My earlier post was hastily sent out from my iPhone, please forgive an initial spelling mistake, I hope you somehow managed to survive your day anyway.
Sounds like sparks were flying in the Sparks courtroom! The Judge seems like he’s part of the crew who thinks either the naked people or the children have to go from Burning Man. Here’s a bit more detail on what happened, from the Associated Press:
And they hoped to get the blessing of a federal judge overseeing the case, asking him to dismiss the lawsuit earlier this week.
Instead, they got an earful from U.S. District Senior Chief Judge Robert C. Jones, and threats that the lawyers in the case should either go back to law school or be disbarred.
Exactly what in the agreement between festival organizers and Pershing County lawyers prompted Jones’ criticism was unclear, though he said the agreement amounted to malpractice.
“You committed virtually a fraud on the federal court and the county commission,” Jones said. He said he’ll file complaints with the state bar association against all lawyers involved.
The two sides, however, believe they still have an agreement in their year-old legal battle over regulation of the annual event leading up to Labor Day in the Black Rock Desert, about 100 miles north of Reno.
The county has long sought more money to provide security. When organizers balked, the county proposed an ordinance to enable sheriff’s deputies to regulate activities it considered “obscene.” One version of the ordinance also would have banned children from attending.
Festival organizers said such a law would violate their First Amendment rights, and sued in federal court. As the case sat before Jones, both sides began negotiating.
The agreement calls for the Burners to pay an estimated $240,000 annually for law enforcement and for meetings between festival organizers and officials to discuss police priorities before and after the event. The county agreed not to pursue the ordinance, or regulate anything that was covered by the festival’s permit from the Bureau of Land Management.
“It’s absurd and it’s illegal,” said Jones, though it wasn’t clear what would be illegal about the agreement. Jones said under the agreement the county was waiving its right to enforce state laws, including its ability to keep children from being exposed to people “running around nude on the desert.”
Both sides said Jones misunderstood.
“We didn’t give up any right to enforce any law,” insisted Brent Kolvet, a lawyer for the county.
“We concur,” said Annette Hurst, a lawyer for Burning Man’s owner, Black Rock City LLC.
Jones shot back, “I’m sure you do.”
Later, the judge said Kolvet was insulting his intelligence and described one of Hurst’s arguments as “mealy-mouthed.” Twice while mocking their positions, he said, “The record will reflect I’m laughing.”
He refused Hurst’s first request to speak.
“No. Just take careful notes,” Jones said.
Later, she asked again.
“I’m going to suggest, ma’am, you go back to law school,” he said. “Sit down.”
When Hurst said she was trying to complete a sentence, Jones told his clerk: “Call security.”
“For the last time, sit down,” he said.
Hurst sat and a U.S. marshal arrived seconds later but the hearing continued.
Jones refused to approve the deal and said a formal written ruling would follow.
With the county and Burning Man organizers saying they considered their dispute resolved, it wasn’t clear what impact his ruling would have on the agreement.
The Judge’s views have triggered a few choice comments on the Interwebz:
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I practiced law, although not in Nevada, for 25 years. Frankly, I’d never seen court judges say crazy, nasty stuff to lawyers until I sat through a morning calendar at the Clark County Family Court’s Department P..
And now this Federal judge appears to be very angry about something which he apparently did not articulate well enough for the reporter, let alone both sides’ attorneys to understand.
Is someone putting crazy juice in Nevada judges’ water dispensers?
- The judge is bluffing. He did not delineate the specifics of the alleged fraud. It’s contract law and if both parties agree to a contract, how could fraud be implied here? He is simply grandstanding for his base – bravo!
- This is an evil, evil dude. A real nutcracker, right out of the 1850s: “In November 2012, Judge Jones upheld Nevada’s ban on same sex marriage. The civil rights organization which brought the case, Lambda Legal, appealed the decision to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in December 2012. Jones wrote in the decision:
‘Human beings are created through the conjugation of one man and one woman. The percentage of human beings conceived through non-traditional methods is minuscule and adoption, the form of child-rearing in which same-sex couples may typically participate together, is not an alternative means of creating children, but rather a social backstop for when traditional biological families fail. The perpetuation of the human race depends upon traditional procreation between men and women. The institution developed in our society, its predecessor societies, and by nearly all societies on Earth throughout history to solidify, standardize, and legalize the relationship between a man, a woman, and their offspring, is civil marriage between one man and one woman.'”
http://judgepedia.org/Robert_C._Jones
- This clown is a Mormon wacko. Judge Jones should have been impeached long ago, and this latest outburst of idiocy might be the straw that finally breaks the camel’s back.
Read all about him: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Clive_Jones