Results tagged “ruling”

Head over to City Desk if you'd like to download a pdf copy of Judge Judith Retchin's Superior Court decision from earlier today, in which she ruled against the request of petitioners Bishop Harry Jackson et al. to put a halt to the D.C. Council's same sex marriage recognition law. Not only did Retchin rule that stopping the clock on the legislation, which is set to take effect next week, was not warranted, she went so far as to rule more broadly that the landmark 1995 Dean v. District decision does not apply to this case. Here's the key passage: "The Court in Dean did not consider whether the government could refuse to recognize the legal right of persons to remain married solely because of their sexual orientation. In fact, the Court in Dean could not have addressed this issue because when Dean was decided in 1995, no state had legalized same-sex marriage." We expect Jackson and his anti-gay marriage crusaders to head straight over to the D.C. Court of Appeals.

D.C. Wire is reporting that MPD Chief Cathy Lanier's controversial "Neighborhood Safety Zone" checkpoint tactic has passed its first test in federal court. U.S. District Judge Richard Leon today denied a request for a preliminary injunction against the checkpoints filed by a group of District residents. In the ruling, Leon found that the checkpoints are not unconstitutional and are a reasonable crime prevention tactic to use against a specific kind of vehicle-related violent crime. This is from Leon's conclusion:

Simply put, to take this arrow out of MPD's quiver on such a weak showing as to is unconstitutionality would be injurious not only to MPD's ability to protect our citizens, but to the public's overwhelming need to be protected from these mobile merchants of violence.

The underlying lawsuit against the checkpoints is still ongoing. Judge Leon's ruling means that the MPD may continue to use the "Neighborhood Safety Zone" program while that case is pending. D.C. Wire quotes the head of the police union questioning why Judge Leon didn't address whether evidence discovered during these searches would be upheld in court.