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Erin Hawley’s Supreme Court Win Rooted in Falsehood, Critics Say | St. Louis Metro News | St. Louis

Published

2 years ago

July 5, 2023

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click to enlarge Erin Hawley speaking in December 2022.

Erin Morrow Hawley, an attorney and wife of Missouri Senator Josh Hawley, is facing heated criticism after revelations that a high-profile Supreme Court case she was involved in was in part based on a falsehood.

Erin Morrow Hawley serves as senior legal counsel for the Alliance Defending Freedom, a Christian legal advocacy group. The ADF scored a big win last Friday when the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that a Christian web designer in Colorado was within her rights to refuse to make a wedding website for a same-sex couple, despite a state law that bans discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.

Many on the right saw the decision as a win for religious freedom and free speech. Many others have called it a backtracking on gay rights. Liberal justice Sonya Sotomayor wrote in her dissent, “The immediate, symbolic effect of the decision is to mark gays and lesbians for second-class status.”

Website designer Lorie Smith filed suit in 2016. claiming that the Colorado law would force her to make the gay wedding website in violation of both her religion and First Amendment protections.

As the case worked its way through the courts, attorneys defending the Colorado anti-discrimination law inquired whether Smith had ever actually received a request from a same-sex couple asking her to make a website.

In court filings, Smith said that she had received such a request from an individual identified only by his first name, Stewart. But the filings contained the supposed customer’s phone number and email address.

On the eve of the court’s decision, a reporter for the New Republic contacted Stewart for an interview.

Of his supposed request for a website, Stewart told the magazine, “I’m not really sure where that came from.” In 2016, when the request was allegedly submitted to Smith, Stewart had been married to a woman for almost a decade. He is also a web designer himself. “I wouldn’t want anybody to … make me a wedding website?” he said.

The Associated Press reported that the revelation of this fabrication is unlikely to overturn the Supreme Court’s recent ruling, as the suit was brought as a “pre-enforcement challenge.” This means that Smith was essentially arguing that it was hypothetically possible she could be charged with breaking the anti-discrimination law if she refused to make the website.

Josh Hawley himself said publicly he was proud of his wife for litigating the case. But revelations that her work on the case may have including submitting court documents containing false statements is now drawing condemnation for both her and the Alliance for Defending Freedom.

“Zero surprise that it was insurrection supporter Josh Hawley’s wife, Erin Hawley, who litigated the FAKE 303 Creative case in front of the Supreme Court. She’s as dishonest as her husband,” wrote one attorney on Twitter.

Zero surprise that it was insurrection supporter Josh Hawley’s wife, Erin Hawley, who litigated the FAKE 303 Creative case in front of the Supreme Court. She’s as dishonest as her husband.The Extreme Court used the totally made up case to illegitimately strip away LGBT+ rights. pic.twitter.com/dFyNbeQ2rl— Kaivan Shroff (@KaivanShroff) July 2, 2023

A Newsweek headline read, “Josh Hawley’s Wife Faces Calls to Be Sanctioned Over Supreme Court Case.”

The Alliance Defending Freedom, the organization Erin Hawley works for, was previously one of the chief legal organizations attempting to block access to mifepristone, an abortion drug. The Arizona-based organization also defended the right of adoption agencies to turn away prospective parents because they are Jewish.

The Hawleys’ relationship with the organization predates Erin’s current job. From 2013 to 2018, the Hawleys earned $7,800 from Alliance Defending Freedom. That includes a legal fellowship given to Josh Hawley when he was a law professor at Mizzou, which involved being paid $2,500 to give an hour-long speech in Phoenix.

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Fenton Man Charged in Sword Attack on Roommate

Published

1 year ago

May 22, 2024

Natural Bridge

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A warrant is out for a Fenton man’s arrest after he allegedly attacked his roommate with a sword.

Police say that on Sunday, Angelus Scott spoke openly about “slicing his roommate’s head” before he grabbed a sword, raised it up and then swung it down at the roommate.

The roommate grabbed Scott’s hand in time to prevent injury. When police arrived at the scene, they found the weapon used in the assault.

The sword in question was a katana, which is a Japanese sword recognizable for its curved blade.

This isn’t the first time a samurai-style sword has been used to violent effect in St. Louis. In 2018, a man hearing voices slaughtered his ex-boyfriend with a samurai sword. His mother said he suffered from schizoaffective disorder.

As for Scott, 35, the St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office was charged yesterday with two felonies, assault first degree and armed criminal action. The warrant for his arrest says he is to be held on $200,000 bond.

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Caught on Video, Sheriff Says He’s Ready to ‘Turn It All Over’ to Deputy

Published

1 year ago

May 22, 2024

Natural Bridge

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Video of St. Louis Sheriff Vernon Betts taken by a former deputy suggests that the sheriff has a successor in mind to hand the reins of the department over to, even as Betts is in an increasingly heated campaign for reelection.

“I ain’t here for all this rigmarole,” Betts says in the video while seated behind his desk at the Carnahan Courthouse. “The Lord sent me here to turn this department around and I’m doing the best I can and I think I’ve done a good job. I’ve got about eight months and I’m going to qualify for my fourth pension.”

He goes on, “Right now I can walk up out of here and live happily ever after and forget about all this…and live like a king.”

The sheriff then says his wife has been in Atlanta looking at houses and that the other deputy in the room, Donald Hawkins, is someone Betts has been training “to turn it all over to him.”

Asked about the video, Betts tells the RFT, “My future plans are to win reelection on August 6th by a wide margin and to continue my mission as the top elected law enforcement official to make St. Louis safer and stronger. Serving the people of St. Louis with integrity, honor and professional law enforcement qualifications is a sacred responsibility, and I intend to complete that mission.”

The video of Betts was taken by Barbara Chavers, who retired from the sheriff’s office in 2016 after 24 years of service. Chavers now works security at Schnucks at Grand and Gravois. Betts’ brother Howard works security there, too.

Chavers tells the RFT that she was summoned to Betts’ office last week after Betts’ brother made the sheriff aware that she was supporting Montgomery. It was no secret: Chavers had filmed a Facebook live video in which she said she was supporting Betts’ opponent Alfred Montgomery in the election this fall. “Make the judges safe,” she says in the video, standing in front of a large Montgomery sign on Gravois Avenue. “They need a sheriff who is going to make their courtrooms safe.”

In his office, even as Chavers made clear she was filming him, Betts told Chavers he was “flabbergasted” and “stunned” she was supporting Montgomery.

“I don’t know what I did that would make you go against the preacher man,” he says, referring to himself. He then refers to Montgomery as “ungodly.”

Betts goes on to say that not long ago, he was walking in his neighborhood on St. Louis Avenue near 20th Street when suddenly Montgomery pulled up in his car and, according to Betts, shouted, “You motherfucker, you this, you that. You’re taking my signs down.”

Montgomery tells the RFT that he’s never interacted with Betts outside of candidate forums and neighborhood meetings.

“I don’t think anyone with good sense would do something like that to a sitting sheriff,” Montgomery says.

Montgomery has had campaign signs missing and on at least two occasions has obtained video of people tearing them down. (Chavers notes that the sign that she filmed her original Facebook video in front of is itself now missing.)

One man who lives near Columbus Square says that he recently put out two Montgomery signs, which later went missing. “If they keep taking them, I’ll keep putting them up,” he said.

Betts says he has nothing to do with the missing signs. In the video Chavers filmed in Betts’ office, Betts says that his campaign isn’t in a spot where it needs to resort to tearing down opponents’ signs.

“If you sit here long enough, a man is getting ready to come across the street from City Hall bringing me $500, today,” Betts says. “I’m getting that kind of support. I don’t need to tear down signs.”

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St. Louis to Develop First Citywide Transportation Plan in Decades

Published

1 year ago

May 21, 2024

Natural Bridge

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The City of St. Louis is working to develop its first citywide mobility plan in decades, Mayor Tishaura Jones’ office announced Tuesday. This plan seeks to make it easier for everyone — drivers, pedestrians, bikers and public transit users — to safely commute within the city.

The plan will bring together other city projects like the Brickline Greenway, Future64, the MetroLink Green Line, and more, “while establishing new priorities for a safer, more efficient and better-maintained transportation network across the City,” according to the release.

The key elements in the plan will be public engagement, the development of a safety action plan, future infrastructure priorities and transportation network mapping, according to Jones’ office.

The overarching goals are to create a vision for citywide mobility, plan a mixture of short and long-term mobility projects and to develop improved communication tools with the public to receive transportation updates. In recent years, both people who use public transit and cyclists have been outspoken about the difficulties — and dangers — of navigating St. Louis streets, citing both cuts to public transit and traffic violence.

To garner public input and participation for the plan, Jones’ office said there will be community meetings, focus groups and a survey for residents to share their concerns. The city will also be establishing a Community Advisory Committee. Those interested in learning more should check out at tmp-stl.com/

“Everyone deserves to feel safe when getting around St. Louis, whether they’re driving, biking, walking or taking public transit,” Jones said in a news release. “Creating a comprehensive transportation and mobility plan allows us to make intentional and strategic investments so that moving around St. Louis for jobs, education, and entertainment becomes easier, safer and more enjoyable.”

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