Jewish group honors Justice Ginsburg for lifetime achievement
JERUSALEM (AP) — A prominent Jewish organization on Wednesday awarded U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg its first lifetime achievement award.
The Genesis Prize Foundation noted Ginsburg’s “groundbreaking legal work in the field of civil liberties and women’s rights” in its announcement.
The foundation sponsors the annual Genesis Prize — an award that is informally known as the Jewish Nobel.
It said the five winners of the Genesis Prize — former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, actor Michael Douglas, violinist Itzhak Perlman, sculptor Anish Kapoor and this year’s recipient, actress Natalie Portman — had selected Ginsburg.
Ginsburg, 84, has served on the Supreme Court since 1993. She is just the second female justice and often cites her Jewish heritage as a source for her love of learning and sensitivity to the plight of oppressed minorities.
The former president of Israel’s Supreme Court, Aharon Barak, is scheduled to present the award to Ginsburg at a ceremony in Tel Aviv in July 2018.
Nassar expected to change plea in sex assault cases
LANSING, Mich. (AP) — A former Michigan State University and USA Gymnastics doctor accused of molesting girls at his home and a campus clinic is expected to change his not-guilty pleas to close criminal cases in two counties.
Online court records show change-of-plea hearings for 54-year-old Dr. Larry Nassar are set for Nov. 22 and Nov. 29 — a week before jury selection was to begin in one Michigan county.
Nassar previously pleaded guilty in federal court in a separate child pornography case. He’s scheduled to be sentenced in the porn case in December.
A message seeking comment was left Wednesday for one of Nassar’s defense attorneys. A spokeswoman for the state Attorney General Bill Schuette declined comment, citing a gag order.
Nassar also has been sued by more than 125 women alleging abuse.
Ex-priest loses appeal over sexual assaults
JACKSON, Mich. (AP) — A former priest who says prosecutors waited too long to charge him with sexual abuse has lost his case at the Michigan appeals court.
James Rapp was sentenced to at least 20 years in prison for molesting students at Lumen Christi High School in Jackson in the 1980s. He was in prison in Oklahoma for similar crimes when he was charged in Michigan in 2015.
The appeals court says any statute of limitations was suspended when Rapp was locked up in Oklahoma. The 3-0 opinion was released Wednesday.
The 77-year-old Rapp pleaded no contest to criminal sexual conduct. Authorities say he coerced students into having sexual contact while working as a teacher and wrestling coach.
Rapp worked in six states before he was defrocked as a priest.
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