Trump v. Mazars LLP: Can US House committee subpoena financial records of Trump and his businesses? 7-2 (same 7-2 as below). Yes if for a proper legislative purpose. Court below must decide if there is a proper legislative purpose, taking into account separation of powers issues. Basically a punt. Win for libs because Trump has no absolute immunity, but good … Read More
Stone Was Handled With Velvet Gloves [UPDATE: And Flynn Walks!]
And then Barr got rid of the US Attorney for DC and replaced him with a former staffer and put heavy pressure on his former staffer then acting US attorney for DC to go easy on Stone sentencing because of Stone’s relationship with the president, Zelinsky is saying. — Laura Rozen (@lrozen) June 23, 2020 &then Barr clumsily tried to … Read More
Supreme Court Issues Landmark Ruling On LGBTQ Discrimination
The opinion: 6-3, with Roberts and Gorsuch joining the lefties. Gorsuch wrote the opinion. Justice Gorsuch says, essentially, that when Congress outlawed discrimination “because of” sex in Title VII, Congress must have meant to include gays and transgenders “because it is impossible to discriminate against a person for being homosexual or transgender without discriminating against that individual based on sex.” Gorsuch is … Read More
Document Dump: Judge Gleeson On Why Flynn’s Charges Should Not Be Dropped
The short version, however, is this. Gleeson argues there are two bases for denying a motion to dismiss a prosecution: the prosecutor’s reasons for doing so, or clear evidence of gross prosecutorial abuse. Guided by Rule 48(a)’s text and history, as well as separation of powers principles, there are two grounds for denying leave of court. First, “the requirement of … Read More
The Fire Of Violence Is Being Stoked… By The Right
Let me be clear about one thing… the overwhelming majority of protests that are taking place are peaceful, Let me be clear about another thing… looting and violence are occurring and some of it are by violent leftist protesters and much of it — particularly the looting — are crimes of opportunity. It is also true that people in law … Read More
Document Dump: Judge Sullivan Files His Brief In Flynn’s Mandamus Request
So here's the most important bits of Judge Sullivan's response to Flynn's request for mandamus. First (as I have written), he argues the request is premature since Sullivan hasn't even ruled on the gov't motion to dismiss yet. pic.twitter.com/ZlaH4RouCE — Gabriel Malor (@gabrielmalor) June 1, 2020 Third, argues that the "presumption of regularity" attached to prosecutorial discretion is not irrebuttable … Read More
Trump Seeks Iconic Moment, Gets It
Yesterday continued in the same pattern as the prior weekend. Massive peaceful protests by day, with some looting and violence as it got dark. All over the country. But the story of the day — perhaps even the year — happened in the late afternoon in D.C. In the span of 20 minutes, President Donald Trump manufactured a moment meant … Read More
Charging Documents Of Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin
Third degree murder: After a week of escalating protests, Hennepin County attorney Michael Freeman announced that former police officer Derek Chauvin had been arrested and would be charged with manslaughter and 3rd degree murder in the death of 46-year-old George Floyd. Floyd died after being arrested for possibly passing a fake $10 or $20 bill to buy cigarettes. The arrest made headlines as onlookers … Read More
Society Coming Apart At The Seems
The brutal manslaughter of George Floyd by Minneapolis policemen has become a touchstone for so many societal hot spots. The most notable, of course, is the continued racial injustice by police in communities throughout the country. This is not new of course. We have seen it repeatedly over the years. I’m not sure anything I can say will add to … Read More
“I Can’t Breathe”
A Minnesota man is dead after being handcuffed and pinned under the knee of a police officer in front of numerous onlookers. Video of the encounter appeared on social media Monday, and the Star Tribune reports that an attorney for the man’s family has identified him as George Floyd. The video shows Floyd lying facedown on the cement, almost under the back wheel of … Read More
Emoluments Case Revived
The concurrence starting at page 22 is very good.
If It Ain’t COVID, It’s Corruption
After an extraordinary public campaign by President Trump and his allies, the Justice Department dropped its criminal case on Thursday against Michael T. Flynn, Mr. Trump’s first national security adviser yesterday. Flynn had previously pleaded guilty twice to lying to F.B.I. agents about his conversations with a Russian diplomat during the presidential transition in late 2016. The Justice Department’s decision to drop the … Read More
COVID-19: Day 5
As of 12:30 pm: US cases are 14,322 (with 210 deaths). That’s quite a leap over yesterday’s 9,000 or so, but we are testing more. NC has 123 cases, zero deaths. Five cases in my county. Dow is down 200 points. Again, seems to be veering from huge changes. The biggest development — GOP scandal: Senator Richard M. Burr sold … Read More
Stone Sentencing: Live
latest updateRoger Stone: 3.5 yrs (pending pardon)Gates: jail, 3 yrs probationCohen: 3 yrs prison Manafort: 4 yrs prisonFlynn: awaiting sentencingIndividual-1: FUCKING IMPEACHED FOR LIFE Hillary: having a nice walk in the woods me: laughing at all you “lock her up” morons — Jeff Tiedrich (@itsJeffTiedrich) February 20, 2020 Roger Stone was found guilty of lying to Congress and threatening a … Read More
Trump On Pardoning Spree Today; Is This Leading Up To A Stone Pardon?
All the worst criminals. BREAKING: Trump signed an executive order granting clemency for Eddie DeBartolo Jr., the former owner of the San Francisco 49ers who was convicted in a gambling fraud scandalhttps://t.co/ZYQrNSCeGx — The Daily Beast (@thedailybeast) February 18, 2020 Before boarding Air Force One, Trump announces he has commuted the sentence of former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich. — Kaitlan … Read More