.

I’ve focused at length on what Alito wrote in Hobby Lobby because O’Connor’s decision shows that it was a time bomb, one now in the process of exploding. It is available in any case where any obligation could imaginably be fulfilled by the government. 

U.S. Department of Justice: DOJ files discrimination lawsuit against Milwaukee landlord and property manager.

Forbes: U.S. Bureau of Prisons interprets First Step Act narrowly, denying possible credits.

The effect will be that those prisoners with short sentences will get no reduction in their sentence, something that clearly goes against the BOP’s own experts on FSA.

Inquest: Will juries acquit in abortion prosecutions notwithstanding the facts?

Yet in prosecutions brought under this harsh new crop of abortion laws, we think nullification may have a larger role to play. Consider first that nullification only requires one juror to hold out. Criminal convictions must be unanimous, as the Supreme Court recently held in Ramos v. Louisiana. Thus, if even a single juror refuses to convict because they believe the law — as applied in the case before them — is unjust, nullification has occurred.

CBS: Federal judge dismisses Donald Trump's lawsuit against Hillary Clinton. 

Judge Donald Middlebrooks wrote in his ruling Thursday the court was "not the appropriate forum" for Trump's complaints about his rivals and others. The lawsuit accused Democrats and others of a "conspiracy" to link Trump to Russia during and after the 2016 presidential campaign.

"At its core, the problem with [Trump's] complaint is that [Trump] is not attempting to seek redress for any legal harm," wrote Middlebrooks, who serves the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.

Lowering the Bar: Judge dismisses case against Nirvana brought by man who was the baby on an album cover.