Month: May 2022

Court documents show that former President Donald Trump settled a lawsuit on Tuesday with the District of Columbia over accusations of improperly spending non-profit funds. Trump agreed to pay $750,000 to settle the lawsuit that was filed against Trump’s Presidential Inaugural Committee, Trump International Hotel Washington D.C., and the Trump Organization.

The District of Columbia attorney general’s lawsuit accused the inaugural committee of spending more than $1 million in non-profit funds at the Trump-owned hotel. It said the committee misused $1.1 million in charitable funds to “dramatically overpay” the hotel for event space, to throw a private party for the former president’s children and to pay a private debt held by the Trump Organization. The suit was filed in 2020.

The inaugural committee raised $107 million for Trump’s inauguration in January 2017, more than doubling the previous record for any other incoming president. The money will be divided equally, with half going to the Mikva Challenge Grant Foundation, and the other half to the DC Action for Children Today DC ACT. Trump said in a statement following the settlement: “Given the impending sale of the Trump International Hotel, Washington D.C., and with absolutely no admission of liability or guilt, we have reached a settlement to end all litigation.”

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On Tuesday, the U.S. Supreme Court confirmed that a draft opinion to overturn the landmark abortion ruling in Roe vs. Wade that was leaked late Monday is authentic, however cautioned that the draft is not necessarily the final word on the matter.

The opinion, drafted in February and reported by Politico on Monday night, has Justice Samuel Alito joined by four Republican-appointed justices in the decision to overturn Roe vs. Wade’s holding of a federal constitutional right to abortion and Planned Parenthood vs. Casey, which largely maintained that right.  Alito writes in the document: “We hold that Roe and Casey must be overruled. It is time to heed the Constitution and return the issue of abortion to the people’s elected representatives.” The other four justices to join Alito were Clarence Thomas, who was appointed by former President George H.W. Bush, and Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett, all of whom were nominated by former President Donald Trump.

In a statement on Tuesday, the Supreme Court acknowledged that the draft is legitimate, saying in a statement: “Justices circulate draft opinions internally as a routine and essential part of the court’s confidential and deliberative work. Although the document described in yesterday’s reports is authentic, it does not represent a decision by the court or the final position of any member on the issues in the case.” Chief Justice John Roberts said in the statement: “To the extent this betrayal of the confidences of the court was intended to undermine the integrity of our operations, it will not succeed. The work of the court will not be affected in any way. This was a singular and egregious breach of trust that is an affront to the court and the community of public servants who work here. I have directed the Marshal of the Court to launch an investigation into the source of the leak.”

Protesters gathered outside the Supreme Court on Monday night, chanting “abortion is healthcare” and carrying signs in opposition of the leaked opinion. Democratic leaders vowed to protect and expand access to the medical procedure in their states.

Politico said that it obtained a copy of the draft opinion from a person familiar with the court’s proceedings in Dobbs vs. Jackson, a challenge to Mississippi’s 15-week abortion ban. It was not immediately clear whether changes had been made to the draft since it circulated in February; opinions can often undergo multiple drafts and vote changes before a decision is revealed.  The opinion in the case is not expected to be published until late June before the high court’s term ends.

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A former Philadelphia police officer who was fired after he fatally shot 12-year-old Thomas “TJ” Siderio in the back in March has been charged with murder.  District Attorney Larry Krasner announced during a press conference on Monday that 26-year-old Edsaul Mendoza was arrested Sunday night and charged with first-degree murder, third-degree murder, voluntary manslaughter and possessing an instrument of crime.  Mendoza is being held without bail.

Mendoza and three other plainclothes officers had responded to reports involving a stolen gun; they were conducting surveillance in an unmarked car when they spotted Siderio holding a Taurus 9MM handgun with another 17-year-old boy, identified as N.K., on March 1.   Krasner said that Mendoza and the other officers — identified as Kwaku Sarpong, Robert Cucinelli and Alexander Camacho — activated their emergency lights and drove toward the boys when Siderio allegedly fired into the car, adding, “when the child fired the gun, that immediately caused three officers to take cover and police officer Mendoza began what can fairly be called a tactically unsound foot chase of the 12-year-old.”  Mendoza fired three shots, including the one that killed Siderio, and another officer fired a single shot “once at no target in particular.”

Krasner said the charges against Mendoza come after a grand jury viewed video footage that has not yet been made public, which he summarized during the press conference.

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On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled against the city of Boston, saying they violated the First Amendment when they denied a group the opportunity to fly the Christian Flag outside City Hall four years ago.

In 2017, the New Hampshire-based group Camp Constitution — which focuses on promoting “Judeo-Christian moral heritage” — had asked to fly the flag from one of three 83-feet-tall city flag poles outside Boston City Hall to celebrate Constitution Day.  Created in 1907, The Christian Flag features a white field and a red Latin cross inside a blue canton and has been used by many churches from varying denominations in the United States since its adoption by the Federal Council of Churches in 1942.

Camp Constitution’s founder Hal Shurtlef said that the commissioner of Boston’s property management department told him that his organization could not fly the flag because he worried it would violate the U.S. Constitution’s establishment clause and that there was no instance of the city ever raising such a flag. Camp Constitution sued, arguing that the Christian Flag was the only one from a civic group that had ever been denied, and that Boston had flown around 50 unique flags since 2005 during similar public events.

Two lower courts had sided with the city of Boston, before the Supreme Court said it would hear the case last September. Arguments were presented before the high court in January. Justice Stephen Breyer wrote that the court concluded that the flagpole served as a public forum and that Boston had not used it as a form of governmental speech.  He wrote: “The parties dispute whether, on these facts, Boston reserved the pole to fly flags that communicate governmental messages, or instead opened the flagpole for citizens to express their own views.”

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