Category: Courts/justice
Coconino County Courts modify schedules and procedures
Courts will remain open Meteor Staff report. Monday March 23 State and County Court officials are modifying schedules and accepting motions to continue cases and adjust fine payment schedules in preparation for advancement of COVID-19 into…
Immigration Courts are telling employees to come to work — Ignoring health risks and local shelter-in-place orders
Interviews with 10 workers at immigration courts around the country reveal fear, contradictory messages and continuing perils for the employees. by Dara Lind March 20, 3:48 p.m. MST On Tuesday night — over a day after…
Judge blocks Trump effort to strip food assistance from 700,000 people
Chief Judge Beryl Howell of the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C. stressed the importance of such programs in the face of the coronavirus pandemic. by Andrea Germanos, staff writer A federal judge on Friday cited…
Scathing new government report on Trump family separation policy
“This report shows that high-level officials chose to ignore the warnings about the harms of family separation. It also raises serious questions about whether the lack of interagency communication has still not been fixed. Thousands of…
Appeals court rules Forest Service acted illegally opening Colorado forest to coal mining
“This is a victory for the remarkable wild forests of the North Fork Valley,” said Robin Cooley, the Earthjustice attorney who argued the case on behalf of the conservation groups. “The Court reversed the Forest Service’s…
ACLU challenges new border wall funds transfer
by Meteor staff Feb 28, 2020 The American Civil Liberties Union filed a new lawsuit today challenging the Trump administration’s transfer of an additional $3.8 billion in military funds for border wall construction. Congress did not…
Ninth Circuit blocks Trump forced return to Mexico policy
Yesterday a federal appeals court blocked the Trump administration’s policy that forced asylum seekers to return to Mexico and remain there indefinitely while their asylum applications were processed in the United States. The injunction is effective immediately….
Ninth Circuit tells Trump Admin to stop denying asylum seekers for crossing at unofficial locations
By Meteor Staff Feb 28, 2020 A federal appeals court (9th Circuit in San Francisco) has upheld a block on the Trump administration’s attempt to restrict asylum applications to ports of entry. The lawsuit, East…
Judge voids Trump oil and gas lease sales on nearly 1 million acres of Sage Grouse habitat
“The judge confirmed that it’s illegal to silence the public to expand fossil-fuel extraction.” by Andrea Germanos, staff writer Environmental advocates cheered a federal judge’s ruling Thursday that voided oil and gas leases on roughly one…
A key FBI photo analysis method has serious flaws, study says
After ProPublica’s reporting last year, scientists at UC Berkeley tested one of the FBI Lab’s photo analysis techniques, identifying bluejeans by the pattern on their seams, and found flaws that challenge the method’s reliability. by Ryan…
Stop calling harmful bigotry ‘Religious Freedom’
Anyone intolerant enough to disown a child is far less fit to parent than a gay person whose only “sin” is living authentically. By Jill Richardson | February 26, 2020 The Supreme Court is considering a…
Students raise $10,000 to get classmate released from Immigrant Detention Center
Students from Crystal Lake Central High school decided to take matters into their own hands when one of their own was facing deportation. Together, the students and staff of Crystal Lake Central High School raised over…
Prosecutor disavows Barr bigfooting of Stone sentencing.
Yesterday the Meteor published a story about Roger Stone being sentenced to 40 months in prison. Below, Rachel Maddow breaks down Justice Department prosecutor John D. Crabb’s declarations to Judge Amy Berman Jackson in Roger Stone…
Navajo Elders Object to Snowbowl Chairlift on Sacred Mountain
Threatened plant, the San Francisco Ragwort, which grows no where else in the World except on the San Francisco Peaks is in the way of Arizona Snowbowl’s new gondola style lift. By Shawn Mulford Censored News Flagstaff,…
Judge sentences Roger Stone to 40 months in prison
Stone is expected to be pardoned by President Donald Trump. by Eoin Higgins, staff writer This is a breaking news story… Stay tuned for updates. Longtime Republican operative and ally to Preisdent Donald Trump Roger Stone…
‘Our institutions are sounding alarms’: Federal Judges call emergency meeting over Trump interference with DOJ
“This is mind-blowing. I’ve never heard of anything like it. We are in full on crisis mode.” by Jake Johnson, staff writer, for CommonDreams.org The head of the 1,100-member Federal Judges Association on Monday called an…
Utah Representative proposes bill to stop Payday Lenders from taking bail money from borrowers
THE NEW DEBTORS PRISONS Debtors prisons were banned by Congress in 1833, but a ProPublica article that revealed the sweeping powers of high-interest lenders in Utah caught the attention of one legislator. Now, he’s trying to…
They loan you money. Then they get a warrant for your arrest.
THE NEW DEBTORS PRISONS High-interest loan companies are using Utah’s small claims courts to arrest borrowers and take their bail money. Technically, the warrants are issued for missing court hearings. For many, that’s a distinction without…
Hundreds of county jails detained immigrants for ICE
To hold immigrant detainees for ICE, state and local governments enter into agreements with ICE known as Intergovernmental Service Agreements. These agreements require ICE to pay the local government per diem for each bed that the…
Are big-time CEOs finally facing justice?
New Orleans Ok, I’ll admit right off the bat that it’s not a movement. It might not even be a trend, but perhaps we could call it a tendency. I’m talking about the fact that…
Rejecting ‘profoundly disturbing’ logic, judge reverses convictions of AZ border humanitarians
This is the second time in recent months that a federal judge has granted a faith-based defense raised by volunteers prosecuted for providing aid to migrants traveling through the dangerous Arizona desert. By Jessica Corbett, staff…
Supreme Court DACA decision isn’t just about Dreamers — it’s about whether the White House has to tell the truth
Morgan Marietta, University of Massachusetts Lowell The fate of 700,000 people facing deportation may hang on a new question facing the U.S. Supreme Court: Is the White House legally obligated to tell the whole truth when…
‘Our planet is seriously burning and the adults keep letting us down’: Ninth Circuit throws out youth climate case
“Seeking to quash this suit, the government bluntly insists that it has the absolute and unreviewable power to destroy the Nation,” wrote Judge Josephine Staton in a scathing dissent opinion. “My colleagues throw up their hands,…
Six children died in Border Patrol care. Democrats in Congress want to know why.
Video obtained by ProPublica contradicted the Border Patrol’s account of 16-year-old Carlos Gregorio Hernandez Vasquez’s death. Now, House Democrats are pressuring the agency to explain why six migrant children died under its care in less than…
