Tag: judges

Ohio Judge Blocks Governor’s Hemp Product Ban From Taking Effect

Ohio stores can temporarily resume to selling intoxicating hemp products—for now.

Franklin County Court of Common Pleas Judge Carl Aveni granted a 14-day temporary restraining order on Gov. Mike DeWine’s (R) executive order banning the sale of intoxicating hemp products on October 14.

DeWine announced last week a 90-day executive order that bans the sale of intoxicating hemp products that also started on October 14. The next hearing in this case is scheduled for October 28.

Intoxicating hemp products are items that contain THC that are sold anywhere other than licensed marijuana dispensaries including gas stations, smoke shops and CBD stores, among others.

Marijuana is not considered an intoxicating hemp product and is legal in Ohio. This ban does not affect the marijuana law passed by voters in 2023.

“While we continue to fight in court, today’s developments underscore our continued desire to work with the General Assembly to pass permanent legislation regarding intoxicating hemp,” DeWine said in a statement.

Titan Logistic Group, Fumee Smoke and Vape and Invicta Partners—all members of the Ohio Healthy Alternatives Association—filed a lawsuit last week against the ban, arguing DeWine is breaking federal and state law by restricting access to these products.

“Today’s decision allows thousands of hardworking Ohio entrepreneurs to continue supporting their families and serving consumers who rely on access to safe, legal, and properly regulated hemp products,” Ohio Healthy Alternatives Association said in a statement.

The 2018 Farm Bill says hemp can be grown legally if it contains less than 0.3 percent THC.

“The Executive Order is overly broad in that it applies to all hemp and hemp products including those that are legal under the 2018 Farm Bill and Ohio’s current laws,” the lawsuit says.

“It is also vague because there is no definition of ‘intoxicating hemp’ in the Ohio Revised Code or Ohio Administrative Code.”

DeWine—who has been calling on lawmakers to regulate or ban delta-8 THC products since January 2024—spent much of last week’s press conference where he announced the ban talking about the need to protect children from these products.

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Judge Blocks Loudoun County’s Suspension of High-school Boy Uncomfortable With Girl in Locker Room

A federal judge on Friday blocked Virginia’s Loudoun County Public Schools (LCPS) from suspending a male high-school student over a “transgender” student’s allegations that he sexually harassed her by complaining about her presence in the boys’ locker room.

U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema granted a preliminary injunction against LCPS’ discipline of the boy, which included a 10-day suspension and a finding of sexual harassment under Title IX. As requested by the boy’s family, which is suing LCPS, these measures will be put on hold while the case proceeds through the courts.

“I am glad my son is able to keep going to school while we continue to fight for his free speech rights — which affects all students and families in this district moving forward,” the boy’s father, Seth Wolfe, said in a Friday press release from the Richmond-based Founding Freedoms Law Center (FFLC).

FFLC is representing the plaintiffs in conjunction with America First Legal (AFL) of Washington, D.C.

Video Games

The trouble with the “transgender” student began about two years ago, when the male-identifying girl started using the boys’ locker room during physical-education classes at Stone Bridge High School. LCPS policy permits students to use the bathrooms and locker rooms corresponding to “their consistently asserted gender identity.”

A year ago, the girl filed a Title IX complaint against one of the boys. LCPS looked into it but took no action against the boy.

Then, in March, the girl secretly took video of three boys — two Christians and a Muslim — in the locker room in which they discussed their discomfort with having a girl in the room. “One student in the locker room told LCPS’s Title IX Office that the female student filmed his friend while he was using a urinal,” reported WJLA.

Using that video as evidence, the girl filed another Title IX complaint, this time against all three boys. She alleged that they had made disparaging remarks about her, threatened her with violence, and “misgendered” her (i.e., correctly referred to her as a girl).

LCPS promptly launched an investigation into the girl’s charges. When the boys’ parents asked the district to similarly investigate her for recording the video, LCPS declined, merely punishing her with an in-school suspension.

Ultimately, the district found the two Christian boys guilty of Title IX sexual harassment and suspended them. It dropped the charges against the Muslim boy.

Although the family of one of the Christian boys moved out of state, Wolfe’s son continues to attend LCPS and would have been forced to stay home the first 10 days of this school year had his family not sued.

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Georgia Judge Arrested For Drunk Driving After Backing His Mercedes into Truck in Parking Lot of “Wacko’s” Strip Club

A Georgia Superior Court Judge was arrested for drunk driving after he backed his Mercedes into a truck in the parking lot of Wacko’s Gentlemen’s Club early Tuesday morning.

48-year-old Robert Guy Jr. was arrested and booked on Friday after he backed his Mercedes into a Ford F-150 and then offered the owner of the truck $500 to avoid giving his identity and insurance information, according to the arrest report obtained by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Guy tried to drive off, but he couldn’t because he was too intoxicated.

According to the arrest report, Guy was slurring his words, and police could smell a strong odor of alcohol on him.

After repeatedly refusing to hand over his ID, Guy was arrested at the strip club and charged with DUI, failing to submit to a breathalyzer, and DUI-property damage.

The Sheriff’s Department did not released Guy’s booking photo because of his status as a judge.

Guy reported his arrest to Georgia’s Judicial Qualifications Commission and then resigned.

“It has been a distinct honor and privilege to serve the Council of Superior Court Judges as President and in other roles; however, today I am resigning effectively immediately as Council President,” Guy wrote in a statement, according to the AJC.

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Judge blocks sanctions on boys who objected to female in locker room, rejects district’s Hail Mary

Awealthy suburban D.C. school district belatedly justified its 10-day suspensions of two boys for complaining about a female who identifies as a boy recording them in their locker room, by claiming they had harassed the female student “over weeks and months.”

That wasn’t enough for U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema to reinstate suspensions by Virginia’s Loudoun County Public Schools, which she paused Sept. 16 shortly after the anonymous Christian boys sued.

The President Clinton nominee granted the boys’ preliminary injunction motion at a hearing Friday, shielding the 11th graders throughout litigation from punishment and a disciplinary notation on their record that could sink their college applications. 

One left LCPS after suing but “the threat of discipline remains” if he returns, their lawyers at America First Legal Foundation and Founding Freedoms Law Center wrote in their motion for preliminary injunction. (Brinkema asked last month why he should remain a plaintiff.)

Brinkema didn’t give her reasoning in Friday’s bench order, but AFL lawyer Ian Prior told the media she cited serious constitutional questions, the harm of removing their educational experience and the timing of the “permanent mark on their records.” The judge will issue an order with her reasoning but didn’t give herself a deadline.

“We’re extremely pleased” suspensions are off the table throughout litigation, Prior said. They expect to succeed on all counts – likelihood of success is a factor supporting preliminary injunctions – but need to win only one, he stressed. 

It’s arguing discrimination by religion, because a Muslim student who complained about the female wasn’t punished, and sex, for LCPS telling the boys to find a different place to change but not the female student. LCPS also violated the boys’ constitutionally protected free speech and misused its Title IX probe and findings “as a pretext for viewpoint discrimination.”

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Rabid Leftist Who Spat on Ed Martin and Kicked US Marshals Will Avoid Prison Time After Biden Judge Sentences Her to ‘Time Served’

The rabid leftist who spat on DOJ official Ed Martin and kicked US Marshals will avoid prison time after a Biden-appointed federal judge sentenced her to ‘time served.’

The Justice Department sought 18 months in prison for Emily Sommer, the unhinged leftist who spat on Ed Martin and kicked US Marshals earlier this year.

Judge Jia Cobb, a Biden appointee, sentenced Sommer to four months time served. Sommer was sentenced to fourth months time served, home confinement and probation, rather than prison time.

In May, the Justice Department charged Emily Gabriella Sommer for assaulting Ed Martin.

Sommer was charged with violation of 18 U.S.C. § 111 (Assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers and employees of the United States).

In June, the DOJ asked the Court to detain Emily Sommer pending trial because she threatened Ed Martin and Jeannine Pirro in a series of X posts.

Emily Sommer was put in a DC jail after threatening a neighbor with a crowbar. She also physically attacked US Marshals after being removed from the courtroom in May.

“Sommer became agitated during her initial appearance in court on May 22 upon learning the prosecutor’s office intended to seek a more serious version of the assault charge that requires forcible contact and carries a maximum sentence of up to 8 years in prison. While in holding after being removed from the courtroom, Sommer allegedly spit and kicked on two U.S. Marshals. A second superseding indictment was filed in June with two additional assault counts for the incident,” WUSA 9 reported.

Sommer pleaded guilty to three counts of assault for spitting on Ed Martin and assaulting US Marshals.

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Biden Judge Blocks Trump’s National Guard Deployment in Chicago

A federal judge on Thursday issued a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) blocking President Trump’s National Guard deployment in Chicago.

US District Judge April Perry, a Biden appointee, said Trump’s troop deployment violates the Posse Comitatus Act as well as the 10th and 14th Amendments.

President Trump mobilized Texas National Guard Troops and sent them to Chicago to protect ICE agents from violent far-left Antifa terrorists.

“The National Guard’s mission in Chicago is to protect federal lives and property that are facing constant criminal assault. The guard protecting DHS is activated under *federal control* and therefore, like any federal troops, can emanate from any state if such resources prove necessary to DHS (the way troops are pulled from any base). They are operating as a federal force protecting federal assets,” White House Advisor Stephen Miller said.

Texas Congressman Lance Gooden hilariously trolled failed Chicago Mayor Johnson for being both outraged over Texas busing illegals to his city AND outraged over Trump sending the National Guard to his city.

“You can’t have it both ways, Brandon,” Lance Gooden said.

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Biden Judge Michael Nachmanoff Refuses to RECUSE Himself from Comey Case Despite Glaring Conflicts of Interest

Comey’s Biden appointed judge has glaring conflicts of interest but he won’t recuse himself.  This case is over before it starts!

The judge assigned to Comey’s case is a Biden judge who is absolutely totally conflicted but he is making no mention of recusing himself.

Judge Nachmanoff has personal conflicts with Comey.  Michael Nachmanoff, the federal judge presiding over former FBI Director James Comey’s criminal trial, shares a legal history with Comey that raises questions about judicial impartiality.

Nachmanoff clerked for Judge Leonie Brinkema in the Eastern District of Virginia from 1995 to 1996, when Brinkema was overseeing the Zacarias Moussaoui terrorism trial linked to the 9/11 attacks.

James Comey, as Unit Chief of the FBI’s Counterterrorism Division, was deeply involved in investigating and prosecuting Moussaoui. Given the sensitive nature of the case, Nachmanoff likely accessed classified, high-level information and had professional proximity to Comey’s team. This connection suggests more than a casual relationship and highlights the need to consider potential conflicts of interest as Nachmanoff oversees Comey’s prosecution.

Nachmanoff advanced from his clerkship to private practice, federal public defense, magistrate judge, and finally a U.S. District Judge appointed by President Biden. There is no public record of direct employment by Comey, but their intertwined roles in national security cases are significant to judicial fairness.

Given that Comey is actively seeking to remove the prosecuting attorney from his case, it raises a reasonable question of whether a new judge should be assigned as well. The high level of coordination and close professional involvement between Judge Nachmanoff—who clerked during the Zacarias Moussaoui trial central to Comey’s FBI work—and the complexities of this current prosecution present a glaring conflict of interest. Considering Comey’s extensive interactions with the legal system and the deeply personal animus he has expressed toward the President of the United States, it is of the utmost importance that the presiding judge be fully capable of impartially understanding both the legal and personal dimensions motivating Comey’s actions, including why he faces charges of lying under oath on two felony counts.

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Florida judge wearing $800 Chanel earrings dramatically resigns from bench after ‘abusing victims in courtroom’

A Florida judge accused of abusing her power and mistreating victims in her courtroom has resigned from the bench.

Putnam County Judge Anne Marie Gennusa submitted her resignation on October 3, effective October 31, in a letter to Governor Ron DeSantis, who appointed her to the position in 2023.

The Florida Judicial Qualifications Commission (JQC) found probable cause that Gennusa violated multiple judicial canons, including those requiring judges to uphold the law, maintain impartiality, and treat people with dignity and courtesy.

According to the JQC’s notice of formal charges, Gennusa exhibited a ‘pattern of abusing [her] contempt authority’ by overstepping her power and improperly detaining people during court proceedings. 

In one case, she ordered a female victim handcuffed, and in another, she jailed a mother of already-traumatized children.

‘Your unwillingness or inability to govern yourself with the dignity, courtesy and patience required by the Code, as well as your casual and illegal use of your contempt power… raise serious questions about your fitness to serve as a judicial officer,’ the JQC wrote in a document signed by Assistant General Counsel Hugh R. Brown.

Gennusa – who posed in her formal headshot wearing $800 pearl Chanel earrings – presided over misdemeanor criminal and criminal traffic cases at the Putnam County Courthouse in Palatka, part of Florida’s Seventh Judicial Circuit, which also covers Volusia, Flagler, and St. Johns counties.

In her resignation letter, Gennusa thanked DeSantis for his trust but said she was leaving to return to private practice – where she spent nearly three decades before joining the bench.

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Judge Orders HHS to Rescind Changes to Teen Pregnancy Prevention Programs

The Health and Human Services Department (HHS) must rescind changes it imposed to teen pregnancy prevention programs, a federal judge ruled on Oct. 7.

Updated conditions for organizations carrying out the programs, which cited executive orders from President Donald Trump, were so vague that the organizations could not know how to comply, Judge Beryl Howell of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia said in a 65-page decision.

“The Policy Notice mandates compliance now, without providing plaintiffs with any meaningful standard for achieving that compliance,” Howell said.

She ordered HHS to vacate the notice laying out the updated conditions for grant recipients.

An HHS spokesperson told The Epoch Times in an email that the department would not comment on litigation. The spokesperson pointed to the news release for the policy, which states in part that the update “safeguards the rights of parents to protect their children from content that undermines their religious beliefs.”

Under the Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program, created by Congress in 2009, HHS provides money to organizations to carry out “medically accurate and age appropriate programs that reduce teen pregnancy.” Most of the funds go to programs that “have been proven effective through rigorous evaluation to reduce teenage pregnancy, behavioral risk factors underlying teenage pregnancy, or other associated risk factors.”

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Trump blocked from deploying National Guard in OR but can federalize troops, court says

 The 9th Circuit Court has granted an administrative stay on a temporary restraining order that had blocked the federalization and deployment of 200 Oregon National Guard members.

The administrative stay follows a Tuesday order from Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek telling guardsmen to demobilize and go home.

Wednesday’s order from the 9th Circuit judges keeps the Guard under federal control but blocks their deployment until the panel of judges can rule more broadly on the Trump administration’s request to overrule a district judge’s order that blocks the Guard’s deployment in Portland.

Arguments on the federal government’s appeal are scheduled for Thursday morning at 9 a.m.

The initial restraining order, issued on Oct. 4, was in response to a memorandum from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth authorizing the deployment.

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