Homeland Security hires outside lawyers for potential impeachment
WASHINGTON — The Department of Homeland Security recently hired outside counsel to prepare for potential impeachment proceedings, as House Republicans ramp up calls to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas for his handling of the southwest border.
The department entered into a contract with New York-based law firm Debevoise & Plimpton to represent Mayorkas in impeachment-related matters, in his official capacity, according to a DHS official who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
The firm was selected because of its attorneys’ experience with impeachment proceedings, the official said. Recently, the firm’s attorneys represented the Democrat-controlled House in the second round of impeachment proceedings against former President Donald Trump.
The official also said the department opted to retain outside counsel because its own in-house legal staff did not have sufficient experience handling impeachment proceedings. It has been more than a century since the House last impeached a Cabinet secretary.
DHS confirmed the agency has retained outside counsel, which comes as House Republicans heighten their criticism of Mayorkas for his response to record-high levels of migration at the U.S.-Mexico border.
—CQ-Roll Call
Texas attorney general's office, whistleblowers settle retaliation lawsuit
AUSTIN, Texas — The office of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has reached a settlement agreement with whistleblowers who alleged retaliation after they accused him of serious crimes.
Paxton, a Republican who was reelected last year, will apologize and the state will pay the whistleblowers $3.3 million, according to settlement documents filed Friday morning.
The agreement notes the settlement was mediated and is contingent “upon all necessary approvals for funding.” It is likely that the Texas Legislature will need to approve of and budget the money out of state funds.
The final settlement will include a line that states, “Paxton accepts that plaintiffs acted in a manner that they thought was right and apologizes for referring to them as ‘rogue employees.’” His office will also delete a press release criticizing the whistleblowers, all of whom served a top aides to Paxton.
The document states that entering in a settlement means there is no admission of “liability or fault” by any party.
The Dallas Morning News obtained a copy of the document from a party to the lawsuit. All four whistleblowers, who filed the lawsuit in late 2020, signed on to the agreement.
—The Dallas Morning News
Suspect in killings of 4 Idaho students fights motion to loosen gag order
BOISE, Idaho — The man accused of stabbing four University of Idaho students to death in November has objected to a motion from one of the victims’ families to appeal the gag order in his case.
The objection, filed Thursday, comes less than a week after Shanon Gray, the attorney representing the family of victim Kaylee Goncalves, filed a challenge in state court that said the gag order is too broad and places an undue burden on the families.
In the motion to appeal, Gray said the nondissemination order, commonly known as a gag order, “constitutes an intolerable prior restraint on free speech.”
Bryan Kohberger, 28, faces four counts of felony first-degree murder and a felony burglary charge in the Nov. 13 attack that killed Goncalves, 21, of Rathdrum; Madison Mogen, 21, of Coeur d’Alene; Xana Kernodle, 20, of Post Falls; and Ethan Chapin, 20, of Mount Vernon, Washington.
Kohberger’s defense team, Kootenai County public defender Anne Taylor and chief deputy litigator Jay Weston Logsdon, wrote in their objection to the family’s appeal of the gag order that the U.S. Supreme Court has determined certain parties’ First Amendment rights to free speech may be limited when exercising those rights would result in prejudice against the defendant.
—Idaho Statesman
Some closures along California Highway 1 lifting this weekend
SAN JOSE, Calif. — Over a month after the flurry of winter storms buffeted the Big Sur coastline, some road closures are being lifted on Highway 1 this weekend.
That is good news for the small community of central coast residents who have been left trapped between landslides on each side of the winding cliffside road’s southern half.
But drivers hoping to make the iconic north-south trip in the coming weeks – and potentially months – will have to cancel their plans, according to Caltrans.
Although two sections of the scenic highway are reopening Saturday and Sunday, the agency still needs to move an estimated 1 million cubic feet of dirt – equivalent to 11 Olympic size swimming pools – to replace a stretch of road fittingly called Paul’s Slide, near Limekiln State Park, where a devastating landslide split Highway 1 a month ago.
At the moment Caltrans has no time estimate for reopening this section of the road.
The bright side is that travelers from the Bay Area can get to the majority of Big Sur landmarks, including Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park and the Henry Miller Library, before hitting the dead end at Paul’s Slide.
—The Mercury News (San Jose, Calif.)
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