Law
April 25, 2024 — Scott Johnson
Now an Arizona grand jury has handed up a 2020 election-related indictment procured by Arizona’s Democratic attorney general. The indictment includes charges against Rudy Giuliani, Mark Meadows, and others in connection with the scheme Trump was pursuing in the aftermath of the 2020 presidential election. Trump is named an unindicted co-conspirator. The indictment is posted online here. Politico’s story on the indictment deciphers the names redacted from the indictment at
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April 24, 2024 — John Hinderaker
I wrote last night about the absurdity of Alvin Bragg’s criminal prosecution of Donald Trump. Today both Andrew McCarthy and Jonathan Turley made similar points. Andrew went into considerably more detail. He writes: As I’ve related a few times, Alvin Bragg, Manhattan’s elected progressive Democratic district attorney, is trying to hoodwink the jury into believing that (a) it is a crime for a candidate for public office to conspire with
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April 24, 2024 — Scott Johnson
We haven’t heard much from Barack Obama about the 10/7 massacre or Iran’s missile assault on Israel. Former Obama wingman Eric Holder gives us a taste of what we are missing in the Washington Free Beacon story “Eric Holder Says Columbia’s Campus Agitators Have ‘Legitimate Concerns.'” Both Obama and Holder are Columbia alumni. Collin notes the contradiction between Holder’s defense of the pro-Hamas campers at Columbia and the stated position
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April 21, 2024 — John Hinderaker
Check out this headline from today’s New York Times, on the criminal trial that is under way in Manhattan: “Will a Mountain of Evidence Be Enough to Convict Trump?” I understand that readers of the Times tune in mainly to get their daily dose of Trump-hate, but is the Times even pretending to be a newspaper anymore? The trial, which could brand Mr. Trump a felon as he mounts another
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April 17, 2024 — Scott Johnson
In a week laden with news, we shouldn’t overlook the oral argument held yesterday by the Supreme Court in Fischer v. United States. The issue before the Court. Fischer is one of some 350 January 6 defendants charged with obstructing an official congressional proceeding allegedly in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1512(c)(2) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (as well as other federal offenses). The question before the Court is whether the
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April 16, 2024 — Scott Johnson
Not from the river to the sea, but from sea to shining sea the Kill the Jews crowd was out in force blocking bridges and roadways around the United States yesterday. They did their thing in San Francisco, Oakland, New York City, Philadelphia, San Antonio, Seattle, and points elsewhere in the United States. In the heart of the country they temporarily shut down travel into Chicago O’Hare International Airport. For
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April 15, 2024 — John Hinderaker
I find this, from this morning’s proceedings in Trump’s “hush money” trial, inexplicable: Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass looked for a backdoor way of introducing Donald Trump’s infamous “Access Hollywood” interview into the hush money trial Monday morning, where he recited, word for word, Trump’s “grab ’em by the p—y” speech. Justice Juan M. Merchan had previously ruled that the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office could not play Trump’s interview to a jury
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April 15, 2024 — John Hinderaker
Alvin Bragg’s criminal case against Donald Trump goes to trial today. It says something about the world we live in that we haven’t even bothered to mention it lately. I summed up Bragg’s case against Trump here. In a word, it is pathetic. Trump made one or more “hush money” payments to Stormy Daniels, which was perfectly legal. The alleged crime is that his business documents reflect falsely that the
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April 13, 2024 — Scott Johnson
Abbe Lowell is the attorney for Hunter Biden in the criminal proceedings that have been brought against him. I’ve observed a time or two before that Lowell will say approximately anything on Biden’s behalf in return for his compensation in the cases. Judge Maryellen Noreika asked the question that crushed the sweetheart plea deal arranged for Hunter. She says as much about Lowell as I do above in denying his
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April 11, 2024 — Scott Johnson
Over the weekend I received an invitation to attend the New Civil Liberties Alliance conference hosted by George Washington University Law School yesterday: “Is administrative law still unlawful?” (Plot spoiler: the answer is “yes.”) Luckily for me, I am in Washington visiting family this week and was able to attend the conference. The conference celebrated the tenth anniversary of the publication of Professor Philip Hamburger’s monumental treatise Is Administrative Law
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April 9, 2024 — John Hinderaker
The European Court of Human Rights has ruled that Switzerland is liable to its citizens for its alleged failure to do enough about “climate change”: A group of 2,000 Swiss women have won a climate change case against Switzerland at the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), in a ruling hailed as “monumental” by experts. The court agreed with the KlimaSeniorinnen, or Senior Women for Climate Protection, that the Swiss
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April 8, 2024 — Scott Johnson
I found the oral argument of the case now styled Murthy v. Missouri last month to be utterly demoralizing. As soon as the oral argument concluded I rashly hazarded my assessment that it portends a victory for the massive censorship-industrial complex represented by the Biden administration, probably on procedural grounds (i.e., standing). My assessment was a hot take based on the tenor of the argument. The argument seemed to me
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April 5, 2024 — Scott Johnson
Douglas Murray has just posted the documentary America’s Drug Crisis on his YouTube channel. I have embedded it below. He writes in the YouTube caption: “As the U.S. has turned away from ‘the war on drugs,’ many cities have sought more ‘humane’ approaches to dealing with addiction. They’re not working. In my new documentary, I explore just how deep-seated America’s Drug Crisis has become – and how the policies we’ve
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April 5, 2024 — Scott Johnson
Philip Hamburger’s Is Administrative Law Unlawful? (2014) constitutes a pioneering work of intellectual restoration. Provoked by recent developments in administrative law, I have returned to it this week. Just in time for this concluding post, I heard from Professor Hamburger last night. He wrote: Dear Scott, Thank you so much for your kind discussion of my book! Alas, there is still a long way to go in clearing up the
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April 4, 2024 — Scott Johnson
John Tierney was a long-time reporter and columnist for the New York Times. He is now a contributing editor to City Journal. Among his book credits is God Is My Broker, written with Christopher Buckley. A parody of self-help books, it tells the story of Brother Ty, a failed Wall Street trader who becomes a monk and rescues his impoverished monastery by receiving receiving stock tips from God. Along the
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April 4, 2024 — Scott Johnson
Philip Hamburger is the Maurice and Hilda Friedman Professor of Law at Columbia Law School and the author of Is Administrative Law Unlawful? I thought I would follow up “The case against administrative law” with the interview I conducted with Professor Hamburger back in 2014, after I had reviewed Is Administrative Law Unlawful? for National Review. It may be slightly dated. However, as the song goes, “the fundamental things apply.”
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April 2, 2024 — Scott Johnson
Hunter Biden moved to dismiss the criminal tax charges pending against Hunter Biden in federal court (the Central District of California). Indeed, Biden attorney Abbe Lowell filed eight motions to dismiss the charges. Judge Mark Scarsi — a Trump appointee — denied the motions in an order that is accessible online here. Judge Scarsi writes at page 33: As the Court stated at the hearing, Defendant filed his motion without
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