Law
March 7, 2021 — Scott Johnson
This past Monday I previewed the trial of Derek Chauvin that commences with motions in limine at 8:00 a.m. and jury selection at 9:00 a.m. (Central) tomorrow morning. If you missed my preview and think you might find it of interest, it is posted here (including a link to the CourtTV live stream). I want to add these pretrial notes. • I will appear as a correspondent on the trial
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March 4, 2021 — Scott Johnson
The trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin for the death of George Floyd will be live streamed by Court TV when it commences this Monday morning. I think the live stream is accessible online here. Court TV otherwise explains how to watch here. I plan on covering the trial from the Media Business Center across the street from the Hennepin County Government Center where the trial is to
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March 2, 2021 — Scott Johnson
Is it possible for any of the four former Minneapolis police officers charged in the death of George Floyd to receive a fair trial? In Minneapolis? If not in Minneapolis, anywhere else in Minnesota? Is it possible that a Hennepin County jury won’t have the secondary effects of not guilty verdicts in mind when they retire to deliberate? I’ve had those questions in mind since expedited criminal charges were filed
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March 1, 2021 — Scott Johnson
Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin is charged with the murder of George Floyd last year on May 25. Floyd’s death set off ten days or ten months that shook the world. These notes are intended as a preview of the trial. Beginning with jury selection, the trial begins one week from today in Hennepin County District Court before Judge Peter Cahill. John Hinderaker offered a good overview in “A
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February 25, 2021 — Paul Mirengoff
Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA), the plaintiff in a lawsuit alleging that Harvard discriminates against Asian-American applicants, has filed a petition for certiorari to U.S. Supreme Court in its case against the school. A liberal district court judge ruled in favor of Harvard and a liberal court of appeals panel affirmed that ruling. Perhaps the non-liberal Supreme Court will take the case and rule against Harvard, whose discrimination against Asian-Americans
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February 17, 2021 — Scott Johnson
I’ve written over the years about my friend Howard Root, the founder and former chief executive officer of Vascular Solutions. After his acquittal on the criminal charges brought against him and his company, Howard announced his resignation on the pages of the Wall Street Journal in the February 2017 column “Sally Yates’s legacy of injustice at the Department of Justice.” Howard tells the story of his case in the riveting
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February 10, 2021 — Paul Mirengoff
George Gascón is the far-left district attorney in Los Angeles. He’s among those prosecutors who, with the backing of George Soros, have gained power and are using it to let criminals walk, or at least to treat them leniently. To the latter end, Gascón issued a directive to his attorneys forbidding them from seeking longer sentences for repeat offenders under the state’s Three Strikes Law, as well as in several
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February 1, 2021 — Scott Johnson
I covered the trial of former Minneapolis police officer Mohamed Noor for the murder of Justine Ruszczyk over three weeks in 2019. Ms. Ruszczyk had called the police to intervene in what she thought might be an assault occurring behind her house late on the evening of July 15, 2017. Noor killed Ms. Ruszcyk when she ran up to the officer’s patrol car as it stopped at the end of
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December 16, 2020 — Paul Mirengoff
Today, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth ruled that a church is entitled to preliminary relief against an order by Nevada’s governor that treats the church worse in terms of coronavirus restrictions than numerous secular entities such as casinos, bowling alleys, retail restaurants, and arcades. The decision, by a panel of the court, was unanimous. The church, Calvary Chapel Dayton Valley, had been losing on this issue in
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December 11, 2020 — Paul Mirengoff
Readers will recall that Mark McCloskey and his wife Patricia pointed guns at BLM protesters outside their home in St. Louis last July, and that Kim Gardner, the incompetent left-wing St. Louis circuit attorney, decided to prosecute the McCloskeys. But thanks to a ruling by a St. Louis judge, Gardner will not be allowed to prosecute Mark McCloskey; nor will her office be permitted to do so. The reason? Gardner
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December 11, 2020 — Scott Johnson
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
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December 2, 2020 — Paul Mirengoff
Stephanie Mohr was a rookie police officer in Prince George’s County in 1995. A member of the canine unit, she and the dog she worked with responded to a call in an area plagued by burglaries. Another officer had spotted two suspects on the roof of a store.* Mohr released her dog on one of the suspects, Ricardo Mendez, an illegal immigrant who subsequently would be convicted on federal narcotics
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November 29, 2020 — Scott Johnson
I wrote yesterday about the state trial court injunction prohibiting the governor and secretary of state from taking any further steps to perfect certification of the election, including but not limited to appointment of electors and transmission of necessary paperwork to the Electoral College. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court promptly vacated the trial court order and dismissed the case with prejudice. Bill Jacobson comments: The question on everyone’s mind is whether
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November 28, 2020 — Scott Johnson
A Pennsylvania state court judge has enjoined the governor and secretary of state from taking any further steps to perfect its certification of the election, including but not limited to appointment of electors and transmission of necessary paperwork to the Electoral College. The case attacks the legality of the massively expanded absentee voting that took place without legislative warrant. Bill Jacobson has posted the opinion along with a good summary.
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November 28, 2020 — Scott Johnson
Carter Page has filed a long-awaited lawsuit against the old Obama gang that spied on him and others through him for a year based on the fraudulent allegations of the Steele Dossier. The lawsuit was filed in United States District Court for the District of Columbia. I have embedded a copy of the complaint below. We can only hope that Judge Sullivan isn’t assigned to the case. He seems to
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November 28, 2020 — Scott Johnson
Sidney Powell has filed a second election lawsuit, this one in Michigan challenging the outcome of the vote in the presidential election. The lawsuit is brought against Michigan state officials including the governor, the secretary of state, and the state board of canvassers on behalf of three Michigan Republican electors and three Michigan Republican Party officials. In form and function it follows the Georgia complaint that I briefly summarized here.
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November 27, 2020 — Scott Johnson
At the College Fix Greg Piper has posted a mind-boggling account of the oral argument of the appeal in the First Amendment case brought by Shawnee State University Professor Nicholas Meriwether against university administrators. Piper introduces his long account this way: A public university’s lawyer bumbled his way through oral argument last week on whether his taxpayer-funded client can force a philosophy professor to address a male student with female
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