White House Faces Political Dilemma on Health Law Challenge

The Obama administration now faces a key legal and political dilemma -- what to do about the recent decision from a federal appeals court that said the new law's mandate that every uninsured American must buy health insurance is unconstitutional.

Many political analysts think the White House will try to delay Supreme Court consideration as long as possible.

"They definitely don't want to see it go to the Supreme Court until after the elections,” said Kirsten Powers, a former Democratic operative and a Fox News analyst. “So my expectation is they would do whatever they can to slow walk this so that this does not get to the Supreme Court where possibly the individual mandate could be struck down which would be very damaging for the administration."

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Judge Allows Limited Release of Data on Worcester Farms

ANNAPOLIS - An Anne Arundel County judge has ruled an environmental group may view records on farmers’ compliance with a state pollution law, but only after key information has been deleted.

Circuit Court Judge William C. Mulford II ordered the Maryland Department of Agriculture to redact any information identifying individual farmers from documents it is releasing concerning “nutrient management plans,” which spell out how much animal manure or chemical fertilizer is being spread on fields to grow crops.

The Assateague Coastkeeper had filed a Public Information Act request last year seeking a variety of records on Worcester County farms, including their compliance with a 1997 law requiring them to have and follow plans for limiting how much fertilizer they use so it won’t pollute the Chesapeake Bay.

The Maryland Farm Bureau went to court to block the state from releasing the information, which it argued was confidential under the law. In a July 14 order, Judge Mulford declared that the state may disclose if farmers are complying, but must redact any information that might be in the plan, including the farm’s size and what it grows.

Jane Barrett, director of the University of Maryland environmental law clinic, which represents the Worcester group, said she was still studying the order and had not decided whether to appeal.

from Kim Walker @ the Baltimore Sun

Man Pleads Guilty to Pushing Stranger Into Inner Harbor

BALTIMORE - A 21-year-old Pasadena man pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter Thursday for shoving a stranger who couldn't swim into the Inner Harbor in 2008 — an act previously characterized by one Baltimore judge as complete stupidity.

Wayne Black, who was 18 when he pushed 22-year-old Ankush Gupta into the water and ran, will be sentenced to four years in prison at his sentencing, scheduled for Aug. 30, per an agreement cut with Baltimore Circuit Judge M. Brooke Murdock.

His mother dabbed tears from her eyes as the deal was done, while Gupta's friends and family sat stone-faced on the other side of the courtroom.

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Jackson Executed for 1992 Ax Murder

SMYRNA, DE — Delaware carried out its first execution since 2005 early Friday, putting to death a man who was convicted of killing a woman with an ax during a burglary nearly two decades ago.

Robert Jackson III was pronounced dead at 12:12 a.m. after being given a lethal injection at the James T. Vaughn Correctional Center in Smyrna.

Jackson, 38, lifted his head when asked for his last words shortly after midnight. Searching the window between the execution chamber and witnesses, he asked if the two children of the victim, Elizabeth Girardi, were watching.

"Are the Girardis in there? Christopher and Claudia, if you are in there, I've never faulted you for your anger. I would have been mad myself," he said, going on to deny he killed their mother.

He suggested that his accomplice in the burglary, Anthony Lachette, was the killer.

"Tony's laughing his ass off right now because you're about to watch an innocent man die. This isn't justice," he said before putting his head back down and closing his eyes.

When the execution began, Jackson started making a snoring sound, his lips sputtered and his breath began to quicken. Prison officials closed the curtain between the execution chamber and witnesses after about four minutes to check whether he was conscious, calling out twice, "Inmate Jackson, can you hear me?" There was no response.

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Kucinich Calls For DOJ To Investigate Ratings Agencies

WASHINGTON - Rep. Dennis Kucinich has called on the U.S. Justice Department to investigate the credit rating agencies.

“We are not a poor country. We’re the richest country in the world and to tempt the markets to further manipulate us – these, these ratings agencies, there ought to be a Justice Department investigation of them,” said Kucinich at a press conference with the Congressional Out of Poverty Caucus on Wednesday.

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Christian Rocker Sues Rachel Maddow, MSNBC

A $50 million defamation lawsuit has been filed against MSNBC host Rachel Maddow and the network on behalf of Bradlee Dean, a former heavy metal rocker who founded a ministry called, You Can Run But You Can’t Hide.

The lawsuit was filed by Larry Klayman, founder of Judicial Watch and Freedom Watch, “as a matter of principle” because Maddow allegedly accused Dean of calling for the execution of homosexuals – a claim which Dean denies.

At issue was a statement that Dean made while criticizing the Christian community for not taking a stronger stand against efforts to promote homosexuality in schools. In doing so, Dean referred to how Muslims viewed homosexuality.

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O’Donnell Wants IRS to Punish CREW

WASHINGTON -- Christine O'Donnell wants the Internal Revenue Service to revoke the tax-exempt status of the watchdog group that accused her of improperly using funds from her failed Senate campaign for living expenses.

During a Wednesday conference call with reporters, O'Donnell accused Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington of knowingly filing false claims against her, damaging her reputation, and racially discriminating against black members of Congress. She likened her treatment by CREW and its executive director, Melanie Sloan, to someone filing a false rape charge against President Barack Obama because she didn't like him.

She is also seeking a criminal investigation of the group by the U.S. Attorney's Office and Delaware Attorney General Beau Biden's office.

"They've already done whatever they can to me," O'Donnell said of CREW. "They've already had the FBI investigate me. I've been cleared by the U.S. Attorney's Office. So I'm fighting back because while I'm certainly not the first person CREW has come after, I would like to be the last."

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Cross on NJ Lawn Becomes First Amendment Flashpoint

LIVINGSTON, NJ - It started as a simple gesture.
But it could have implications far beyond the quiet Livingston street where Patrick Racaniello affixed a wooden cross on a tree in his front yard.

Township officials say Racaniello’s display, which he intended as a celebration of Lent, violated an ordinance that generally prohibits postings on a structure, including a tree, "calculated to attract the attention of the public."
Advised of the ordinance, Racaniello removed the cross. The Sterling Drive resident, though, then built a second, much larger cross that he planted on his property — just within the township’s 10-foot right-of-way. Racaniello, again facing fines, took down that cross, too.
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Values Groups File Lawsuit to Overturn NY Gay Marriage Law

The day after New York became the sixth U.S. state to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, two traditional-values groups filed a lawsuit to overturn the law, saying that politicians used a “corrupt legislative process” to enact it.

New York State Open Meetings laws were violated, said New Yorkers for Constitutional Freedoms and Torah Jews for Decency in their lawsuit. There were also irregularities in the Senate voting procedures, and “unprecedented Senate lockouts” in which lobbyists and the public were denied access to lawmakers.

“New York law requires that the government be open and transparent to keep political officials responsible,” said Mathew D. Staver, founder and chairman of Liberty Counsel, which is representing the groups.

“The back-room tactics were rampant in the passages of this law,” he said. “The law should be set aside and the process should begin again to allow the people a voice in the process.”

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Maryland High Court to Consider Rules That Will Require Proof of Debt

Marquis Jones doesn't believe she owes money on a credit-card account that a debt-buying company sued to collect from her.

More importantly, though, the firm never proved she did.

But because the Severn woman wasn't given notice of the lawsuit — the company's process server claimed her nonexistent "wife" accepted the summons — she wasn't in court to point this out. So an Anne Arundel County judge approved a $992 judgment against her last fall.

The scene has been repeated in courtrooms throughout Maryland and across the country. Companies that buy past-due consumer debts and sue to collect have won judgments against Marylanders even though, advocates and regulators say, the documentation to prove those cases often has been very thin.

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San Francisco Considers Legal Protection for Criminals

A legislative proposal in San Francisco seeks to make ex-cons and felons a protected class, along with existing categories of residents like African-Americans, people with disabilities and pregnant women. If passed by city supervisors, landlords and employers would be prohibited from asking applicants about their criminal past.

Supporters say it's an effort to help former offenders get back on their feet, but critics call the concept a crime in itself.

"My mother is an immigrant, my mother-in-law is a Jew and I'm a gay man. Those are all protected categories, but you're going to put a felon in there as a protected category? That's not right," said Andrew Long, a board member of the San Francisco Apartment Association.

But ex-cons contend they're immediately disqualified by employers and landlords reluctant to trust anyone with a rap sheet.

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Ruling: Virginia Voter Applications Must Be Public

A federal judge has ruled that Virginia must make its voter registration applications available for public inspection.

The opinion, issued Wednesday by U.S. District Judge Rebecca Beach Smith, stems from a lawsuit filed by the national voting rights group, Project Vote, which sought access to voter applications of Norfolk State University students in the 2008 presidential election.

The state Attorney General's Office said Thursday it will ask the judge to stay the ruling while it prepares an appeal.

Project Vote was seeking to investigate what it believed was an unusually high number of application rejections. It sued the head of Norfolk's Office of Elections and the state Board of Elections.

"It's a victory not just for Project Vote, but it's a victory for openness," Project Vote attorney Ryan Malone said. "We from the beginning thought the federal law required disclosure of these records."

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Maryland High Court Keeps Firm on Hook for State Pension Fund Mistakes

Maryland's highest court ruled Wednesday that an actuarial firm is on the hook for about $73 million after making mistakes in valuations for three state retirement programs over more than two decades.

The Court of Appeals supported the Board of Contract Appeals' decision that Seattle-based Milliman, Inc., which worked for the state retirement system from 1982 until 2006, is liable for errors in pension calculations for the State Police Retirement System, Law Enforcement Officers' Pension System and Judges' Retirement System.

"Milliman breached its contracts with the System … over a period of twenty-two years, thereby causing the System to inadequately plan for the costs of retirement benefits to surviving spouses of judges and police officers," the court's decision said. Three of the court's ten judges disagreed with the majority's opinion.

The firm was contracted to provide annual estimations of the amount of contributions that would be required for the Maryland State Retirement and Pension System to pay for future liabilities.

from Steve Kilar @ the Baltimore Sun

Letter to the Editor – Did Media Cover Up PRMC’s Role in Stent Scandal?

The trial against Dr. John McLean alleging that the cardiologist had performed a vast number of unnecessary cardiac catheterizations and stent placement surgeries is now underway. What many do not know is that there is an ongoing associated lawsuit for negligence and civil conspiracy against Peninsula Regional Medical Center (PRMC) resulting from the same allegations of unnecessary procedures, though it is moving on a different timeline. The article in the July 14 the Daily Times entitled “Stent Doc’s trial underway” does not even make mention of the lawsuit against PRMC at all and obscures the role of the hospital. I recognize it is not often that you can find a comment critical to PRMC in the “Daily Times”.

The plaintiffs in this lawsuit (Baublitz vs. Peninsula Regional Medical Center) are thirteen patients who have joined together against the medical center. The Complaint asserts as to each patient that PRMC directly and by and through its agents and employees, was negligent in the following ways: by allowing McLean to perform the medically unnecessary procedures; by failing to revoke or suspend his privileges or stopping him from using the Catheterization Lab prior to the patient's procedures; by assisting in the performance of the unnecessary procedures; and by failing to adequately monitor and supervise McLean as part of the hospital's ongoing privileges, credentialing and oversight processes. The plaintiffs also allege that the PRMC credentialing committee did not stop McLean but rather continued to extend privileges and reward him with large blocks of favorable scheduling time.

PRMC has filed a motion to dismiss this suit. One of their legal arguments was whether a nurse or technician who allegedly assisted Dr. McLean in the performance of an unnecessary procedure on another patient (not a Plaintiff) owed a duty to future, unidentified and as yet unknown patients of Dr. McLean.

In other words does a nurse or technician who participates in unnecessary stent procedures currently have the responsibility to speak up to protect future patients? This is quite ironic because I personally believe PRMC currently has a culture where staff members are reluctant to speak up about bad medical care, poor or insensitive treatment of patients or inappropriate behavior at the hospital because of a fear of intimidation or retribution. If this case moves forward to trial and the verdict is for the plaintiffs this will be quite a costly lesson for the hospital to learn. No one should ever be fearful to speak up and do the right thing.

In addition PRMC in their motion to dismiss argued that the medical center could not be held liable for credentialing decisions because of state statute granting partial immunity from civil liability to those who participate in medical review committees. PRMC reasons that, if the individuals that serve on the credentialing committee cannot be held liable, then neither can the hospital for which those individuals made the credentialing decision. In my simple mind the motion to dismiss does not appear to be based on any fact that PRMC was not involved directly in bad things but rather they appear to be simple legal maneuvering.

On August 12, 2010 William M. Nickerson (Senior United States District Judge Court for the District of Maryland) rejected the motion to dismiss. The court also rejected PRMC’s suggestion that the claims against it be severed from the claims against McLean as “premature”. This effectively clears the path for the lawsuit against PRMC to move forward. Obviously this is a very important case for the hospital. Legal experts are following this case because there are aspects of it that may set legal precedent in Maryland. The community should follow this case closely so we can be properly informed as to the true role of our local hospital in what is alleged to be some very bad activity.

Steven Rumney
Salisbury, MD

The author disclosed to '”Salisbury News “that a family member had an unsatisfactory experience with PRMC and that the author had written a letter regarding that experience to the “Daily Times”.  That letter was never published. – Ed.

Del. George Takes Aim at Pensions for Criminals

Stunned that former Prince George's County Executive Jack Johnson draws a $49,000-a-year pension after being convicted of extorting bribes, Del. Ron George, R-Arnold, is drafting a bill to change state pension laws.

George said his goal is to deny pensions to public officials who are convicted after they leave office to wrongdoing committed while in office.

"It got under my skin," George said of Johnson's ability to draw a pension, despite pleading guilty to federal charges of taking a bribe and trying to destroy evidence.

"He did not follow his oath of office, and if you are not going to follow your oath of office, you should not be allowed to benefit," George said.

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70 Year Old Woman Accused of Pirating Porn

"Grandma, what are you doing on the Internet? Oh, downloading porn illegally?" Yeah, that scenario doesn't seem too likely, but nonetheless, a 70-year-old woman is being told to pay up in a settlement pushed by a Chicago law firm, claiming she and others pirated porn.

The woman, who wishes to remain anonymous, is a retired widow in San Francisco, who spends her days doing volunteer work, reports The San Francisco Chronicle. In April, she and other Jane and John Does were sued by a law firm that has been filing similar cases around the U.S.

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Judge Orders Commandments Removed from Courthouse

A federal judge says Dixie County officials must remove a granite monument of the Ten Commandments from the front of their courthouse.

Senior District Judge Maurice Paul gave the north Florida county until mid-August to remove the monument in Cross City.

The decision Friday resulted from a lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida in 2007. The group argued that an official government display of a religious monument violates a clause in the First Amendment that prohibits government from promoting religious messages. The county argued that it didn't own the monument that was controlled by a private citizen.

Cross City is located in the Big Bend region of the state, about an hour west of Gainesville.

from the Washington Examiner / AP

Massachusetts Court Rules It's OK For Town To Charge $320 To Appeal Parking Ticket

If you get a parking ticket in Northampton, Mass., don't appeal it unless you want to bet $320, in addition to the cost of your ticket, that you'll win. The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled that the town's appeals process is valid, ruling against a man who appealed two parking tickets and was forced to cough up about $320 in court fees. The original fine was $15.

The Springfield Republican reports that the man had sued because he believed having to pay so much for the appeal violated his constitutional rights. He originally protested the tickets in writing, and got one of the tickets tossed out because it was ruled to be a duplicate. When he pushed his case through the appeals process, his court costs added up. The story says the town's appeals system has been tweaked since 2005, when he got the tickets.

Another man, who was assessed a $100 citation for parking in a handicapped space, joined the failed lawsuit, which contended the cost of appealing effectively denied access to the courts.

How far have you gone to battle a parking ticket?

Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court supports Northampton on parking ticket appeal process [Springfield Republican via Fark]

from Phil Villarreal @ The Consumerist

Guy Arrested For Saggy Pants Plans To Sue US Airways

Yesterday, all charges were dropped against a University of New Mexico football player who was thrown off a plane and arrested by a US Airways pilot last month for wearing pj's that sagged off his posterior. Today his attorney says that Deshon plans on suing US Airways over how he was treated.

Deshon's attorney said his client had faced "a great deal of adversity" and public humiliation over his ordeal, and that US Airway has yet to either apologize or give a refund for the $500 flight he missed.

The football player had been told by a crew member to pull up his pants but his hands were full and he said he would do so when he got to his seat, according to his attorney. Police say that after Deshon reached his seat, he argued with the pilot for 10 minutes, and he allegedly got physical with police officers when they arrived. Deshon was arrested on suspicion of battery on a police officer, resisting arrest, and trespassing.

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O’Donnell Backers Take Aim at Group

Christine O'Donnell is fighting back against critics who have accused her of living off donations from her failed U.S. Senate campaigns.

Federal prosecutors have closed an investigation into allegations O'Donnell used campaign funds in 2009 to make $1,500 in rent payments to a former boyfriend who bought her Wilmington home.

U.S. Attorney Charles Oberly sent O'Donnell's attorney a letter Friday saying he was closing his investigation and "does not intend to pursue criminal charges at this time."

Oberly said his office would refer the matter to the Federal Elections Commission, which already has been investigating a similar complaint lodged by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW).

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