Thursday, April 30, 2020

All around good guy David Leibowitz to be nominated for Judge Moreno’s seat

I’m biased here since I’ve known him a long time, but David Leibowitz being nominated is great news for the District. He’s smart, hard-working, and well-rounded. 

He’s served as an AUSA in the SDNY (we won’t hold that against him) and in private practice as general counsel for Braman Motors. He went to U Penn for undergrad (where he roomed with former U.S. Attorney Ben Greenberg) and law school, and then got his Ph.D at the London School of Economics.

R
re here: https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/article242390041.html#storylink=cpy

Wednesday, April 29, 2020

BREAKING -- Aileen Cannon nominated to District Bench in SDFLA (Fort Pierce)

From the press release:
Aileen Mercedes Cannon, of Florida, to serve as Judge on the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida.

Aileen Cannon is an Assistant United States Attorney in the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida. Ms. Cannon currently serves in the Criminal Division of the Appellate Section, where she represents the United States before the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. Previously, Ms. Cannon served in the Major Crimes Division, prosecuting Federal firearms, narcotics, immigration, and fraud offenses. Earlier in her career, Ms. Cannon practiced civil litigation at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, LLP. Upon graduation from law school, Ms. Cannon served as a law clerk to Judge Steven M. Colloton on the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. Ms. Cannon earned her B.A. from Duke University, and her J.D., magna cum laude, from the University of Michigan Law School, where she was inducted into the Order of the Coif.

Fishy numbers at FDC-Miami

BOP is reporting that as of 04/28/2020, there are 1313 federal inmates and 335 BOP staff who have confirmed positive test results for COVID-19 nationwide.  Thirty have died.

The first female prisoner has died from coronavirus.  Her name was Andrea Bear and she was only 30.  It's a horrific story.  She had recently surrendered on a two-year sentence and was pregnant.  She had the baby while on a ventilator, and the baby survived.

Meantime, the numbers at FDC-Miami are strange.  There, we see 14 staff members who have tested positive, but no inmates.  How is that possible?  The explanation is pretty simple actually -- prisoners at FDC-Miami are not being tested.  I have heard this from numerous sources -- the clients themselves, guards, and others. 

So I call B.S. on the numbers, which local prosecutors are citing as a reason to deny release and bond.

In the good news category, go check out Don Samuel's new blog, Contemporary Legal Problems.  Don writes the 11th Circuit Handbook, that bible we all use everyday to kickstart our research.  While blog numbers are way down because of Twitter and other social media, it's nice to have such a great addition to the blogosphere!



Monday, April 27, 2020

11th Circuit tackles abortion case during COVID crisis

I missed this one last week.  Judge Jordan, joined by Martin and Rosenbaum upheld a preliminary injunction against an Alabama law that was being interpreted as prohibiting abortions during corona.

Bloomberg law summarizes the opinion here:
Alabama will remain partially blocked from imposing new restrictions on abortions in name of public health during the coronavirus pandemic, the Eleventh Circuit said.
Alabama State Health Officer Scott Harris mandated the postponement of “all dental, medical, or surgical procedures” except those “necessary to treat an emergency medical condition” or “to avoid serious harm from an underlying condition or disease, or necessary as a part of a patient’s ongoing and active treatment.”
The order is currently in effect until April 30, but may be extended. A violation would be a misdemeanor.
Planned Parenthood, the Alabama Women’s Center, and other abortion providers sued, and a federal court issued a preliminary injunction. It doesn’t entirely block the state from enforcing the order against abortion providers. But it does bar the state from “failing to allow healthcare providers to consider and base their decisions as to whether to provide an abortion without delay on certain factors,” including whether a delay would cause the patient to lose her legal right to an abortion under Alabama law after 20 weeks of pregnancy.
The injunction will remain in place, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit said.
“The state argues that the order is a valid exercise of its power to issue public health orders during an emergency,” the court said. “But just as constitutional rights have limits, so too does a state’s power to issue executive orders limiting such rights in times of emergency.”

Friday, April 24, 2020

Judge Goodman continues great work on COVID-19 jurisprudence

Judge Goodman puts ICE's feet to the fire in this report and recommendation to Judge Cooke.  The Miami Herald covers it here:

A Miami federal magistrate judge recommended Wednesday that U.S immigration officials “substantially” reduce detainee populations at three South Florida detention centers as COVID-19 positive cases continue to climb behind bars.

In his 69-page recommendation — which still needs to be reviewed by U.S. District Judge Marcia G. Cooke — Magistrate Judge Jonathan Goodman said U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement should be required to prove that it is accelerating the release process for non-criminal detainees in an effort to stop the spread of the coronavirus. Those who qualify for release would be subject to detention alternatives like parole, telephone monitoring, physical check-ins or GPS monitoring through an electronic ankle bracelet.

Goodman stopped short of recommending that roughly 1,200 detainees be released from the Krome Processing Center in Miami-Dade and Broward Transitional Center in Pompano Beach and the Glades County detention center in Moore Haven. A lawsuit filed by immigration advocates sought an order for ICE to release as many as 90 percent of the detainees in the three facitilies. Goodman said the court does not have the authority to issue such an order.

***

“To eliminate any confusion, this [report] does not technically require ICE to actually release anyone. It requires ICE to only conduct its own, internal review in a good faith effort to cause the release of a substantial number of detainees,” Goodman added. “Thus, ICE would not be violating an order if it refused or otherwise failed to release detainees at the three centers. That hypothetical result would be horribly disappointing and extremely distressing, and it would undermine the spirit of this [order].”


Goodman said that “to encourage ICE to be reasonable and to help the court evaluate whether ICE is acting in good faith,” the agency should be required to also submit twice-weekly reports on how many of its detainees — and at which of the three centers — have no prior criminal convictions and no pending criminal charges, as well as those with criminal histories.

Goodman’s recommendation, filed in response to a lawsuit filed by immigration advocates last week seeking the immediate release of 90 percent of the detainees at the three South Florida centers, says the order he’s recommending would require ICE to immediately “make all efforts to reduce the population to 75 percent of capacity at each of the three detention centers” within two weeks, a “percentage sufficient to permit social distancing.”

Read more here: https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/immigration/article242206461.html#storylink=cpy