Law
September 21, 2020 — Scott Johnson
Roshini Rajkumar invited former prosecutor George Parry to discuss Parry’s take on the case of the four former Minneapolis police officers charged with the murder of George Floyd on WCCO News Talk’s Facebook page yesterday (video below). Roshini’s interview follows up on Parry’s American Spectator columns “Who killed George Floyd?” (August 7) and “The George Floyd fall guys” (August 13). The links go to Parry’s columns posted at Knowledge is
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September 18, 2020 — Paul Mirengoff
This week, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit heard argument in the case against Harvard University brought by Students for Fair Admissions. The plaintiffs allege that Harvard’s use of racial preferences results in discrimination against Asian-American applicants. The liberal district court judge who tried the case disagreed. She found for Harvard. You can listen to the oral argument here. The plaintiff-appellants were represented by William Consovoy. Assistant
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September 14, 2020 — 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 external 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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September 10, 2020 — Paul Mirengoff
The Justice Department has intervened in a lawsuit brought against President Trump by E. Jean Carroll. She’s the journalist who claims that Trump raped her 25 years ago. Carroll’s suit isn’t about the alleged rape. It’s a defamation suit based on Trump’s denial of her allegation. To those unschooled in the law, it probably seems odd that the DOJ would substitute itself for Trump as the defendant in a suit
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September 7, 2020 — John Hinderaker
I noted here that U.S. Civil Rights Commissioner Peter Kirsanow has written to the Mayor of the City of Seattle, suggesting that “critical race theory” or “white privilege” training that the city recently imposed on its employees likely violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits employment discrimination based on race. Paul added that the Department of Justice has also sought information about the same training
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September 4, 2020 — Paul Mirengoff
Federal prosecutors have started filing civil disorders charges against violent protesters in Portland, Oregon. They are filing the charges under a federal statute enacted in 1968 in response to the rioting of that era. It’s interesting, I think, that the Congress that passed this statute was controlled by Democrats. In 1968, the GOP was outnumbered in both chambers to a much greater degree than it is now. Back then, Democrats
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August 31, 2020 — Paul Mirengoff
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, sitting en banc, has overturned a ruling by a panel that had granted Michael Flynn’s petition for mandamus against Judge Emmet Sullivan. The panel’s decision, by a 2-1 vote, had pulled the plug on Judge Sullivan’s attempt to hold a thorough hearing in the Flynn case, notwithstanding the Justice Department’s motion to dismiss. But by a vote of 8-2, the full
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August 14, 2020 — Scott Johnson
One gets the impression that in important respects the Trump administration is just beginning to fire on all cylinders. A brilliant and fully functioning Attorney General heading up the Department of Justice is at least one of those cylinders. Yesterday, for example, Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Eric Dreiband notified Yale University of the department’s findings that Yale illegally discriminates against Asian American and white applicants in its undergraduate
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August 13, 2020 — Scott Johnson
We noted former prosecutor George Parry’s contrarian take on the death of George Floyd in “Who Killed George Floyd?” Mr. Parry now continues his examination of the evidence in “Chauvin, Lane, Kueng, and Thao: The George Floyd Fall Guys” at the American Spectator and here with a prefatory note at Knowledge Is Good. In his prefatory note he writes: “Floyd’s fentanyl intoxication combined with his severe coronary artery disease, extreme
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August 11, 2020 — Scott Johnson
The oral argument of the Flynn case rehearing en banc by the D.C. Circuit is now underway. The court is live streaming the video below and, if not below, here at YouTube and here at C-SPAN and probably elsewhere. I hope to replace the live stream with a recording when it is available following the conclusion of the rehearing. The circus continues. UPDATE: C-SPAN has posted the oral argument in
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August 1, 2020 — Paul Mirengoff
In a unanimous ruling, a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit has vacated the death sentence given by a jury to Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, one of the two radical Muslim jihadist brothers who set off pressure-cooker bombs at the finish line of the 2013 Boston Marathon. The bombs killed three people and injured 260 others. Fortunately, the other bomber, Dzhorkar’s brother who apparently masterminded the attack,
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July 30, 2020 — Paul Mirengoff
After a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals ordered Judge Emmet Sullivan to grant the Department of Justice’s motion to dismiss the prosecution of Gen. Michael Flynn before Judge Sullivan had ruled on the motion, Sullivan petitioned for review by the full D.C. Circuit. Two of the three judges on the panel were appointed by Republicans. By contrast, most of the judges on the full court were appointed by
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July 22, 2020 — Scott Johnson
We have followed the extraordinary case against General Flynn as events have warranted. By all rights it should be a sidebar to the biggest scandal in American political history by far, yet it opens a window on incredible wrongdoing at the highest reaches of the Obama administration in the FBI, the CIA, and the Department of Justice, including Team Mueller. It is a disgrace that Attorney General Barr has sought
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July 15, 2020 — Scott Johnson
Brian Kilmeade is filling in for Tucker Carlson on Tucker Carlson Tonight this week. Last night I was invited to discuss the homeless encampment that has sprung up in Minneapolis’s Powderhorn Park. The encampment has attracted national attention, as in Caitlyn Dickerson’s June 24 New York Times story “A Minneapolis Neighborhood Vowed to Check Its Privilege. It’s Already Being Tested.” I have embedded video of the entire show below. The
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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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