Source: The Hill

The United States sold the ambassador’s residence in Israel for more than $67 million over the summer, The Associated Press reported Tuesday, citing recently published Israeli tax documents.

The State Department in September confirmed the sale of the residence, located in the upscale Tel Aviv suburb of Herzliya, but did not disclose the price or the buyer, according to the AP.

That same month, the Israeli newspaper Globes identified U.S. billionaire Sheldon Adelson, a vocal supporter of President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as the buyer of the residence. A representative for Adelson said the billionaire had no comment, the AP reported.

...

The sale of the ambassador’s residence was viewed as solidifying Trump’s decision to move the embassy in Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. President-elect Joe Biden has criticized that move but has said he would not reverse the decision.

Read more: https://thehill.com/policy/international/531937-us-sold-ambassadors-home-in-israel-for-67-million-records-show

The parents of a Michigan man in his forties will have to pay for disposing of their son’s “large collection of pornographic material” after an argument, and they could be on the hook for as much as $75,000 after a federal judge in Michigan granted his request for summary judgment in the matter.

U.S. District Judge Paul Maloney of the Western District of Michigan ruled in favor of David Werking, 42, after emails revealed that his parents, Beth and Paul Werking, chose to throw away 12 boxes of pornographic property. Werking provided a detailed list of the property in court filings which included 1,605 individual titles of pornographic DVDs and VHS tapes, and around 50 sex toys.

David moved back in with his parents in 2016 after divorcing his wife, bringing some of his personal property with him. Approximately a year later, the relationship began to sour and in August of 2017 David called the police following an “incident”; the officers asked him to stay somewhere else for a few days. David complied, leaving much of his personal property behind.

Over the ensuing months David asked for his items to be returned several times, but in Jan. 2018 his parents told him that any property not yet returned had been destroyed, including the pornographic material.

Link: https://lawandcrime.com/crazy/42-year-old-man-wins-lawsuit-against-parents-who-threw-away-his-large-collection-of-porn/

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This would have been deleted from the Latest forum, but i laughed so hard I felt it worthy of a post.

Source: Law and Crime

The Republican-led Senate majority confirmed Justice Amy Coney Barrett’s successor at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, just under two months after announcing his nomination and during a lame-duck session.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is undoubtedly pleased that he was able to fill the vacant seat with Thomas L. Kirsch II, the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Indiana. The vote in the Senate was 51-44.

As we move quickly towards a Joe Biden–Kamala Harris administration, McConnell and his Republican majority will likely try and fill as many other vacancies as possible.

....

Kirsch served for 7 years, from 2001 to 2008, as an assistant U.S. attorney in the Northern District of Indiana. He prosecuted white-collar crimes, many of which were related to public corruption (including wire, mail, bank, tax, and healthcare fraud, racketeering, and perjury) as well as gang and drug crimes.

Read more: https://lawandcrime.com/judiciary/amy-coney-barretts-successor-at-seventh-circuit-confirmed/

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There is currently only 1 open seat on the Circuit Court of Appeals, and it's on the 1st Circuit

Source: CBS Sports

Cleveland's Major League Baseball team has decided to change its nickname, moving away from the moniker it has employed for more than 100 years and that is considered insensitive to indigenous peoples, according to David Waldstein and Michael S. Schmidt of the New York Times. CBS Sports HQ's Jim Bowden has since confirmed Cleveland's plans. An announcement from the team could come as soon as this week, per the Times.

It's unclear how Cleveland will refer to itself during the upcoming season. One option is to keep the name for an additional year before then transitioning to a new identity; another is to go the route of the National Football League's Washington franchise, which dropped its own offensive nickname in July. The club has since been known as the Washington Football Team. Cleveland would, presumably, be called the Cleveland Baseball Team until a new nickname could be settled upon.

Cleveland's decision comes more than two years after it started to distance itself from the "Chief Wahoo" logo. Back in July, when the Washington Football Team announced its altered identity, Cleveland announced it would investigate the "best path forward" with regards to the team name. Subsequently, our Dayn Perry offered several replacement options, including the ever-popular "Spiders," as well as the "Rockers," the "Crows," and "Dobys," named after Hall of Famer Larry Doby, who was the American League's first Black player.

Cleveland's franchise has had three other identities during its existence: the Naps (after Nap Lajoie), the Bronchos, and the Blues. Of those, the Naps is the only name that lasted beyond a single season.

Read more: https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/cleveland-indians-to-change-nickname-the-franchise-has-used-for-more-then-a-century/

Source: NBC News

A former adviser to New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo accused him of sexual harassment Sunday, alleging that the behavior went on for "years."

In a series of tweets, the woman, Lindsey Boylan, who worked as deputy secretary for economic development and special adviser to the governor from 2015 to 2018, said Cuomo "sexually harassed me for years."

"Many saw it, and watched," Boylan said. She did not name people who could corroborate her claims.

"I could never anticipate what to expect: would I be grilled on my work (which was very good) or harassed about my looks. Or would it be both in the same conversation?" said Boylan, a Democrat running to be the Manhattan borough president. She did not provide further details or more specific allegations.

Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/former-adviser-gov-andrew-cuomo-alleges-he-sexually-harassed-her-n1251048

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I'm just the messenger.

Source: Law and Crime

Who will prosecute Missouri criminal defendant Mark McCloskey? Not St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner or her office. A judge on Thursday ruled that there was the appearance of impropriety after Gardner’s campaign fundraised off of the controversy over McCloskey and wife Patricia McCloskey pointing their guns at protesters passing by their home in June.

“The campaign emails demonstrate the Circuit Attorney’s personal interest in this case, raise the appearance of impropriety and jeopardize the Defendant’s right to a fair trial,” Missouri Circuit Court Judge Thomas Clark II wrote. “Among other previously described concerns, these email solicitations aim to raise money using the Defendant and the circumstances surrounding the case to rally Ms. Gardner’s political base and fuel contributions. While the collateral consequence of the emails may have been inadvertent or unintentional, ‘intention’ is not a factor under the legal standard. The legal standard only requires that the court conclude that the conduct appears inappropriate.”

The McCloskeys, who are local attorneys, infamously pointed guns at protesters demonstrating against St. Louis Mayor Lyda Krewson (D), who doxxed people who wanted to defund the police department. The defendants said that the people were trespassing on a private street. The couple maintained they feared for their safety. This incident quickly attracted political controversy. Supporters said the McCloskeys were just defending themselves. Critics said the couple were in danger of shooting peaceful protesters.

As indicated in the ruling, Gardner fundraised off the incident. From a July 17 email, just a few days before the McCloskeys were charged:

Read more: https://lawandcrime.com/high-profile/democratic-prosecutor-and-her-office-were-kicked-off-of-criminal-case-against-gun-pointing-st-louis-lawyer/?utm_source=mostpopular

Source: NPR

The U.S. Supreme Court, in a unanimous opinion, ruled Thursday that Muslims put on the no-fly list after refusing to act as informants can sue federal officials for money damages under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.

The case – Tanzin v. Tanvir — involved three Muslim men who said their religious freedom rights were violated when FBI agents tried to use the no-fly list to force them into becoming informants.

Ramzi Kassen, the lawyer representing the thee men, explained that the no-fly list is problematic because it combines "tremendous power with a near total lack of transparency," empowering the FBI to use it as coercive force.

None of the men was suspected of illegal activity, and indeed the Obama administration tried to head off the suit by removing their names from the no-fly list just days before the case first went to court. It didn't work. The men refused to drop their case, and on Thursday the Supreme Court ruled unanimously in their favor.

Read more: https://www.npr.org/2020/12/10/945000341/supreme-court-says-muslim-men-can-sue-fbi-agents-in-no-fly-list-case

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8-0 opinion written by Thomas.

Source: The Hill

President-elect Joe Biden says he won’t immediately remove the tariffs that President Trump imposed on China.

In an interview with The New York Times published Wednesday, Biden said he would not “make any immediate moves” on tariffs, adding that he was “not going to prejudice my options.”

He told the newspaper that he wants to review existing agreements with China and then turn to allies in Asia and Europe “so we can develop a coherent strategy.”

Trump signed the first phase of a U.S.-China trade agreement in January, under which China agreed to boost purchases of U.S. goods by $200 billion over the next two years. According to the Times, China has fallen behind on those purchases.

Read more: https://thehill.com/policy/international/china/528321-biden-says-he-wont-remove-trumps-tariffs-on-china-immediately

Source: Law and Crime

Neal Katyal Argues U.S. Corporations Should Not Be Liable for Using Child Slaves Abroad, But SCOTUS Appears Unconvinced

Barack Obama’s former acting Solicitor General and current litigator Neal Katyal appeared before the U.S. Supreme Court during oral arguments on Tuesday to defend multinational and U.S.-based corporations from liability for using child slaves abroad for profit.

Throughout the proceedings, most of the nine justices appeared skeptical of Katyal’s arguments on behalf of his corporate clients. But attorney Paul Hoffman, representing several former child slaves, often struggled before the high court himself–leaving the ultimate adjudication of the likely-to-be influential case anyone’s guess.

In two consolidated cases stylized as Nestlé USA v. Doe I and Cargill, Inc. v. Doe I, former child slaves forced to work on cocoa farms in the Ivory Coast sued the companies in their corporate forms for aiding and abetting slave labor under the Alien Tort Statute (ATS) of 1798.

Passed by the very first U.S. Congress, the ATS authorizes federal courts to effectively craft or sanction novel causes of action so long as the underlying activity–the bad behavior alleged–violates international law. Another way to think about the ATS is that it is one of a small number of U.S. legal instruments that can be used to assert universal jurisdiction over violations of international law. At root, the law allows non-U.S. citizens an avenue for redress that would otherwise be unavailable to them in the U.S. legal system.

Read more: https://lawandcrime.com/supreme-court/neal-katyal-argues-u-s-corporations-should-not-be-liable-for-using-child-slaves-abroad-but-scotus-appears-unconvinced/

Source: AP

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — An agreement announced Tuesday paves the way for the largest dam demolition in U.S. history, a project that promises to reopen hundreds of miles of waterway along the Oregon-California border to salmon that are critical to tribes but have dwindled to almost nothing in recent years.

If approved, the deal would revive plans to remove four massive hydroelectric dams on the lower Klamath River, creating the foundation for the most ambitious salmon restoration effort in history. The project on California’s second-largest river would be at the vanguard of a trend toward dam demolitions in the U.S. as the structures age and become less economically viable amid growing environmental concerns about the health of native fish.

Previous efforts to address problems in the Klamath Basin have fallen apart amid years of legal sparring that generated distrust among tribes, fishing groups, farmers and environmentalists, and the new agreement could face more legal challenges. Some state and federal lawmakers criticized it as a financially irresponsible overreach by leaders in Oregon and California.

“This dam removal is more than just a concrete project coming down. It’s a new day and a new era,” Yurok Tribe chairman Joseph James said. “To me, this is who we are, to have a free-flowing river just as those who have come before us. ... Our way of life will thrive with these dams being out.”

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/dams-fish-salmon-oregon-environment-71045373e7063bfff75fc43d15885639