U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth in Washington denied Bolton’s request to toss out the lawsuit, which alleges that Bolton violated nondisclosure agreements when he published his memoir without completing a security review. Lamberth said on Thursday the government mounted a sufficiently convincing case to justify continued litigation over the book.

“The government has the power to prevent harm to the national security,” Lamberth wrote. “While the government may not prevent Bolton from publishing unclassified materials, it may require him to undergo a reasonable prepublication review process.”

The legal dispute over “The Room Where It Happened” began in June, when the government sought to block publication, claiming the book’s release would endanger national security. Lamberth allowed Bolton’s book to be released, partly because excerpts had begun to appear in newspapers.

But the government continued with a lawsuit seeking to seize Bolton’s profits. The U.S. said Bolton was required to receive written confirmation that the book was free of classified information before publishing it. Bolton submitted the memoir for a security review but moved forward with publication without formal approval, arguing that the U.S. was dragging its feet to prevent embarrassing revelations about the president.

Bolton’s lawyer, Charles Cooper, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. At a hearing last week, he argued that neither of the two nondisclosure agreements that his client signed required him to receive written approval to publish the memoir, or even to submit the manuscript for review in the first place.

The contracts require former government officials to receive final written approval for a manuscript only if they believe the draft might contain classified information, and Bolton was confident his memoir did not, Cooper said.

Lamberth rejected that argument.

“Even if Bolton operated out of an abundance of caution in submitting his manuscript for review,” he wrote, “the very existence of his caution leads to a fair inference that Bolton was less than certain as to the status of the manuscript.”

Navy removes gendered terms from official SEAL ethos

The U.S. Navy SEALs and the Navy Special Warfare Combatant-craft Crewmen (SWCC) have replaced gendered terms such as “man” and “brotherhood” in their ethos and creed statements for a more inclusive gender representation.

According to American Military News, Naval Special Warfare spokesman Lt. Cmdr. Matthew Stroup confirmed the news, saying that the changes in language have been made to comply with changes in law, opening the potential for women to join the elite military units.

“Naval Special Warfare continues to deliberately develop a culture of tactical and ethical excellence that reflects the nation we represent, and that draws upon the talents of the all-volunteer force who meet the standards of qualification as a SEAL or SWCC,” Stroup said.

Among the changes, masculine terms such as “brotherhood” and “man” have been replaced with gender-neutral words.

In the opening paragraph of the SEAL ethos, for example, the sentence “A common man with uncommon desire to succeed,” has been replaced for “Common citizens with uncommon desire to succeed.”

Among the other changes, the sentence “I am that man” now reads “I am that warrior;” the phrase “sets me apart from other men” has been changed to “sets me apart from others;” the expression “Brave men” was changed to “Brave SEALs.”

In the SWCC creed, the word “brotherhood” has been replaced with “group of maritime warriors,” and instead of “brothers,” the creed uses the gender-neutral pronoun “them.”

“The previous versions of the SEAL Ethos and SWCC Creed were written prior to the law allowing women to serve as operators in Naval Special Warfare,” Stroup said.

Catholic Diocese of Rockville Centre, facing multiple sexual abuse lawsuits, files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy

NEW YORK — The beleaguered Diocese of Rockville Centre, facing dozens of sex abuse lawsuits, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy Thursday.

The Long Island Catholic diocese — one of the largest in the country — said the bankruptcy filing was necessary to move forward while managing litigation costs, settlements with sexual abuse survivors and disputes with its insurers.

The cases against them have been mounting ever since the Child Victims Act passed last year opened the legal window for victims to sue the Catholic Church and other institutions.

“We believe that this process offers the only way to ensure a fair and equitable outcome for everyone involved, including abuse survivors whose compensation settlements will be resolved by the courts,” said Bishop John Barres, head of the diocese. “This decision was not made lightly.”

Barres said the diocese’s insurers failed to honor their contractual obligations as the lawsuits increased, with close to 100 filed against Rockville Centre. Three other New York state dioceses already filed for Chapter 11, citing similar issues: Buffalo, Rochester and Syracuse.

“We carefully and prayerfully considered other alternatives, but Chapter 11 was the only way to provide fair settlements to survivors while continuing to be of service to the 1.4 million Catholics … in the Diocese of Rockville Centre,” the bishop said.

He also noted the steep drop in Sunday collection money due to the COVID-19 crisis, with churches shuttered for an extended period. The diocese typically generates roughly 40% of its annual revenue from parishioners’ donations.

Attorney Jeff Anderson, whose firm represents dozens of sexual abuse accusers, quickly denounced the filing.

“We see the diocese’s decision to declare bankruptcy as strategic, cowardly and wholly self-serving,” said Anderson. “At the heart of these cases, we find a willful deceit on the diocese’s part — persistent attempts to evade accountability and a concerted effort to conceal information.”

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