USSC Rule 23 Stay Inauguration of Joe Biden and Pamala Harris

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES USSC Rule 23 Stay To Justice Thomas

To stay the inauguration of Joe Biden and Pamala Harris as president and vice president pending a decision in Gillespie v. Federal Election Commission, et al.  

MOTION FOR LEAVE TO FILE, RULE 17, PROCEDURE IN AN ORIGINAL ACTION

1. Today I am submitting a motion for leave to file under Rule 17, Procedure in an Original Action, under Article III, Controversies to which the United States shall be a Party, in Neil J. Gillespie v. Federal Election Commission (FEC) and the Respondents in my FEC Complaint Of Election Fraud In The 2020 Presidential Election Fraud.  

2. Enclosed is my  Federal Election Commission (FEC) Complaint Of Election Fraud In The 2020 Presidential Election of December 14, 2020, and Appendix A, FSC16-2031.

3. On December 18, 2020 Shana M. Broussard, Sean J. Cooksey and Allen Dickerson were sworn in as members of the Federal Election Commission, returning a quorum to the agency charged with administering and enforcing federal campaign finance law.

4. The FEC responded January 6, 2021, Exhibit 1 and stated:

This acknowledges receipt of your letters to the Federal Election Commission on December 14th and December 17th, 2020. 

The Federal Election Commission (the "Commission") is an independent regulatory agency charged with administering and enforcing the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971, as amended, and Chapters 95 and 96 of Title 26, United States Code. The Commission has jurisdiction over the financing of campaigns for federal office -- the U.S. House, Senate, and President. 

After careful review of your correspondence, we have determined that your letter does not state any acts that appear to constitute a violation under our jurisdiction.

5. Given the nature of my complaint, I take the FEC response as a right to sue letter. 

6. My complaint argues that under the separation of powers doctrine, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are not eligible to serve in an executive branch office such as president/VP because each of them are lawyers and part of the judicial branch of government. A lawyer admitted to practice is an officer of the court, part of the judiciary. A lawyer, officer of the court, in the executive branch would usurp the separation of powers doctrine set forth in the U.S. Constitution, and is part of a seditious conspiracy by the judicial branch that is a threat to our Republic.

7. Standing in this matter: 

NEIL J. GILLESPIE, American Citizen and

Candidate For President ID: P60022993,

NEIL J. GILLESPIE FOR PRESIDENT,

Principal Campaign Committee ID: C00627810

8. Grounds: Letter of the FEC dated January 6, 2021, in re, Complaint Of Election Fraud In The 2020 Presidential Election Fraud; 

9. Additional grounds: Crimes against humanity; incarceration rate of the United States; we lead the world in the percentage of people incarcerated: 

The United States has the highest prison and jail population (2,121,600 in adult facilities in 2016), and the highest incarceration rate in the world (655 per 100,000 population in 2016).[1] According to the World Prison Population List (11th edition) there were around 10.35 million people in penal institutions worldwide in 2015.[2] The US had 2,173,800 prisoners in adult facilities in 2015.[3] That means the US held 21.0% of the world's prisoners in 2015, even though the US represented only around 4.4 percent of the world's population in 2015.[4][5] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_United_States_incarceration_rate_with_other_countries

10. Americans are not bad people, but when lawyers run every branch of government, this is the outcome. In particular, the so-called The War On Drugs in the Untied States is a war on Americans with addiction, a medical condition, currently being mishandled by the judiciary.

11. As set forth in my complaint, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, each of whom are Officers of the Court admitted to practice law are part of the judiciary and must be disqualified as candidates

for president and vice-president, or any other executive or legislative office. 

12. Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are not entitled to solicit or receive campaign contributions for the office of U.S. president or vice president under the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971, as amended (the "Act"), and Chapters 95 and 96 of Title 26, United States Code.

13. Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are not entitled to receive any Electoral College votes because they are prohibited by the U.S. Constitution separation of powers doctrine from serving in the executive branch as president and vice president. Therefore, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris cannot be elected U.S. president and vice president because they cannot lawfully

obtain the 270 electoral votes required to take office.

14. Officers of the Court, admitted to practice law and part of the judicial branch of government, conspire to oppose the government of the United States by force, a seditious conspiracy (18 U.S.C. § 2384) in violation of, inter alia, the U.S. Constitution separation of powers doctrine when serving in the executive and legislative branches of government.

15. The 12th Amendment states that, in cases where no presidential candidate receives a majority of votes in the Electoral College, the House of Representatives will choose from among the top three candidates.

"and if no person have such majority, then from the persons having the highest numbers

not exceeding three on the list of those voted for as President, the House of

Representatives shall choose immediately, by ballot, the President."

But the House of Representatives is compromised by House members who are Officers of the

Court and part of the judicial branch of government wrongly serving in the legislature in

violation of the Constitution of the United States separation of powers doctrine. The judiciary is

responsible for this breach of the Constitution, a seditious conspiracy (18 U.S.C. § 2384).

16. One of the most compelling arguments against lawyers serving as president is found in an Article by The Honorable Dennis Jacobs, The Secret Life of Judges, 75 Fordham L. Rev. 2855

(2007). http://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/flr/vol75/iss6/4/ The Article is Exhibit 8 to my complaint

I sometimes think that the problem at bottom is really a lack of respect by

lawyers for other people. Judges live chiefly in a circle of lawyers. But

outside that circle there are people who are just as fully absorbed by other

pursuits that deserve consideration and respect. Judges need a heightened

respect for how nonlawyers solve problems, reach compromises, broker

risks, and govern themselves and their institutions. There are lawyers on the

one hand; and just about everybody else is the competition in the framing of

values and standards of behavior. (par. 4-5, page 2861)

The legal mind is indispensable to lawyering, and for other purposes it is

perfectly okay in its way. But it has its limitations. For example, every

problem-solving profession except ours--quickly adopts as preferred the

solution that is simplest, cheapest, and most efficacious, or (as they say)

elegant... (par. 5, p. 2862)

As a matter of self-awareness and conscience, judges should accept that the

legal mind is not the best policy instrument, and that lawyer-driven

processes and lawyer-centered solutions can be unwise, insufficient, and

unjust, even if our friends and colleagues in the legal profession lead us that

way. For the judiciary, this would mean a reduced role, but not a diminished

one if the judiciary is elevated by considerations of honor, self-restraint, and

respect for other influences. (last par., p. 2863)

17. In Bush v. Gore, 531 U.S. 98 (2000), the U.S. Supreme Court essentially decided the election, a move which a number of legal scholars claim violated the Political Question Doctrine. The doctrine is also referred to as the justiciability doctrine or the nonjusticiability doctrine.

18. A new election must be held because the 2020 presidential election was fatally flawed. Democratic candidates Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are Officers of the Court admitted to practice law are part of the judiciary and must be disqualified as candidates for president and vice-president, or any other executive or legislative office. Republican candidate Mike Pence is an Officer of the Court admitted to practice law and part of the judiciary. Pence must be disqualified as candidate for vice-president, or any other executive or legislative office. 

19. As it stands, the Democratic party will have control of a 50-50 Senate chamber through Vice President-elect Kamala Harris’ tiebreaking vote; but Harris is an Officer of the Court admitted to practice law and part of the judiciary and must be disqualified as a candidate for vice-president, or any other executive or legislative office. 

20. As set forth in my complaint, this danger by the judicial branch of government is a usurpation of power, aided by the U.S. Department of Justice (a executive department wrongly staffed by Officers of the Court). The seditious conspiracy by the judicial branch is responsible for rigged elections, election fraud, renders oversight of the judiciary moot, and violates the political question doctrine. For example, judicial elections are rigged by limiting the number of candidates to one. Years ago when I was a student in Levittown, PA, I recall one of my teachers condemned communism by ridiculing its elections with only one candidate for whom to vote. 

21. In Florida, an unincorporated association known as The Florida Bar, a legal trade guild, is essentially a shadow government of 100,000+ Florida lawyer members, including every state court judge, and virtually every federal judge presiding in the state. The Florida Bar is run by a Board of Governors, 52 lawyers elected by the 100,000+ Florida lawyer members. https://www.floridabar.org/about/bog/ 

22. The Florida Supreme Court says The Florida Bar acts as is its "arm" for, inter alia, lawyer discipline. The Florida Bar does have its own prosecutors and investigators, but it is a private Gestapo with no public accountability. The Executive Director keeps the bills paid, and the president and president-elect are figureheads who serve for one year. The power lies with "The 52-member Board of Governors has exclusive authority to formulate and adopt matters of policy concerning the activities of the Bar, subject to limitations imposed by the Rules Regulating The Florida Bar." Most Floridians have never heard of the 52-member Board of Governors, but it may wield more power than the Florida legislature, a legislative body which is also filled with lawyers who are part of the judicial branch of government. A lawyer admitted to practice is an officer of the court, part of the judiciary.

23. I reject the violent rampage at the U.S. Capital January 6, 2021. I believe those folks are angry because they know something is terribly wrong in American; they are right about that fact. But their frustration and lack understanding of the seditious conspiracy by the judicial branch that has usurped our Republic has caused them to lash out in wrong ways that brings discredit to themselves and discredit to their cause. 

24. In 2020 there were 1.33 million lawyers in the United States. I believe a majority of them are honest practitioners who represent clients, ordinary people and small businesses, and corporate and government lawyers. But they too suffer under the jackboot of various bar associations and a handful of powerful lawyer miscreants. The United States Supreme Court unanimously held in Keller v. State Bar of California, 496 US 1 (1990), adopting in effect the prescient minority Justices' dissents in Lathrop v. Donohue, 367 U.S. 820 (1961), that integrated state bars must not venture into political and ideological waters but stick with the narrow, legitimate functions of integrated state bars. To do otherwise these bars would become, as Justice Douglas pointed out in Lathrop, "goose-stepping brigades" that serve neither the public nor the profession.

25. In conclusion, this action may be futile, but someone has to open the discussion on why our Republic is failing under the jackboot of the judiciary. 

WHEREFORE, I respectfully move the Court to GRANT this motion.

RESPECTFULLY SUBMMITTED January 13, 2021

NEIL J. GILLESPIE 

8092 SW 115th Loop 

Ocala, Florida 34481 

Tel. 352-854-7807 

Email: neilgillespie@mfi.net

Letter to President Trump Re Election Fraud 2020

Letter to President Trump Re Election Fraud 2020

VIA UPS NEXT DAY AIR 

Tracking Number: 1Z64589F1396596390 

December 17, 2020

President Donald J. Trump

The White House

1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW

Washington, DC 20500

Mr. President: 

Please find enclosed my Federal Elections Commission Complaint of Election Fraud in the 2020 Presidential Election. As set forth in my complaint, you are the only lawful major candidate for president in 2020 because Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, and Mike Pence are lawyers admitted to practice and Officers of the Court, and therefore prohibited by the U.S. Constitution separation of powers doctrine from election to the executive branch of government. Thank you.

Sincerely,   

/s/ 

NEIL J. GILLESPIE, Complainant 

8092 SW 115th Loop 

Ocala, Florida 34481 

Tel. 352-854-7807 

Email: neilgillespie@mfi.net 

FEC PRESS RELEASE 

December 18, 2020

 

Shana Broussard, Sean Cooksey, Allen Dickerson sworn in as Commissioners 

WASHINGTON—Shana M. Broussard, Sean J. Cooksey and Allen Dickerson have been sworn in as members of the Federal Election Commission, returning a quorum to the agency charged with administering and enforcing federal campaign finance law. The Commission has jurisdiction over the financing of campaigns for the U.S. House, Senate, Presidency and Vice Presidency.

The three new Commissioners were nominated by President Donald J. Trump and confirmed by the United States Senate on December 9, 2020. Commissioner Cooksey, whose term will end on April 30, 2021, fills the vacancy in the seat previously occupied by Lee E. Goodman. Commissioner Broussard, appointed to a term ending April 30, 2023, fills the vacancy in the seat previously occupied by Ann M. Ravel. Commissioner Dickerson was appointed to a term ending April 30, 2025, and fills the vacancy in the seat previously occupied by Caroline C. Hunter.

"I am gratified that the Commission is finally back at full strength so that we can tackle the large backlog of enforcement cases and other vital work," said Chair James "Trey" Trainor III. "I look forward to working with my outstanding new colleagues, each of whom brings valuable experience and perspectives to our common mission of administering and enforcing the federal campaign finance law in a just and fair manner."

Commissioner Broussard of Louisiana joined the Commission in 2008 as an attorney in the Enforcement Division of the Office of General Counsel. In 2015, she was assigned on detail as Counsel for Commissioner Steven T. Walther, advising the Commissioner during his tenure as Chair in 2017 and continuing in that role until her own appointment as Commissioner. 

Commissioner Broussard previously was an Attorney Advisor at the Internal Revenue Service, Office of Professional Responsibility, and Deputy Disciplinary Counsel at the Louisiana Attorney Disciplinary Board. She also worked as a New Orleans Assistant District Attorney, and was appointed in that role to the Violent Offenders Strike Force. A proud alumna of two historically black universities (HBCUs), Commissioner Broussard earned her B.A. from Dillard University and her J.D. cum laude from Southern University Law Center. She received the NAACP 2015 Juneteenth Celebration Trailblazer Award for Terrebonne Parish in recognition of her achievement as the first African American attorney from Gibson, LA.

Commissioner Cooksey served most recently as General Counsel to U.S. Senator Josh Hawley, advising him on issues including constitutional law, judicial nominations, election law, federal criminal law, and ethics compliance. He previously served as Deputy Chief Counsel for U.S. Senator Ted Cruz. Prior to his Senate service, Commissioner Cooksey worked as an attorney at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP in Washington, D.C., where his practice focused on appeals and constitutional law. He also served as a law clerk for Judge Jerry E. Smith of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. Commissioner Cooksey received his B.A., summa cum laude, from Truman State University and his J.D. from the University of Chicago Law School, where he graduated with High Honors and Order of the Coif.

Commissioner Dickerson served as Legal Director of the Institute for Free Speech from 2011 to 2020. At IFS, he led a nationwide First Amendment litigation practice and regularly appeared before legislative bodies and regulatory agencies. Previously, he was an Associate with Kirkland & Ellis LLP and advised the Republican Governors Association. He also serves as a Judge Advocate in the United States Army Reserve. Commissioner Dickerson is a graduate of Yale College and New York University School of Law.

FEC Complaint of Election Fraud in the 2020 Presidential Election

FEC Complaint of Election Fraud in the 2020 Presidential Election

Section I - OPENING STATEMENT

1. Democratic Party candidates Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, each of whom are Officers of the Court admitted to practice law are part of the judiciary and must be disqualified as candidates for president and vice-president, or any other executive or legislative office. Lawyers admitted to practice, Officers of the Court and part of the judicial branch of government (Ex parte Garland, 71 U.S. 333 (1866), are prohibited by the U.S. Constitution separation of powers doctrine from serving as president or VP part of the executive branch of government. See FSC16-2031.

Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are not entitled to solicit or receive campaign contributions for the office of U.S. president or vice president under the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971, as amended (the "Act"), and Chapters 95 and 96 of Title 26, United States Code.

We The People do not directly elect the U.S. President. The Electoral College decides the election as provided by Article II, Section 1, Clause 2 of the U.S. Constitution, and the 12th and 23rd Amendments. The last sentence of the 12th Amendment states, "But no person constitutionally ineligible to the office of President shall be eligible to that of Vice-President of the United States." Of the current 538 electors, an absolute majority of 270 or more electoral votes is required to elect the president. Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are not entitled to receive any Electoral College votes because they are prohibited by the U.S. Constitution separation of powers doctrine from serving in the executive branch as president and vice president. Therefore, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris cannot be elected U.S. president and vice president because they cannot lawfully obtain the 270 electoral votes required to take office.

Officers of the Court, admitted to practice law and part of the judicial branch of government, conspire to oppose the government of the United States by force, a seditious conspiracy (18 U.S.C. § 2384) in violation of, inter alia, the U.S. Constitution separation of powers doctrine when serving in the executive and legislative branches of government. This danger by the judicial branch of government is a usurpation of power, aided by the U.S. Department of Justice (a executive department wrongly staffed by Officers of the Court). The seditious conspiracy by the judicial branch is responsible for rigged elections, election fraud, renders oversight of the judiciary moot, and violates the political question doctrine. (Bush v Gore). Read more

NEIL J. GILLESPIE, Complainant 
Candidate For President ID: P60022993, 
NEIL J. GILLESPIE FOR PRESIDENT, 
Principal Campaign Committee ID: C00627810

FEC Complaint of Election F... by Neil Gillespie

The FEC and the Federal Campaign Finance Law

Election Day information

Tuesday, November 3, 2020, is Election Day. The Federal Election Commission (FEC) administers the federal campaign finance laws, but has no jurisdiction over the laws relating to voting, voter fraud and intimidation, ballot access or election results. For the convenience of voters, the appropriate federal or state agency to contact is listed on this page.

How to file a complaint with the FEC

The Federal Election Commission administers and enforces the laws that govern the financing of elections for federal office—the U.S. House, Senate and President. Other election-related laws are not within the FEC's jurisdiction. Any person may file a complaint with the Commission if he or she believes a violation of the federal election campaign laws or FEC regulations has occurred or is about to occur. The Commission reviews every complaint filed. If the Commission finds that a violation occurred, possible outcomes can range from a letter reiterating compliance obligations to a conciliation agreement, which may include a monetary civil penalty. All FEC enforcement matters are kept confidential until they are resolved.

The Coronavirus and the Constitution

Coronavirus

Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is an infectious disease caused by a newly discovered coronavirus.

Most people infected with the COVID-19 virus will experience mild to moderate respiratory illness and recover without requiring special treatment.  Older people, and those with underlying medical problems like cardiovascular disease, diabetes, chronic respiratory disease, and cancer are more likely to develop serious illness.

The best way to prevent and slow down transmission is to be well informed about the COVID-19 virus, the disease it causes and how it spreads. Protect yourself and others from infection by washing your hands or using an alcohol based rub frequently and not touching your face. 

The COVID-19 virus spreads primarily through droplets of saliva or discharge from the nose when an infected person coughs or sneezes, so it’s important that you also practice respiratory etiquette (for example, by coughing into a flexed elbow).

• Coronavirus Disease 2019
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

• COVID-19 in Florida

• Coronavirus Wikipedia
• COVID-19 pandemic - Wikipedia

Lawsuit seeks to stop Ocala face mask ordinance

Lawsuit seeks to stop Ocala face mask ordinance
Ocala Star-Banner
By Carlos E. Medina
Posted Aug 14, 2020 at 7:45 PM

Ocala-based attorney Christina Miller filed the legal action on Thursday, a day after the Ocala City Council voted to overturn the mayor’s veto of the mandate. Miller V. Ocala (PDF)

An Ocala attorney filed a lawsuit on Thursday seeking a temporary injunction to stop enforcement of the emergency face mask ordinance recently enacted by the Ocala City Council.

The suit, which Christina Miller filed on her own behalf, also seeks to permanently strike down the ordinance, arguing the measure is unconstitutional and an unlawful delegation of powers by the city.

The suit contends that the City Council ordinance shifts the responsibility of enforcement to business owners instead of itself.

"Ocala has not specifically enacted any legislation that actually requires individuals to utilize face coverings," according to the suit. "In a clear effort to circumvent the Constitutional question of governmental powers with regards to face mask mandates, Ocala has instead unlawfully delegated both its powers and responsibilities, of legislating and enforcing individual citizen’s choices with regards to face mask usage, to private business owners.

Additionally, the suit contends that forcing business owners to interject themselves into the private healthcare decisions of residents is unconstitutional.

Among the exemptions in the ordinance is one for those who demonstrate medical conditions that will not allow them to wear a mask. That, Miller argues, puts businesses in conflict with individuals’ constitutional privacy rights.

In the suit, she notes that the burden places business owners in a position that violates both the U.S. and Florida constitutions.

"In the absence of any lawful mandate, Floridians should be free to make their private healthcare choices free from the unwarranted intrusion of unqualified third parties," the lawsuit states.

Miller points out that while courts hearing more than a dozen lawsuits filed against face mask ordinances in other parts of Florida have largely sided with the government, this case was unique because the ordinance is vague and overly broad.

A call to Miller late in the afternoon on Friday was not immediately returned. Similarly, a message sent to Councilman Matt Wardell, who introduced the emergency ordinance, also was not immediately returned.

On Wednesday, the city council voted to override Mayor Kent Guinn’s veto of the ordinance.

The ordinance makes business owners responsible for encouraging face masks or risk a $25 fine. The ordinance compels businesses to post signs stating that face masks are required, to ask customers who are not wearing masks to wear one and to require all employees to wear masks.

But customers can ignore the encouragement, and no penalty can be brought against them.

In defending his veto, Guinn called the ordinance a toothless mandate that was more about symbolism.

"It’s a mandate that you don’t have to follow," he said.

The emergency face mask ordinance passed 4-1 on Aug. 4. On Monday, Guinn vetoed the ordinance, prompting Wednesday’s emergency meeting.

Wardell said the ordinance does not punish businesses if customers decline to wear masks while at their establishments.

On Thursday, Wardell defended the ordinance.

"I haven’t looked at every mask ordinance in the state, but I’ve got to imagine ours (the City of Ocala’s) is one of the softest, given the fact that it doesn’t actually mandate individuals wear a mask," Wardell said.

The lawsuit also comes on the heels of a decision by Marion County Sheriff Billy Woods ordering deputies not to wear masks in most instances and banning employees and visitors from wearing masks inside the sheriff’s office building.

That directive was in direct response to the Ocala face mask ordinance. The move drew widespread national attention as one of the first known public mandates against masks.

On Thursday, Woods eased the mask ban significantly when it came to lobby visitors. Originally, the sheriff’s lobbies were to remain a mask-free zone. Visitors who did not want to remove their masks could sit in their cars and wait for a phone call when it was their turn.

Sheriff’s officials now say visitors must briefly remove their masks to capture their faces on the security camera. After that, they can replace their masks.

The no-mask policy, however, continues for the more than 750 sheriff’s employees. Deputies will not wear masks while on duty, and administrative workers also will remain maskless while in the office. Exceptions to the no-mask policy include sheriff personnel working at the courthouse, the jail, in public schools, in hospitals and in dealing with people suspected of being infected with COVID-19 or at high risk of complications from the disease. Read more

Marion County deputies ordered not to wear masks

Marion County deputies ordered not to wear masks
Ocala Star-Banner
By Austin L. Miller
Posted Aug 11, 2020 at 5:30 PM

Sheriff Billy Woods forbids his employees and those visiting his offices to wear masks in most circumstances as Ocala wrestles with mask mandate.

As the city of Ocala wrestles with an ordinance requiring face coverings for people inside businesses, Marion County Sheriff Billy Woods told his employees they will not wear masks at work and visitors to his office can’t wear masks either.

Woods, in an email dated Aug. 11, said "my order will stand as is when you are on-duty/working as my employee and representing my Office – masks will not be worn."

Ocala City Council passed an emergency ordinance last week requiring people to wear masks inside businesses. Mayor Kent Guinn vetoed it Monday and the council will meet Wednesday to consider overriding the veto.

Marion County set a single-day record on Tuesday for the most deaths related to COVID-19, with 13 more deaths reported.

Ocala and other municipalities in Marion County also advise officers not to wear masks while on duty so their communication to people they encounter is clear. Nationally, there is no consistent approach. Officers have been disciplined for not following state directives to wear masks, but Florida does not have a state-wide order.

Woods has made some exceptions for officers to wear masks while working at the courthouse, the jail, in public schools, in hospitals and in dealing with people suspected of being infected with COVID-19 or at high risk of complications from the disease.

"For all of these exceptions, the moment that enforcement action is to be taken and it requires you to give an individual orders/commands to comply, the mask will be immediately removed," Woods said.

Woods said deputies who work special details or special events won’t be allowed to wear masks unless it falls under the exceptions he provided.

"As for special details and/or any special events (paid or not), masks will not be worn. Effective immediately the entity that has requested and has hired a deputy for a special detail will be given clear instruction by Darian Tucker at the time of their written request that masks will not be worn (unless one of the exceptions above applies). In addition, if you are the special detail deputy you will again advise the contact person that a mask will not be worn by you," according to the email.

The sheriff said if anyone confronts an employee about them not wearing mask, the employee should "politely and professionally tell them I am not required to wear a mask nor will I, per the Order of the Sheriff," and walk away.

"From that point on it will be my burden and responsibility to take care of the person and answer their problem, complaint or their question," Woods said.

For those visiting a MCSO office, Woods said "effective immediately, any individual walking in to any one of our lobbies (which includes the main office and all district offices) that is wearing a mask will be asked to remove it." He added, "in light of the current events when it comes to the sentiment and/or hatred toward law enforcement in our country today, this is being done to ensure there is clear communication and for identification purposes of any individual walking into a lobby."

Woods said MCSO lobbies have barriers that protect employees and the visitors. He said "if a person does not wish to remove the mask they will be asked to leave. If the individual is not comfortable with standing and waiting in the lobby with other individuals, politely ask for their cell number and advise them to stand outside or sit in their vehicle and you will text or call them with their completed transaction."

Woods said the decision was not easy, and pondered on it for the last two weeks.

"We can debate and argue all day of why and why not. The fact is, the amount of professionals that give the reason why we should, I can find the exact same amount of professionals that say why we shouldn’t. Since the beginning of this pandemic the operation of this office has not changed and no wearing of masks has been put in place," he said.

However, public health officials at local, state and national levels consistently advise that there is clear and mounting evidence that face coverings properly used are among the best methods to reduce the spread of the coronavirus.

Woods said at 900 employees, "our number of cases so far has proven that the current way we are approaching the issue is working."

At least 36 employees at the Marion County Jail, and seven outside the jail — including patrol officers — have tested positive for COVID-19. More than 200 inmates have tested positive. An infected nurse at the jail recently died.

Woods ended with, "this is no longer a debate nor is it up for discussion. Please keep in mind this entire pandemic is fluid and constantly changing the way things are done. However, my orders will be followed or my actions will be swift to address."

County Commissioner Carl Zalak told the Star-Banner that he supports Woods’ decision.

"I agree with the Sheriff base on his best judgment and I appreciate the way he handled it," the commissioner said.

City Councilor Matthew Wardell, who sponsored the city’s face mask ordinance, said while the Sheriff’s Office is Woods domain, he disagrees with his stance on mask.

Ocala Police Chief Greg Graham said the department issues masks to officers but while on duty, he doesn’t expect them to wear masks because he wants their orders to be clearly understood.

Belleview Police Chief Terry Holland also said officers on duty should not wear masks so the lines of communications are clear.

Chief Mike McQuaig of Dunnellon Police Department said he doesn’t require officers to wear a mask in their calls-for-service. He too wants the officers commands to be heard clearly.

Both Holland and McQuaig said officers are given masks. McQuaig said if a store requires an off-duty officer to wear a mask, then it’s the officer’s decision on whether to wear one or not. Read more

Is a Florida Chief Judge Taking Cues From a Prosecutor?

Brad King, State Attorney - Fifth Judicial Circuit of Florida 

Is a Florida Chief Judge Taking Cues From a Prosecutor?

Jacqueline Azis, Staff Attorney, ACLU of Florida
& Somil Trivedi, Senior Staff Attorney, ACLU Criminal Law Reform Project
SEPTEMBER 10, 2018 | 1:00 PM

Prosecutors are some of the most powerful elected officials in our country. They decide what charges to file or dismiss, how severe the charges will be, whether to seek cash bail, and what plea offers are made. Through their lobbying associations, they also shape criminal statutes to their benefit, often blocking reforms that the community supports.

But while prosecutors wield immense control over the direction of our criminal justice system, they certainly can’t handpick the judges who hear their criminal cases.

Or can they?

In Marion County, Florida, Brad King — the elected state attorney and the county’s top prosecutor — believed he was losing too often in the criminal cases his office was prosecuting. Instead of upping his game, he managed to shift it in his favor, with the help of a judge whose job it is to guard the integrity of the judicial process.

On July 12, King sent a scathing letter to the administrative judge of Marion County, Judge James McCune, complaining about two of McCune’s colleagues, before whom King and his staff regularly appeared: Judge Robert Landt and Judge Thomas Thompson III. That letter was obtained by the ACLU of Florida through a public records request, and is being publicly released in full here for the first time.

King’s complaints were brazenly self-serving. Of Judge Landt, King asserted that his "rulings on such things as motions to dismiss, motions to suppress evidence, and motions to set bond, and his sentencings, are consistently more favorable to the defense than other judges." King threatened to assign fewer prosecutors to Landt’s docket, because "we expect little in the way of punishment for those defendants." As for Judge Thompson, King complained that he "grants continuance after continuance to defendants," in reference to a tool commonly used by judges to postpone proceedings and requested by both sides to allow proper preparation for trial. In his letter, King also formally demanded that the number of judges in the Marion County Criminal Court be reduced.

After sending his letter, King claimed that his issues with Landt relate to allegations of harassment of King’s female attorneys. However, these allegations were investigated and closed years ago. Moreover, King’s letter makes clear that adverse rulings, not those claims, are the reason King sought Landt’s removal.

Within days of receiving the letter, Chief Judge Sue Robbins, who oversees Judge McCune, gave King exactly what he wanted. Without consulting defense attorneys, whose clients’ cases are directly impacted by these changes, Robbins reduced the numbers of judges in the Marion County Criminal Court from four to two. Specifically, she removed Landt and Thompson — the judges King had criticized in his letter.

The two remaining county judges on the criminal docket both used to work as prosecutors for King. The judges who were removed — Landt and Thompson — were both up for re-election, with primaries on August 28. Landt ran against a current assistant state attorney working under King. That candidate proudly posted Landt’s reassignment letter on his campaign website, boasting that his competitor has been removed from the criminal bench.

It remains a mystery why a chief judge, who is charged with neutral oversight of a judicial district the size of Connecticut, took such an action after receiving King’s letter. Ruling for the defense, or not doling out sufficient "punishment," is not legitimate grounds for removal. This would be true even if the judges were consistently getting it wrong on the facts or the law — but they weren’t. Florida’s appellate courts regularly affirmed these judges over King’s objections.

Going forward, how can people who appear in Marion County Criminal Court feel they are getting a fair hearing or trial — knowing their judges have effectively been selected by the prosecution, or that they might fear removal if they rule on behalf of the defense?

What State Attorney Brad King did — seeking to influence who is on the criminal bench by sending a scornful demand letter to judges — is highly irregular, to say the least. On Robbins’ part, accepting the unreasonable demands of a state attorney is even more inappropriate. Her decision, shortly following King’s request, gives the appearance, at the very least, that she is easily pressured and, at worst, that she is biased toward the prosecution over the accused.

A prosecutor’s grievance should never become policy. Prosecutors aren’t kings and they don’t get to issue decrees. They — and the judges who oversee their cases — are public servants, accountable to us all. Read more

John Lewis, Towering Figure of Civil Rights Era, Dies at 80

Representative John Lewis

John Lewis, Towering Figure of Civil Rights Era, Dies at 80
The New York Times
By Katharine Q. Seelye
July 17, 2020

Representative John Lewis, a son of sharecroppers and an apostle of nonviolence who was bloodied at Selma and across the Jim Crow South in the historic struggle for racial equality, and who then carried a mantle of moral authority into Congress, died on Friday. He was 80.

His death was confirmed in a statement by Nancy Pelosi, the speaker of the House of Representatives.

Mr. Lewis, a Georgia Democrat, announced on Dec. 29 that he had Stage 4 pancreatic cancer and vowed to fight it with the same passion with which he had battled racial injustice. "I have been in some kind of fight — for freedom, equality, basic human rights — for nearly my entire life," he said.

On the front lines of the bloody campaign to end Jim Crow laws, with blows to his body and a fractured skull to prove it, Mr. Lewis was a valiant stalwart of the civil rights movement and the last surviving speaker from the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in 1963.

More than a half-century later, after the killing in May of George Floyd, a Black man in police custody in Minneapolis, Mr. Lewis welcomed the resulting global demonstrations against police killings of Black people and, more broadly, against systemic racism in many corners of society. He saw those protests as a continuation of his life’s work, though his illness had left him to watch from the sidelines. Read more

Ocala jail: 44 inmates, 10 staffers have tested positive for COVID-19

Ocala jail: 44 inmates, 10 staffers have tested positive for COVID-19

Forty-four inmates and 10 staffers at the Marion County Jail have tested positive for COVID-19, Sheriff Billy Woods said on Tuesday. That includes eight inmates who were isolated last week and wound up testing positive. An additional seven inmates are being examined to see whether they have contracted COVID-19. Read more

MCSO COVID-19 link

How the Obamas could easily win eight more years in the White House

Michelle Obama is currently even more popular in America than her husband, Barack.

How the Obamas could easily win eight more years in the White House
New York Post
By Michael A. Walsh

As the president of the United States shelters in place with the White House press corps, and Joe Biden gibbers senselessly into the GoPro camera in his Delaware basement, this fall’s national election has been thrown into a cocked tricorn by the coronavirus. Many of Donald Trump’s retail-politicking strengths — the huge rallies, his command of crowds — have been neutralized, and while he still has control of the narrative from his bully pulpit in the West Wing, the national media remains dead set against him, and puts the worst possible spin on every word he speaks.

Meanwhile, Biden and his wandering hands are safely confined to quarters instead of out on the campaign trail, which shields the Democrats from more possible fallout over not only his past behavior but his full-throated endorsement of Communist China throughout his career. The donkey party is thus free to market the cardboard-cutout version of its candidate, having finally accomplished their mission of running a generic Democrat against Orange Man Bad, without ever having to expose him to the general public.

No wonder there’s talk on the Left of canceling the conventions and running an all-mail election. The further away the country stays from reopening, the better their chances.

Still, as 2016 demonstrated, even when the fix is in, you never know. What the Democrats need in order to be sure of beating Trump is the perfect vice presidential candidate, one who will not only balance the ticket, push progressive causes, and check all the social-justice boxes but who will turn out the African American vote in droves without Biden’s having to say a word or lift a finger.

Biden’s already on record as saying he’ll choose a woman. But none of the defeated female candidates for the nomination, including Kamala Harris, Elizabeth Warren and Amy Klobuchar, excited much interest from the Democratic base during the primaries, and while there’s a small Stacey Abrams boomlet currently going on, her record as the defeated candidate for Georgia governor doesn’t inspire much confidence — even if, in her own mind, she still thinks she won.

Adding Michelle Obama to Biden’s presidential bid would be an unstoppable ticket, and potentially give the Obamas eight more years in the White House.

So the choice is clear: Michelle Obama. Never mind that she has even less political experience than Hillary Clinton did when she ran for the White House, and has long said she disdains public office.

Currently, Michelle is in talks to possibly endorse Biden via a video and is said to be lending her name to a campaign fundraiser as early as next week, according to The Hill. "If she engages, God help Donald Trump, because she’s tough as nails and enormously popular," former Democratic Party chairman of South Carolina Dick Harpootlian told the outlet. With her husband finally having endorsed Biden last week, the stage is now set.

Here’s how it would work:

• In the next month or so, Biden would announce Michelle Obama as his running mate. With a little reverse engineering of the Obama-Biden bumper stickers of 2008 and 2012, they’re good to go.

• Michelle would immediately attract the undying worship of the national press corps. With the country still in lockdown, she can wave to Andrea Mitchell & Co. from the front door of her residences in Washington, DC ($8.1 million purchase price), Martha’s Vineyard ($11.75 million) or Chicago ($1.65 million).

• Barack Obama, who manfully supports his wife in all her endeavors, would joke about being the First Husband and cite his familiarity with the White House as a qualification.

• Nov. 3: With the black vote and the Bernie Sanders wing of the party solidly behind them, the Biden-Obama(s) team would defeat Trump in both the popular vote and the Electoral College, flipping Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Arizona and North Carolina and winning both houses of Congress.

• Jan. 20, 2021: Joe Biden is inaugurated as the 46th president of the United States.

• Jan. 21: On live television, Joe and Dr. Jill Biden tearfully announce that the 78-year-old president is "unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office," and that under the 25th Amendment, he’s resigning. Michelle Obama is now president of the United States and will not only fill out Biden’s term but will retain her eligibility to run again in her own right in 2024 when she will have turned 60.

• Jan. 22: President Obama announces her choice for vice president …

However unlikely, it’s the smart play. How could the Republicans ever counter it?

Michael Walsh is an author and screenwriter. His next book "Last Stands: Why Men Fight When All Is Lost" (St. Martins), is out later this year.