The request to disqualify U.S. District Judge John Dowdell occurred just hours before a pre-trial hearing began Thursday. The motion argued Dowdell should be disqualified because the judge was a partner in a law firm that litigated a case against Tulsa County almost a decade ago.
The former sheriff, current sheriff, and former medical provider face multiple civil rights lawsuits, with one of the highest-profile cases begins soon.
The EPA has told Oklahoma officials they aren’t doing enough to protect the state’s drinking water and citizens from induced earthquakes.
Oklahoma’s congressional delegation is united in its support — however tepid — of President Donald Trump’s executive order banning travel from seven majority Muslim nations.
Comments submitted to the EPA reveal deep concerns about how Attorney General Scott Pruitt would impact air, water and land if confirmed to lead the agency: “Our country cannot go back to a path of sacrificing our children and children’s futures.”
Attorney General Scott Pruitt was favored by industry as “the general” who would lead a group of Republican attorneys general into battle over EPA regulations.
A new study by the Environmental Defense Fund reviewed state and federal campaign contribution records for Pruitt’s campaign and political action committees associated with him. The group found that in 13 out of 14 lawsuits Pruitt brought against the agency he hopes to lead, companies suing along with him had donated to his campaign or to PACs that support Pruitt.
State law requires agencies to report annual spending on outside attorneys. However, Attorney General Scott Pruitt Office has omitted itself from those reports since 2012, an investigation by The Frontier has found.
