Sexual Harassment - Judge Charles Budd

You can read about the story at the Portland Press Herald, titled Sexual Harassment Complaint against former Maine judge dismissed. According to the story U.S. District Court Judge Lance Walker dismissed the case against the judge, because he said "existing law was not clear in this case."   

If you can't access that story, here's the opinion Pike v Budd at Casetext. And here's an indepth article I found at the California Law Review, titled Qualified Immunity's Flawed Foundation, written in February of 2023 by Alexander A. Reinert. From the Introduction: 

Qualified immunity—the affirmative defense available to government officials sued in damages for violations of federal law—is under renewed assault. 

Could qualified immunity be on it's way  out, or it's use be limited? 

Even though the court case against Judge Budd was dismissed, the Maine Board of Overseers of the Bar Association is taking testimony, because they can vote to suspend the judge's law license, and/or fine him. 

And here are the links to listen to the various hearings that will be held by the Board today and tomorrow by Zoom. 

There's also a hearing on November 26, regarding Attorney Daniel Feldman, who I spoke with the other day. He says he wants to quit representing certain defendants that the state owes him money for; but until they can appoint another attorney, they won't drop him from the case. 

Feldman claims he has a shared interest in the state resolving the issues in the ACLU's case Robbins v MCILS (now MCPDS) for violations of the 6th Amendment right to counsel...and he is asking to be a party in the class action case. 

Supreme Court, Congress, Media...Americans have unfavorable views of

Last month in an article at the Hill, The Supreme crisis of Chief Justice John Roberts, Jonathan Turley mentioned that a recent poll found that less than half of Americans have a favorable view of the United States Supreme Court. That's largely due to the overturning of Roe v. Wade. But we the people have even lower approval ratings for Congress which is part of the Legislative branch, at only 18%, and the media is only trusted by 32% of people, Turley reported. 

As for police, who are part of the executive branch, their approval rating is about the same as that of the justices, only about half. In U.S. Confidence in Institutions Mostly Flat, but Police Up, by Megan Brenan at Gallup:

Faith in the police fell in 2020 to 48% after George Floyd was murdered while in police custody. After increasing to 51% in 2021, confidence in the police dropped again in 2022 and dipped further last year, to a record low of 43%.

Can we agree that the tree is rotten and we need to plant a new one? 

The uneducation of America! The Supreme Court at Lewiston High School

Don't expect a decision anytime soon about the intertidial land controversy which the Maine Supreme Court heard today. Intertidal is the word used to describe the land between the low and high tide marks. Here's a Maine Public story by Kaitlyn Budion, at Maine Public: Moody Beach dispute reaches Maine Supreme Court.  The justices will probably take forever because they have to first determine if Peter Masucci et al. (and others) have standing because according to the story he's "asking the court to overturn a 1989 decision which says that private land ownership extends to the low tide mark." 

Apparently, the signs that were put up are offending people. Here's a story by AnneMarie Hilton, at the Morning Star, with photos of the signs. From Maine's highest court hears arguments for public access to intertidal land case: 

If the court clarified that intertidal land is not an easement, but rather subject to the public trust doctrine — which preserves certain natural resources for public use — Parker said they could expand the definition of “fishing, fowling and navigation” without overturning the 1989 ruling. 

That's how this issue could be resolved, according to a Maine assistant attorney general, Lauren Parker. The decision in 1989 was by the Maine Supreme Court. I don't know if the court has ever overturned one of their own decisions...that is admitted it made a mistake.    

At schools throughout Maine this week the Maine Supreme Court justices are hearing the cases so students can watch. I wanted to attend the event, but couldn't; the public wasn't invited! Upon arriving, I was asked my name by a woman with a list. I wasn't on it, so I couldn't sit and watch. 

What? I didn't have any weapons on me. There seemed to be enough space on the bleachers, though I don't know how many students were going to be attending. Nobody seemed to know that. A man who must have been with the justices and the court said it was not their policy. "An email went out to parents and others," I was told at the main office where I went to ask what the situation was.  

Do parents want their children to learn about a failing judicial system? We should get students to help develop a new justice system! The current one is too slow; and counsel, which is essential, is being denied people. One of the reasons our ancesters separated from Massachusetts over 100 years ago is that it was taking too long for people in places far north (now Maine) to have their cases heard because of the great distance from the court. 

Off duty officer in New York - lawsuit filed in road rage incident

Here's a story at the AP, about an officer who was apparently intoxicated when he crashed into cars and shot a man in the head on June 6, 2024. From the Associated Press story by Karen Mathews, on October 2, 2024:  

According to the lawsuit, Tran’s alcoholism and mental health problems were known to his police superiors and should have disqualified him from serving as an armed officer, but he was nonetheless carrying a department-issued 9mm pistol that he used to shoot Patel.

Lewiston Mass shooter's medical records - about probate court, and Judge Blaisdell

The following story explains Woman who lost husband and son uses probate process to obtain gunman's records: 

A judge on Tuesday granted Cynthia Young’s petition to become a special administrator of Robert Card’s estate so she can have legal authority to obtain the records for herself, others who lost loved ones, and attorneys preparing lawsuits. The move was not opposed by Card’s son, who is his sole heir.

If the paperwork was filed in Hancock County, there'd be no other judge to preside over the case other than Judge Blaisdell. From High court suspends Hancock County probate judge "It’s not clear yet when the four-month suspension period for Hancock County’s only probate judge will commence," and here's what Judge William Blaisdell IV did: 

The suspension stems from the Committee on Judicial Conduct finding that Blaisdell had committed three violations of the code governing judicial conduct, according to the court’s written decision. The first included failing to file federal and state income tax returns for the years 2020, 2021 and 2022; failing to pay court-ordered child support and attorney fees; and acting in contempt of the district court in a family matter in which he was a party. The second violation was failing to respond to the committee despite repeated requests to do so and finally acting with a lack of candor by asserting he’d never received the committee’s letters.