The attorney for the massive effort at legal intimidation and the impeding of anti-jihad efforts that is the Flying Imams lawsuit is unhappy. His clients, you see, have been getting a lot of bad press. Never mind that MSNBC’s Contessa Brewer, to the surprise and delight of Ibrahim Hooper of unindicted Hamas co-conspirator CAIR, compared them to Rosa Parks. Others have exposed what they’re really up to, and attorney Omar Mohammedi, a CAIR op himself, can’t bear that. But he’ll just have to put up with it, for now.
“Attorney for imams removed from plane loses bid to limit access,” by Amy Forliti for Associated Press (thanks to all who sent this in):
A federal judge overseeing a lawsuit filed by six Muslim men who were removed from a US Airways flight last fall has declined to limit public access to the case.
Omar T. Mohammedi, a New York attorney for the six Muslim scholars, told The Associated Press on Wednesday that he sought limited media access because he felt some of the coverage of the case has been biased against his clients.
“When you think of the media, and the way they have been portraying this case, it has not been very helpful. It has been biased,” Mohammedi said. “That has caused a lot of stress, a lot of stress on our clients, as well as made it difficult for us to handle this case … in a manner that it should be handled.”
[…]
In a letter dated Tuesday and addressed to Mohammedi, U.S. District Judge Ann Montgomery noted that Mohammedi had requested that the court remove members of the media from an electronic distribution list, bar members of the media from attending hearings, and hold proceedings in closed session.
“The Court declines to treat this case in the extraordinary manner that you request,” the judge wrote. She added that the public and press have an interest in full access to judicial proceedings under the First Amendment.
“You have provided no legal authority supporting your request to limit public access to this case,” Montgomery wrote. “While it is regrettable that anonymous individuals have threatened violence, the Court Security Officers will insure that the United States Courthouse here in Minneapolis is secure.”