High court to rule on census suit evidence
The Supreme Court agreed Friday to hear arguments in a case revolving around the Trump administration's plan to add a citizenship question to the 2020 Census.
U.S. District Judge Jesse Furman is currently presiding over part of a multistate lawsuit attempting to block the administration from adding the question to the decennial census.
That trial, in federal court in Manhattan, is almost finished, but related trials in California and Maryland are slated to start in January.
On Friday, the Supreme Court announced that it will address a limited issue involving the scope of evidence that should be allowed at trial. Oral arguments are set for Feb. 19.
The issue for the court is whether Furman may include the depositions of acting Assistant Attorney General John Gore and Commerce Department officials, as well as other evidence that was not part of the official record the Commerce Department compiled.
Last month the Supreme Court refused to delay the New York trial. That same month, the court also blocked a deposition of Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross in the case but allowed other discovery to proceed.
Furman may rule on the New York case without testimony from Ross, which could affect the California and Maryland trials.
Vets sue Navy for PTSD-linked discharges
HARTFORD, Conn. -- Thousands of Navy and Marine Corps veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan who developed post-traumatic stress disorder but were denied Veterans Affairs health benefits have been given a green light to sue the military, under a ruling by a federal judge in Connecticut.
Senior U.S. District Judge Charles Haight Jr. in New Haven on Thursday certified a class-action lawsuit against Navy Secretary Richard Spencer by veterans who say they were unfairly given less-than-honorable discharges for minor infractions linked to their untreated mental health problems.
The discharge designation prevents them from getting VA benefits including mental health treatment.
"This decision is a victory for the tens of thousands of military veterans suffering from service-connected PTSD and TBI [traumatic brain injury]," lead plaintiff and Marine veteran Tyson Manker of Jacksonville, Ill., said in a statement Friday.
Manker developed PTSD after serving in the 2003 invasion of Iraq and received an other-than-honorable discharge for a single incident when hemedicated himself with an illegal drug, according to the lawsuit. The Naval Discharge Review Board rejected his request for a discharge upgrade, as it has done with similar applications by thousands of other veterans.
Yale Law School students are representing the veterans and have filed a similar lawsuit against the Army.
Acting EPA chief slated to head agency
WASHINGTON -- Andrew Wheeler, a former lobbyist who has led the Environmental Protection Agency since his scandal-plagued predecessor resigned earlier this year, got President Donald Trump's nod Friday for the permanent job.
Trump made the announcement almost in passing at a White House ceremony for Presidential Medal of Freedom honorees.
Singling out Cabinet members in the audience, Trump got to Wheeler, "acting administrator, who I will tell you is going to be made permanent."
"He's done a fantastic job and I want to congratulate him, EPA, Andrew Wheeler. Where's Andrew?" Trump continued. "Congratulations, Andrew, great job, great job, thank you very much."
Wheeler has served as the EPA's acting head since July, when then-EPA administrator Scott Pruitt resigned amid ethics scandals.
A former lobbyist for coal and other industries, Wheeler has a reputation as a methodical steward of the Trump administration's deregulatory mission.
Wheeler was confirmed by the Senate 53-45 as the agency's deputy administrator in April.
Prisoners, attorneys secretly recorded
KANSAS CITY, Kan. -- The federal public defender's office is seeking the release of 67 inmates from a Kansas federal prison and plans to seek freedom for more than 150 others because authorities secretly recorded conversations between prisoners and their attorneys that are supposed to be private.
Most of the federal inmates are being held on drug or firearms-related cases.
The practice first came to light in a prison contraband case during which criminal defense lawyers discovered the privately run Leavenworth Detention Center was routinely recording meetings and phone conversations between attorneys and clients, which are confidential under the Sixth Amendment to the Constitution.
The court expanded the responsibilities of the federal public defender's office to represent any inmate in Kansas who may have been affected by the prison recording.
Federal Public Defender Melody Brannon's motion seeks to have the government declared in contempt. She also wants the government to pay the legal costs as a sanction.
The Justice Department has argued that there is no evidence the recordings at the prison were done for reasons other than "legitimate security considerations," but did not elaborate.
A Section on 11/17/2018