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me right now, watching tv instead of going to bed so i can get enough sleep to make it through pretrial motions in the civil suit about the confederate statues. 
i was originally very concerned about a monumental (awful pun, so sorry) scheduling conflict, with the statue civil suit AND the RAM federal criminal trial set for this coming week, but both cases ended up designated complex & rescheduled for later this year.
last time judge moore heard pretrial motions in this case, it took an entire day. i’m not optimistic for a quick & painless hearinWggR
the light snow has delayed the court a bit - it’ll open at 10:30 instead of 9, which of course was not noted on the docket! 👍
there is barely any snow & this isn’t noticed publicly anywhere that i can find, but according to the deputy clerk, the hearing has been pushed back to 1pm. if it’s anything like the last motions hearing, we’re not gonna get through it today.
ok, third time’s the charm, right? if the courthouse is still closed i’m just giving up for the day.
when will i learn? the judge said he expects the pretrial motions to last through the end of the day wednesday. this case was originally set for trial today through wednesday, so the time was already set aside for this case.
we’re doing a lot of arguing about what words mean and what legislators may have had in mind when they wrote laws that may or may not apply. one attorney defined the word “such” in the context of the statute.
we’ve adjourned for the day a little early so the plaintiff’s counsel can meet with the defense to ensure the revised version of the 2nd amended complaint is actually in accordance with the judge’s order coming out of the november motions hearing. (we’ve died and this is hell)
yesterday, judge moore said there have already been more motions filed in this case than any case he’d ever been involved in as a lawyer or a judge. pretrial motions are expected to continue all day today & tomorrow.
we heard 30 minutes of argument this morning, followed by what ended up being a two hour recess for the judge to read some motions, immediately followed by an hour break for lunch. things are moving at a glacial pace.
the judge ruled again yesterday that individual city councilors may be held liable for damages (if any are found) in this case. but he also said his personal and professional opinions were at odds and encouraged the defense to make an interlocutory appeal to the VA supreme court.
it’s unclear what such an appeal would do to the timeline in this case. it’s also not yet been determined if a jury will hear the case - this will be taken up after lunch. dates have been set aside in march (if no jury) and september (if it’s a jury trial)
there’s another full day of pretrial motions tomorrow. this suit was filed two years ago. the judge said today were not on track for the march trial date. this could last forever.
worth noting that one of the plaintiffs in this suit has died since it was filed. if they keep filing motions at this rate, maybe all the elderly racists suing my city will have moved on to the whites-only section of hell & it’ll just get dropped!
one of many strange twists today: the plaintiffs argued that there is no right to a jury trial in a civil case in virginia. the judge said he’d never heard that argument before, but seemed interested in reading relevant cases.
day three of pretrial motions starts in a few minutes. the judge suggested yesterday that they maybe set a deadline for a cutoff for new motions. this case is a mess!
it’s 2019 and one of the disputed facts in this case is what the civil war was about.
flipping through my notebook, the spot where i’d written [I N F I N I T E S C R E A M] caught my eye. i’d forgotten the judge asked if a white person was told about all the terrible things white people did re: slavery & isn’t that just as bad as white supremaV6Pi
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