Courts

Federal Court Throws Out Another Key ACP Permit

August 7, 2018 Staff, Sierraclub.org Resist! Courts, Pipelines, Virginia

Richmond, VA — The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals today threw out the National Park Service’s permit for the Atlantic Coast Pipeline in a case argued by the Southern Environmental Law Center on behalf of the Sierra Club, Defenders of Wildlife and the Virginia Wilderness Committee. The Court also issued its opinion regarding a Fish and Wildlife permit that it vacated earlier. “This is an example of what happens when dangerous projects are pushed through based on politics rather than science,” said Southern Environmental Law Center attorney DJ Gerken. “This pipeline project was flawed from the start and Dominion and Duke’s pressure tactics to avoid laws that protect our public lands, water and wildlife are now coming to light.” The ruling entered by a panel of three judges means that if ACP developers continue construction on the 600-mile route from West Virginia, through Virginia and in North Carolina, they will be operating without two crucial federal permits.

Truth On Trial – Kings Bay Plowshares Court Report On August 2, 2018 Hearing

August 6, 2018 Bill Quigley, Nukeresister.org Resist! Courts, Nuclear Weapons

The theme of the hearing was clear: Thou Shall Not Kill and these weapons will end life as we know it. Speaking to the court were Mark Colville, Stephen Kelly SJ, Anna Lellelid, Stephanie McDonald, Patrick O’Neill, Bill Quigley, and Carmen Trotta. Everyone who wanted to speak was given several opportunities to speak and truth was proclaimed. The arguments were greatly assisted by sworn statements from Professor Francis Boyle, Physicians for Social Responsibility Director Jeff Carter, Catholic Bishop Thomas Gumbleton, and US Navy Captain Thomas Rogers. The first argument was that Trident nuclear weapons are illegal under U.S. domestic law. The weapons on one of the several Kings Bay submarines have destructive power hundreds of times more powerful than the nuclear weapons dropped on Hiroshima or Nagasaki.

Judge John D. Bates: 5 Fast Facts You Need To Know

August 6, 2018 Kate Prengel, Heavy.com Resist! Courts, DACA, Immigration, Undocumented

John D Bates is the federal district judge who has ordered the Trump administration to reinstate the DACA program within 20 days. DACA, or Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, is the program that defers deportation for certain people who arrived illegally in the US as children. Last September, President Trump announced plans to end DACA. He also challenged Congress to write a new law that would allow DACA recipients to remain in the US legally. But after the White House annnounced its plans to phase out DACA, courts ordered the administration to continue accepting new DACA applicants. On Friday, the 72 year old Judge Bates said that the administration must fully re-instate DACA. But he gave the White House a 20 day window in which to appeal his decision.

European Court Of Justice: Gene-Editing Will Be Regulated In Same Way As GMOs

July 27, 2018 Staff, Sustainablepulse.com Create! Courts, Europe, GMOs, New Economy, Regulation

The European Court of Justice (ECJ) today published its ruling on the legal status of food and feed crops derived from certain new genetic modification techniques. It gave clear confirmation that organisms from these new gene editing techniques are covered by existing EU GMO regulation. Reacting to the decision, which corroborates the January 2018 opinion of one of the court’s Advocates General, Corporate Europe Observatory’s agribusiness campaigner Nina Holland said: “This is a big victory for the environment, farmers and consumers. It clarifies that EU decision makers have to ensure that products from these new techniques are assessed for potential food safety and environmental risks, and that they are properly labelled as GMOs.

[Act Out! 169] – The Latest Water Protector Battles + Monsanto’s First Day In Court

July 19, 2018 Eleanor Goldfield, Occupy.com Resistance Report Courts, Monsanto, Water Protectors

Monsanto has avoided jury trials for years. Despite continuously mounting evidence to show that glyphosate, a main ingredient in many of their products, causes cancer, they’ve avoided having to answer for their cover-ups and crimes. Last week, one man got them in court. And the day after, hundreds of others got the green light to do the same. This is big. Also in the courts, hundreds of water protectors still face state and federal charges for their involvement in the protests against the Dakota Access Pipeline at Standing Rock in 2016. Leyola Cowboy and Terry Janis join us from the Water Protector Legal Collective to talk about ongoing trials, the crackdown on dissent and the human rights of protecting your community and your water.

Hundreds Of Cancer Cases Against Monsanto Set To Go To Trial, Federal Judge Rules

July 14, 2018 Ashley Curtin, Nationofchange.org Resist! Cancer, Courts, Monsanto

Liability lawsuits against Monsanto will proceed after a federal judge ruled in favor of plaintiffs. Close to 400 lawsuits against the company’s flagship product, Roundup, allege that glyphosate – an herbicide used in the product – can cause non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, which the company failed to warn consumers and other users about. Since the International Agency for Research on Cancer, a division of the World Health Organization, “announced that two pesticides, including glyphosate, are ‘probably carcinogenic to humans'” in 2015, Monsanto now faces numerous lawsuits by farmers, landscapers and consumers, NPR reported. U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria in San Francisco ruled, “the plaintiffs have presented evidence from which a reasonable jury could conclude that glyphosate can cause NHL at human-relevant doses” and “Monsanto’s motion for summary judgment is denied.”

Ecuador’s Constitutional Court Rules Against Chevron, In Favor Of Indigenous Communities

July 12, 2018 Staff, Telesurtv.net Resist! Chevron, Courts, Ecuador, Indigenous Peoples

Ecuador’s Constitutional Court rejected Chevron’s request to revise a national court ruling that sentenced it to pay US$9.5 billion in environmental and social reparations to the communities affected during its operations in the Ecuadorean Amazon, between 1964 and 1992. “Historic day. After over 25 years, the Constitutional Court ruled in favor of those affected by Texaco. Congratulations to our sisters and brothers at @Chevron_Toxico. Without a doubt you are an example of dignity and perseverance. Let’s go for more! #TexacoGuilty,” the Center for Economic and Social Rights tweeted Tuesday night. In the resolution published Tuesday, the court justified its decision arguing “there is no violation of constitutional rights.” Chevron responded saying the court’s ruling is “consistent with the pattern of denial of justice, fraud, and corruption against the firm in Ecuador.”

Donald Trump’s Immigration Policy Forces Children To Defend Themselves Before A Judge

July 11, 2018 Staff, Granma.cu Educate! Children, Courts, Immigration, Policy, Trump Administration

As a result of the immigration policy of Donald Trump, immigrant minors are being summoned in the courts without lawyers, that is, they must defend themselves. The newspaper USA Today explains the story of a child under three years of age who appeared before the judge and had to defend himself only to avoid deportation. He tried to enter with his father, but separated them for illegally crossing to EE. UU. A video of the NGO Unaccompanied Children, which works with immigrant communities since 1978, has gone viral in the last hours in social networks, for sharing a recreation of these trials to minors, reports the Catalan newspaper El Periódico. "When children appear in immigration court alone, nine out of ten are deported. When they appear with a lawyer, the immigration courts have allowed almost half of the children to stay in the United States, "the video points out.

Kentucky Governor Retaliates Against Poor After Court Rejects Medicaid Changes

July 10, 2018 Michael Corcoran, Truthout.org Educate! Courts, Kentucky, Medicaid, Poverty

GOP cruelty is not new, but it seems to be reaching new depths. Case in point: In Kentucky, Gov. Matt Bevin is now using the lives of Medicaid patients like pieces on a chessboard in an act of revenge and political spectacle. Governor Bevin’s administration announced that he would deprive Medicaid patients of dental and vision benefits, effective immediately. This unilateral (and some say illegal) maneuver impacts 460,000 peoplein Kentucky. This occurred just hours after a federal court stopped his Kentucky Health plan, which would throw people off Medicaid with work requirements, deductibles and other administrative and economic obstacles. The case in question is Stewart v. Azar. Through the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the Trump administration announced new guidelines in January to remake the program in the GOP’s image.

Two Boys Sue The U.S. Government For Separating Them From Their Fathers

June 27, 2018 Ryan Devereaux, Theintercept.com Educate! Courts, ICE, Immigration, Lawsuit, Repression, Undocumented

INSIDE THE HEARTLAND International Children’s Rescue Center in Chicago, Illinois, two young boys sit and wait. One is 15 years old. The other is 9. Their fathers are more than a thousand miles away, at two for-profit detention centers on the border. The two families came from Brazil, seeking asylum in the U.S. Instead, they were locked up. It’s been nearly a month since the four were separated. Only one of the boys has been able to speak to his father and even then, the conversation was brief. On Wednesday, as President Donald Trump prepared to sign an executive order with potentially sweeping implications for immigrant detention, the boys became the latest plaintiffs to challenge the administration’s family separation practices. Their complaints, filed in Chicago, appeal to the same critical federal consent decree, known as the Flores settlement, that the president is now seeking to circumvent.

Court Orders Mountain Valley Pipeline To Stop Construction

June 22, 2018 Staff, Sierraclub.org Resist! Courts, Pipelines, Virginia

Under section 404 of the Clean Water Act, the Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) is charged with issuing a permit for the pipeline’s stream crossings that allows the project’s builders to trench through the bottom of those streams, including the Greenbrier, Elk, and Gauley rivers, and fill the crossings with dirt during construction of the pipeline. The permit issued to the Mountain Valley Pipeline by the Corps is commonly known as a “nationwide permit 12,” which takes a one-size-fits-all approach. The MVP is a 300-mile-long, 42-inch pipeline requiring a 125-foot right of way construction zone that would cross streams, rivers and other waters in West Virginia and Virginia more than 1,000 times. Because MVP’s own documents shows it cannot meet the conditions required under the nationwide 404 permit in West Virginia...

From Barricades To Courtrooms: The Fight Against A Fracked Gas Future In New York State

June 19, 2018 By Katherine O’Donnell, Truthout.org Resist! Courts, Fracking, New York (NY)

Today, the Stop Competitive Power Ventures (CPV) campaign, the long-standing fight against fracked gas in New York State, is generating a lot of heat, from weekly local vigils and arrests at the state capitol, to political races for attorney general, state senate and governor. In November, Stop CPV defense attorney Michael Sussman will run for New York State attorney general on the Green Party ticket; defendant and key Stop CPV organizer Pramilla Malick is running as a Democrat for state senate in the 42nd district, and Cynthia Nixon, who has joined the CPV protest, will challenge the Governor, Andrew Cuomo, all contesting his administration and its greenwashed fracked gas energy plan. A critical part of STOP CPV’s movement against the expansion of the state’s fracked gas infrastructure is a 2017 trial in which the defense argued a new project would not only be detrimental to the residents of New York, but the world at large.

More Acquittals, Dropped Charges In Inauguration Protesters’ Trials

June 8, 2018 John Zangas, Dcmediagroup.us Resist! Courts, Inauguration, Protesters Arrested, Repression, Resist J20

Washington, DC–A defendant in the Inauguration Day protest trials was found not guilty by jury trial on Monday. Casey Webber was acquitted of all felony and misdemeanor charges against him stemming from the mass-arrests of 230 protesters during January 20 protests. The trials have come to be known as the J20 trials. Three other defendants are still waiting jury verdicts in the trial, which began on May 14. The jury told Judge Katherine Knowles on Tuesday, that they were deadlocked but she returned them to the jury room until they reached verdicts. Webber said that though his trial was over and has resulted in a positive personal outcome, he did not feel any relief due to seeing the three other defendants in his trial anguishing over the possible outcome.

NoDAPL Water Protector Sentenced To Thirty-Six Months By Federal Judge

June 2, 2018 Staff, Unicornriot.ninja Resist! #NoDAPL, Courts, Repression, Water Protectors

Little Feather has already served fifteen months that will count as time served. The federal sentencing comes as Red Fawn Fallis awaits sentencing on June 25th, 2018 and Michael “Rattler” Markus awaits sentencing on May 30th, 2018. Currently, Dion Ortiz and James “Angry Bird” White are preparing for federal trial. Brandon J Nastacio “Bravo One” and Brandon Aaron Miller-Castillo are also facing federal charges. The first federal sentencing comes alongside ongoing state-level trials. According to the Water Protector Legal Collective website, as of May 2 2018, there have been 835 state criminal cases connected to the #NoDAPL movement, of those: 328 have been dismissed, 24 acquitted at trial, 115 received a pretrial diversion, 127 have reached plea agreement and 16 have been convicted at trial.

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