Saturday, August 1, 2015

Judge Blocks Release of Planned Parenthood Videos


Judge Blocks Release of Planned Parenthood Videos
Saturday, 01 Aug 2015 08:31 AM
A federal judge blocked the release of any recordings made at meetings of an abortion providers' association by an anti-abortion group that previously revealed secretly recorded videos of a Planned Parenthood leader.

Judge William Orrick in San Francisco on Friday issued a temporary restraining order against the Center for Medical Progress hours after the order was requested by the National Abortion Federation.

In his three-page order, Orrick said the federation would likely suffer irreparable injury absent a temporary restraining order "in the form of harassment, intimidation, violence, invasion of privacy, and injury to reputation."

The National Abortion Federation sued in federal court in San Francisco, alleging the Center for Medical Progress infiltrated its meetings and recorded its members. The group says release of any audio or video would put members in danger.

"The safety and security of our members is our top priority," Vicki Saporta, association president and CEO, said in a statement. "That security has been compromised by the illegal activities of a group with ties to those who believe it is justifiable to murder abortion providers."

David Daleiden, a leader of the Center for Medical Progress who is also named in the suit, said in a statement that Planned Parenthood and its allies were trying to silence the group and suppress investigative journalism.

"The Center for Medical Progress follows all applicable laws in the course of our investigative journalism work and will contest all attempts from Planned Parenthood and their allies to silence our First Amendment rights," he said.

The center has released several secretly recorded videos that have riled anti-abortion activists, including one Thursday of a Planned Parenthood doctor in Colorado. It has accused Planned Parenthood of selling fetal tissue for profit, which is illegal, and Republicans in Congress have begun discussing cutting off funding for the organization.

The undercover video released Thursday shows Dr. Savita Ginde, vice president of Denver-based Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains, discussing prices of aborted fetal remains, the center says. Planned Parenthood issued a statement calling the video "misleading and deceptively edited."

An earlier video shows Dr. Deborah Nucatola, Planned Parenthood's senior director of medical services, describing techniques for obtaining fetal body parts for research. She spoke over lunch with activists posing as potential buyers from a human biologics company.

Planned Parenthood says it abides by a law that allows providers to be reimbursed for the costs of processing tissue donated by women who have had abortions. The payments cited by Planned Parenthood officials in some of the videos range from $30 to $100 per specimen, and the organization has subsequently confirmed that is the general range, although there is no fixed price list.

In Friday's lawsuit, the National Abortion Federation alleges that the center created a fake company to get into the federation's annual meetings in 2014 and 2015 and then recorded its members with the goal of smearing abortion-rights supporters.

John Nockleby, a professor at Loyola Law School and expert in privacy law, said California privacy law is stricter than some other states. To record a confidential communication in California, all parties participating in it must agree to the recording.

The National Abortion Federation has shown a strong likelihood of prevailing on its argument that the Center for Medical Privacy invaded its privacy, he said.

The National Abortion Federation "made it clear both in its written documents and also all kinds of other releases how important it was that everything about the meeting be confidential," he said.

Orrick on Friday also blocked the Center for Medical Progress from releasing the dates of any of the National Abortion Federation's future meetings and the names and addresses of its members.

A California court this week issued a temporary restraining order blocking the Center for Medical Progress from releasing any video of leaders of StemExpress, a California company that provides fetal tissue to researchers.

In one of the previously aired videos, a woman identified as a former StemExpress phlebotomist describes drawing blood and dissecting dead fetuses.

Associated Press National Writer David Crary in New York and writer P. Solomon Banda in Denver contributed to this report.

William Horsley Orrick, III (born May 15, 1953) is a United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. He formerly served as a Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Civil Division of the United States Department of Justice.
Biography
Orrick was born in San Francisco, California on May 15, 1953.[1][2] He received his Bachelor of Arts cum laude, from Yale University in 1976. He received his Juris Doctorate cum laude, from Boston College Law School in 1979. After graduating, he worked for the Georgia Legal Services Program from 1979 to 1984. He joined the San Francisco law firm of Coblentz, Patch, Duffy & Bass LLP in 1984 and continued there for twenty five years, becoming a partner in 1988. From June 2009 to June 2010, he served as counselor to the Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Division of the United States Department of Justice. From 2010 to 2012, he served as a Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Civil Division.[3] His father, William H. Orrick, Jr., was a United States District Judge for the Northern District of California and served as Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Division in the Kennedy Administration. He briefly rejoined Coblentz, Patch, Duffy & Bass LLP as special counsel, before accepting appointment to District Court.
Federal judicial service
On June 11, 2012, President Obama nominated Orrick to be a United States District Judge for the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, to the seat vacated by Judge Charles R. Breyer, who took senior status on December 31, 2011.[4] The Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing on his nomination on July 11, 2012, and reported it to the floor on August 2, 2012.[5] On January 2, 2013, his nomination was returned to the President, due to the adjournment sine die of the Senate.
On January 3, 2013, he was renominated to the same office. His nomination was reported by the Senate Judiciary Committee on February 28, 2013, by a vote of 11 ayes to 7 nays, mostly along party lines, except that Republican Senator Jeff Flake voted aye.[6]
The U.S. Senate confirmed his nomination on May 15, 2013, by a vote of 56 ayes to 41 nays.[7] He received his commission on May 16, 2013.

San Francisco
Dianne Feinstein was the mayor of San Francisco (CA), is a U.S. Senate senator, married to Richard C. Blum, and a member of the Alfalfa Club.

Note: Richard C. Blum is married to Senator Dianne Feinstein, an Economic Advisory Council member for the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, a director & former chairman for the CBRE Group, Inc., and a regent at the University of California.
Frederic V. Malek is a director at the CBRE Group, Inc., and a member of the Alfalfa Club.
Michael R. Bloomberg is a member of the Alfalfa Club, and Howard Wolfson is his adviser.
Howard Wolfson is Michael R. Bloomberg’s adviser, married to Terri McCullough, and was a partner at the Glover Park Group.
Terri McCullough is married to Howard Wolfson, and Nancy Pelosi’s chief of staff.
Nancy Pelosi’s chief of staff is Terri McCullough, the speaker for the CA congressional delegation, Cecile Richards was her deputy chief of staff, and was invited to George Soros’s 2013 wedding reception.
CA congressional delegation is the delegation for the State of California.
Cecile Richards was Nancy Pelosi’s deputy chief of staff, and is the president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America.
Open Society Foundations was a funder for the Planned Parenthood Federation of America.
George Soros is the founder & chairman for the Open Society Foundations, Daisy M. Soros’s brother-in-law, was married in 2013, the chairman for the Foundation to Promote Open Society.
Foundation to Promote Open Society was a funder for the NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund.
Glover Park Group is the lobby firm for the Planned Parenthood Federation of America.
Elizabeth Engel is a lobbyist for the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, and a managing director for the Glover Park Group.
Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld, LLP is the lobby firm for the Glover Park Group.
Vernon E. Jordan Jr. is a senior counsel for Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld, LLP, Valerie B. Jarrett’s great uncle, a director at the American Friends of Bilderberg (think tank), a senior director at the NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund, and a 2008 Bilderberg conference participant (think tank).
William K. Coblentz was a senior director at the NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund, a senior partner at Coblentz, Patch, Duffy & Bass, the chairman for the University of California, and the attorney & friend of Randolph A. Hearst.
William H. Orrick is a partner at Coblentz, Patch, Duffy & Bass, was a fundraiser for the 2008 Barack Obama presidential campaign, nominated by Barack Obama, and his father was William H. Orrick, Jr.
William Horsley Orrick, Jr.
He was the judge in the Patty Hearst sentencing in 1976.
Patty Hearst’s sentencing judge was William Horsley Orrick, Jr., a kidnap victim-turned member of the Symbionese Liberation Army, and Randolph A. Hearst’s daughter.
Randolph A. Hearst was Patty Hearst’s father, William K. Coblentz was his attorney & friend, and married to Veronica DeGruyter Beracasa de Uribe Hearst.
Veronica DeGruyter Beracasa de Uribe Hearst was married to Randolph A. Hearst, and is a leader’s council member for the Breast Cancer Research Foundation.
Daisy M. Soros is a leader’s council member for the Breast Cancer Research Foundation, and George Soros’s sister-in-law.

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