Weekly Update from Julie Hamill at the California Justice Center 1.6.25 - 1.12.25

Read full article with clickable links here: https://www.justiceca.com/blog/primary-sou...

This has been a heavy week for California. As I write, the Palisades Fire has burned 21,713 acres and the Eaton Fire has burned 14,117 acres. Over 10,000 structures have been destroyed, and at least 24 people have died and many are missing. The damage is incomprehensible.

We still do not know exactly what started the fires. Hurricane-force Santa Ana winds spread the fires rapidly. By the time I went to bed on Tuesday, all firefighting air support was grounded due to high winds and no water was coming out of the hydrants in Pacific Palisades. Needless to say it was a sleepless night. The policy and leadership failures that led to incomprehensible levels of destruction will be laid bare over the next few weeks. Empty reservoirs, non-functioning hydrants, an absent Mayor, repeated erroneous evacuation alerts, and heavily reduced public safety budgets are unforced human errors that must be reckoned with. There will be more to come from me on these issues.

For now, I will be tracking legislative and litigation updates relevant to California Justice Center’s mission, and sharing weekly posts here to provide you with direct access to primary sources and easy to follow summaries of the most important legal issues impacting Californians.

Litigation Updates
1. (3:21:21) ExxonMobil v. Bonta (E.D. Texas Case No. 25-cv-00011)
Issues: Rob Bonta’s Abuse of Public Trust, Defamation, Lawfare

2. (4:45:04) Mirabelli v. Olson (S.D. California Case No. 23-cv-0768)
Issues: Parental Rights, Free Speech

3. (5:43:18) Mae M. v. Komrosky (AKA Mae v. Schwartz) (4th Appellate District Case No. G064332)
Issues: Parental Notification Policies, Critical Race Theory, Union-Forced Political Orthodoxy

4. (9:36:21) Huntington Beach v. Newsom (C.D. California Case No. 25-cv-00026)
Issues: Sanctuary Policies, Federal Preemption

5. (11:27:21) Title 9 Litigation Updates: Tennessee v. Cardona (E.D. Kentucky, Case No. 24-cv-00072)
Issues: Constitutionality of Biden Title 9 Rule

(12:47:02 ) Legislative Updates
Special session on “Trump-proofing” California