judge s. kato crews
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Federal judge rejects challenge to Colorado ‘buffer zone’ law for abortion clinics
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A federal judge on Tuesday rejected a Denver woman’s challenge to Colorado’s 32-year-old law restricting proselytizing at abortion clinics, with the ultimate goal of the litigation being to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to overrule its precedent on the subject. In 1993, Colorado legislators enacted a law generally prohibiting people from approaching others, within eight feet,…
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Colorado’s federal trial judges keep backlogs steady, but data show discrepancies
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Colorado’s federal trial judges collectively had 71 motions in civil cases that had been sitting on their dockets for at least six months without a ruling as of March 31, according to recently released data from the judiciary. However, the reported information contains discrepancies, and at least one judge’s list understates his number of pending…
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Colorado federal judges unveil new ‘civility code,’ share stories about bad behavior
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Four members of Colorado’s U.S. District Court introduced lawyers on Tuesday to a new, nonbinding “civility code” and expressed frustration about overly belligerent behavior they are seeing more frequently from attorneys. “It feeds on itself. One lawyer in a case starts with snarky comments in the briefs or the motions, the other side may try…
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Federal judge sends claims of 13 plaintiffs to trial over police response to 2020 demonstrations
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A federal judge last week agreed 13 people injured in the police response to 2020 demonstrations in Denver will have their claims of constitutional violations decided by jury trial. Numerous judges in the past five years have found Denver or its officers may be held liable for excessive force or First Amendment violations in a series…
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Federal judge agrees state’s ‘intercept’ of man’s $3.5 million jury award was proper
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A federal judge agreed last month that Colorado acted properly by not paying a man directly for violating his rights, but instead crediting the jury’s multimillion-dollar award toward the crime victim restitution he still owed in his criminal case. Addressing an unusual question, U.S. District Court Judge S. Kato Crews determined it was permissible for…
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Federal judge declines to ask 10th Circuit to review pronoun policy, tells lawyers they are free to deviate
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A federal judge rejected for the second time last week a complaint from a pair of lawyers about his courtroom policy on the use of pronouns, reiterating that the attorneys are — and have been — free to refer to transgender people as they wish. “They’ve done so from the start. They’ve done so without sanction or…
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Federal judge declines to reconsider rejection of challenge to Colorado Springs municipal elections
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A federal judge on Tuesday stood by his previous decision that a collection of civic and voting rights groups lacked the ability to challenge the timing of Colorado Springs’ municipal elections. Last summer, U.S. District Court Judge S. Kato Crews did not address whether the city’s practice of holding local elections in odd-numbered years amounted…
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‘100% Ted Lasso’: Timothy O’Hara ceremonially sworn in as federal magistrate judge
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Over two decades ago, Timothy P. O’Hara walked into the Chicago courtroom of Judge Thomas More Donnelly and auditioned in a mock trial for a legal fellowship program Donnelly directed. O’Hara appeared to be a natural trial attorney, Donnelly and the other coaches agreed, but they identified one problem. “Our head coach put it bluntly:…
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Federal judge allows Aurora protest leader to sue city, detective over prosecution
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A federal judge last week declined to dismiss a malicious prosecution lawsuit against the city of Aurora and one of its detectives, brought by a 2020 protest leader who alleged there was no probable cause to arrest her. Eliza Lucero was involved in a protest outside an Aurora Police Department station in July 2020. She…
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2 federal judges pitch lawyers on benefits of handing cases over to magistrate judges
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Two of Colorado’s federal district judges, speaking on Tuesday about why lawyers should consent to having magistrate judges handle more cases, said they were disturbed that barely more than a dozen attorneys showed up. “We’re concerned even about this turnout for two (district) judges speaking,” said U.S. District Court Judge Charlotte N. Sweeney at a…