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5th Circuit judge’s remarks spur talk of Supreme Court audition

homesafetytechpros — Mon, 06 Jan 2025 13:43:40 +0000

Judiciary

5th Circuit judge’s remarks spur talk of Supreme Court audition

December 19, 2024, 3:35 pm CST

Public remarks by Judge James C. Ho of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals at New Orleans have “rekindled talk of a possible audition for the Supreme Court,” according to Bloomberg Law. (Photo from the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals at New Orleans)

Public remarks by a conservative federal appeals judge have “rekindled talk of a possible audition for the Supreme Court,” according to a story by Bloomberg Law.

Judge James C. Ho of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals at New Orleans is already known for boycotting the hiring of clerks from law schools that he thinks have mishandled student protests or stifled conservative views.

Now, he is getting attention for comments about birthright citizenship, people who think that conservative viewpoints are “garbage,” and his appearance on a conservative podcast.

Bloomberg Law highlighted these remarks:

• Ho appeared to embrace an argument against birthright citizenship, enshrined in the 14th Amendment, in an interview with Josh Blackman, a professor at the South Texas College of Law in Houston, published at the Volokh Conspiracy. “Birthright citizenship obviously doesn’t apply in case of war or invasion,” Ho said as he referred to a prior case in which Texas argued that illegal immigration qualifies as an invasion under the Constitution. “No one to my knowledge has ever argued that the children of invading aliens are entitled to birthright citizenship.”

• On a panel for the conservative Federalist Society, Ho took “a swipe at critics of the Supreme Court,” according to Bloomberg Law. “Too many academics regard the views of half the country as garbage,” Ho said. He also may have been referencing a comment by President Joe Biden, who appeared to call supporters of President-elect Donald Trump “garbage.”

• In an interview with the conservative Advisory Opinions podcast, Ho said he agreed to appear to counter negative remarks by some judges. He appeared to be referring to criticism by Judge Amul Thapar of the 6th Circuit at Cincinnati, who said he doesn’t think that law grads should be boycotted in clerk hiring to punish their schools.

At least one person doesn’t think that Ho’s remarks are intended to increase his chances for a Supreme Court nomination.

Brad Hubbard, a partner at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher and one of Ho’s former law clerks, told Bloomberg Law that Dallas-based Ho “loves his family and loathes D.C.”

Ho’s wife is a Gibson Dunn partner who has argued before the Supreme Court, which could lead to conflicts issues if Ho becomes a justice.

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Prison doc normalized abuse of inmate with small talk: Suit

homesafetytechpros — Fri, 22 Nov 2024 09:11:01 +0000

Background: Deer Ridge Correctional Institution (KTVZ/YouTube). Inset: Inside Deer Ridge (KMTR/YouTube).

A prison doctor in Oregon is accused of normalizing his sexual abuse of an inmate with talks about horses, art and lunch — sometimes laughing in his face about the alleged assaults — while his higher-ups turned a blind eye, a new lawsuit says.

James Watkins, now a free man, alleges he was abused “over a course of months” by Oregon Department of Corrections physician Dr. Leland Beamer, who is chief medical officer at Deer Ridge Correctional Institution in Jefferson County.

Watkins’ lawyers, Alicia LeDuc Montgomery and Elisabeth Claus, say he suffered from “physical pain and continues to suffer from personal humiliation, fear, anxiety, and mental and emotional distress” as a result of the abuse and have filed a lawsuit in federal court against DOC officials and employees, including Beamer and Deer Ridge’s former superintendent Amber Sundquist, who is accused of ignoring complaints and lawsuits regarding ODOC medical employees like Beamer who are “sexually harassing or abusing adults in custody at DOC facilities,” according to Watkins’ suit.

“Between November 2022, and January 2023, plaintiff Watkins was treated by Dr. Beamer during approximately five medical appointments,” the complaint says. “Beamer’s actions toward plaintiff Watkins in subsequent medical appointments became increasingly inappropriate and harmful.”

During one exam, Beamer allegedly made “uncomfortable personal remarks” and “engaged in inappropriate touching” of Watkins’ legs and arms — commenting on how “big” he was, the complaint says. Beamer allegedly tried plying Watkins with offers of “personal favors” and promises of future lunch dates once he got out, where they’d be “talking about horses” Beamer owns and discussing ways he can “help Watkins with his art,” the complaint said.

Watkins began seeing Beamer after he slipped on water and fell in the DRCI kitchen area, leading to a back injury and appointments for injections. Beamer’s alleged abuse started with normal examinations for the injections before the doctor began requesting more “uncomfortable” procedures and committing “inappropriate” acts, like “open-palm slapping” Watkins on his bare buttocks and carrying out an alleged sphincter exam on him that made the former inmate feel “sexually violated,” according to his lawyers.

“Defendant Beamer performed a sphincter exam on plaintiff Watkins,” the complaint says, noting how Beamer allegedly “laughed” at the end of the procedure.

“Watkins felt uncomfortable with the idea of the exam, but defendant Beamer insisted on proceeding,” the document says. “Defendant Beamer heard plaintiff Watkins tell him to stop touching plaintiff and to stop the ‘exam.’ But defendant Beamer did not stop the ‘exam’ after plaintiff Watkins objected.”

In addition to physical pain, Watkins says he was “subsequently diagnosed with PTSD” after the alleged incidents. He claims to have “exhausted all administrative remedies” regarding the alleged abuse after filing “grievances and appeals” to no avail. Watkins’ only option left at this point, per his lawyers, was to file a federal lawsuit, which falls in line with what other inmates have done in recent years.

“The Oregon Department of Corrections has been on notice for years about its systemic problem of sexual abuse and exploitation of inmates by prison staff,” LeDuc Montgomery said in a statement this week, which pointed to similar cases like the 2023 conviction of former prison nurse Tony Klein, who was sentenced to 30 years for abusing female inmates.

“This is not a case of a male prison official raping female inmates, but that is precisely why this case is important,” she told Law&Crime on Thursday. “If the Oregon Department of Corrections lets any form of sexual abuse slide under the radar, it enables the culture and environment that leads to egregious events like we saw with the Tony Klein prosecution. ODOC needs to take bodily autonomy and safety seriously, and hold perpetrators of any form of sexual misconduct accountable.”

Watkins is suing for damages, attorney fees and costs to “redress the violations of his constitutional and state law rights caused by [Beamer’s] misconduct.”

Attempts by Law&Crime to reach DOC officials and Beamer on Thursday were unsuccessful.

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Giuliani wants to stop talk of money he is owed by Trump

homesafetytechpros — Tue, 08 Oct 2024 23:41:37 +0000

Former mayor of New York Rudy Giuliani leaves the federal courthouse in Washington on Monday, Dec. 11, 2023 (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana).

Rudy Giuliani is asking a federal judge in New York to stop defamed Georgia election workers from referencing any of the money he may or may not be owed by Donald Trump’s 2020 presidential campaign — at least for another month or so.

In a late Tuesday filing, the former New York City mayor’s attorneys asked U.S. District Judge Lewis Liman to bar Ruby Freeman and her daughter Wandrea ArShaye “Shaye” Moss from litigating issues related to “Defendant’s alleged claim against the Trump Campaign.”

Giuliani himself previously — during his since-shelved bankruptcy proceedings — raised the $2 million claim against the Trump campaign. Meanwhile, Freeman and Moss raised the claim in the present case — an effort to enforce their defamation case judgment — in late August.

Now, Giuliani wants a preemptive-but-temporary kibosh on any further legal maneuvers related to those alleged arrears.

“The Court, in its discretion, should postpone a turnover of this claim until November 6, 2024, the day after Election Day,” the filing reads.

In December 2023, Freeman and Moss won a $148 million default defamation verdict over a campaign against the women in which Giuliani falsely proclaimed the pair were engaged in fraud and had “cheated” voters during the 2020 presidential election.

The pair have since been engaged in various forms of litigation to avail their monetary interests against the onetime federal prosecutor — including legal filings in both bankruptcy courts and district courts. They also recently sued him, again, for defamation.

Tuesday’s filing by Giuliani is stylized as a memorandum of law in opposition to the August effort to enforce the judgment.

While requesting several forms of legal relief, the motivation behind the Trump campaign backpay issue is admittedly about the upcoming presidential election and how the media might make hay out of it.

“Plaintiffs will or may use this assignment for an improper, political (or, at least, collateral) purpose, creating the confusing, and inaccurate, appearance that Defendant is now somehow suing candidate Trump, thereby generating an accompanying, and unnecessary, media frenzy,” the Giuliani memo reads. “Plainly, the value of this claim will not depreciate between now and November 6, 2024.”

Election Day is Nov. 5.

More Law&Crime coverage: ‘Delist’: Judge orders Rudy Giuliani to take NYC apartment off the market after defamed Georgia election workers sound alarm about ‘value-destroying conduct’

The filing also addresses recent efforts by Freeman and Moss that forced Giuliani to “delist” his New York City apartment. This, all but a volte-face, came after the plaintiffs told the court the sale price of his “most valuable single asset” dropped by $525,000.

“For many months, stretching back to the bankruptcy case, Plaintiffs have known about — and supported — Defendant’s efforts to sell this apartment,” the filing explains. “Indeed, as Plaintiffs acknowledge on this motion, the Bankruptcy Court authorized Defendant to retain Sotheby’s as his real estate broker. Plaintiffs, however, now take the position that Defendant does not have the incentive to maximize the sale price. This contention is meritless.”

Rather, Giuliani says, he intends to seek full restitution — of anything paid to Freeman and Moss — by reversing the judgment on appeal. His attorneys argue this means he “has an incentive to maximize the sale price because he has a restitution interest in that price.”

In any event, Giuliani says, the issue should be considered moot. In the filing, he consents to a third-party receiver “to effect the sale of the New York apartment.”

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