Judge Amit Mehta, who was appointed during the Obama administration, has become a controversial figure among some Trump supporters, who accuse him of bias and unfair treatment in cases related to the January 6th Capitol riot.
Judge Amit Mehta sentenced former Trump adviser Peter Navarro to four months in prison for his refusal to comply with a subpoena to testify before the House Select Committee investigating the January 6th Capitol attack.
Judge Amit Mehta sentenced David Moerschel, a Christian missionary from Florida, to three years in prison for his involvement in the events of January 6, 2021.
Moerschel spent 11 minutes inside the U.S. Capitol that day, during which he was not accused of committing any specific crimes. He also stood on the Capitol steps and sang the National Anthem before being arrested.
Judge Amit Mehta sentenced Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes to 18 years in prison on charges related to the January 6th Capitol attack. During the sentencing, Mehta delivered a stern lecture to Rhodes before handing down the sentence.
Stewart Rhodes stood outside the US Capitol on January 6, committed no violence, had no plans to commit violence that day, and told his fellow Oath Keepers to leave the guns in their hotel rooms outside of Washington DC that day. Mehta gave him 18 years.
On Friday DC Judge Mehta ordered Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey to halt his investigation into Media Matters for America in the state of Missouri.
As reported by ArsTechnica:
A federal judge ordered Missouri’s attorney general to halt an investigation into Media Matters for America, a nonprofit journalism organization that earned Elon Musk’s wrath when it published an article showing that Musk’s X platform placed advertisements next to pro-Nazi posts.
In March, Missouri AG Andrew Bailey issued an investigative demand seeking names and addresses of all Media Matters donors who live in Missouri and a range of internal communications and documents regarding the group’s research on Musk and X. Bailey also filed a lawsuit asking Cole County Circuit Court for an order to enforce the investigative demand.
Media Matters countered by suing Bailey in US District Court for the District of Columbia. Last week, US District Judge Amit Mehta granted a preliminary injunction that prohibits Bailey from enforcing the civil investigative demand and from pursuing the related lawsuit.
Mehta had issued a similar order against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton a few months earlier. Mehta filed a memorandum opinion on August 23 describing the reasons for granting Media Matters’ request for an injunction against Bailey.
Media Matters demonstrated a likelihood of success in its claim that Bailey took retaliatory actions designed to deter speech, Mehta wrote:
The court already has held that Defendant Paxton’s announcement of an investigation and issuance of a CID [Civil Investigative Demand] demanding records relating to Media Matters’ organization, funding, and journalism would sufficiently deter a news organization or journalist “of ordinary firmness” from speaking again about X-related matters.
Defendant Bailey has gone one step further. He has filed suit not only to enforce the Missouri CID, but he has asked a state court to sanction Media Matters with a civil penalty. Such action chills speech.
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