Court Digest

Arkansas
Blogger files suit seeking records related to Gov.  Sanders’ travel
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — An Arkansas attorney and blogger has filed a lawsuit against the Arkansas State Police that accuses the agency of illegally withholding public records he requested related to Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ travel and security.

Matthew Campbell, who runs the Blue Hog Report website, filed the lawsuit Tuesday challenging the State Police’s response to records he requested under the Freedom of Information Act. The requests included communications regarding the security for Sanders and her husband, Bryan Sanders, and records regarding their costs.

Campbell also requested communications and travel records for the State Police plane, which the governor uses for travel, and records related to Sanders’ trade mission to Europe earlier this year.

State Police cited several exemptions in declining to release records that didn’t apply, Campbell’s lawsuit said. They include an exemption for the governor’s “working papers,” and another regarding records related to governor’s mansion security. State Police also claimed the documents were considered “personnel records” and would have been an unwarranted invasion of privacy, the lawsuit said.

“Neither what ASP and the governor’s office communicate to one another about security details, nor the expenditures incurred by ASP in providing a security detail are pieces of information that are so personal or intimate that they give rise to a substantial privacy interest,” the lawsuit said. “Rather, these are government officials discussing work performed at public expense by other public employees.”

Campbell filed the lawsuit as lawmakers say they’re preparing for a possible special session as soon as next week that could include changes to the state FOI law on the agenda. Sanders has left open the possibility of calling a session to focus primarily on tax cuts.

Campbell requested that a hearing be scheduled within seven days of his complaint.

A State Police spokeswoman said in a statement that the information requested would “violate ASP’s statutory obligation to ensure the safety and security of the Governor and the First Family.” Sanders’ office criticized the lawsuit.

“It’s a new low in Arkansas politics for some on the radical left to weaponize FOIA and put the governor’s and her family’s lives in danger,” Alexa Henning, a spokeswoman for Sanders, said in an email.

North Carolina
Court says bars’ challenges of governor’s COVID-19 restrictions can continue
RALEIGH. N.C. (AP) — Portions of a lawsuit filed by several North Carolina bars and their operators seeking financial damages from the state over COVID-19 restrictions that shuttered doors and curtailed business can continue forward, an appeals court panel has ruled.

In a 2-1 decision, the state Court of Appeals decided on Tuesday that two causes of action stated by the bar owners can’t be halted under a legal doctrine that exempts state government from most lawsuits. The ruling upholds a trial judge’s order from last year regarding the restrictions first issued by Gov. Roy Cooper early in the pandemic.

The concept of sovereign immunity doesn’t prohibit the bar operators’ claims that Cooper’s executive orders violated their rights within the state constitution to “the enjoyment of the fruits of their own labor” and to substantive due process, Court of Appeals Judge April Wood wrote in the majority opinion.

In an attempt to ease the spread of coronavirus, the Democratic governor issued a series of executive orders that closed bars starting in March 2020. By that summer, bars still had to remain closed, but restaurants and breweries could serve alcohol during certain hours. The plaintiffs said there was no rational basis to treat restaurants and bars differently.

Later in 2020, bars could serve alcoholic drinks in outdoor seating, with time limits later added, which had “the practical effect of making bars unprofitable to operate,” the plaintiffs’ original lawsuit read. All temporary restrictions on bars were lifted in May 2021.

Lawyers for Cooper and the state said the restrictions on bars were based on the most current scientific studies and public health data available at the time. They showed that the virus could quickly spread among people assembled for long periods of time talking loudly or singing, “especially in environments where alcohol acts as a “disinhibitor,” according to a state legal brief.

Wood wrote that the validity of state laws being contested or the merits of the bar owners’ arguments weren’t being considered. But it’s clear that the plaintiffs have “a fundamental right” under the state constitution “to earn a living from the operation of their respective bar businesses,” and its potential violation should be considered in court, she added. Court of Appeals Judge Fred Gore joined Wood’s opinion.

Writing a dissenting opinion, Judge John Arrowood said that the majority got it wrong by not examining whether there was a rational basis for Cooper to issue orders through the state of emergency statute, thus making them valid. Issuing orders to combat the virus spread and protect the public’s health and safety was rationally related to a legitimate government purpose, he added.

“Curtailing the ability of our Governor to issue executive orders during a state of emergency sets a deadly precedent that will prove to have grave consequences in the future,” Arrowood wrote. The split decision raises the likelihood that the state Supreme Court will ultimately rule in the case.

Other claims in the lawsuit that the bar owners have filed either were dismissed or remain pending before panels of trial judges considering the constitutionality of state emergency management laws.

House Speaker Tim Moore and Senate leader Phil Berger are now listed as lawsuit defendants but didn’t actively participate in this specific appeal because of the issues addressed. The Republican-controlled legislature passed laws that attempted to curb Cooper’s COVID-19 business restrictions.

Florida
Man riding human-sized hamster wheel in Atlantic faces federal charges
MIAMI (AP) — A Florida man who was attempting to cross the Atlantic Ocean in a man-made hamster wheel is facing federal charges after it took the U.S. Coast Guard five days to bring him ashore, according to a criminal complaint filed in Miami.

The Coast Guard spotted Reza Ray Baluchi, 51, some 70 miles (112 kilometers) off the coast of Tybee Island, Georgia, on Aug. 26, while making preparations for Hurricane Franklin, the complaint, filed in federal court, said. Baluchi was charged Tuesday with obstruction of boarding and violation of a captain of the port order.

Baluchi told the Coast Guard crew that he was attempting to ride the “hydro-pod” vessel to England, and that he had a Florida registration, which he unable to locate for them, onboard.

The officers said the vessel was “afloat as a result of wiring and buoys” and determined that Baluchi was conducting “a manifestly unsafe voyage,” the complaint said.

When they attempted to get him to leave the vessel, Baluchi told them he had a knife and threatened to harm himself, Coast Guard Special Agent Michael A. Perez wrote in the complaint.

The next day, Baluchi threatened to blow himself up when the Coast Guard approached him again about leaving the vessel, Perez wrote.

When officers saw Baluchi holding wires they contacted the U.S. Navy Explosive Ordinance Disposal Unit to help them determine the blast radius of the bomb, Perez wrote.

On Aug. 28, the Coast Guard cutters Campbell and Valiant arrived on scene to offer support, and they launched a small boat to deliver food and water and to give Baluchi predictions of the hurricane, the report said.

They again ordered Baluchi off the vessel and he refused. But he told them that the bomb was not real, Perez wrote.

On Aug. 29, the Coast Guard successfully removed Baluchi from the vessel. And on Sept. 1, he was brought to the Coast Guard base in Miami Beach.

Baluchi attempted a voyage in a similar homemade vessel in 2014, the complaint said. In 2015, he was served a captain of the port order from the Coast Guard that applied to any subsequent voyages. Baluchi failed to comply with the order and was interdicted in a homemade vessel in 2016. He attempted another voyage in 2021, and the Coast Guard intervened then as well.

His attorney, Micki Bloom, did not immediately respond Thursday to an email from The Associated Press.

Court records show Baluchi posted a $250,000 bond.

Maryland
Convicted of embezzlement, former mayor is running again
BALTIMORE (AP) — More than a decade after being convicted of embezzling donated gift cards, a former Baltimore mayor has announced she’s again running for office.

Sheila Dixon, who resigned as part of a 2010 plea agreement in the corruption case, penned an op-ed in The Baltimore Sun on Thursday apologizing for her past digressions and announcing her candidacy in the city’s 2024 mayoral race.
This marks her third bid for mayor following two unsuccessful attempts since her own tenure ended in scandal.

Dixon will go up against current Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott in the city’s Democratic primary. Scott is running for a second term.

In December 2009, a jury found Dixon guilty of embezzlement for misusing gift cards that had been donated to City Hall for charity. Instead of using them to serve the poor, Dixon spent about $500 at Target and Best Buy to purchase things for her family and staff.

Additional perjury charges against her were later dropped. Dixon served four years probation and completed other requirements. She was also barred from seeking political office for two years.

In her letter published Thursday in The Sun, Dixon offered a fresh apology while stressing that her conviction was a misdemeanor offense.

“I have truly made mistakes in my personal life, one of which resulted in a misdemeanor charge that forced my resignation from the job I loved the most,” she wrote. “I let matters of the heart lead me astray once before, and for that, and the pain that it caused to my beloved Baltimore, I am truly sorry. I hope the people realize that my love for the future of Baltimore outweighs the mistakes of my past.”

Baltimore’s first female mayor, Dixon has touted her efforts to reduce violent crime, pave roads and clean up neglected neighborhoods. The city’s homicide rate dropped during her tenure while arrests also declined.

A Baltimore native, Dixon served for years on the City Council before becoming mayor.

During a news conference late Thursday morning, she told Baltimore voters they can trust her because she has learned from her past mistakes and she knows how to make city government work for the city’s most vulnerable residents.
Dixon said she still gets calls regularly from people who need help. She talked about her recent efforts to get services for a mother of three whose family was living out of her car.

Dressed in a light pink suit, Dixon appeared before a crowd of supporters in a west Baltimore park that was recently transformed from a vacant lot where people would illegally dump trash. She said her campaign will focus on public safety, city schools and government accountability.

“I’m the most transparent person, the most trustworthy person because when you make mistakes … you do everything to improve upon yourself, and that’s a daily job that you have to do,” she said.