#d.c. superior court judge

[saywhat-politics]

Washington D.C. -- A D.C. Superior Court Judge has awarded an historic Black church control over the Proud Boys trademark after the group defaulted on a $2.8 million judgment.

The Monday ruling grants rights to the trademark of the far-right group's name to the Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal Church as well as barring the Proud Boys members from selling any merchandise with the group's name or symbols without the church's consent. The ruling also allows the church to try to seize any money made from selling the group's merchandise.

The church filed the lawsuit to try to recoup damages from vandalism made by group members after a December 2020 pro-Donald Trump rally. Black Lives Matter banners were torn down and burned at two churches, including Metropolitan African Methodist. There were also violent clashes between opposing protesters and arrests were made that night.

Enrique Tarrio, then the leader of the Proud Boys, confessed to participating in the burnings and was later sentenced to more than five months in jail on those and other charges. Tarrio was later sentenced to 22 years in federal prison for orchestrating the Jan. 6, 2021, riot.

[socialjusticeinamerica]

“The ownership of the Proud Boys' trademark is now in the hands of a Black church that the White supremacist group vandalized in 2020.

The Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal Church in Washington, D.C., was granted ownership of the group's trademark in a Feb. 3 ruling from Judge Tanya M. Jones Bosier of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia. The decision also gives the Metropolitan AME Church a lien on the trademark and the power to block the Proud Boys from using the trademark or selling licensed goods, like T-shirts or hats, without the church's approval.

Enrique Tarrio, the Proud Boys' leader, didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. In a statement to the New York Times, which earlier reported the court ruling, and which Tarrio posted on X, he said the judge should be impeached and the church's nonprofit status revoked.

Tarrio, who had been serving a 22-year sentence for seditious conspiracy tied to his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol building, was pardoned by President Trump after his Jan. 20 inauguration.

The ruling on the Proud Boys' copyright stems from an incident on Dec. 12, 2020, when members of the all-male right-wing group attended a "stop the steal" event in Washington, D.C., and also attacked the Metropolitan AME Church by climbing over a fence to get onto church property, where they destroyed a "Black Lives Matters" sign, according to court documents. A court ordered the Proud Boys to pay the church $2.8 million, money that the group has failed to pay, the documents note.

As a result, the court gave the Metropolitan AME Church ownership of the trademark, giving them the right to deny use of the group's name and yellow or black laurel wreath symbol.

"This is our time to stand up, to be very clear to the Proud Boys and their ilk that we came here fighting, that we have never ever capitulated to the violent whims of White supremacist groups," Rev. William H. Lamar IV, pastor of the Metropolitan AME Church, told CBS MoneyWatch. "If they thought we would be afraid, they were wrong. There are many people with us and who stand with us."

The Metropolitan AME Church, which was founded in 1838 and has hosted speakers including Frederick Douglass and Eleanor Roosevelt, can now collect funds from sales of Proud Boys merchandise as well as its membership dues, people familiar with the case said. The church can also block the Proud Boys from using the trademark, they said.

The notoriety of the Proud Boys' name likely helped the group in recruitment, which means blocking use of its trademark could both hurt the group's ability to sell merchandise and recruit new members, they added.

"From our point of view, it's fitting that the money the Proud Boys raised in sales and dues will go to fund the good work of the Metropolitan AME," Kaitlin Banner, who represented the church in the case and serves as deputy legal director at the Washington Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs, told CBS.

In his statement posted on X, Tarrio indicated he didn't intend to honor the court's ruling. "I hold in contempt any motions, judgments and orders issued against me," he wrote.”

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Jack Ohman, Tribune Content Agency

* * * *

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

October 7, 2024 (Monday)

People in Florida are evacuating before Hurricane Milton is expected to hit the state’s Gulf Coast on Wednesday evening, bringing tornadoes, high winds, a dramatic storm surge, and upwards of 15 inches of rain. Milton grew from a tropical storm to a Category 5 hurricane in a little over a day, fed by water in the Gulf of Mexico that climate change has pushed in some places to 4 degrees Fahrenheit (2.2 degrees Celsius) higher than normal. Veteran Florida meteorologist and hurricane specialist John Morales choked up as he called it “horrific.”

President Joe Biden has approved an emergency declaration for Florida, enabling the federal government to move supplies in ahead of the storm’s arrival, but the state’s Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, has refused to take a call from Vice President Kamala Harris about planning for the storm. When asked about DeSantis’s refusal at today’s White House press briefing, Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre noted that the president and vice president have reached out to give support to the people of Florida.

As for DeSantis, “It’s up to him if he wants to respond to us or not. But what we're doing is we’re working with state and local officials to make sure that we are pre-positioned to make sure that we are ready to be there for the communities that are going to be impacted. We are doing the job… to protect the communities and to make sure that they have everything that is needed." When asked about DeSantis’s snub, Harris answered: “It’s just utterly irresponsible, and it is selfish, and it is about political gamesmanship instead of doing the job that you took an oath to do, which is to put the people first.”

Before this year, Florida had goals of moving toward clean energy, but in May 2024, DeSantis signed a law to restructure the state’s energy policy so that addressing climate change would no longer be a priority. The law deleted any mention of climate change in state laws. Saying that “Florida rejects the designs of the left to weaken our energy grid, pursue a radical climate agenda, and promote foreign adversaries,” the governor posted a graphic on X that said the law would “INSULATE FLORIDA FROM GREEN ZEALOTS….”

Like DeSantis, Trump and Project 2025, a playbook for the next Republican administration, authored by allies of the right-wing Heritage Foundation and closely associated with Trump and Republican vice presidential candidate Ohio senator J.D. Vance, take the position that concerns about climate change are overblown. Project 2025 says the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, whose duties include issuing hurricane warnings, is “one of the main drivers of the climate change alarm industry and, as such, is harmful to future U.S. prosperity.” It calls for either eliminating its functions, sending them to other agencies, privatizing them, or putting them under the control of states and territories.

The U.S. Supreme Court came back in session today in Washington, D.C. It has decided not to hear arguments about whether the federal Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTLA) overrules Texas’s state abortion ban. EMTLA requires that hospitals provide emergency abortion care to save a woman’s life or stop organ failure or loss of fertility. Texas’s ban remains in place.

As legal analyst Joyce White Vance commented: “At least no one can pretend we don’t understand the consequences for women, & others, of putting appointments to the Court back in [Republican] control.”

The Georgia Supreme Court today reinstated the state’s six-week abortion ban after Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney, appointed in 2012 by Republican governor Nathan Deal, decided last week that the law violates Georgia’s Constitution. In his decision, McBurney wrote that “liberty in Georgia includes in its meaning, in its protections, and in its bundle of rights the power of a woman to control her own body, to decide what happens to it and in it, and to reject state interference with her healthcare choices.”

McBurney’s decision came shortly after a state investigation revealed that at least two women in Georgia died after the Supreme Court’s Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision struck down the abortion protections the court put in place in 1973 with Roe v. Wade. In anticipation of an end to Roe, Georgia governor Brian Kemp in 2019 signed a six-week abortion ban prohibiting the procedure before most women know they’re pregnant. The Dobbs decision allowed that law to go into effect.

The Georgia Supreme Court stayed McBurney’s decision during the state’s appeal of it. Chris Geidner of Law Dork noted that the court did leave in place McBurney’s block on the law’s provision that district attorneys can have access to “health records” where an abortion is performed or where someone who received an abortion lives.

In her attempt to reach new audiences, Vice President Harris sat down for an interview with Alex Cooper of the Call Her Daddy podcast to talk about women’s issues. Call Her Daddy is the second most popular podcast in the country, reaching as many as 2 million downloads per episode. According to NPR’s Elena Moore, Call Her Daddy’s audience is 70% women, 93% under 45.

Cooper began the interview by acknowledging that she does not usually talk about politics, but “at the end of the day, I couldn’t see a world in which one of the main conversations in this election is women and I’m not a part of it…. I am so aware I have a very mixed audience when it comes to politics, so please hear me when I say [that] my goal today is not to change your political affiliation. What I’m hoping is that you’re able to listen to a conversation that isn’t too different from the ones that we’re having here every week.” Cooper said she had also reached out to Trump, adding: “If he also wants to have a meaningful, in-depth conversation about women’s rights in this country, then he is welcome on Call Her Daddy any time.”

On the podcast, Cooper and Harris talked about the prevalence of sexual assault before addressing abortion. When Cooper quoted Trump’s promise to protect women, Harris noted that he was the one who appointed the three extremists to the Supreme Court that overturned Roe v. Wade and that 20 states now have abortion bans, some with no exceptions for rape or incest. Harris pointed out that the majority of women who receive abortion care are mothers and that every state in the South except for Virginia has an abortion ban. For a woman in those states—and one out of every three American women lives in one—the journey is expensive, hard, and traumatic.

“You don’t have to abandon your faith or deeply held beliefs to agree the government shouldn’t be telling her what to do,” Harris said. “And that’s what’s so outrageous about it, is a bunch of these guys up in these state capitals are writing these decisions because they somehow have decided that they’re in a better position to tell you what’s in your best interest than you are to know what’s in your own best interest. It’s outrageous.” Harris pointed out that she is the first vice president or president to go to a reproductive health care clinic, and she noted that those clinics perform Pap smears, breast cancer screening, and HIV testing and that they are having to close because of the abortion bans. She noted, though, that since Dobbs, people across the country have chosen to protect abortion rights.

The article in the right-wing National Review about the interview was titled: “Kamala Goes on Sex Podcast to Lie about Georgia Abortion Law.”

On Call Her Daddy, Harris also brought her economic plans for an “opportunity economy” to a younger audience. When Cooper asked her how she was going to help young people “not feel left behind,” Harris agreed it is “a very real issue and we need to take it seriously.” She promised to address housing costs by increasing the housing supply, working with home builders in the private sector to build three million new housing units by the end of her first term; help with $25,000 downpayment assistance for first-time homebuyers; and enact tax cuts for 100 million middle-class working people, including a $6,000 tax credit for new parents to help them afford the costs of a child’s first year.

The Committee for a Responsible Budget noted today that a moderate reading of Harris’s economic plans suggest they would increase the U.S. debt by about $3.5 trillion through 2035. A similar examination of Trump’s plans says they would increase the debt by $7.5 trillion.

Meanwhile, today, Trump openly embraced the race science favored by Nazis. In a scattered call to right-wing host Hugh Hewitt’s show, Trump called Harris a communist and lied—again—that she has let 13,000 murderers into the country. And then he claimed that murder is in a person’s genes, and “we got a lot of bad genes in our country right now.” He has also noted that “it would be very dangerous” for anyone to admit they were voting for Kamala Harris at one of his rallies because they would “get hurt.”

Hurricane Milton spurred meteorologist John Morales to step forward to take a stand, sharing his thoughts after Hurricane Helene hit. “Something’s shifted,” he wrote. “And it’s not just the climate.” He noted that with Helene on the way, “I did what I’ve done during my entire 40 year career—I tried to warn people. Except that the warning was not well received by everyone. A person accused me of being a ‘climate militant,’ a suggestion that I’m embellishing extreme weather threats to drive an agenda. Another simply said that my predictions were ‘an exaggeration.’

“But it wasn’t an exaggeration,” he wrote.

“For decades I had felt in control. Not in control of the weather, of course. But in control of the message that, if my audience was prepared and well informed, I could confidently guide them through any weather threat, and we’d all make it through safely…. But no one can hide from the truth. Extreme weather events, including hurricanes, are becoming more extreme. I must communicate the growing threats from the climate crisis come hell or high water—pun intended.”

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

[follow-up-news]

A judge has awarded a historic Black church in Washington control over the Proud Boys trademark after the far-right group defaulted on a $2.8 million judgment. The Monday ruling in D.C. Superior Court grants rights to the trademark of the group’s name to the Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal Church and bars the Proud Boys members from selling any merchandise with its name or symbols without the church’s consent. The ruling also allows the church to try to seize any money made from selling the group’s merchandise. The church filed the lawsuit to try to recoup damages from vandalism made by group members after a December 2020 pro-Donald Trump rally. Black Lives Matter banners were torn down and burned at two churches, including Metropolitan African Methodist. There were also violent clashes between opposing protesters and arrests were made that night. Enrique Tarrio, then the leader of the Proud Boys, confessed to participating in the burnings and was later sentenced to more than five months in jail on those and other charges. Tarrio was later sentenced to 22 years in federal prison for orchestrating the Jan. 6, 2021, riot. On his first day in office, President Donald Trump granted pardons, commutations or vowed to dismiss cases against the 1,500-plus people charged with crimes in the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol— including Tarrio.

[beardedmrbean]

New claims of plagiarism emerged Tuesday against Vice President Kamala Harris — with allegations including that she fabricated a story about sex trafficking and cribbed the work of other prosecutors, a judge and even Wikipedia to draft state reports on crime.

Harris, 60, seems to have invented details of a sex crime case out of whole cloth and taken sentences directly from published work by former California Attorney General Bill Lockyer as well as a New York jurist.

The new allegations were first reported by the Washington Free Beacon.

In a 2012 report on human trafficking Harris issued while California’s attorney general, she cited a fictional example of the type of call received by the National Human Trafficking Hotline as a bona fide case that had occurred.

The nonprofit in charge of the hotline, Polaris Project, had posted the exact same case details in June of that year as “representative of the types of calls” it received.

With different “names, locations, and other identifying information,” the example was “meant for informational purposes only,” according to an archived webpage reviewed by the Free Beacon.

But Harris copied the example verbatim into the state report, keeping the alias — “Kelly” — of the woman who was being trafficked but shifting the venue from Washington, D.C., to her native San Francisco.

The 2012 report also used a nearly identical paragraph to a Wikipedia entry on California’s Victim Compensation Board.

Another report put out in 2011, on organized crime the previous year, contained passages that were an exact match for portions of Lockyer’s report on the same subject six years earlier.

In 2014, Harris apparently stole from New York Court of Claims and Albany County Superior Court Judge Roger McDonough for a report on transnational gangs.

Recent polling has shown that Harris is seen as far more honest than her Republican opponent, former President Donald Trump, but the copycat claims — on top of earlier plagiarism allegations — is sure to test that public image.

The Trump campaign dubbed the veep a political “chameleon” in August, shortly after she clinched the Democratic nomination, for flip-flopping on her long-held liberal stances related to crime and immigration while embracing some of the 45th president’s proposed policies.

In April 2007, years before the purloined reports, Harris appeared before the House Judiciary Committee to lobby for passage of the John R. Justice Prosecutors and Defenders Incentive Act — a bill that would have helped local and state prosecutors and public defenders repay their law school and undergraduate loans while performing their public service.

More talented lawyers who opted for high pay at white-shoe firms would remain in the public sector if their debt was forgiven, the then-San Francisco DA argued, keeping more expertise in prosecutors and public defenders’ offices and helping to fill gaps in staffing.

Harris’ words in the April 24 hearing were nearly identical to testimony given two months prior by Republican Winnebago County, Ill., prosecutor Paul Logli, the Free Beacon also noted, citing the occurrence of the same statistics, punctuation and even typos in both written statements.

In total, the outlet said, 1,200 of the 1,500 words spoken by Harris (80%) were the same as those uttered by Logli.

Logli told The Post Tuesday that his testimony was prepared and written “largely” by staff from the National District Attorneys Association (NDAA), where he was then serving as president.

He said that Harris, who was a member of the association’s board of directors at the time, likely “also relied on NDAA staff support for her opening statement.”

“The similar content of our statements was an effort by NDAA to be entirely consistent in the positions we presented to both Houses of Congress on behalf of the 3,500 state and local prosecutors we represented on  a national level,” Logli said in an emailed statement. “Like me, I believe Ms. Harris simply relied on NDAA staff for much of the content of her opening statement before Congress.”

Manhattan Institute senior fellow Christopher Rufo revealed last week that portions of Harris’ 2009 pro-criminal justice reform book, “Smart on Crime,” had used identical wording to academic studies, press reports and even a Wikipedia entry — all of which predated the publication’s release.

Harris’ ghostwriter seemed unaware of the apparently plagiarized passages when contacted by The Post — but her publisher later signaled internally that the accusations were “a very sensitive topic” that was being handled by higher-ups.

“It was not the ghostwriter’s fault but, rather, this is a pattern,” Joshua Lisec, a New York Times bestselling ghostwriter, told The Post in a phone interview last week, saying he believed that Harris had probably “copied and pasted” other people’s work and sent it off to her ghostwriter without attribution.

“I don’t have inside access to their particular working relationship, but from the outside, my lens of the ghostwriting career and the profession, knowing how this goes, the ghostwriter probably had no idea that likely Kamala copied and pasted from somewhere on the internet or maybe her assistant did,” he said.

“She’s in trouble with everybody that she has effectively stolen [or] stolen from, or whoever did it, but she’s liable because her name is is on it,” Lisec said of Harris’ pilfering.

Harris’ ghostwriter, Joan O’C. Hamilton, he added, was “legitimate, experienced, successful as a ghostwriter and not the sort of person that you would expect engages with extremely low standards.”

South Dakota GOP Gov. Kristi Noem was widely viewed as a potential running mate pick for Trump before her own errors about a “meeting” with North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un crept past a ghostwriter into her political memoir “No Going Back,” which was published in May.

The Harris campaign and Hamilton did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

[ausetkmt]

As of June 2023, the District of Columbia and municipalities in three states allowed noncitizens to vote in some or all local elections: California, Maryland, and Vermont.

Joshua A. Douglas, associate professor of law at the University of Kentucky College of Law, published an article in 2017 stating, "Municipalities can expand voting rights in local elections if there are no explicit state constitutional or legislative impediments and so long as local jurisdictions have the power of home rule." Some states, for example, require that changes to local charters get approval from state legislatures, thereby limiting municipal authority over voter eligibility laws, whereas other states do not.[7]

Douglas identified 14 states—including California and Maryland—as posing no clear impediments to municipalities passing their own voter qualification laws:

Arkansas

California

Colorado

Illinois

Maryland

Nevada

New Jersey

New Mexico

Ohio

Oklahoma

Rhode Island

South Dakota

Washington

Wisconsin

California

Oakland

See also: Oakland, California, Measure S, Noncitizen Residents Voting Measure (November 2022)

In 2022, voters in Oakland approved a charter amendment that read, "Shall the measure to amend the City Charter to allow the City Council by adopting an ordinance, to authorize voting by noncitizen residents, who are the parents, legal guardians, or legally recognized caregivers of a child, for the Office of Oakland School Board Director if they are otherwise eligible to vote under state and local law be adopted?"

The amendment was approved with 67% support. Click here to learn more. The law took effect in 2023.

San Francisco

See also: San Francisco, California, Non-Citizen Voting in School Board Elections Amendment, Proposition N (November 2016)

In 2016, voters in San Francisco approved a charter amendment that read, "Shall the City allow a non-citizen resident of San Francisco who is of legal voting age and the parent, legal guardian or legally recognized caregiver of a child living in the San Francisco Unified School District to vote for members of the Board of Education?"

The amendment was approved with 54% support. Click here to learn more. The law took effect in 2018.

In July 2022, San Francisco Superior Court Judge Richard B. Ulmer, Jr. ruled that the law violated the California Constitution. Ulmer ruled that "[t]ranscendent law of California, the Constitution ... reserves the right to vote to a United States citizen, contrary to (the) San Francisco ordinance."[8] To read the full ruling, click here.

District of Columbia

The District of Columbia Council passed the D.C. Noncitizen Vote Act in October 2022, allowing noncitizens to vote in local elections. Due to the District's non-state status, all of its legislation must be reviewed by Congress prior to adoption. The D.C. Noncitizen Vote Act overcame bipartisan opposition in the U.S. House of Representatives and passed its congressional review in March 2023.[9]

Advocates of the law argued that noncitizens have an interest in schools, public safety and other issues, and should therefore be allowed to weigh in on public policy decisions. Opponents argue that noncitizens do not have a fundamental right to vote or hold public office in the U.S. and that the legislation dilutes the voting power of U.S. citizens.[10]

In March 2023, a group of seven D.C. voters filed a lawsuit in D.C. Superior Court seeking an injunction to prevent the law from being enforced. The case has been moved to the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, and the litigation is ongoing as of June 2023.[9][10]

Maryland

Maryland's state constitution specifies that "every citizen of the United States, of the age of 18 years or upwards, who is a resident of the State as of the time for the closing of registration next preceding the election, shall be entitled to vote in the ward or election district in which the citizen resides at all elections to be held in this State."[11] The state constitution gives municipalities the authority to allow people outside those qualifications to vote without requiring state approval of such changes.[12]

The following Maryland municipalities allowed noncitizens to vote in local elections as of June 2023.

Barnesville

The Barnesville town charter defines qualified voters as "having resided therein for six months previous to any town election and being eighteen years of age."[13]

Cheverly

Any person over the age of 18 who has been a resident of Cheverly for at least 30 days at the time of the election and has not been convicted of a crime is eligible to register to vote in town elections.[14]

Chevy Chase Section 3

The charter of Chevy Chase Section 3 reads, "'Qualified Voter' shall mean any person who is a resident of Chevy Chase Section 3, without regard to citizenship, and is at least eighteen (18) years of age."[15]

Garrett Park

The Garrett Park town charter reads, "The town manager shall provide for the registration of voters in a flexible and available manner in order to encourage registration and voting, consistent with the policies adopted by ordinance and the rules and procedures specified by the election judges. Qualified persons may register by universal registration with either Montgomery County or the town, or may register only with the town, including residents who are not citizens of the United States, up to and including election day."[16]

Glen Echo

Glen Echo's town charter says the following: "Any person who is not a United States citizen, and (a) is a resident of the Town of Glen Echo, (b) is a lawful resident of the United States, and (c) except for the United States citizenship requirement, meets the voter qualifications provided in Section 501(a) may register to vote in Town elections."[17]

Hyattsville

The Hyattsville town website states, "Hyattsville residents who are not U.S. citizens, or do not wish to register with the State, may use the Hyattsville City Voter Registration Form."[18]

Martin’s Additions

The Martin's Additions town charter says, "'Qualified Voter' is any person who owns property or any resident of Martin's Additions who is eighteen (18) years of age or over."[19]

Mount Rainier

Mount Rainier's city charter states that any person who has been a city resident for 30 days or more at the time of a local election, is at least 18 years old, has not been convicted of a felony offense or of buying and selling votes, and is not under mental guardianship may register to vote.[20]

Riverdale Park

Riverdale Park's town charter states, "(a) Every resident of the town who (1) has the Town of Riverdale Park as his or her primary residence, (2) is at least sixteen (16) years of age, (3) has resided within the corporate limits of the town for at least forty-five (45) days immediately preceding any nonrunoff town election, (4) does not claim the right to vote elsewhere in the United States, (5) has not been found by a court to be unable to communicate a desire to vote, and (6) is registered to vote in accordance with the provisions of § 503 of this charter shall be a qualified voter of the Town."[21]

Somerset

The Somerset town charter says, "Every person who (1) is at least eighteen years of age, (2) has resided within the corporate limits of the town for fourteen days next preceding any election, and (3) is registered in accordance with the provisions of this Charter, shall be a qualified voter of the town. Every qualified voter of the town shall be entitled to vote at any or all town elections."[22]

Takoma Park

The Takoma Park city website states, "City residents who are not citizens of the United States can register to vote in Takoma Park elections by completing the Takoma Park Voter Registration Application."[23]

Vermont

The following Vermont municipalities allowed noncitizens to vote in local elections as of June 2023.

Montpelier

On June 24, 2021, H177 was enacted into law, approving a Montpelier city charter amendment authorizing legal residents to vote in city elections. Although Governor Phil Scott vetoed the legislation, both chambers of the state legislature voted to override that veto. The law took immediate effect.[24][25]

Winooski

On June 24, 2021, H 227 was enacted into law, approving a Winooski city charter amendment authorizing legal residents to vote in city and school district elections. Although Governor Phil Scott vetoed the legislation, both chambers of the state legislature voted to override that veto. The law took immediate effect

Noncitizen voting declared unconstitutional in New York (2022)

On December 9, 2021, the New York City Council approved Int. 1867-2020, which extended the right to vote in municipal elections to lawful permanent residents and other non-citizens authorized to work in the United States. The council voted 33-14 in favor of the legislation, making New York City the largest city in the nation at the time to authorize voting by non-citizens.[27]

Mayor Eric Adams (D) allowed the legislation to become law without his signature on January 9, 2022, saying, “I believe that New Yorkers should have a say in their government, which is why I have and will continue to support this important legislation. ... I look forward to bringing millions more into the democratic process."[28][29]

A group of Republican voters and officials representing the New York Republican State Committee and Republican National Committee, as well as a Democratic city council member, filed a lawsuit on January 10, 2023, challenging the new law. The plaintiffs alleged that allowing over 800,000 eligible noncitizens to vote in municipal elections when New York City has approximately five million registered voters would dilute the power of the votes of legitimate U.S. citizens.[30]

On June 27, 2022, the New York State Supreme Court for Staten Island overturned the law, ruling that it violated the state's constitution. According to Judge Ralph Porzio, “by not expressly including non-citizens in the New York State Constitution, it was the intent of the framers for non-citizens to be omitted.” The judge quoted Article 2.1 and Article 2.5 of the state's constitution in his judgment:[31][32]

The Supreme Court of the State of New York includes 62 separate courts—one for each county. These courts are the highest trial courts in the state but they are not New York's courts of last resort. The Court of Appeals is the highest court and court of last resort in New York

[reasoningdaily]

On Wednesday, more than two years after they filed suit, the Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal community finally got its day in court against the gang. Parishioners and congregants testified in D.C. Superior Court that they’re suing in part to deter the Proud Boys from future attacks.

“We wanted to make a statement, that we will not shrink in the face of this,” Rev. William Lamar told Judge Neal Kravitz. “We know that this [Proud Boys] activity continues — and we have an opportunity to be clear that this is unacceptable, it is illegal, and it cannot continue.”

For Lamar, the Proud Boys attack was no act of petty vandalism, but a continuation of the kind of white supremacist violence and anti-Black intimidation that the Metropolitan AME community has been fighting for more than 200 years. The scene on Dec. 12 ― a racist gang of mostly white men desecrating symbols of Black solidarity outside churches — was familiar to this congregation.

“It’s more than doing violence to a sign — they seek to continue the violence their ancestors visited upon our ancestors,” Lamar said on a conference call with congregants the day after the attack. A video of the call was played in court Wednesday. “They don’t want to just ruin signs. They want to destroy lives. They want to destroy hope. They want to erase history. We won’t let them do that.”

It appears unlikely that Kravitz will award Metropolitan AME the full $22 million in damages, but bankrupting the Proud Boys is only one part of the battle. The legal team for the Metropolitan AME community at the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law hopes the case will also shed light on the Proud Boys’ assets and finances, which remain largely murky and secretive.

Tarrio has long maintained that the Proud Boys organization is broke, and that he personally carries few assets. But multiple journalistic investigations over the years suggest the gang is pulling in substantial sums of cash from various sources. They’ve collected hundreds of thousands of dollars from online fundraisers set up to support their ongoing rallies and criminal cases (including $375,000 from 11 GiveSendGo campaigns in the wake of the 2021 Capitol attack), they collect dues and travel fees from their membership through Venmo payments, they maintain a number of shady LLCs, and they continue to mobilize large groups of people and considerable amounts of equipment across the country for their bloody rallies.

Painting a clear picture of the gang’s financial structure is one of the chief goals for the Lawyers’ Committee.

“The ultimate goal of this is not a monetary windfall. It’s to stop the Proud Boys from being able to do what they do,” Arthur Ago, director of the criminal justice project at the Lawyers’ Committee, told HuffPost. “They continue to raise money ... and that money’s being used to do the things we saw on Dec. 12, Jan. 6, and now at drag queen story hours in Ohio and New York and Maryland. That’s what we want to stop.”

The case appears likely to move in favor of Metropolitan AME. The Proud Boys have failed to respond in any significant way to the litigation, and didn’t appear to defend themselves in court on Wednesday.

The church has already won default judgments against Proud Boys International, LLC, and the rest of the individual defendants, including Tarrio. Members and affiliates of the gang will have opportunities to defend themselves when court resumes on April 7, and the defense team will have a chance to cross-examine witnesses. But overall, the Proud Boys’ opportunities to advocate for themselves in this case are dwindling.

[onepeoplesproject]

Proud Boys Lose Their Group Name to the Black DC Church They Attacked

By OPP Pittsburgh On Monday a D.C. Superior Court Judge ruled against the far-right group Proud Boys (PB), stripping them of their name and trademark. This was a default judgement against the PB due to the group’s failure to pay the $2.8 million dollars they owe to the church or respond to legal proceedings. The most current ruling against the PB originated from an incident in December of 2020.…

[dankusner]

Church awarded rights to Proud Boys name

A historic Black church in D.C. that was vandalized by members of the extremist Proud Boys in 2020 has secured the group’s naming rights, allowing the institution to seek proceeds from sales of the organization’s merchandise and membership dues.

Under the ruling from D.C. Superior Court Judge Tanya Jones Bosier, Proud Boys International LLC must seek permission from the Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal Church or the court to sell anything with the trademarked name, which includes its black and yellow insignia.

Bosier effectively granted the church control over the name and symbols of the far-right group.

A downtown landmark steeped in civil rights work, the church never received a multimillion-dollar judgment that the Proud Boys and its leader, Enrique Tarrio, were ordered to pay in a civil case.

The case stemmed from the night that Proud Boys tore down and destroyed the church’s Black Lives Matter sign.

The ruling was first reported by The New York Times .

[bllsbailey]

AZ Judge Recuses Himself From 'Fake Electors' Case After Emails Surface Demanding Judges Defend Kamala

Readers might recall that back in April, a grand jury in Maricopa County, Arizona, indicted nearly 20 Republicans and associates of Donald Trump, after Democrat state Attorney General Kris Mayes brought a case against 2020 "fake electors" on felony charges of fraud, forgery, and conspiracy:

A grand jury in Arizona has handed down indictments against 11 Arizona Republicans at the center of the "fake elector" controversy of 2020 - in which Republicans were attempting to nominate and send "alternate" electors to Washington D.C. - electors who supported the theory that the 2020 election was stolen. ... The 11 Republicans met at the Arizona GOP headquarters a month after the 2020 election and signed a certificate claiming to be the 11 electors from the state. They posted the letter to social media and sent it to Congress.

My colleague Joe Cunningham added that another party mentioned in the indictment is "unindicted co-conspirator 1," who is believed to be former president Donald Trump.

Read more: Arizona Grand Jury Indicts 11 Republicans, Trump Associates in 2020 'Fake Elector' Scheme

The grand total of those indicted ended up as 18, including former Trump administration chief of staff Mark Meadows, attorneys Rudy Giuliani and Jenna Ellis, former Arizona GOP chairwoman Kelli Ward, and others.

On Wednesday, the judge in that case recused himself, after a sheaf of emails surfaced showing bias toward 2024 Democrat presidential nominee, Kamala Harris:

Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Bruce Cohen, the judge presiding over Arizona’s case against pro-Trump fake electors, has removed himself from the job following allegations of bias.

The Arizona Daily Independent reported on the emails, which were obtained by Arizona state Speaker Pro Tempore Rep. Travis Grantham.

In the emails, "Cohen demanded that all judges and all commissioners — especially those who were white and/or male — defend Kamala Harris and other people of color":

Cohen took offense with the rhetoric surrounding the selection of Harris for the Democratic presidential candidate as the “DEI hire” and the questioning of her integrity with claims that she would be promiscuous with generals in the Situation Room.

He wrote:

“It does matter if your chromosomes are made up of ‘XY.’ It matters even more if your skin color is characterized as ‘white’ or Caucasian. We must speak out. We must tell those within our circles of influence that this s**t must stop. NOW! We cannot allow our female colleagues to feel as if they stand alone when there are those who may intimate that their ascension was anything other than based upon exceptionalism. We cannot allow our colleagues who identify as being a ‘person of color’ to stand alone when there are those may claim that their ascension was an ‘equity hire’ rather than based solely upon exceptionalism. We no longer can stay silent merely because others are exercising their right to free speech — we, too, have that same right and must exercise it.” 

Also contained in the emails was an exhortation to defend Harris against criticism by "Nazis": 

Cohen equated Harris’ critics to the Nazis, and said that those who refused to stand up for Harris as well as other females and “colleagues who identify as being a ‘person of color’” were as bad as those who allowed the evil of the Holocaust to take place.

The Daily Independent reported that the following day, Judge Cohen transmitted another email to his judicial colleagues--an apology: 

“Earlier this week I allowed my passion to cloud my judgment and sent an email using this as my forum. After reflection, I have come to realize that this was not proper use of this forum. I sincerely apologize to anyone put off or negatively impacted by my lapse of judgment.”

On Wednesday, the judge went a step futher, announcing in a court document his decision to step aside on the 2020 electors case. He wrote:

“This court is also mindful of the appearances the subject email may have created for those who have interpreted the communication differently than intended. Out of a commitment to justice, even the appearance of bias cannot be allowed to undermine the fundamental fairness that is extended by the court to all who come before it.”

Former Democrat Governor Janet Napolitano first appointed Cohen to the Arizona bench in 2005. His term ends in January 2025. 

The recusal springs from a filing with the Arizona Superior Court by David Warrington and Michael Columbo, the lawyers representing Arizona state Senator Jake Hoffman in the suit. They questioned whether Cohen could remain impartial in light of his emails, writing in part:

"While Judge Cohen is entitled to his political opinions and speech, his rhetoric and exhortation precisely mirrors the evidence of hostile partisan political zealotry at the heart of the motions to dismiss [the case] that have been languishing before the Court for months."

You can read the filing here.

The "fake electors" trial is scheduled to begin in January 2026. RedState will keep you posted on developments in this story.

[yourreddancer]

Heather Cox Richardson 10-7-24

People in Florida are evacuating before Hurricane Milton is expected to hit the state’s Gulf Coast on Wednesday evening, bringing tornadoes, high winds, a dramatic storm surge, and upwards of 15 inches of rain. Milton grew from a tropical storm to a Category 5 hurricane in a little over a day, fed by water in the Gulf of Mexico that climate change has pushed in some places to 4 degrees Fahrenheit (2.2 degrees Celsius) higher than normal. Veteran Florida meteorologist and hurricane specialist John Morales choked up as he called it “horrific.”

President Joe Biden has approved an emergency declaration for Florida, enabling the federal government to move supplies in ahead of the storm’s arrival, but the state’s Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, has refused to take a call from Vice President Kamala Harris about planning for the storm. When asked about DeSantis’s refusal at today’s White House press briefing, Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre noted that the president and vice president have reached out to give support to the people of Florida. 

As for DeSantis, “It’s up to him if he wants to respond to us or not. But what we're doing is we’re working with state and local officials to make sure that we are pre-positioned to make sure that we are ready to be there for the communities that are going to be impacted. We are doing the job… to protect the communities and to make sure that they have everything that is needed." When asked about DeSantis’s snub, Harris answered: “It’s just utterly irresponsible, and it is selfish, and it is about political gamesmanship instead of doing the job that you took an oath to do, which is to put the people first.”

Before this year, Florida had goals of moving toward clean energy, but in May 2024, DeSantis signed a law to restructure the state’s energy policy so that addressing climate change would no longer be a priority. The law deleted any mention of climate change in state laws. Saying that “Florida rejects the designs of the left to weaken our energy grid, pursue a radical climate agenda, and promote foreign adversaries,” the governor posted a graphic on X that said the law would “INSULATE FLORIDA FROM GREEN ZEALOTS….”

Like DeSantis, Trump and Project 2025, a playbook for the next Republican administration, authored by allies of the right-wing Heritage Foundation and closely associated with Trump and Republican vice presidential candidate Ohio senator J.D. Vance, take the position that concerns about climate change are overblown. 

Project 2025 says the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, whose duties include issuing hurricane warnings, is “one of the main drivers of the climate change alarm industry and, as such, is harmful to future U.S. prosperity.” It calls for either eliminating its functions, sending them to other agencies, privatizing them, or putting them under the control of states and territories.

The U.S. Supreme Court came back in session today in Washington, D.C. It has decided not to hear arguments about whether the federal Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTLA) overrules Texas’s state abortion ban. EMTLA requires that hospitals provide emergency abortion care to save a woman’s life or stop organ failure or loss of fertility. Texas’s ban remains in place.

As legal analyst Joyce White Vance commented: “At least no one can pretend we don’t understand the consequences for women, & others, of putting appointments to the Court back in [Republican] control.”

The Georgia Supreme Court today reinstated the state’s six-week abortion ban after Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney, appointed in 2012 by Republican governor Nathan Deal, decided last week that the law violates Georgia’s Constitution. In his decision, McBurney wrote that “liberty in Georgia includes in its meaning, in its protections, and in its bundle of rights the power of a woman to control her own body, to decide what happens to it and in it, and to reject state interference with her healthcare choices.” 

McBurney’s decision came shortly after a state investigation revealed that at least two women in Georgia died after the Supreme Court’s Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision struck down the abortion protections the court put in place in 1973 with Roe v. Wade. 

In anticipation of an end to Roe, Georgia governor Brian Kemp in 2019 signed a six-week abortion ban prohibiting the procedure before most women know they’re pregnant. The Dobbs decision allowed that law to go into effect. 

The Georgia Supreme Court stayed McBurney’s decision during the state’s appeal of it. Chris Geidner of Law Dork noted that the court did leave in place McBurney’s block on the law’s provision that district attorneys can have access to “health records” where an abortion is performed or where someone who received an abortion lives. 

In her attempt to reach new audiences, Vice President Harris sat down for an interview with Alex Cooper of the Call Her Daddy podcast to talk about women’s issues. Call Her Daddy is the second most popular podcast in the country, reaching as many as 2 million downloads per episode. According to NPR’s Elena Moore, Call Her Daddy’s audience is 70% women, 93% under 45.

Cooper began the interview by acknowledging that she does not usually talk about politics, but “at the end of the day, I couldn’t see a world in which one of the main conversations in this election is women and I’m not a part of it…. I am so aware I have a very mixed audience when it comes to politics, so please hear me when I say [that] my goal today is not to change your political affiliation. What I’m hoping is that you’re able to listen to a conversation that isn’t too different from the ones that we’re having here every week.” Cooper said she had also reached out to Trump, adding: “If he also wants to have a meaningful, in-depth conversation about women’s rights in this country, then he is welcome on Call Her Daddy any time.”

On the podcast, Cooper and Harris talked about the prevalence of sexual assault before addressing abortion. When Cooper quoted Trump’s promise to protect women, Harris noted that he was the one who appointed the three extremists to the Supreme Court that overturned Roe v. Wade and that 20 states now have abortion bans, some with no exceptions for rape or incest. Harris pointed out that the majority of women who receive abortion care are mothers and that every state in the South except for Virginia has an abortion ban. For a woman in those states—and one out of every three American women lives in one—the journey is expensive, hard, and traumatic.

“You don’t have to abandon your faith or deeply held beliefs to agree the government shouldn’t be telling her what to do,” Harris said. “And that’s what’s so outrageous about it, is a bunch of these guys up in these state capitals are writing these decisions because they somehow have decided that they’re in a better position to tell you what’s in your best interest than you are to know what’s in your own best interest. It’s outrageous.” Harris pointed out that she is the first vice president or president to go to a reproductive health care clinic, and she noted that those clinics perform Pap smears, breast cancer screening, and HIV testing and that they are having to close because of the abortion bans. She noted, though, that since Dobbs, people across the country have chosen to protect abortion rights.

The article in the right-wing National Review about the interview was titled: “Kamala Goes on Sex Podcast to Lie about Georgia Abortion Law.”   

On Call Her Daddy, Harris also brought her economic plans for an “opportunity economy” to a younger audience. When Cooper asked her how she was going to help young people “not feel left behind,” Harris agreed it is “a very real issue and we need to take it seriously.” She promised to address housing costs by increasing the housing supply, working with home builders in the private sector to build three million new housing units by the end of her first term; help with $25,000 downpayment assistance for first-time homebuyers; and enact tax cuts for 100 million middle-class working people, including a $6,000 tax credit for new parents to help them afford the costs of a child’s first year.   

The Committee for a Responsible Budget noted today that a moderate reading of Harris’s economic plans suggest they would increase the U.S. debt by about $3.5 trillion through 2035. A similar examination of Trump’s plans says they would increase the debt by $7.5 trillion. 

Meanwhile, today, Trump openly embraced the race science favored by Nazis. In a scattered call to right-wing host Hugh Hewitt’s show, Trump called Harris a communist and lied—again—that she has let 13,000 murderers into the country. And then he claimed that murder is in a person’s genes, and “we got a lot of bad genes in our country right now.” He has also noted that “it would be very dangerous” for anyone to admit they were voting for Kamala Harris at one of his rallies because they would “get hurt.”

Hurricane Milton spurred meteorologist John Morales to step forward to take a stand, sharing his thoughts after Hurricane Helene hit. “Something’s shifted,” he wrote. “And it’s not just the climate.” He noted that with Helene on the way, “I did what I’ve done during my entire 40 year career—I tried to warn people. Except that the warning was not well received by everyone. A person accused me of being a ‘climate militant,’ a suggestion that I’m embellishing extreme weather threats to drive an agenda. Another simply said that my predictions were ‘an exaggeration.’

“But it wasn’t an exaggeration,” he wrote.

“For decades I had felt in control. Not in control of the weather, of course. But in control of the message that, if my audience was prepared and well informed, I could confidently guide them through any weather threat, and we’d all make it through safely…. But no one can hide from the truth. Extreme weather events, including hurricanes, are becoming more extreme. I must communicate the growing threats from the climate crisis come hell or high water—pun intended.”

—

[aaronherzbergesq]

A business-focused lawyer and trusted advisor, Aaron Herzberg provides strategic legal counsel and representation to a range of clients, from small businesses and high-net-worth individuals to publicly traded corporations and government entities. During his career, he built and ran two multimillion-dollar law firms by developing and executing innovative business generation and marketing plans.

Aaron offers a unique blend of transactional and litigation experience. He launched his legal career as a family law litigator and ran a thriving firm with two offices and a staff of 30. Aaron represented high-net-worth business executives, celebrities, and professional athletes in complex family law matters involving international assets, business valuation, and property division.

As a litigator, Aaron tried 70+ bench trials and appeared for 1000+ motion and evidentiary hearings. During this time, he also served as a judge pro temp in Los Angeles Superior Court, Family Division.

Aaron has been recognized locally in California community as a top lawyer and nationally by Super Lawyers multiple years for his skill as a litigator and family law practitioner. In addition to excelling in litigation and zealously representing his clients in myriad issues, he developed strong management, business development, and leadership skills.

Following his family law practice, he founded Puzzle Group LLC, a cannabis and real estate consulting firm representing cannabis operators—including California’s largest vertically integrated operator—publicly traded companies, and PE-backed multistate operators with cannabis interests across jurisdictions. Aaron became a top expert in the cannabis industry, speaking at national conferences and appearing for interviews by the Wall Street Journal and New York Times, among other media outlets.

While providing licensing services and guidance to on commercial real estate investments and structuring transactions, Aaron navigated an array of interesting tax issues. This exposure to the world of tax spurred Aaron’s desire to deepen his knowledge of tax law and pursue a career as a tax attorney. Aaron is now enrolled in the LL.M. tax program at Georgetown Law School in Washington, D.C., one of the nation’s top programs in tax law.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/aaron-herzberg-esq/

[fact-files-blog]

Who is Judge Tanya Chutkan Husband, Peter Krauthamer?

Tanya Sue Chutkan is the judge assigned to oversee Trump's January 6, 2021 Capitol attack case in D.C. Trump is indicted on charges of attempting to subvert the results of the 2020 presidential election. Chutkan was one of the first federal judges in D.C. to reject the former president’s efforts to use executive privilege to withhold White House communications from Jan. 6 investigators, in that instance from the House select committee investigating the Capitol riot.

Her husband was also a judge prior to his retirement in June 2023. He served as a former associate judge of Superior Court of the District of Columbia with a background in criminal justice. Most of his career, he spent being a public defender at the Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia (PDS).

[pashterlengkap]

These 11 LGBTQ federal judges are making history – and are all appointed by Joe Biden

President Joe Biden announced that his 200th federal judge got confirmed earlier this week, beating both Presidents Donald Trump and President Barack Obama in the number of confirmations at similar points in their terms. In a statement, Biden celebrated the most diverse group of judges to be appointed. “These judges are exceptionally well-qualified. They come from every walk of life, and collectively, they form the most diverse group of judicial appointees ever put forward by a president – 64% are women and 62% are people of color,” said Biden. “Before their appointment to the bench, they worked in every field of law—from labor lawyers fighting for working people to civil rights lawyers fighting to protect the right to vote.” Included among these judges are 11 LGBTQ+ judges, the most put forward by a sitting U.S. president, tied with Obama. Here are all of Biden’s LGBTQ+ judicial appointees. Stay connected to your community Connect with the issues and events that impact your community at home and beyond by subscribing to our newsletter. Subscribe to our Newsletter today Beth Robinson – U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit Beth Robinson is the first openly lesbian woman to serve on a U.S. appeals court, being confirmed on November 1, 2021. She was previously the first out LGBTQ+ Vermont Supreme Court justice. Robinson also served as co-counsel in the famous Baker v. Vermont case, which granted equal rights to LGBTQ+ couples. Alison Nathan – U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit Alison Nathan was confirmed on March 23, 2022 and is the second openly LGBTQ+ woman to serve on the U.S. appeal court. She gained national attention for presiding over the prosecution of Ghislaine Maxwell. Nicole Berner – U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit Lisa McFarland, Fourth Circuit court photographer Judge Nicole G. Berner Nicole Berner is the first openly lesbian judge to serve on the Fourth Circuit, which covers Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, and West Virginia. She was confirmed on March 19, 2024. She previously served as legal counsel for the Service Employees International Union, supporting many progressive policies. Ana C. Reyes – United States District Court for the District of Columbia Ana Reyes is the first LGBTQ+ woman and the first Latina to serve in the U.S. District Court for Washington, D.C. She was confirmed on February 15, 2023, and worked previously at the firm Williams and Connolly, often working pro bono for refugees and asylum seekers. Daniel Calabretta – United States District Court for the Eastern District of California Daniel Calabretta was confirmed on February 16, 2023, and is the first openly gay judge to preside over California’s Eastern District. He previously served on the California Superior Court and as a presiding judge on the Juvenile Court. He’s also served under the California governor as deputy legal affairs secretary. Gina R. Méndez-Miró – United States District Court for the District of Puerto Rico Gina R. Méndez-Miró is the first LGBTQ+ judge to preside over Puerto Rico’s District Court. She was confirmed on February 14, 2023, and was Biden’s 100th judge to be confirmed. She previously served as chief of staff to the Puerto Rico Senate and on the Puerto Rico Court of Appeals. Charlotte Sweeney – United States District Court for the District of Colorado Charlotte Sweeney is the first lesbian judge to preside over a District Court in Colorado and the first one west of the Mississippi. She was confirmed on May 25, 2022, and previously worked as a partner at Sweeney & Bechtold. She’s a member of the Colorado LGBT Bar Association and is on the board of directors for the Matthew Shepard Foundation. Nina Morrison – United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York Nina Morrison is the second openly LGBTQ+ judge to serve in the Eastern District of New York. She was confirmed on June 8, 2022.… http://dlvr.it/T7RFhL

[arpov-blog-blog]

Donald Trump is learning a hard lesson: Criminal defendants don’t get to set their own schedules.

Three times on Monday the former president asked Justice Juan Merchan to cut him loose from his hush money trial to attend to other matters — some personal, some political and some legal. Three times the judge responded with, essentially, “eh, we’ll see.”

Could he attend his son Barron’s high school graduation on May 17? I’ll get back to you, Merchan said.

May he skip the trial on April 25 to attend Supreme Court arguments about whether he’s immune from special counsel Jack Smith’s charges for trying to subvert the 2020 election? Not likely, said Merchan.

Can he be exempted from any proceedings that may arise on Wednesdays — when Merchan’s court is typically dark — so he can campaign? Not if the jury is in, the judge told him.

It’s a jarring new reality for Trump, who has been accustomed to setting the agenda for most of his adult life — and, in the years since his presidency, has bounced between his sunny Florida resort and political rallies brimming with adoring fans. But this spring, he’ll have to spend most weekdays in a drab 15th floor county courtroom in a city with very little MAGA.

True, Trump’s campaign apparatus will remain in full swing, as he and his advisers look to harness the trial for political gain. But Trump the defendant will face stark restrictions on where he can go (and what he’s allowed to say). That will require him to submit to a judge and a case he has long maligned — just as any criminal defendant would, even if they also considered the charges against them to be bogus.

After the first day of the trial on Monday, Trump seemed less focused on the substance of what had transpired — which included several key evidentiary rulings and the qualification of nine potential jurors — than on Merchan’s decision not to accommodate his scheduling requests.

“He won’t allow me to leave here for a half a day to go to D.C. and go before the United States Supreme Court, because he thinks he’s superior,” Trump told reporters outside the courtroom.

And he griped about the prospect of missing Barron’s graduation.

“I was looking forward to that graduation, with his mother and father there, and it looks like the judge does not allow me to escape this scam,” he said.

[beardedmrbean]

WASHINGTON - After deliberating for nearly two-and-a-half hours, a D.C. Superior Court magistrate judge decided to hold a 16-year-old girl at a secured juvenile facility in D.C. at least until her next hearing on Friday.

The teen from Waldorf, Maryland is charged with second-degree murder (as a juvenile) among multiple other serious charges, in connection with the stabbing death of another 16-year-old from Waldorf, Naima Liggon. 

It was a "dispute over sauce," Judge Sherri Beatty-Arthur told the court, ahead of her decision.

FOX 5 learned Monday that a group of young people drove from Maryland to a party in D.C. before stopping at the 24-hour McDonald's by U and 14th Streets Northwest.

It was said in the juvenile proceeding, that an argument began in the vehicle, apparently over sweet and sour sauce. It then turns physical. The teens at one point exited the vehicle, and a fight broke out right outside the U Street McDonald's.

An attorney for the teen charged claimed self-defense. They said that the teenage suspect was jumped in that fight. However, the prosecutor claimed the fight was over with when surveillance video allegedly captured that same teen suspect lunging at least once toward the victim, around the time Liggon went back to the vehicle.

This happened at around 2:10 a.m. Sunday. 

Liggon was stabbed in the abdomen and torso and pronounced dead at Howard University Hospital.

"She was a beautiful person. My son’s friend," said neighbor Rickey Graves Jr. "She was the first friend he met when he arrived here. It’s just – it was a shock for us because she’s a beautiful person. She had a great personality, always laughing – a lot of laughter. Her mom – very friendly, beautiful people. So, I’m just shocked that this kind of thing would happen to her."

"Listen to your parents," said Graves when asked what he and others can take away from this. "Check in with your friends, and sometimes we’ve got to stay away from things we know we shouldn’t – people, places we shouldn’t be around."

Graves told FOX 5 his son was too upset to speak.

Liggon was one of three teens killed in D.C. this past weekend. 

While there is a curfew on D.C.’s books, the fatal stabbing came a little before D.C. police are expected to begin targeted curfew enforcement in several selected areas starting Friday, Sept. 1. 

The U Street Corridor is on that list.

Residents and neighbors have been furious with the violence seen around the U Street Corridor. 

One community leader claims that violence spilling over – and an open-air drug market deeper into the Shaw neighborhood has forced multiple businesses to close down just this past year alone.

A Charles County high school principal announced counselors would be on hand at Thomas Stone High School to help students deal with this tragedy. 

Monday was their first day of school for the 2023-2024 school year.

"This is not the news a principal ever wants to share, let alone the day before we start a new school year," said Thomas Stone High School Principal Shanif Pearl in a statement to the high school community. "I ask that you please keep Naima’s family, friends, loved ones and our school community in your thoughts and prayers."

READ THE FULL STATEMENT:

"Dear Parents, Guardians and Staff:

I am deeply saddened to share with you the news about the tragic loss of a Thomas Stone High School student. This afternoon, we learned about the passing of Naima Liggon. Naima passed earlier this morning and news of her passing has been made public. My thoughts and prayers go out to her family, friends, loved ones and all who knew her.

We will have additional counselors and staff at school tomorrow to provide support to any student or staff member who needs help processing the news of Naima’s passing. I do not have any additional details about Naima at this time. This is a heartbreaking and tragic time for our school community.

This is not the news a principal ever wants to share, let alone the day before we start a new school year. I ask that you please keep Naima’s family, friends, loved ones and our school community in your thoughts and prayers. If you or your child need help with grief counseling or any other assistance, please let me know.

Sincerely,

Shanif Pearl

Principal"