Merry Christmas Katrina Evacuees. Appeals Court Takes Away Your Housing Money

Excerpt AP report at Washington Post "Appeals Court Allows FEMA to Hold Off on Funding":

A federal appeals court told the Bush administration yesterday that it does not need to immediately restart a housing program for thousands of Hurricane Katrina victims.

The ruling by a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit puts a restart on hold at least until March, when the court will hear arguments in the case.

The court suspended an order by U.S. District Judge Richard J. Leon, who said last month that the Federal Emergency Management Agency violated the Constitution when it eliminated short-term housing assistance. Leon said the agency did not explain its reasoning and provided victims only confusing computer-generated codes to explain its decisions.

Under Leon's order, FEMA told officials in Texas early this week to expect federal money for housing about 4,200 evacuees.

Yesterday's ruling means FEMA can advise Texas that plans have changed.

...

The ruling by Judges David S. Tatel, Karen Lecraft Henderson and A. Raymond Randolph does not suspend Leon's order requiring FEMA to explain why evacuees were no longer eligible for funding. The letters that went out this summer contained vague and often contradictory computer codes rather than explanations, and Leon ordered the agency to put it in plain English.

FEMA said it was working on those new letters this week, and Whelan said about 4,000 evacuees have received letters.

Wait, doesn't the article say, that for Xmas, Katrina evacuees will be getting new refusal letters?

How very Bush administration.

The Houston Chronicle's article on the ruling confirms what I thought I remembered about the earlier decision.  Judge Leon ordered FEMA to restart payments until March 2007.  Therefore, since this ruling says FEMA can delay until March 2007 then it all disappears in a puff of smoke anyway  "unless Congress or President Bush extend it." say the Chronicle writers.

The Chronicle article also notes:

Lakiesha Stredic, 25, took the news hard. She and her three children, ages 6, 4, and 3, are sleeping on the floor at a friend's house. They were evicted from their apartment on Houston's southwest side after she lost her job. For Christmas, Stredic picked up presents from a local charity — two toys for each child.

"My goodness," she said, sighing. "I'm in a really bad hole right now. It's stressing me out. I really need a place that I can call home for me and my kids."

She said she was counting on the Federal Emergency Management Agency to come through with rental assistance. FEMA helped her get an apartment in Houston after the hurricane in the summer of 2005. She said she didn't realize the subsidy had run out until the apartment complex contacted her with a bill for $1,400, she said. By then it was too late. She paid $100 one week, then $200 the next, she said. But the electric company turned off the lights. And she wasn't making much progress paying down the rent anyway, she said.

"It was really unexpected when (the rental subsidy) stopped out of the blue," she said. "I don't know what to do now."

The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, or ACORN, sued FEMA in August for failing to adequately explain why the housing benefits were ending. Last month, U.S. District Court Judge Richard J. Leon ruled that FEMA unconstitutionally halted the payments and ordered them to reinstate them immediately.

Leon has spent the past three weeks pushing FEMA to immediately restore the housing assistance.

In addition to the rental subsidies, estimated at $750 per family per month, Leon was pushing FEMA to make back payments for September, October and November. He also ordered the agency to explain to the evacuees why the assistance was denied in the first place and what they are required to do to reinstate it.

Under pressure from the court, FEMA had notified officials in Houston and elsewhere that it would restart the housing program Friday. FEMA appealed, and on Friday, three judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit partially suspended Leon's order.

but now

FEMA said late Friday that it had notified Texas that it would rescind its plans for restoring the housing aid. Robert Johnson, the manager of Houston's Joint Hurricane Housing Task Force, said Friday that he had not seen the decision and referred comment to the mayor's press office, which did not return phone calls.

I would like to note that only two of the three judges needed to vote to allow FEMA to get away with not paying, but since I cannot find a breakdown in the voting, I'm going to assume the vote was unanimous (if mainstream news media hasn't sunk to a new low).

I would like to admire Judge David S. Tatel, but, lately, he seems to be doing just what the Bush administration would like him to do most of the time.  Is he trying for a spot on the Supremes? Think of the puff pieces that could be written. Blind Justice!

Ms Henderson was sheperded into positions by Reagan and G. H. W. Bush, and first confirmed for the U. S. District Court, South Carolina by the Republican controlled Senate under Reagan.  (The Senate was controlled by Republicans from 1981-1987 during the Reagan years though the Rovians claim that the Democrats controlled Congress for 40 years before 1994.  It is true that the House with its larger  number dominates Congress, but even the House went Republican for 2 years under Reagan.  Ms. Henderson was a member of the DC District Court Team that apparently passed a judgment against the Feingold-McCain act (later overturned by the US Supreme Court).

A. Raymond Randolf (nominated for his current position by G.H.W. Bush) was labled "pro-business" by CNN in an article on the old Microsoft case.  I guess Randolf figures he missed Alito's slot on the Supremes by "this much" as Agent Maxwell Smart would say.

So, we did have two right wing judges that were going to vote to let FEMA do what it wanted anyway.  If the vote was unanimous I assume Tatel went along because it looked good in his Supreme Court  resume.

Tattel did stand against the the terrible decision by a trio of the DC District Appeals Court to allow the Bush administration to continue to hold detainees in secret in 2003. 

John G. Roberts who after a few years of being a judge was appointed by George W. (also under-qualified) Bush to the position as Supreme Supreme came from the DC District Court.  So this might be the warmest of the benches for new Supreme fodder.

Funny thing about Justice Roberts:  Our Chief Justice of the SCOTUS was only a "judge" for a few years.  This is typical of the Bush administration.

 If you boost these under-qualified people into high positions, you gain immeasurable loyalty as they realize they would be he governmental equivalent of flipping burgers without your sponsorship.

tags: katrina  texas  new orleans  louisiana  

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