Law

Groups Sue Over Wyoming Environmental Censorship Laws

October 1, 2015 Staff, www.nrdc.org Resist! Environment, Freedom of Speech, Law

By Staff of NRDC - CHEYENNE, WY - A diverse coalition of conservation, press, academic and animal-protection groups filed suit today in federal court seeking to strike down a pair of Wyoming state laws that stifle freedom of speech and make citizen science illegal in the state. The suit claims that in violation of Americans’ constitutional rights, the laws punish communication to government agencies of photos and data taken on open land, criminalizing otherwise lawful advocacy in an attempt to undercut protection of public lands and the environment. The challenge to Wyoming’s data trespass rules was brought in the federal district court of Wyoming by Western Watersheds Project, National Press Photographers Association, Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) and Center for Food Safety.

Hearing On Planned Parenthood Embarasses Republican Lawmakers

October 1, 2015 Marina Fang, www.huffingtonpost.com Educate! Law, Reproductive Rights

By Marina Fang for The Huffington Post - WASHINGTON -- After enduring a marathon House hearing on Tuesday during which GOP representatives frequently interrupted her, Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richards accused them of political grandstanding and using the hearing to demonstrate how "they are obsessed with ending access to reproductive health care for women in America." "I'm being generous, calling it a hearing," she said in an interview with MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow. "I think the whole purpose of this hearing was to convince themselves that it is OK to deny women the ability to go to the health care provider of their choice, because 2.7 million women and men choose Planned Parenthood, and they were trying to say they wanted to take that choice away from them."

California Marijuana Legalization Initiative About To Be Filed

October 1, 2015 Phillip Smith, www.alternet.org Resist! Law, Marijuana

By Phillip Smith for Alternet - The long-awaited pot legalization initiative from the Coalition for Cannabis Policy Reform, also known asReformCA, is about to be filed with state officials. Backers of the initiative told the LA Weekly Tuesday that language for circulation will be filed with the attorney general's office in a matter of "days." There are a handful of legalization initiatives already filed and some already approved for signature gathering, but there is little sign that any of them have the financial and organizational resources to actually make the ballot. It takes some 365,000 valid voter signatures to qualify, a number that virtually demands paid signature gatherers at a cost that could run a million dollars or more. The ReformCA campaign, on the other hand, has the backing of both powerful and deep-pocketed national groups as the Drug Policy Alliance and theMarijuana Policy Project, as well as major state drug reform, civil rights, and labor groups, including the California NAACP and the United Food and Commercial Workers.

Judge Rejects SLAPP Suit Brought By Frackers Near Schools

September 26, 2015 Don Hopey, www.post-gazette.com Resist! Fracking, Law, Oil & Gas

By Don Hopey in The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette - A lawsuit by oil and gas leaseholders seeking to end opposition to shale gas drilling near the campus of the Mars Area School District was dismissed Thursday by Butler County Judge Marilyn J. Horan. Judge Horan, in a two-page decision, said the complaint lacked specifics and failed to link allegations to individual defendants. The lawsuit was characterized by defendants at a hearing last week as a “SLAPP suit,” a strategic lawsuit against public participation. The original lawsuit had sought punitive damages in excess of $500,000 from defendants, including the Delaware Riverkeeper, Clean Air Council and several local residents who have spoken in opposition and filed an appeal against new Middlesex Township zoning rules that open up more than 90 percent of the municipality to shale gas drilling.

Shaker Aamer To Be Transferred Home After 13 Yrs In Guantanamo

September 26, 2015 Elizabeth Beavers, www.blog.amnestyusa.org Educate! Guantanamo Bay, Law, Mass Incarceration, Torture

By Elizabeth Beavers in Amnesty USA - This is big news. At long last, the Obama administration has reportedly notified both Congress and the UK government that Guantanamo detainee Shaker Aamer will be transferred home to the UK after 13 years. Shaker’s case has for years compelled the Amnesty movement, along with many others, to call loudly for him to be transferred back to the UK. So today’s news is, to say the least, heartening. But as we celebrate, let us not forget – there is much more to be done, and not much time left to do it. The detention facility at Guantanamo Bay continues to house many who, like Shaker, have been approved for transfer. About half of the current detainees, in fact, are waiting for their own transfer. Although the U.S. national security agencies have conducted stringent reviews and cleared these people for transfer out of the prison, they are still there. They languish behind bars even though many have been cleared for years. Some, like Shaker, were cleared both by the Bush administration and now by the Obama administration.

Activists Hold Ground At City Hall For 11th Week

September 26, 2015 ZH, www.indybay.org Resist! California, Homelessness, Law, Politics

By ZH in IndyBay - Another sleepout protest at Santa Cruz city hall occurred this past Tuesday evening. Protesters have now spent 11 nights sleeping out in the open at city hall, in order to protest and draw attention to the Santa Cruz law which makes camping out in public or in one’s vehicle a citable offense. The law - which has been on the books in Santa Cruz since 1978 - has been criticized by protesters as unfairly targeting houseless people in the city who have no choice other than to sleep outdoors. The last Point in Time count - a nationally used method of surveying unhoused people - in the county registered 1964 individuals, far more than the 1172 shelter beds available to them. The sleepouts have regularly been visited by officers of the Santa Cruz police department, who arrived this past Tuesday evening around 11:00 pm. This week the police only wrote one citation, for a houseless protester found asleep beneath the city hall flagpole.

Arrests At Hancock Base Over Drone Child Killings

September 25, 2015 Upstate Drone Action Coalition, www.popularresistance.org Resist! Drones, Law, Wars and Militarism

By Upstate Drone Action Coalition - The United Nations General Assembly has declared today, September 21, 2015, an International World Day of Peace. As we stand here at the main gate of Hancock Air Base, its “hunter/killer” MQ9 Reaper drone arrogantly patrols Afghan skies 24/7 -- killing innocent children there and likely elsewhere. We U.S. citizens and taxpayers look on with horror at the millions of refugees fleeing airborne terror and are shamed by our unconsented complicity. Too many drone victims are precious and beloved children. We bring their images and their silenced voices to Hancock today. As members of the Upstate Drone Action Coalition, we come to this War Base – home of the Reaper and the 174th Attack Wing of the NY National Guard – seeking to prevent the murder of these innocents, both on this day and for all days. We are here to uphold law, both domestic and international.

The Women Who Won Net Neutrality

September 24, 2015 Marvin Ammori, www.slate.com Resist! FCC, Internet, Law, Net Neutrality

By Marvin Ammori in Slate - Because the victory at the FCC is so important for economic policy and was so shocking a political victory, many news organizations have profiled those responsible. Over the past months, in addition to me, many men have received credit—including Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler, President Barack Obama, HBO host John Oliver, and Tumblr CEO David Karp. While these men (and others, especially in the nonprofit community) played critical roles, none deserves more credit than the frequently overlooked women who helped lead the fight. Even if we guys managed to hog the credit afterward, a disproportionate number of women in the public interest, tech, and government communities had the guts and brains to lead the public to victory. They canceled annual vacations, worked around the clock, didn’t see friends and family as often as anyone would want—and ran a brilliant campaign. They should be recognized.

Mayan People’s Movement Defeats Monsanto Law In Guatemala

September 23, 2015 Christin Sandberg, www.intercontinentalcry.org Resist! Food and Agriculture, Guatemala, Indigenous Peoples, Law, Monsanto, Social Movements

By Christin Sandberg in Intercontinental Cry - On September 4th, after ten days of widespread street protests against the biotech giant Monsanto’s expansion into Guatemalan territory, groups of indigenous people joined by social movements, trade unions and farmer and women’s organizations won a victory when congress finally repealed the legislation that had been approved in June. The demonstrations were concentrated outside the Congress and Constitutional Court in Guatemala City during more than a week, and coincided with several Mayan communities and organizations defending food sovereignty through court injunctions in order to stop the Congress and the President, Otto Perez Molina, from letting the new law on protection of plant varieties, known as the “Monsanto Law”, take effect.

Police Crackdown On Movement Cost NY $1.5 Million Over 4 Years

September 23, 2015 Aaron Morrison, www.ibtimes.com Resist! Law, New York (NY), Occupy Wall Street

By Aaron Morrison in International Business Times - Paul Manheim strained Thursday to elicit excitement for a special occasion in Manhattan’s busy Financial District. “It’s our fourth birthday,” he told several passers-by, who didn't seem bothered by the low-key afternoon gathering. Manheim and other activists were expected to march Thursday night in celebration of the Occupy movement’s fourth anniversary at Zuccotti Park in New York City. The park was once the site of a two-month-long encampment staged by about 200 protesters whose anti-Wall Street message helped spawn similar groups around the world before it was driven out by city police. Four years ago, activists' calls for economic policy reforms that favor the 99 percent of Americans over the richest 1 percent started a national conversation about inequality. As some activists debate whether the movement harnessed immense media attention, it garnered real political influence.

Tale Of Two Movements: Marriage Equality & Marijuana Legalization

September 21, 2015 Hilary Bricken, www.abovethelaw.com Strategize! Law, Marijuana, Marriage Equality

By Hilary Bricken in Above The Law - Marijuana legalization is often compared to the repeal of alcohol prohibition in the 1930s. Many see marijuana following the same trajectory as alcohol, where the states, just as they did with alcohol, start with medical regimes and one-by-one create a patchwork of state-based marijuana regulations leading up to recreational use. Once states saw the significant tax collections that alcohol generated, they decided that regulating and taxing alcohol was superior to the chaos of prohibition. The repeal of the prohibition on alcohol culminated in the 21st Amendment to the Constitution, which ultimately delegated control over alcohol regulation and taxation to the states. Though marijuana could certainly wind up taking the same path as alcohol on the federal level, it might also go the way of same-sex marriages, especially since legalization of same-sex marriage just happened and the downfall of alcohol prohibition was over 80 years ago.

The Teflon Toxin Goes To Court

September 21, 2015 Sharon Lerner, www.theintercept.com Educate! Big Pharma, Law, Public Health, Science

By Sharon Lerner in The Intercept - As The Intercept reported in a three-part series last month, Bartlett’s is the first of some 3,500 personal injury and 37 wrongful death claims stemming from the 2005 settlement of a class-action suit filed on behalf of people who lived near the plant. Another trial over the chemical, which for decades was used in the production of Teflon and many other products, is scheduled for November. Together, the “bellwether” cases, six in all, are expected to give attorneys on both sides a sense of whether the rest of the claims will proceed or settle — and for how much. Bartlett’s attorneys, including Robert Bilott, who has been working on C8 since takingthe case of a West Virginia farmer named Wilbur Tennant in 1999, argue that DuPont is guilty of negligence, battery, and infliction of emotional harm for exposing Bartlett to C8 in her drinking water.

Occupy LA Attorneys Get $668,000 In Fees

September 19, 2015 Elizabeth Warmerdam, www.courthousenews.com Educate! Criminal Justice, Law, Los Angeles, Occupy

By Elizabeth Warmerdam in Courthouse News - Attorneys who secured Occupy L.A. protesters a $2.6 million settlement for mass detentions and "militaristic" police tactics were awarded $668,000 in fees by a federal judge. Cheryl Aichele and five other Occupy Los Angeles demonstrators filed a class action in 2012, claiming police used a "shock and awe" campaign to oust hundreds of protesters from the City Hall lawn on Nov. 30, 2011. Officers tightly handcuffed protesters and kept them on buses for 7 hours with no restrooms or water, the protesters said. "In response to requests to use bathroom facilities, they were told to urinate and defecate on themselves, which some were forced to do," according to the protesters, who had camped out around the clock for eight days to protest economic inequality and bank bailouts. Most of the nearly 300 arrested were kept in custody for more than 60 hours. Others had to post the maximum cash bail for a misdemeanor offense.

ACLU Chapter Files Lawsuit Against Hayward Police Over Footage

September 19, 2015 Darwin BondGraham, www.eastbayexpress.com Resist! Law, Media, police brutality

By Darwin BondGraham in East Bay Express - The ACLU of Northern California and the law offices of Amitai Schwartz filed a lawsuit against the Hayward Police Department on Tuesday, alleging that the agency is charging exorbitant fees that effectively prevent the public from obtaining police body camera video footage. The lawsuit comes as a result of a Public Records Act request filed by the National Lawyers Guild (NLG) in January of this year. The NLG was seeking video taken by Hayward police officers who were called into Berkeley in December 2014 to respond to Black Lives Matter protests. During those protests, police, including the Hayward PD, used less-than-lethal weapons against protesters. According to the lawsuit, the Hayward Police Department informed the NLG on May 15 that it would turn over approximately ten and a half hours of police body camera video only after the NLG paid $2,938.58.

Freddie Gray Died From Same Racial Injustice Of Court System

September 19, 2015 Julia Craven, www.huffingtonpost.com Educate! Baltimore, Criminal Justice, Freddie Gray, History, Law

By Julia Craven in The Huffington Post - Lawyers for the six Baltimore police officers charged in the April death of 25-year-old Freddie Gray recently attempted a similar maneuver. In May, they called for their clients' trials to be shifted outside the city, citing fears that national media coverage of Gray's death and the subsequent protests had tainted the jury pool. Last week, a judge ruled that the criminal trials will remain in the city for now and that the officers will be tried separately. There's still a chance that the trials could be moved if the judge concludes during juror selection that a unbiased jury can't be seated. But no matter where the trials take place, residents from West Baltimore -- where Gray lived -- aren't likely to sit on the jury.

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