Colorado
Gun rights groups sue over the state’s ban on ‘ghost guns’
DENVER (AP) — Gun rights groups have filed a federal lawsuit challenging Colorado’s ban on so-called ghost guns — firearms without serial numbers assembled at home or 3D printed that are difficult for law enforcement to trace and allow people to evade background checks.
The litigation filed Monday is the latest of several Second Amendment lawsuits aimed at a slew of gun control regulations passed by Colorado’s majority Democratic legislature and signed by Democratic Gov. Jared Polis last year.
The ban on ghost guns took effect Monday and follows a dramatic rise in their reported use in crimes, jumping by 1,000% between 2017 and 2021, according to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
The law bars anyone in Colorado except licensed firearm manufacturers from creating gun frames and receivers, which house internal components. It also prohibits the transport and possession of frames and receivers that don’t have serial numbers.
The lawsuit filed by the Rocky Mountain Gun Owners and the National Association for Gun Rights alleges that the ban infringes on Americans’ Second Amendment rights.
“This law is an outright assault on the constitutional rights of peaceable Coloradans. It’s not just an overreach; it’s a direct defiance to our Second Amendment freedoms,” said Taylor Rhodes, executive director of the Rocky Mountain Gun Owners, in a statement.
Rhodes said the Supreme Court’s ruling last year, which is considered an expansion of gun rights, reinforces their case in Colorado, pointing to a long history in America of citizens being their own gunsmiths.
“The Supreme Court made it clear that any law infringing on the right to bear arms must align with the historical understanding of the Second Amendment,” said Rhodes, “If homemade – unserialized – guns weren’t legal at the time of our nation’s founding, we would all have a British accent.”
Shelby Wieman, a spokesperson for Polis, declined to comment citing ongoing litigation. As Colorado’s governor, Polis was named as the defendant in Monday’s lawsuit.
The other gun control laws passed last year facing legal challenges include raising the minimum age to purchase a firearm from 18 to 21 and imposing a three-day waiting period between purchase and receipt of a firearm.
Democratic President Joe Biden has similarly cracked down on ghost guns with the new rules also being challenged in federal court.
Washington
Biden administration asks Supreme Court to allow border agents to cut razor wire installed by Texas
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration is asking the Supreme Court to allow Border Patrol agents to cut razor wire that Texas installed on the U.S.-Mexico border, while a lawsuit over the wire continues.
The Justice Department filed an emergency appeal Tuesday, asking the justices to put on hold last month’s appellate ruling in favor of Texas, which forced federal agents to stop cutting the concertina wire the state has installed along roughly 30 miles (48 kilometers) of the Rio Grande near the border city of Eagle Pass. Large numbers of migrants have crossed there in recent months.
The court case pitting Republican-led Texas against Democratic President Joe Biden’s administration is part of a broader fight over immigration enforcement. The state also has installed razor wire around El Paso and the Rio Grande Valley, where migrants have crossed in high numbers. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott also has authorized installing floating barriers in the Rio Grande near Eagle Pass and allowed troopers to arrest and jail thousands of migrants on trespassing charges.
In court papers, the administration said the wire impedes Border Patrol agents from reaching migrants as they cross the river and that, in any case, federal immigration law trumps Texas’ own efforts to stem the flow of migrants into the country.
Texas officials have argued that federal agents cut the wire to help groups crossing illegally through the river before taking them in for processing.
California
Ex-celebrity lawyer Tom Girardi found competent to stand trial for alleged $15M client thefts
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Disgraced Los Angeles celebrity lawyer Tom Girardi has been found competent to stand trial on charges that he stole more than $15 million from his clients.
A federal judge filed a notice of the brief order Tuesday under seal. Lawyers for both sides were given five days to identify any information in it that they would like the judge to keep confidential.
Girardi, 84, is the estranged husband of “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” star Erika Jayne.
Girardi pleaded not guilty in Los Angeles last year to wire fraud on charges that he embezzled from clients, including an Arizona widow whose husband was killed in a boat accident; a Los Angeles couple injured in a car wreck that paralyzed their son; and a man who was severely burned in the 2010 San Bruno gas pipeline explosion.
If convicted, he could be sentenced to decades in federal prison.
The Associated Press sent messages to his public defenders seeking comment.
At issue in the competency hearing was whether Girardi understood the charges and proceedings against him and could help with his own defense. His lawyers argued that he was unable to take part in the trial because he has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, which they said has left him confused and with memory problems. He currently is staying in the memory care unit of a nursing home.
Prosecutors contended that Girardi was exaggerating his symptoms.
As one of the nation’s most prominent plaintiff’s attorneys, Girardi took on powerful corporations, movie studios and Pacific Gas and Electric in a case that led to a $333 million settlement, which was portrayed in the 2000 Julia Roberts film “Erin Brockovich.”
But his law empire collapsed, he was disbarred in California in 2022 over client thefts, and he faces mounting legal problems.
Girardi also faces federal wire fraud charges in Chicago, where he is accused of stealing about $3 million from family members of victims of a 2018 Lion Air crash that killed 189 people.
The Chicago court is expected to follow the competency decision in California.
Kentucky
Judge rules former clerk who refused to issue marriage licenses must pay $260K in fees, costs
LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) — Former county clerk Kim Davis, who refused to issue marriage licenses in Kentucky to same-sex couples, must pay a total of $260,104 in fees and expenses to attorneys who represented one couple, according to a federal judge’s ruling.
That’s in addition to $100,000 in damages a jury said the former Rowan County clerk should pay the couple who sued.
Attorneys for Davis had argued that the fees and costs sought by the attorneys were excessive, but U.S. District Judge David L. Bunning disagreed and said Davis must pay since the men prevailed in their lawsuit, the Lexington Herald-Leader reported.
Attorneys for Davis were expected to appeal the ruling.
Davis drew international attention when she was briefly jailed in 2015 over her refusal, which she based on her belief that marriage should only be between a man and a woman.
Davis was released only after her staff issued the licenses on her behalf but removed her name from the form. Kentucky’s state legislature later enacted a law removing the names of all county clerks from state marriage licenses.
Pennsylvania
Lawsuit aims to keep congressman off ballot over Constitution’s insurrection clause
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — A liberal activist asked a Pennsylvania court on Tuesday to bar U.S. Rep. Scott Perry from the state’s primary ballot, arguing that Perry isn’t eligible because of his efforts to keep President Donald Trump in office and block the transfer of power to Democrat Joe Biden.
The seven-page lawsuit asks Pennsylvania’s Commonwealth Court to declare that Perry engaged in insurrectionist activity and cannot hold public office under the Constitution’s insurrection clause. The lawsuit by activist Gene Stilp names Perry and Pennsylvania’s secretary of state, Al Schmidt.
Perry, a Republican, is expected to run for a seventh term, although candidates cannot file paperwork yet to qualify for Pennsylvania’s April 23 primary ballot.
In part, the filing cites Perry’s role in trying to use the Department of Justice to help Trump stall the certification of the election by installing an acting attorney general who would be receptive to Trump’s false claims of election fraud.
The challenge comes on the heels of Maine’s Democratic secretary of state removing Trump from the state’s presidential primary ballot under the clause and a ruling by the Colorado Supreme Court that booted Trump from the ballot there. Trump is expected to appeal both to the U.S. Supreme Court.
In a statement, Perry’s lawyer, John P. Rowley, suggested that those appeals would ensure that the lawsuit against Perry is nullified.
“This lawsuit was filed by a partisan activist who clearly has no regard or understanding of how our Democratic Republic works,” Rowley wrote. “It is but the latest effort by an extremist to disqualify a duly elected official with whom he disagrees. We are confident the Supreme Court will put an end to this lunacy.”
Perry has not been charged with a crime, although he is the only sitting member of Congress whose cellphone was seized by the FBI in its investigation into efforts to illegally overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.
Perry has fought efforts by federal investigators to review texts and emails from his cell phone. A judge last month ordered Perry to turn over more than 1,600 texts and emails to FBI agents. Perry did not appeal it, his lawyer said.
Schmidt’s office declined comment Tuesday. It previously opposed a similar lawsuit in federal court seeking to remove Trump from the ballot in Pennsylvania. Stilp last week withdrew that lawsuit, and plans to file a new lawsuit in state court, saying he has a better chance of success there than in federal court.
The 155-year-old Civil War-era clause — Section 3 of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution — bars from office those who “engaged in insurrection.” It was designed to keep representatives who had fought for the Confederacy during the Civil War from returning to Congress.
Similar challenges in 2022 failed to block several other members of Congress from ballots, including Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia and Paul Gosar and Andy Biggs of Arizona.
To get on Pennsylvania’s primary ballot, candidates cannot file paperwork until Jan. 23. The deadline to file is Feb. 13.
Gun rights groups sue over the state’s ban on ‘ghost guns’
DENVER (AP) — Gun rights groups have filed a federal lawsuit challenging Colorado’s ban on so-called ghost guns — firearms without serial numbers assembled at home or 3D printed that are difficult for law enforcement to trace and allow people to evade background checks.
The litigation filed Monday is the latest of several Second Amendment lawsuits aimed at a slew of gun control regulations passed by Colorado’s majority Democratic legislature and signed by Democratic Gov. Jared Polis last year.
The ban on ghost guns took effect Monday and follows a dramatic rise in their reported use in crimes, jumping by 1,000% between 2017 and 2021, according to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
The law bars anyone in Colorado except licensed firearm manufacturers from creating gun frames and receivers, which house internal components. It also prohibits the transport and possession of frames and receivers that don’t have serial numbers.
The lawsuit filed by the Rocky Mountain Gun Owners and the National Association for Gun Rights alleges that the ban infringes on Americans’ Second Amendment rights.
“This law is an outright assault on the constitutional rights of peaceable Coloradans. It’s not just an overreach; it’s a direct defiance to our Second Amendment freedoms,” said Taylor Rhodes, executive director of the Rocky Mountain Gun Owners, in a statement.
Rhodes said the Supreme Court’s ruling last year, which is considered an expansion of gun rights, reinforces their case in Colorado, pointing to a long history in America of citizens being their own gunsmiths.
“The Supreme Court made it clear that any law infringing on the right to bear arms must align with the historical understanding of the Second Amendment,” said Rhodes, “If homemade – unserialized – guns weren’t legal at the time of our nation’s founding, we would all have a British accent.”
Shelby Wieman, a spokesperson for Polis, declined to comment citing ongoing litigation. As Colorado’s governor, Polis was named as the defendant in Monday’s lawsuit.
The other gun control laws passed last year facing legal challenges include raising the minimum age to purchase a firearm from 18 to 21 and imposing a three-day waiting period between purchase and receipt of a firearm.
Democratic President Joe Biden has similarly cracked down on ghost guns with the new rules also being challenged in federal court.
Washington
Biden administration asks Supreme Court to allow border agents to cut razor wire installed by Texas
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration is asking the Supreme Court to allow Border Patrol agents to cut razor wire that Texas installed on the U.S.-Mexico border, while a lawsuit over the wire continues.
The Justice Department filed an emergency appeal Tuesday, asking the justices to put on hold last month’s appellate ruling in favor of Texas, which forced federal agents to stop cutting the concertina wire the state has installed along roughly 30 miles (48 kilometers) of the Rio Grande near the border city of Eagle Pass. Large numbers of migrants have crossed there in recent months.
The court case pitting Republican-led Texas against Democratic President Joe Biden’s administration is part of a broader fight over immigration enforcement. The state also has installed razor wire around El Paso and the Rio Grande Valley, where migrants have crossed in high numbers. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott also has authorized installing floating barriers in the Rio Grande near Eagle Pass and allowed troopers to arrest and jail thousands of migrants on trespassing charges.
In court papers, the administration said the wire impedes Border Patrol agents from reaching migrants as they cross the river and that, in any case, federal immigration law trumps Texas’ own efforts to stem the flow of migrants into the country.
Texas officials have argued that federal agents cut the wire to help groups crossing illegally through the river before taking them in for processing.
California
Ex-celebrity lawyer Tom Girardi found competent to stand trial for alleged $15M client thefts
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Disgraced Los Angeles celebrity lawyer Tom Girardi has been found competent to stand trial on charges that he stole more than $15 million from his clients.
A federal judge filed a notice of the brief order Tuesday under seal. Lawyers for both sides were given five days to identify any information in it that they would like the judge to keep confidential.
Girardi, 84, is the estranged husband of “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” star Erika Jayne.
Girardi pleaded not guilty in Los Angeles last year to wire fraud on charges that he embezzled from clients, including an Arizona widow whose husband was killed in a boat accident; a Los Angeles couple injured in a car wreck that paralyzed their son; and a man who was severely burned in the 2010 San Bruno gas pipeline explosion.
If convicted, he could be sentenced to decades in federal prison.
The Associated Press sent messages to his public defenders seeking comment.
At issue in the competency hearing was whether Girardi understood the charges and proceedings against him and could help with his own defense. His lawyers argued that he was unable to take part in the trial because he has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, which they said has left him confused and with memory problems. He currently is staying in the memory care unit of a nursing home.
Prosecutors contended that Girardi was exaggerating his symptoms.
As one of the nation’s most prominent plaintiff’s attorneys, Girardi took on powerful corporations, movie studios and Pacific Gas and Electric in a case that led to a $333 million settlement, which was portrayed in the 2000 Julia Roberts film “Erin Brockovich.”
But his law empire collapsed, he was disbarred in California in 2022 over client thefts, and he faces mounting legal problems.
Girardi also faces federal wire fraud charges in Chicago, where he is accused of stealing about $3 million from family members of victims of a 2018 Lion Air crash that killed 189 people.
The Chicago court is expected to follow the competency decision in California.
Kentucky
Judge rules former clerk who refused to issue marriage licenses must pay $260K in fees, costs
LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) — Former county clerk Kim Davis, who refused to issue marriage licenses in Kentucky to same-sex couples, must pay a total of $260,104 in fees and expenses to attorneys who represented one couple, according to a federal judge’s ruling.
That’s in addition to $100,000 in damages a jury said the former Rowan County clerk should pay the couple who sued.
Attorneys for Davis had argued that the fees and costs sought by the attorneys were excessive, but U.S. District Judge David L. Bunning disagreed and said Davis must pay since the men prevailed in their lawsuit, the Lexington Herald-Leader reported.
Attorneys for Davis were expected to appeal the ruling.
Davis drew international attention when she was briefly jailed in 2015 over her refusal, which she based on her belief that marriage should only be between a man and a woman.
Davis was released only after her staff issued the licenses on her behalf but removed her name from the form. Kentucky’s state legislature later enacted a law removing the names of all county clerks from state marriage licenses.
Pennsylvania
Lawsuit aims to keep congressman off ballot over Constitution’s insurrection clause
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — A liberal activist asked a Pennsylvania court on Tuesday to bar U.S. Rep. Scott Perry from the state’s primary ballot, arguing that Perry isn’t eligible because of his efforts to keep President Donald Trump in office and block the transfer of power to Democrat Joe Biden.
The seven-page lawsuit asks Pennsylvania’s Commonwealth Court to declare that Perry engaged in insurrectionist activity and cannot hold public office under the Constitution’s insurrection clause. The lawsuit by activist Gene Stilp names Perry and Pennsylvania’s secretary of state, Al Schmidt.
Perry, a Republican, is expected to run for a seventh term, although candidates cannot file paperwork yet to qualify for Pennsylvania’s April 23 primary ballot.
In part, the filing cites Perry’s role in trying to use the Department of Justice to help Trump stall the certification of the election by installing an acting attorney general who would be receptive to Trump’s false claims of election fraud.
The challenge comes on the heels of Maine’s Democratic secretary of state removing Trump from the state’s presidential primary ballot under the clause and a ruling by the Colorado Supreme Court that booted Trump from the ballot there. Trump is expected to appeal both to the U.S. Supreme Court.
In a statement, Perry’s lawyer, John P. Rowley, suggested that those appeals would ensure that the lawsuit against Perry is nullified.
“This lawsuit was filed by a partisan activist who clearly has no regard or understanding of how our Democratic Republic works,” Rowley wrote. “It is but the latest effort by an extremist to disqualify a duly elected official with whom he disagrees. We are confident the Supreme Court will put an end to this lunacy.”
Perry has not been charged with a crime, although he is the only sitting member of Congress whose cellphone was seized by the FBI in its investigation into efforts to illegally overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.
Perry has fought efforts by federal investigators to review texts and emails from his cell phone. A judge last month ordered Perry to turn over more than 1,600 texts and emails to FBI agents. Perry did not appeal it, his lawyer said.
Schmidt’s office declined comment Tuesday. It previously opposed a similar lawsuit in federal court seeking to remove Trump from the ballot in Pennsylvania. Stilp last week withdrew that lawsuit, and plans to file a new lawsuit in state court, saying he has a better chance of success there than in federal court.
The 155-year-old Civil War-era clause — Section 3 of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution — bars from office those who “engaged in insurrection.” It was designed to keep representatives who had fought for the Confederacy during the Civil War from returning to Congress.
Similar challenges in 2022 failed to block several other members of Congress from ballots, including Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia and Paul Gosar and Andy Biggs of Arizona.
To get on Pennsylvania’s primary ballot, candidates cannot file paperwork until Jan. 23. The deadline to file is Feb. 13.
