Afternoon Briefs: Appeals of Kavanaugh complaints rejected; Trump rescinds prosecutor medals
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh.
• A judicial conduct committee says it doesn’t have authority to review complaints accusing U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh of misconduct by showing bias and hostility during his confirmation hearings. The U.S. Judicial Conference’s Committee on Judicial Conduct and Disability said Thursday that ethics complaints can be filed against federal judges but not Supreme Court justices. The committee rejected nine petitions for review seeking to overturn the same finding by the Judicial Council of the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals at Denver. (Law.com, committee decision)
• President Donald Trump has ordered the Navy to rescind achievement medals given to military prosecutors in the case of Navy SEAL Edward Gallagher, who was acquitted of murdering an Islamic State group prisoner. Trump’s tweets about his decision did not say which prosecutors got awards. The lead prosecutor had been kicked off the case amid a potential investigation into tracking software installed on emails sent to defense lawyers. (The Washington Post, NPR, the New York Times)
• Lawyer Sharika Robinson has settled her bias lawsuit claiming that her North Carolina law firm uses minorities as “diversity props” and misrepresents its inclusiveness. The case against Robinson, Bradshaw & Hinson settled Monday for undisclosed terms. (Law.com, Bloomberg Law)
• Former Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane says she is grateful to be released from jail after spending eight months behind bars for perjury and obstruction. Prosecutors had alleged that Kane leaked grand jury documents to take revenge on a political rival and then lied about it under oath. She was released from jail two months early because of credit for good behavior. (The Philadelphia Inquirer)
• A lawyer who helped lead a white supremacist group has been barred from handling clients’ money as a result of a North Carolina judge’s order. Walkertown lawyer Harold Ray Crews consented to the preliminary injunction, which says he is being investigated by the North Carolina State Bar for alleged mishandling of client funds. (The Winston-Salem Journal)
• Retired corporate lawyer Rick Murphy of Washington, D.C., helped two 7-Eleven workers subdue a shoplifting suspect Tuesday when he saw the employees trying to stop the man from leaving the store. The suspect was charged with taking cigarettes, a Big Gulp and a cigarette lighter. Murphy said the man appeared to be homeless and expressed some sympathy for him. “It’s tough out there for people like him on the streets of Washington,” Murphy told the Washington Post. (The Washington Post)
