Some US Supreme Court news this morning: (1) North Carolina has – um, HAD — a law that said registered sex offenders could not go to certain sites on the Intertubes. The Supreme Court struck down that law, saying it violated First Amendment. The decision was 8-0, although there was sharp disagreement about how much states can regulate Internet … Read More
Verdict in on Philando Castile Killing
Remember this? I wrote about it last year. A Minnesota jury has reached a verdict in the manslaughter trial of Jeronimo Yanez, the officer who fatally shot Philando Castile during a traffic stop last year. Yanez is on trial for one count of second-degree manslaughter and two counts of intentional discharge of firearm that endangers safety because Castile’s girlfriend and … Read More
What’s This Tweet About?
Trump’s not busy enough. He’s got free time to watch TV and get defensive. His tweets this morning railed against the “fake news” media and how there was no proof that his campaign (or, in his phrasing, he himself) colluded with Russia to affect the outcome of the election. (He also incorrectly claimed that the investigation had only been going … Read More
The Sessions Sessions
Ok, I’ll liveblog SOME of Sessions hearing before the Senate Intel Committee, but again, I expect he’ll talk about what he wants to talk about and then filibuster (or rely on executive privilege) when trapped in a corner. 2:56 pm Sessions has no recollection of meeting, talking to Russian ambassador or other Russian official at the Mayflower hotel. Here’s a notable … Read More
Can Trump Fire Mueller?
This is complicated and I don’t have much time. So hold on. Trump does not have the legal authority to fire special prosecutor Mueller directly, but that doesn’t mean Trump can’t TRY. For Trump to fire Mueller, he TECHNICALLY must order the Attorney General to fire Mueller. If Trump tried to fire Mueller directly, Mueller could (and probably would) choose … Read More
Maryland And DC Attorneys General File Lawsuit Against Trump Under Emoluments Clause
Although CREW currently has a lawsuit going, the attorneys general of Maryland and DC have filed a lawsuit today against President Trump, citing a constitutional violation of the Emoluments Clause of the Constitution. The damage? Well, they claim, the US is effectively not living up to the Constitution, a document that Maryland signed onto in part because of the Emoluments Clause. Also, … Read More
Ninth Circuit Strikes Down Trump Travel Ban
They write “Immigration, even for the president, is not a one-person show” and bring up last week’s tweets as evidence AGAINST his own lawyer’s argument (on page 40)
The Comey Memos — Part Two
So some idiot at Redstate is making the argument that the Comey Memos were leaked in contravention of the law: The documents leaked by Comey were official government records. Period. They were created by a government employee (Comey) while acting in his official capacity (FBI director) on a government-issued laptop while sitting in a government car driven by another government … Read More
Did Comey Break The Law By Revealing His Memo Contents To The Press?
No, and in fact, if Trump goes after Comey for dong that, Trump could get in deeper trouble. Here’s why: As the news broke, I was on the phone with Stephen Kohn, partner at a law firm focused on whistleblower protection. We’d been talking about where the boundaries lay for Comey in what he could and couldn’t do with the … Read More
Trump’s Tweets Today Are The Most Unhinged And SELF-Destructive (And It’s Only 10:00 AM)
God knows why they just don’t take his phone away. Or give him a fake phone with a fake Twitter account. This is how bad it has gotten: Trump’s own advisers have gone on television and stated that Trump’s tweets are not his policy. Well, who knows? How can we tell? Would Trump agree with that? Even this morning, Kellyanne … Read More
The “Unmasking” Diversion
Over at Fox News, they use the word “unmasking” a lot. To me, it looks like they haven’t realized it is a common practice in the intelligence community. They just use the word a lot so that their low-information viewers will think it is bad. “Unmasking”, of course, is the process whereby a redacted name of an American citizen is … Read More
Our Ugly Racist Country
White supremacists in New Orleans right now protecting Confederate monuments & calling Black people n**gers (while being protected by cops) pic.twitter.com/G38IXkbPxP — Tariq Nasheed (@tariqnasheed) May 8, 2017 WATCH: Muslim woman harassed while standing in line at a #TraderJoes in Reston, Virginia. If you know the harasser, please DM me. pic.twitter.com/06wZITBwMu — Yashar (@yashar) May 7, 2017
Trump Walks Away When Pressed On Wiretap
The interviewer is from the Washington Free Beacon, a Trump-friendly news outlet. And even they get the brushoff. Nope. Interviewer was from CBS
Trump Loses In Federal Court…. Again…. This Time on Sanctuary Cities
A federal district court ruling yesterday bars President Trump from withholding funds from jurisdictions that refuse to cooperate with federal agencies to deport undocumented immigrants, marking his second setback in court on immigration. The first setback, of course, was his Muslim ban. Before I get to the substance of this post, first things first: First the Ninth Circuit rules against … Read More
The Terrorist You Won’t Hear About
A terrorist armed with guns and a thousand round of ammunition failed in his attempt to go on a shooting spree in America, killing and wounding unknown numbers. You don’t about this story, because he failed in his attempt. And also, because the terrorist is a right wing white guy: The FBI arrested an alleged right-wing extremist who had amassed … Read More