Ava Maria University Gets "Death Book" Zealot as New Head!

Ava Maria University, a conservative Catholic law school based in Naples, made some headlines a while back when Loring Spolter noted that Judge Zloch has hired several law clerks from that school.

Believe me, I'm not getting in the middle of that.

But it seems the struggling school has a new head: James Towey, the former director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives under George W. Bush.

Towey's a Seminole law grad who most recently made news flocking a "death book for veterans"(!) as part of the scare campaign over health care reform.

Amid many crazy health care allegations, this one was a doozy and earned Towey the much-coveted BuzzFeed  "Pure Manure" rating.

So the school's in good hands (I'm talking about the FSU part).

BTW, the Washington Monthly previously took a look at Ava Maria back in late 2009, and it didn't look so good:

Most of the original faculty have fled or been pushed out, and the quality of the students has tumbled. One current professor told me, “Our student body now is one of the four or five worst in America.” The instability has also wreaked havoc on the school’s reputation: in the 2009 U.S. News & World Report law school rankings, Ave Maria tied for last place in the peer-assessment category, the most important measure in determining a school’s standing. (The school was not officially ranked because U.S. News doesn’t rank schools that land in the bottom tier.) Meanwhile, there are signs that Monaghan’s foundation, which funds the law school and the university, is on the verge of running out of money, in part because Monaghan bet his fortune—and the future of his nonprofits—on the now-crumbling Florida real estate market. Earlier this year, Ave Maria University’s second-longest-standing professor resigned, but not before sending a letter to administrators expressing his alarm at the school’s financial straits. “I fear that all of us (to different degrees) are participating in something that we may later deeply regret,” he wrote, “namely selling to young people and their families [an] educational product that we do not have sufficient reason to believe can be delivered.”

 Sounds like a great place to spend a lot of money when the legal job market is already in the crapper.

11th Circuit Upholds Judge Zloch Sanctions Order Against Loring Spolter!

Remember that time in band camp when Judge Zloch hammered -- and I mean hammered -- Fort Lauderdale attorney Loring Spolter?

Well the digital ink is barely dry on the 11th's unpublished affirmance of the sanctions order:

A review of the record, including the 68-page district court order, shows Spolter has been intensely persistent in seeking the recusal of Judge Zloch because of a perceived bias he believes the judge has against him. It is clear from the record that Spolter has repeatedly attempted to create the appearance of impropriety to further his requests for the recusal and reassignment of cases by Judge Zloch. Spolter has repeatedly attacked Judge Zloch’s faith and political affiliations, and has also called into question the credentials of some of his former law clerks. Spolter has further impugned the dignity of the court by alleging that both Judge Zloch and the Clerk’s Office have manipulated the case assignment system of the entire Southern District of Florida for the sole purpose of ensuring Judge Zloch receives a disproportionate number of Spolter’s cases.

Ok, so?

I'm not following.

The Court continues:

Spolter’s conduct in filing multiple recusal and reconsideration motions without providing a good faith basis supports the district court’s imposition of sanctions. Even though Spolter claims he had a good faith belief the case assignment system operated on a blind random basis before filing his motion for reconsideration, his claims are unpersuasive. The record shows he was notified by a letter from the court explaining how the case assignment system operates in the Southern District of Florida. If Spolter reviewed the case assignment rules cited in this letter, he would have known the Southern District of Florida does not operate on a pure blind, random basis. Instead, Spolter enlisted the services of an expert five days after receiving notification from the court, and provided him with inaccurate information in an attempt to try and prove the case assignment system had been manipulated and that Judge Zloch was behind it. Further, Spolter even admits that prior to filing his motion for reconsideration, he should have investigated the Court’s internal operating procedure and that he mistakenly directed the expert to assume facts that he knew were not true. Although Spolter claims he made a good faith mistake, we believe Spolter’s actions were done in bad faith and for an improper purpose. See Jones, 49 F.3d at 694. Accordingly, we hold the district court did not abuse its discretion when it imposed sanctions against Spolter pursuant to Rule 11.

Oy.

Is that full-page, Judge Zloch-approved DBR ad still an option?