Biden judicial nominee faces heat, reviews of fed. court sexual harassment policy, and a fake social media profile
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A "zealot against the death penalty."
That is what Republican Senator Ted Cruz of Texas labeled public defender Arianna Freeman, who was nominated by President Joe Biden?to serve on the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Cruz and other Republicans criticized her advocacy for Pennsylvania death row inmate Terrance Williams whose sentence the U.S. Supreme Court ultimately?overturned ?in 2016.
Republican Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri cited "extremely disturbing" claims in a concurring opinion now-retired Pennsylvania Supreme Court chief justice Ronald Castille issued when his court upheld Williams' sentence that claimed Freeman's office pursued an "obstructionist anti-death penalty agenda."
Democrats on the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee in response praised Freeman's advocacy for indigent defendants as the panel weighed her nomination to become the first Black woman judge on the Philadelphia-based 3rd Circuit.
Freeman, a lawyer at the Federal Community Defender Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania since 2009, said she believed:
"The justice system works best when both sides have quality representation."
Freeman is one of 23 nominees with experience as a public defender that Biden has tapped for the federal bench – a record number, stemming from Biden's push to increase not just the racial and gender diversity of judges, but also to draw nominees from a wider array of professional backgrounds.
A 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel sounded doubtful that a former federal public defender in North Carolina could show the federal judiciary's internal process for addressing sexual harassment complaints is unconstitutional.
The plaintiff alleged that she was forced to quit her job after complaining about sexual harassment and that the court system's process for handling harassment cases is unfair because it is riddled with conflicts of interest.
Two of the three judges, including Circuit Judge Michael Melloy, appeared skeptical of the claim that the federal court system's protocols for handling sexual harassment were problematic, instead pointing to the court system's failure to properly handle this particular complaint:
“Your real claim is that as applied, this plan was not effective (and) didn’t help your client the way it should have, but I’m not sure it impugns the entire plan as being unconstitutional."
The plaintiff's lawyer Jeannie Suk Gersen of Harvard Law School responded that the specific facts of Roe's case did not foreclose broader claims about the judiciary's policies, which she said are unfair because they often place officials accused of tolerating harassment in charge of investigating complaints.
The judges did note that in this case, the judiciary failed to adhere to the policy, including by ignoring deadlines.
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Pennsylvania attorney Andrew Hurwitz, whose law license has been suspended since 2014, was caught misrepresenting himself as an "in-house counsel" for a music and marketing company on a Linkedin page under the pseudonym, "Andy Blackman Hurwitz."
The false misrepresentation on LinkedIn led to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court?extending Hurwitz's suspension by another six months, even though the court agreed with the?Pennsylvania Office of Disciplinary Counsel (ODC) that he later changed his LinkedIn profile to remove references to being an attorney.
The report submitted to the state's Supreme Court by the ODC also cited another instance when Hurwitz used the suffix "Esq" on the website of a music non-profit, 30 Amp Circuit.
The ODC said Hurwitz never alerted the high court's disciplinary board of a supervising attorney that would monitor his activities if he were to work in a legal capacity.
According to the filings, Hurwitz responded to the ODC's initial inquiries by saying he hadn't used his LinkedIn profile in years. He also said he did not consider his position at 30 Amp Circuit to be part of his professional history.
Bankruptcy lawyer Sam Babbs III, who had been sanctioned in courts at least 30 times, has agreed to disbarment in Washington, D.C., over misconduct allegations that included misusing advance funds from clients and practicing law in states where he was not licensed.
In a separate action, the Florida Supreme Court last month?revoked ?his license to practice for at least five years.
"You have to know when to hold them and when to fold them."
Babbs, whose work focused on bankruptcy matters involving individuals and families, told Reuters on Wednesday that he has no interest in practicing bankruptcy law again and decided not to fight the claims.
He said he will have the ability in both jurisdictions to reapply to the bar. Babbs said his business model, where he tried to build and maintain a national practice relying on local counsel, came about from "bad advice."
Bankruptcy courts in some instances blocked Babbs from making further appearances and also ordered him to disgorge the fees he had received from clients.
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