Tuesday May 19, 2009 18:59 Judge Martha Vázquez threat letter one. See docket entry 87.  Note bottom "Crooked" link describing Vázquez. Vázquez had no standing in Nojeh/NSA lawsuit n CIV 97-266 MCA/LFG at the time she issued threat. Judge Martha Vazquez threat letter two. Judge Martha Vázquez has failed, so far, to properly process official genocide criminal complaint affidavit against Brzezinski. "She's very bright and she knows how to adhere to the law ...." http://www.prosefights.org/nmlegal/vazquez/vazquez#supremecourt |
 Judge Vázquez Has Impressive Resume from PAGE Al any names for the Supreme Court. Bingaman; a Stanford Law School graduate, is not a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee. However, he said Monday that Vázquez would be a good choice. "Judge Vázquez is one of several eminently qualified judges in New Mexico who would be a great asset to the Supreme Court, if nominated," he said in a statement provided to the Journal. Vázquez has never met Clinton or Obama - she notes she's barred from participation in politics - although her husband, Española Mayor Joseph Maestas, appeared with then-presidential candidate Obama at a fall campaign rally. She had to watch it on TV. In 15-plus years on the bench and about five years as chief judge, Vázquez has earned a reputation for intelligence, hard work, attention to detail, an interest in finding creative solutions, and respect for the people who appear before her as well as the attorneys who represent them. Her added administrative duties of being chief judge may have contributed to delays, The Almanac of the Federal Judiciary noted in its 2008 summary. "Her only real problem is the slowness of some things. Everything is well done and legally sound, but it can take a long time," one lawyer was quoted as saying in Vázquez's entry. Immigrant beginnings Váquez grew up in an immigrant family in California, where she came to learn about deportations firsthand. She left to go to college, earning bachelor's and law degrees from the University of Notre Dame. She remains on the law school advisory council. Her Notre Dame Web page describes her volunteer work helping incarcerated Mexican nationals become literate and how Notre Dame influenced her. "The religious and ethical context in which classes were taught ... guided me and motivated me in the choices I have made as a lawyer.... The work I do in our jails to this day is motivated by my faith instilled by Notre Dame's commitment to justice, excellence, and compassion," she wrote. Until last week, when she reluctantly recused herself, Vázquez presided over a class-action lawsuit over conditions in the Bernalillo County jail. But she also has been active in seeking solutions to other enduring problems related to incarceration in the criminal justice system. Sensitive to difficulties faced by prospective Native
American jurors, she just finished taping a series of public service ads with
Navajo Nation President Joe Shirley Jr. encouraging their participation in the
jury system, said Federal Public Defender Steve McCue. During the height of
swine flu fears, she made sure that the only prisons taking immigration
detainees had adequate screening and medical facilities. 'Proved her mettle' Albuquerque attorney and former state Supreme Court Justice Paul Kennedy said he believes Vázquez "has proved her mettle. "I think the overall view at the courthouse is she's been a good chief judge," he said, noting that she has overseen construction of a new courthouse in Las Cruces while overseeing administrative changes and maintaining a caseload. "She's very bright and she knows how to adhere to the law, even though she might not like it," Kennedy said. According to The Almanac of the Federal Judiciary, the civil defense bar views Vázquez more warily than plaintiffs' attorneys. Former U.S. Attorney John J. Kelly, now back on the civil side handling business litigation, isn't so sure. "The stereotype is that she's pro-plaintiff in civil cases, but I think she's more nuanced than that," Kelly said. From her earliest decisions, he said, she expressed a respect for the Constitution and balanced the prerogatives of the prosecution and the rights of the defendant in criminal cases. "I would say that she has a superb judicial temperament and is as concerned and respectful and attentive to the needs of the least powerful, the. most disadvantaged members of society as well as the largest corporations," Kelly said. Fouratt said Váquez is a collaborative decision maker who has worked toward creative solutions in criminal justice, as a sentencing judge, he said she brings empathy to the work. "She never loses sight of the person on the business end of the indictment," Fouratt said, "or that that's the most important thing going on in that person's life at that time. And that's a really special gift for a judge to have." Journal reporter Michael Coleman contributed to this report
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| Sunday May 17, 2009 09:25 Martha Vazquez threat letter. County: Jail Case Judge Has Conflict Vázquez Asked To Recuse Herself http://www.prosefights.org/nmlegal/vazquez/vazquez#recuse2 |
| Judge Won't Preside Over
Jail Case . Public might question impartiality, Vázquez wrote in opinion BY Dan McKay Journal Staff Writer In a blistering 16-page opinion, the state's top federal judge on Friday accused Bernalillo County of hypocrisy and improper legal tactics. But Chief U.S. District Judge Martha Vázquez also agreed to grant the county's motion for disqualification: She will no longer preside over litigation alleging. jail inmates are kept in conditions that violate their constitutional rights. Vázquez, on the case since 1995, said that she isn't biased but that a reasonable person might question her impartiality. "While it is disappointing that the County's tactics are ultimately successful, the Court's foremost obligation is to promote public confidence in the integrity and independence of judges," she wrote. "This obligation outweighs the Court's obligation to quell inappropriate litigation tactics in this case." The county contended that Vázquez should recuse herself from the case because she had prejudged conditions inside the Downtown jail and shouldn't continue presiding over the lawsuit. The allegation came up because she had inspected conditions inside the Down town jail two years ago and reported complaints of sexual assault, inadequate medical care and other problems. That jail, wasn't part of the litigation when she visited, but it was added to the lawsuit this spring. The county also argued that Vázquez should recuse herself because her sister-in-law had been incarcerated in the county's main jail, where the jail director had allowed Vázquez to visit her. Vázquez said the county only raised the conflict argument after an adverse ruling. "The County's Motion is a blatant attempt to malign and discredit the Court in an effort to achieve its objective of having this Court removed from the present case," Vázquez wrote. She said the allegations made by the county's attorney, Marcus Rael Jr., who filed the disqualification motion, are "reckless and violate the New Mexico Rules of Professional Conduct." Bernalillo County's top attorney, Jeff Landers, said there was no violation. "We disagree with the court's position that the New Mexico Rules of Professional Conduct were violated," Landers said in a statement released by the county. "We appreciate that the court recognized that recusal was required in this case. The county, also said in court documents that it sought Vázquez's recusal based on the circumstances and the law - not as a tactical move. Vázquez said she wasn't given special treatment when she visited her sister-in-law. Jail regulations permit shift commanders to OK in-person visits, she said. She also said it's her duty as the chief federal judge to respond to complaints about the conditions in which federal inmates are kept. That's why she visited the Downtown jail, she said. Vázquez added that she had no way of knowing - partly because the county had concealed it from her - that the county had contracted to house federal prisoners at the Downtown jail and that it would later become part of the lawsuit. Furthermore, Vázquez said that, in her initial visit to the Downtown jail, she "witnessed the most deplorable conditions (she) had ever encountered at a detention facility." Inmate attorneys have argued that there was no need for
Vázquez to recuse herself. They said her knowledge of the case was
valuable and that it would take a long time for another judge to become
familiar with the complex litigation. |
| Friday April 24, 2009 15:44 Time to try to get the Air Force to do its job on the genocide matter with some help from Thomas Reed. We establish technical rapport with Mr Reed and Mr Stillman. The Physics of Nuclear Weapon Design. PNM solar HEAT RATE proposal submitted. Martha Vazquez threat letter. http://www.prosefights.org/nmlegal/vazquez/vazquez#recuse |
| County: Jail Case Judge Has
Conflict Vázquez Asked To Recuse Herself Copyright © 2009 Albuquerque Journal By Scott Sandlin Bernalillo County on Tuesday asked the judge overseeing a class action lawsuit over jail conditions to recuse herself - a move the county acknowledges is both serious and rare. The county contends Chief U.S. District Judge Martha
Vázquez has "prejudged" issues involving inmate rights and reached her
conclusions by independently investigating or having her staff gather evidence
from individuals, including "a high-ranking county official."
Vázquez said Wednesday that she is reviewing the 25-page motion and accompanying 30 exhibits. She said she could rule by the end of next week, but otherwise declined comment. The federal code says judges must disqualify themselves when their impartiality might reason ably be questioned, or when the judge has a personal bias or prejudice concerning a party or has personal knowledge of disputed evidentiary facts. It also specifies recusal if the judge or the judge's spouse "or a person within the third degree of relationship to either of them" is a party to to the proceeding. Recusal motions are hard to win. It is up to the judge to
decide whether the motion has merit. Jail director Ron Torres decided it was extraordinary to have a sitting federal judge visiting an inmate, the county motion says, and told his staff to take the judge and her husband immediately to visit the inmate. Vázquez and Maestas visited his sister in the infirmary for about 30 minutes before leaving. In an affidavit, Torres says he knew Vázquez was the inmate's sister-in-law because Torres' wife volunteered for Maestas' mayoral campaign. The county's request was filed on the heels of the judge's March 31 order withdrawing her approval of two 2005 settlement agreements. The county says that it is asking her to disqualify herself based on the circumstances and the law, and that the recusal request is not a tactical move. At least one of the inmate attorneys disagreed. Peter Cubra, who represents inmates with mental health problems, noted that the county waited two years to complain about Vázquez's jail visit. "It cannot be a coincidence that they filed a motion right after a ruling they did not like. Their motion has no merit," he said. The so-called McClendon class action lawsuit was prompted by allegations of crowding and constitutional violations stemming from the crowding at the jail. Major parts of the lawsuits, such as governing operations, medical conditions and mental health care, were settled a decade later, but the agreements applied only to the huge, new West Side facility. The jail was completed in 2003 and is supposed to house 2,236 inmates but typically houses 2,600 to 2,700. Downtown jail The settlement agreements outlined steps by which the litigation could be resolved - with auditors judging progress and signing off on compliance. The reopening of the old Downtown jail as a federal contract facility, however, created a new set of problems. The county contracted with the federal government to house federal detainees at what was renamed the Regional Corrections Center and hired Cornell Corrections to operate it. But Vázquez, in a 22-page order rescinding her previous approval of the settlements, said the court essentially was blindsided by the fact that it was the county that was the contractor on the Downtown jail. She said the county "perpetuated the misimpression that Cornell was the party to the contract with the federal government," and that was significant because it meant hundreds of inmates were excluded from the settlement. The county says Vázquez's comments in her March 31 order "show she has prejudged a fundamental issue in this case: whether the inmates or detainees in the RCC are being afforded fundamental civil rights while incarcerated." Inmate lawyers have 15 days to file a response.
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