NEW YORKER SUES TO STOP THE U.S. FROM ARMING ISRAEL
FEDERAL LAWSUIT ALLEGES PRES. JOE BIDEN VIOLATING THE LEAHY LAW
NEWS RELEASE
Sept. 12, 2024
An American taxpayer has filed a federal lawsuit alleging the Biden Administration is violating the Leahy law by supplying weapons to Israel.
"Defendants' on-going supply of military assistance and weapons to Israel, notwithstanding the 'gross violation of human rights' Israel is committing against the Palestinians," the legal complaint alleges, "violates the Leahy law."
Jason B. Nicholas, a 54-year-old New Yorker, filed the lawsuit Aug. 30 with the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C. Nicholas asked the court for a preliminary injunction immediately forcing Pres. Joe Biden to comply with the law.
In addition to Pres. Biden, Nicholas's complaint names as defendants Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin III.
Citing the U.S. Constitution's requirement that "The President "shall take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed," the lawsuit alleges the president does not have "the power to pick and choose among the duly-enacted laws he or she does or does not follow and enforce."
The Leahy law bars the U.S. from providing "any training, equipment, or other assistance" to "a foreign security force if the Secretary of Defense has credible information that the unit has committed a gross violation of human rights."
The U.S. has credible information Israel is committing gross violations of Palestinians' human rights in the Gaza Strip, the lawsuit alleges.
The Washington D.C. federal court accepted the lawsuit and assigned a case number, but has not yet assigned to a judge or set a date for consideration of his request for a preliminary injunction. Nicholas sent a letter to the court's chief judge, James E. Boasberg, protesting the delay on Sept. 11.
Nicholas filed the suit without a lawyer, something he has successfully done repeatedly in the past.
A journalist-turned-fly-fishing guide, federal lawsuits filed by Nicholas held the NYPD accountable for civil rights violations, reformed the way the NYPD credentials members of the press in New York City, removed legal bars to the licensing of former felons as outdoor guides in two states and established the legal right of prisoners to organize for political expression.
He also formulated the legal strategy that led to a landmark state court ruling. The 2003 decision in Chan v. Travis found the governor of New York at the time, George Pataki, had illegally pressured the state parole board to deny all violent offenders parole even if they were rehabilitated. The decision required the parole board to ignore political pressure, which made parole hearing fairer.
Evidence cited in Nicholas's current legal complaint that the U.S. is violating the Leahy law includes Sen. Leahy himself.
Leahy, now retired, represented Vermont for 48 years. Beginning last Nov., Leahy has repeatedly said the U.S. is violating the law that bears his name, including a May 20 op-ed in the Washington Post.
Despite "credible reports of gross violations of human rights" by Israel, the Biden administration continues to ignore the Leahy law," Leahy wrote. Failing to apply the Leahy law to Israel, "not only beggars credulity; it also makes a mockery of the law.”
Read the full complaint below.
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