Immigration rulings, Pride Bar formed, sexual abuse cases, July 13 edition

Good morning. It’s July 13.

I’m keeping my 4th of July sale up for one more week: one month of access for 40¢. That’s the same value as $15 in 1776. You can redeem the sale here.

Also, articles published on June 29 are now free to read without a subscription. Two key articles: Immigrant rep. says Adelanto detainees aren’t given water, fresh food and Riverside jury awards plaintiff $63k in wrongful termination case.

Pride Bar Association of the Inland Empire

This week, I talked with the newly formed Pride Bar Association of the Inland Empire’s President, Dean McVay, and co-vice president, Veronica Garcia. They have lots of goals for their organization—mentorship, education, advocacy and community—and have already held four events. They’ll be having a fifth event next Friday. Read about it here.

Constitutional law professor on birthright citizenship

I am very happy to have a comment on the June 27 Supreme Court CASA ruling from Western State College of Law professor Sandra Rierson. Here’s a short snippet:

On its face, Justice Barrett’s opinion may not seem to be unreasonable. Due process of law generally provides that a court has the power to bind only those who are parties to the case before it. However, in cases like this one, where the district court has held that the underlying law (here, the birthright citizenship executive order) is facially unconstitutional – unconstitutional as applied to anyone anywhere, not just under the specific facts of this case – modern courts have regularly enjoined the government from enforcing such laws, as to anyone (subject to appellate review).

Read the rest of her writing here.

Restraining order directs gov. to halt discrimination in immigration raids

A federal judge detailed poor conditions for people detained by federal agents in a July 11 temporary restraining order that directs the federal government to improve detainees’ access to attorneys and stop using race as a con.

“Are the individuals and organizations who brought this lawsuit likely to succeed in proving that the federal government is indeed conducting roving patrols without reasonable suspicion and denying access to lawyers? This court decides — based on all the evidence presented — that they are. And second, what should be done about it? The individuals and organizations who have brought this lawsuit have made a fairly modest request: That this court order the federal government to stop. For the reasons stated below, the Court grants their request,” Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong wrote.

Read about her ruling here.

Foster system issues

In today’s federal filing roundup, we see 13 new Americans with Disabilities Act cases filed against businesses, and two grandparents filing a petition to be reunited with their granddaughter before she is adopted. They claim San Bernardino County foster care did not properly reach out to them for placement before putting their granddaughter up for adoption.

More on the foster system: a man claims he was sexually abused by his foster father in San Bernardino County in 1993, despite repeatedly telling county employees about the abuse. The county asked San Bernardino Superior Judge Carlos Cabrera to throw out the case. He said no on July 10.

Sacramento and statutes of limitation

The three-decade old case is one of many filed after the state removed the statute of limitations for sexual abuse cases in 2020. Almost 1,000 sexual abuse cases against California school districts have been filed in these five years, at a filing pace of about 4 a week. The litigation is digging deep into schools’ funding.

Among other bills considered by Sacramento are one that would require minimum education by police, and another that would effectively replace the National Labor Relations Board with the state-operated Public Employment Relations Board. Bill author McKinnon said that the NLRB has been made ineffective by design, and that if it were not going to review union elections, the state should step in.

The state budget has ensured inmate firefighters get paid minimum wage.

The legislature has also killed one bill: tenants will not have a two-week grace period to pay overdue rent before getting evicted. 

Bloomington robbery sentence, court rules, and a judicial lesson

A man convicted of being the lookout in the violent Bloomington robbery of a mechanic and his wife is sentenced to four years.

The Fourth District Court of Appeal, Division Two, found that local court rules cannot override the statutory window to file documents.

Finally, retired San Bernardino Superior Judge John Pacheco has a short lesson on the role of politics in the courtroom.

Thank you for reading. I hope you have a good week. I’ll see you next Sunday.