Suing DNC for discriminating against white people in FL, using Rule 11 to get to the Supreme Court

[madfloridian]

If a lawsuit against the DNC for racism fails, Victor DiMaio will use Rule 11 to go straight to the Supreme court. Now I am not a lawyer, and I know nothing about Rule 11. I did look it up and got a brief paragraph about it.

Rule 11. Certiorari to a United States Court of Appeals before Judgment
A petition for a writ of certiorari to review a case pending in a United States court of appeals, before judgment is entered in that court, will be granted only upon a showing that the case is of such imperative public importance as to justify deviation from normal appellate practice and to require immediate determination in this Court. See 28 U. S. C. § 2101(e).

I have no idea if the Supreme Court justices would jump at the chance to hear a case that declares that the DNC is discriminating against white people in Florida. You really just never know anymore.

I do know that Victor DiMaio of Tampa and his lawyer, Michael Steinberg, chairman of the Democrats in that area...have been nothing if not persistent. They had one suit dismissed, appealed, got it heard by an appeals court in Atlanta which dismissed it without prejudice and recommended he file another.

So he did.

Here is the background on the lawsuit.

Activist sues DNC for trying to promote diversity.



Picture of Victor DiMaio courtesy of ABC Action News

South Carolina and Nevada were allowed to hold their primaries before February 5th because the high percentage of blacks and Hispanics in those states helped compensate for the pasty complexion of Iowa and New Hampshire.

That's the basis for an amended legal filing planned by Tampa Democratic activist, Victor Dimaio and attorney Michael Steinberg who are suing to have Florida's entire Democratic delegation seated at the National Convention in Denver this summer. DiMaio's original lawsuit claimed the DNC's punishment of Florida violated the equal protection clause of the 14th amendment, but that suit was kicked back by the federal appeals court in Atlanta. Steinberg had a brainstorm when he read discovery papers in a similar lawsuit filed by Senator Bill Nelson that showed the DNC put South Carolina and Nevada's primary dates ahead of 46 other states to give minorities more of a voice in the nominating process. Since the DNC receives federal money to hold their convention, the party is subject to federal civil rights law.

What an interesting turn of the worm. Sometime next week, we may have democrats suing democrats for carrying out a very democratic policy of advancing minorities. Steinberg and DiMaio acknowledge with a grin that their reverse racism accusation will ruffle feathers, but hope the conservative judiciary will be delighted to strike a blow against affirmative action and rule in their favor. Their only objective, they claim, is to see all of Florida's delegates seated based on the January 31st primary election.

Here is the latest on their journey to hold the DNC accountable for upholding the party rules. Here is a little bit about their appearance before the Tiger Bay Club in Tampa. I talked to someone who was in attendance, and they were not overly impressed at accusing your own party of racism against white people.

DiMaio speaks a Tiger Bay Club

After a failed lawsuit in August 2007 against the Democratic National Committee, Attorney Mike Steinberg and political consultant Victor DiMaio filed an appeal to get Florida delegates seated at the DNC convention in August. They spoke today at the Hillsborough Tiger Bay Club in Tampa.

Steinberg says he and DiMaio have filed an amended complaint as part of their appeal.

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 states that no federally funded organization can discriminate based on race. What Steinberg and DiMaio discovered was that Democratic primaries in Nevada and South Carolina were allowed to occur before the window of other primaries because of their racial demographics.

If they lose the appeal, Steinberg has a backup plan to use Rule 11, which would take the case out of circuit courts and move immediately up to the Supreme Court.

I keep wondering if these continued lawsuits bother the Democrats in Hillsborough County, having their own county chairman so involved in suing their own party time after time.

One thing this is doing is costing the DNC money, but that is what Florida has done all along....tried to crash the DNC fundraising. This is just one more way to do it.

I would love to know more about Rule 11, just how serious something must be to qualify. This primary has been full of surprising turns...so I would not be shocked if they took the case even though there is precedent from 1981 in favor of the DNC. This is turning the enforcement of the party rules into a situation to divide by race in a year in a year when an African American candidate is leading.

Something tragic about that.

[grantcart]

1. DNC should counter sue for frivolous law suit and get their money back

[madfloridian]

4. At least Bill Nelson only sued once....so far.

He lost and decided not to appeal. But these guys are not giving up.

I have never seen anything like this.

[SunsetDreams]

2. Are there not any black people in Florida?

Hispanics? Irish? Italian? Asian? etc

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

32. they use the voter reg database to keep them from voting

and a court in Florida upheld the "no match no vote" rule.

[smiley_glad_hands]

3. Damn those crazy freepers. Wait they're dems!

With dems like these, who needs repugs?

[Dr.Phool]

14. If these guys spent half the time and money trying to elect Dems,

As they do squabbling, backstabbing, and nitpicking,They might actually elect someone.

Registrationwise, Hillsborough County has many more Dems than repukes, but most of the major offices are filled with repukes. Now you see why.

The lawyer in the case lost a State Senate race in 2002, and lost a congressional primary in 2006. And his specialty is Social Security, not civil rights or elections.

[IndianaGreen]

5. The courts have been reluctant to intervene in intra-party squabbles

This case is not one of "imperative public importance" such as one involving voter suppression, which clearly this is not.

OTOH, Scalia could decide to intervene just to make sure Hillary steals the nomination, and destroys the Democratic Party in the process.

[still_one]

7. Elections are a state issue, the supreme court should keep its nose out of it /nt

[IndianaGreen]

11. SCOTUS did intervene in Florida recount case before it was resolved

at the state level, a clear breach with conservative jurisprudence.

[still_one]

12. I couldn't agree with you more /nt

[madfloridian]

8. Thinking the same thoughts as you.

They are not the same Supreme Court they used to be...even worse than when Bush v Gore.

I have bad vibes about this.

[still_one]

6. Technically elections are a state issue. The supreme court should NEVER have ruled on Gore v bush

did you notice after that decision they said essentially that decision should be ignored in future cases

[skyounkin]

13. Slight error

the case is titled Bush v. Gore. It's important to remember that since the name that comes first in the title of the case is the one that brought the lawsuit. Gore did not bring the lawsuit to the supreme court- bush did.

And NO- the supreme court should NEVER have gotten involved. It's disgusting that they did.

[onenote]

9. a waste of time and money if there ever was one

The SCOTUS denies 99 percent of the cert petitions it gets. And those almost universally are not filed under Rule 11, which is an even harder path. In fact, while I don't claim to be familiar with every SCOTUS decision, I can't recall a Rule 11 cert petition being granted. And in this instance, given the court's inherent reluctance to get into intra-party disputes, I'd say that the chances of this suit getting anywhere are less than 1 percent of 1 percent.

[madfloridian]

10. Found a longer analysis of Rule 11...

http://www.law.gmu.edu/pubs/papers/07-48

"Since 1938, the Supreme Court has supervised the development of procedural rules for the federal courts by a system of committees that now operate under the Judicial Conference of the United States. In 1993, for the first time in the history of that process, the Court promulgated several new rules proposed by the committee system without endorsing the content of the rules. One of the 1993 amendments seeks to reduce the costs of “satellite” litigation under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 11, which governs the imposition of sanctions for filing frivolous suits in the federal courts. Using a game-theoretic model, Professors Kobayashi and Parker show that the new Rule 11 is likely both to increase the rate of frivolous filings, and perhaps more importantly, to increase the rate at which litigants invoke Rule 11 to challenge their adversaries’ pleadings. As a result, both the volume and cost of “satellite” Rule 11 litigation is likely to increase, rather than decrease, contrary to the expressed intention of the Amendment’s drafters. The authors argue that this outcome suggests the need for more rigorous supervision of the rulemaking process by the Supreme Court."

Doesn't sound like it was intended for lawsuits like this one.

[onenote]

21. different set of rules: fed rules civil procedure, not SCOTUS Rules

The article you cite discusses Rule 11 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, which governs district court proceedings.
See: http://www.law.cornell.edu/rules/frcp/Rule11.htm

The Rule 11 cited in the OP is a Supreme Court rule.
See: http://www.law.cornell.edu/rules/supct/11.html

[madfloridian]

22. Thanks, too late to edit.

I can't believe this case would be accepted, but I fear it might.

I have very uncomfortable feelings now about this race. I do not trust the Clintons and their surrogates at all now.

Kind of sad.

[madfloridian]

15. Something odd...right wing media, some right wing blogs, and a couple of Hillary blogs

are beginning a concerted effort to have Dean resign or be asked to leave. I just happened on it tonight on a blog search at Google, then I checked the news search. The Washington Times and the Boston Herald are two of the worst.

The lawsuits, the appearance of Lanny Davis on TV to say Dean should resign, the blog posts....seems organized.

I think we may have to end up defending him, since there does seem to be a concerted attack. If they can get him out...the Fl and MI delegates would be a shoo in for Hillary.

[madfloridian]

16. It is a move starting, I think, to get those delegates from FL and MI

for Hillary.

They are ratcheting up the blame on Dean....should have seen this coming.

[KoKo]

18. Agree....Lanny Davis back on the scene is not good. Media even putting

him out there so much means he has an agenda he's pushing behind the scenes. Also, the visibility of Terry MacAuliff back as a spokesperson for Hillary bodes ill for Dean.

K&R....in the hopes that someone has an answer about this "Rule 11" or that another blogger picks up on it out there.

Thanks for posting this...

[Sancho]

17. I can't help but think that going to court allows the GOP to win...

The courts have been nothing but trouble over the last decade given who is sitting on the bench after 8 years of Bush, so there's little chance that the result will be good for Democrats. Actually, this might be avoided if the DNC could reach a settlement sooner instead of later. Right now they don't seem to be able to do so.

[madfloridian]

19. How do you think they should settle? In favor of which candidate?

And if you were making the decision with both sides yelling at you what would you do?

Do you think that FL should count toward the nominee? I don't.

I think this is far more than just a lawsuit. It is an "in your face" to the rest of the party.

It is not funny getting the courts involved...and especially on equal rights.

I want to know who is behind all the lawsuits.

[Sancho]

31. I think it would be cheaper for the DNC to pay for primaries in FL and MI than

to fight a court case to the Supreme Court that may rule that anyway...everyone knows that equal rights is just a gimmick, but sometimes that's all it takes for a GOP friendly court to cause a mess.

Nelson has never been my favorite in many ways, but unseating the delegates was a threat that led to a predictable confrontation with no solution. I knew it was a mess if the candidates could not campaign in Fl. Frankly, it would be interesting and fair to see who would win Florida if there were a May primary announced today. If a process is tainted, the solution is to do it again.

[progressoid]

20. Ugh. This is the first thread I clicked on today.

I'm going to have to find something a little more possitive to repair the funk this is putting me in.

[madfloridian]

23. Sorry about that. I have this very bad feeling about FL and Hillary

that it is going to screw us all at the end.

[olkaz]

24. This will be thrown out with predjudice

Pretty tasteless if you ask me.

[madfloridian]

25. Clinton campaign to have rallies throughout FL, bus people to DC to protest

at the DNC building.

I would never vote for John McCain...but I just might be sitting home come November.

I find her tactics repulsive. I think this was our year to win, and she is saying it will her or no one.

I feel sick.

Other Florida Democrats -- led by Hillary Clinton supporters -- are turning to public protests to keep the pressure on the national party.

Rallies are planned Saturday in seven Florida cities, including Miami and Fort Lauderdale, to demand that the national party count Florida's delegates. Hundreds of activists are also expected to ride buses to Washington to rally Wednesday.

''This has to do with our civil rights,'' said Millie Herrera, a potential Clinton convention delegate and the president of the Hispanic Democratic Caucus of Florida. ``No one has the right to invalidate our votes.''

http://www.miamiherald.com/campaign08/story/507468.html

[struggle4progress]

26. DiMaio seems to be linked to the Cuban community in Florida

Elina Govantes
1909 -- 2002

... Elina Govantes -- a Cuban immigrant who made a good life for herself and her family in Ybor City ...

Most mornings, Mrs. Govantes woke before 5 to water her vegetable garden and yard. At 4 foot 11 and 95 pounds, she trudged around the yard in oversized black rubber boots.

After the sun came up, she usually donned a large, straw hat.

"She was a sight," said grandson Victor DiMaio, 47, a Tampa political consultant ...

http://www.sptimes.com/2002/04/12/Citytimes/She_made_Am...

[merh]

27. With all due respect

I believe there are hundreds of cases in all the jurisdictions of this nation that have held that, in an instance like this, being "white" is not a protected class under the civil rights laws. The precedent is out there, this fellow is trying for press, not for justice.

[Mezzo]

28. are you saying I can't be discriminated against for being white?

really? gotta link?

[Political Heretic]

29. Systematically /Institutionally? No. Individually, you can be discriminated against for anything

You can be discriminated against for wearing boots by an individual who has a bias against people who wear boots or any other reason including being white, or having blonde hair.

On an institutional level, no - its not possible for a member of the dominant institutional class to experience institutional discrimination. White systemic privilege precludes that.

[GoesTo11]

30. Any chance we can get Florida to secede?

[madfloridian]

33. Dean brings up the diversity component on MTP today.

DR. DEAN: Well, I mean, that--it wasn't my decision to make these changes. Florida and Michigan both voted for a set of rules, then they tried to push ahead of everybody else, and that makes it more difficult for everybody. We want to resolve this. This is not the voters' fault in Florida and Michigan. But the fact of the matter is that you have to--you cannot change the rules towards the end of the game just to advantage or disadvantage of a particular candidate. You can't do that.

MR. RUSSERT: But you decided not to seat the delegations, not count the primaries.

DR. DEAN: That's correct. Because they stepped on the minority groups and the small states in the South and the West that needed that time to have their primaries and have their early input.

Look, it's, it's--this is like having a, a line full of people waiting for something. If two of them jump the line and go to the front, it's not going to be long before you're going to have a riot. Don't forget, at the time these sanctions were passed by the Rules Committee, New Hampshire and Iowa were threatening to move into 2007. You've got to keep order, and that's part of my job is to keep order. It's understandable that the folks you call out because they think they're more important than everybody else are going to be upset about that. We did keep order, we do have an orderly process. I'll defend the process.

MR. RUSSERT: Will Michigan and Florida be seated?

DR. DEAN: Yes.