Ajmal Mehdi V. CHRO Transcript

Ajmal Mehdi Oral arguments for freedom of medis 1 No: CV11-5015298 S : SUPERIOR COURT 2 AJMAL MEHDI : JUDICIAL DISTRICT OF NEW BRITAIN 3 v. 4 CONNECTICUT COMMISSION : AT NEW BRITAIN, CONNECTICUT ON HUMAN RIGHTS AND 5 OPPORTUNITIES, et al _________________________: March 28, 2012 6 7 B E F O R E: The Honorable Henry S. Cohn, Judge 8 A P P E A R A N C E S: 9 Representing the Plaintiff: 10 Ajmal Mehdi, Self Rep. 11 511 Pine Street Bristol, CT 06010 12 13 Representing the Defendant: 14 Attorney David L. Kent Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities 15 25 Sigourney Street - 7th Floor Hartford, CT 06106 16 17 18 19 Recorded By: 20 Donna L. Peluso 21 Transcribed By: Donna L. Peluso 22 Court Recording Monitor 20 Franklin Square 23 New Britain, CT 860-515-5380 Ext. 3080 24 25 26 27 2 1 (In open court). 2 THE COURT: Good morning. 3 ATTY. KENT: Good morning, Your Honor. 4 THE COURT: May I have your name, sir? 5 ATTY. KENT: Attorney David Kent for the Commission on 6 Human Rights and Opportunities. 7 MR. MEHDI: Good morning. Ajmal Mehdi, pro se, for a 8 case against Human Rights and Opportunities. 9 THE COURT: I wanted to start, if I could, Mr. Kent -- 10 you can sit down, if you like, sir. 11 THE COURT MONITOR: Your Honor, before you begin. 12 THE COURT: Yeah. 13 THE COURT MONITOR: I just wanted to remind the 14 plaintiff that you need to keep your voice up, because we 15 are recording today, and I need to hear you. 16 MR. MEHDI: Okay. Right. 17 THE COURT MONITOR: You're fine so far, yes. 18 MR. MEHDI: Plus, I apologize, because it's not my 19 personal language: English. I may make mistake in the 20 language so... 21 THE COURT: Mr. Kent, can you -- 22 ATTY. KENT: Yes, Your Honor. 23 THE COURT: -- as I understand it, 46a-83(b) allows for 24 something called a "merit assessment review" by your agency? 25 ATTY. KENT: That's correct, Your Honor. 26 THE COURT: And that merit assessment review, if I'm 27 right, when someone files a, what they call a "complaint" or 3 1 an "affidavit of complaint" -- 2 ATTY. KENT: Yes. 3 THE COURT: -- or something or other with your staff. 4 ATTY. KENT: Um-hm. 5 THE COURT: Then their job is to, is to review it as an 6 initial point? 7 ATTY. KENT: That's correct. 8 THE COURT: And then if they check that off and it goes 9 beyond that, it has other -- there are other things that 10 kick in like fact finding and perhaps a hearing and so 11 forth. 12 ATTY. KENT: Precisely. 13 THE COURT: But the initial step, someone on your staff 14 is assigned to look into the merit assessment review? 15 ATTY. KENT: That's correct, Your Honor. 16 THE COURT: And one of the things that you look for -- 17 and this is all in the statute -- 18 ATTY. KENT: Um-hm. 19 THE COURT: -- it says that you can look to see whether 20 the complaint fails to state a claim, or whether there's no 21 reasonable possibility that an investigation will result in 22 a finding of reasonable cause -- 23 ATTY. KENT: Um-hm. 24 THE COURT: -- as one of the things. Another thing you 25 do is check to see whether the complaint, respondent of the 26 complaint is exempt from the coverage of the civil rights 27 laws of the -- 4 1 ATTY. KENT: That's right. 2 THE COURT: -- of the CHRO statutes. 3 And in this case, a determination was made under 4 46a-83(b) that, in fact, the respondent here was -- which is 5 Associated Press, which -- who hasn't appeared by the way. 6 They were one of -- they possibly could have appeared 7 today -- 8 ATTY. KENT: (Overlapping) They -- 9 THE COURT: -- but they have chosen -- 10 ATTY. KENT: -- had that -- 11 THE COURT: -- they've chosen not to appear? 12 ATTY. KENT: They had that option. That's my 13 understanding, yes. 14 THE COURT: All right. Well, in any event, they, your 15 staff party -- 16 ATTY. KENT: Um-hm. 17 THE COURT: -- felt that they were not covered, or they 18 were a exempt party. Right? 19 ATTY. KENT: That's correct, Your Honor. 20 THE COURT: And you informed the plaintiff here of that 21 fact? 22 ATTY. KENT: We did. 23 THE COURT: And he made a -- he made a motion to 24 reconsider. 25 ATTY. KENT: That's correct. 26 THE COURT: I think that's jurisdictional, am I right? 27 In order to take an appeal, do you have to make a motion to 5 1 reconsider? 2 In other words to take an administrative appeal under 3 4-183 -- it sticks in the back of mind -- 4 ATTY. KENT: Yeah. 5 THE COURT: -- in any event, he did. Right? 6 ATTY. KENT: He did. I don't think you have to. I 7 think if he didn't, then that would be the final agency 8 action. The dismissal and -- 9 THE COURT: (Overlapping) All right. Well, he did so 10 the reconsideration becomes the final agency action? 11 ATTY. KENT: That's correct. Right. 12 THE COURT: And in that reconsideration, the agency 13 again adhered to the standard that there was an exemption. 14 Right? 15 ATTY. KENT: That's correct, yep. 16 THE COURT: So now we come to you, Mr. Mehdi. Thank 17 you for filling me in on that. 18 ATTY. KENT: You're welcome, Your Honor. 19 THE COURT: Why should we change the law or the ruling 20 that the agency has given here that the AP was exempt from 21 coverage? 22 If they're exempt, and the action taken under 46a-83(b) 23 applies, your case fails. Why should -- that's the only 24 issue here. If they were wrong, obviously, the court is 25 going to hold that they were wrong, and that you're entitled 26 to go further, as I said: fact finding, hearings, remedies. 27 But if they're right, you lose. And why are they wrong? 6 1 MR. MEHDI: Your Honor -- 2 THE COURT: That's all I want to know. 3 MR. MEHDI: Yeah. The -- 4 THE COURT: I don't want to know about what you would 5 have published, or why you're here. I want to know why they 6 were wrong. 7 MR. MEHDI: As long as you're doing business in the 8 state of Connecticut, according to the tax laws, they are 9 liable for any print or misprint they do in their network or 10 journalism. 11 The code of journalism, if we read that, it says -- 12 THE COURT: Wait a minute now. Again, we're not 13 talking about tax laws. We're talking about the -- nor are 14 we talking about whether you can sue them directly in the 15 court of law for violating some right of yours or doing 16 something wrong. We're only talking about one thing and one 17 thing only: what did the CHRO do wrong in their merit 18 assessment review in deciding that this respondent, AP, was 19 exempt from our public accommodations laws? 20 MR. MEHDI: The reason that Human Rights and 21 Opportunities Department, I pursued the case against, 22 because I called them every time I tried to publish 23 something, and there's no -- 24 THE COURT: Who did you call? Who did you call? 25 MR. MEHDI: Human rights and Opportunities Department. 26 THE COURT: Right. 27 MR. MEHDI: And I send them a copy every time I tried 7 1 to publish something, and there is no one gives us 2 opportunity to speak our mind. 3 It seems like victim of slavery, I can say, or maybe 4 prison camp of slavery. That we should have proper 5 opportunities. Like, Associated Press give privilege to 6 only certain people. 7 Whenever I tried to publish -- last week 8 (indiscernible) judge, we have a political party even -- and 9 I kept calling Associated Press. I kept calling every 10 single newspaper, news channel, no one ever showed up. 11 I was crying home. I says this is the simple example 12 how we go through in American justice system. And who is 13 responsible for this? Human Rights and Opportunity, because 14 they should have jurisdiction to enforce these agencies to 15 give us full opportunity like other have. 16 It's a last week event was done on March 23rd, on, in, 17 on North Main Street, Bristol, Connecticut. I call every 18 single agencies, only Bristol Press showed up. By calling 19 them at least 20 time. I was crying. And I told my son 20 Adam: Look how they behave. This is injustice. It is 21 against human rights not to help those who are unprivileged, 22 poor, helpless. That's the reason I filed the case, and 23 that's the reason I'm here to change some laws. 24 I appreciate it if you could help us to change the laws 25 and give us opportunity to speak our mind. 26 Living in America without proper way -- we should have 27 full-fledged freedom like others have. That, that's the 8 1 only reason I was -- I filed a case. 2 THE COURT: Do you want to say anything more on your 3 case? 4 MR. MEHDI: I mean political party events is coming on 5 Sunday. I already e-mailed this Sunday on -- which is a 6 Palm Sunday. I put the event on 37 Center Street, Bristol, 7 Connecticut. We will have enough members, but there's no 8 news agency ever come to cover these events. What is the 9 reason? That's the reason I'm here today. 10 THE COURT: Anything you want to add, Mr. Kent? 11 ATTY. KENT: The only thing I would say, Your Honor, is 12 that -- just for the record and for Mr. Mehdi's benefit to 13 the extent it carries any weight -- my client is the oldest 14 civil rights agency in the United States of America. And we 15 certainly respect and honor Mr. Mehdi's rights, practices, 16 religion of his choice. 17 Our decision in this case had no bearing on that 18 whatsoever. It was based on the law. And the law says that 19 the Associated Press, in these circumstances, is exempt from 20 governmental intrusion. And the Miami Harold case is right 21 on point, and -- 22 THE COURT: Would you like to put the facts of that on 23 the record? 24 ATTY. KENT: Yeah. Miami Harold, Your Honor, was a 25 case dealing with -- just give me one moment. 26 It dealt with a Florida statute that required that if 27 the newspaper criticized a political figure, that the 9 1 political figure had to be given space in that newspaper to 2 rebut those allegation. And the United States Supreme Court 3 said, basically that, that's an editorial decision as to 4 what to print. The government can't force the print media 5 to print what it thinks is necessary or proper or what have 6 you. They have a -- 7 THE COURT: So the statute was held unconstitutional? 8 ATTY. KENT: It was held unconstitutional, Your Honor. 9 So, similarly, the CHRO can't go and tell the AP you've got 10 to print what Mr. Mehdi's thinks is important news. It's 11 the same kind of thing, we can't -- as governmental agency, 12 we can't tell them what to print or not to print. They have 13 the discretion to print what they think is newsworthy. And 14 the government can't get involved in, in telling them what, 15 what is newsworthy. 16 And that's what basically what Mr. Mehdi is asking the 17 CHRO do in this case is to tell the Associated Press you 18 have to print what Mr. Mehdi wants to print about his 19 religion or about his federal lawsuit or, or what, whatever. 20 And they're just basically saying: No, we don't think that 21 that's newsworthy. And they have the right, the 22 constitutional right to make that judgment. And that's 23 really, you know, that's the nuts and bolts of it. 24 THE COURT: But if the newspaper were running an ad 25 that said only women typists are needed and men need not 26 apply or something like that, and Mr. Mehdi wanted to be a 27 typist. 10 1 ATTY. KENT: Yep. 2 THE COURT: Maybe he could say that they were violating 3 his statutory rights and perhaps would have a claim at the 4 CHRO. 5 ATTY. KENT: Absolutely. 6 THE COURT: And you could step in and issue an order to 7 the AP that they couldn't run those kinds of ads and that 8 kind of thing. But if they have some -- 9 ATTY. KENT: Yep. 10 THE COURT: -- content related subject that Mr. Mehdi 11 wants to tell about his faith or his beliefs and they don't 12 want to print it, that's something outside your 13 jurisdiction? 14 ATTY. KENT: That's precisely right, Your Honor. 15 THE COURT: Okay. 16 ATTY. KENT: The advertisement situation that, that's 17 the narrow, narrow exception to this rule. That's the 18 Pittsburgh Press case that I cite in my, my brief. And 19 that's also the holding by the Connecticut Supreme Court 20 back in the '70s in the Evening Sentinel case. It was 21 sex-based advertisements, criminally, mentally, and it was 22 held to be unconstitutional. 23 So, yes, the CHRO could get involved and will get 24 involved in that, that -- that narrow fact situation, but 25 we're not talking about that here at all. 26 THE COURT: Okay. Thank you very much. 27 ATTY. KENT: You're welcome. 11 1 THE COURT: Did you want to reply, Mr. Mehdi? 2 MR. MEHDI: Yes, Your Honor. These are the political 3 events based on people party. We have just registered to 4 the Secretary of State in the United State. We have 25 5 member. And these, this political party wants to bring 6 change based on human fealty in the United State justice 7 system. So every single citizen of United State, regardless 8 what color, what eye color, what creed, what religion and 9 what belief he has. At least he should have opportunity to 10 speak his mind. 11 And this people party is based of that dictatorship 12 that these media giants they block (indiscernible). Even 13 they appoint these (indiscernible) authorities based on 14 their power, and that's the reason we have not proper 15 justice in this society. The reason is they can manipulate. 16 They choose wo they want to publish, who they do not want. 17 Associated Press is a simple example, Your Honor. But 18 the reason is -- not Associate Press. Hartford Courant. I 19 call them millions times. Every single journalist knows me. 20 Lori Perez (Phonetic). You can ask her how many time I 21 e-mail or tweet her. I asked Fox news channel many time. 22 Nobody ever come. Channel 8. Channel 3. Republican, a 23 Waterbury paper. 24 Only one paper covers us, which is very small weekly 25 base occult, Step Saver Observer, And I give them lot of 26 credit. You might check 'em. You can call them, Your 27 Honor, and ask him how many weeks, how many time I send 12 1 article and every time they publish only which is once a 2 week, but no other paper ever comes. 3 We do not write anything wrongs. We are writing about 4 human rights and opportunities based on human fealty, which 5 is the new direction, I belive, from our forefather Abraham. 6 It is time to change before it's too late. This country is 7 going down because of these policies. We are concerned 8 about the future of Abrahamic faith. That is the reason I'm 9 standing here. 10 THE COURT: All right. Thank you very much for your 11 time. The court will issue an opinion. Thank you very 12 much. 13 ATTY. KENT: Thank you, Your Honor. Have a good day. 14 (This hearing concluded). 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 1 No: HHBCV11-5015298 S : SUPERIOR COURT 2 AJMAL MEHDI : JUDICIAL DISTRICT OF NEW BRITAIN 3 v. : AT NEW BRITAIN, CONNECTICUT 4 CONNECTICUT COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS AND 5 OPPORTUNITIES, et al ______________________________: 6 7 8 C E R T I F I C A T E 9 10 I hereby certify that electronic version is/the foregoing 11 pages are a true and correct transcription of the audio 12 recording of the above-referenced case, heard in Superior Court, 13 Judicial District of New Britain, New Britain, Connecticut, 14 before the Honorable Henry S. Cohn, on the 28th day of June, 15 2012. 16 17 Dated this 19th day of June, 2012, in New Britain, 18 Connecticut. 19 20 21 22 23 24 _______________________________ Donna L. Peluso, 25 Court Recording Monitor AC 34501 AJMAL MEHDI v. COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS AND OPPORTUNITIES Docket Number: HHBCV115015298S Judgment For: Plaintiff Court: JD COURTHOUSE AT NEW BRITAIN Trial Judge(s): HON. HENRY S. COHN Judgment Date: 04/02/2012 Case Type: CIVIL – HUMAN RHTS/OPPOR CMMSN Party/Attorney or Self-Represented Information Trial Court Party Class Appeal Party Class AJMAL MEHDI Self Rep: AJMAL MEHDI Plaintiff Appellant COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS AND OPPORTUNITIES Juris: 405680 CT COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS AND OPPORT The information displayed in the Motion, Order and Transfer Activity section includes only the following: appellate and trial court motions, court orders, appeal dispositions and transfer activity. At this time, the information does not include pre-appeal motions or motions for extension of time. Information on petitions for certification is available in the Appeal Case Information section at the top of the page. http://appellateinquiry.jud.ct.gov/CaseDetail.aspx?CRN=44931&Type=AppealNo