The BLT: The Blog of Legal Times

In Black Farmers Case, Court to Consider Denied Claims

Hundreds of potential claimants in the high-profile black farmers discrimination case are challenging the denial of their claims for a share of a $1.25 billion settlement fund.

The federal government agreed to settle claims of loan discrimination by the U.S. Department of Agriculture not covered by a previous settlement in 1999. U.S. District Senior Judge Paul Friedman approved the new settlement in 2011.

Since then, Friedman wrote in a recent court filing, he has received a flood of challenges from claimants who sought compensation in the latest deal. In his Dec. 31 opinion, Friedman told lawyers for the class and the U.S. Department of Justice to respond to issues raised by the challengers by Jan. 30.

DOJ Lawyer Disciplined for Lapsed Bar Membership

From 1990 to 2011, a U.S. Department of Justice lawyer practiced law without an active bar membership, according to a letter issued last month by District of Columbia attorney disciplinary officials.

Laura Heiser received an informal admonition—the least severe form of disciplinary action—for failing to maintain an active law license and giving false information to the Justice Department about her status with the D.C. Bar.

Heiser was a lawyer with the Justice Department from September 1986 through January 2013, according to the department. The letter from the Office of Bar Counsel indicated she worked in the Antitrust Division. Her membership with the Ohio bar lapsed in 1989, according to the letter, and she became an inactive member of the D.C. Bar in 1990.

State Bar Investigates Former Office of Special Counsel Chief

The State Bar of California is investigating possible ethics violations against Scott Bloch, who led the Office of Special Counsel during the George W. Bush administration, court records in Washington show.

The pending disciplinary proceeding, which began in August, is rooted in Bloch's effort to erase files on government-issued computers in his office, according to court records filed on Dec. 19 in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

Bloch pleaded guilty in February to the misdemeanor charge of destruction of government property. In June, U.S. District Judge Robert Wilkins sentenced him to two years' probation and to spend one day in jail.

At the time of the computer files erasure in 2007, the inspector general of the federal Office of Personnel Management was investigating Bloch over claims he retaliated against employees in his office. Wilkins in court questioned Bloch's position that he ordered computers wiped amid a concern about viruses.

Wiley Rein Defends Fee Request in Voting Rights Case

Wiley Rein is defending its request for $2 million in legal fees from the federal government after winning a constitutional challenge to the federal Voting Rights Act.

The U.S. Department of Justice has opposed the fee request, arguing Wiley Rein's client, Shelby County, Ala., didn't bring the type of claims covered under the voting rights law's fee-shifting provision. On Dec. 20, Wiley Rein filed court papers that accused the government of trying to relitigate issues the U.S. Supreme Court decided.

"[N]either their antipathy toward the rights Shelby County restored to the citizens of formerly covered jurisdictions nor the slew of other objections they raise can defeat Shelby County’s proper claim for attorney’s fees," firm founding partner Bert Rein wrote.

Protester's Claim of Unlawful Arrest for Profanity Can Proceed

An Occupy D.C. protester who claims he was unconstitutionally arrested for using profanity can proceed with his claims, a Washington federal judge ruled.

U.S. District Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson yesterday denied the government’s bid to dismiss claims against three U.S. Park Police officers. Based on facts alleged in the complaint, the judge said no officer would have reasonably found probable cause to arrest the protester, Anthony Michael Patterson, for disorderly conduct.

Jackson highlighted the First Amendment's protection of profanity. She said there was no evidence in Patterson's complaint that his speech risked provoking violence—one of the standards spelled out in the D.C. Code for disorderly conduct arrests.

Big Law Goes to Bat for Virginia Gov. Robert McDonnell

Lawyers from three prominent law firms were involved in the recent challenge of a decision by federal prosecutors in Virginia to bring charges against Gov. Robert McDonnell (R) and his wife.

According to The Washington Post, Justice Department officials, including Deputy Attorney General James Cole, met with McDonnell's lawyers on Dec. 12. Prosecutors originally intended to bring charges no later than this week, the Post reported, but delayed that decision following the meeting.

A person familiar with the investigation confirmed to Legal Times that Henry "Hank" Asbill of Jones Day and John Brownlee of Holland & Knight, lawyers for McDonnell, were at the meeting. Maureen McDonnell's attorney, William Burck of Quinn Emmanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, was also present.

NSA Review Panel Recommends Surveillance Court Reforms

The chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court should not hold the sole authority to appoint judges to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, an Obama administration review group said today in a lengthy report that offers reforms to better protect privacy and civil liberties.

The White House release of the 303-page report comes just days after a federal judge in Washington declared that the "almost-Orwellian" National Security Agency bulk collection of billions of phone records is likely unconstitutional. Read the report here.

The report, prepared by Richard Clarke, Michael Morrell, Geoffrey Stone, Cass Sunstein and Peter Swire, offers 46 recommendations, including several that are specific to the surveillance court. The recommendations include the creation of a public interest advocate to present a vantage other than the position of the U.S. Department of Justice; greater disclosure of opinions; and dividing the authority to appoint surveillance court judges among the Supreme Court justices.

Lawyers Recommended to Fill D.C. Appeals Court Vacancy

The District of Columbia's solicitor general, a D.C. Superior Court judge and a law firm partner are a local commission's top picks to fill an open seat on the D.C. Court of Appeals.

Eleven lawyers and judges applied to fill Judge Kathryn Oberly's position on the city's highest local court. Oberly retired this month.

The D.C. Judicial Nomination Commission announced today that it was recommending Solicitor General Todd Kim, Judge Neal Kravitz and Paul Wolfson of Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr to the White House.

DOJ Wants Retrial for Accused Somali Pirate Negotiator

The U.S. Department of Justice wants another opportunity to put an accused negotiator for Somali high-seas pirates on trial.

A Washington federal jury acquitted Ali Mohammad Ali in late November on a piracy count—the most serious charge against him. The jury hung on two lesser charges related to the taking of hostages. A lawyer for the government today told the court that prosecutors planned to retry Ali on the hostage-taking charges.

Ali was accused of boarding a ship that had been taken over by pirates and helping the perpetrators negotiate a ransom. Ali maintained he was trying to free the ship's crew and gather information.

Justice Department Defends Law Banning Protests at Supreme Court

The government has a "legitimate interest" in prohibiting demonstrations on Supreme Court grounds, the Justice Department asserted in a brief filed with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit on Monday.

In the case Hodge v. Talkin, the department is urging the circuit court to restore the law banning assemblages, processions and displays on court property, 40 U.S.C. 6135. Judge Beryl Howell of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia struck down the law in June, declaring it to be "unreasonable, substantially overbroad, and irreconcilable with the First Amendment."

Soon after Howell's decision, the marshal of the court Pamela Talkin issued a new "Regulation Seven" banning protests, this time invoking a different law, 40 U.S.C. 6012, which authorizes her to establish rules to maintain "suitable order and decorum." The new rule has been challenged in separate lawsuit, Miska v. Talkin.