Latest News
Anthony Fauci Held in Contempt of Congress in Possible Constitutional Precedent on Fifth Amendment
A Senate panel voted Friday to hold Anthony Fauci in contempt of Congress in a move with broad constitutional ramifications.
Fauci invoked his Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination to avoid answering a Senate panel’s questions last week about the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee’s majority vote to hold Fauci in contempt next goes to the Justice Department to decide whether to seek criminal penalties.
In addition, Senate Republicans plan a legislative proposal to bar federal workers from using Fifth Amendment protections to avoid answering questions during congressional oversight hearings.
Fauci is a retired epidemiologist who previously headed the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
Justice Dept. Appeals to Supreme Court Over Executive Order on Election Rules
The Trump administration is seeking an emergency ruling from the Supreme Court after a setback in court last week for the president’s effort to revamp election rules.
The First Circuit Court of Appeals blocked an executive order from President Donld Trump to modify election rules ahead of the midterm elections in November.
The Justice Department responded with the appeal to the Supreme Court, saying the First Circuit’s “incursion on the government’s authority imposes irreparable harm on the government by impeding the President’s efforts to secure election integrity.”
The executive order directed the Homeland Security Department to compile lists of confirmed U.S. citizens eligible to vote and to provide them to states. It also instructed the Postal Service to establish new standards for mail-in ballots.
“The cheating on mail-in voting is legendary,” Trump said when he signed his order in March.
Audiotapes Indicate Biden Knew he Improperly Kept Classified Documents
Newly released audio last week of former President Joe Biden’s interviews with his ghostwriter indicate he knew he had taken classified documents for his personal use when he left the White House.
In one audio, he can be heard saying, “Some of this may be classified, so be careful.”
The audio was released days after Biden abandoned his legal effort to stop the Justice Department from releasing materials from interviews with his book’s ghostwriter.
His attorneys’ voluntary dismissal of his lawsuit cleared the way for a Republican-led House committee and the Heritage Foundation to obtain the recordings and transcripts.
Republicans sought the records while investigating allegations that Biden mishandled classified documents. Some of them were found piled in boxes in his garage.
Legal Briefs
Shipping Companies Plead Not Guilty Over Baltimore Bridge Collapse
The legal fallout from the catastrophic collapse of Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge reached a critical point last week as attorneys representing the operating companies of the cargo ship Dali entered "not guilty" pleas to federal criminal charges in U.S. District Court.
The pleas were submitted on behalf of Singapore-based Synergy Marine Group and India-based Synergy Maritime Pte Ltd. They are charged with conspiracy, obstruction of an agency proceeding, and making false statements to investigators following the deadly 2024 disaster.
Prosecutors allege the ship’s crew improperly used a "flushing pump" to supply diesel fuel to generators instead of primary pumps that feature automated restart redundancies. Prosecutors argue the wrong pumps prevented the vessel from regaining power in time to avoid the bridge.
Federal prosecutors previously charged the Dali’s chief engineer, Karthikeyan Deenadayalan, alongside the ship's technical superintendent, with violating the Port and Waterways Safety Act for knowingly failing to notify the U.S. Coast Guard of hazardous conditions on board.
In the early morning hours of March 26, 2024, the 984-foot container ship suffered two total electrical blackouts within four minutes after departing the Port of Baltimore. The out of control ship struck a support pier of the Francis Scott Key Bridge, causing the structure to crumble into the Patapsco River and killing six construction workers who were filling potholes on the span.
The arraignment coincides with a sprawling, multi-billion-dollar civil court battle. U.S. District Judge James Bredar indefinitely postponed what was set to be a five-week civil liability trial after a series of last-minute financial settlements resolved a vast majority of the civil claims. Among the settlements was a $2.25 billion final agreement between the State of Maryland and the ship’s owner, Grace Ocean Private Ltd., alongside Synergy Marine.
D.C. in Brief
Northern Virginia Residents Charged in Nationwide Medicare Fraud Sweep
Defendants in the nationwide healthcare fraud case that that Justice Department says produced $6.5 in fake claims includes at least three Northern Virginia residents.
Charges are being pursued against 455 suspects nationwide for alleged healthcare fraud schemes, such as fake wound care and opioid distribution claims.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia gave details of cases against the local defendants:
– Jair Barbour, 37, of Henrico, was charged with making false statements in billing Medicaid for mental health services totaling $345,670. Barbour, a mental health provider, submitted hundreds of falsified progress notes describing mental health sessions that never occurred, dramatically overstated the number of hours she worked, and documented services that were impossible due to overlapping or conflicting times, according to the Justice Department.
– Mikia Noble, 37, of North Chesterfield, was charged with conspiracy to commit health care fraud in connection with a crisis mental health services fraud scheme against Virginia Medicaid. Noble, chief operating officer of Advancing Communities Everywhere, is accused of conspiring to target low-income, often homeless, Medicaid recipients by claiming to provide them with mental health services that they never received and often did not need, according to the Justice Department.
Noble and others submitted about $49.6 million in false and fraudulent claims to Medicaid, of which $38.6 million was paid, prosecutors said.
– Abdul Rehman Sirhandi, 57, of Aldie, was charged with conspiring to make false statements in health care fraud matters in connection with a durable medical equipment fraud scheme.
Prosecutors say Sirhandi acted as the straw owner of a medical equipment company, Pulse Medical Supply, and conspired with others in Texas and Pakistan to submit $780,627 in false and fraudulent claims to Medicare, of which approximately $313,233 was paid.
For more information, contact The Legal Forum (www.legal-forum.net) at email: tramstack@gmail.com or phone: 202-479-7240.
Letters to the Editor
The Legal Forum welcomes letters to the editor at tramstack@gmail.com, which will be published here.
We Could Use Your Help
Thousands of DC residents need a lawyer, but can’t afford one. They could be illegally evicted from their homes, lose custody of their children, experience domestic violence, and more, all because they lack legal representation.
You could make a difference. By making a donation to the Legal Aid Society of the District of Columbia, you will provide free, high-quality, zealous legal representation to low-income DC residents.
Your support could prevent homelessness, domestic violence, hunger, or family separation. In fact, if just 10 people who see this ad give $28 to Legal Aid, it will be enough to staff an experienced attorney at the courthouse for a day.
That way, DC residents like Keith King (pictured above) can get the legal representation they need to win their cases. As Mr. King put it, if it wasn’t for his Legal Aid lawyer, “I would have been homeless again.”
Here is the link to the Legal Aid website for donations: https://www.legalaiddc.org/donate-to-legal-aid/
For more information, contact Rob Pergament at Legal Aid at rpergament@legalaiddc.org
Power the Civil Rights Work of Our Time
Each day members of our community are experiencing wage theft, the effects of gentrification, discriminatory policing, collateral consequences, marginalization in schools, and barriers to public accommodations.
We fight alongside people facing the effects of gentrification like Amira Moore. Our work empowers the people and communities who need it most, “We can do more than we think. There’s a path to equity, we just have to step to it.” –Ms. Moore
For more than 50 years, the Washington Lawyers’ Committee has been on the frontlines of the fight for civil rights in our community. We deploy the best legal talent, we tackle the tough cases, we fight, and we win.
Our work is as important today as it has ever been. Through your support, you can play a role in creating justice for thousands of marginalized members of our community. Together, we will dismantle injustice and pursue lasting change.
Join us! Donate & subscribe: https://www.washlaw.org/support-us
Volunteer with us: https://www.washlaw.org/get-involved/
For more information, contact Gregg Kelley at gregg_kelley@washlaw.org
About Us
The Legal Forum is a nonprofit news service for the Washington area's legal community that also offers attorney job listings as well as amicus briefs and grant information for charitable organizations. If you have questions, please Contact Us