Judge sets back Obama 'amnesty' program, lets employers discriminate against illegals

President Obama's bid to grant special status to illegals in his program to defer deportation does not protect them from employment discrimination, a little known immigration court has ruled.

A judge with the Justice Department's Office of the Chief Administrative Hearing Officer sided with an Arizona Obamacare provider after it withdrew a job offer in 2013 to an illegal immigrant who was unable to get a state driver's license because of his non-citizen status. At the time, Arizona would not issue licenses to illegal immigrants.

The case featured an illegal man granted "Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA)," dubbed amnesty by critics. DACA covers illegals who came to the country as children and gives them temporary and renewable status in the U.S. It also makes them eligible for employment.

After losing his Obamacare navigator job offered by Arizona Family Health Partnership because he couldn't get an Arizona driver's license, Brian Emilio Gonzalez-Hernandez sued claiming discrimination.

But in the June 30 decision, Ellen K. Thomas, administrative law judge, said that as a DACA recipient, Gonzalez-Hernandez wasn't a "protected individual" like illegals granted a green card or other types of residency status, and thus couldn't sue. She added, "An action for citizenship status discrimination may be maintained only by a protected individual…"

The case was reported on by the Center for Immigration Studies Monday. In a blog post, CIS fellow David North said that the court "ruled that a former illegal alien who has secured Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) status may be discriminated against in the job market because of that status."

North added:

"If DACA people cannot use this provision of federal law (which I think was the right decision) it means that it is not against the law to discriminate against them in hiring.

"Perhaps the administration will try to overturn the quoted part of this ruling; it certainly runs counter to th general thrust of the White House's immigration policy.

Via: Washington Examiner

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Court upholds Massachusetts earned sick time law

A Massachusetts District Court judge has upheld the earned sick time law, which allows workers at all employers to earn up to 40 hours paid or unpaid sick time for every hour worked.

The law, passed by 60 percent of voters by ballot last fall and enacted by the state's attorney general, received pushback from two construction contractors and six construction employer associations.

Via: Boston Business Journal

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This is not your hood': Judge rips gang member in blistering attack that leaves the 'carefree' suspect dumbstruck

'This is not your hood': Judge's verbal smack-down to gang member

Tennessee Judge Lila Statom has become a viral sensation thanks to her incredible take down of one gang member who dared try to claim an area as 'his hood' while in her courtroom

'Sir, East Lake Courts is not your hood, it's the citizens of the United States who own that because they work and pay taxes' Statom told O'Shae Smith, who told the judge he shot a rival gang member for being there.

'It's the citizens of the United States who own that because they work and pay taxes, you don't own that.'

Statom said she wanted to show Smith he wasn't 'in control everywhere'. 

'It makes me upset because there are people that live in East Lake Court who get up and go to work every day. They take their children to daycare,' she told WRCB-TV.  

Statom had a personal connection to the area that has been ravaged with gang violence, and told Smith 'it used to be a very nice place to live'.

'My grandmother lived there and I spent many a night,' she told the courtroom. 'It was a nice place where you could walk around. People like you have made it a violent, unsafe place to live.' 

'Hopefully we can make it the place that it used to be back when it was originally built for people who didn't have anywhere else to live - to make it a safe place to live,' she said.  

According to police, Smith, 20, shot Kendre Allen, 18, in the hip in late March. Allen also appeared in Statom's court last week to testify against Smith. 

Via: Daily Mail

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Circuit Court Blocks NYPD Stop & Frisk Changes, Removes Manhattan Judge From Case

A federal appellate court on Thursday granted a stay in the landmark police stop-and-frisk ruling in New York City, and removed the trial judge, Shira A. Scheindlin, from the case.

The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled that Judge Scheindlin “ran afoul” of the judiciary’s code of conduct by showing an “appearance of partiality surrounding this litigation.” The panel criticized how she had steered the lawsuit to her courtroom when it was filed in early 2008.

The ruling effectively puts off a battery of changes that Judge Scheindlin, of Federal District Court in Manhattan, had ordered for the Police Department. Those changes include postponing the operations of the monitor who was given the task to oversee reforms to the department’s stop-and-frisk practices, which Judge Scheindlin found violated the Fourth and 14th Amendments of the Constitution.

In a two-page order, the panel of three judges also criticized Judge Scheindlin for granting media interviews and for making public statements while the case was pending before her.

The judges ordered that the stop-and-frisk lawsuit be reassigned to another judge. The Second Circuit ruling instructs the new judge to put off to “all proceedings and otherwise await further action” from the Second Circuit.

Judge Scheindlin’s decision, issued in August, found that the stop-and-frisk tactics violated the rights of minorities in the city. With that decision, which came at the conclusion of a lengthy trial that began in the spring, she repudiated a major element of the crime-fighting legacy of the administration of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg.

But the panel, citing an article by The New York Times in a footnote in the ruling, found fault with how the judge improperly applied a “related-case rule” to bring the stop-and-frisk case under her purview.

Via: New York Times

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Judge tells Congress 'go to hell,' urges confrontation over furloughs

A federal judge says it's time to tell Congress to “go to hell” for allowing the partial government shutdown and other recent actions that have significantly cut court funding.

“It’s the right thing to do,” said senior U.S. District Judge Richard Kopf in a recent blog posting. The blog exposed some long-simmering tensions between the two branches of government over recent budget decisions. 

Kopf, a Bush administration appointee in Lincoln, Neb., says Congress has hit federal courts with a one-two punch -- allowing the deep, inflexible cuts known as sequester to kick in this spring, then failing to agree on a spending bill to stop the government from partially shutting down some government services.

The partial shutdown has forced the courts to furlough non-essential employees and use court fees and other sources of income to help keep things running. 

A non-partisan congressional report published prior to the Oct. 1 partial shutdown projected those accounts would be exhausted in about 10 days, at which time only “essential work” by furlough-exempt judges, core staff and probation and parole officers could continue under federal law. 

Kopf is now urging a confrontation with the Legislative Branch, calling on his fellow members of the bench to declare all employees exempt from furlough. 

Via: Fox News

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Judge issuing order to reinstate booted Philadelphia election officials, Republicans say

A Pennsylvania judge is issuing an order to reinstate Republican election officials across Philadelphia who allegedly were ejected or refused entry by on-site Democratic voting chief judges, GOP officials tell Fox News.

One Republican official claimed that "just under 70" Republican election officials were blocked from Philadelphia polling sites Tuesday morning by Democrats on site. One of them, the official claimed, "was shoved out of the polling place." 

"For this many inspectors to be ejected from polling places is rare, even for Philadelphia," the official told FoxNews.com. 

Elsewhere in the city, a representative from the New Black Panther Party was also spotted outside a polling site. The New Black Panthers stirred controversy in 2008 when members appeared outside a polling site, one of them holding a billy club. The representative seen Tuesday morning was not armed. 

The flap over the election judges, though, was widespread. Republicans claim they are obtaining a series of court orders to seat the so-called election "inspectors," and sheriff's deputies will be available to escort them. 

Despite the high number of officials who were allegedly booted, the dispute itself is not uncommon for Philadelphia. Fred Voigt, legal counsel for the city commissioners, said these kinds of face-offs happen "with regularity" in the City of Brotherly Love. 

"It happens all the time," Voigt said. He said court-appointed Republican officials typically show up on Election Day and end up squaring off against stand-in officials at the polling sites filling in the open seats. Part of the problem, he said, is that the Republican inspectors are appointed on relatively short notice, leading to a string of confrontations on Election Day. 

"There are no cool heads here," Voigt said. 

Via: Fox News

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