US supreme court rejects appeal from lawyer punished over effort to remove abusive priest

Richard Trahant fined $400,000 over apparent violation of order in case of priest who admitted sexual misconduct

The US supreme court has rejected an appeal from an attorney who was fined $400,000 after taking steps to get an abusive Roman Catholic priest removed as chaplain of a high school campus.

In a notice on Monday, the supreme court’s justices indicated without explanation that they would not take up the case of Richard Trahant, whose clients include dozens of people victimized by a clergy abuse scandal that drove New Orleans’ Catholic archdiocese into federal bankruptcy court.