Christopher C. Conner | |
---|---|
Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania | |
In office September 1, 2013 –June 1, 2020 | |
Preceded by | Yvette Kane |
Succeeded by | John E. Jones III |
Judge of the United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania | |
Assumed office July 29,2002 | |
Appointed by | George W. Bush |
Preceded by | Sylvia H. Rambo |
Personal details | |
Born | Christopher Charles Conner October 25,1957 Harrisburg,Pennsylvania |
Education | Cornell University (BA) Penn State Dickinson Law (JD) |
Christopher Charles Conner (born October 25,1957) is a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania.
Born in Harrisburg,Pennsylvania,Conner received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Cornell University in 1979 and a Juris Doctor from Pennsylvania State University - Dickinson Law in 1982. He was in private practice in Pennsylvania from 1982 to 2002,and was an adjunct professor at the Widener University School of Law in 2000.
On February 28,2002,Conner was nominated by President George W. Bush to a seat on the United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania vacated by Sylvia H. Rambo. The American Bar Association unanimously rated Connor as "well qualified",its highest rating. [1] Conner was confirmed by the United States Senate by voice vote [2] on July 26,2002,and received his commission on July 29,2002. He served as Chief Judge from September 1,2013 to June 1,2020.
On September 13,2011,Conner ruled the individual mandate for health insurance in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act as unconstitutional saying,in part,“The federal government is one of limited enumerated powers,and Congress’s efforts to remedy the ailing health care and health insurance markets must fit squarely within the boundaries of those powers.” [3]
On August 28,2022,Connor fined convicted former Luzerne County Juvenile Court judges Mark Ciavarella and Michael Conahan $106 million in compensatory damages and $100 million in punitive damages to nearly 300 people in a long-running civil suit for their role in the Kids for Cash scandal. [4] .
The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act is a United States federal law that provides for extended criminal penalties and a civil cause of action for acts performed as part of an ongoing criminal organization.
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Mark Arthur Ciavarella Jr. is an American convicted felon and former President Judge of the Luzerne County Court of Common Pleas in Wilkes-Barre,Pennsylvania,who was involved,along with fellow judge Michael Conahan,in the "Kids for cash" scandal in 2008,for which he was sentenced to 28 years in federal prison in 2011.
The kids for cash scandal centered on judicial kickbacks to two judges at the Luzerne County Court of Common Pleas in Wilkes-Barre,Pennsylvania,US. In 2008,judges Michael Conahan and Mark Ciavarella were convicted of accepting money in return for imposing harsh adjudications on juveniles to increase occupancy at a private prison operated by PA Child Care.
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Michael T. Conahan is an American convicted felon and former judge. He received a J.D. degree from Temple University and went on to serve from 1994 to 2007 as judge on the Court of Common Pleas. During the last four years of his tenure,he was the presiding judge of the county.
PA Child Care is a juvenile detention center in Pittston Township,Pennsylvania. It was opened in February 2003. It has a sister company,Western PA Child Care,in Butler County,Pennsylvania. Treatment at both facilities is provided by Mid Atlantic Youth Services,and both were involved in the kids for cash scandal in 2008. Gregory Zappala took sole ownership of the company when he purchased co-owner Robert Powell's share in June 2008.
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Kids for Cash is a 2013 documentary film about the "kids for cash" scandal which unfolded in 2008 over judicial kickbacks in Wilkes-Barre,Pennsylvania. Two judges were found guilty of accepting kickbacks in exchange for sending thousands of juveniles to detention centers when probation or a lesser penalty would have been appropriate. Some juveniles were sent to detention centers for incidents as minor as theft of a CD from Walmart.
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California v. Texas,593 U.S. 659 (2021),was a United States Supreme Court case that dealt with the constitutionality of the 2010 Affordable Care Act (ACA),colloquially known as Obamacare. It was the third such challenge to the ACA seen by the Supreme Court since its enactment. The case in California followed after the enactment of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 and the change to the tax penalty amount for Americans without required insurance that reduced the "individual mandate" to zero,effective for months after December 31,2018. The District Court of the Northern District of Texas concluded that this individual mandate was a critical provision of the ACA and that,with a penalty amount equal to zero,some or all of the ACA was potentially unconstitutional as an improper use of Congress's taxation powers.
Rodriguez v. FDIC was a United States Supreme Court case in which the court held that the Bob Richards rule was not appropriately crafted and federal judges should not apply it when resolving disputes about tax allocations to members of an affiliated group filing a consolidated return.