Re: Imega hearing ... No decision from the Bench.
I am looking for some confirmation that the Motion to Dismiss was even calendared for that hearing, not a rehashing of a G911 cheerleading piece. I thought that, as usual, G911 threw in a lot of cheerleading gibberish.
They led off their piece stating that the Court "heard arguments for a temporary restraining order to halt the enforcement of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act". This was pretty clear.
However, they added their usual grandstanding gibberish,
1. about how the DOJ attorney seemed "intimidated", which is probably untrue and completely irrelevant if true,
2. about how DOJ "repeatedly claimed that iMEGA did not have the legal standing to argue first amendment law while also stating that first amendment law did not apply to this case". Again, this is meaningless commentary. DOJ is perfectly able to argue that the iMEGA lacks standing, but if iMEGA did have standing, the Complaint fails to state a 1st Amendment claim. G911's attempt to cast this as somehow contradictory is poor reporting and gibberish.
3. G911 did continue, saying that "The Honorable Judge Cooper aggressively challenged the US government and its Motion to Dismiss." However, they gave zero description of what "agressively challenged" means. (A Judge who asks a lot of questions is interested in what the counsel speaking has to say. If a Court asks you no questions or shows little interest, then however confident you might feel, you are likely in deep [censored].)
4. Finally, I guess the reporter got a new watch and made sure to report to the minute when things ended. It would have been a much better article had he or she gotten analysis from someone other than iMEGA, like the DOJ perhaps ?
(I am pretty sure that if a TRO is denied, and the case is not dismissed, then the next step would generally be a motion for a preliminary injunction, with a likely period for discovery and maybe an evidentiary hearing, not a trial on the merits for a permanent injunction.)
If the case is not dismissed, the time will arrive when iMEGA has to either put its cards face up to show irreparable injury to it members or fold. There will be no equitable relief without a showdown of hands, iMEGA cannot refuse to turn over its cards/members, period.
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