Judicial Watch Seeks Injunction against
Chicago Mayor Lightfoot’s Racist Interview Policy
Judicial Watch attorneys this week filed a motion for preliminary
injunction to immediately prevent Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot from
denying Daily Caller News Foundation reporter Thomas Catenacci’s
interview request on the basis of race.
The lawsuit
was initially filed on May 27, 2021, in the United States District Court
for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division (Catenacci
et al v. Lightfoot (No. 1:21-cv-02852)). Christine Svenson of
Svenson Law Offices in Chicago, Illinois, is assisting Judicial Watch with
the lawsuit.
Judicial Watch details in the motion that:
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot is only granting interviews to “journalists
of color” to mark the two-year anniversary of her inauguration. Plaintiff
Thomas Catenacci, a White journalist for the Daily Caller News Foundation,
requested an interview of Mayor Lightfoot on her two-year anniversary. To
date, almost two weeks after Plaintiffs’ request and despite two
follow-up emails, Mayor Lightfoot has not agreed to an interview with
Catenacci, apparently due to the mayor’s “journalists of color” only
interview policy. The mayor’s refusal to be interviewed by Catenacci
violates Plaintiffs’ First Amendment rights and Catenacci’s right to
equal protection. Plaintiffs move for a preliminary injunction to prevent
further, irreparable harm.
On May 18, 2021, Mayor Lightfoot’s office informed multiple reporters
that she would grant one-on-one interviews, “only
to Black or Brown journalists.” The next day, the mayor released a letter
doubling down on her discriminatory policy. Since that time, the Mayor has
granted at least one interview request from a self-identified Latino
reporter and none to white reporters.
We sued after Catenacci, a white male, emailed Mayor Lightfoot’s office
requesting a one-on-one interview with the Mayor. The office never replied
to the request or to two additional follow up emails from Catenacci.
The lawsuit alleges Mayor Lightfoot purposefully discriminated against
Catenacci, “because of his race by stating that she would only grant
interview requests from ‘journalists of color’….”
“There is no excuse for racial discrimination. Every day that goes
by without the Mayor granting my interview request because of my race
violates my rights and tramples on the First Amendment,” said Thomas
Catenacci.
Neil Patel, Daily Caller News Foundation president said: “It's bonkers
that we had to file this lawsuit. Chicago's mayor should not be
discriminating against journalists based on their color. That's something
that every normal American understands.”
Immediate court action is necessary to stop Mayor Lightfoot’s racist
policy.
Mayor Lightfoot is not above the law.
A hearing has been set by the court for Monday morning so we should have
news soon!
Judicial Watch Lawsuit for Access to Illinois Voter Roll Data Can
Proceed
A federal court ruled
our lawsuit can proceed against Illinois officials for denying public
access to Illinois’ voter registration database.
We filed the lawsuit
on behalf of the Illinois Conservative Union (ICU) and three of its
officers, Carol Davis, Janet Shaw, and Loretta Savee, after Illinois state
officials refused to allow them to obtain a copy of the state’s voter
registration database despite their lawful request for it under federal law
(Illinois
Conservative Union et al v. Illinois et al. (No.
1:20-cv-05542)).
The National
Voter Registration Act of 1993 (NVRA) provides that states “shall
make available for public inspection and, where available, photocopying at
a reasonable cost, all records concerning the implementation of programs
and activities conducted for the purpose of ensuring the accuracy and
currency of official lists of eligible voters.”
When members of the ICU sought access to Illinois’ voter list, however,
they were outrageously told they must view the database one record at a
time, on a single computer screen, during “normal business hours,” at
the State Board of Elections office in Springfield, Illinois, which is 200
miles from where they live. There are over 8 million voter registrations in
Illinois. We argued that Illinois’ arbitrary restrictions “make a
mockery” of federal law, “as much as a requirement that Plaintiffs wear
blindfolds.”
United States District Court Judge Sara L. Ellis ruled that “Plaintiffs
have plausibly alleged that” Illinois law “conflicts with” and “and
frustrates the NVRA’s purpose of providing voter information to the
public to help ensure the accuracy and currency of voter registration
rolls.” She also allowed a claim to proceed under the Equal Protection
Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, on the ground that political committees
in Illinois can access copies of the voter registration database while
ordinary citizens cannot.
The claims will proceed against Illinois’ chief state elections official,
Bernadette Matthews, the Acting Executive Director of the Illinois State
Board of Elections. The Court directed further briefing on whether NVRA
claims can proceed against the Board itself and the State of Illinois under
the doctrine of sovereign immunity.
Dirty voter rolls can mean dirty elections – which is one reason why
federal law requires access to voting rolls. This court ruling further
affirms that Illinois voters and citizens have a right to review election
rolls under federal law. Illinois’ stubborn and unlawful refusal to make
them available suggests the state knows the rolls are a mess.
Judicial Watch is a national leader for cleaner elections.
In 2020, we sued North
Carolina, Pennsylvania,
and Colorado
for failing to clean their voter rolls.
In 2018, the Supreme Court upheld a voter-roll cleanup program that
resulted from a Judicial Watch settlement of a federal lawsuit with Ohio.
California settled
a federal lawsuit with us and in 2019 began the process of removing up to
1.6 million inactive names from Los Angeles County’s voter rolls.
Kentucky
also began a cleanup of hundreds of thousands of old registrations after it
entered into a consent decree to end another Judicial Watch lawsuit. In
September of last year, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of
Kentucky agreed
to extend the consent decree through 2025 after finding that that
Kentucky’s former Democrat Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes breached
its terms by delaying sending out voter notices, which allowed the
names of people who have died or moved away to remain on the
Commonwealth’s voter rolls.
In October 2020, we released a study
that found 353 counties nationwide that had more voter registrations than
citizens old enough to vote, i.e., counties where registration rates exceed
100%. These counties combined had about 1.8 million registrations over the
100%-registered mark.
Judicial Watch Attorney Robert Popper is the director of Judicial Watch’s
election integrity initiative. We are being assisted in Chicago by Stephen
F. Boulton of Anthony J. Peraica & Associates, Ltd.
New Documents Details Secrecy Deal for Top Official Involved in
Michigan COVID Response
Unsurprisingly, little work has been done by the corrupted leftist media to
investigate the responses of the various states to COVID. And, once again,
Judicial Watch steps into this oversight gap.
We received 1,221
pages of records from the Michigan Department of Health and Human
Services related to the settlement agreement of Department Director Robert
Gordon, which amounted to nine months’ severance ($155,506),
and “includes a confidentiality clause that bars Gordon or state
officials from sharing further details about his departure, ‘unless
required by law.’”
Other records show that Gordon warned of the “freedom crowd” in a
discussion about mask mandates, and that controversial consultant Frank
Luntz was consulted on COVID messaging.
Gordon was subpoenaed
by the Michigan House Oversight Committee over his separation agreement,
which wants “to know whether he differed with the governor on a policy
position and whether that information in some way led to his
departure.”
The records also shed light on Michigan’s COVID-19 restrictions and
lockdowns.
We received the records in response to a March 5, 2021, Michigan Freedom of
Information Act (FOIA) request for:
- All emails related to COVID-19, vaccines, masks, school closures,
and/or business restrictions sent between former Michigan Department of
Health and Human Services Director Robert Gordon and the following
officials: Governor Gretchen Whitmer, Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist, Chief
Legal Counsel Mark Totten and/or Chief of Staff JoAnne Huls;
- All emails between Gov. Whitmer and Chief of Staff Huls regarding the
resignation or termination of Director Gordon; and
- All DHHS human resources records related to the
resignation/termination of employment of Robert Gordon as Director of
Michigan’s Department of Health and Human Services, including but not
limited to separation agreements, whether in draft or final form.
Among the records received by Judicial Watch is a document
titled “SEPARATION AGREEMENT & RELEASE Between the State of Michigan &
Robert Gordon,” which reveals that although Gordon “resigned
voluntarily,” the settlement agreement was signed to release “all
claims against Employer arising out of his employment.” The agreement
provides that Michigan will pay him “the sum of $155,506.05, which
represents 9 months of salary and COBRA payments.”
The settlement agreement also provides that:
In the interest of protecting deliberations among government officials, the
parties agree to maintain confidentiality regarding Employee’s departure
from employment unless required by law to release such information.
***
[Gordon] is presently named as a Defendant, in both his official and
individual capacity, in various lawsuits currently pending and arising out
of his appointment to and service as the Director of the Michigan
Department of Health and Human Services.
***
[Michigan] will provide legal representation for Employee in matters
relating to actions taken by Employee while in the course of his employment
and while acting within the scope of his authority.”
***
[I]n the event a [court] settlement is reached or judgment is entered
against Employee, Employee may seek indemnification for damages awarded
based upon actions taken by Employee in the course of his employment and
while acting within the scope of his authority. In response to such
request, Employer will not unreasonably withhold indemnification.
The new records also include information regarding Michigan’s COVID-19
response.
In a June 24, 2020, email with
the subject line “outdoor masks,” Gordon writes:
Saw this depressing
Detroit clip just now. Gov. Newsom last week issued an
order requiring masks in public spaces, indoor and outdoor. We have not
done the outdoor piece. Wonder if we should.
As best I can tell, experts are still unclear on level of outdoor
transmission, and lack of spike in heavy protest areas gives hope. On the
other hand, the protestors largely did wear masks, and recent
evidence on masks overall is strong.
Message would be not that we want to stop reopening, but rather that we
want to sustain it versus the scary turn in other states. Realize we will
run into the “freedom” crowd, but we could even make the order without
penalties. This is not about force of state, but about breaking through
with a signal that changes norms. In fantasy world there are prominent
Republicans who agree to be reasonable here, like in this video, but based
on the Detroit clip, getting a diverse urban group on board would help
too.
In an April 5, 2020, email
to Gordon and others, under the subject line, “Michigan Apex
Clarification Importance: High,” Public Information Officer Lynn
Sutfin reveals the Department’s reliance on the assumptions
of Imperial
College to make “rough projections” about COVID-19 and
discloses that the Department is working with the McKinsey
Group, a global consulting firm, all to support the Governor’s
lockdown orders. Additionally, she references COVIDACTNOW.ORG and IHME as
working with the Department.
In a March 21, 2020, email from
Chief Medical Executive, Khaldun predicts that over the next 2-4 weeks
there will be “about 6.9 million people in Michigan who become infected
across all ages (70% of population), 1 million of those will need
hospitalization, and 435,000 of those will require an ICU stay. A subset of
the ICU cases will unfortunately die, but I do not have that estimate at
this time.” (The actual inflection and death numbers
turned out to be far less.)
In a December 4, 2020, email to colleagues, Gordon forwards the results of
a survey conducted of Michiganders taken from November 20 – December 1
focusing on COVID-19 vaccines and tells them there are “big challenges
ahead.”
- There is significant reluctance toward COVID-19 vaccine adoption, with
66% saying they are likely to get a COVID-19 vaccine, but only 43% “very
likely”
- Attitudes toward the COVID-19 vaccine vary widely by demographic
group, with more men saying they are “very likely” to get the vaccine
(51%) than women (35%)
- Age is a key factor in how likely someone is to get the vaccine, with
over 62% of respondents 65+ reporting that they are “very likely” to
get the vaccine (higher than younger age groups)
- There are also striking differences in vaccine adoption by race, with
white respondents far more likely to say they are “very likely” (47%)
to get the vaccine than are black respondents (25%)
The records show that Gordon was in contact with Dr. Ezekiel (Zeke)
Emanuel, a bioethicist who served as Special Advisor for Health Policy at
Office of Management and Budget during the Obama administration and as a
member of then-President Elect Joe Biden’s Public
Health Advisory Committee.
In a March 27, 2020, email,
Emanuel, acting as an advisor to the Whitmer administration, introduces
Gordon to Sacha Samotin, a principal in a company called Applecart, urges
the State of Michigan to hire.
Admitting he has an investment in Applecart, Emanuel tells Gordon:
[Applecart] uses social media and behavioral economic techniques –
prompts by people you know – to get people to vote and do other socially
positive things.
He has had some great ideas about how to do that for COVID-19. This might
address your PR campaign issues.
In full disclosure, I have an investment in Sacha’s company. But that is
because it is super effective at what it does.
Gordon responds positively to Emanuel after Samotin reaches out to him,
saying “Please give me a call.” Samotin then sends Gordon a “concept
memo” on Applecart and what it does. Gordon forwards the email exchange
and concept paper on to Whitmer’s chief legal counsel, Mark Totten, and
others, saying, “I think the PR and ad partners could be key for raising
our game.”
The memo labeled “CONFIDENTIAL: NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION,” promotes
Appleacart:
[A] leading NYC-based data science company that builds dense, accurate, and
actionable maps of real-world relationships between individuals using
publicly available data and a proprietary Social Graph platform.
Applecart’s Social Graph catalogues more than 25 billion social
relationships between 250M+ Americans.
***
To assist in the efforts to combat COVID-19, Applecart can use its Social
Graph to generate high-value custom advertising audiences comprised of
people who have personal or professional relationships with major company
executives or state and local government officials. These audiences can be
targeted with either a) the latest information about the actions that
companies and governments must take to prevent the spread of Coronavirus or
b) negative news stories that criticize the companies and governments for
their inaction, in order to spur action.
***
Applecart can work to counter the threat of harmful misinformation by
generating custom audiences comprised of the personal and professional
networks surrounding key local and national reporters, editors, news
producers, and other influential decision makers in media. Using these
audiences, those fighting to stop the spread of Coronavirus can promote the
latest public health information or pushback on widespread misinformation
to the networks surrounding members of the media. This approach will ensure
the high visibility of accurate information about how to prevent the spread
of virus and will counter misinformation within the networks that surround
and inform journalists. Ensuring that members of the media and those they
trust are getting the latest, high quality information is the best way to
ensure that the public at large receives the same.
***
Applecart can mine its Social Graph to assemble lists of employees of
restaurants, bars, movie theaters, and other businesses that have been
mandated to close during the COVID-19 crisis and make these lists available
to government agencies, as well as grocery stores, pharmacies, and other
businesses, who may be in need of extra labor during a time of
extraordinary demand.
***
Applecart can mine its Social Graph to identify a list of Americans over
the age of 65 and, for each, their closest neighbors under the age of 40.
Public and private sector actors looking to combat COVID-19 can then call
or text the neighbors, in order to enlist them as volunteers to procure and
deliver food and medicine to their older neighbors, while they are
sheltering-in-place.
Also on March 27, Gordon emails Governor
Whitmer:
Good morning, Governor.
Just wanted to share – I talked with Josh Sharfstein from Johns Hopkins
last night about what more we can do in light of the urgent situation in
and around Detroit. His advice was that while we are doing the right things
on surge, we should not lose sight of potential more active steps on social
distancing. Even small gains will help, even if mostly to bring down the
peak sooner. Brainstormed ideas with Josh and then with Zeke Emanuel, who
made the connection [to Applecart] below. (Aware of procurement issue and
have thoughts.)
On April 12, 2020, Gordon asks Emanuel:
What’s your case for a mask mandate, even with DIY [do it yourself]
masks? Is it that masks themselves reduce spread or that wearing masks
changes other behavior, and is there evidence on the latter?
Emanuel replies:
Yes probably worth it – lots of studies. Not as good as N95 but really
does cut down on droplets spread and absorption, plus reminds people f
[sic] public health.
On April 14, Gordon emails Whitmer’s
Chief Legal Counsel Mark Totten, Deputy Chief of Staff Zack Pohl and
University of Michigan Law Professor Nick Bagley revealing the procurement
issues with Applecart were overcome and Emanuel’s recommended company has
been hired:
Our vendor Applecart reported based on their data collection for us that we
are doing very well on our messaging on social distancing and hand
washing—but not on masks. Most people don’t see the need. Appears to be
an aspect of social distancing where we have room for growth. And valuable
both for intrinsic public health benefits (about which much written at this
point) and for signaling effect on behavior.
Great if this could be an order; also meaningful would be a symbolic
statement like wearing a mask at a press conference. Here’s RI Governor
today. Also could amp up MiMask challenge, which launched with a bang but
seems to me dormant right now.
On December 1, 2020, Gordon forwarded to
Whitmer’s chief of staff a PowerPoint summary on COVID political
messaging, “Changing the COVID Conversation,” put together by pollster
Frank Luntz working with a company called de Beaumont Foundation, based on
a survey of 1,100 Americans. They “tested specific words, sentences,
phrases, and attributes Americans need to hear to change their behavior and
stop the spread of the coronavirus.” A significant part of the report
analyzed Democrat-vs.-Republican responses. For example, one of several
“warnings” Luntz emphasized, “Many Republicans refuse to follow
guidelines because they argue the science keeps changing. It’s up to you
to communicate – at the outset – that the science is settled.”
Much of the Luntz Report deals with wordsmithing. A table in
the report categorizes words as “Words to Use” and “Words to Lose.”
For example, use “protocols” and lose “orders & decrees;” use
“social distancing” and lose “physical distancing.” Another Luntz
recommendation is to “Call It the Pandemic,” based on his surveys that
found the word “pandemic” is “more significant, serious, and scary”
than the alternatives “COVID-19” and “The Coronavirus.”
The survey of
1,100 people, which included an “oversample of 300 African Americans,”
found that there was a “chasm” between Republicans and Democrats on
COVID, and “In every possible way, Democrats and Republicans think
differently and act differently.” Luntz said they “tested specific
words, sentences, phrases, and attributes Americans need to hear to change
their behavior and stop the spread of the coronavirus.” When asked the
survey question, “Which is more important to you regarding COVID-19?”
survey respondents outranked “Health” to “Liberty” by 48% to 13%.
Among African Americans, 54% responded “Health” and 6% said
“Liberty.”
Based on his findings, Luntz had a series of “insights”
he offered:
Nothing scares GOPers
more than an IRS audit‚ except testing positive for COVID.
***
Despite vocal criticism from President
Trump, President-elect Joe Biden was rewarded,
not punished for “staying in his basement” for two months.
***
There are only
two trusted organizations and people – the CDC and Dr. Anthony
Fauci. No one else is close. And don’t forget to utilize survivors of
Covid as well. Congress also lacks credibility.
***
If you want Republican buy-in, you must
make the case that the science
is settled and that everyone now agrees.
***
Say “ Public,”
Not “Government”
An April 2, 2020, email
exchange among top Michigan government, National Guard and state
police officials shows heightened concern over the failure of Michigan to
utilize Trump administration-approved military personnel to help respond to
COVID-19, while other states had already brought in thousands of troops. In
one email, Major Gen. Paul Rogers, head of the Michigan National Guard,
tells his colleagues:
This is a critical need. We must act quickly to request support on behalf
of Michigan. I actually thought this request went out yesterday.
After listing states where thousands of military troops had been sent to
other states, he notes: “Michigan has Zero!”
Gordon then forwards the exchange on to JoAnne Huls, Whitmer’s chief of
staff, saying:
You should read this chain. Big Problem. Just discussing with General
Rogers. Wondering if you want to intervene with MSP [Michigan State Police]
tonight.
These documents show the ugly and cynical approach by Michigan state
officials to COVID – using tax dollars to buy secrecy and manipulate
public opinion.
Judicial Watch Represents Center for Medical Progress against HHS
Over the Use of Human Fetal Tissue
We are representing The
Center for Medical Progress (CMP), which filed two separate Freedom of
Information Act (FOIA) lawsuits against the Department of Health and Human
Services (HHS) for grant applications related to the use of human fetal
tissue (Center
for Medical Progress v. U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services (No. 1:21-cv-00641)); (Center
for Medical Progress v. U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services (No. 1:21-cv-00642)). CMP is responsible for the 2015
series of undercover videos exposing the harvesting and trafficking of
aborted fetal body parts at Planned Parenthood.
The first lawsuit was filed after HHS had provided 214 pages of records in
response to an April 28, 2020, FOIA request and withheld additional records
without giving any reason for the withholdings. The FOIA request asked for
grant applications related to two separate Brain
and Tissue Repositories.
The second lawsuit was filed after HHS failed to respond to an April 28,
2020, FOIA request seeking the grant applications for a University of
Pittsburgh “tissue hub and collection site,” a mouse and human kidney
development project that utilizes human tissue and a molecular mapping
project that uses human tissue to map cell types along the urethra.
Both requests identified each grant application by project name and by
project number and included both the name of the Project Investigator (PI)
and a hyperlink to the location on NIH’s website where an abstract of the
project could be found.
David Daleiden, founder and executive director of The Center for Medical
Progress, stated, “The full truth about barbaric government-sponsored
experiments on aborted children has yet to be revealed to the American
people who have been forced to subsidize it. When the facts are uncovered,
federal courts are recognizing ‘There is reason to question the
lawfulness of the transactions’ where aborted baby body parts are traded
like widgets on an assembly line. We are proud to stand with Judicial Watch
in seeking transparency and accountability for taxpayer-funded trafficking
of aborted fetuses.”
Let me add that when the federal government conducts shocking research that
involves human fetal tissue, Americans have a right to know basic
information about where these human remains come from, who is providing
them, how they are acquired and why the research is necessary.
Here’s some important background.
In March 2021, a federal court ordered
HHS to release additional information about its purchases of organs
harvested from aborted human fetuses. The court also found “there is
reason to question” whether the transactions violate federal law barring
the sale of fetal organs.
In May 2021, we announced that we had uncovered
records from the FDA showing the agency spent tens of thousands of taxpayer
dollars to buy human fetal tissue from California-based Advanced Bioscience
Resources (ABR). The tissue was used in creating “humanized
mice” to test “biologic drug products.” The records show the
agency ordered shipments to be “fresh; shipped on wet ice.”
In June 2020, we released
records showing the FDA between 2012 and 2018 entered into eight
contracts worth $96,370 with Advanced Bioscience Resources (ABR) to acquire
“fresh and never frozen” tissue from 1st and 2nd trimester aborted
fetuses for use in creating humanized mice for ongoing research. In
February 2020, we made
public additional humanized mice records.
In June 2019, The Trump administration announced
that it would “discontinue intramural research (i.e., internal) projects
involving fetal tissue from elective abortions at the National Institutes
of Health (NIH), and (would) add additional ethics review for new
extramural research (i.e., external) involving such tissue.”
In August 2020, Science Magazine reported
that the Trump administration’s Human
Fetal Tissue Research Ethics Advisory Board rejected 13 of 14 studies
that used human fetal tissue. The Biden administration announced on April
16, 2021, that it would again
allow taxpayer funding of this controversial research.
The Center for Medical Progress is a group of citizen journalists dedicated
to monitoring and reporting on medical ethics and advances. They are
concerned about contemporary bioethical issues that impact human dignity,
and oppose any interventions, procedures, and experiments that exploit
the unequal legal status of any class of human beings. They envision a
world in which medical practice and biotechnology ally with and serve the
goods of human nature and do not destroy, disfigure, or work against
them.
Until next week …
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