A state judicial panel is recommending that Montana’s Republican attorney general be suspended from practicing law for 90 days for openly defying court orders and repeatedly attacking the integrity of justices in his defense of a law permitting the state’s Republican governor to directly fill judicial vacancies.

The law at issue was part of a nationwide GOP effort to forge a more conservative judiciary and was eventually upheld by Montana’s Supreme Court.

Both sides have up to 30 days to object to Wednesday’s recommendation by the five-member Commission on Practice and another 30 days to respond to objections before the Supreme Court hands down its decision. Five of Montana’s seven justices filed motions Thursday to recuse themselves from ruling on the punishment, meaning they would likely be replaced by state District Court judges.

If Austin Knudsen’s license is suspended it could affect his ability to do his job as attorney general, officials said. The state Constitution requires the attorney general to be “an attorney in good standing admitted to practice law in Montana who has engaged in the active practice thereof for at least five years before election.”

Department of Justice spokeswoman Emilee Cantrell said the office disagrees with the recommended punishment and intends to file an objection. The office instead supports a 2022 special counsel investigation recommendation that suggested “this could have been handled privately, avoiding a politically charged disagreement.” The judicial panel had rejected that recommendation.

In its findings, the panel said there was no doubt actions by the attorney general’s office “repeatedly, consistently and undeniably,” violated professional conduct rules and are “arguably deserving of the most serious consequences.”

They also dismissed a suggestion that holding Knudsen “accountable for his conduct may have further consequences,” because its only focus was on whether his conduct violated the Montana Rules of Professional Conduct.

In court filings, Knudsen’s office had accused state Supreme Court justices of judicial misconduct, corruption, self-dealing, “actual impropriety,” and having a conflict of interest.

The judicial panel noted that Knudsen acknowledged during a hearing earlier this month that a lot of things should have been done differently in representing the Legislature over the extent of its subpoena powers.

“If I had this to do over, I probably would not have allowed language like this — so sharp — to be used,” Knudsen testified. However, the panel also noted that Knudsen repeatedly refused to admit that any of his actions or language in court filings violated professional conduct rules.

The issue dates back to 2021 when the Legislature was working on a law to eliminate the Judicial Nomination Commission, which screened judicial applicants.

Lawmakers learned a Supreme Court administrator used state computers to survey judges about the legislation on behalf of the Montana Judges Association.

After the court administrator said she had deleted emails related to the survey, the Legislature subpoenaed the Department of Administration, which includes the state’s IT department, and received 5,000 of the administrator’s emails by the next day. The court administrator didn’t learn about the subpoena until after the emails had been turned over to the Legislature in April 2021.

The Supreme Court temporarily quashed the subpoena that same month — an order the attorney general’s office said it “does not recognize” — and in July 2021 ordered the emails be returned immediately. The attorney general’s office didn’t return the emails until March and April of 2022, after the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the case. Knudsen’s office defied the court order without seeking a stay, something the panel called “beyond the pale.”

This isn’t the only controversy marking Knudsen’s nearly four years in office. He is seeking reelection.

He was accused of pressuring a Helena hospital over its refusal to administer a parasite drug to a COVID-19 patient and his office also sided with a man who made an armed threat over a pandemic mask mandate. He tried to block three constitutional initiatives from the November ballot, recruited a token opponent for the June primary so he could raise more money, and was sued after forcing the head of the Montana Highway Patrol to resign.

For maybe the last time, Alex Murdaugh, in a prison jumpsuit instead of the suit he used to wear, shuffled into a courtroom Monday in South Carolina and was sentenced to 40 years in federal prison.

Murdaugh was punished — this time in federal court — for stealing from clients and his law firm. The 55-year-old disbarred attorney is already serving a life sentence without parole in a state prison for killing his wife and son.

A report by federal agents recommended a prison sentence between 17 1/2 and just under 22 years.

The 40-year sentence will be insurance on top of insurance. Along with the life sentence, Murdaugh pleaded guilty and was ordered to spend 27 years in prison in state court on financial crime charges. The federal sentence will run at the same time as his state prison term and he likely will have to serve all 40 years if his murder convictions are overturned on appeal.

U.S. District Judge Richard Gergel said he sentenced Murdaugh to a harsher punishment than suggested because Murdaugh stole from “the most needy, vulnerable people” like a client who became a quadriplegic after a crash, a state trooper who was injured on the job, and a trust fund meant for children whose parents were killed in a wreck.

“They placed all their problems and all their hopes on Mr. Murdaugh and it is from those people he abused and stole. It is a difficult set of actions to understand,” Gergel said.

The 22 federal counts are the final charges outstanding for Murdaugh, who three years ago was an established lawyer negotiating multimillion-dollar settlements in tiny Hampton County, where members of his family served as elected prosecutors and ran the area’s premier law firm for nearly a century.

Murdaugh will also have to pay nearly $9 million in restitution.

Prosecutors are asking to give Murdaugh a harsher sentence because FBI agents think he is not telling the whole truth about what happened to $6 million he stole and whether a so-far unnamed attorney helped his criminal schemes.

Murdaugh’s largest scheme involved the sons of his longtime housekeeper Gloria Satterfield. She died in a fall at the family home. Murdaugh promised to take care of Satterfield’s family, then worked with a lawyer friend who pleaded guilty on a scheme to steal $4 million in a wrongful death settlement with the family’s insurer.

In all, Murdaugh took settlement money from or inflated fees or expenses for more than two dozen clients. Prosecutors said the FBI found 11 more victims than the state investigation found and that Murdaugh stole nearly $1.3 million from them.

Murdaugh again apologized to his victims at his sentencing Monday, saying he felt “guilt, sorrow, shame, embarrassment, humiliation.”

Just like at his state sentencing, Murdaugh offered to meet with his victims so they can say what they want to say and “more closely inspect my sincerity.”

“There’s not enough time and I don’t possess a sufficient vocabulary to adequately portray to you in words the magnitude of how I feel about the things I did,” Murdaugh said.

Murdaugh blamed nearly two decades of addiction to opioids for his crimes and said he was proud is has been clean for 937 days.

Gergel scoffed at him blaming drugs.

“No truly impaired person could pull off these complex transactions,” the judge said of the maze of fake accounts, juggled checks and money passed from one place to another to hide the thefts for nearly 20 years.

An American woman who left the U.K. after killing a teenager in a road accident was given an eight-month suspended prison sentence on Thursday, though she declined to come to Britain for the court hearing.

Anne Sacoolas, 45, was sentenced over an August 2019 accident in which 19-year-old Harry Dunn was killed when his motorcycle collided with a car outside RAF Croughton, an air base in eastern England that is used by U.S. forces. Sacoolas was driving on the wrong side of the road at the time.

Sacoolas and her husband, an American intelligence officer, returned to the U.S. days after the accident. The U.S. government invoked diplomatic immunity on her behalf, prompting an outcry in Britain and causing tensions between the governments in London and Washington.

Sacoolas admitted causing death by careless driving, which carries a maximum sentence of five years imprisonment. Justice Bobbie Cheema-Grubb said Sacoolas’ actions were “not far short of deliberately dangerous driving,” but she reduced the penalty because of Sacoolas’ guilty plea and previous good character.

The suspended sentence means that Sacoolas faces jail if she commits another offense within a year — though the judge acknowledged the sentence could not be enforced if she remains in the U.S.

The sentencing follows a three-year campaign by Dunn’s family, who met with politicians on both sides of the Atlantic in a campaign to get Sacoolas to face British justice. American authorities refused to extradite her.

Sacoolas entered a guilty plea in October, but the U.S. administration advised her not to come to Britain for sentencing. She attended the hearing at London’s Central Criminal Court by video link.

Lawyer Ben Cooper said Sacoolas had not asked for the diplomatic immunity asserted on her behalf by the U.S. government. He read a statement from Sacoolas in which she said she was “deeply sorry for the pain I have caused.”

“There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t think about Harry,” the statement said.

The judge said the “calm and dignified persistence” of Dunn’s parents had led Sacoolas to acknowledge guilt and appear before the court.

Dunn’s mother Charlotte Charles said in a victim impact statement that her son’s death “haunts me every minute of every day and I’m not sure how I’m ever going to get over it.”

“As a family we are determined that his death will not have been in vain and we are involved in a number of projects to try to find some silver lining in this tragedy and to help others,” she said. “That will be Harry’s legacy.”

New Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson has issued her first Supreme Court opinion, a short dissent Monday in support of a death row inmate from Ohio.

Jackson wrote that she would have thrown out lower court rulings in the case of inmate Davel Chinn, whose lawyers argued that the state suppressed evidence that might have altered the outcome of his trial.

Jackson, in a two-page opinion, wrote that she would have ordered a new look at Chinn’s case “because his life is on the line and given the substantial likelihood that the suppressed records would have changed the outcome at trial.”

The evidence at issue indicated that a key witness against Chinn has an intellectual disability that might have affected his memory and ability to testify accurately, she wrote.

Prosecutors are required to turn over potentially exculpatory evidence to the defense. In this case, lower courts determined that the outcome would not have been affected if the witness’ records had been provided to Chinn’s lawyers.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor was the only other member of the court to join Jackson’s opinion. The two justices also were allies in dissent Monday in Sotomayor’s opinion that there was serious prosecutorial misconduct in the trial of a Louisiana man who was convicted of sex trafficking.

Jackson joined the high court on June 30, following the retirement of Justice Stephen Breyer, her onetime boss.

The court has yet to decide any of the cases argued in October or the first few days of this month. Jackson almost certainly will be writing a majority opinion in one of those cases.

A memorial service will be held this month for Judge David Lee, who presided for several years over a far-reaching North Carolina school funding case and ordered last year that taxpayer money be spent on student inequities.

Lee died Oct. 4 at his Monroe home of complications from cancer, according to an obituary posted online by Gordon Funeral Service & Crematory. The funeral home confirmed his death Monday.

Lee, a Superior Court judge, oversaw litigation called “Leandro” since late 2016. In March, Chief Justice Paul Newby assigned another judge to hear the next portion of the case. Lee had reached the mandatory retirement age for judges in January.

In November, Lee directed that $1.75 billion be moved from state coffers to government agencies to fund a remedial spending plan to help provide a constitutionally mandated “opportunity for a sound basic education” for at-risk children and those in poor regions.

The judge found that he had the authority to transfer taxpayer funds in part because the state — in particular the legislature — had failed repeatedly to comply with major court rulings stemming from the 1994 lawsuit.

A state Court of Appeals panel blocked the transfer, and Lee’s successor in the case lowered the necessary amount to $785 million. The state Supreme Court heard oral arguments in August over whether the judiciary had the power to make such a unilateral spending decision. The justices have yet to rule.

Lee, a South Carolina native who grew up in Unionville, attended Western Carolina University and Wake Forest law school. He had been a longtime civil litigation attorney before first being appointed to the bench in 2003. He served as president of local Jaycees and Rotary Club groups.

Lee said last year that he had been diagnosed with a rare form of cancer — a tumor had been found in his liver in 2019.

The memorial service is scheduled for Oct. 22 at First Baptist Church in Monroe, where he was a longtime member. Survivors include his wife, three children, and three grandchildren.

Erin is a transactional attorney based out of the Baltimore area. Erin practices primarily in the areas of commercial real estate, construction, and general corporate law. She has extensive experience representing commercial developers, owners, landlords, tenants, contractors, investors and lenders in connection with office, warehouse, flex, mixed-use, residential and retail projects.

Erin started her legal career at a large law firm, then spent 10 years practicing at a boutique firm prior to founding her own practice to prioritize top-rate service and the individual needs of each client.

Erin handles a wide variety of sophisticated transactions, including commercial leasing, land development and construction, and real estate acquisitions, dispositions, and financing. 

Justice Clarence Thomas, who remains hospitalized in Washington, does not have COVID-19, the Supreme Court said Monday.

The court provided no additional information about the infection that put Thomas in the hospital on Friday, other than to say he is responding to intravenous antibiotics.

The 73-year-old justice has been vaccinated and boosted against COVID-19, along with the other eight justices, the court has said.

The chair to his right empty, Chief Justice John Roberts took note of Thomas’ absence from the courtroom Monday without explaining why. He said the justice would take part in the cases based on written briefs and recordings of the in-court arguments.

Thomas has been on the court since 1991. Word on Sunday of his hospitalization came as the Senate Judiciary Committee prepared to begin hearings Monday in the nomination of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, whom President Joe Biden named to replace Stephen Breyer. He is retiring at the end of the session.

Walter E. Dellinger, a noted constitutional scholar who argued numerous cases before the Supreme Court, served in top positions in the Justice Department and was a professor at Duke Law School, died Wednesday. He was 80.

Dellinger died Wednesday morning in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, his son Hampton Dellinger said.

During the administration of former President Bill Clinton, Dellinger headed up the influential Office of Legal Counsel that advises the attorney general on often sensitive legal and policy issues and served as the acting Solicitor General, the administration’s top Supreme Court lawyer.

During his time as acting solicitor general during the 1996-97 term of the high court, he argued nine cases including those dealing with doctor-assisted suicide and the line-item veto, according to his Duke Law biography. Dellinger was an emeritus professor at Duke, where he had been a faculty member since 1969.

Dellinger was a leader of a legal team assembled by Democrats ahead of the 2020 presidential election to take on election-related court cases. And in early February, Dellinger spoke out in defense of Biden’s pledge to name a Black woman to the Supreme Court in an essay published by the New York Times.

A federal judge has limited the ability for now for the nonprofit running Oak Ridge National Laboratory to place employees on unpaid leave who receive exemptions to a COVID-19 vaccine requirement.

U.S. District Judge Charles Atchley in Knoxville issued the temporary restraining order Friday barring UT-Battelle from placing employees on indefinite unpaid leave or firing them after they receive a religious or medical accommodation to the vaccine.

The six workers who sued have argued they were told the unpaid leave would be indefinite. Their employer said in a court filing that the leave will last 60 days — with health benefits intact — and then will be reevaluated. Those with security clearances will maintain them for 90 days, the filing states.

Oak Ridge National Laboratory spokesperson Morgan McCorkle said Sunday that officials there “remain confident our policy is legal, in taxpayers’ interest, and necessary for the well-being of our workforce.”

The judge wrote that he will decide by Oct. 29 whether to let the order expire or keep it while the case plays out. He reasoned that “preventing their (employees’) placement on unpaid leave for a matter of two weeks simply will not harm” the organization, while the unpaid leave presents a “functional loss of employment” and other damages for the workers at the lab, which is about 25 miles west of Knoxville.

The judge wrote that the order shouldn’t be interpreted that he is inclined to block the order permanently, and instead was put in place to avoid the “risk of irreparable harm” until a full hearing can be held.

The employees sued earlier this month, saying they requested religious exemptions to the COVID-19 vaccine and two of them also asked for a medical exemption. The lawsuit also seeks class-action status, arguing the unpaid leave policy breaches civil rights and disability discrimination protections.

The lawsuit says the workers were not offered alternatives, such as working remotely or periodic testing. All employees currently face a mask mandate at the lab.
The laboratory, which falls under the U.S. Department of Energy, announced on Aug. 26 that all staff needed to be vaccinated by Oct. 15, with a request that those who were seeking accommodations for religious or medical reasons to submit them by Sept. 15.

UT-Battelle had 145 employees request for accommodations for religious beliefs, and in 24 cases had in-person discussions with the workers. UT-Battelle received 75 requests for medical exemptions, granting 47 of them, denying 25, with three pending, a filing states.
According to the Oak Ridge National Laboratory website, there are 5,700 staff workers at the facility.

“The risk posed by unvaccinated staff members was exemplified by the employees who tested positive on the day they were being interviewed about their religious accommodation requests,” UT-Battelle wrote.

The chief of Vermont’s trial courts is retiring after 17 years as a judge, including seven as chief superior judge, the state Supreme Court has announced.

Chief Judge Brian Grearson will retire Nov. 1.

“Vermont’s judiciary is a vital institution of democracy that ensures equal justice under the law,” Vermont Supreme Court Chief Justice Paul Reiber said in a statement on Friday. “Judge Grearson’s work in support of the courts has been distinctive, accruing to the benefit of every person in our great state.”

The court also said that Superior Judge Thomas A. Zonay of Hartland will succeed Grearson.

The chief superior judge supervises and oversees the administrative responsibilities of the judicial officers who serve in the state superior court and trial courts.

Zonay was appointed as a superior judge in 2007. Before being named a judge Zonay practiced law in Rutland and Woodstock for 18 years. Zonay also has served as president of the Vermont Bar Association and the New England Bar Association.

“He is a knowledgeable, hardworking and committed public servant,” Reiber said of Zonay. “I wish him all the best in his new role.”

An Eastern Shore judge who was about to be arrested at his home was found dead Friday, officials said.

Federal and local officials said FBI agents went to the residence of Caroline County Circuit Court Judge Jonathan Newell in Henderson, Maryland, early Friday morning to arrest him on a federal criminal complaint.

He was under investigation for sexual exploitation of a child, according to a federal affidavit.

“Upon entering the residence the agents found Newell suffering from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound,” a joint statement from Acting Maryland U.S. Attorney Jonathan Lenzner and other officials said. “He was pronounced dead at 6:43 a.m. Maryland State Police will lead the investigation into the apparent suicide.”

With abortion and guns already on the agenda, the conservative-dominated Supreme Court is considering adding a third blockbuster issue — whether to ban consideration of race in college admissions.

The justices could say as soon as Monday whether they will hear an appeal claiming that Harvard discriminates against Asian American applicants, in a case that could have nationwide repercussions. The case would not be argued until the fall or winter.

“It would be a big deal because of the nature of college admissions across the country and because of the stakes of having this issue before the Supreme Court,” said Gregory Garre, who twice defended the University of Texas’ admissions program before the justices.

The presence of three appointees of former President Donald Trump could prompt the court to take up the case, even though it’s only been five years since its last decision in a case about affirmative action in higher education.

In that Texas case, the court reaffirmed in a 4-3 decision that colleges and universities may consider race in admissions decisions. But they must do so in a narrowly tailored way to promote diversity, the court said in a decision that rejected the discrimination claims of a white applicant. Schools also bear the burden of showing why their consideration of race is appropriate.

Two members of that four-justice majority are gone from the court. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died in September. Justice Anthony Kennedy retired in 2018.