We have learned that Superior Court Judge Jill Talley has canceled a hearing set for tomorrow, August 30 and denied all of the emergency motions for relief filed by attorneys for the former residents of Camp Resolution.
In so doing, the Court has used legal technicalities, form over content and abused its discretion in denying protection and relief to the dozens of mostly elderly homeless women, ninety percent of whom suffer from serious disabilities.
We remember when former Chief Judge Michael Bowman sent a letter to the City demanding that the homeless be removed from the courthouse grounds where they had come to escape a deadly heatwave. We publicly denounced what was a clear violation of the rules of judicial conduct. With the tone set for the entire Superior court by the presiding judge, we wondered if a homeless person could ever receive a fair hearing in Sacramento County.
Today we found out that the answer is NO.
Judges have broad discretion to disregard technical pleading requirements when the interests of substantial justice are at stake. From the first hearing before Judge Talley on August 9 to today’s rulings without a hearing, the City of Sacramento has, in its pleadings and in its conduct in open court repeatedly lied, presented false “evidence” and a defiance of state and federal law, particularly as it applies to persons with disabilities.
At this moment we are focused on the harm that the closing of the Camp and the ongoing intensified sweeps of the former residents has caused and is causing as graphically depicted on the front pages and television screens not just in Sacramento, but across the nation. And from those images, and this gross miscarriage of justice, we are confident even now, that our movement, our struggle, will endure, grow and ultimately obtain justice.
Camp Resolution was formed by a courageous group of women who had had enough. Kicked by police from one end of town to the other, facing hunger, violence and death on the streets they occupied one of the City’s 4,000 vacant lots and created a safe community. The lesson of Camp Resolution is that the homeless organized, unionized and fought back: those lessons will illuminate the path forward.
For now, we urgently call upon all good and decent people to come to the aid of the dispossessed, to do what Judge Talley refused to do: protect the most vulnerable among us.
To support our fight, please contact sacramento.homeles.union@gmail.com or princlelawoffices@yahoo.com.
In Struggle and Solidarity,
Crystal Sanchez, President, Sacramento Homeless Union
Anthony Prince, Lead Organizer and General Counsel,
California Homeless Union/Statewide Organizing Counsel
Attorney for Camp Resolution
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