Category Archives: legal news

legal news

Time to return the ‘favor’?

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You and I know that politicians keep telling us how they hate dealing with hypothetical situations, how they detest questions dealing with circumstances that might not ever occur.

Well, here’s a hypotthetical matter that very well could play out. Bear with me for a moment.

The midterm election this fall could result in a dramatic shift in congressional power, with Democrats reclaiming the majority in the House of Reps … and also the Senate. Let’s suppose the Senate shifts from Republican to Democratic control. Donald Trump is likely to become apoplectic, but this isn’t really about him.

What happens if one of the three liberal seats on the U.S. Supreme Court becomes vacant? A justice might have to resign, or he or she might well … be unable to serve. The Senate then becomes Ground Zero in the battle to fill the seat.

Flash back to 2016. Conservative Justice Antonin Scalia died while vacationing in Texas. President Obama then was able to nominate someone to replace the brilliant jurist Scalia. He chose Merrick Garland, chief justice of the DC Appellate Court.

Not so fast, said then-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. We’ve got an election coming up in November and we need tolet the voters decide who becomes president before moving on this nomination, McConnell said. Obama was furious. So were Democratic senators. Everyone praised Garland as an outstanding candidate for the high court. McConnell played his hand brilliantly.

Donald Trump won the 2016 election. He took his oath and then nominated the first of three justices he would get to pick during his first term in office.

It well might be possible for the next Senate majority leader, presuming it’s a Democrat, to pull the same stunt that McConnell used. One liberal justice, Sonia Sotomayor, has hinted openly she might have to step down because of health matters. Do you think a new Senate majority leader is going to roll over and let Trump tilt the court even farther to the right? Hah! I don’t believe that will ever happen.

Elections have consequences, yes? We’re watching in real time how those consequences can play out with a Supreme Court that already has overturned landmark rulings. Thus, it becomes vital to understand how vital it is to select the right Senate candidates when it comes time to speak out.

crime news, legal news

Clown show adds another player

Legal scholars need not apply for any position within the Trump administration that requires knowledge of the U.S. Constitution. All you have to be is a pal to Donald J. Trump.

Todd Blanche, who once served as Trump’s criminal defense lawyer, appears to be POTUS 47’s latest pick to be attorney general. He replaces the disgraced Pam Bondi, another dedicated Trumpkin who got canned a few weeks ago.

This is what it’s come down to, as Trump seeks to find “the best people” to fill these posts.

Blanche has been acting AG since Bondi got the boot. I’ll give him credit for reportedly persuading Trump to scrap the $1.8 billion slush fund that POTUS sought to set up to pay rewards for many of the Jan. 6 insurrectionists.

That’s not good enough, however, for Blanche to assume the role as the “people’s lawyer.”

I am left to breathe a heavy sigh of disgust.

legal news

Talk about a flimsy indictment … ?

We need a return to the actual practice of real law in the U.S. Department of Justice, not a campaign waged on hatred for a former top DOJ official.

What we’re getting from the DOJ is an effort with the cadence being called by the president of the United States. Sweet mother of Jesus … this has to stop.

A federal grand jury has handed down a two-page indictment of former FBI Director James Comey who took a picture of rocks on a beach that spelled out a colloquial phrase that one can translate to “kill Donald Trump.” DOJ tried this once before and a judge tossed it out summarily.

What are we talking about? Someone arranged some rocks on a North Carolina beach in the form of two numbers: 86 and 47.

86 means in street parlance to “get rid” of someone. You know, “I think I’m gonna ’86’ that guy.” 47 is the numerical sequence of Trump in the order of men who have held the office he occupies. You got it? Sure you do!

Comey took a picture of it, I guess thinking it’s funny.

What the nation needs so desperately is an attorney general who follows the actual rule of actual law. Trump fired former AG Pam Bondi because she was insufficiently on board with seeking revenge against Comey. Trump has hired his former personal lawyer, Todd Blanche, to serve as interim AG. Blanche must want the permanent job so much that he’s willing to do Trump’s bidding.

Every lawyer on Earth with half a brain says the same thing: This is the flimsiest indictment they’ve ever seen and it will meet the same fate as the first one … it’s headed straight for the crapper.

legal news, national news

I’ll say it now: Trump is certifiably insane!

With this blog post I am venturing tenderly onto a tree limb that is getting fuller by the hour with individuals who have said what I am going to declare.

Donald John Trump is insane! He may be certifiably so. He has gone mad. Bonkers,

I mean, can you name a president of the United States who ever has said he wanted to wipe a civilization off the face of the Earth? Can anyone find a historical reference to such utter madness? Trump said that if Iran doesn’t comply with his demands to end the war that Trump launched against Tehran that he would annihilate the population. They would be gone. All dead.

That is genocide in its rawest form, kids. And Trump has declared that he would be willing to drop the bombs to do the job.

We have established that the POTUS has made the declaration. That is an unlawful order if one has ever existed. No flag officer worth his or her honor would follow such an order. But you get my drift, yes? Of course you do!

Donald Trump need not say another word for the rest of his miserable life. He has established clearly his intention as commander in chief. He has gone ’round the bend!

Now comes the real hard part. Invoking the 25th Amendment to the Constitution that enables Trump to be removed from office. Such an act requires Republicans to join their Democratic colleagues in moving such an act forward. Based on what we all have witnessed, there aren’t enough GOP members of Congress or members of the Cabinet to say that “enough is enough!”

I feel better now that I’ve gotten it off my chest. I take no pleasure in joining the growing chorus. But, dammit! … the guy is beyond redemption.

legal news, national news

This election cycle? It’s the real deal!

Every election cycle possibly dating back to the beginning of our great republic has produced a comment from a candidate or a pundit that “this election is the most important in our nation’s history.”

Well, gang, I have news for you. The one coming up in November is the real thing. This one likely will determine the future of our republic. It will center on a candidate who won’t be on any ballot in any state. It will focus on the current occupant of the White House, Donald J. Trump.

He’s not up for a vote. In fact, he’ll never face the voters again. And for that we all should cheer loudly.

This election matters … a lot! The House of Representatives is likely to flip from Republican to Democratic control. The GOP is clinging to a majority that is virtually meaningless. It’s down to a seat or two or maybe three. Hell, I cannot keep track of it. GOP operatives are saying out loud what many others have said for about the past year: The Republican Party is going to get creamed! Every House seat is up for election. I don’t know what the latest forecasts are projecting, but I keep hearing a 30- to 50-seat swing from GOP to Democratic control.

Then there’s the U.S. Senate. Until just recently, it had been thought that flipping the Senate from GOP to Democrat was too steep a hill to climb. Suddenly, there is real belief that the Senate could be in play. North Carolina could flip. So could Maine. And get ready for this little nugget: Texas, the GOP bastion, could be in play as well.

Indeed, I have heard from some key Texas Republican strategists who suggest that Democratic Senate nominee James Talarico has a serious chance of seizing the Senate seat now held by Republican John Cornyn, who is in a runoff against the deeply flawed MAGA darling, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.

The economy is in the crapper. We’re at war with Iran. The POTUS keeps seizing power. Chaos pervades every executive branch agency.

Ladies and gentlemen, we have a prescription building for a first-class electoral blowout. It won’t please every American. However, I would be thrilled beyond measure to see my government return to the art of governing.

crime news, legal news, local news, national news

Impeachment coming? Sure, bring it!

Let’s assume for a moment that the political smart money is telling us the truth, that the next Congress is going to flip to Democratic control and that the House of Reps is going to launch an impeachment against Donald Trump.

We all have heard that Democrats might gain 30 seats on the Republicans who now control Congress. I can’t say whether the pundits think the 30-seat gain is at the top of their projection, at the bottom … or somewhere in the middle. If Trump continues on his slap-dash course it well could exceed the 30-seat turnover by a significant margin.

Is an impeachment necessary? I will allow my bias to peek through the haze and declare: Damn right it’s necessary! I will offer this caveat: I want Democrats to assure us that they can more than one thing at a time, that they can proceed with impeaching Trump and resume their constitutional role of making laws.

Rep. Hakeem Jeffries of New York is likely to be elected speaker and he ought to take a page from the book followed in Texas by then-Speaker Pete Laney. The West Texas cotton farmer said he always simply allowed “the will of the House” to have its way. And so it went during the years that Laney served as the Man of the House.

The will of the U.S. House should be allowed to play the hand it is dealt. If most members believe — as I do — that Trump has committed an impeachable offense or three, then it should act. It also should not allow the legislative process to get caught in a political vise that will clamp down around the White House.

We’ve all heard them say that lawmakers can “do more than one thing at a time.” Impeaching a president is serious business. So is legislating.

legal news

Constitution is showing its mettle

All right, boys and girls, this might be wishful thinking on my part, but I damn sure hope it’s for real because it feels like the real thing to me.

I am beginning to believe that our Constitution is beginning to flex its considerable muscle just in time to put the brakes on Donald Trump’s headlong dash toward establishing an autorcracy where the nation’s founders set forth a democratic republic.

The federal judiciary is leading the way, just as the founders sought when they created a three-branch government in which the courts serve as co-equally along side the legislative and executive branches of government.

Trump surely has left us gasping for breath from the moment he took office on Jan. 20. It was his second time around the presidential pea patch. The good news? There will be no third go-round. The Constitution’s 22nd Amendment limits presidents to two elected terms. Period. Full stop.

The courts keep issuing rulings that are giving Trump fits. To which I say, good on ’em! We see even judges nominated for the federal bench by Trump himself issuing decisions that are stripping away legal options bit by bit.

If the president were ever to read the Constitution, he would understand that the founders sought an independent judiciary that is relatively free of political pressure. Yes, Trump has three justices on the Supreme Court who have joined a six-justice conservative super majority. However, they are not following Trump in lockstep over the proverbial cliff.

Thus, the Constitution works … just as President Ford said in the moments after he took office at the end of our “long national nightmare.”

legal news

Vengeance effort picks up steam

Donald Trump’s campaign of retribution appears to be gathering a head of steam and for those of us worried about the future of this great country, serious worry is settling in … rapidly.

Today brought news that former Trump national security advisor John Bolton has been indicted on 18 counts by a federal grand jury on charges stemming from allegations that Bolton mishandled classified material. More bullshit from the Justice Department.

Former FBI director Jim Comey is indicted in the slimmest indictment in human history. New York Attorney General Letitia James is indicted for alleged real estate fraud crimes. What do Bolton, Comey and James have in common? They all are Trump critics!

Good grief, man! Who’s next? Sen. Adam Schiff of California is reportedly a target. Same, perhaps, for Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona?

Trump is out of his mind. He’s fu**ing insane!

He’s now presiding over a government that has shut down because Republicans don’t want to fund Affordable Care Act subsidies. The shutting down of the government is depriving Americans of services they paid for. It is endangering travelers at airports because traffic controllers aren’t getting paid. Trump is sending troops into the streets of great American cities to crack down on crimes that don’t exist.

Donald Trump 2.0 is far worse than Trump 1.0. He told us he would do precisely what he is now doing. And yet he got elected president in 2024.

Come to think of it, maybe it’s the small plurality of Americans who voted for this numbskull who need their heads examined.

crime news, legal news

Irony runs thick

You want irony? I’ve got a huge dose of it for you to ponder. It comes via testimony from a sitting U.S. senator from Rhode Island.

Sheldon Whitehouse, a Democrat, reminded his Senate Judiciary Committee colleagues the other day of the irony committed by AG Pam Bondi in testimony before the panel.

She had just secured an indictment of former FBI Director Jim Comey on a specious charge that he lied before the committee, committing an act of perjury. The indictment is so flimsy it likely won’t be tried. It was handed over on a total of two pages. That’s it! Comey allegedly lied about who told him what about a pending hearing. It’s pure crap.

Oh, but wait. Bondi then told the same Senate panel that Whitehouse accepted a favor from a donor, a charge that Whitehouse says is “demonstrably false.” He said a first-year law student could have looked up the facts and determined that the favor didn’t occur.

Therefore, Whitehouse said, Bondi committed the very same crime for which Comey has been indicted.

Do we indict the attorney general? If she isn’t above the law … then why not?

legal news

It’s not written, but still …

Critics of federal court rulings mandating that burning Old Glory is a form of protected political speech occasionally lapse into a tired argument to make their case.

It is that the Constitution doesn’t spell out that burning the Stars and Stripes falls into that category of protected civil liberty. They’re right. The Constitution doesn’t say any particular form of protest is protected by the First Amendment.

The argument reminds me of a constant argument I had with a colleague in Amarillo, who argued that the Constitution doesn’t say a word about the “separation of church and state,” so therefore, there is no separation. I told my colleague that the separation clearly is implied in the first clause of the First Amendment when it declares that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion … “

The Constitution doesn’t single out flag burning. Or draft-card burning. Or marching in the streets carrying signs that refer to police officers as ugly farm animals.

The founders, all those wise men, knew enough to grant interpretive power in our court system. They decided the courts should be the final arbiter on what’s constitutional and what isn’t.

The Supreme Court has ruled already that flag burning is protected speech. It has issued rulings repeatedly since the founding of our republic. Donald Trump says flag burning should result in a year in jail for the numbskull who does it. No, Donald. You can’t go there.

The nation’s founders had this one right. The current president of the United States has it wrong.