Judiciary

July 12, 2021 — Paul Mirengoff

The importance of a fairly-selected judiciary

Featured image Richard E. Myers II is the Chief District Judge of the United States District Court, Eastern District of North Carolina. He was nominated by Donald Trump and took office on January 1, 2021. Judge Meyers was born in Jamaica. He is of mixed race. Today, he testified before a congressional committee on the subject of “The Importance of a Diverse Federal Judiciary: The Selection and Confirmation Process.” I found his »
December 11, 2020 — Scott Johnson

Sullivan’s last sally revisited

Featured image Judge Emmet Sullivan’s refusal to grant the government’s initial motion to dismiss the case against Michael Flynn commits a rank injustice that conflicts with the applicable law. One would never know from his behavior in the case that he is bound by canons of judicial ethics intended to protect the integrity of our system of justice and to deter the disgrace he has brought on the judiciary. Sullivan’s 43-page memorandum »
September 28, 2020 — Steven Hayward

The Handwringing Tale

Featured image As mentioned here over the weekend, one reason among many that President Trump chose to appoint Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court is that she’s already survived a Democratic attack, and one that was especially ugly in its overt anti-Catholic bigotry. Democrats with sense understand that a reprise of that attack will be a disaster for them. Over the weekend you could see various Democrats, including Nancy Pelosi and »
September 26, 2020 — Steven Hayward

Karma Catches Up to Joe Biden

Featured image I’m starting to wonder whether I should believe in karma for real. There is something fitting about the fact that the Barrett nomination comes at the very moment that the person most responsible for blowing up judicial politics more than 30 years ago is the Democratic nominee for president—Joe Biden. There’s no way he can dodge questions at the first presidential debate next week about Barrett, and I hope Chris »
September 25, 2020 — Steven Hayward

Thank Dems for the Barrett Nomination

Featured image Among the reasons President Trump has reportedly decided to appoint Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court is that the Democrats already attempted to “Bork” her, but failed, and disgraced themselves in the process while elevating her public profile. Think I exaggerate? Check out this Tweet from Center for American Progress far-leftist Ian Millhiser: You can expect a lot of news reports over the next few days to re-run Sen. »
June 11, 2020 — Paul Mirengoff

Who is John Gleeson, Part Two

Featured image Yesterday, I wrote about John Gleeson, the former judge enlisted by Judge Emmet Sullivan to advise him about whether to sentence Flynn, even though the prosecution has moved to dismiss its case. Sullivan knew what advice he would get because Gleeson had already written an op-ed calling on Sullivan to sentence Flynn. Sure enough, that’s the advice Gleeson offered. In yesterday’s post, borrowing from Bill Otis, I described how, as »
June 10, 2020 — Paul Mirengoff

Who is John Gleeson?

Featured image John Gleeson is the former judge tasked by Emmet Sullivan, the judge in the Michael Flynn case, with talking him into sentencing Flynn in a case that the prosecution has moved to dismiss. One wonders whether any such “talking” is required, other than for the sake of appearances. In any event, Gleeson today filed his brief. He argues that Judge Sullivan should reject the government’s motion and continue the prosecution »
February 13, 2020 — Paul Mirengoff

Should Trump be criticized for criticizing judges?

Featured image President Trump is under fire again for criticizing federal judges. His latest criticism of a judge comes in connection with Roger Stone’s case. I can’t discern a good reason for objecting to a president criticizing a judge. I didn’t like it when President Obama, in his State of the Union address, criticized a majority of Supreme Court Justices for their decision in Citizens United. But that was because of the »