North Carolina
Insurance magnate out of prison after convictions overturned
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — A North Carolina-based insurance magnate whose convictions on corruption-related counts were overturned by a federal appeals court has been released from prison.
Greg E. Lindberg was let out of a minimum-security prison in Montgomery, Alabama, on Friday, according to the U.S. Bureau of Prisons website. That was the day after U.S. District
Judge Max Cogburn agreed to Lindberg’s release in light of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals vacating his convictions last month and ordering a new trial.
Lindberg, who entered prison in October 2020, was sentenced to more than seven years after being convicted of attempting to bribe North Carolina’s insurance commissioner to secure preferential regulatory treatment for his insurance business. Lindberg had become a large political donor in North Carolina politics.
A 4th Circuit panel declared June 29 that Cogburn had erred by giving jurors in Lindberg’s trial misleading instructions before they began deliberations. John D. Gray, a Lindberg consultant convicted at the trial of the same two counts as Lindberg, also had his convictions vacated for the same reasons.
Cogburn’s order last week retained the conditions from Lindberg’s pretrial release, which included an unsecured bond and electronic monitoring.
A July 11 filing by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for western North Carolina lodged no objections to Lindberg’s release based on the pretrial conditions. There’s nothing to indicate yet whether prosecutors will attempt to retry Lindberg and Gray or end their efforts.
Gray received a 2 1/2-year sentence but has been serving his time from home since December, according to a July 8 motion from Gray’s attorney. The attorney is also seeking his client’s release based on pretrial conditions.
Washington
House to vote on same-sex marriage, push back against court
WASHINGTON (AP) — The House is set to vote to protect same-sex and interracial marriages, a direct confrontation with the Supreme Court, whose conservative majority in overturning Roe v. Wade abortion access has sparked concerns that other rights enjoyed by countless Americans may be in jeopardy.
Tuesday’s vote in the House is part political strategy setting up an election-year roll call that will force all lawmakers, Republicans and Democrats, to go on the record with their views on the high-profile social issue. It’s also part of the legislative branch asserting its authority, pushing back against an aggressive court that appears intent on revisiting many settled U.S. laws.
“As this Court may take aim at other fundamental rights, we cannot sit idly by,” Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, said in a statement.
While the Respect for Marriage Act is expected to pass the House, it is almost certain to stall in the Senate, where most Republicans would surely block it. It’s one of several bills, including those enshrining abortion access, that Democrats are pushing to confront the court’s conservative majority. Another bill, guaranteeing access to contraceptive services, is set for a vote later this week.
The Respect for Marriage Act would repeal a leftover law still on the books from the Clinton era that defines marriage as a heterogeneous relationship between man and woman. It would also provide legal protections for interracial marriages by prohibiting any state from denying out-of-state marriage licenses and benefits on the basis of sex, race, ethnicity or national origin.
The 1996 law, the Defense of Marriage Act, had basically been sidelined by Obama-era court rulings, including Obergefell v. Hodges, which established the rights of same-sex couples to marry nationwide, a landmark case for gay rights.
But last month, in doing away with the Roe v. Wade constitutional right to an abortion, the conservative court majority put in place during the Trump era left critics concerned there may be more to come.
In writing for the majority overturning Roe, Justice Samuel Alito argued for a more narrow interpretation of the rights guaranteed to Americans, saying the right to an abortion is not spelled out in the Constitution.
“We therefore hold that the Constitution does not confer a right to abortion,” Alito wrote.
In a concurring opinion, conservative Justice Clarence Thomas went further, saying other rulings similar to Roe, including those around same-sex marriage and the right for couples to use contraception, should be reconsidered.
While Alito insisted in the majority opinion that “this decision concerns the constitutional right to abortion and no other right,” others have taken notice.
Jim Obergefell, the plaintiff in the landmark ruling legalizing same-sex marriage and now running as a Democrat for the Ohio House, said after the court’s ruling on abortion, “When we lose one right that we have relied on and enjoyed, other rights are at risk.”
Idaho
State GOP rejects abortion exception to save mother’s life
TWIN FALLS, Idaho (AP) — The Idaho Republican Party has rejected adding language to their platform to allow an abortion to save the life of the mother.
KMVT-TV reported that a majority of the roughly 700 delegates from around the state rejected the change to the party’s existing platform during its three-day convention that wrapped up Saturday. The platform does not have the force of law but states the party’s position it wants Republicans in elected office to follow.
The overturning of Roe v. Wade by the U.S. Supreme Court last month triggered a 2020 Idaho law banning all abortions except in cases of reported rape or incest, or to protect the mother’s life. That law as written would take effect sometime this summer, but it’s being challenged in the Idaho Supreme Court.
To change that 2020 law, if it’s upheld by the court, would require action by the Republican-dominated Legislature, which is scheduled to meet in January, and the approval of Republican Gov. Brad Little, who signed the 2020 abortion trigger law.
Delegates also chose far-right Rep. Dorothy Moon to replace more moderate Tom Luna as the party’s chair. Moon ran unsuccessfully in the Republican primary in May for secretary of state, contending the 2020 presidential election was fraudulent and Biden wasn’t president.
The party had on its agenda more than 30 resolutions and ended up approving less than half of them. One resolution that didn’t get approved included one already adopted by Texas Republicans that President Joe Biden isn’t the legitimate leader of the country.
