Too many Canadian judges are equally as stinky, in my experience. And some lie in rulings to protect frac’ers.
Think of the kids raped by priests et al, compare to money and other favours passing under the table from oil company upper management to judges sharing a wee dram at the Petroluem Club in Calgary.
Mario@ciancart Apr 21:
It’s called Corruption. Call it by its name.
TD@DavisLvsbks Apr 21:
Ruling against victims of sexual assault and protecting pedophile priests who are STILL working in schools
Leo Ines@LeoDevSol Apr 21:
This dude forgot that part of his oath that prohibits “grossly unethical conduct”
Eric B.@EricB_013 Apr 22:
He claims being active in the church cannot be a basis for recusal? So as long as you get a Catholic judge in New Orleans (what are the odds?), the church gets a free pass? Good times.
Molly NYC@Molly_NYC Apr 21:
Yet another Trump appointee who thinks he can substitute religiosity for integrity.
Judge stays on Catholic bankruptcy despite church donations by Jim Mustian, April 21, 2023
In this image from video provided by the U.S. Senate, Judge Greg Guidry speaks during a hearing for district court nominees held by the Senate Committee on the Judiciary in Washington, on Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019. Guidry donated tens of thousands of dollars to New Orleans’ Roman Catholic archdiocese and consistently ruled in favor of the church amid a contentious bankruptcy involving nearly 500 clergy sex abuse victims, The Associated Press found, an apparent conflict that could throw the case into disarray.(U.S. Senate via AP)
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A federal judge refused Friday to recuse himself from the New Orleans Roman Catholic bankruptcy after an Associated Press report that he donated tens of thousands of dollars to archdiocese charities and consistently ruled in favor of the church in the contentious case involving nearly 500 clergy sex abuse victims.
U.S. District Judge Greg Guidry told attorneys in the high-profile case that a panel of federal judges he asked to review the possible conflict determined no “reasonable person” would question his impartiality despite his contributions and longstanding ties to the archdiocese.
Guidry read from the opinion of the Washington-based Committee on Codes of Conduct, which noted that none of the charities he donated to “has been or is an actual party” in the bankruptcy and that Guidry’s eight years on the board of the archdiocese’s charitable arm ended more than a decade before the bankruptcy.
“Based upon that advice and based upon my certainty that I can be fair and impartial, I have decided not to recuse myself,” said Guidry, who oversees the bankruptcy in an appellate role.
Guidry’s announcement came hours after AP published its report and more than a week after it confronted him with its findings.
Several ethics experts told AP the 62-year-old jurist should step aside from the case to avoid the appearance of conflict, even if it threatened to send the complex, three-year bankruptcy into disarray with a slew of new hearings and appeals of his decisions.
“It would create a mess and a cloud of suspicion over every ruling he’s made,” said Keith Swisher, a professor of legal ethics at the University of Arizona, describing the judge’s donations as “more like fire than smoke.”
AP’s reporting on Guidry and other judges in the New Orleans bankruptcy underscores how tightly woven the church is in the city’s power structure, a coziness perhaps best exemplified when executives of the NFL’s New Orleans Saints secretly advised the archdiocese on public relations messaging at the height of its clergy abuse crisis.
It also comes at a fraught moment when attorneys in the bankruptcy are seeking to unseal a trove of thousands of secret church documents produced by lawsuits and an ongoing FBI investigation of clergy abuse in New Orleans going back decades. Guidry had rebuffed at least one such request to unseal some of the documents.
AP’s review of campaign-finance records found that Guidry, since being nominated to the federal bench in 2019 by then-President Donald Trump, has given nearly $50,000 to local Catholic charities from leftover contributions he received after serving 10 years as a Louisiana Supreme Court justice.
Most of that giving, $36,000 of it, came in the months after the archdiocese sought Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in May 2020 amid a crush of sexual abuse lawsuits. That included a $12,000 donation to the archdiocese’s Catholic Community Foundation in September 2020 on the same day of a series of filings in the bankruptcy, and a $14,000 donation to the same charity in July of the following year.
But the advisory opinion Guidry cited Friday noted that his contributions to the Catholic charities amounted to less than 25 percent of the campaign funds he had available to donate. It also said “simply participating as a faithful participant in the life of your parish and the archdiocese of which it is a part cannot amount to a reasonable basis for questioning impartiality in litigation involving the church.”
Guidry’s philanthropy over the years also appears to include private donations. Newsletters issued by Catholic Charities of New Orleans, the charitable arm of the archdiocese, recognized Guidry and his wife among its donors for unspecified contributions, in 2017 listing both the judge and his campaign. The judge previously provided pro bono services and served as a board member for Catholic Charities between 2000 and 2008, a time when the archdiocese was navigating an earlier wave of sex abuse lawsuits.
Advising the pedophile church to file for bankruptcy to avoid accountability for their endless crimes? Stinks of just another vile judicial circle jerk.Catholic Charities was involved in at least one multimillion-dollar settlement to victims beaten and sexually abused at two local orphanages.
Within a year of his most recent contributions, Guidry began issuing rulings that altered the momentum of the bankruptcy and benefited the archdiocese.
Strike out “lawyer” in the cartoon below, replace it with “judge”
Guidry upheld the removal of several members from a committee of victims seeking compensation from the church. Those plaintiffs repeatedly complained about a lack of transparency in the case and argued that the archdiocese’s primary reason for seeking the legal protection was to minimize payouts. The Moody’s rating agency found that the archdiocese sought bankruptcy despite having “significant financial reserves, with spendable cash and investments of over $160 million.
And just last month, Guidry affirmed a $400,000 sanction against Richard Trahant, a veteran attorney for clergy abuse victims who was accused of violating a sweeping confidentiality order when he warned a local principal that his school had hired a priest who admitted to sex abuse. Trahant, who declined to comment, has become a prominent adversary of the archdiocese, drawing attention to what he calls a conspiracy by top church officials in New Orleans to cover up clergy abuse.
Charles Geyh, a professor at Indiana University who studies judicial ethics, said Guidry’s generous donations and close ties to the church are clearly reasons to question his ability to be a fair referee.
“Not only has the judge made significant financial contributions to a church whose archdiocese is a party in litigation before him, but those contributions are inextricably linked to his status as a judge,” Geyh said. “The judge chose to donate the overflow of campaign funds generated to further his professional life as a judge to further his religious life in the church, which implies a connection in the judge’s mind between his religious and professional identities.”
In heavily Catholic New Orleans, Guidry is far from the only federal judge with longstanding ties to the archdiocese. Several of Guidry’s colleagues have recused themselves from the bankruptcy or related litigation. They include U.S. District Judge Wendy Vitter, who for years worked as general counsel for the archdiocese, defending the church against a cascade of sex abuse claims before Trump nominated her to the federal bench in 2018. Another federal judge, Ivan Lemelle, serves on the board of the Catholic Community Foundation.
Yet another, U.S. District Judge Jay Zainey recused himself from cases related to the bankruptcy after publicly acknowledging the role he played in the behind-the-scenes media relations campaign that executives of the New Orleans Saints did for the archdiocese in 2018 and 2019. At the time, Zainey told The Times-Picayune he would recuse himself from future church-related cases.
But less than a year ago, Zainey quietly struck down a Louisiana law, vigorously opposed by the archdiocese, that created a so called look-back window allowing victims of sexual abuse to sue the church and other institutions no matter how long ago the alleged abuse took place. Zainey didn’t respond to a request for comment.
“These are federal judges who are incredibly active in different ministries throughout the archdiocese,” said James Adams, a past president of the Catholic Community Foundation who was abused by a priest as a fifth-grader in 1980. “I’m not saying they don’t do good works, but it certainly raises an eyebrow when they then have cases involving the Archdiocese of New Orleans.”
Jason Berry, an author who has written several books on clergy abuse and most recently a history of New Orleans, said the influence of the church on the court system in the city “stinks to high heaven.”
“The larger question here is whether justice has been compromised,” he said. “You’re talking about 500 people whose lives have been plundered, and that’s one thing many people don’t have a grasp of.”
US judge who ruled in favor of church in key abuse case donated to archdiocese, Greg Guidry gave the New Orleans church thousands of dollars and now refuses to step down from a case involving 500 victims by The Associated Press and Guardian staff, 21 Apr 2023, The Guardian
A federal judge donated tens of thousands of dollars to New Orleans’ Roman Catholic archdiocese and consistently ruled in favor of the church amid a contentious bankruptcy involving nearly 500 clergy sex abuse victims, an Associated Press investigation has found, but the judge won’t step down from the case.
Confronted with AP’s findings, which had not been previously reported, US district judge Greg Guidry abruptly convened attorneys on a call last week to tell them his charitable giving “has been brought to my attention” and he would consider recusal from the high-profile bankruptcy he oversees in an appellate role.
“Naturally,” Guidry told them, “I will take no further action in this case until this question has been resolved.”
Guidry indicated he would seek guidance from the federal judiciary’s committee on codes of conduct. And in a separate hearing called on Friday, he told attorneys in the case that the committee had approved his continuing to handle appeals related to the bankruptcy.
The reporting by Jim Mustian of the AP on Guidry is only one example of how many links are shared by the New Orleans area’s legal establishment and the local archdiocese, which serves a region with a half-million Catholics and is the oldest to declare bankruptcy amid the clergy sex abuse crisis.
Several of Guidry’s colleagues have recused themselves from the bankruptcy or related litigation, including one who previously worked as the archdiocese’s general counsel, another who has served on a non-profit which supports numerous archdiocesan ministries, and one who acknowledged a role in behind-the-scenes media relations campaigns that executives of the New Orleans Saints football team helped the archdiocese mount after reporting on church sex abuse cases in 2018 and 2019.
The third of those judges last year, though, struck down a Louisiana law which allowed sexual abuse victims to sue the church and other institutions no matter how many years earlier the alleged molestation took place.
Meanwhile, attorneys representing abuse victims in the bankruptcy are seeking to unseal thousands of secret church documents produced as evidence in lawsuits and in an ongoing federal law enforcement investigation of clergy abuse in New Orleans going back decades. Agents involved in that investigation last year spoke with a retired Catholic priest from New Orleans named Lawrence Hecker who has been publicly accused of molesting “countless” children, but he has not been charged with any crimes.
A local federal magistrate, Michael North, ruled against a request to unseal a deposition of Hecker that was taken in a lawsuit accusing him of molestation, even though North’s wife served on a board that manages an archdiocesan-owned healthcare system. North later recused himself, without elaborating on why.
Guidry, for his part, had denied at least one request to unseal some secret church documents. He also recently upheld a $400,000 fine against local attorney Richard Trahant, who represents clergy abuse victims and was accused of violating a confidentiality order when he warned a local principal that his school was employing a priest, Paul Hart, who admitted to sexually molesting a teenaged girl. Hart died last year in November.
Ethics experts had told the AP that Guidry, 62, should recuse himself from handling church bankruptcy appeals to avoid an appearance of a conflict of interest, even if it could significantly delay a proceeding that was initiated in May 2020. But Guidry made clear on Friday he has no intention of doing that, though it remains to be seen if that is the final word on the matter.
AP’s review of campaign finance records found that Guidry, since being nominated to the federal bench in 2019 by the Donald Trump White House, has given nearly $50,000 to local Catholic charities from leftover contributions he received after serving 10 years as a Louisiana state supreme court justice.
Most of that giving, $36,000 of it, came in the months after the archdiocese sought Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection amid a crush of sexual abuse lawsuits. That included a $12,000 donation to the archdiocese’s Catholic Community Foundation in September 2020 on the same day as a series of filings in the bankruptcy, and a $14,000 donation to the same charity in July of the following year.
But Guidry’s philanthropy over the years also appears to include private donations. Newsletters issued by Catholic Charities of New Orleans, the charitable arm of the archdiocese, recognized Guidry and his wife among its donors for unspecified contributions, in 2017 listing both the judge and his campaign.
The judge previously provided pro bono services and served as a board member for Catholic Charities between 2000 and 2008, a time when the archdiocese was navigating an earlier wave of sexual abuse lawsuits. Catholic Charities was involved in at least one multimillion-dollar settlement to victims beaten and sexually abused at two local orphanages.
Ramon Antonio Vargas contributed reporting
Of course J Guidry is a Trump pick! Another member of the GOP Rape Religion Klan? Greg Guidry, Louisiana Supreme Court judge, picked by Donald Trump for federal court by Drew Broach, NOLA.com, The Times-Picayune, Jan 17, 2019
President Donald Trump plans to nominate Associate Justice Greg Guidry of the Louisiana Supreme Court for a seat on the U.S. District Court in New Orleans, the White House announced Wednesday (Jan. 16). A Republican, Guidry grew up in West Jefferson and now lives near Covington.
Guidry was elected to the Supreme Court in 2008 and re-elected without opposition last year. Previously he served on the state’s 24th Judicial District Court and 5th Circuit Court of Appeal, both in Gretna.
Before taking the bench, he worked as an assistant Louisiana attorney general and assistant U.S. attorney in New Orleans, where he headed the office’s violent crime and drug units and was the in-house ethics officer. He holds bachelor and law degrees from Louisiana State University.
The nomination is subject to Senate confirmation. Louisiana’s U.S. senators, both Republicans, praised Trump’s choice.
“Justice Guidry is exceptionally qualified for this position,” Sen. Bill Cassidy said. “He has served our state well for decades as both as a trial and appellate judge in addition to being a former federal prosecutor. With his experience, I am confident he will serve the catholic court, oopsie daisy, church with distinction on the Eastern District of Louisiana Court.”
“I congratulate Justice Guidry on his nomination to a federal judgeship in the Eastern District,” said Sen. John Kennedy, a member of the Judiciary Committee that will vet the nomination. “Justice Guidry has distinguished himself as a Louisiana Supreme Court justice and a prosecutor during a lengthy legal career. I look forward to learning more about him as he goes through the nomination process.”
Refer also to:
Bankruptcy is not a negative, it rewards raping churches and corporations by letting them walk from their crimes, sleazily and secretly hide/transfer rich assets to a new entity to start over fresh, sometimes under a new name/location. Sometimes judges even give the bankrupt $billions that don’t exist while letting them walk from billions in debts and let them keep raping under existing corporate structure.
Too many churches are incredibly rich money laundering corporations which are not audited and do not pay taxes, and are protected by the rape-enabling legal-judicial industry. After courts (that the citizenry pays for) order bankruptcy, churches just shuffle their billions in assets and raping priests, bishops, cardinals, popes et al walk down the street (just like raping oil, gas and frac companies) to start raping all over again – and again and again and again. The nastiest rape enablers are the parishioners eternally plunking their savings into donation plates conned into thinking they’ll get to heaven via giving money and sex trading their kids. As evil a set up as court ordered bankruptcies by oil, gas and frac companies to escape clean up after they rape communities and families for billions in profits.
Pedophile priests, bishops, cardinals, popes and their abusive rape-enabling parishioners need to be charged for their sex trade crimes and sent to prison, not protected by judges allowing legal escape via settle ‘n gag and vulgar court-ordered/enhanced bankruptcies.