California legal news, california Courts news, california courts cuts

California City Remains A Lesson In Pot’s Unintended Consequences

April 6, 2016 By CCM Staff

Robert Taft Jr., director of the licensed 420 Central dispensary, with Ocean Grown Jack Herer sativa. “I’m fighting for the patients we have. People want to go to a safe store.” Photo Credit, Orange County Register report, 3/29/16

Confusion and civil lawsuits abound in the Orange County, California city of Santa Ana over legal marijuana sales –and the fringe shops that may or may not be legal.

Attorney Arthur Travieso is representing a shop called Live2Love and four other unlicensed pot shops in lawsuits against Santa Ana, claiming the city’s lottery process was unfair because it allowed multiple entries by the same individuals, as long they applied and paid a $1,690 fee. Some shops also say they are legal under the state’s medical marijuana law and don’t have to follow city regulations.

The OC Register newspaper also notes that “… Santa Ana police garnered unwelcome international attention after a May raid caught on video showed officers forcing Sky High customers to the ground and eating merchandise. Three officers involved in the raid were charged this month with petty theft and vandalism.” And, you guessed it, that brought more lawsuits.

Read the cautionary tale here: http://www.ocregister.com/articles/city-709935-shops-pot.html

Filed Under: Cannabis in the Courts, Community Tagged With: marijuana, medical marijuana, Orange County Register

Help U.S. In War? Forget It When Seeking Asylum

April 5, 2016 By CCM Staff

Image Credit, New York Times Report, 4/2/16

The New York Times has an important story about an asylum-seeker who worked with the American military in Kabul for years, enough to fear for his life. He made his way to the United States and sought asylum, making a case complete with death threats and the testimony of American military officers. Yet he was jailed for his trouble.

Reporter Elizabeth Rubin, who has reported from the Middle East and credits translators like the one in question for saving her life, outlines just how sad the immigration/asylum system has become. She notes that “… we know our asylum policy is broken. In 2014, more than 108,000 asylum applications were filed. It is not an exaggeration to say that many of these cases are life or death, yet they are handled by only 254 immigration judges, who are also juggling hundreds of thousands of non-asylum cases. Samey’s case is simultaneously unique and painfully common…”

She offers examples of possible fixes. But she also outlines a truly cautionary tale of a system where a state department administrative judge somehow values his own assessment over that of a Lt. Col. in the U.S. military.

Read it here:

Locked Up for Seeking Asylum

Filed Under: Community, National Tagged With: asylum, immigration judges, immigration reform, Kabul, New York Times

High Court Holds Steady On Congressional Districts Population, At Least For Now

April 4, 2016 By CCM Staff

A Texas redistricting plan based on the old — and now upheld — principle of counting everyone. Photo Credit Vox report, 4/3/16

Vox has published the best “explainer” so far on that Texas lawsuit over how states can set up congressional districts, noting that the issue got a rare 8-0 decision out of the usually divided (on big issues, at least) US Supreme Court. The website nots that the case, Evenwel v. Abbott, concerned a “… proposal to change who got counted in drawing up congressional districts — which would have given more political power to largely white areas while reducing the power of heavily Hispanic and Asian-American ones.”

It’s a demographic concern. More white Americans are over 18 and thus can vote, so it becomes a question on how to count people who are not qualified to vote because they are too young. Texas started out as defending the current process, then more or less joined the other side of the lawsuit. Vox also explains how the decision also sets up the next round of similar debates.

Read the nicely researched story here:
The Supreme Court just shut down the demographic equivalent of gerrymandering

Filed Under: Community, National

Supreme Court Backs Colorado, Nixes Neighboring State’s Lawsuit

March 31, 2016 By CCM Staff

The U.S. Supreme Court this week handed pro-marijuana states a 6-2 victory against litigation from neighboring non-marijuana states. Nebraska and Oklahoma argued that Colorado’s law violates the federal Controlled Substances Act, which treats marijuana as a dangerous drug and forbids its sale or use. They urged the Supreme Court to take up the issue as an “original” matter and declare that Colorado’s law was preempted by the federal drug laws.

The Los Angeles Times explains that “… usually, the high court hears appeals from lower-court rulings. But on rare occasions, the justices are called upon to decide disputes between states. Typically, however, these ‘original’ suits involve disagreements over boundaries or the use of river water that flows from one state to another.

The Times also noted that “… the suit brought by Nebraska and Oklahoma also implicitly challenged the Obama administration for its refusal to intervene more directly in Colorado.
Since California’s voters in 1996 authorized medical use of marijuana, 22 other states have adopted similar measures. Colorado, Washington, Oregon and Alaska went further and allowed for the production and sale of marijuana for recreational use.”

“The state of Colorado authorizes, oversees, protects and profits from a sprawling $100-million-per-month marijuana growing, processing and retailing organization that exported thousands of pounds of marijuana to some 36 states in 2014,” the states argued. “If this entity were based south of our border, the federal government would prosecute it as a drug cartel.”

Read the Times report here:
Supreme Court rejects challenge to Colorado marijuana law from other states

Filed Under: Cannabis in the Courts, Community, National Tagged With: Cannabis in the courts, Colorado, community Tags: marijuana, marijuana legalization, Supreme Court

Fallout Continues Over Judge’s Comments That 3-Year-Olds Can Represent Themselves

March 30, 2016 By CCM Staff

Immigrants from El Salvador and Guatemala who entered the country illegally board a bus after being released from a family detention center in San Antonio, Texas in 2015. (Eric Gay / Associated Press)

Political fallout continues over that immigration judge who recently made headlines for testifying that 3- and 4-year-old migrant children could be taught immigration law and could competently represent themselves in court. The backlash includes a powerful Los Angeles Times editorial that warms readers not to “be fooled” as the government tries to dilute the comments.
The Times notes the actual comment: “You can do a fair hearing,” said Judge Jack H. Weil. “[Children] get it. It’s not the most efficient, but it can be done.” He was testifying in a deposition for a federal lawsuit brought by the ACLU and other legal organizations to challenge the government’s failure to appoint counsel for children facing deportation.

The L.A. Times notes that “… Weil’s bosses promptly disavowed his comments, and he claimed his words had been taken out of context. But don’t be fooled. Weil is an assistant chief immigration judge responsible for training other judges on cases involving children. He is not just knowledgeable about how young people are treated in immigration court, he facilitates the process. His deposition unmasks the government’s deplorable position: Deportation hearings in which children must defend themselves are not right, but they will continue.”

It’s worth noting that Ahilan Arulanantham, deputy legal director at the ACLU of Southern California and the attorney who questioned Weil in the now-infamous deposition, told The Washington Post that he initially thought the judge had misspoken, “because what he said was so outrageous. As I asked further questions, he obviously meant what he said.”

Read the Times opinion, including just how much more likely non-represented kids are to be sent back, here: The injustice of deporting children without representation

Filed Under: Border Kids, Community Tagged With: child immigration, immigration court, Judge Jack Weil

California Teacher’s Union First Post-Scalia Winner

March 30, 2016 By CCM Staff

Demonstrators supporting Rebecca Friedrichs, a plaintiff in the case, outside the Supreme Court in January. Photo Credit New York Times report, 3/29/16

When a case involving California public schoolteachers – and by implication any union’s ability to collect fees from workers who choose not to join and do not want to pay for collective bargaining agreements – was first argued before the U.S. Supreme Court back in January, it seemed headed for another 5-4 vote that would greatly diminish the power of collective bargaining organizations.

But now, in what the New York Times calls “… the starkest illustration yet of how the sudden death of Justice Antonin Scalia last month has blocked the power of the court’s four remaining conservatives to move the law to the right…” it has been upheld on a 4-to-4 vote.

The times reports that “… a ruling in [the union-opposed teachers] favor would have affected millions of government workers and weakened public-sector unions, which stood to lose fees both from workers who objected to the positions the unions take and from those who simply chose not to join while benefiting from the unions’ efforts on their behalf.”

Read the NYT take the landmark case here: Victory for Unions as Supreme Court, Scalia Gone, Ties 4-4

Filed Under: Community Tagged With: Justice Antonin Scalia, Public Education, U.S. Supreme Court

CBS Details Route To ‘Debtor Prison’ In U.S.

March 28, 2016 By CCM Staff

Starting with the story of a Georgia teenager who spent five days in jail for an illegal left-hand turn, the CBS News “Market Watch” program is outlining how the civil-case to jail-case route actually happens. It turns out that the 19-year-old driver could not pay $838 quickly enough. Eventually, a lawsuit over the case was reportedly settled for $70,000, but CBS says the practice remains common nationally.

Of course, the poster child for the practice, and what it can trigger, is Ferguson, MO, where the city’s finance director famously offered advice to the police chief in a March 2010 letter, warning that “unless ticket writing ramps up significantly before the end of the year,” the city faced a budget shortfall, said Norquist. He added that a state lawmaker had told him police officers would get little notices along with their paychecks, warning: “If we don’t get more tickets, there won’t be pay increases.”

Read about the new American debtor’s prison here: How you could go to debtors’ prison in the U.S.

Filed Under: Community, National Tagged With: ACLU, debtors' prison, Department of Justice, Ferguson

Congresswoman: Give Those Border Kids An Attorney

March 25, 2016 By CCM Staff

A group of immigrants from Honduras and El Salvador who crossed the U.S.-Mexico border illegally are stopped in Granjeno, Texas, in June. (Eric Gay / Associated Press )

U.S. Rep. Zoe Lofgren and 54 of her House colleagues have introduced a bill that would provide government-appointed attorneys to help them navigate the immigration asylum process. The Los Angeles Times, in a detailed report, says that “… Eleven California Democrats have co-sponsored the bill, which has been referred to the House Judiciary Committee, where Lofgren is the highest-ranking Democrat on the Subcommittee on Immigration and Border Security.”

The newspaper explains that “… because being present in the U.S. illegally is a civil offense, there is no right to an attorney during immigration or asylum proceedings. That means many children stand alone before an immigration judge when they ask to stay in this country.” When unaccompanied children started arriving at the border in large numbers a couple of years ago, it is worth noting, they often did not sneak into the country but sought asylum at the border. We have called them “Border kids.”

Now the San Jose Democrat and 54 of her House colleagues have put forth a bill to argue that, at a minimum, children and people with certain disabilities should have government-appointed attorneys to help them navigate the asylum process. Eleven California Democrats have co-sponsored the bill, which has been referred to the House Judiciary Committee, where Lofgren is the highest-ranking Democrat on the Subcommittee on Immigration and Border Security.

The U.S. Senate’s lone former immigration lawyer, Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), has co-sponsored the Senate version of the bill led by Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.). It remains unclear if any Republicans will support the bill.

Read the well-researched L.A. Times story here: ‘We have a moral obligation’: Lawmakers want the U.S. to provide attorneys for immigrant children

Filed Under: Border Kids, Community Tagged With: border patrol, child immigration, Immigrant Children, Sen. Bob Menendez

Asbestos Bankruptcy Settlement, Conflicts & Racketeering Clouds Loom

March 22, 2016 By CCM Staff

In the latest HuffPo piece by Courts Monitor Publisher, Sara Warner, she writes about Garlock’s asbestos bankruptcy settlement which has multiple implications for the $10 billion per year asbestos-lawsuit industry:

“In the insular world of civil litigation, watershed events usually arrive on an installment plan, trickling in at the pace of… well, at the pace of civil litigation. Yet, sometimes disruption arrives quickly, like last week’s landmark settlement agreement between a North Carolina gasket maker called Garlock Sealing Technologies and asbestos victims’ attorneys.

While the ink has yet to dry and the court has not considered, let alone approved, of the deal, the nation’s asbestos litigation community quickly noted that the announced settlement not only addresses the precedent-setting bankruptcy case but seems to include multiple civil racketeering allegations against high-profile plaintiff’s firms.”

Rights Group Notes Immigration Courts Backed Up 3 Years

March 21, 2016 By CCM Staff

The Human Rights First advocacy group is noting its new study indicating that the U.S. Immigration Courts are backed up for about three years now, and it’s only getting worst. The Courthouse News in Los Angeles reports that the group “… says the problem is most pronounced in Texas and California where 89,000 and 81,000 immigration cases are pending, respectively.”

Also noted in the CN story: The group says: “The number of cases pending before the court will soon exceed 500,000, far too many for a court staffed with only 254 immigration judges – a fraction of the number needed to timely address removal cases.” Congress took a small step towards fixing the problem in December when it approved funding for 55 new immigration judges as part of a spending bill for fiscal year 2016, Human Rights First said.

But experts say lawmakers have been overly focused on the front door of illegal immigration, the U.S.-Mexico border, and the threat of terrorists entering the country so that, from 2001 to 2010, the number of Border Patrol agents at the border more than doubled to exceed 20,000.

Read the CN story here:
CNS – Report Outlines Backlog in Immigration Courts

Filed Under: Border Kids, Community Tagged With: California, court backlog, Courthouse News, Human Rights First, immigration courts, Refugees, Texas