Breaking: U.S. Judge Abdul Kallon issues surprising resignation announcement as reports swirl about possible investigations related to bribery scandal

Abdul Kallon

 

Abdul Kallon, federal judge in the Northern District of Alabama, announced his resignation today -- giving up a lifetime appointment as online reports swirl about possible investigations related to the North Birmingham Superfund bribery scandal and apparent efforts to keep corporate entities -- Alabama Power, especially -- out of the case, along with some of the state's most powerful white political figures. Former State Rep. Oliver Robinson (D-Birmingham), who is Black, went to prison in the case.

Currently incarcerated are former Drummond Company executive David Roberson and former Balch & Bingham law partner Joel Gilbert, who were convicted in a joint trial that Kallon oversaw. Roberson has an ongoing $75-million lawsuit alleging that Balch and Drummond combined to make him a fall guy in the case. That civil matter essentially has reopened issues connected to the criminal bribery case, and sources say that could have influenced Kallon's decision to resign.

Kallon's announcement sent shock waves today through the Birmingham legal community. It comes almost two years after Trump-appointed U.S. attorney Jay Town made a similarly surprising resignation announcement. Town famously had been caught in a photograph chugging cocktails with Alabama Power CEO Mark Crosswhite at a downtown Birmingham lounge shortly before the bribery trial. The trial reportedly featured an agreement to keep Alabama Power "unmentionable" during the case. 

Does Kallon's resignation signal that a shakeup might be coming on the Alabama legal scene? Our sources say that seems possible. "I have to think that indictments may be in the works against some of those that were involved in this sham trial of Roberson," one source said. " You just do not resign a lifetime appointment for no reason. Something is on its way down."

A protective coating appears to have applied to white, conservative political figures during the bribery trial, and that did not go unnoticed -- locally or nationally. Former State Attorney General and U.S. Sen. Luther Strange was front and center in much of that reporting. From a February 2021 post at Legal Schnauzer (LS): 

Political contributions from Drummond Company to Luther Strange were in exchange for his opposition to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) making North Birmingham a Superfund site, the company's former director of government affairs says in discovery filed yesterday in his $75-million fraud lawsuit against Drummond and the Balch Bingham law firm. States David Roberson:

"As head of government affairs at Drummond, I never made or recommended any campaign contributions on behalf of the company that were a bribe and/or in any way illegal. The political contributions to Luther Strange were in exchange for him to sign letters as the state attorney general opposing North Birmingham being made a Superfund site. I never met with Luther Strange in connection with this contribution and was not made aware of it until after the fact."

Strange hardly was alone in the unwanted spotlight, as a letter from the Project for Government Oversight (POGO) to Jay Town -- calling for him to step down from the case due to conflicts related to Alabama politicians -- made clear. From a March 2021 LS post on the subject:

POGO’s reason for calling upon you to recuse yourself is that three key officials who are your political allies and supported your appointment as U.S. Attorney—Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Senator Luther Strange, and Senator Richard Shelby—all have deep political, financial, or personal ties to Balch and Drummond. Furthermore, Senator Strange has been linked to the bribery scandal.. . . 

As Alabama Attorney General, Senator Strange filed letters with the EPA in October 2014 and January 2015 declaring that the state would not provide any funding for the cleanup of the Birmingham Superfund site, located in a poor African American neighborhood. The Drummond Co. donated $25,000 to his campaign two weeks before the first letter in October 2014 and another $25,000 a month after the second letter in January 2015. . . . 

You twice advised Senator Strange in political campaigns. He subsequently supported your nomination for U.S. Attorney. Senator Strange is now alleged to be involved in a bribery scandal under investigation by the office of which you are now in charge.

POGO then turned its attention to Jeff Sessions and Richard Shelby:

Another public supporter of your nomination as U.S. Attorney is Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Balch and Drummond were, respectively, Senator Sessions second and third largest sources of campaign funding during his Senate career—and through their political action committees and employees have contributed an approximate total of $300,000 to his campaigns since the late 1990s.

Finally, Senator Richard Shelby, another principal sponsor of your nomination as U.S. Attorney, and for whom you appeared in a television campaign commercial in 2016, is a longtime recipient of campaign money from Balch and Drummond. According to public records, Senator Shelby has received approximately $110,000 from Balch and $155,500 from Drummond over his last three election cycles (1999-2016).

The roll call of Alabama politicos tied to the Superfund case does not end there, thanks to a report from Mother Jones. As we reported in October 2017:

Joining Sessions and Shelby on the list of ignominy are U.S. Sen. Luther Strange (R-AL), former Gov. Robert Bentley, State Sen. Jabo Waggoner, U.S. Rep. Gary Palmer (R-AL), and Strange's one-time campaign manager Jessica Garrison. Notice a pattern? Yes, we're looking here at all white, conservative Republicans.

The names of Robert "Luv Guv" Bentley and Jabo Waggoner are particularly interesting:

Drummond was a major political benefactor of former Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley, who resigned in April amid an embarrassing sex scandal. Bentley’s administration fiercely battled the EPA’s Superfund push in North Birmingham, yet he was hardly alone. Among the state officials who assisted Drummond and Balch was one of the longest-serving members of the state Legislature, Republican Sen. J.T. “Jabo” Waggoner, who in 2015 successfully introduced a resolution opposing the EPA actions at the 35th Avenue Superfund site. According to the Justice Department, the measure was in fact authored by Balch’s Joel Gilbert.

How did Gary Palmer's name come up?

Sessions, Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.), and Rep. Gary Palmer (R-Ala.) sent a letter to the EPA condemning the use of the “air deposition theory” at the 35th Avenue site. Attached to the letter was a copy of Waggoner’s ghostwritten resolution. In July 2016, according to an EPA spokesman, officials from the agency briefed staffers for Sessions, Shelby, and Palmer regarding the status of the 35th Avenue site.  

And how did Jessica Medeiros Garrison, join the fray. Mother Jones provides the answer:

[Jeffrey] Wood, [Ed] Haden, and other Balch lawyers spearheaded high-profile legal fights with the Obama-era EPA. Wood and Haden represented Republican members of Congress in a 2016 court filing siding with West Virginia as it fought EPA carbon emission standards at coal power plants. The lawsuit appeared to be coordinated by coal behemoth Murray Energy and the fossil fuel industry-funded Republican Attorneys General Association. RAGA’s executive director at the time, Jessica Medeiros Garrison, was simultaneously an attorney at Balch from 2011 through 2016. She has also worked for Sessions.

As for Kallon, he reportedly was three years from going on senior status and reaching full retirement. He had worked at the downtown corporate law firm Bradley Arant before his judicial appointment. From an al.com report on the resignation: 

A federal judge in Birmingham has submitted his resignation to President Biden. U.S. District Judge Abdul K. Kallon,appointed to the lifetime position in 2010 by President Obama, will resign effective Aug. 31, 2022, according to his resignation letter dated April 5.

“I am forever grateful to President Barack Obama for the confidence implicit in his decision to nominate me for this position,’’ Kallon wrote in the letter to Biden.

The judge did not give a reason for his resignation. Efforts to reach him for comment weren’t immediately successful. His office declined comment.