A substantial section of a courthouse in downtown Atlanta was evacuated on Friday in response to a suspicious parcel delivered to the office of Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis.

The parcel, variously described in news reports as a package or a letter, contained an unidentified white substance and led to several people being treated for headaches and dizziness at the scene of the incident, according to the Atlanta Fire & Rescue Department.

The district attorney’s office was briefly under lockdown while a hazardous materials investigation unfolded. Dozens of emergency vehicles arrived as the investigation unfolded.

Ultimately, four people who exhibited symptoms were taken to nearby Grady Memorial Hospital for evaluation and the entire third floor of the courthouse was locked down while the investigation played out. By late Friday afternoon, however, other courthouse and district attorney’s office employees were able to return to work as the substance was found to be safe.

A federal judge grilled one of President Donald Trump‘s Justice Department lawyers on Monday about whether administration officials blatantly ignored a court order he issued blocking the deportations of migrants to El Salvador — asking him, “You felt you could disregard it?” — after the lawyer claimed the White House didn’t have to follow the judge’s court directive because it was given orally.

And that was just the start of it.

“I memorialize it in shorthand, but you’re telling me that that very clear point, you’re saying that you felt you could disregard it? Because it wasn’t in the written order?” asked U.S. District Judge James E. Boasberg.

Deputy Associate Attorney General Abhishek Kambli claimed that the Trump administration believes “there was no order given” because the written order is what controls things and an oral order from the bench is not enforceable. “So your first point is, ‘We didn’t have to obey your oral ruling,”” Boasberg said.

The Trump administration has been accused of willfully flouting the court’s Saturday order enjoining the government from removing more than 100 individuals from the country as it’s being sued for unlawfully doing so. Kambli admitted Monday that the administration did not comply with Boasberg’s oral order that he issued during a Saturday hearing, during which he instructed the DOJ to return the immigrants to the United States. That order, however, was not included in the written order he issued shortly after the hearing ended Saturday evening.

The Trump administration on Tuesday announced a sea change in how media will be allowed to cover the presidency. That change was foreshadowed in a recent court filing — as part of a parade of horribles.

Standing behind a lectern and flanked by flags and screens in the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said the government itself would henceforth select the journalists who make up the White House “press pool.”

The press pool is a nearly 144-year-old institution whose members have, for decades, been under the purview of the 111-year-old White House Correspondents Association, a nonprofit that is famously responsible for their annual, eponymous, comedy-themed dinner.

“As you all know, a group of D.C.-based journalists, the White House Correspondents Association, has long dictated which journalists get to ask questions of the President of the United States in these intimate spaces,” Leavitt intoned. “Not anymore. I am proud to announce that we are giving the power back to the people who read your papers, who watch your television shows, and who listen to your radio stations. Moving forward, the White House press pool, will be determined by the White House Press Team.”

A federal judge in Washington, D.C., on Monday rejected a request from The Associated Press to restore the news organization’s access to certain presidential events following claims it was being unconstitutionally punished for refusing to refer to the Gulf of Mexico as the “Gulf of America.”

U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden, a Trump appointee, declined to grant a temporary restraining order that would have prevented the administration from keeping the AP out of certain presidential events, particularly those taking place in the Oval Office, on Air Force One, or at Trump’s home in Mar-a-Lago, according to a report from CNN.

McFadden reportedly denied the request for the “extraordinary relief” of a TRO because the AP failed to show it would suffer “irreparable harm” without it, as the organization could still “get access to the same information” through pool notes that are provided to all members of the White House Correspondents Association. The lack of harm was further evinced by the AP waiting more than a week to file its lawsuit, McFadden reportedly said.

While denying the TRO request, McFadden also indicated that he believed the administration would have a difficult time defending its decision when it came time to argue on the merits. He reportedly warned that case law in Washington, D.C. was “uniformly unhelpful” for cases involving journalistic bans and said the ban was a clear example of unconstitutional content-based discrimination.

“It might be appropriate for the White House… to consider if what they’re doing is really appropriate, given the case law,” he warned, according to journalist Jordan Fischer.

In the filed complaint, the AP alleged that the administration unlawfully ordered it to “use certain words” in its coverage “or else face an indefinite denial of access.”

1. Home
2. Daily News
3. RNC election lawyer, a ‘very genial guy,’…

Careers

RNC election lawyer, a ‘very genial guy,’ will be new White House counsel

By Debra Cassens Weiss

November 13, 2024, 11:24 am CST

The White House counsel in the new Trump administration is a former BigLaw lawyer who worked as the Republican National Committee’s outside counsel for election integrity in the 2024 presidential campaign.

President-elect Donald Trump announced the appointment of former Jones Day partner William “Bill” McGinley on Tuesday. It will be McGinley’s second White House job. In the prior Trump administration, he was Cabinet secretary until July 2019, working as a primary liaison between the White House and the Cabinet.

Publications with coverage of McGinley’s appointment include Bloomberg Law, Politico, the New York Times, USA Today and CNN.

As White House counsel, Politico reports, McGinley “will likely be among Trump’s closest advisers.” He will provide advice on policy issues, government ethics, congressional oversight and presidential powers. He is also expected to be “the primary conduit” between Trump and the U.S. Department of Justice, the article says.

McGinley has been “a vocal supporter” of Trump, according to the New York Times. He has the backing of some Trump allies who would like to see more aggressive lawyers working for Trump than in the past, the article says.

McGinley is currently a partner at Holtzman Vogel in Washington, D.C., which has a “well-respected stable of political lawyers,” according to CNN. He was a partner at Jones Day for nearly three years and was formerly an associate, of counsel and a partner at the law firm then known as Patton Boggs (now called Squire Patton Boggs), according to his LinkedIn page.

CNN spoke with Jan Baran, a colleague at Holtzman Vogel, who said McGinley is a “very genial guy” who is “not a publicity hound.”

“I really don’t know anyone who dislikes him or has a complaint about him,” Baran said. “I’ve never seen friction in his dealings with other clients or with other lawyers.”

Jessica Furst Johnson, another Holtzman Vogel lawyer, told CNN that McGinley is well-suited for his new White House role because of his “skill set” and his past experience working with Trump.

McGinley “was the attorney I called when I had a precarious situation. He was really good at righting the ship,” Johnson said.

In a statement, Trump described McGinley as “a smart and tenacious lawyer who will help me advance our America First agenda while fighting for election integrity and against the weaponization of law enforcement.”

1. Home
2. Daily News
3. White male law student settles suit against…

Law Students

White male law student settles suit against Chicago Bears over ‘legal diversity fellow’ position

By Debra Cassens Weiss

September 5, 2024, 10:36 am CDT

A student at the DePaul University College of Law has settled a lawsuit claiming that the Chicago Bears football team refused to consider him for a “legal diversity fellow” position because he is a white man.

Law student Jonathan Bresser Jr. had alleged race and sex discrimination in his March 11 suit, filed in federal court for the Northern District of Illinois.

A notice posted by the court clerk said the parties had reached a binding settlement agreement, Law360 reports.

The Chicago Bears posted the fellowship position in November 2023. The posting said the team was looking for a “person of color and/or female law student,” according to Bresser’s suit. Bresser said he met all other requirements when he applied for the job.

Bresser noted that he had more than two years of experience as a litigation paralegal at the Trent Law Firm, which represented him in the case.

Hat tip to Above the Law and TaxProf Blog, which noted the suit resolution.

1. Home
2. Daily News
3. Should Justice Sotomayor retire? Chemerinsky,…

U.S. Supreme Court

Should Justice Sotomayor retire? Chemerinsky, White House haven’t joined calls for her to step down

By Debra Cassens Weiss

April 4, 2024, 1:23 pm CDT

Paul Campos, a professor at the University of Colorado Law School, is among the commentators who are calling for 69-year-old Justice Sonia Sotomayor to retire from the U.S. Supreme Court.

Sotomayor, the oldest Democratic appointee on the high court, has Type 1 diabetes. Campos would like to give President Joe Biden a chance to name her replacement while Democrats control the U.S. Senate.

“You have the votes right now, and you’re not going to have the votes a year from now,” Campos told HuffPost. “It’s really that simple.”

The fear is that history could repeat itself. Then-Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg resisted calls to step down, and she died at age 87 while then-President Donald Trump was in the White House. She was replaced by now-Justice Amy Coney Barrett, giving the Supreme Court a 6-3 conservative majority.

If a Sotomayor replacement gives conservatives a 7-2 Supreme Court majority, “you go from a captured court to a full MAGA court,” Democratic Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island told NBC News.

“Certainly, I think if Justice Ginsburg had it to do over again, she might have rethought her confidence in her own health,” said Whitehouse, who nonetheless is not joining calls for Sotomayor to step down.

Another legal academic, Erwin Chemerinsky, the dean of the University of California at Berkeley School of Law and an ABA Journal contributor, had called on Ginsburg to retire. But he does not think that Sotomayor has to do so, according to HuffPost and NBC News. He noted that Sotomayor is only 69, while Ginsburg was in her 80s.

He is also concerned that a progressive nominee to replace Sotomayor might not get confirmed because of the “slim Democratic majority” in the Senate.

The White House is also taking a hands-off approach, Law360 reports.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said at a press conference Wednesday a decision on retirement is “a personal decision,” and justices should be given the “space and freedom” to decide.

Campos said some Democrats wonder why it’s necessary to replace Sotomayor with a liberal nominee when conservatives have a six-person majority on the court.

“That’s like asking, ‘What does it matter to give up another touchdown in the second quarter when we’re already down 14 points?’” Campos said. “At some point, you have to make your comeback.”

1. Home
2. Daily News
3. Law student’s suit alleges Chicago Bears…

Law Students

Law student’s suit alleges Chicago Bears didn’t hire him as ‘legal diversity fellow’ because he is white man

By Debra Cassens Weiss

March 25, 2024, 10:05 am CDT

A first-year student at the DePaul University College of Law in Chicago claims in a lawsuit that the Chicago Bears football team refused to consider him for a “legal diversity fellow” position because he is a white man.

Student Jonathan Bresser Jr. claims in the March 11 suit that he is qualified for the position because he has more than two years of experience as a litigation paralegal at the Trent Law Firm, which is also representing him in the case.

Law360 and Bloomberg Law have coverage, while JD Supra has analysis of the case, filed in federal court for the Northern District of Illinois.

The suit includes a sentence from the 2023 U.S. Supreme Court decision striking down race-conscious university admissions programs at two schools.

“Eliminating racial discrimination means eliminating all of it,” the Supreme Court said, citing an earlier case.

A job posting emailed in November 2023 said the Chicago Bears team was looking for a “person of color and/or female law student,” according to the suit. Bresser applied, intending to submit his grades as a supplement to his application when they became available, as the job posting allowed.

Bresser was rejected Jan. 5, before he submitted his grades. The previous month, Bresser said, he received a notification that his LinkedIn profile had been viewed by a Chicago Bears employee. The LinkedIn profile included a photo.

On March 1, nearly two months after rejecting Bresser, the Chicago Bears requested Bresser’s grades transcript, “attempting to claw back” the rejection, the suit says. The request happened after the team received Bresser’s charge of discrimination and right to sue letter.

Bresser alleges race and sex discrimination in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act and the Illinois Human Rights Act, race discrimination in contracting in violation of Section 1981 of the Civil Rights Act, civil conspiracy, and conspiracy to interfere with civil rights in violation of Section 1985 of the Civil Rights Act.

A Chicago Bears spokesperson declined to comment when contacted by Law360.

Two suspected white supremacists have been charged in connection with the killings of two people, including a mother of five and witness to the first murder, whose bodies were found in bushes by a dog walker who mistook them for trash in Washington state.

Brandon Gerner, 40, was charged with first-degree murder, second-degree murder, and unlawful possession of a firearm in the killings of 57-year-old Robert Riley and 34-year-old Ashley Williams, according to King County prosecutors. He also faces first-degree animal cruelty in the killing of a horse shot point blank in the head in December, according to the King County Sheriff’s Office. Joshua Jones, 34, was charged with rendering criminal assistance, authorities said.