#Suits and Litigation (Civil)

[10bmnews]

Tesla Board Chair Robyn Denholm Made $198 Million Selling Stock as Profit Fell

In March, after a steep decline in Tesla’s share price, Elon Musk told employees, “Hang on to your stock.” The chair of Tesla’s board, Robyn Denholm, has not heeded his advice. Ms. Denholm has made $198 million in the past six months selling Tesla stock that she earned for serving on the board, according to a New York Times analysis of securities filings. That brings her total profit on the sale…

[youthchronical]

Pro-Palestinian Activists Sue U.C.L.A. Over Encampment Attack

According to the suit, many of the counterprotesters were not students but community members, including a Beverly Hills jeweler, a Laguna Beach attorney and a Los Angeles teenager, who are named as defendants. Many could not be reached or did not respond to requests for comment. One who responded, David Merabi, an attorney in Los Angeles, said he is 70 and has back problems and was not at the…

[klasewwkd]

12.08.2024

[emergencymanagementnews]

The utility company’s share price has tumbled after lawsuits were filed seeking to hold it accountable for the blaze, which has killed more than 100 people.

[cleoselene]

from facebook of all places

posted by Jay Michaelson, and sourced by him as well:

Hello! I'm posting in response to the many sincerely anguished claims that not enough is being done to stop Trump. This is not reflected in the facts. - Represented by Public Citizen Litigation Group and State Democracy Defenders Fund, the Alliance for Retired Americans, the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), and the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) filed suit on Monday against the Treasury Department “for sharing confidential data with the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), run by Elon Musk.” Go to Public Citizen's website to learn all about this lawsuit, which is very likely to prevail. - On USAID, appearing with other Democratic lawmakers outside USAID offices on Monday, Representative Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) shouted, “Elon Musk, you didn't create USAID. The United States Congress did for the American people … like Elon Musk did not create USAID, he doesn't have the power to destroy it. And who's going to stop him? We are... This a constitutional crisis that we are in today.” Lawsuits have also been filed in this matter, and are also likely to prevail. - Hakeem Jeffries has announced lawsuits have been filed regarding the firings of inspectors general. - On Jan 21, Democracy Forward, was filed at 12:01 p.m. ET on Monday and accused Elon Musk's DOGE of being a "shadow operation led by unelected billionaires" that flouts federal transparency rules. That should win. - National Security Counselors filed a suit arguing that DOGE meets the requirements to be a federal advisory committee and is therefore legally required to have "fairly balanced" representation, keep regular minutes of meetings and allow public access to meetings. Clearly accurate. - Eighteen state attorneys general and a slew of immigrants' rights groups brought swift legal action against Trump after he signed his executive order seeking to ban birthright citizenship for some children born in the U.S., arguing that it violates the Fourteenth Amendment. Obviously, clearly unconstitutional. - "Schedule F" has been challenged in court by the National Treasury Employees Union, which represents employees in 37 agencies and departments. - Several immigrant rights groups in the United States, as well as the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), have filed a lawsuit challenging President Donald Trump’s ban on asylum claims. - GLAD Law and the National Center For Lesbian Rights (NCLR) have sued to stop Trump's ban on trans people in the military. And there are many more - I'll link to a great list of them in the comments. Yes, there are Trump judges in the courts, and if Aileen Cannon types get these cases, Trump may prevail. But most judges are not like her. These actions are clearly illegal and/or unconstitutional, and they WILL be stopped. Just like the tariffs were not meant to prevail -- Trump won that round, "forcing" Canada and Mexico to take "action" on fentanyl -- these actions are not meant to prevail. They're meant to flood the zone with shit, confuse and immobilize us. They said they'd do "Shock and Awe" and that's what they've done. Nothing here should be surprising. Shock and Awe is up to YOU. I am not shocked, I am not in awe. Oh, and the "mainstream media" has reported on all of these. The info above has come from Newsweek, the NY Times, and other mainstream sources. Please stop attacking journalists when we are being threatened by the FBI. Who do you think you're helping by doing that? Stop it with the doomsaying and gloomsaying. Want to make a difference? Give thousands of dollars to Public Citizen, the ACLU, and similar groups. Show up at marches. Put your ass on the line and help protect people from ICE. If you're safe, do simple symbolic things (like changing your social media pictures) to support people who are not safe. Just like we should not obey in advance, we should not panic in advance either. This is not the end of democracy. That is just what the bad guys want you to think. Get over it and fight.

I don't know how many times I've heard "Dems do nothing!" when they are in fact doing a lot of things. You just don't hear about it because the mainstream news doesn't pay attention or you don't see out news beyond your social media feeds.

The other thing is, Dems don't break laws in their fights the way Republicans do. Your desire to turn every Dem POTUS into the Dick Cheney Version of the Executive but then screaming injustice! when the GOP does it -- you see the problem there?

[eoieopda]

in limine (teaser) | wjh

in limine (latin): at the threshold, in the beginning

synopsis: you think that by remaining single this year, you’ve found a loophole in your string of shitty valentine’s days. the universe thinks you should lose your paralegal on the eve of a major trial and see if you wouldn’t rather have all of those untimely breakups and missed dates instead. pairing: wen junhui x reader au: law firm, coworkers to something genre: fluff, minor angst, smut word count: 1.2k (teaser), est. 11-15k (fic) content/warnings: attorney!reader, attorney!junhui, pov switches, civil litigation (derogatory), forced proximity, discussions of shitty relationships, i haven’t practiced in this field of law in years, recreational drinking, explicit sexual content. reader notes: afab, no pronouns used, no descriptions of hair/complexion/body/ethnicity/nationality/etc., canonically queer. a/n 1: this fic will be posted by 2/17/25 as part of the lonely hearts club café collab, hosted by @camandemstudios! please check out the rest of this masterlist, as well as their previous collabs! 💕 update: as of 2/13/25, she’s live here! a/n 2: it took me *checks watch* over two (2) years for me (an attorney) to write a fic about attorneys — and it’s not even the area of law i practice. asdfghj. everything here is based on u.s. law, even though the setting is nondescript. family law attorneys: i’m sorry.

As soon as he crosses the threshold into that sole, lit room, Junhui stops. The massive table that normally occupies the center of it has been shoved up against the interior wall, along with all its chairs. In its place, evidence boxes form a haphazard little fairy circle on the rug. You sit cross-legged in the middle, nose all but buried in a case file, wearing leggings and a crewneck instead of the suit you likely came here in.

“You look comfortable,” he muses.

It becomes abundantly clear very quickly that you, too, thought you were here alone. You jolt at the sound of his voice. All the papers you were holding drop and scatter, both across your lap and the floor you’re monopolizing.

Junhui’s hands fly up. “Whoa, sorry. Didn’t mean to startle you.”

The look on your face is far from startled, though. Even from a few meters away, he can see how tightly your jaw is clenched. If he listens closely, he’d likely hear your teeth grinding one another into dust. 

He can also sense how stiff your posture is, now that you feel his eyes on you. His gaze shifts to the piles of paper near your knotted limbs; and he tells himself that he’s averting his eyes out of respect, not the tiny tremble of intimidation he feels working its way down his spine.

At this point, Junhui knows you by reputation only. He’s rarely at any of the courthouses you frequent, and his specific line of work keeps him out of the office, more often than not. Whenever he is here, you’re not — too busy with that massive caseload of yours to catch much of a breather.

The two of you may be passing ships in the night, but you have a lot of people in common. He can’t say that he’s made much of an impression on them so far. You, on the other hand, are both widely known and discussed. 

So far, anyone that’s ever mentioned you to him speaks about you as if they’re describing a force of nature. It’s the kind of awe people usually save for something fearsome yet worthy of respect, like a tsunami — with the sole exception being that sanctimonious cunt, Tom Santi, who most recently described you as a nightmare bitch from hell.

Of course, Junhui has no firsthand knowledge to back any of these claims up, but he figures it can’t be that far out of character for you to be here now, working too hard. For all he knows, it could also be on-brand for you to snap his neck for distracting you.

“Do you…?”

One of your eyebrows arches quizzically. His question dies on his tongue, halfway finished, because he doesn’t know where it was headed in the first place. Just the same, he can’t tell if that expression on your face is due to stress, annoyance at being interrupted, or some secret, third thing.

…Want me to leave?

Junhui points awkwardly to the espresso machine in the corner, which you’ve unintentionally barricaded behind the conference room table. Like a fucking buffoon, all he says is: “Espresso?”

Your face scrunches a tiny bit. For the second time, he finds himself completely unable to read you. Is it disgust? Suspicion?

No, he realizes, it’s neither. He sees the tiniest flicker of it when the corner of your lips twitch: amusement. While the smile doesn’t overtake your mouth, there’s a glimmer of it in your eyes. It’s reason enough for Junhui to breathe for the first time since he walked in.

“Yes, I do espresso.” You nod with your lips bitten between your teeth, like you’re seconds away from laughing. 

Too eagerly, Junhui nods, too. “Right. Got it. Order up.”

Order up?

Running away isn’t an option; and he can’t dig a hole to hide in without a shovel. All he has left to do is shuffle over towards the corner and slink through the obstacle course you’ve built. With what he feels is impressive agility, he makes it all the way to the machine before pausing suddenly. 

Under his breath, he curses, “Fuck.”

The jig is up now. Junhui has no idea which buttons to press or where the espresso beans are. Unfortunately for both of you, the only way for him to find out is to interrupt you further. 

Whoever handles his eulogy better leave out how little time it took him to provoke you into killing him.

Bracing himself for impact, he squeezes his eyes shut and smiles sheepishly. “Do you happen to know how to… use this?”

There’s a groan from the center of the room. Junhui cracks one eye open and searches for the fist coming his way. Instead, he finds you on your feet, twisting at the waist and stretching.

While twisting, you lock eyes — well, eye — with him, then you freeze with your torso still rotated in his direction. Your hinged arms stay where they are, held up at your sides.

“I’ve been sitting here like a goblin for too long,” you explain, tone self-conscious. “If you just heard every joint in my body pop…. no, you didn’t.”

Before Junhui can think of a quip in response — he’s capable of coherent speech, he swears — you step over the shoes you’ve discarded and make your way over to him, patterned socks clashing with the neutral carpet below. He steps back on instinct, although there isn’t really anywhere left for him to go. 

You either don’t notice how close you get to him, or you don’t care. Entirely unfazed, you set to work, grinding and tamping like it’s all second nature to you.

Junhui knows he should use this time to observe your processes carefully, but he doesn’t. That’s not to say the learning opportunity is entirely squandered, though. 

And he’s a quick study.

In less than a minute, he learns more about you than he has in the last three months. His first discovery is that you’re wearing a watch on your dominant wrist, which is weird as hell — until he spots the small tattoo hiding beneath it. He catches the very faint notes of patchouli at the base of your perfume, too, underneath the cassis and freesia.

It’s nice, he thinks, even better than the overwhelming scent of coffee that swoops in to drown it out.

“This goes here —”

The silver piece in your hand twists into place with a click, drawing his attention back to where it should’ve been all along. 

Fuck. 

Have you been talking this entire time?

“— and then you press the start button to release the hot water.”

You glance up at him then to confirm that he understood you. Junhui blinks, buffering while he tries to play this out.

“You’re good at this,” he improvises, although he admittedly has no idea if this is true. 

“No compliments until you survive drinking it.” You offer him a wry smile to go with the drink you’ve made him. “I’ve quite literally never touched this thing before in my life.”

With your vaguely expectant eyes on him, he takes a small sip, then he murmurs with his lips still hidden behind the glass, “I don’t think I believe that.”

“Why?” You smirk and tilt your head to the side. “Because it’s just that good?”

No, in fact, it’s terrible, but you don’t need to know that.

Junhui nods his head towards the center of the room. His reply is simple, and despite not being the full truth, it’s not a lie: “I’d expect more practice from someone who seems to live here.”

the full fic is now available here, as of 2/13/35!

[appellatedefender]

Some thoughts about Matt’s client, Leroy Bradford. I did appellate indigent criminal defense work for 20 years and had quite a few clients like Leroy (except that most of them were long-term guests of the state, unlike Leroy, who is facing a misdemeanor theft charge).

Matt gets an early morning phone call from Kirsten, asking him to cover an appearance in Leroy's case. So Matt puts on his suit and heads downtown. If anyone was wondering what a lawyer's life is like, this is it. Having to scramble to cover an appearance or a deposition or a meeting for a partner or associate at the last minute is part of the job. Very realistic if you're a criminal defense lawyer or a civil litigator.

Leroy has a shitty life and has had a shitty life since day one: absent/addicted/incarcerated parent or parents, bad neighborhood, bad housing, bad schools, bad diet, bad or no healthcare, no job, no money. Maybe it was even worse, and he grew up in foster care. The system that is supposed to help him is difficult or impossible for him to navigate and sometimes makes things worse instead of helping him. You want to empathize with him, you do empathize with him. But he’s not a likeable guy (and not only because of his ableist comments about Matt’s blindness), and you have to admit he’s brought a lot of his troubles on himself. Matt’s comment about not thinking about the consequences of his actions is right on the mark.

So what do you do as his lawyer? You can’t fix his shitty life. You’re his lawyer, not a social worker. So you put aside his unlikeability and, in Matt’s case, his ableist comments, and you do your best for him. In this case that means getting the best possible deal for your client. Which Matt did.

It’s a little unrealistic that Leroy would be pissed off at Matt when he comes back to tell Leroy about the offer. He’s been through the legal system enough times to know that it’s a very good deal. Finally he shrugs and says it doesn't matter.

On a happier note, Matt’s negotiation with the ADA is a delight. In real life, there probably would be a line of attorneys waiting to talk to Sofija, and little or no time for flirting, but who cares about real life when you can get a scene like this?

The scene takes place in the misdemeanor arraignment courtroom. Sofija has a whole stack of cases she’s handling. The goal is to “dispo” (get a disposition in) as many cases as possible so they can be removed from the court’s docket. So she’s negotiating with Matt to try to dispo Leroy’s case. As has been suggested elsewhere, maybe she didn’t get the DA’s memo (after the Ayala trial) instructing her not to cooperate with Matt. Or maybe she's just doing her job. Or maybe flirting with him is too much fun to pass up. Whatever the case, she and Matt negotiate at the same time as they are flirting and eventually strike a deal. Priceless.

One final thought about Leroy. Sadly, our society considers people like him disposable and begrudges every penny spent on them. Yet as Leroy correctly observes, feeding him would be cheaper (and more cost-effective) than incarcerating him.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Ken White for The UnPopulist:

In modern America, defamation cases—like war—are the continuation of politics by other means. The politics in question can be anything from ludicrously petty to historically consequential. Americans use defamation claims to fight everything from social media spats to rap beefs. Increasingly, America’s rich and powerful—especially President Donald Trump—use them to attack political opponents and to litigate political disputes over who won national elections. Notice that I didn’t say we use defamation claims to resolve those disputes. Most defamation claims ultimately fail, and almost none of them reach trial. But winning often isn’t the point. The point is inflicting ruinous expense and suffering on the defendants and soliciting attention, support, and sometimes fundraising for the plaintiffs. It works. That’s why you see rich and powerful people increasingly abusing defamation lawsuits—sometimes dressed up unconvincingly as fraud lawsuits—to harass political enemies. This is a grave threat to free speech and the people who do it—like Donald Trump and Elon Musk—are ascendant. Trump, who has long favored bogus litigation as a weapon against his enemies, has been on a censorial bender. In the last year alone he: sued a pollster for bad poll results; CBS for supposedly editing a Kamala Harris interview to make her look better; and ABC and George Stephanopoulos for bungling a description of E. Jean Carroll’s sexual abuse verdict against him. Musk, meanwhile, has sued both Media Matters and the Center for Countering Digital Hate for reporting about hate speech on X.

The Justice System Is Broken

Political litigation works because the justice system is broken. It’s cheap and easy to file a defamation complaint, even a big splashy one. I could draft one in 20 minutes and file it in state or federal court for less than a thousand bucks. But it’s ruinously expensive to defend a case, even if the claim is bogus. It costs a minimum of tens of thousands and up to hundreds of thousands of dollars to defend a civil suit in America. When Donald Trump was awarded more than $300,000 in attorney fees for defeating Stormy Daniels’ defamation case at an early stage, litigators weren’t surprised. The vast majority of Americans cannot possibly afford to defend themselves if someone sues them for their speech, even if that speech is clearly protected by the First Amendment. This is bad for everyone, not just the folks who get sued. When a lawyer sends you a threatening letter demanding that you take down a Facebook post or retract a letter to the editor or apologize for a comment, giving in may be the only economically rational choice, freedom of expression be damned. It’s cold comfort to know that your free speech rights would be vindicated at trial if it will bankrupt you to get to that stage. Moreover, penury isn’t the only threat. Whether you win a defamation suit or lose, you’ll suffer the whole time. Litigation is humiliating, terrifying, and will destroy your health, your relationships, and your joy in life. I’ve never had a client enjoy litigation. They’re always grateful for it to be over.

[...]

State Anti-SLAPP Statutes Aren’t Enough

Numerous states have followed California’s example and enacted anti-SLAPP statutes. Ohio just passed one this month. Unfortunately, their quality is inconsistent; some states’ statutes protect only a very narrow range of speech or lack the procedural protections that make statutes effective. There’s also a bigger problem: state anti-SLAPP statutes don’t apply to federal claims. Even worse, the different Circuits of the United States Court of Appeals disagree for arcane reasons about whether state anti-SLAPP statutes apply to state claims heard in federal court. Drake sued UMG in federal court in New York, which has a robust anti-SLAPP statute, but UMG won’t get its benefit because federal courts in the Second Circuit don’t apply state anti-SLAPP statutes. The same goes for Texas, within the Fifth Circuit, a popular defamation tourist destination—Trump sued CBS and Musk sued Media Matters there, thwarting defendants’ ability to use state anti-SLAPP laws.

Fortunately, there’s a solution: a federal anti-SLAPP statute that would apply in federal courts across the nation to both federal and state claims heard in federal court. This is the most effective way of thwarting forum-shopping litigants who rush to Texas to suppress speech. It would mean that performative, retaliatory lawsuits like those filed by Trump and Musk would be halted in their tracks and, if meritless, dismissed. The defendants could recover fees and feel justifiably more secure in their speech rights. Plaintiffs without deep pockets would be deterred from filing bogus cases in the first place. Anti-SLAPP statutes have already proven effective in thwarting the powerful—consider Elon Musk’s humiliating loss against the Center for Countering Digital Hate, or Sheldon Adelson’s loss to the National Jewish Democratic Council. In both cases, the defendants prevailed through an anti-SLAPP statute.

Congress has repeatedly considered federal anti-SLAPP statutes, but they’ve never passed one. In December 2024 members of Congress from both sides of the aisle proposed a new one. It has strong and diverse backing. It ought to pass on its merits. After all, both parties pay lip service to free speech and purport to oppose frivolous lawsuits, and there are plenty of nonpartisan stories of financially ruinous and frivolous litigation. This can be spun in a way that appeals to everyone.

Yet the proponents face a grim political reality. Donald Trump has a compliant Republican Congress that is sensitive to his extreme tenderness to offense. Even if backers don’t spin the bill as a rebuke to Trump’s habit of bad-faith litigation, Republicans may perceive the bill as such. Trump himself has a long history of wanting to make it easier, not harder, to sue for defamation, repeatedly saying that he wants to “open up” libel laws to allow aggrieved plaintiffs to “sue them and win money.” The bill’s sponsors need to find a way to frame this fight so that it flatters his ego, or he’ll veto it out of pique.

But nobody promised fighting for free speech would be easy. Anti-SLAPP statutes are so stunningly effective that it’s worth our time to agitate for this one, even under these grim circumstances. The Public Participation Project will continue to promote anti-SLAPP bills in Congress law and provide information about supporting such bills, so follow them. Nobody likes a bully. Bullies like SLAPP suits. Regrettably, America is overrun by bullies—and some of them, like Donald Trump and Elon Musk, have absolutely no scruple about abusing the legal system to punish their political enemies. Support state and federal anti-SLAPP statutes to help stick a thumb in the bullies’ eyes.

Anti-SLAPP laws with real teeth are needed, because malcontents like Elon Musk and MAGA acolytes are using it to silence dissenters against their wicked and Satanic agenda.

[jadedbirch]

In light of the illegal, bigoted, and morally repugnant bullshit that's been coming out of the White House lately, I've been really worrying about the trans and gender-diverse community here in the States. I wanted to share this Legal Tracker with you so that you can see the lawsuits that are already underway to stop this discriminatory and cruel attempt to change the law. You can find the complaints related to trans rights under the "Civil Liberties And Rights" topic. You can read the text of the law suits under "Complaint" and honestly, it made me feel a bit better to do so.

Finally, I know this is a really difficult time, especially for the trans and immigrant communities, but really for anyone who isn't a cishet white man. If any of my friends and followers are struggling, I love you, you're in my heart, please feel free to reach out ❤️❤️❤️. How can I support you? We can overcome this Nazi shit together!

[10bmnews]

Farmers Sued Over Deleted Climate Data. So the Government Will Put It Back.

The Agriculture Department will restore information about climate change that was scrubbed from its website when President Trump took office, according to court documents filed on Monday in a lawsuit over the deletion. The deleted data included pages on federal funding and loans, forest conservation and rural clean energy projects. It also included sections of the U.S. Forest Service and Natural…

[youthchronical]

Deported Professor Rasha Alawieh Attended Hezbollah Leader’s Funeral, D.H.S. Says

The Department of Homeland Security said on Monday that it had deported a Brown University professor and doctor with a valid visa because they said she attended a Hezbollah leader’s funeral in February during a trip to Lebanon. When questioned by Customs and Border Protection officers upon her return to the United States, Dr. Rasha Alawieh, who is Lebanese, “openly admitted” her support for the…

[mariacallous]

The firm has already begun to accept the Trump administration’s principles. Some time after the executive order came down, but before the firm allowed itself to be extorted, the firm took down a web page and links to its Center to Combat Hate. The firm launched the center in May 2024 to perform litigation alongside civil rights groups “to confront and redress hate-driven violence and intimidation” in order to “foster a more just and equitable society.” All links to it, including on the social media web site LinkedIn, are now dead.

Paul Weiss is not alone among elite institutions in choosing a whimper, not a bang when threatened by the Trump autocracy. Universities are largely bending over backwards to protect their own financial interests. Administrators at Columbia University are considering allowing itself to be extorted into giving up the university’s autonomy in order to keep $400 million in grants that the administration is using as leverage. The administration is also targeting the University of Pennsylvania and Johns Hopkins University with similar extortion efforts to seize control of their operations, with dozens of others likely to follow suit.

Nonprofits are being cowed into deleting references to diversity and inclusion, transgender people and changing the name of the Gulf of Mexico, sometimes after facing direct threats from the administration.

Corporations are sucking up and paying up to the administration in pursuit of government contracts, protection from investigation or prosecution and any number of corrupt acts they can extract from the nation’s mob boss. In some cases, corporate leaders, particularly in Silicon Valley, have fully embraced autocratic theories of government as a way to further enrich and empower themselves.

This cowardice is exactly what the Trump administration counts on to succeed. It is also precisely how a liberal democracy can succumb to autocracy: Private actors are putting their private interests above the common good. They have forgotten that liberalism and democracy do not just provide rights that protect their private interests, but demand public duties of citizens to uphold them. Those who choose otherwise accept their own corruption.

These elite institutions cannot, and will not save liberalism. Nor will they save democracy. They can join the people or they can join the autocrats in the public and private spheres who wish to rule as kings.

It’s time to ask: Which side are you on?

The Law Firm Paul Weiss Chooses Cowardice In Confrontation With Trump

[beardedmrbean]

A coalition of parents attempting to block a state law that would require that the Ten Commandments be displayed in public school classrooms by next year have won a legal battle in federal court.

U.S. District Judge John deGravelles issued an order Tuesday granting the plaintiffs' request for a preliminary injunction, which means the state can't begin its plan to promote and create rules surrounding the law as soon as Friday while the litigation plays out.

The judge wrote that the law is "facially unconstitutional" and "in all applications," barring Louisiana from enforcing it and adopting rules around it that require all public K-12 schools and colleges to exhibit posters of the Ten Commandments.

DeGravelles, who heard arguments over the legislation on Oct. 21, also ordered the state attorney general's office to "provide notice to all schools that the Act has been found unconstitutional."

The law had dictated that schools have by Jan. 1 to comply. Attorney General Liz Murrill did not immediately respond to the judge's ruling but is expected to appeal.

Gov. Jeff Landry signed the GOP-backed legislation in June, part of his conservative agenda that has reshaped Louisiana's cultural landscape, from abortion rights to criminal justice to education.

The move prompted a coalition of parents — Jewish, Christian, Unitarian Universalist and nonreligious — to sue the state in federal court. They argued that the law "substantially interferes with and burdens" their First Amendment right to raise their children with whatever religious doctrine they want.

The American Civil Liberties Union, the American Civil Liberties Union of Louisiana, Americans United for Separation of Church and State and the Freedom from Religion Foundation have supported the suit.

In their complaint, the parents said the law "sends the harmful and religiously divisive message that students who do not subscribe to the Ten Commandments ... do not belong in their own school community and should refrain from expressing any faith practices or beliefs that are not aligned with the state's religious preferences."

Steven Green, a professor of law, history and religious studies at Willamette University in Oregon, testified against the law during the federal court hearing, arguing that the Ten Commandments are not at the core of the U.S. government and its founding, and if anything, the Founding Fathers believed in a separation of church and state.

At a news conference after the hearing, Murrill dismissed Green's testimony as not being relevant as to whether the posters themselves violate the First Amendment.

"This law, I believe, is constitutional, and we've illustrated it in numerous ways that the law is constitutional. We've shown that in our briefs by creating a number of posters," Murrill told reporters. "Again, you don't have to like the posters. The point is you can make posters that comply with the Constitution."

In August, Murrill and Landry presented examples of how posters of the Ten Commandments could be designed and hung up in classrooms for educational purposes. The displays included historical context for the commandments that the state believes makes its law constitutional.

One poster compared Moses and Martin Luther King Jr., while another riffed off the song "Ten Duel Commandments" from the musical "Hamilton."

Murrill said no public funds will be required to be spent on printing the posters and they can be supplied through private donations, but questions remain about what happens to educators that refuse to comply with the law.

The state has anticipated that the case could go to the U.S. Supreme Court, which last weighed in on the issue in 1980, when the justices ruled 5-4 that Kentucky's posting of the Ten Commandments in public schools was unconstitutional.

Another state, Oklahoma, is facing similar lawsuits over a requirement that the Bible be part of lesson plans in public school grades five through 12, and that the Bible be stocked in every classroom.

When asked what he would tell parents concerned about having the Ten Commandments in public schools, Landry said in August: "Tell your child not to look at them."

[thecourtscorkboard]

Reunion, and Turnabout (2-2)

Phoenix Wright finds himself in Maya's hometown... once again defending her on charges of murder.

2-2 is the first multi-day case of Justice for All, introducing quite a few new characters. A murder in Maya's hometown leads to her arrest, and it's up to us to prove her innocence in this prequel: this takes place two months before 2-1!

THE CORE CAST:

Phoenix Wright: After the events of 1-4 and 1-5, Phoenix is approached for his help in a civil case. Didn't know we did litigation, but alright.

Maya Fey: Maya returns as the defendant for this case. She's not taking it very well, and it's up to us to pave the way for her!

Pearl Fey: Pearl is Maya's younger cousin and a wonderful addition to the core cast. She's only 8 years old, yet gifted with incredible psychic abilities...

Franziska von Karma: The daughter of one Manfred von Karma, Franziska takes over the prosecution for this case, becoming the main antagonist for this game and immediately taking over the courtroom in her debut!

THE MAIN CAST:

Dick Gumshoe: Gumshoe returns, this time under Franziska instead of Edgeworth. Wonder what's up with the change of bosses?

Ini Miney: A spacey (see: high as balls) college student with an interest in the occult and either an eye problem or in dire need of glasses.

Morgan Fey: Maya's aunt, Misty's sister, and Pearl's mom. Strict, but understandably so... to an extent.

Lotta Hart: Lotta returns to her job as a paranormal investigator: this time determined to learn the truth about spirit channeling!

THE SECONDARY CAST:

Dr. Turner Grey: A doctor of some repute... and infamy. Allegedly behind a terrible malpractice incident.

Mimi Miney: A former doctor at Turner Grey's clinic who died in a car crash. Allegedly, this was Grey's doing...

A BRIEF RECAP

We open on a red car speeding on the freeway. At the same time, somebody is narrating their own backstory; they were murdered by somebody. As soon as they tell us, the car gets into a horrific accident; the narrator says that they took their revenge, asking "Ini" if it was only fair.

We then see what's going on. Maya has been arrested again, this time telling us that she did kill the victim... already?

I'd make a joke here, but Maya's too distraught.

Investigation, Day One

The first person we see in this case isn't Maya; it's some man in an ugly brown suit and rocky road-style hair. This is Dr. Turner Grey, who's requesting our services to help clear him of malpractice and murder.

Fun fact: in the original release, Grey pushed up his glasses with his middle finger.

Apparently, Dr. Grey is rather fond of suing people; he wants to sue the weather girl for getting the weather wrong. He's saying that a nurse is responsible for the malpractice, not him; and that he wants our expertise in spirit channeling. Well, not ours: Maya's! He wants us to introduce him to her to force a "confession" from the nurse, who died in a car accident (or, as he rather blackly hilariously puts it, "turned her car into the accordion model"). We ask Dr. Grey why he's taking up this case now: apparently his customer base has completely tanked. Maya gave Dr. Grey a condition to channel the nurse's spirit: that she'd be able to see Phoenix again! Dr. Grey eagerly accepted, and Phoenix agrees: but only because he wants to see Maya again.

Maya's hometown!

Welcome to Kurain Village, the humble abode of one Ms. Maya Fey! She is incredibly happy to see us, but before we see her a mysterious girl dressed in similar clothes also passes by. Wonder who that was? Anyways, Maya and Phoenix are ecstatic to see each other: she tells us that pretty much most of the people who live here are spirit mediums, including most of Maya's ancestors. Apparently, only the women of this village are mediums: the men who live here usually work outside of the village itself. The girl that waked by is Maya's cousin, Pearl. Pearl is apparently a genius spirit medium, and apparently under the influence of a controlling mother; Maya lets us into her house as the channeling is set to begin.

Dr. Grey is in Fey Manor, Maya's home, already. He's still pissed about the weather: the weather girl called for rain, but it's rather nice outside today. Huh. He gives us a guidemap to the manor and we talk with him a bit more, telling us his plan: he'll have the nurse sign a confession about the malpractice and the car accident. He apparently heard about Maya from an acquaintance studying the occult at college.

We enter the Channeling Chamber to check it out: the door is blocked with very heavy iron locks and a reinforced frame. The Channeling Chamber has a rather serene atmosphere, complete with flickering candles lighting up the room, and we come to face-to-face with a new person!

I can't be the only one who thought she was drinking a candle as a kid, right?

This is Morgan Fey, the sister of Misty Fey, the aunt of Maya Fey, and the mother of Pearl Fey. Apparently, she's heard quite a bit of us from Maya: talking to her, we learn that Maya is actually the last of the original Fey bloodline. I guess that makes sense: Misty is gone, Mia passed away, leaving only Maya. Morgan is a member of a branch family, and her spiritual powers are not nearly as strong as even Maya's. She also explains that this will be Maya's first official channeling, even though she'd managed to channel Mia's spirit twice: the victims of traffic accidents are easier to pull back into the real world. Last but not least, she explains that the locks exist just in case something goes wrong in a channeling.

The conversation begins to wind down. Morgan asks us if we've met Pearl, and when we say we really haven't she asks us to stay away. Controlling much? In any case, we say our goodbyes and exit the chamber. We do a bit of exploring: this is a big house, after all, and in the Winding Way...

Well butter my buns and call me a biscuit!

It's Lotta! She's very happy to see us, but before we can talk to her she tells us that the channeling is about to start. Maya and Dr. Grey go into the channeling chamber and Lotta gets rather upset about not being allowed to go inside. She and Morgan get into a spat, which is cut short by a bang from inside of the channeling chamber. Then another one! Our resident expert in loud bangs (and, since she's a fellow Southerner, probably guns) notices that it's a gunshot: panic spreads throughout the room.

We don't even bother asking Morgan for permission, tell her to send the repair bill to the Law Offices, and break down the door. Inside, Dr. Grey is dead: and the spirit that Maya was channeling is his evident killer.

Does she remind anybody else of Sadako?

Lotta takes a few pictures. Morgan rushes in and tells us to leave while she takes care of this: there could be even more victims at the hands of an angry spirit, after all! Phoenix uses the payphone to call the police: both us and Lotta are worried sick, but we get to talking anyways. There's only one real conclusion: the spirit of the nurse killed Dr. Grey in Maya's body. Doing her part as an investigative journalist, Lotta also did some digging on Grey. Apparently, he was an abusive control freak: yelling and berating employees who messed up even the slightest mistakes.

Going back to the Medidation Room, Morgan tells us that Maya is unconscious: she performed something called the "spirit severing technique" to exorcise the nurse's spirit from Maya's body. The first detective to arrive on the scene is none other than Gumshoe himself, who goes into the Channeling Chamber with Morgan. We talk to Lotta one more time outside: apparently this has convinced her to give up on paranormal journalism. She's gonna be a celebrity photographer now! I'm sure that won't come up in two cases.

We move into one of the side rooms and a young woman is here: she asks us when the channeling's gonna start! Apparently she doesn't know. This is Ini Miney, who suspiciously has the same name from the intro.

The 'ohm' symbol on her shirt reminds me of that one Sam O'Nella joke.

It turns out that Ini is a bit of an... airhead. She doesn't even know what a murder is off the top of her head: and the way she's keeping her eyes closed... are we sure she's sober? Anyways, this is the college student that Dr. Grey was talking about: she's researching 'parapsychology', involving supernatural powers, ESP, stuff like that. Apparently, she had accidentally eaten some sesame seeds and was taking a nap to power through an allergic reaction. We tell her that Dr. Grey was dead, and for once she doesn't react. Either she's processing it or doesn't care. She quickly says that she didn't know Dr. Grey, though: she was a patient at his clinic once, but that's it. Curious...

Walking out the Winding Way, we come face-to-face with Pearl. We have nothing to say to each other, though, and we quickly go back inside of Fey Manor: Gumshoe says that the investigation won't be done for a long time and Morgan graciously lets us stay the night in Fey Manor.

The next morning, we rush down to the Detention Center. Maya is quick to confess: she says that she couldn't have controlled the spirit's power, and we tell her that people won't care. After all, most people don't even believe it after DL-6. We believe her, though, and we're going to do our utmost to defend her.

Maya tells us what happened. She locked the door, sat down with Dr. Grey, and then blacked out. When she channels a spirit, Maya herself loses consciousness as the spirit takes over her body: she does tell us that she had a dream, however. A dream about being buried, unable to breathe, unable to move. Heavy stuff. She doesn't want us to defend her: she sees her own case as hopeless.

But we don't care.

Before we leave, Maya gives us a very vital tool. It's called a "magatama", and it's apparently a magical charm that has protected her. She tells us to show it to Pearl: apparently that'll make her help us. We say our goodbyes and go back to the office to pick up a newspaper clipping that Dr. Grey left behind: it's about the car accident last year. Heading back to Kurain, we go into the Channeling Chamber and are met by Morgan Fey.

Morgan says that she's going to visit Maya in the detention center and bring her some treats from Kurain to lift her spirits. We ask her about what happened: she apparently hit Maya on the head and then exorcised the spirit. She explains that spirits can become violent and revolt against the medium's own body, which is what the lock on the door was for: and exactly what happened yesterday. Morgan says that she's lucky nothing of importance was damaged: the most precious of which is a paper folding screen, which is one of the village's most prized possessions.

We take a look at the folding screen: there's a small hole in it, and Morgan says that a bug or some other vermin might've chewed through it. Phoenix, however, thinks that it might be from one of the bullets. We leave Morgan to prepare for her visit to Maya after a thorough investigation of the crime scene: there's enough space behind the folding screen for somebody to hide behind it.

We meet Ini again in the side room. She says that she asked Morgan if she could stay for a bit more for her research: apparently Morgan said yes. Talking a bit more, we definitely have a suspicion that she's hiding something: but we can't keep pressing her. We go out into the Winding Way and come face-to-face with Pearl again!

I've mentioned her so much and haven't put in a single picture of her...

Pearl is very excited to see the Magatama: apparently, she's heard about us from Maya... and started shipping the two of us. Okay, well, it's popular in the fandom, can't blame her (even if I think it's best left until T&T, but we'll get to that). We try to tell her that we're not dating Maya, but she won't have any of it: I guess we'll leave her to her ship wars, then.

Apparently, Pearl has her hands on the key to the Channeling Chamber: she was holding on to it yesterday, too. How did she get her hands on it? She's happy to give it to us. Apparently, she found it while playing in the garden. Now... why would it be there of all places? We talk to Pearl a bit more. She's absolutely enamored by her older cousin, looking up to her as a role model. We're about to leave, but Pearl asks us to wait: we ask if calling her "Pearls" is okay and she acquiesces. She says that she can't keep the Magatama, but she can do something else: charge it up with spiritual energy! Woah. It's glowing. Apparently, it'll let us "see people's secrets". Cool!

Well, if there's one person who's keeping a secret...

Try again in two games, lady.

We try talking to Ini about her relationship to Dr. Grey and are met with my favorite part of JfA: psyche-locks. Pearl tells us that we'll need to break that lock with evidence to get her to tell the truth: and that's exactly what we do. Ini says that she has no relationship to Dr. Grey? We know better. We talked to Gumshoe earlier and he gave us a newspaper clipping outlining the car accident. The person who died was Mimi Miney... a nurse at Dr. Grey's clinic.

Ini admits the truth. Her sister, Mimi, was the nurse that Grey was trying to channel: and the nurse that killed him. She was overworked by Dr. Grey, who Ini calls a "slave driver", and Ini has come to blame her sister's death in the car accident on him. After all, she fell asleep at the wheel after the malpractice incident: which she, apparently, was responsible for (but never would've happened if Grey didn't push her so hard). Now that we know the truth, we plan to go back to Maya. Pearl is scared of leaving Kurain Village, though, and runs back.

When we return to the center, it's not Maya that we meet...

MOM!

It's Mia! She's happy to see how far we've come, but tells us that we have to keep smiling no matter how bad it gets. We tell Mia what happened, and she tells us that there's only one thing we can do: fight for a complete acquittal. Maya's not guilty, after all. How does she know that? Well, it's pretty simple.

Mediums can't have dreams.

That only means one thing. Somebody was masquerading as Maya, who was never channeling a spirit at all! They played us like a damn fiddle! She tells us that there's a key to this case: we show her the "key" we have. Apparently, the fact that it's here at all is contradictory.

We ask Mia how we can keep going if we don't know the real killer, and investigation comes to a close...

...with a turn for the interesting!

Trial, Day One

Apparently, von Karma's gonna be prosecuting this case. No, not that von Karma, silly! His successor; a relative? Maybe a child, considering his age. With the constant use of 'was', we get our first few implications on the elder von Karma's fate: it appears that he's dead. Good riddance.

Pearl suddenly shows up: apparently she ran all the way here, on her own, using just a map. Jeez! Talk about a wild child. Maya reminisces about Edgeworth: she's also talking about him in the past tense. Has something happened with him, as well? Phoenix suddenly snaps at Maya to never mention Edgeworth's name again: something's definitely happened with him. No wonder: his own trial and then Lana's must've been a suffocating burden. Being put on trial by your mentor only to learn you convicted a man with forged evidence... it's not good for the soul. Phoenix ominously says that Edgeworth is "gone, and not coming back": this can't mean what I think it means... right? Nonetheless, it's time for court...

she's so pretty...

This is Franziska von Karma (not 'Francesca', PixelPartners...), the daughter of Manfred von Karma. She declares that she's here for revenge, and when His Honor asks her to leave personal vendettas outside the courtroom she hits him with a whip! That's assault! Who cares? Not us, apparently! Franziska, like her father before her, declares that her role is that of a perfect prosecutor; we enter a plea of not guilty and she calls us a foolish fool who foolishly dreams of foolish dreams: giving us ten minutes before we enter a plea of self defense. Not three? Seems she's not as confident as her father.

Nonetheless, Franziska calls Gumshoe to the stand. He gives the court some evidence, namely floor plans of Fey Manor, and goes into a bit more detail: Grey was stabbed in the chest before he was shot and he was shot from point-blank range. We grill him for some more information via pressing: they know that Grey was killed at point-blank range from gunpowder residue found on his forehead, and both Maya and Grey's fingerprints were on the murder weapon. Gumshoe brings out both weapons: and His Honor is ready to reach a verdict.

But we're not.

Franziska demands one more testimony from Gumshoe. He says that Grey was definitely not fighting back: but then how does he explain the bullet hole in Maya's clothes? Right below where her left arm would be, there's a hole: Grey fought back! Franziska is ready for this, though. Doesn't this just help a case of justified self-defense? Gumshoe gives a second testimony: and he slips up.

He says that Grey and Maya were too close and that's why he missed. If that was the case, then where's the gunpowder residue on her sleeve? Franziska fires back: obviously some distance was made between Maya and Grey. She tries to argue it was Grey at first, but we easily shut that down. When she tries to argue it was Maya, we point out the bullet hole in the folding screen. It's only about eight inches off the ground: and last I checked, Maya wasn't eight inches tall... but her sleeve might reach that low to the ground if she was squatting down. There's only one explanation: Maya was right in front of the folding screen, not right in front of Dr. Grey!

This changes everything. Why would she be right in front of the folding screen if she was fighting Dr. Grey?! Logically, she'd be right on top of him! With this, the rest of the trial should be in the b--

...blast radius of disaster.

She kicks Gumshoe out and prepares a new witness: Lotta Hart. His Honor calls a recess for both of us to prepare for her testimony. After a brief recess, where Maya talks to Pearl about Mia, we go back into court and get ready for Lotta's testimony.

The main issue with Lotta's testimony is... well, it's exactly how we would've said it, just with less of an accent. Lotta has something else to give to the court as well: one of the pictures she took in the Channeling Chamber.

I respect people choosing a revolver in this day and age.

We press every inch of Lotta's testimony, but nothing sticks out: it's all true and it's all air-tight. We're asked if we can present any evidence that it's not Maya in the picture, but... we can't. The trial seems over. We're about to give up, when all of a sudden... it's Mia! Not being channeled by Maya, no, but instead by Pearl! Remember how Maya said that she's a genius at channeling?

Mia reminds us of what we told her: that Lotta took two pictures! We object for another testimony: His Honor overrules us but Franziska is fine with it. Lotta is forced to give another testimony. This time, it's vague and non-committal. Pressing Lotta's fourth statement lets us confirm that she took two pictures: as for why this picture wasn't shown? Franziska told her to keep quiet about it! The court gets understandably peeved about this, and Franziska defends herself by saying that since the two pictures are "practically the same" there's no point in submitting the second. She submits the second regardless, and...

TRIGGER DISCIPLINE, TRIGGER DISCIPLINE, TRIGGER DISCIPLINE!!!

We try to do something a little dirty here: play into the court's opinion that spirit channeling is hokum to manipulate the outcome of the trial. Franziska is ready for this, though, and presents as proof... a picture of our conversation with Mia yesterday in the detention center! Undeniable proof that spirit channeling exists: and that Maya can do it!

Mia tries to stop Franziska. A picture like that, taken illegally, cannot be submitted as evidence. That's not what Franziska's doing, though. She's just making sure His Honor sees it. Keep this particular point in mind; it'll come up in about eight cases' time. Anyways, we're left with only one option: to prove that the person in this picture isn't Maya. Can we do that?

Well... there's one thing. Look at the bottom left cuff of the murderer's clothes: there's not a bullet hole there, even though the clothes that Maya was wearing had one in that spot! Von Karma is about to be penalized (which famously ends well for defense attorneys), but she manages to cook up a lie about the police missing the hole instead of her withholding evidence. Nevertheless, there's only one explanation for the hole's existence: the person wearing those clothes isn't Maya. After all, if it was, then the hole would be there after Grey shot back!

Two big questions are raised at the end of today's proceedings: who is the other person and where did Maya go? At the very least, we can answer that last one: remember when we found Pearl with that key? There's only one key in the world, and we had to break the door down to get in. Franziska's catching on: why in the world would we have that key if there's only one? It's simple.

Our first turnabout of the case is a relatively small one, but we get to enjoy this awesome pursuit theme!

Maya must've left the room before the channeling started. She didn't have the key when she was arrested, after all... and we got the key from Pearl! Maya had to have left the room: if she didn't, then there's no way we could've had this key in our possession! Franziska flies into a temper tantrum about her perfect case having such a massive flaw: His Honor makes her stop and adjourns court for the day.

In the defendant's lobby, Maya tells us that she doesn't remember ever leaving the room. Pearl also doesn't think that a third person could've gone in: these are questions that we can answer tomorrow, however. For now, it's time to go back to Kurain Village!

Investigation, Day Two

We get to Kurain Village ready for another day of investigation. We talk with Pearl a bit, and she tells us that she was a little overwhelmed by the trial: understandable, given that she's never been outside of Kurain Village. We talk with her about prosecutors for a bit, trying to explain them to her: we get to reminiscing about Edgeworth, though, and a very uncomfortable truth is spilled.

O! what a fate...

Phoenix refuses to give Pearl, or us for that matter, any more information about what happened. We ask Pearl if she somehow knows who the killer is: she says she doesn't, and we get to thinking. Where was she during the murder? That's a question we need to answer. We ask her, and... psyche-locks! What could she possibly be hiding?

Oh, well. We can't answer that right now. We go back to the scene of the crime, and...

...um...

Morgan is... talking to a picture. Rather ominously, might I add. Telling Misty to "prepare herself", that she's been "waiting for this day"... we approach her and she quickly puts the picture aside and dodges all of our questions. Apparently, she had to watch over training today: it's part of her role now that Misty is gone. Nobody's quite sure what happened to her: she just up and disappeared one day. Anyone who's disappeared from the village for up to 20 years is considered dead, and a new Master is declared; and if Maya is in prison... well, things are starting to fall into place, aren't they?

We go into the side room to look for Ini, but there's nothing here except for a storage box that got moved here for some reason. Apparently it's a clothing box filled with channeling costumes. Huh. We keep walking through Kurain Village, but there's nothing else for us to find. Talking to Pearl again, apparently she found the key near the incinerator. We go to check that out, and... there's something in there! Ini is quick to come up to see us: she was hanging by the incinerator... with a cloth sticking out of it. We talk to Ini about the spiritual traditions of Kurain: apparently the founder of the Fey family's spirit is in a nearby jar. She tells us that she can't tell us about the murder, but we know that she has a connection with Dr. Grey. We ask her about the accident and get psyche-locks! Checking out the urn, it looks cracked and chipped and has "I AM" written on the front. Weird. We also check out the incinerator. Opening it up, we see a torn piece of cloth: definitely from Maya's, given the blood on it! Somebody tried to burn Maya's clothes and hid the key inside of the incinerator as well...?

There's nothing else for us to do in Kurain, so we go back to the Detention Center to talk to Maya. She's even worse off today than she was yesterday, poor girl. At the very least we know one thing for sure: she did not kill Dr. Grey, spirit or no spirit. The big problem? There was nobody else in the room. Maya even checked behind the folding screen. We tell Maya what Mia said about dreams and spirit mediums: if Maya wasn't convinced of her own innocence before, then she certainly is now! The problem? The idea of a set-up ruins her. She just can't catch a break...

We do get to ask Maya one last thing: what Pearl was doing during the murder. She obviously doesn't know, but she has an inkling—Pearl might've been playing with a ball. Maya and Pearl played with it together quite a lot, after all. She puts it in the clothing box in the side room: guess it's time to go back there and check it out!

When we go back to Kurain, Lotta sees us and immediately hightails it. Ooookay, then. We walk through the manor and Lotta is still running from us. Anyways, we go to the Side Room. The ball is on the floor! Wonder what it's doing there. We take another look at the clothes box. There's a hole in it...

And a Lotta!

She runs the fuck away again, but we have two important new insights: that the box is big enough to fit a grown woman... and where Pearl was during the murder. We confront Pearl and break her psyche-locks: the truth is, she was playing with her ball in the Winding Way, accidentally hit the urn, and broke it. She tried to put it back together, but because she can't read accidentally spelled "AMI" as "I AM". That's one mystery solved, at least!

Speaking of that hole, let's think about it a bit more. That hole was 8 inches above the ground and can fit a grown woman... I think we're finally starting to piece together what actually happened. Before we go back to the detention center, we're stopped by Lotta: I guess she was chasing after us now. She asks us to forgive her for her testimony and we reluctantly do so. She also shares a very interesting theory with us: that Ini Miney is the real killer! This must mean that she's got some dirt on her. Lotta tells us the info she has for free: about half a year ago, Ini was in the hospital. She gives us the clinic's address and tells us to find out ourselves.

Welp. Nowhere else to go but there! We meet with the director: a rather itchy, balding man with three missing teeth. This is "Director Hotti", and the less that we say about him the better. He does give us some information, though: the Hotti Clinic deals primarily in plastic surgery, and after showing him our attorney's badge he admits that he's a weird fuckin' pervert interested in young women who come to the clinic. This, and I'm not sure if I should say "fortunately" or "unfortunately", means that he has info on Ini Miney. Apparently, her case was an emergency one: her whole body was wrapped in bandages and her arm was in a cast! What could've caused that...? He tells us that it was a traffic accident. Looks like Lotta might've been onto something.

It was so bad that her entire face was charred: she needed emergency surgery. She just got her license and happened to her license photo on her: "Hotti" here stole it and gives it to us. Apparently, Ini Miney was in the passenger's seat. We look at the newspaper article he gives us, and it talks about a car accident... one year ago. It's all falling into place.

Before we go back to Fey Manor to talk to Ini, we stop by Lotta one last time. She tells us a rather important piece of information: Morgan was supposed to be the Master of the Kurain Channeling Technique, but got passed over by Misty!

I smell a conspiracy!

After getting that bit of info from Lotta, we go to the Winding Way and run into exactly who we wanted to see: Ini Miney. We finally have enough pieces of evidence to break her Psyche-Locks, and the truth of the accident is put together: it wasn't her accident, but her sister's, Mimi Miney's. They were the same accident! Ini is convinced that Dr. Grey drugged Mini to make her crash her car: in other words, Dr. Grey murdered Mimi Miney. Sound familiar? Ini's demeanor suddenly shifts: she's confident, cocky, even a little insulting. She knows that we know that she killed Dr. Grey, but she also knows that we don't have enough evidence to prove it yet!

It'll be no holds barred tomorrow in court...

It looks like Gumshoe might be catching on as well: when we go back to Kurain proper, we see Pearl trying and failing to beat the shit out of him as he's taking Morgan away for questioning. Pearl tells us to go back to the Detention Center to see Maya: when we do, Mia is waiting for us. I think it's finally time to break her psyche-locks.

Mia asks us if we think we're hiding information from her: we tell her that we know exactly what she's hiding. She's protecting her aunt, Morgan Fey. She wants us to prove it. Fortunately, we've got the evidence two: the key and the cloth, remember? Morgan is the only person who could've gotten those two things from Maya's person to the incinerator, since Maya was keeping the key and it was her costume that was burned (as proven by the blood on the scrap and the fact that the key was hidden inside of Maya's sleeve). Somebody had to have changed her clothes: and the only person who could've was alone with her. Morgan Fey. There's one last wrinkle in our theory, Mia says: how did she commit the murder if she was outside with us the whole time? That's an easy question to answer: she didn't. After all, Ini Miney killed Dr. Turner Grey. The two of them were conspiring to get rid of both Dr. Grey and Maya!

Mia is satisfied with our conclusions, for the most part. There are a few issues still remaining, though. Why did Morgan cooperate with Ini Miney: and if she did, where's the concrete proof? Mia gets the answer right. It all ties back to Misty. Morgan was supposed to be Master before Misty took the position from her spiritually weaker sister. If Maya, the last living sibling of Misty Fey, was in prison and Misty remained missing for 2 more years, then Morgan would become Master. Who would succeed Morgan? The most precious person in her world: Pearl Fey.

Mia congratulates us on a job well done and the second—and final—day of investigation comes to a close.

Trial, Day Two

This is it: the day of reckoning. Phoenix tells Pearl to channel Mia's spirit, both for her guidance and to shield Pearl from what's going to happen in court. Maya is left in the dark, confused about what's going to happen today: and her inferiority complex rears its ugly head after she continues to compare herself to Franziska.

In any case, it's time for trial. Franziska and Mia have a very heated verbal spar before His Honor brings up yesterday's theory that Maya left the channeling chamber. Franziska is quick to agree: Maya did leave the room! She's not saying that Maya isn't the person in the picture, though. All she's saying is that, at some point, Maya left the room and dropped the key. To substantiate this claim, she calls Morgan to the stand!

Hell hath no fury...

Morgan is quick to say that Maya escaped from the room while she was trying to exorcise Mimi's spirit. In her testimony, Morgan says that she was hit on the back of the neck and had a fainting spell before being able to subdue Maya again. Mia warns us that Morgan is smart and sly; her testimony is very carefully woven. We press her testimony and Morgan says that her hitting Maya was a lie; she was trying to simply protect her darling niece, you see. She fainted for about ten minutes, not knowing where Maya went due to her being unconscious.

Morgan's testimony is solid and she's called off the stand to make room for Ini Miney: after all, that's where Maya went. Mimi was Ini's sister after all: with Franziska still arguing that her spirit was being channeled, she's basically telling us to think what Mimi would've done (even though we know that's wrong).

Ini says that Mimi came into the side room and told her something "terrible": Franziska asks her to elaborate, and Ini says that Mimi told her that she was drugged by Dr. Grey.

A callback to the very beginning.

Mia knows the truth: this entire testimony is a massive lie. A well-constructed lie, but a lie nonetheless. There's gotta be a crack in it. It's a pretty clear one: we press her for a bit more detail about what it was like seeing her sister, and because Ini is a parapsychology student she said it wasn't too strange.

Bingo.

Her sister would be in a uniform absolutely soaking in blood! Ini is pressed further on this by His Honor and she snaps. Ini says that the blood blended into the dark purple costume, and Ini went with Mimi back to the Channeling Chamber because Ini wanted to apologize to Morgan. Apparently, though, she didn't see anybody on the way there. That's another lie: after all, right when the murder happened, Pearl broke Ami's urn and was putting it back together right in the middle of the Winding Way!

Franziska and Ini double down on her sleeping in the side room. There's just one little issue with that, though. She said earlier that Morgan was the only person in the Channeling Chamber, right?

Now THIS is a contradiction!

There's no way that somebody who was asleep could not have known that Morgan was alone in the Chamber! She went into the Chamber, but not through the Winding Way! How did she go to the Chamber, then? Franziska objects: if we're asking Ini where she was during the murder, why don't we answer it ourselves? Where was she? It's pretty simple.

She was already in the Channeling Chamber, hiding behind the folding screen! Remember the box having a little hole in it 8 inches off the floor? There's a hole in the folding screen at the same height! Furthermore, it's a bullet hole. The person in the picture? It ain't Maya. It's Ini Miney! Franziska calls it mad: there's no way one person could've done it all by herself!

And she's completely correct. Ini had an accomplice: Morgan Fey! If it wasn't somebody from Kurain, then they couldn't have gotten a costume: if it wasn't somebody in the Fey clan, then she couldn't have gotten the box!

We have a very strong case with a lot of supporting evidence and lay out our theory. Ini had planted herself in the Channeling Chamber long before the crime, hiding inside of the box. Maya and Dr. Grey entered, at which point Ini drugged Maya, stabbed Dr. Grey, and put Maya in the box. With the last of his strength, Dr. Grey shot at her, shooting through the screen, box, and Maya's sleeve. Ini then took Grey's own revolver and shot him point-blank in the forehead. This is why Morgan chased us out: using her authority as an elder member of the Fey Clan, no less!

I can't exactly place why, but this line in particular is one of my favorites.

Franziska starts laughing. If Ini is the real killer, as we claim, then why would she go through this entire charade?! Where is her motive? We have enough to prove her motive, though: the car crash! Ini wanted revenge for her sister's death. She's quick to counter, though (Ini, that is, not Franziska), with a simple question: why in the world would she wait this long? It was Dr. Grey that thought of Kurain Village in the first place!

His Honor ultimately rules in favor of the prosecution: it's incredibly unlikely and with very little conclusive evidence. Mia objects before His Honor can give a verdict, however, and tells us that there has to be a reason why Ini killed Dr. Grey this way. We press forward, even though we're not confident. Intrigued, von Karma lets us have a moment to prove our theory: she's determined to knock our will to fight into the ground. She's not just here for a trial: she's here for a battle!

Panzers on courtroom soil, a thunder in the East!

Trial is suspended for a brief recess. A distraught Maya asks us if what's happened with her aunt is true; we confirm it is, and Franziska tells us that everything is going exactly as she predicted. Wait. Franziska? Gah! Franziska's here!

We have a brief conversation with her: she not-so-subtly tells Maya to shut up, and we taunt her a bit by telling her this won't bring Manfred back. Probably hurt, she retreats back to her own chambers to prepare for the grand finale.

Trial reconvenes and His Honor asks if we're ready to prove Ini's motive. We say that we are and ask Ini to testify about her car accident. We drill her testimony for answers, and eventually she's forced to add that she didn't have her license, which Mimi had to drive. That's a very lame lie, Phoenix says. After all, her face was reconstructed from her own license photo! Franziska shuts us down and Ini says that she got her license last November. Either out of fear or belief His Honor suspends our questioning, but not before Ini says that Mimi probably wouldn't have let her drive anyways.

Ini testifies about this: apparently Mimi's car was a brand new shiny sports car and she wouldn't have let her sister touch it. We press her testimony and Ini eventually says it was imported from the UK... which blows her entire testimony wide open. After all, on the newspaper clipping, Ini's own statement is that she got out of the right side door.

Why is this an issue? After all, the passenger's side is on the right, right? Wrong. It's a British car! The UK drives on the left side of the road: as such, their driver's side is on the right! If Ini was on the right side of the car, she'd be the driver!

Fun fact: in the original Japanese version, Ini was driving an American car and got out on the left side—Japan drives on the right side of the road.

There is only one possible conclusion, and it's an insane one. If Ini Miney got out on the left side, that means she was the driver. If she was the driver, that means it was her car. And if it was her car, that means she's not Ini Miney at all. Ergo! If Ini Miney got out on the left side, she's not Ini Miney at all: she's Mimi Miney, who reconstructed her face to look like her sister! Ini Miney died in the car accident!

This is her motive! Dr. Grey wanted to call the spirit of Mimi Miney. Dr. Grey couldn't have called on Mimi Miney's spirit, though. After all, she wasn't dead! This is why she had to kill Dr. Grey. Mimi admits it: we're exactly right. Mimi breaks out into tears on the witness stand.

Mimi had to change her face to run from the truth: that she fucked up and was responsible for the malpractice incident. Franziska is distraught over her perfect record being broken, and after gloating about it she whips us into submission (joke DEFINITELY intended). In any case, Maya is found Not Guilty, and we tell her why Morgan helped Mimi: it was all for Pearl's sake. If Maya was found guilty, then she'd be disinherited. Inheritance would go back to the branch family, and since Morgan was already disinherited, Pearl would automatically be made Master once the 20 year threshold on Misty's disappearance passed. After all, Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.

In any case: 2-2 comes to a close with a bittersweet ending, a sympathetic murderer, and a great twist.

What Really Happened?

Many years ago, Misty and Morgan's mother died. Although Morgan was born first and therefore in line to Kurain's style of primogeniture succession, her spiritual powers were deemed too weak. Although she pretended to accept this with grace, she was incensed: and this was further compounded when Misty gave birth two not just an heir, but also a spare—Mia and Maya. When Misty disappeared after DL-6 and Mia left the village to become a lawyer, she projected all of her anger onto Maya. Morgan eventually had her own daughter, Pearl: and an idea formed in her head.

Incidentally, last year there was a horrible malpractice incident at Grey Surgical Clinic in which 14 patients died. Dr. Grey blamed a nurse, Mimi Miney, although in truth it was ultimately his fault for driving her so hard: he hired us to clear his name, but not before Mimi got into a terrible car accident alongside her sister Ini after falling asleep behind the wheel. Ini died and Mimi was burned beyond recognition: Mimi took Ini's face and name for herself, becoming Ini Miney to run from the truth of the malpractice incident.

Mimi wanted to kill Dr. Grey (and knew that if Grey tried to channel her, the gig would be up: you can't channel the spirits of the living, after all) and Morgan wanted Maya out of the picture to clear a path for Pearl's succession, so they hatched a scheme. Mimi would drug Maya, taking a spare set of apprentice clothes and a wig provided by Morgan to make it seem that Maya was channeling Ini. She drugged Maya and stabbed Grey in the chest, seemingly killing him. As she was hiding Maya in a nearby clothing box, however, Dr. Grey used the last of his strength to pull out a pistol and shoot at her: he missed, but the bullet went through the folding screen and through both the box and Maya's sleeve. Mimi then used his own pistol to shoot him execution-style. Morgan and Mimi quickly burned the clothes and wig they used, rearranged the crime scene, and covered Maya's clothes with Grey's blood.

During Dr. Grey's murder, Pearl was playing in the Winding Way with a ball. She accidentally knocked over an urn reportedly containing the spirit of Ami Fey, the founder of the Kurain Channeling Technique: she tried to put it together, but because she can't read very well accidentally put it back together as "IAM" instead of "AMI". Because Mimi didn't see Pearl in the Winding Way, however, her alibi was broken: leading to the collapse of her and Morgan's plot.

THOUGHTS

I quite enjoy 2-2. For a case revolving around Maya, it's a much better showing than 1-2. It's not a standout case or anything, but for a second case it's pretty good. It's definitely solid enough to stand on its own two feet, and I think checks all the boxes to be a perfectly fine case. It's really good in the role it's meant to serve.

The setup in the first day of investigation is fantastic. It's an incredibly strong opening, genuinely being on par with 1-3 and even exceeding it at times. There's a lot of early clues that players are allowed to pick up on when it comes to Ini/Mini and Morgan: from the second case in the game it's clear that JfA trusts its returning players. Speaking of returning players, we get a lot of fanservice here: Edgeworth and Manfred are both mentioned, Franziska has a lot of mannerisms that mirror her father's, and Mia shows up! ...Making fanservice a little more literal, but I digress.

This does not mean that 2-2 is without its problems, and there's a pretty big logical one I'd like to point out. Franziska's argument in day one of trial is that Maya and Grey were fighting: Maya then stabbed Grey, pushed him away, retreated to the folding screen, was shot at (explaining there being no gunpowder burns on her costume), walked back towards him, wrestled the gun away from him, retreated again by a good foot or two, and shot him in the forehead from a distance of at least a foot instead of holding the pistol right at his head. It's unnecessarily convoluted, which is either good writing making Franziska overconfident or poorly written overcomplication with little room for any in-between.

Speaking of Franziska: what a debut! She's honestly at her best in 2-2. It's the beginning of a rather intriguing arc and I'm admittedly biased given that she's my favorite prosecutor. She has the same dirty tricks up her sleeve as her father, although her tricks and confidence are obviously on a lower level: she's trying to puff out her chest and portray confidence, even though it's pretty clear that it's an act if you squint hard enough. It's good character work for her first appearance. Her trick of not presenting the picture of Mia as evidence, just making sure that His Honor sees it, is really clever stuff: and Takumi will use it again in the future.

Another big problem is how all over the place the investigation is: especially Day 2. A lot of things don't feel like they logically lead into one another, and it's a matter of exhausting options before finding the right place to turn. It's boring. The pacing in this case is kind of all over the place in general; it's not terribly consistent, but at the very least it doesn't overstay its welcome. Its length is near perfect for a second case, and I think that 2-2 knows where it fits in the game very well. It's not quite filler, but it's not completely plot-relevant, either.

The last thing I'd like to bring up is this case's major turnabout and my favorite contradiction. The twist that Ini is really Mimi is honestly my favorite JfA turnabout: even more than 2-4's, which we'll get to! It's really clever and cerebral twist that straddles the line of unbelievability very well. It's also pretty fucked up if you think about it too hard: Mimi decided to take her dead sister's name and appearance to start a new life to run from the truth. My favorite contradiction is that Mimi testified about knowing Morgan was in the chamber while claiming to be asleep: it's a very simple one that's easy to miss, but it's really cool and a type of contradiction I wish popped up in AA more often.

Anyways: 2-2 is better than I remembered and I still remember enjoying it a lot! It's not a perfect case by any means but I really enjoy it. I like the succession plot cooked up by Morgan a lot: it makes me think of these grand plans I'd enact while playing CK2 or something. Next time, we'll be covering the one and only 2-3: Turnabout Big Top. See you then!

Final Rating: 7/10

FAVORITE LINES

"It's hopeless! If you defend me, you'll lose, I'm sure…" "Stop it!" - Maya Fey and Phoenix Wright, after her arrest

(Alright! With this, the rest of this trial should be in the b-- ...blast radius of disaster.) - Phoenix Wright, after the folding screen argument

(Well, Maya's already naturally short, so…) - Phoenix Wright, after Pearl says Maya looked small in the defendant's chair

"Oh, you simpleminded fools. I'm sorry, are you still by chance, evolving?" - Franziska von Karma, after Phoenix presents his theory

"Not you too, Mia! With the whip… And the pain… And the oww…" - Phoenix Wright, after Mia tells him to keep pressing Ini

"Did you go cry to your mommy like a little bitch?" - Phoenix Wright, to Pearl Fey in the anime bloopers after she admits to breaking the jar

CASE RANKINGS

Reunion, and Turnabout (7/10)

The Lost Turnabout (4/10)

[mostlysignssomeportents]

This day in history

NEXT WEEKEND (June 7–9), I'm in AMHERST, NEW YORK to keynote the 25th Annual Media Ecology Association Convention and accept the Neil Postman Award for Career Achievement in Public Intellectual Activity.

#15yrsago D&D-style map of C++ https://alenacpp.blogspot.com/2009/06/c.html

#15yrsago Passive-aggressive umbrella-cops foil Tiananmen reportage https://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/8082604.stm

#15yrsago Heartbroken cereal litigant loses suit over non-existence of “Crunchberries” https://www.loweringthebar.net/2009/06/reasonable-consumer-would-know-crunchberries-are-not-real-judge-rules.html

#15yrsago DC’s buried, secret government wires patrolled by rapid-response goon-squad https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/30/AR2009053002114.html

#15yrsago Visualizing how a dirty Congresscritter turned campaign contributions into earmarks https://web.archive.org/web/20090606211116/http://blog.sunlightfoundation.com/2009/06/04/vis-a-visclosky-or-how-i-learned-to-take-campaign-contributions-and-turn-them-into-earmarks/

#15yrsago TOSBack: EFF’s real-time tracker for changes in terms of service on popular Internet sites https://www.eff.org/press/archives/2009/06/03-0

#10yrsago Colbert viewers learned more about super PACs than news-junkies https://www.annenbergpublicpolicycenter.org/stephen-colberts-civics-lesson-or-how-a-tv-humorist-taught-america-about-campaign-finance/

#10yrsago FCC’s website crashes, John Oliver’s army of Cable Company Fuckery trolls blamed https://yro.slashdot.org/story/14/06/03/2259240/fcc-website-hobbled-by-comment-trolls-incited-by-comedian-john-oliver

#10yrsago Secret service developing a sarcasm detector. Oh great. https://web.archive.org/web/20140604004533/https://www.fbo.gov/?s=opportunity&mode=form&id=8aaf9a50dd4558899b0df22abc31d30e&tab=core&_cview=0 #10yrsago Five dumb things that NSA apologists should really stop saying https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2014/06/top-5-claims-defenders-nsa-have-stop-making-remain-credible

#5yrsago Empirical analysis of behavioral advertising finds that surveillance makes ads only 4% more profitable for media companies https://memex.craphound.com/2019/06/04/empirical-analysis-of-behavioral-advertising-finds-that-surveillance-makes-ads-only-4-more-profitable-for-media-companies/

#5yrsago European legal official OKs orders that force Facebook to globally remove insults to politicians like “oaf” and “fascist” (as well as synonyms) https://memex.craphound.com/2019/06/04/european-legal-official-oks-orders-that-force-facebook-to-globally-remove-insults-to-politicians-like-oaf-and-fascist-as-well-as-synonyms/

#5yrsago The New York Privacy Act goes even farther than California’s privacy legislation https://www.wired.com/story/new-york-privacy-act-bolder/

#5yrsago Joe Biden repeatedly claimed to have marched for civil rights. He didn’t. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/03/us/politics/biden-1988-presidential-campaign.html

#5yrsago Why is there so much antitrust energy for Big Tech but not for Big Telco? https://memex.craphound.com/2019/06/04/why-is-there-so-much-antitrust-energy-for-big-tech-but-not-for-big-telco/

#5yrsago Magic for Liars: Sarah Gailey’s debut is a brilliant whodunnit in the vein of The Magicians https://memex.craphound.com/2019/06/04/magic-for-liars-sarah-gaileys-debut-is-a-brilliant-whodunnit-in-the-vein-of-the-magicians/

#1yrago Ayyyyyy Eyeeeee https://pluralistic.net/2023/06/04/ayyyyyy-eyeeeee/

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Ed Pilkington at The Guardian:

The American Civil Liberties Union, a leading defender of rights and freedoms enshrined in the US constitution, has drafted several major lawsuits it is prepared to file should Donald Trump try to wield excessive or unlawful power at the start of his second presidency, which starts on Monday.

Cecillia Wang, the ACLU’s recently appointed national legal director, said the organisation was fully set, with plaintiffs lined up and legal complaints already written. The incoming president’s plans to mass-deport millions of undocumented immigrants, his threats to pursue vendettas against his political enemies and his talk of mobilising the military for domestic purposes, are all squarely in the ACLU’s sights. In an interview with the Guardian, Wang declined to put a number to the lawsuits that are ready to roll, saying: “I’m not keeping count.” But she added: “We’ve been fleshing out the legal theories, drafting briefs, working with prospective plaintiffs. We’re preparing for litigation in earnest.” The organization is already primed to file suit under the 14th amendment, Wang said, against any move by Trump to end birthright citizenship. The president-elect has made eradicating the right bestowed by the constitution on any child born within the US a pillar of his second-term objectives. “We are ready to file a lawsuit to challenge any attack Trump launches on birthright citizenship – the complaint is essentially drafted, we’re lining up plaintiffs in the case,” she said.

On Sunday, the ACLU marks its 105th anniversary. It was founded in 1920 with the mission of protecting conscientious objectors in the wake of the first world war and so-called radicals amid the anti-communist frenzy that followed the Russian revolution. On Monday, the organisation faces arguably its biggest test when Trump returns to the Oval Office threatening to blow up many of the core rights and liberties that form the ACLU’s bedrock. Wang views Trump’s plans as an existential threat to a range of individual rights and freedoms protected by the constitution. She points to free speech and association safeguarded by the first amendment, the fourth amendment firewall against unlawful arrest and excessive force and the equal protection clause the ACLU is using to defend the rights of transgender people against sex discrimination. “From his efforts going after immigrants, attacking the very idea of protest, his threats to call out the military and threats to go after transgender and LGBTQ Americans – all these things tear at the heart of US democracy and society,” she said.

[...] The organization helped put a stop to family separation at the Mexican border, prevented a citizenship question from being inserted into the 2020 census and forced the contentious Muslim travel ban to be rewritten twice before the supreme court finally approved it. The ACLU also pushed back relentlessly on Trump’s other policies, winning a major victory in 2020 prohibiting employment discrimination against gay and transgender workers. After the supreme court abolished the constitutional right to abortion – a decision that came during Joe Biden’s term but fulfilled a core Trump promise – the ACLU and its affiliates immediately filed lawsuits to protect reproductive rights in almost a dozen states.

With the return of Donald Trump to the White House tomorrow, the ACLU is prepping up to fight Trump’s attacks on civil liberties.