[mulnir]

Just throwing it out there, but how is the Mayor’s ordeal different than the City Clerk who refused Marriage licenses? We are good with one but not the other? Both are elected officials defying a court order.

[Svartalfiar]

Just throwing it out there, but how is the Mayor’s ordeal different than the City Clerk who refused Marriage licenses? We are good with one but not the other? Both are elected officials defying a court order.

The contempt order stems from a decades-long legal battle centered on state-mandated raises that previous administrations did not pay in accordance with the law. The city agreed last year to pay $75 million to satisfy the firefighters' back pay claims but never actually came up with the money

So here, we have a judge in a court that has jurisdiction, with an agreement being violated that the city agreed to last year (Issues from previous admins, but the current one agreed to the settlement!). Now I'm not sure how much control the NO mayor has over the budget, but it sounds like it's his job to cut services elsewhere to find the money to pay the settlement, and he hasn't done that. Not hard to just not do landscaping for a couple months, or trim a couple departments and eliminate those salaries.

On your point, we have a federal judge getting involved in a State issue, basing his decision on rulings that are highly contentious, violating the 1st (and 10th) Amendments.