Judge Larry Naves Tells Ward Churchill to Take a Hike

"Stripped of its exaggerations and insults designed to provoke the Court toward an emotional response, the Motion to Amend is an empty pleading."---Patrick O'Rourke

The Boulder Daily Camera (9-19-09) reports:

A Denver district court judge has refused to change his decision that denied ousted University of Colorado professor Ward Churchill the chance to be reinstated or receive any compensation.

On Friday, Judge Larry Naves [pictured above] denied the motion filed by Churchill's attorney, David Lane, requesting that Naves amend his previous ruling. [See Churchill's Notice of Appeal.]

This, however, was not a surprise, according to Lane, and does not mean that Churchill's fight has been put to rest.

"We knew what was going to happen before we even filed it," Lane said. "But we gave the trial judge every conceivable shot to do the right thing."

Churchill was fired in July 2007 after CU said he had committed repeated academic fraud in his scholarship.

The ethnic studies professor then sued school, claiming that the university really fired him over a controversial essay he had written several years earlier. In the essay, Churchill called victims of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks "little Eichmanns" -- a reference to an architect of the Holocaust.

A Denver jury found that CU unlawfully fired Churchill for exercising his right to free speech, but only awarded him $1 in damages. After considering the jury's ruling, Naves declined to award Churchill his job back or any compensation.

Lane says that he and Churchill now plan to take the case to the Colorado Court of Appeals, where a panel of three judges will reconsider the outcome. If that is not successful, Lane said the case would be appealed to the Colorado Supreme Court, and if necessary, the U.S. Supreme Court....

CU's attorney, Patrick O'Rourke, could not be reached for comment Saturday, but he earlier called the motion that was denied Friday a "publicity stunt."

"Stripped of its exaggerations and insults designed to provoke the Court toward an emotional response, the Motion to Amend is an empty pleading," O'Rourke wrote.