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The following court proceedings occurred Monday, June, 22, in Newburyport District Court. People arraigned are considered innocent until proven guilty in a court of law:

Connor R. Lewis, 27, address unknown, Amesbury, was arraigned on five counts of violating an abuse prevention order. Lewis was ordered held on $1,000 cash bail and ordered to return to court July 24. Should Lewis post bail, he must stay at least 50 yards away and have no contact with his alleged victim, must not possess firearms and must abide by all restraining orders. Lewis turned himself in to authorities after Amesbury police issued an arrest warrant.

Kasimer J. Alexander, 35, 12 Baker Road, Salisbury, and Thomas Dastous, 37, 125 Rabbit Road, Salisbury, saw assault and battery charges dismissed after they exercised their Fifth Amendment rights not to incriminate themselves. Both men were before Judge Peter Doyle as part of a bench trial. They were arraigned Dec. 24, after being charged by Salisbury police.

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COURT LOG: June 25, 2020 - The Daily News of Newburyport

The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday dealt a severe blow to the rights of immigrants and refugees in a that determined the government can fast-track deportation of certain asylum-seekers without allowing them to appeal before a federal judge.

In the decision stylized as Department of Homeland Security vs. Thuraissigiam, the courts conservative majority collectively denied habeas corpus and due process relief to a Sri Lankan national who feared persecution in his home country. Liberal justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyerconcurred in the judgment.

The majority opinion, penned by arch-conservative Justice Samuel Alito, represents a victory for the Trump administrations efforts to expedite removal of asylum seekers who fail their initial asylum screenings.

The specific statute at issue is the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act (IIRIRA) of 1996, legislation signed by Bill Clinton which established the framework of the countrys modern and exclusionary immigration and deportation regime.

Under the relevant language of the IIRIRA, an asylum applicant can avoid expedited removal if they have a credible fear of persecution. Here, Vijayakumar Thuraissigiam entered the country via the U.S.-Mexico borderbypassing official entry points and without immigration documentation. He was quickly apprehended and then processed for expedited removal by the Border Patrol.

What happened after that is hotly disputed.

The federal government claims, and the seven justices in the majority effectively accept, that Thuraissigiam affirmed that he did not fear persecution based on his race, political opinions, or other protected characteristics.

Thuraissigiam claims, on the other hand, that officials violated governing asylum regulations and deprived him of due process by conducting an inadequate interview and providing incomplete translation services, which the dissent says resulted in a threshold legal claim alleging procedural defects that violate, or at least call into question the governments adherence to asylum law.

Border authorities declined his asylum claim. An immigration judge later did the same. Thuraissigiam then filed a habeas petitionarguing that IIRIRAs language limiting habeas claims violates the Suspension Clausewhich also included a constitutional Due Process claim which asserted that immigration authorities had deprived him of a meaningful opportunity to establish his claims and requested another opportunity to argue his asylum claims. In his federal petition, Thuraissigiam pleaded that he feared persecution based on his ethnicity and political beliefs in Sri Lankafacts which would typically move an asylum claim past the credible fear stage.

Alitos majority opinion dismissed both claimsruling that habeas corpus petitions have no bearing on asylum claims and that undocumented immigrants caught entering the country are not entitled to Fifth Amendment Due Process rights.

Habeas has traditionally been a means to secure release from unlawful detention, but respondent invokes the writ to achieve an entirely different end, namely, to obtain additional administrative review of his asylum claim and ultimately to obtain authorization to stay in this country, the decision notesconcluding that this approach fails because it would extend the writ of habeas corpus far beyond its scope when the Constitution was drafted and ratified.'

The conservative-liberal consensus here will have far-reaching effects, for sure, but the decision also substantially upends precedent viz. the determination that immigrants caught attempting to enter the country without documentation are entitled to Bill of Rights protections. As the dissent notes, this is a drastic departure.

Per the decision:

Respondents due process argument fares no better. While aliens who have established connections in this country have due process rights in deportation proceedings, the Court long ago held that Congress is entitled to set the conditions for an aliens lawful entry into this country and that, as a result, an alien at the threshold of initial entry cannot claim any greater rights under the Due Process Clause. Respondent attempted to enter the country illegally and was apprehended just 25 yards from the border. He therefore has no entitlement to procedural rights other than those afforded by statute.

In short, under our precedents, neither the Suspension Clause nor the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment requires any further review of respondents claims, and IIRIRAs limitations on habeas review are constitutional as applied, Alito continues.

The conservative majority acknowledges the impact of their ruling will have significant consequences for the immigration system in a section outlining the efficacy of the countrys immigration system and the pertinent sections of federal law that under-gird that system.

Taking the government at its word, Alito and the mostly conservative justices who agree with the Trump administrations long-argued public and legally briefed position that the majority [of asylum claims] have proved to be meritless.

Alito argued this point in a footnote:

[A]n influx of meritless claims can delay the adjudication of meritorious ones; strain detention capacity and degrade detention conditions; cause the release of many inadmissible aliens into States and localities that must shoulder the resulting costs; divert Department resources from protecting the border; and aggravate the humanitarian crisis created by human smugglers.

Tidily summing up the governments position, the majority described their overarching logic in deciding the case: If courts must review credible-fear claims that in the eyes of immigration officials and an immigration judge do not meet the low bar for such claims, expedited removal would augment the burdens on that system. Once a fear is asserted, the process would no longer be expedited.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor, joined by Justice Elena Kagan, wrote a lengthy and vehement dissentharshly criticizing both the majority opinion and her two liberal peers for concurring in the judgment.

Todays decision handcuffs the Judiciarys ability to perform its constitutional duty to safeguard individual liberty and dismantles a critical component of the separation of powers, the dissent argues. It will leave significant exercises of executive discretion unchecked in the very circumstance where the writs protections have been strongest. And it increases the risk of erroneous immigration decisions that contravene governing statutes and treaties.

[image via MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images]

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RBG and Breyer Controversially Concur in Judgment Dealing Severe Blow to Rights of Immigrants - Law & Crime

'The Room Where it Happened,' a book by John Bolton, at the White House in Washington, June 18, 2020. The book describes Boltons 17 turbulent months at President Trumps side through a multitude of crises and foreign policy challenges.

Doug Mills/The New York Times News Service

Robert Rotberg is the founding director of the Harvard Kennedy Schools Program on Intrastate Conflict, a former senior fellow at CIGI and president emeritus of the World Peace Foundation.

President Donald Trump should have been been found guilty at his impeachment trial. The U.S. House of Representatives should have expanded its indictment charge well beyond Ukrainian corruption, high crimes and misdemeanours to include asking President Xi Jinping of China to help him get reelected (and approving of Mr. Xis Uyghur concentration camps in Xinjiang region), running down NATO, pulling out of Syria in order to cut a deal with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey (and betraying Kurdish allies), and generally running amok with foreign policy errors. Those are among the many critiques of the Trump presidency by John Bolton, his diehard conservative national security advisor, in a book being distributed this week.

Mr. Boltons charges are barbed. But even if voters are numbed by the sheer number of accusations, compounded by 19,000 already uttered presidential falsehoods counted by a Washington Post tally, Mr. Boltons indictment will remind a weary electorate not to forget. Truth and authenticity are the bedrock of leadership. Americans should expect no less of their presidents. Moreover, even though Congress has no appetite for another impeachment, nailing Mr. Trumps offences to the proverbial church door tells him, and the American people, that this is a president truly unfit for office an echo as well of the Twenty-fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which allows cabinet and Congress to end a presidency because of incapacity.

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The cascade of impeachable offences includes:

Dividing rather than uniting these United States and their disparate citizens. Putting narcissistic and electoral needs ahead of serving the nation.

Creating a series of thems rather than one us. Presidents should be drawing people into an us rather than creating an us versus them. New Zealands Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern did so successfully after a mosque massacre and now keeps her country largely free of coronavirus deaths. South Africas President Nelson Mandela dined with his enemies and brought all of South Africa together at a time when Black and white were dangerously unreconciled.

Demeaning the presidency and the very essence of the nation. Emerging from a White House bunker to attack peaceful protestors in order to accomplish a photo-op is but one example. Brendan Buck, a Republican operative, called those actions singularly immoral. Mr. Buck said that the President used force against citizens not to protect property, but to soothe his own insecurities.

Racist remarks threatening the very lives of Black Americans protesting. Conniving, too, with the stain of the Confederate memorabilia and names on military bases.

Falsely saying that presidents have authority to do whatever they want. I alone can fix it.

Facilitating the deaths of coronavirus victims. By sending wrong signals, first of reassurance and then of false remedies, and finally by encouraging the opening up for business prematurely and arrogantly, he caused the unnecessary deaths of thousands of Americans.

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Mr. Trumps missteps in foreign policy are also piling up:

Massively undermining the carefully constructed world order for which all previous American presidents and secretaries of state have fought valiantly and vigilantly since the Second World War.

Pulling out of the Paris climate accord, the Iranian nuclear deal and trashing the World Health Organization, thereby endangering the health and safety of the world.

Losing the trust of the world in the fundamental moral decency of U.S. policy.

Making the word of the United States unreliable in world affairs.

Forfeiting the U.S. role as a global setter and articulator of moral and legal guidelines and giving those roles (imagine!) to China and Russia.

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Putting Russias interests in security and human rights matters ahead of our own. Cosseting President Vladimir Putin, over and over. Condoning the invasion of Crimea.

Picking unnecessary fights with China, causing pain and trouble for Canadians and other Americans.

Calling African countries unspeakable names and being derogatory about their peoples.

Separating children from parents at the Mexican border.

Illegally denying the possibility of asylum to persons fleeing from Central America and beyond.

Embodying profound ignorance (refusing to read briefing books) in ways that endanger the nation and the world. And getting his information off a TV screen or from Twitter.

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Being a bully (and a coward).

Making the United States the laughingstock of the world no trivial crime.

This is hardly an exhaustive list. Nor is there space for more than bullet points. Realistically, there will be no second impeachment, no matter how deserved. Nor will his cabinet invoke the Twenty-fifth Amendment and declare him unfit for office. But the mental exercise of impeaching him again may contribute to Americas reckoning with itself in a desperate time when authentic and principled leadership matters more than ever. It is past time to call out the creator of Americas discontent.

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Boltons revelations show that Trump deserves to be impeached a second time - The Globe and Mail

Map and photo via U.S. Bureau of Reclamation.

# # #

Press release from EarthJustice:

Irrigated croplands along both sides of the Klamath River south of Klamath Falls.

WASHINGTON, D.C. The U.S. Supreme Court today refused to hear a case brought by Klamath Basin irrigators,Baley v. United States, settling for good the question of whether reduced water deliveries to Klamath Basin agricultural producers in 2001 constituted a taking of private property under the Fifth Amendment.

We are pleased that the Supreme Court has declined to hear this case, and upheld the Federal Circuits decision, saidattorney Stefanie Tsosie of Earthjustice, a nonprofit environmental law firm that has been involved in this case for 18 years. This decision affirms sound and settled principles of Tribal reserved water rights. Earthjustice has long worked to protect and restore the Klamath River and its salmon, which hold significant cultural value for Tribes in the Klamath Basin and are essential to sustaining the West Coast commercial salmon fishing industry.

Background

The lawsuit began 18 years ago when a group of water districts and individual farmers in the Klamath Basin of southern Oregon sought compensation under the Fifth Amendment, as well as damages for breach of contract, over reduced Bureau of Reclamation water deliveries from the Klamath Project for irrigation in 2001.

Because it was a drought year, plaintiffs with junior water rights received less water than expected. However, the Federal Circuit found that the water available in 2001 was necessary to fulfill the senior water rights of Tribes in the Klamath Basin and so the plaintiffs had no property interest in water required to satisfy the Tribes right. Earthjustice represents the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermens Associations, an affiliation of commercial salmon fishing interests that have faced drastically reduced fishing seasons and incomes because of declines in Klamath River and other salmon populations.

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U.S. Supreme Court Refuses to Hear 18-Year-Old Klamath Water Rights Case, Upholding Tribal Primacy - Lost Coast Outpost

Indianapolis Star Published 8:42 a.m. ET June 24, 2020

The impact of IndyStar's USA Gymnastics investigation Indianapolis Star

In Athlete A, filmmakers Bonni Cohen and Jon Shenk follow IndyStars investigative team as they broke news on USA Gymnastics mis-handling of child sexual abuse cases. The documentary features behind-the-scenes discussions, and in-depth interviews with gymnasts, reporters, police, prosecutors and the heroic women who stepped forward to halt years of sexual abuse by former team doctor Larry Nassar. The film exposes the human toll wrought by a decades-long shift toward younger athletes, and harsh coaching techniques, that helped reap success but enabled abusers like Nassar.

Maggie Nichols is interviewed in Netflix documentary "Athlete A."(Photo: Netflix photo)

Athlete A is the name USA Gymnastics used to refer to Maggie Nichols, the first gymnast to report Nassar to USA Gymnastics officials. Nichols reported Nassar in the spring of 2015, but USA Gymnastics pursued a policy of keeping the allegations quiet. Nassar continued working in gyms for more than a year as an FBI investigation languished. During that time he abused dozens more women and girls. The film follows Nichols through her surprise exclusion from the 2016 Olympic team after she was injured, and her efforts to recover from the loss of her lifelong Olympic dream.

IndyStar reporter Marisa Kwiatkowski works with investigations editor Steve Berta in a scene from Netflix documentary "Athlete A."(Photo: Netflix photo)

IndyStar reporter Marisa Kwiatkowski received a tip in March 2016 that USA Gymnastics had an internal policy of dismissing allegations of sexual abuse, unless they were submitted in writing and signed by the athlete, guardian or a witness. IndyStar teamed Kwiatkowski with reporters Mark Alesia and Tim Evans and launched an investigation. The first story, published on Aug. 4, 2016, revealing that the policy had resulted in at least four instances when coaches accused of sexual misconduct were allowed to continue coaching, and molested other girls. That story led three women, Rachael Denhollander, Jamie Dantzscher and Jessica Howard, to contact IndyStar saying Nassar had abused them. IndyStar published its first story about Nassar in September 2016.

Dr. Larry Nassar appears at his sexual-abuse trial.(Photo: Matthew Dae Smith/USA Today Sports)

Nassar faced three criminal cases. After police found 27,000 images of child pornography on Nassars computer, he pleaded guilty to federal child pornography charges and was sentenced to 60 years in federal prison. He later pleaded guilty to sevencounts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct in Ingham County Circuit Court in Michigan, where he was sentenced to 175 years in prison. Nassar was also sentenced in an Eaton County, Michigan, court to40 to 125 years in prisonon three charges of sexual assault against gymnasts at Twistars gymnastics gym in Lansing.

Simone Biles shows off one of the four gold medals she won at the Rio Olympics.(Photo: Robert Deutsch/USA TODAY Sports)

More than 500 survivors have said Nassar abused them. Among them were several Olympic medalists, including Dantzscher, McKayla Maroney, Jordyn Wieber, Gabby Douglas, Simone Biles and Aly Raisman.

U.S. marshals are shown arresting former USA Gymnastics CEO Steve Penny in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, on Wednesday, Oct. 17, 2018.(Photo: U.S. Marshal's Service)

Former USA Gymanstics CEO Steve Penny was forced to resign in March 2017 and later was charged in Walker County, Texas, with evidence tampering and arrested in Tennessee. He was released on bond and pleaded not guilty to the charges. Throughout the entire four-year long scandal, Penny has declined every interview request from IndyStar. He was questioned by a congressional committee, he declined to answer every question, citing the Fifth Amendment protection against self-incrimination.

USA Gymnastics President and CEO Li Li Leung speaks about the organization, Thursday, April 25, 2019.(Photo: Kelly Wilkinson/IndyStar)

In the wake of the scandal, Michigan State University paid Nassars abuse survivors $500 million to settle claims. USA Gymnastics faces similar lawsuits from hundreds of survivors, and has filed for bankruptcy protection. Its entire board of directors and most of its management staff were replaced. Most of its major sponsors have pulled support.

Contact Steve Berta, investigations editor at IndyStar, at steve.berta@indystar.com.

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What you need to know about the Netflix documentary 'Athlete A' and USA Gymnastics - IndyStar