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Judge skeptical of Trump admin compliance with injunction

homesafetytechpros — Sat, 15 Mar 2025 10:45:27 +0000

President Donald Trump addresses a joint session of Congress on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, March 4, 2025 (AP Photo/Alex Brandon).

A federal judge on Friday said it was “very concerning” that the Trump administration might not be complying with an injunction barring the government from trying to root out “diversity, equity, and inclusion” (DEI) initiatives.

During an emergency motion for a status conference, U.S. District Judge Adam B. Abelson, a Joe Biden appointee, tried to keep arguments to a minimum but allowed the parties some latitude to discuss the issue that necessitated the hastily-scheduled hearing.

That issue, according to the plaintiffs, is that language barred by the court’s orders continues to be used by administrative agencies.

An attorney for the National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education, the lead plaintiffs in the case, highlighted a proposed contract between the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the City of Baltimore as indicative of the alleged flouting. That agreement states the city must “certif[y] that it does not operate programs promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion that violate any applicable anti-discrimination laws.” Substantially similar language appeared in a contract provided to San Francisco.

A lawyer for the Department of Justice acknowledged the problem.

“HUD is working toward remedying this particular provision,” the DOJ attorney told the court. “Baltimore is not going to be required to sign that in order to receive its funding.”

While the government attorney did not put up a fight over whether the language in question violates the court’s orders, she suggested that perhaps the cities had been privy to language culled from a “template” that should not have been used. Specifically, she said San Francisco might have inadvertently been sent a template while saying she was unaware of what Baltimore had been sent because the filing had just appeared on the court docket right before the hearing.

The attorney went on to stress that no additional direction, in the way of another court order, was necessary to enforce compliance.

While the court seemed to accept the mea culpa, the judge said he wanted to make clear that Baltimore was going to be able to enter into the contract and still obtain the funds from the agency.

Again, the government proffered compliance.

“HUD is going to be reissuing a contract that doesn’t include this provision,” the DOJ lawyer reiterated. “HUD can reissue the contract or do whatever it is necessary.”

Back at the dais, the plaintiffs’ attorney was gracious.

“Baltimore will be thrilled to have that from the Department of Justice,” the group’s lawyer said — while also sounding a note of caution.

The plaintiffs’ attorney noted that HUD Secretary Scott Turner shared the disputed contract template on Thursday. In fact, in a post on X (formerly Twitter), Turner shared the template with the relevant language singled out by traditional yellow highlight.

After that, the plaintiffs’ attorney suggested there was a widespread problem with agencies just copying and pasting language from the court’s order and deleting some of the words in an effort to perform an end-run around the injunctions. The group’s lawyer added that San Francisco did receive an actual contract with the verboten language — and said that “hundreds of others” received such contracts.

In the underlying litigation, the membership organization complained about executive orders in which President Donald Trump sought to terminate contracts related to DEI and certify that no new contracts would fund any kind of DEI programs. The group also took issue with a directive to the U.S. Attorney General to “deter” such “programs or principles” and to consider launching “civil compliance” investigations to effectuate such deterrence.

In a series of court orders, Abelson barred each of the three anti-DEI directives.

On Feb. 21, the judge issued a preliminary nationwide injunction finding the challenged provisions “abridge the freedom of speech” and are “unconstitutionally vague on their face.” On Feb. 25, the government filed a motion to stay the court’s order pending appeal. On Feb. 28, the plaintiffs in the case urged the judge to stick to his guns. On March 3, the court denied the motion to stay with an order containing a lengthy lecture about the First Amendment.

On March 10, in two subsequent rulings — a clarified injunction and a memorandum opinion — the judge stressed that the injunction is truly nationwide and applies to the government writ large.

During Friday’s hearing, the plaintiffs took the opportunity to ask the DOJ lawyer to admit, on the record, that the government would not stand by the anti-DEI contract language. The judge, in turn, asked the government lawyer if she would attest to that.

This time, a bit of recalcitrance emerged.

“This certification provision is unenforceable,” the DOJ attorney said — while adding that the real-time application of the court’s order will not happen overnight in a federal government with some “two million employees” and was “just not realistic.” She went on to say the plaintiffs might believe “the government is one unified whole in the abstract” but that such an understanding is off base.

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“Me representing that on this call will not do what the counterparties need,” the government lawyer said. “We’re asking for some break here.”

The judge followed up to say it seemed like the government agreed that the anti-DEI language on contracts issued after the injunction would not be enforced — but stressed that his orders not only cover the enforcement directive but also the certification directive.

Abelson said it was “very concerning” the certification portion of the injunction “may not have been fully complied with by the government.”

The status conference ended with the judge agreeing with the plaintiffs that a shorter briefing schedule is appropriate over the certification issue. A scheduling order is forthcoming, the judge said.

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Cannon skeptical of delay in alleged Trump assassin case

homesafetytechpros — Thu, 12 Dec 2024 06:21:40 +0000

Left: Aileen M. Cannon (U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida). Right: Ryan Wesley Routh arrested by deputies in Florida on Sept. 15, 2024 (Martin County Sheriff’s Office).

A defense attorney for the man who allegedly attempted to assassinate Donald Trump at his Palm Beach, Florida, golf course asked the judge overseeing the case for a lengthy extension of the pretrial calendar to deal with mountains of discovery.

During the Wednesday hearing, however, U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon expressed a decided measure of skepticism at the request — but said she would defer ruling until late this week or early next week.

Earlier this week, Ryan W. Routh, 58, filed a motion asking the court to reset the beginning of trial in the high-profile case from February 2025 to December 2025, citing the potential for a constitutionally-deficient defense should proceedings continue at the current pace.

At the hearing in the provincial Fort Pierce courtroom, Assistant Federal Public Defender Kristy Militello reiterated the case staked out in the 18-page motion to continue trial and revise scheduling.

“We’re still really in the dark,” Militello told the judge, according to a courtroom report by The Palm Beach Post.

Militello and Assistant Federal Public Defender Renee Sihvola said there was an “extraordinary volume” of material, including files sourced from 17 of Routh’s cellular phones, one other phone, and numerous other digital files. That discovery came from federal prosecutors and even more is believed to be on the way.

More Law&Crime coverage: ‘Randomly assigned to me’ — ‘period’: Annoyed Mar-a-Lago judge defends herself, sees no reason to exit Trump assassination attempt suspect’s case

Then, after a basic review of those files, the documents and videos will be integrated into the defense’s case — which could take several months, according to Routh’s attorneys.

“I don’t have the resources of the FBI,” Militello said, making her case before the Trump-appointed judge, according to a courtroom report by Miami-based NBC affiliate WTVJ. “[It would] take a lawyer a year without sleep or vacation to review all the information in this case.”

Cannon, for her part, was reportedly not convinced.

“I’m not entirely sure the road blocks you’re describing exist to the extent you’re suggesting,” the judge told Routh’s lead attorney.

More Law&Crime coverage: Judge Aileen Cannon emerges as one of the 2024 election’s most influential players — and maybe one of the biggest winners as AG and SCOTUS rumors swirl

Still, the prospect of at least some delay could be in the offing.

Assistant U.S. Attorney John Shipley said the government did not generally object to pushing the trial back a bit but chided the defense’s nearly yearlong request for a December 2025 trial date as “wrong on many fronts,” according to the Palm Beach Post.

Shipley said such an extension is “just not feasible,” according to a courtroom report by West Palm Beach-based NBC affiliate WPTV.

In the end, Cannon said she would issue a ruling on the defense motion to continue trial “in the not-too-distant future.”

More Law&Crime coverage: Jack Smith asks 11th Circuit to keep Mar-a-Lago case alive even without Trump — in the name of ‘common sense’

“Discovery delays and the extraordinary volume of discovery have made the current trial schedule incompatible with Mr. Routh’s due process rights,” the motion reads. “The pace and quantity of discovery production, and the need to process disclosed materials into a usable form, prevent counsel at this time from providing a definitive estimate of the number of hours required for review. What is clear, however, is that the diligent efforts of counsel will be insufficient to prepare a case of this magnitude for trial on February 10, 2025. Proceeding with the scheduled trial or anytime soon thereafter — on charges punishable by life imprisonment — would result in a miscarriage of justice.”

In September 2024, Routh, who hails from Hawaii, was arrested in Florida after a Secret Service agent allegedly spotted him with a rifle “in the exterior brush along the fence line near the 6th hole putting green” at the Trump International Golf Club as the former president golfed one hole behind. Authorities have said that the agent opened fire, leading Routh to flee the scene in a Nissan Xterra.

After Routh was caught, federal agents said they found a letter addressed to the “world” stating that “[t]his was an assassination attempt on Donald Trump but I am so sorry I failed you.” Investigators also said that Routh had been camped out for some 12 hours, apparently waiting for Trump to begin playing golf.

Routh was indicted on charges of attempting to assassinate a major presidential candidate, assaulting a federal officer, being a felon in possession of a firearm, possessing a firearm with an obliterated serial number, and using a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence.

Perhaps notably, Routh now literally and figuratively sat in the same defendant’s seat the president-elect once occupied when Cannon oversaw the since-dismissed Mar-a-Lago documents case.

Throughout the pendency of that beleaguered prosecution, Cannon was dogged by complaints that she allowed the codefendants and their allies wide latitude to delay, file frivolous legal documents that push untenable legal theories, push back deadlines, and otherwise engage in dilatory tactics — with an eye toward making sure no trial occurred before the 2024 presidential election.

Jerry Lambe and Matt Naham contributed to this report.

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