News

Catherine O’Neill on Washington Dept. of Ecology’s Draft Water Quality Standards and the District Court’s Order Enjoining EPA to Act

August 8, 2016Ann Tweedy

Here. Professor O’Neill provides a detailed and understandable summary of the many problems with Ecology’s draft standards and also explains EPA’s role and the District Court for the Western District of Washington’s recent decision.

The District Court’s decision in Puget Soundkeeper Alliance v. EPA is here: Puget Soundkeeper v EPA Order on Summary Judgment 8-3-16.

Justice Department Investigating Fatal Police Shooting of Loreal Tsingine

August 1, 2016Sarah M Donnelly

Link to Guardian article by Jamiles Lartey here.

Excerpt:

In the video, Tsingine gets up and walks toward Shipley with a small pair of medical scissors in her left hand, and another officer quickly approaches her from behind. Shipley draws his gun and directs it at Tsingine, and the footage is cut off before he fires the fatal shot.

The shooting was ruled justified by the Maricopa County attorney’s office last Friday.

Tsingine’s aunt, Floranda Dempsey, said her niece was 5ft tall and weighed 95lbs. “They should have been able to subdue her with their huge size and weight,” she said. “It wasn’t like she came at them first. I’m sure anyone would be mad if they were thrown around.” She added a question: “Where were the tasers, pepper sprays, batons?”

The family filed a $10.5m wrongful death lawsuit against the city at the beginning of the month, claiming that “the city of Winslow was negligent in hiring, training, retaining, controlling and supervising” the officer who killed Tsingine.

Shipley’s training records show two of his fellow officers had serious concerns that he was too quick to go for his service weapon, that he ignored directives from superiors, and that he was liable to falsify reports and not control his emotions.

A day before Shipley’s training ended, nearly three years ago, a police corporal recommended that the Winslow police department not retain him.

“They were warned he was likely to hurt someone back in 2013 or so, by another commanding officer,” Floranda said. “It’s unbelievable as to why he was still allowed to wear a badge.”

538: “Clinton And Trump Are Both Promising An Extreme Supreme Court”

August 1, 2016Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here.

Justice Ginsburg Corrected Minor Error in Bryant Decision

July 29, 2016Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here is the NYTs article discussing post-decision amendments and corrections in Supreme Court opinions more generally.

An excerpt:

On the last day of June, for instance, a deputy solicitor general Michael R. Dreeben, wrote a letter to the court saying there had been a mistake in a decision issued a few weeks before. He asked the court to fix the error, and, a week later, it did.

Writing for the majority in a case about domestic assault on Indian reservations, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg had said a federal law applied to some serious crimes “when both perpetrator and victim are Indians.” But what the law itself actually said, quite clearly, was that it applied to all victims, Indians or not.

When Mr. Dreeben’s letter arrived, the court promptly sent it to reporters. When the court amended the decision to adopt the revised language Mr. Dreeben had suggested, its website noted the change.

Chief David Bald Eagle Walks On

July 28, 2016Teresa Walrod

He danced with Marilyn Monroe. He drove race cars. He parachuted into enemy gunfire at Normandy. He played professional baseball. He was a leader not just of his tribe, but of the United Native Nations. He was an advocate for Native people.

HERE.