By Donald H. Harrison
SAN DIEGO – The Senate Judiciary Committee screens federal judicial candidates nominated by the President of the United States. It was in the news this week, along with Justices of the Supreme Court and district court judges in Amarillo, Texas and New York City. In San Diego, meanwhile, a Superior Court judge was extolling the virtues of a courtroom dog.
NATIONAL
Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Connecticut) suggested on MSNBC that Democrats who have urged U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein to resign are maneuvering to have a favorite candidate appointed to take her place. Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Silicon Valley, who issued the first call for resignation is backing fellow Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Oakland) as a candidate for Feinstein’s seat in the 2024 Murphy also said that some male senators also have been absent for lengthy periods of time, like Republican Senate Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, and no one has demanded their resignations.
U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-New York) said he will comply with a request by Feinstein to temporarily replace her on the Senate Judiciary Committee pending her full recovery from a case of shingles. He said the Senate will be asked “next week to allow another Democratic senator to temporarily serve on the Judiciary Committee.”
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U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said Thursday the Justice Department will appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court a decision made by a federal judge in Amarillo, Texas, banning the use of the abortion pill mifepristone. That decision by Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk was partially upheld by a federal appeals court, which okayed banning the abortion pill from being mailed. Garland said, “The Justice Department strongly disagrees with the Fifth Circuit’s decision in Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine v. FDA to deny in part our request for a stay pending appeal. We will be seeking emergency relief from the Supreme Court to defend the FDA’s scientific judgment and protect Americans’ access to safe and effective reproductive care.”
In an unrelated case, Garland said 21-year-old Jack Teixeira has been arrested without incident on charges of having leaked the highly classified documents that compromised U.S. relations with Ukraine, South Korea and Israel. Teixeira is a low-ranking member of the Massachusetts Air National Guard. How he obtained the documents is under investigation.
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U.S. Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan spoke for the court Thursday in denying an appeal from three private college groups that were named in Sweet v. Carolina, a $6 billion student loan forgiveness suit that called for the reimbursement of students who could demonstrate that schools had defrauded them through false promises about their educational programs. The Biden Administration’s Education Department approved the settlement for hundreds of thousands of borrowers, but Lincoln Educational Services, Everglades College, and American National University said including their names with dozens of other institutions unfairly harmed their reputations. The order from the Supreme Court read: “The application for stay presented to Justice Kagan and by her referred to the Court is denied.”
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Federal Judge Lewis A. Kaplan, hearing pretrial motions in a civil case in which former President Donald Trump is accused by Elle columnist E. Jean Carroll of raping and defaming her, declined to delay the trial scheduled in New York for April 25. Kaplan did permit Trump’s defense team to schedule a one-hour deposition of Carroll to learn who is helping to finance her suit. Trump’s attorney Alina Habba said the defense had only recently learned that American Future Republic, which is financed by LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman, is helping to pay Carroll’s lawyers – a fact, Habba said, that might reflect upon Carroll’s credibility and motive.
SAN DIEGO COUNTY
Political consultant Jared Sclar has issued a news release illustrating how a political position at the top of a ladder can lead to people below deciding to move up a rung. After County Supervisor Nathan Fletcher decided to withdraw from the 2024 race for the State Senate seat that Toni Atkins will retire from because of term limits, Assemblywoman Akilah Weber announced she would seek the office. That prompted La Mesa City Councilman Colin Parent to announce he will seek Weber’s Assembly seat. And now, with the endorsement of Parent and others, Lauren Cazares has announced she will run for Parent’s council seat. Cazares also is endorsed by La Mesa Councilwoman Patricia Dillard, La Mesa City Treasurer Matt Strabone, Lemon Grove Councilwoman Alysson Snow, and several Democratic party officials. Before being elected to the Assembly seat once held by her mother, California Secretary of State Shirley Weber, Akilah Weber had been a member of the La Mesa City Council.
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First baseman Rowdy Tellez hit a two-run homer and drove in a third run with a sacrifice fly Thursday night to lift the visiting Milwaukee Brewers to a 4-3 victory over the San Diego Padres in a ten-inning game at Petco Park.
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Superior Court Judge Brad Weinreb, supervising judge of the North County courts, has only compliments about “Ollie” who appears before him regularly. “He’s a very sweet dog, very calm and soothing,” Weinreb told San Diego Union-Tribune columnist Diane Bell. The specially trained, 8-year-old Golden Retriever is a calming influence on witnesses—young and old—who may be frightened of testifying. Ollie stands with witnesses as they are sworn in, then lies at their feet in the witness box, out of sight of the jurors. “For many people, coming to court is a pretty traumatic experience,” Weinreb told Bell. “We, as judges, want to prevent additional trauma from occurring to victims.” Ollie has never disrupted a courtroom, although, Weinreb chuckled, “occasionally I think I’ve caught Ollie snoring.”
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Former San Diego Police Chief Shelley Zimmerman weighed in on a proposed ordinance that would prohibit unhoused people from camping on public property if shelter beds are available. The measure which was forwarded to the City Council on a 3-1 vote by its Land Use and Housing Committee on Thursday, April 13, also would outright ban camping near schools, shelters, trolley parks, city parks and riverbanks. Zimmerman commented, “As someone who has seen the devastating effects of homelessness firsthand, Councilman [Stephen] Whitburn’s proposal is a step in the right direction, but it does not go nearly far enough to address the scale and magnitude of the crisis we are facing. We need to protect San Diegans both homeless and otherwise in every neighborhood, which includes enforcement paired with additional shelter capacity in order to make a difference.”
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Donald H. Harrison is editor emeritus of San Diego Jewish World. He may be contacted via donald.harrison@sdjewishworld.com