CODA and SDFL

 

By John R. Byrne

The film CODA—an acronym for Child of Deaf Adults—recently won the Oscar for Best Picture.  Troy Kotsur, the deaf actor who played the deaf father of the main character, also took home an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor.  It’s an incredible movie.  Its success has brought more media attention to a recent order issued by Judge Ruiz.  The Florida Bar Journal covered it yesterday.  The case involved a deaf woman who said she struggled to get proper help at the Cleveland Clinic in Weston.  The parties settled the case but Judge Ruiz found that the hospital failed to honor its agreement to train staff on how to properly interact with the deaf.  He ultimately ordered the hospital to pay the $16,000 fine to the Center for Independent Living of Broward County, an entity that provides deaf interpreters for certain events. 

Troy Kotsur’s Oscar acceptance speech is worth a watch.  May want to have a box of tissues handy….

"Public defenders often have a natural inclination in the direction of the criminal."

That's Senator Ted Cruz ... I was going to write unbelievable, but I guess it's not.

 

Ted Cruz goes on a bizarre, lie-filled rant against public defenders:

"Public defenders often have a natural inclination in the direction of the criminal."

Reminder: every American is constitutionally guaranteed legal representation. pic.twitter.com/wg0hvwwydV

— American Bridge 21st Century (@American_Bridge) April 4, 2022

Magistrate Judge Melissa Damian sworn in (UPDATED WITH NOTE FROM WILLIAM ROMANISHIN)

 As fellow blogger John Byrne reported last week, our newest magistrate judge was sworn in on Friday.  Here's a picture, courtesy of Daniel Portnoy Photography:

 Congratulations to Judge Damian!

Update -- I loved this comment from longtime court reporter Bill Romanishin:

"Melissa" was one of many excellent law clerks I had the privilege of meeting and working with during my 28-year stint as Judge Ungaro's court reporter. I had intended to attend her investiture but was unable to. So I'm sharing a poem I wrote in Her Honor.

TRIBUTE TO MAGISTRATE JUDGE DAMIAN

My Dear Magistrate Judge "Melissa"
I have to say we sure did miss ya
When you left our chambers so long ago
After two years of clerking with Judge Ungaro

On you went to bigger and better things
The practice of law and all that that brings
Working diligently to file that legitimate motion
With confidence, intelligence, and great devotion

To the client who chose you for legal representation
To win their lawsuit and put an end to the litigation
Knowing you gave it your best with vigor and vim
Your reward being a judge's order that says you win

But who can forget your brownies that were so delish
And that secret recipe that you surely did relish
Myself perhaps the greatest fan of that sweet treat
Some might think that all we did in chambers is eat

But they will surely now soon discover
Their R&R has your name on the cover
Its content reflecting your expertise and precision
A judge seeing your name with deference to your decision

Knowing you rendered it with analysis and great thought
After listening to both sides in the courtroom where they fought
You exude great knowledge, forethought, and nothing less
So in this new position I know you'll give it your best!

Congratulations to Judge Melissa Damian

By John R. Byrne

Beautiful ceremony this Friday afternoon celebrating Judge Damian’s investiture.  Judge Ungaro gave a heartfelt speech about her former law clerk followed by funny and poignant speeches from Melanie Damian and the judge herself.  

Blogger David Markus was in absentia but received a shout out!

House Republicans block naming of federal courthouse in honor of Joseph Hatchett

In the last post, I said how rare it was for a bill to get bipartisan support.  This is a good example.  Even though Florida Senators Rubio and Scott pushed naming the federal courthouse in Tallahassee after Judge Hatchett, House Republicans shot it down.  Hatchett was an unbelievable trailblazer: veteran, first black federal appellate judge in the South, 5th Circuit judge, 11th Circuit judge, Florida Supreme Court Justice, etc.  I don't get it. 

238-187-1: House defeated bill naming US Courthouse & Federal Bldg in Tallahassee, FL for Joseph Hatchett, 1st Black FL Supreme Ct justice & 1st Black man to serve on federal appeals ct in Deep South, appointed to 5th Circuit Ct of Appeals. Bill failed to get 2/3rds vote to pass. pic.twitter.com/0mRUBfKaN7

— Craig Caplan (@CraigCaplan) March 30, 2022

From Politico:

The U.S. House on Wednesday blocked consideration of a bill pushed by Sen. Marco Rubio that would rename the federal courthouse and federal building located in downtown Tallahassee after Judge Joseph Woodrow Hatchett. Hatchett, who died in 2021, was the first Black person appointed to the Florida Supreme Court and eventually became a federal appeals court judge.

Both Rubio and Florida Sen. Rick Scott backed the effort to rename the courthouse after Hatchett with Rubio saying back in December that “his story is worthy of commemoration.” But it took a two-thirds vote — a process setup for legislation considered uncontroversial — for the House to take up the Senate bill and the effort failed largely due to opposition from House Republicans.

Ten of the 16 Republicans from Florida voted against Rubio’s bill: Reps.. Dunn, who is from Panama City, Gus Bilirakis, Vern Buchanan, Kat Cammack, Byron Donalds, Neil Dunn, Scott Franklin, Matt Gaetz, Brian Mast, John Rutherford and Greg Steube, who represents part of Tallahassee and in the most recent map vetoed by Gov. Ron DeSantis would have represented the entire city. Axios reported that Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-Ga.) was “behind the defeat of the bill because Clyde said he ‘let it be known’ to colleagues that Hatchett authored a 1999 opinion banning prayer at public school graduations."

"Prohibiting Punishment of Acquitted Conduct Act of 2021"

That's the name of the bill that passed in the House by a vote of 405-12.  Here's hoping for the Senate to pass it as well.  

Nothing passes with such bipartisan support anymore, so this is pretty big.  

From the House press release:

Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-09), Chairman of the Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties, today addressed the House of Representatives and urged passage of his bill, the Prohibiting Punishment for Acquitted Conduct Act. The bill later passed the House on a vote of 405 to 12.

Congressmen Cohen and Kelly Armstrong (N.D., at large) introduced the measure last year to end the unjust practice of judges increasing sentences based on conduct for which a defendant has not been convicted.

In his speech on the House floor today, Congressman Cohen said, in part:

“I want to thank Mr. Armstrong for working with me on it. He was a strong proponent of the bill and it is truly bipartisan and bicameral...I’ve got a few pages of speeches here but there’s no reasons to – a long time ago I was told – you make the sale and you sit down. The sale has been made, I believe.”

See those remarks, including part of the debate, here.

When the Judiciary Committee voted to advance the measure in November, Congressman Armstrong made the following statement:

“The right of criminal defendants to be judged by a jury of their peers is a foundational principle of the Constitution. The current practice of allowing federal judges to sentence defendants based on conduct for which they were acquitted by a jury is not right and is not fair.”

A similar measure introduced by Senators Dick Durbin (D-Illinois) and Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) was considered in the Senate Judiciary Committee last June and has been advanced to the full Senate.

For the Defense Season Finale: Ed Shohat for Carlos Lehder

FOR THE DEFENSE SEASON 4 FINALE, EPISODE 8

EDWARD SHOHAT FOR CARLOS LEHDER

It's the Season 4 Finale of For the Defense this morning with the wonderful Ed Shohat for Carlos Lehder -- one of the biggest (and longest -- 7 months!) drug trials in U.S. history.  You can check it out on all podcast platforms (including Apple, Spotify and Google. All other platforms can be accessed on this website.) 

 

It's been a really great and fun season, which included:

• Bruce Rogow for 2 Live Crew and Luther Campbell 
• Mark Geragos for Susan McDougal
• Juanita Brooks for John DeLorean
• Gerry Goldstein for Richard Dexter (Deep Throat)
• Geoffrey Fieger for Dr. Jack Kevorikian
• Brian Heberlig for Ali Sadr and
• John Gleeson for The Holloway Project. 

 

Thank you to all of these great lawyers for sitting down with me this season. Also thank you to Alfred Spellman and to Cliff Bumgardner for all of their support in producing this labor of love.

CLE CREDIT FOR FLORIDA LAWYERS:  If you are a Florida lawyer and have listened to the whole season, you qualify for 8 CLE credits, including 1 technology credit and 1 ethics credit.  Please use course number 2110734N and course title: "For the Defense", with David O. Markus-Season 4.  This is free CLE credit -- woohoo! All that I ask in return is that you spread the word and leave a review.

Thanks again for all of your feedback and suggestions throughout the course of the season. 
 

--David
 

Hosted by David Oscar Markus and produced by rakontur
 

If you have a friend that would like to receive these updates, please have them sign up here. 

CONTACT: info@rakontur.com, dmarkus@markuslaw.com

Happy birthday to Sandra Day O'Connor

She is 92, and sadly mostly withdrawn from public life because of the onset of dementia.

I wonder what she would think of the confirmation hearings and how Republicans acted and how they treated KBJ.

I wonder what she would think of the current Court and how they may undue Roe v. Wade.

I wonder what she would think about Ginni Thomas and January 6.