Afternoon Briefs: COVID-19 outbreak in attorney’s office leads to court suspension; prosecutor killed while cycling
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COVID-19 outbreak in Jefferson County attorney’s office leads to court suspension
Three criminal court dockets in the Jefferson County Circuit Court in Louisville, Kentucky, will be suspended through Sept. 30 after three prosecutors and another staff member in the Jefferson County attorney’s office tested positive for COVID-19. An additional 16 staff members, including 12 assistant county attorneys, are also in self-quarantine, spokesman Josh Abner said. While other court business will continue as usual, Judge Stephanie Pearce Burke expressed concerns that more information about the spread of the virus has not been shared in the courthouse. (Louisville Courier Journal)
Senior assistant DA killed by bus while cycling in Brooklyn on Labor Day
Sarah Pitts, a 35-year-old prosecutor with the Brooklyn district attorney’s office, was struck by a charter bus while riding her bike early Monday. She suffered severe head trauma and was taken to Bellevue Hospital where she died. Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez said in a statement on Twitter that his office is “devastated by and mourning the tragic death” of Pitts and “she was a brilliant and compassionate lawyer dedicated to seeking justice.” Pitts graduated from the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School and joined Gonzalez’s office in 2018. (New York Daily News, New York Post, NBC 4 New York)
Federal rulings aim to expand transgender rights after Supreme Court’s Bostock ruling
Judge James E. Boasberg of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia said Wednesday that the Trump administration cannot enforce a rule change allowing health care providers to deny medical services to LGBTQ patients on religious grounds. The decision is one of several coming on the heels of the Supreme Court’s June ruling in Bostock v. Clayton County, Georgia that a law banning sex discrimination in the workplace applies to gay, lesbian and transgender employees. Federal judges from New York to Idaho have also cited the ruling to justify expanding transgender rights beyond the workplace. (USA Today, Law360, Courthouse News Service, Sept. 2 memorandum opinion)
Cooley Law School decides not to renew minor league ballpark naming rights
The Lansing Lugnuts will no longer call their ballpark the Cooley Law School Stadium after Western Michigan University’s Cooley Law School decided not to renew its naming rights, the minor league baseball team has announced. The law school acquired the rights for the stadium for nearly $1.5 million in 2010 and hoped it would help raise its profile. However, it has since closed two of its campuses and seen a decline in students. Law dean James McGrath said “maintaining the rights sent the wrong message about our efforts to ensure the future of the school.” (Law.com)
