Cheers to Cathy Wade Babyak

 The Heart and Soul of the SDFLA is retiring.  Congrats to Cathy Wade Babyak on an amazing run in the Clerk's Office. 

Zoom Hearing Gone Wrong?

By John R. Byrne

Another reason to have cameras in the courtroom? Videos like this one. Man with suspended license--who is also facing charges for driving with a suspended license--attends a hearing by Zoom....while driving.... 

Maybe not quite to the level as the cat-lawyer video from a while back but close. 

"Calm Down." (UPDATED)

 That was Judge Cannon to the Special Counsel's office in last week's hearing on Nauta's Motion to Dismiss for Prosecutorial Misconduct in the Trump documents case.  CNN has the coverage here:

Nauta claims that he was criminally charged in the case as retaliation for declining to cooperate with the Justice Department’s investigation into the former president’s retention of classified documents at his estate.



This photo from the US Department of Justice allegedly shows Walt Nauta moving boxes inside former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida. From US Department of Justice

“I had been recommended for a judgeship, that’s beyond dispute,” Woodward said Wednesday. “There was a folder about defense counsel on the table” during that meeting, he said, claiming Bratt referenced that judgeship recommendation.

“I think the implication was that I was to travel and convince Mr. Nauta to cooperate with the investigation, and if I didn’t that, there would be consequences,” Woodward said.

Prosecutor David Harbach then rose and accused Woodward of engaging in “procedural gamesmanship” by making a “garbage argument” about the meeting.

“Mr. Woodward’s story of what happened at that meeting is a fantasy,” Harbach shouted, banging his hand on the lectern in front of him. “It did not happen.”

The heated proceedings Wednesday come as the Manhattan hush money case against Trump nears its conclusion and a new phase of pretrial activity gets underway in the federal classified documents prosecution in Florida. 

Wow.  Too bad we don't have cameras in the courtroom to see it. Meantime, Special Counsel filed a motion to modify the conditions of release to partially gag the former President based on his claims that the search team was "locked and loaded" and ready to take him out, via The Hill.   Trump has responded asking for sanctions.  Ah, fun times. (UPDATED -- Judge Cannon denied the Special Counsel's motion for lack of meaningful conferral and also denied Trump's motion for sanctions.)

All of this on the eve of closing arguments in New York.  I was asked on MSNBC last week how I would close for Trump.  Here's my one minute summary.

Jewish American Heritage Month (and more)

 Last week the Southern District of Florida held an amazing event celebrating Jewish American Heritage Month.  Judge Beth Bloom moderated a panel that included: Judge Luck, Judge Scola, and Judge Altman.  The event had almost 400 attendees and the support of the community.  It was lovely to see.  Here's a picture of the committee:

Judge Altman is making other news -- this NY Times article covers his ruling this week "block[ing] part of a Florida law that criminalized transporting into the state anyone who lacked lawful immigration status, raising new legal questions for other states pursuing similar measures."

More:

The Florida law was intended to discourage unauthorized immigrants from living and working in the state, and organizations that work with immigrants say many undocumented workers have left the state in recent months.

The injunction puts on hold a key enforcement component of the legislation while the lawsuit against it proceeds. The law, which into effect last July, was championed by Gov. Ron DeSantis as he ran for the Republican nomination for president.

The Farmworker Association of Florida sued the state in July, claiming that the component of the law related to transportation into the state was unconstitutional and that its 12,000 members would “suffer irreparable harm.”

They could, the group said, be separated from their families, unable to attend lifesaving medical appointments and prevented from driving to immigration agencies overseeing their cases because of the risk of jail time.

Judge Altman on Thursday ordered further briefing on the scope of the injunction. That decision was wrongly reported by the Herald as “revers[ing] his own ruling.”  That’s not right.

NIL Goes to Federal Court

By John R. Byrne

A few years ago, star high school quarterback Jaden Rashada was set to play football for the Miami Hurricanes. Then the Florida Gators opened their wallets, allegedly luring him to de-commit from UM with the promise a $13.85M deal (UM had only come up with an endorsement package worth $9.5M). But the money never materialized, with Rashada ultimately heading to Arizona State with no NIL deal in place. Now he's suing the Gators in federal court, including head coach Billy Napier. Case landed before Judge Casey Rodgers. Have to think there'll be more of these in the coming years. Complaint below.

 Rashada Complaint by John Byrne on Scribd

Clerk of Court Angela Noble breaks up with Brightline

 Her breakup letter to the Palm Beach Post starts this way:

Dear Brightline,

How did we get here? When I moved to Florida, I swore off public transportation forever. For years, I enjoyed a short commute, and life was good. Then you came along. You appealed to my sensibilities, manipulated my emotions, and lured me away with false promises of a “carefree, car free ride.” You were starting a new business and I was considering a new opportunity of my own. You exploited my proclivity for public service and pushed me toward a professional opportunity far from home. Of course, the choice was mine, but you bear some responsibility. I relied on your support.

Blame your wife!

 Oooof, both Justice Alito and Sen. Menendez are blaming their wives.

Alito says his wife is to blame for the upside flag flying outside his house.

And Menendez says his wife is to blame for all of the gifts.

From the NY Times:

It is a tale as old as Adam and Eve: A husband, faced with accusations of misconduct, blames the wife.

It is also a time-honored, bipartisan political strategy. This week, Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. and Senator Bob Menendez of New Jersey pointed ringed fingers at their wives for episodes that have landed each man in political or legal trouble.

“It was briefly placed by Mrs. Alito,” Justice Alito, one of the Supreme Court’s most conservative members, told The New York Times in explaining an upside-down American flag — a “Stop the Steal” symbol of protest by Donald J. Trump’s supporters — flying on a pole in the family’s front lawn in the days before President Biden’s 2021 inauguration. The justice’s wife, Martha-Ann Alito, was in a feud with neighbors at the time over an anti-Trump sign, The Times reported.

In the case of Mr. Menendez, a Democrat, it was his lawyer who did the finger pointing. On Wednesday, in a federal courtroom in Manhattan, the lawyer, Avi Weitzman, blamed the senator’s wife and her financial troubles for what prosecutors have described as a bribery scheme involving foreign governments and hundreds of thousands of dollars in gifts.

 So what do you think about the blame-the-wife strategy? Will it work?

 

Breaking- we have two new Magistrate Judges

 The judges of the Southern District of Florida met today and voted for our two newest magistrate judges. Congrats to Ellen D'Angelo and Enjolique Lett!!