July, 17 2013, 04:58pm EDT
Federal Court to Hear Oral Argument on "Docs V. Glocks" Gag Law
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit will be hearing arguments on Thursday July 18, 2013 in Miami on the unprecedented and highly controversial Florida "Docs v. Glocks" gag law that could strip doctors of their medical licenses if they discuss firearm safety with patients. Lawyers with the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence, along with the law firm of Ropes & Gray, brought suit against the law in June 2011 on behalf of several Florida doctors and medical groups, and last year won an injunction from U.S.
WASHINGTON
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit will be hearing arguments on Thursday July 18, 2013 in Miami on the unprecedented and highly controversial Florida "Docs v. Glocks" gag law that could strip doctors of their medical licenses if they discuss firearm safety with patients. Lawyers with the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence, along with the law firm of Ropes & Gray, brought suit against the law in June 2011 on behalf of several Florida doctors and medical groups, and last year won an injunction from U.S. District Judge Marcia Cooke, who ruled the law was unconstitutional under the First Amendment. The Court will hear Florida's appeal on Thursday, July 18th at the James Lawrence King Federal Justice Building at 99 N.E. 4th Street, Miami, Florida. Court convenes at 9 am.
"The gun lobby's attempt to stop doctors from warning about the severe risks posed by guns in the home is outrageous and unconstitutional," said Jonathan Lowy, co-counsel for the Plaintiffs and Director of the Brady Center's Legal Action Project. "With more than 4,000 children shot in gun accidents every year, doctors must be able to give patients frank advice about the serious risks posed by guns in the home."
The Florida law, H.B. 155, also known as the Firearm Owners' Privacy Act, would subject health care providers to possible sanctions, including fines and loss of license, if they discuss or record information in a patient's chart about firearms safety that a medical board later determined was not "relevant" or was "unnecessarily harassing." The law, however, did not define these terms. The lawsuit charged that the law is unconstitutionally vague and violates the First Amendment by restricting and having a severe chilling effect on confidential, life-saving discussions.
One third of U.S. homes with children younger than eighteen have a firearm. More than 40 percent of gun-owning households with children store their guns unlocked and one quarter of those homes store them loaded. Children aged 5 to 14 years in the United States are 11 times more likely to be killed accidentally with a gun than similarly aged children in other developed countries. Because of these well-documented risks, pediatricians advise parents to keep guns away from children, secured with gun locks, and stored separately from ammunition.
Douglas Hallward-Driemeier of Ropes & Gray in Washington, D.C. is arguing the case for the Plaintiffs. The suit was filed by attorneys with the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence and the law firms Ropes & Gray and Astigarraga Davis on behalf of individual doctors as well as organizations representing 11,000 health care providers, including the Florida Pediatric Society/Florida Chapter of American Academy of Pediatrics; American Academy of Family Physicians, Florida Chapter; and the American College of Physicians, Florida Chapter.
Brady United formerly known as The Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence and its legislative and grassroots affiliate, the Brady Campaign and its dedicated network of Million Mom March Chapters, is the nation's largest, non-partisan, grassroots organization leading the fight to prevent gun violence. We are devoted to creating an America free from gun violence, where all Americans are safe at home, at school, at work, and in our communities.
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'Stuff of Parody': Trump Taps Election-Denying Ally Kari Lake to Run Voice of America
"Authoritarians love to control and instrumentalize media organizations, especially state-funded ones," journalist Mehdi Hasan wrote in response to the news.
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President-elect Donald Trump said Wednesday that he has chosen Kari Lake, a far-right election denier and failed U.S. Senate candidate, to lead the federally funded international broadcast network Voice of America, a move that critics said underscores Trump's effort to transform government entities into vehicles to advance his own interests.
In a Truth Social post, Trump wrote that as director of VOA, Lake would "ensure that the American values of Freedom and Liberty are broadcast around the World FAIRLY and ACCURATELY, unlike the lies spread by the Fake News Media."
Lake, a former television news anchor in Arizona who has echoed Trump's insidious attacks on journalists, wrote in response to the president-elect's announcement that she was "honored" to be asked to lead VOA, which she characterized as "a vital international media outlet dedicated to advancing the interests of the United States by engaging directly with people across the globe and promoting democracy and truth." VOA, which is supposed to have editorial independence, has long faced criticism for its coverage and treatment of employees.
Though the VOA's Charter states that the outlet will "present a balanced and comprehensive projection of significant American thought and institutions," Lake made clear that she views the network as a propaganda channel for the United States.
"Under my leadership, the VOA will excel in its mission: chronicling America's achievements worldwide," Lake, an outspoken Trump loyalist, wrote Wednesday.
Hours after Trump's announcement that she's his pick to lead VOA, Lake applaudedTIME magazine for naming Trump its "Person of the Year" and gushed that he "should have been the Person of the Year every year for the last decade."
Journalists and watchdogs expressed a mixture of alarm and mockery in response to Trump's attempt to elevate Lake to VOA director.
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Zeteo's Mehdi Hasan added that "authoritarians love to control and instrumentalize media organizations, especially state-funded ones."
"Good luck to the VOA," he wrote.
VOA is the largest federally funded international broadcaster and is overseen by the U.S. Agency for Global Media.
It is not clear whether Trump will be able to easily install Lake as VOA director. The Washington Post noted that "under rules passed in 2020, the VOA director is appointed by a majority vote of a seven-member advisory board."
"Six members of the board are named by the president and require Senate consent, and the seventh member is the secretary of state," the Post explained.
During his first term in the White House, Trump's pick to lead the U.S. Agency for Global Media worked aggressively to influence VOA coverage.
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According to a White House fact sheet, those who received commutations "have been serving their sentences at home for at least one year under the Covid-era CARES Act," a law that extended the amount of time in which people could be placed in home confinement to reduce the spread of the virus in prisons.
The White House did not name those who received pardons or commutations but said the list includes a "decorated military veteran," a "nurse who has led emergency response for several natural disasters," and "an addiction counselor who volunteers his time to help young people find their purpose."
The Biden Justice Department paused federal executions in 2021, but President-elect Donald Trump pledged on the campaign trail to expand the use of the death penalty and is expected to allow the executions of the 40 men on death row to take place if they're still there when he takes office next month.
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Despite the Pentagon's repeated failures to pass audits and various alarming policies, 81 Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives voted with 200 Republicans on Wednesday to advance a $883.7 billion annual defense package.
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Reps. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.) and Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), co-chairs and co-founders of the Defense Spending Reduction Caucus, said in a joint statement, "Time and time again, Congress seems to be able to find the funds necessary to line the pockets of defense contractors while neglecting the problems everyday Americans face here at home."
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