New federal JNC

The Daily Business Review has an article today: New Federal JNC formed for Florida. "U.S. Sen. Mel Martinez, R-Fla., has announced the formation of a new statewide federal judicial nominating commission to provide the White House with recommendations for nominees to the federal courts and top law enforcement posts in Florida. According to Martinez’s office, the 56-member commission was named in cooperation with Bill Nelson, his Democrat counterpart, and other members of the Florida congressional delegation. That could signal a return to the bipartisan federal judicial nominating process that was in place throughout most of the 1990s when Republican Sen. Connie Mack and Democratic Sen. Bob Graham collaborated on federal appointments. In the last few years, the federal JNC was appointed by Gov. Jeb Bush and other leading Republican elected officials, including U.S. Rep. E. Clay Shaw Jr."

"The members from the Southern District include chair Justin Sayfie, Roberto Martinez, Barry Silverman, Tom Tew, Mark Schnapp, Luis Perez, Manny Kadre, Gonzalo R. Dorta, Robert Dunlap, Peter S. Sachs, Scott A. Srebnick, Charles Garcia, Dexter Lehtinen, Beverly A. Brame, Jillian Inmon, state Rep. Ellyn Bogdanoff, Thomas Panza, Steven E. Chaykin, Joseph Reiter, and Michael Hanzman. Their first task will be to help select a successor to former Miami U.S. Attorney Marcos D. Jimenez."

News and notes

1. More FEMA related news here. Yesterday Judge Altonaga sentenced a woman (represented by Miguel Caridad) to five years of probation for fraudulently collecting nearly $10,000 in federal disaster funds.

2. The Sun-Sentinel reports: "U.S. District Judge Donald Middlebrooks in Miami sentenced Ricardo Contreras, 33, to serve 18 months in prison and three years of supervised release, and Rogino Sánchez, 24, to 15 months in prison and two years of supervised release for illegally transporting people into the United States," almost two months after a young woman they snuck into the country hanged herself in Boynton Beach.

3. Fred Grimm writes about the Abramoff case here. He explains how the federal case is being used in "as a vise to squeeze" out some information about the deal and about the death of Gus Boulis.

News and notes

Lots going on:

1. We have an anthrax arrest.

2. We have a huge fraud case, which was written up in the New York Times. More good press for the Lewis Tein firm, which was appointed as the receiver. Guy Lewis is quoted: "These guys were slick. They would have given Barnum & Bailey a run for their money."*

3. And we have possible cooperation from Jack Abramoff in a murder investigation.

*P.T. Barnum and James Bailey (along with the Ringling Bros.) started the Greatest Show on Earth, which was also a great movie (it won movie of the year in 1952).

Update on the Polls

The Southern District of Florida blog has had two polls -- one for the next Supreme Court nominee from Florida (the President didn't listen to our push for a Floridian) and one for the biggest case in this District. There have been 237 votes for next Floridian Justice. 25% have voted for Stanley Marcus. Adalberto Jordan, 21%; Federico Moreno 15%; and Cecilia Altonaga 14%. I'll keep the poll up while we still have Supreme Court mania... The other poll hasn't received as many votes, but the current leader is Bush v. Gore with 30%, USA v. Falcon/Magulta 16%, and the case not filed Iran-Contra 15%. Perhaps two recent in-the-news cases, USA v. Abramoff and the Cuban Spy case, should have been on the list...

I'm also working on putting together links for important District websites that I will list on the blog. Please email me with any thoughts for links that should be included. I'll try to get that up on the site shortly. Thanks to those of you who have emailed me with suggestions for the blog and with tips on cases.

--David Markus

Tom DeLay, Jack Abramoff, and the Southern District

"Lobbyist Jack Abramoff, a key figure in investigations involving House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, was indicted Thursday by a federal grand jury on fraud charges arising from a 2000 deal to buy casino boats. The indictment, returned by a grand jury in Fort Lauderdale, charges that Abramoff and an associate, 36-year-old New York businessman Adam Kidan, used a fake wire transfer to defraud two lenders out of some $60 million to finance the deal for SunCruz Casinos." The House Ethics Committee is reviewing allegations that Abramoff paid some of DeLay's overseas travel expenses. Abramoff is represented by Neal Sonnett. Kidan is represented by Martin Jaffe. Read more at CNN or the Miami Herald or the Sun-Sentinel.