Susan Sarandon and Marianne Williamson call for justice in Steven Donziger case

[Judi Lynn]

5/20/2021

Former Democratic presidential candidate Marianne Williamson and actress and environmentalist Susan Sarandon called on the federal government and the Department of Justice (DOJ) to intervene in the case against attorney Steven Donziger who has been locked in a legal battle with Chevron for nearly three decades and has been under house arrest for almost two years.

Speaking to Hill.TV's "Rising" host Krystal Ball, Williamson accused Chevron of "trying to destroy Steven Donziger."

"The money that they have spent already trying to destroy Steven Donziger is much more money than it would have cost them to just clean up that area of the Amazon," Williamson said.

In 1993, Donziger was part of a legal team that filed a class action lawsuit against Texaco on behalf of over 30,000 Ecuadorian farmers and indigenous people who were affected by the contamination from the company's oil drilling. Chevron became involved after it bought Texaco in 2001, The Intercept reported.

More:
https://thehill.com/hilltv/rising/554612-susan-sarandon-and-marianne-williamson-call-for-justice-in-steven-donziger-case

[Maine Abu El Banat]

1. Marianne Williamson

And who?

[abqtommy]

2. It's interesting to me that I remember songs titled "Susan" and "Marianne". I remember the

songs fondly which is more than I can say for Susan Sarandon. I'm not familiar with Marianne
Williamson so I'll withhold commenting on her.

[niyad]

4. You managed never to hear of "a course in miracles"?? Lucky you!

[abqtommy]

7. I freely and unashamedly admit that there are many things I've never heard of. Sometimes my

hearing is very selective, however. Now I've heard about whatever "a course in miracles" is for what
that's worth.

[vsrazdem]

3. This case is a travesty and the justice department should be investigating it.

[George II]

10. I read through some material about Donziger's past and this case (no legal documents though)....

In what way is this a travesty of justice?

From what I've seen it appears Donziger has been quite an operator over the years, decades, working around the fringes of the law.

Quite honestly, I don't think Ball of "The Rising" or The Intercept can be less than biased.

[vsrazdem]

12. You should read about the actual case.

The justice department refused to take this case, so a judge with an association to Chevron, appointment a private law firm (associated with Chevron) to prosecute him. He was ordered by the judge to turn over lawyer/client documents, and he appealed the judges ruling, which he has since won. However, the judge still decided to charge him with contempt of court for not turning over the documents and hired a private law firm to charge him since the justice dept would not charge him. In what case in the US have you ever heard of this happening. The contempt would be a misdemeanor punishable by more than a little over 100 days of found guilty. He has now been on house arrest for almost 600 days. Greenpeace and other Nobel prize winners have written a litter to the justice dept asking them to investigate and that is what should be done.

[George II]

13. It's a pretty messy, and long running case. Seems the attorney involved, Stephen Donziger....

....pulled some pretty sleazy things over the course of the years, including bribing at least one judge in Ecuador, witness tampering, and even ghost writing a judge's opinion!

It wasn't a simple case where the attorney was ordered to turn over lawyer/client documents - this was an international case, and some illegal things that the attorney did should not have been protected by attorney/client privilege.

I don't know that the judge involved had an "association" with Chevron, he's been on the bench for almost 30 years, appointed by President Bill Clinton.

The judge's decision regarding the civil contempt ruling was upheld by the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, and the attorney lost his case with the international court in the Hague.

[vsrazdem]

14. I don't happen to believe in what Chevron says. Too many connections between

the judge and the law firm to Chevron, no jury trial, just the judge, who was reading the newpaper while the trial was going on. They are waiting for a guitly verdict to appeal it to an actual circuit court. We will see what happens then. I have never heard of a judge hiriing a private law firm to charge an individual and bring it to a bench trial. Have you?

[niyad]

5. Glad to see that susan is doing something useful, for a change.

[JohnSJ]

8. Yes, instead of encouraging people not to vote for Hillary, and helping put trump in

[Autumn]

6. The DOJ should intervene in this. Glad to see these two wonderful women bringing notice to this.

Love Marianne. As an almost atheist, she's the only spiritual leader I have.

[George II]

9. As much as we read and hear about Susan Sarandon being an "activist", what has she actually done?

[NurseJackie]

11. Lulz!