Law
July 13, 2020 — Scott Johnson
John Solomon has posted an interesting report on the findings in the defamation lawsuit in London against Christopher Steele’s intelligence outfit for its role in disseminating the Steele Dossier. Among other things, following trial, the London court has found elements of the Steele Dossier false and defamatory as to two plaintiff Russian oligarchs. We may have the makings of a Robert Ludlum novel here. Call it The Steele Defamation. The
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July 9, 2020 — Paul Mirengoff
Today, the Supreme Court navigated its way through disputes about the disclosure of President Trump’s financial records without doing much harm (in my view, at least). However, the Court issued a real stinker in a case that was under my radar — McGirt v. Oklahoma. By a 5-4 vote, the Court decided that much of Oklahoma is “Indian country” for the purpose of prosecuting crimes committed by Indians. Justice Gorsuch
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July 9, 2020 — Paul Mirengoff
I’ll say this for Judge Emmet Sullivan, he’s a persistent old cuss. Sullivan is so determined to sentence Michael Flynn that, rather than giving up after an appeals court ordered him to grant the government’s motion to dismiss the Flynn case, he has petitioned the full appeals court for en banc review. His lengthy brief can be found here. I can understand why Sullivan fights on. First, the appeals court’s
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June 18, 2020 — Scott Johnson
I set forth the direct and circumstantial evidence supporting my motion for a preliminary injunction in the sworn statement posted in previous installments of this series. I am seeking to be reinstated to the daily press briefings conducted by the Minnesota Department of Health. The motion is to be heard by Judge Donovan Frank later this morning. The only contrary evidence before the court is the sworn statement submitted by
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June 17, 2020 — Scott Johnson
The Minnesota Department of Health uses a conference call set-up for its daily COVID-19 press briefings and sends out the conference call information to reporters on the MDH media distribution list. I was included on the conference call distribution list for the briefings from April 11 to April 27. On April 27 I was cut off without explanation. Something happened on April 27. I think what happened is that I
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June 16, 2020 — Scott Johnson
I have brought a section 1983 lawsuit in federal court alleging that I have been unlawfully excluded from participation in the daily Minnesota Department of Health press briefings. I have of course reported on these press briefings in my Coronavirus in one state series. I embedded a copy of my complaint in my post on the lawsuit here. We have since amended the complaint to drop the Minnesota Department of
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June 12, 2020 — Scott Johnson
C-SPAN has posted audio of the hearing on the Flynn petition for mandamus in the District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals here. As far as I can tell, they haven’t made it embeddable, but it is a public service to have it available in this form. It is also posted here on YouTube. The argument is worth hearing out to listen in to a master appellate advocate — Deputy
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June 12, 2020 — Scott Johnson
Michael Flynn’s petition for a writ of mandamus in his criminal case before will be argued in the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals this morning at 9:30 a.m. (Easterm) before Judges Henderson, Wilkins, and Rao. It appears that the court will live stream the 30-minute oral argument via a link accessible here (and here on YouTube). I know that many will want to tune in. The Flynn case is a
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June 11, 2020 — Paul Mirengoff
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
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May 30, 2020 — Paul Mirengoff
The Supreme Court yesterday rejected a request from a church in California to block enforcement of state restrictions on attending religious services. Currently, the state limits attendance at places of worship to 25 percent of building capacity or a maximum of 100 attendees. Chief Justice Roberts joined the four left-liberal Justices to form the majority in a 5-4 decision. Roberts wrote: Similar or more severe restrictions apply to comparable secular
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May 30, 2020 — Paul Mirengoff
The Department of Justice has filed a statement of interest in a lawsuit filed by seven Michigan businesses challenging restrictions imposed by Governor Whitmer in response to the Wuhan coronavirus pandemic. The plaintiffs are a real estate brokerage, a lawn and property maintenance company, an automotive glass exporter, an engine oil and auto parts distributor, a small jewelry store, a dental office, and an association of car washes. They brought
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May 29, 2020 — Scott Johnson
When KSTP-TV’s Tom Hauser had a complaint or two about the daily press briefings conducted by the Minnesota Department of Health, he took to Twitter earlier this week to unload. I compiled a bunch of those tweets in here. Tom noted somewhere in his tweets that he hasn’t been blacklisted. I have. MDH included me on the press briefing conference call notices and responded to my questions by email until
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May 27, 2020 — Paul Mirengoff
Tara Reade, Joe Biden’s accuser, apparently testified for years as an expert witness in domestic violence cases. In doing so, Reade may have given false testimony about her credentials. She may have testified falsely that she has a bachelor’s degree from Antioch University in Seattle and that she never took the California bar exam (it seems she took that exam and failed it). She may also have exaggerated her duties
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May 19, 2020 — Paul Mirengoff
Sidney Powell, Michael Flynn’s lawyer in the criminal case against him, has filed a Writ of Mandamus to the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. The petition asks the D.C. Circuit to issue an order directing the district court to grant the Justice Department’s motion to dismiss its case against Gen. Flynn. It also asks that the district court be ordered to vacate its order appointing amicus
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May 7, 2020 — Paul Mirengoff
Judge Lynn Adelman, a federal district court judge in Wisconsin, has ruled that strip clubs cannot be excluded from the federal Paycheck Protection Program. That’s the program designed to help businesses stay afloat during the Wuhan coronavirus pandemic. The program rules out aid to businesses that “present live performances of a prurient sexual nature.” The Small Business Administration has long denied loans to such businesses, but its rule apparently has
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May 6, 2020 — John Hinderaker
Scott has chronicled life under Minnesota’s oppressive, discriminatory and ineffective shutdown regime in his Coronavirus in one state series. It has been evident for some weeks that Governor Tim Walz has achieved little beyond unemploying a half million or more Minnesotans and destroying many thousands of his state’s businesses, while allowing the devastation of Minnesota’s nursing homes. As of this afternoon, the forces of common sense are striking back. Today
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April 24, 2020 — Paul Mirengoff
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, in an opinion signed by a pair of judges appointed by Democratic presidents, has found that the U.S. Constitution somehow confers on citizens a fundamental right to an education that “plausibly provides access to literacy.” Judge Eric Murphy, an excellent Trump appointee, dissented. The lawsuit arises out of Detroit, Michigan. The plaintiffs are students in Detroit’s worst performing schools. They claim
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