Judge happenings

Interesting news out of Atlanta regarding negotiations over judgeships for the 11th Circuit and the district seat.  From Robin McDonald's article:

Georgia's Republican U.S. senators have cut a deal with state Democrats that, if approved by the White House, would fill six judgeships on Atlanta's federal appeals and district court benches, Georgia lawyers familiar with the nomination process have told the Daily Report.
The package deal would remove roadblocks thrown up by Senators Saxby Chambliss and Johnny Isakson that have held up the confirmation of Atlanta attorney Jill Pryor, a partner at Bondurant Mixson & Elmore, for the Eleventh U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Pryor was nominated in February 2012.
The deal also recommends the elevation to the Eleventh Circuit of U.S. District Court Chief Judge Julie Carnes of the Northern District of Georgia. Carnes was appointed to her current post by President George H.W. Bush in 1992.
Carnes' move would create a fourth vacancy on the district court in Atlanta, where judges who left in 2009, 2010 and this year have yet to be replaced.
The new bargain includes the nomination of Leigh Martin May, a personal injury and product liability attorney at Butler Wooten & Fryhofer, for the Northern District bench. May was on a 2009 list of potential nominees that was sent to the White House by a committee appointed by members of Georgia's Democratic congressional delegation; May's law partner, James Butler, was a member of that committee. Chambliss and Isakson initially rejected May and others as nominees.
In return for their agreement not to block the nominations of Pryor and May, Chambliss and Isakson would name candidates to the other three district court vacancies. They include Troutman Sanders partner Mark Cohen, whose name the senators put forth first in 2010 for the Northern District bench and in 2011 for the Eleventh Circuit. Their remaining two picks are two state court judges appointed by Republican Governor Nathan Deal—DeKalb County State Court Judge Eleanor Ross and Judge Michael Boggs of the Georgia Court of Appeals.

Meantime, the JNC has cut the list for district judge in the Middle District.  Now it's up to the Senators to pick from these four:  

Paul Byron, Bill Jung, Carlos Mendoza, Waddell Wallace

Trial for Joel Steinger continued

Who can blame Judge Scola... the dude was in a hospital gown.  From Curt Anderson:

 On the eve of jury selection, a federal judge agreed Monday to delay the trial of the alleged mastermind of an $800 million insurance investment fraud scheme because the man suffers from severe pain and health problems caused by a chronic back ailment.

U.S. District Judge Robert Scola granted the postponement after former Mutual Benefits Corp. chief Joel Steinger, 63, tearfully requested time for spinal surgery. Steinger, who uses a wheelchair and is on strong pain medications, appeared in court in a hospital gown. He frequently wrapped a blanket around his chest.

"You can't do this like this. I don't have the strength to go on. I can't take the pain anymore," Steinger said in a voice breaking with emotion. "You know what I'm thinking about now? Getting back to the hospital so I can get more dope."...

Steinger would have needed frequent breaks if trial had gone forward in his current condition, along with a special chair, oxygen bottle and a nurse standing by to handle his needs - all at taxpayer expense. These conditions, Scola wrote, "make his presence throughout the trial a logistical and hygienic nightmare" that surgery may avoid.

Justices out talking

 Justice Scalia spoke in Texas:

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia visited Houston on Friday and offered his thoughts about Christian morality and economic systems.
The 30-minute lecture explored the question: Is capitalism or socialism more conducive to Christian virtue?

...

"The cardinal sin of capitalism is greed, but the cardinal sin of socialism is power. I'm not sure there's a clear choice between those evils," Scalia said. "While I would not argue that capitalism as an economic system is inherently more Christian than socialism … it does seem to me that capitalism is more dependent on Christianity than socialism is. For in order for capitalism to work - in order for it to produce a good and a stable society - the traditional Christian virtues are essential."
Scalia, who is Catholic, discussed how religious orders once took care of orphans and the elderly, which is now done in large part by "salaried social workers" and financed by tax dollars.
"The governmentalization of charity affects not just the donor but also the recipient. What was once asked as a favor is now demanded as an entitlement," he said. "The transformation of charity into legal entitlement has produced donors without love and recipients without gratitude. ... It's not my place or my purpose to criticize these developments, only to observe that they do not suggest the expanding role of government is good for Christianity."

Some of the Q and A:

Q: Have you ever noticed that positions of justices on a particular subject changes or becomes more liberal the longer they stay on the bench?

A: "It's demonstrably false. I've been there longer than anybody and I think I'm further from left than I was. … It is a common phenomenon."
Q: You are so persuasive and logical - why arent' you able to persuade your liberal colleagues?
A: "Most of these issues on which we disagree, it's fundamental stuff. … [People] think most of the time, we are contemplating our navels: 'should there be a right to die,' 'should there be legal abortion' - something that Joe Six-Pack knows the answer to as well as I do. … Most of the time we are doing real law: We're figuring out the meaning of the Bankruptcy Code, the Internal Revenue code. That is hard and really dull stuff."
Q: Evaluate the condition of the Catholic Church in the United States.
A: "I think it's doing OK. It's been around a long time, you know."
Q: Are you a Redskins fan?
A: "I'm not really much of a football fan. To the extent I am, I hate the Redskins. In fact, I always root for Dallas."
Q: How would you handle Syria?
A: "Naw. I shouldn't talk about that. I have strong views on it, though."
Q: What is the constitutional basis for the principal of 'stare decisis' (legal principal of judges respecting the precedent established by prior decisions) and does it play inherently to the socialist?
A: "It is impossible to run a judicial system without it. You can't reinvent the wheel with every case. … The constitution implicitly expects the courts to function in a manner that is not nuts."
Q: What is the greatest miscarriage of constitutional justice during your tenure?
A: "Oh, there are many candidates. … The most disreputable area of our law is the establishment clause. (Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion.) … A violation of the establishment clause that does not affect someone's free exercise - there is no reason why you should have standing.

Meantime, Justice Ginsburg was speaking too:

Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who recently officiated at a friend's same-sex wedding, told a Philadelphia audience Friday that growing acceptance of gay marriage reflects the "genius" of the U.S. Constitution.

Ginsburg said equality has always been central to the Constitution, even if society has only applied it to minorities - be they women, blacks or gays - over time.

"So I see the genius of our Constitution, and of our society, is how much more embracive we have become than we were at the beginning," Ginsburg said in a far-ranging discussion of her work at the National Constitution Center, steps from the nation's founding at Independence Hall.

... Ginsburg has often been on the losing side of the epic battles, but said some would have turned out differently had the first female justice, Sandra Day O'Connor, not retired in 2006.

"The year she left us, in every case where I was among the four, if she had remained, I would have been among the five. So her leaving the court made an enormous difference," Ginsburg said.

Ginsburg criticized her majority colleagues for what she called "activist" decisions that overturned laws better understood by Congress, such as the Voting Rights Act, which had been extended by a series of bipartisan presidents, most recently George W. Bush.

"That's an example of striking down legislation on a subject that the people in the political arena are better informed about than the court is," she said.

Ginsburg, 80, gave no hint she would wind down her judicial career anytime soon, noting that the fall docket includes such important issues as campaign finance limits and affirmative action. And, despite her sharp ideological differences with some colleagues, including close friend Antonin Scalia, she said their work environment remains cordial.

"One of the hallmarks of the court is collegiality," Ginsburg said. "You could not do the job that the Constitution gives to us if you didn't, to use one of Justice Scalia's favorite expressions, `Get over it.'"

Closer to home, the psychic trial is still going.  Paula McMahon is covering it with her last two articles here and here.   You can't beat the headlines:

"Psychic dictated messages from Brad Pitt and Colin Powell, witness testifies"
and
"Dead husband's frozen sperm did not sire a child, psychic's client says she was told"

The articles are fun reads.

Friday news and notes

It's a quiet Friday after the Jewish holiday, so here's a quick post to get you through the weekend:

1.  Sen. Rubio is taking heat about his refusal to issue a "blue slip" for Will Thomas and another African-American judge, Brian Davis, in the Middle District.  From the Orlando Sentinel:

One seat in particular, in the Middle District, has sat empty since December 2011 — the result of a fight between President Barack Obama and Senate Republicans over his nominee: Judge Brian Davis, a Nassau County circuit judge.
Though Davis initially had the support of U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, the Florida Republican recanted more than a year ago, citing concerns about comments that Davis made about two black officials tied to controversy in the Clinton administration.
Davis, who is also black, implied that the two — former U.S. Surgeon General Joycelyn Elders and Dr. Henry Foster Jr., a nominee for that position — either lost the job, in Elders' case, or didn't get it, in Foster's, because of their race.
"Republicans on the Judiciary Committee have had objections to Judge Davis, and those should be taken seriously and reviewed thoroughly before moving forward," said Brooke Sammon, a Rubio spokeswoman, in a statement this week.
But the Obama administration isn't budging on Davis or its selection in November of Judge William Thomas, a Miami-Dade circuit judge, to fill a slot in the Southern District.
Rubio has withheld support for Thomas, citing — among other issues — a controversial decision by Thomas in January to sentence a hit-and-run killer to less than a year in jail. An attorney for the guilty driver, Michele Traverso, argued that a long sentence would be risky for Traverso, who has a rare genetic disorder. The light sentence angered family members of the victim, bicyclist Aaron Cohen.
A White House spokeswoman said the administration had no intention of replacing the nominations of either Davis or Thomas.
"They are both distinguished judges, combining for nearly three decades on the bench, and the nonpartisan American Bar Association has rated each of them 'well-qualified,'" said Joanna Rosholm, a White House spokeswoman.

2.  An important decision from the Second Circuit on securities law:

“We conclude as follows.  First, Section 10(b) and its implementing regulation, Rule 10b-5, do not apply to extraterritorial conduct, regardless of whether liability is sought criminally or civilly.  Accordingly, a defendant may be convicted of securities fraud under Section 10(b) and Rule 10b-5 only if he has engaged in fraud in connection with (1) a security listed on a U.S. exchange, or (2) a security purchased or sold in the United States.”

 
3.  "Small-time Miami actor, wife plead guilty to $15 million Medicare scam"  Via the Miami Herald:

Roberto F. Marrero, a bit-part TV actor in such shows as Miami Vice, pleaded guilty Thursday along with his wife and another Miami man to a $15 million Medicare fraud scheme.

4.  Bolivia official in trouble.  From Curt Anderson:

A high-ranking Bolivian National Police official was sitting in a South Florida jail Thursday on U.S. charges that he tried to extort thousands of dollars from the former owner of a Bolivian airline.
According to an FBI affidavit filed in federal court, Mario Fabricio Ormachea Aliaga, 42, flew from La Paz, Bolivia to Miami on Aug. 29 to meet with Humberto Roca, who formerly ran Bolivia's AeroSur airline.
Roca previously had fled to the U.S. to avoid Bolivian charges alleging he provided tickets to what authorities there called anti-government foreign mercenaries. The FBI affidavit said that Roca calls the charges politically motivated and is seeking asylum in the U.S.
Before the meeting with Ormachea Aliaga — whom Roca referred to as the "Colonel" — Roca contacted the FBI on the advice of a lawyer. Agents monitored and recorded their meetings, during which Ormachea Aliaga — the No. 2 official in the national police's anticorruption unit — allegedly told Roca that in exchange for $30,000 "he would drop the charges against (Roca) and charge someone else instead," according to the FBI affidavit.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/09/05/3607090/top-bolivia-police-official-jailed.html#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/09/05/3608135/small-time-miami-actor-wife-plead.html#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/09/05/3608135/small-time-miami-actor-wife-plead.html#storylink=cpy

News & Notes -- Rosh Hashanah edition

The Eleventh Circuit just decided Temple B'Nai Zion vs. City of Sunny Isles Beach.  It's quite a read.  The issue presented is one of ripeness: "This appeal presents the question whether an Orthodox Jewish synagogue’s statutory and constitutional challenges to its designation as a historic landmark by a municipality are ripe for adjudication."  But check out some of these facts:

The City was not supportive of the Temple’s expansion plans, and in the period that followed Rabbi Lankry met with Mayor Edelcup on several occasions to work out the differences. The meetings went badly. At one point, Mayor Edelcup allegedly referred to the Sephardic Jewish community as a “bunch of pigs.” When Rabbi Lankry inquired as to whether he could quote the mayor as to his pejorative comment, Mayor Edelcup responded, “I don’t care what the [expletive] you do.” The animosity between the parties now proceeded at full bore: when the Temple rebuffed the City’s attempt to purchase the property on which the Temple was situated (the Temple is apparently located adjacent to city hall), Mayor Edelcup directed the City’s code enforcement officers to inspect the Temple, and between September 2007 and February 2009, the Temple received 12 separate code violation notices from City officials.
***
At a public hearing held before the full City Commission on September 2, 2010, the same witnesses who had appeared before the Preservation Board appeared again and provided essentially the same testimony. Because the hearing was public, citizens were permitted to take the lectern and offer comments during the proceeding; many took the opportunity to complain about the operation of the Temple, accusing Rabbi Lankry and the Temple of removing memorial plaques from the walls, failing to light candles for deceased congregants, denying access to former congregants, and absconding with the Temple’s Torahs. The City Commissioners—three out of five of whom were members of the Temple congregation before it became Orthodox—also offered public comments before voting on the designation. Commissioner Gerry Goodman, who had previously sat on the Temple’s board of directors, for example, questioned Rabbi Lankry at length about why the Temple seemed to be closed to the public on certain days. Commissioner Goodman had purchased a memorial plaque for a loved one at the Temple some years earlier but had been unable to view the plaque when he attempted to do so. Goodman then began to ask Rabbi Lankry whether the Temple was being leased out, but Mayor Edelcup interjected, admonishing Goodman to “[f]ocus on the issues.” Before closing his remarks, Goodman asked Rabbi Lankry whether Lankry had called him an anti-Semite in the local newspaper.

Yikes.  At the end of the day, the Court engages in some technical ripeness analysis but asks the parties for some reflection (which is appropriate at this time of year!):

We do not know who will ultimately prevail between the Temple and the City in this ongoing feud. That question—a merits one—is not ours to answer. We merely decide today that the claims enumerated in the Temple’s complaint are ripe for judicial adjudication. And while we embrace some hope that the parties might bury their strife before the next stage of federal litigation comes to pass, again on that score, only time will tell. At this juncture, it is enough to say that the order of the district court is vacated, and that the Temple’s challenges to the enactment of the historic designation are ripe for review.

Dan Wallach of Becker & Poliakoff represented the Synagogue. Coffey Burlington represented the City.

Sorry kids, summer's over

That means it's time for football, traffic, and... some changes at the U.S. Attorney's office.  Here's your new lineup:

Marcus Christian is leaving the local office and heading to DOJ -- UPDATE: Actually he is headed to a law firm in DC, and not DOJ.  Thanks to the commenters and tipsters.
George Karavestos takes over as Executive Assistant U.S. Attorney
Lynn Kirkpatrick takes over for George as the Chief of Narcotics
and Norman Hemming is now Special Counsel

Meantime, the government has charged two lawyers in the Rothstein saga.  From the Sun-Sentinel:

Nearly four years after Scott Rothstein's massive Ponzi scheme spectacularly imploded, the long-simmering criminal investigation entered a new phase Friday with the arrests of two Broward County attorneys accused of assisting the fraudster.
Douglas L. Bates, a Plantation attorney, was picked up at his Parkland home early Friday by IRS agents. Christina Kitterman, who had worked at Rothstein's law firm, surrendered at the West Palm Beach federal courthouse. Both are accused of lying to some of Rothstein's investors as he kept his $1.4 billion fraud alive.
"The success of such a large-scale scheme depended on the complicity of Rothstein's colleagues and associates, like Douglas Bates and Christina Kitterman," said U.S. Attorney Wifredo A. Ferrer.
The two attorneys became the first defendants to be indicted for their roles in the alleged criminal activities the now-disbarred attorney ran out of the Rothstein Rosenfeldt Adler law firm. The now-imprisoned Rothstein and eight other defendants all cut deals with the federal government in advance of being criminally charged.

What is Marco Rubio's reason for blocking Will Thomas?

The DBR (John Pacenti) has a lengthy article about Marco Rubio's decision to block two African American nominees -- William Thomas and Brian Davis -- to the district court.  But he refuses to explain his reason for the decision. 

Republican U.S. Senator Marco Rubio, a tea party darling, is blocking confirmation hearings for two black judicial nominees by withholding the formality of submitting what is known as a "blue slip." Miami-Dade Circuit Judge William Thomas was nominated 552 days ago for a Miami opening in the Southern District of Florida. Nassau Circuit Judge Brian Davis has been waiting even longer — 612 days — for action to fill a Middle District of Florida vacancy in Tampa. The blue slip is a required by the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, Senator Patrick Leahy, D-Vermont. Waiting for blue slips is a longstanding procedure that the chairman does not plan to break, his spokeswoman Jessica Brady said Thursday. Florida's other senator, Democrat Bill Nelson, has submitted blue slips for both candidates. Rubio's and Nelson's offices did not respond to telephone calls or emails seeking comment by deadline. The failure to submit blue slips marks a ratcheting up of Republican efforts to block President Barack Obama's judicial nominees, even if means alienating minorities, critics say. Thomas and Davis fulfill Obama's goal of bringing greater diversity to the federal bench. Both are black, and Thomas is openly gay. Obama has been more dedicated to diversity than any of his predecessors, with 43 percent of women nominees compared with 22 percent under George W. Bush and 29 percent by Bill Clinton. Obama also surpassed his predecessors on nominating blacks and Hispanics. By delaying the nominations of minorities, Republicans hope to hinder a lasting legacy on the lifetime appointment of jurists, said Andrew Blotky, director of Legal Progress, part of the Center for American Progress in Washington. "If you look at how long these vacancies have been open, it's ridiculous and unconscionable," he said.

Meantime, the district continues to try interesting cases.  The psychic trial is going on in Ft. Lauderdale.  Via Paula McMahon:

When Sylvia Roma visited a psychic in late 1997, she was a successful executive who figured her life was happy and the tarot card reading was "just for entertainment."
But Roma was quickly convinced that her family was cursed, she said, and over the next 14 years she sent close to $800,000 worth of cash and gold coins to the woman she knew as Joyce Michaels, but who was really Rose Marks.
Marks summoned her to Fort Lauderdale in July 2002 and told her that nearly $500,000 in cash and gold coins Roma had already given to Marks had burned in the 9/11 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center — yet Roma continued to send money and jewelry to Marks, she testified.
"I was in so far, I had nothing to do but believe her. I didn't see any way out," Roma testified Thursday in federal court in West Palm Beach, where Marks is on trial.
Prosecutors say Marks, 62, of Fort Lauderdale, and her family defrauded about $25 million from victims they met in Manhattan and South Florida.
It's rare for so-called Gypsy fortune-telling frauds cases such as this one to go to trial, law enforcement experts say, and one of the reasons is that alleged victims are embarrassed and ashamed to admit they've been tricked.
Roma, who will be back on the witness stand Friday to be cross-examined by the defense, told jurors that she became depressed and isolated as Marks urged her to send more and more money.
Marks told Roma she couldn't discuss "the work" with anyone because it would let "negative energy" affect Marks' efforts to lift the curse and help Roma to have a happier life, she said. Marks told her she was meditating and building an altar and a protective shield with the hundreds of gold coins that Roma provided to her.

Any predictions on how this one will turn out?

JNC decides to interview these 17 applicants

Two new federal district judges will come from this list:

Beatrice Butchko
Jack Tuter, Jr.
John Thornton, Jr.
David Haimes
Thomas Rebull
Mary Barzee Flores
Martin Bidwill
Daryl Trawick
Jeffrey Colbath
Darrin Gayles
Robin Rosenberg
Migna Sanchez-Llorens
Meenu Sasser
Veronica Harrell-James
Beth Bloom
Barry Seltzer
Peter Lopez

I've listed the applicants in interview order.  The interviews are on September 17, and this list will be narrowed to 4 people.