Updataed on 5:45 p.m. on Friday with a comment from Mayor Cara Spencer:
A federal judge is demanding that attorneys justify filing a lawsuit against state control of the St. Louis police department.
On April 14, Tishaura Jones' final day as mayor, her administration and St. Louis Board of Aldermen President Megan Green filed a lawsuit challenging two parts of the Missouri law. The first provision prohibits officers of the city like Green from “impeding, obstructing, hindering, or interfering with the state board.” The other requires the city to spend a percentage of its budget on the department.
U.S. Judge Matthew Schelp questioned why the case was being filed in federal court and gave the city and Green until Monday to show why the suit should not be dismissed — or to file an amended complaint addressing the lawsuit’s jurisdictional issues. Neither St. Louis Mayor Cara Spencer’s office nor Green filed anything by Monday.
Spencer said in a statement Tuesday she was mulling whether to refile a case in state court. A spokesman for Green said Tuesday she plans to refile the lawsuit.
On Wednesday, Schelp issued a scathing memorandum and order demanding that the attorneys involved in the case show why they didn’t violate a rule against filing lawsuits for improper purposes.
Among other things, Schelp chastised the plaintiffs for not responding to his prior Monday deadline but then talking about the case to news outlets.
“After having the fundamental jurisdictional issue called to their attention, the City and Green went radio silent — at least to the court,” Schelp wrote. “The Court can only speculate as to Plaintiffs’ response in hastily filing a slipshod action in federal court because they altogether ignored the Order while publicly discussing the matter with the press. All the Court can do is put their filing in wider context to which everyone is privy.”
“And in this context, Plaintiffs’ silence with the Court raises the appearance that they brought this action for improper purposes under [a federal court rule], namely to harass the State of Missouri, to attract publicity, or to make a statement of protest,” he added.
Several of Schelp’s footnotes in the order were especially harsh toward Chuck Hatfield, who is representing Green in the case. After pointing out how questionable it was to file this case in federal court, Schelp noted that Hatfield “is recognized as a talented litigator in the area of governmental policy and litigation.” He then cited Hatfield’s recent recognition for Missouri Lawyers Media’s Missouri Lawyers Awards.
Hatfield said in an email, “We take the order very seriously and will be filing a response as the court has ordered.”
The judge also placed a footnote at the end of his order pointing out that the lawsuit was filed on Jones’ last day in office, adding plaintiffs “clearly did not carefully think through their filing before signing and submitting it,” since there were several typographical errors.
The city counselor who submitted the case, Sheena Hamilton, no longer works for the city.
On Friday afternoon, Spencer said she was taking Schelp’s order seriously.
“Obviously the lawsuit was filed before I was sworn in, and so I had nothing to do with the filing of it,” Spencer said. “But you know, certainly this has fallen in our lap. And anytime a judge issues such a scathing and detailed directive, of course we're taking it very, very seriously. And we're consulting with our legal team to determine the best course of action as a city to respond appropriately.”
Yusuf Daneshyar, a spokesman for Green, said she “filed this lawsuit in good faith to represent the interests of city residents and despite the personal risks involved.”
Gov. Mike Kehoe is slated to appoint members of the St. Louis Board of Police Commissioners in the coming weeks.
