07/22/2020
People are curious what’s going on in downtown Portland. The hotbed of protest activity centers on the relatively new (1997) Mark Hatfield federal courthouse and the not-so-new (1983) Multnomah County Justice Center, which houses the Portland Police on the upper floors, county jail on the windowless middle floors; and a handful of courtrooms on the street level, used for criminal proceedings. The brand new (2020) Multnomah County Courthouse (on the west end of the Hawthorne Bridge) is not yet open, and public tours have been postponed. The new date set for its opening is August 24th. They need to fine-tune for Covid (think plexiglass). (The old Courthouse, a 1930ish earthquake-unsafe structure, at 1021 SW 4th, eventually will be torn down.)
The Hatfield federal courthouse which is under siege houses the federal judges for the District of Oregon and their staffs. (There is an old federal courthouse in operation, named for Gus Solomon, which houses the U.S. Bankruptcy Court hearings, on SW Broadway near Nordstrom’s.)
The Hatfield federal courthouse currently under siege is part of the enormous 9th Circuit, which includes all the Western States, from Montana to California, Arizona, Alaska and Hawaii. Each Oregon federal judge occupies half a floor (the courtrooms are on the lower floors.) Federal courts have exclusive jurisdiction in certain things (e.g, Admiralty, Banking, Bankruptcy, Copyrights, and Immigration, and concurrent jurisdiction with state courts in disputes over a minimum dollar between citizens of different states. Ask me if you want the mnemonic device I made up in law school...) Civil rights violations and many crimes are prosecuted under either federal or state statutes as well. A lawyer can choose to file many civil cases either in state or federal court. The federal judges are appointed by the President for life (they must be confirmed by the Senate). Federal courts don’t handle things like traffic violations or domestic relations.
. Racial injustice is perpetrated throughout the courts and civil governmentsl systems. Oregonians are powerful advocates against injustice, of which there is plenty!
Arguments were held 7/22 in the lawsuit against the federal “Trump troops” filed by Oregon’s wonderful AG Ellen Rosenblum. My guess is the court will grant the injunction. Since the ongoing destruction is to their own courthouse, the Oregon federal judges will have to put aside their personal feelings to appear unbiased, but they should be able to see the larger picture and see the solution. In my opinion PPD needs to get out of the way; and the fed militias are overreaching. The property destruction should stop, but not at the risk of human injury and death. Portland is a peace-loving place and we will have peace with our neighbors, rich or poor, of every race, heritage and gender. But we have work to do.
Finally, as a last comment on the local federal courts, the tiny historic Pioneer Courthouse, in Pioneer Courthouse Square, is where federal appellate court hearings are sometimes held.
