Primary Source: Weekly Legislative and Litigation Updates from California Justice Center (1/20/25-1/27/25)
What a week.
1. Eaton Fire Litigation Update
Issues: Inverse Condemnation, Restraining Order, Sealed Evidence
In Iglesias v. Southern California Edison (LASC Case No. 25NNCV00200), the court issued a temporary restraining order to produce and preserve evidence related to the point of origin of the Eaton fire.
Plaintiffs allege in their status report that Edison is deliberately misleading the public regarding the cause of the fire and is trying to seal the evidence so the public cannot see it.
New video shows arcing on Edison equipment followed by the fire igniting underneath the tower.
This is Edison’s MO in litigation. They do not want evidence of starting fires in the public record. So we continue to experience destruction from fires caused by power lines. Wash, rinse, repeat.
2. Palisades Fire Litigation Update
Issues: Inverse Condemnation, “Toxic Ash”
Reality television stars Spencer and Heidi Pratt filed a lawsuit against LADWP making similar allegations to those made in pending lawsuits.
There is still no publicly available evidence pointing to a cause of this fire.
Over the weekend, a PR blitz attempted to halt the reopening of Canyon Charter elementary by alleging the presence of “toxic ash” makes Canyon Charter similar to the 9/11 rubble. Media outlets cited “anonymous scared parents” and made hyperbolic statements regarding the campus, but provided no evidence that Canyon Charter is any more toxic than thousands of other schools in Los Angeles.
After enduring egregious violations of our civil liberties throughout the covid state of emergency, we should never allow fear to cloud our judgment, and always push for a rational weighing of harms versus benefits before accepting any government mandates or policy. Serious harm results when people allow fear to cloud their judgment and act reflexively without evidence.
3. Public Health Fire-Related Orders
Issues: No Debris Removal Without HazMat Inspection and Government Approval, Blower Ban (Revised!)
Los Angeles County Department of Public Health issued an order prohibiting removal of fire debris without a hazardous materials inspection conducted by a government agency. Despite this and the statement by LA County Public Works Director Mark Pestrella that debris removal would take 18 months, Karen Bass assured President Trump that she had cut all the red tape and that people would be able to return home and start rebuilding.
The LA County Department of Public Health ban on leaf blowers is now limited to the fire perimeter. There is a narc line to report your friends and neighbors, just like covid days.
4. Mae M. v. Komrosky (AKA Mae v. Schwartz) (4th Appellate District Case No. G064332)
Issues: Briefing Ordered re: Mootness
The Court ordered the parties to submit briefs by February 5, 2025 regarding whether any part of the case is moot due to the enactment of AB 1955, which purports to prohibit parental notification policies.
Oral argument remains on calendar for February 20.
5. Mahmoud v. Taylor, SCOTUS Case No. 24-297
Issues: Cert Granted, First Amendment Right to Opt Out of Instruction that Conflicts with Religious Beliefs
The Supreme Court will hear Mahmoud v. Taylor, which asks: “Do public schools burden parents’ religious exercise when they compel elementary school children to participate in instruction on gender and sexuality against their parents’ religious convictions and without notice or opportunity to opt out?”
A diverse group of religious parents in Montgomery County, Maryland is asking the Court to restore their right to opt their children out of storybooks that push one-sided ideology on gender and sexuality.
The parents contend that requiring their children to participate in instruction that violates their religious beliefs violates their First Amendment right to freely exercise their religion.
6. Trump Executive Orders
Issues: Border Security, Cartels = Terrorists, Gender Ideology, National Security and Public Safety Threats, Merit versus DEI, etc.
It would be easier to list the topics that aren’t included.
PROTECTING THE AMERICAN PEOPLE AGAINST INVASION: Trump is targeting jurisdictions with sanctuary laws and threatening to pull their federal funding.
Sec. 17. Sanctuary Jurisdictions. “The Attorney General and the Secretary of Homeland Security shall, to the maximum extent possible under law, evaluate and undertake any lawful actions to ensure that so-called “sanctuary” jurisdictions, which seek to interfere with the lawful exercise of Federal law enforcement operations, do not receive access to Federal funds. Further, the Attorney General and the Secretary of Homeland Security shall evaluate and undertake any other lawful actions, criminal or civil, that they deem warranted based on any such jurisdiction’s practices that interfere with the enforcement of Federal law.”
Schools, cities, and states, including California, are on notice.
On this note, Huntington Beach declared itself a non-sanctuary city, in addition to suing California over its sanctuary law.
DESIGNATING CARTELS AND OTHER ORGANIZATIONS AS FOREIGN TERRORIST ORGANIZATIONS AND SPECIALLY DESIGNATED GLOBAL TERRORISTS and PROTECTING THE UNITED STATES FROM FOREIGN TERRORISTS AND OTHER NATIONAL SECURITY AND PUBLIC SAFETY THREATS (Finally treating the border crisis as the public safety threat that it is.)
“The Cartels have engaged in a campaign of violence and terror throughout the Western Hemisphere that has not only destabilized countries with significant importance for our national interests but also flooded the United States with deadly drugs, violent criminals, and vicious gangs…
“It is the policy of the United States to ensure the total elimination of these organizations’ presence in the United States and their ability to threaten the territory, safety, and security of the United States through their extraterritorial command-and-control structures, thereby protecting the American people and the territorial integrity of the United States.”
“To protect Americans, the United States must be vigilant during the visa-issuance process to ensure that those aliens approved for admission into the United States do not intend to harm Americans or our national interests. More importantly, the United States must identify them before their admission or entry into the United States. And the United States must ensure that admitted aliens and aliens otherwise already present in the United States do not bear hostile attitudes toward its citizens, culture, government, institutions, or founding principles, and do not advocate for, aid, or support designated foreign terrorists and other threats to our national security.”
ICE is posting daily updates and sending daily deportation flights.
Non-citizens supporting designated foreign terrorist groups are at risk of deportation.
DEFENDING WOMEN FROM GENDER IDEOLOGY EXTREMISM AND RESTORING BIOLOGICAL TRUTH TO THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT (A sane and logical interpretation of Title IX, no more men in women’s prisons, protect children from irreversible harm, return to common sense.)
“The erasure of sex in language and policy has a corrosive impact not just on women but on the validity of the entire American system. Basing Federal policy on truth is critical to scientific inquiry, public safety, morale, and trust in government itself.”
“Under my direction, the Executive Branch will enforce all sex-protective laws to promote this reality, and the following definitions shall govern all Executive interpretation of and application of Federal law and administration policy:… “Sex” shall refer to an individual’s immutable biological classification as either male or female. “Sex” is not a synonym for and does not include the concept of “gender identity.””
““Gender ideology” replaces the biological category of sex with an ever-shifting concept of self-assessed gender identity, permitting the false claim that males can identify as and thus become women and vice versa, and requiring all institutions of society to regard this false claim as true. Gender ideology includes the idea that there is a vast spectrum of genders that are disconnected from one’s sex. Gender ideology is internally inconsistent, in that it diminishes sex as an identifiable or useful category but nevertheless maintains that it is possible for a person to be born in the wrong sexed body.”
“Federal funds shall not be used to promote gender ideology. Each agency shall assess grant conditions and grantee preferences and ensure grant funds do not promote gender ideology.”
“Each agency head shall promptly rescind all guidance documents inconsistent with the requirements of this order or the Attorney General’s guidance issued pursuant to this order, or rescind such parts of such documents that are inconsistent in such manner.”
This order explicitly states that males will not be allowed in female prisons. The Independent Women’s Forum wrote a detailed report regarding rape and sexual assault committed by males in women’s prisons.
ENDING ILLEGAL DISCRIMINATION AND RESTORING MERIT-BASED OPPORTUNITY and ENDING RADICAL AND WASTEFUL GOVERNMENT DEI PROGRAMS AND PREFERENCING
No more discrimination on the basis of race or proxies for race. The UC System is on notice.
The Trump Administration will prioritize compliance with Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. President and Fellows of Harvard College, 600 U.S. 181 (2023).
“It is the policy of the United States to protect the civil rights of all Americans and to promote individual initiative, excellence, and hard work. I therefore order all executive departments and agencies (agencies) to terminate all discriminatory and illegal preferences, mandates, policies, programs, activities, guidance, regulations, enforcement actions, consent orders, and requirements. I further order all agencies to enforce our longstanding civil-rights laws and to combat illegal private-sector DEI preferences, mandates, policies, programs, and activities.”
