Law
January 21, 2022 — John Hinderaker
President Biden issued four orders purporting to require vaccinations in various populations. Two of those mandates have been addressed by the Supreme Court. The other two were challenged in a case brought in Texas by a group called Feds for Medical Freedom. Earlier today, U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Brown issued an order enjoining the federal government from enforcing Biden’s mandate that all federal employees be vaccinated, or lose their jobs.
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January 19, 2022 — Scott Johnson
In my post this morning on the imminent federal trial of the three Minneapolis police officers charged in the case of George Floyd, I mentioned the media restrictions imposed by Judge Paul Magnuson. Ballard Spahr attorney Leita Walker sent a five-page letter on behalf of 18 media clients (the Star Tribune, the New York Times, the AP, CBS, Fox, et al.) objecting to the restrictions directly to Judge Magnuson. In
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January 8, 2022 — Scott Johnson
Two of the Biden administration’s vaccine mandates came before the Supreme Court for oral argument yesterday, one arising under OSHA and the other arising under the auspices of HHS. I thought the first of these cases raised the question of administrative law regarding the lawful scope of agency authority in an unusually pure form. Listening to the oral argument in NFIB v. OSHA, however, I have been disabused of the
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January 6, 2022 — Scott Johnson
Andrew Luger served as the highly regarded United States Attorney for the District of Minnesota from February 2014 to March 2017 under President Obama and the early days of the Trump administration. A favorite of Amy Klobuchar, Luger has been nominated by President Biden to serve again as our United States Attorney. I wrote about his prospective renomination in “The return of Andrew Luger.” Please see it for the relevant
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January 4, 2022 — Scott Johnson
Jonathan Turley notes the year-end decision of Judge James “Jimi” (just kidding) Hendrix — Texas v. Becerra — that has preliminarily enjoined HHS’s vaccine and masking mandates on Head Start programs in Texas. The Biden administration is in a purple haze. They’re acting funny, and I know why. They aren’t nuts, exactly, but they are crazed. It’s a frustrating mess. Professor Turley offers a brief and temperate take on the
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December 25, 2021 — Scott Johnson
James O’Keefe and Project Veritas are suing the New York Times for defamation. O’Keefe and former Project Veritas associates were recently raided by the FBI in connection with the loss of Ashley Biden’s diary. FBI/national security reporters from the team that brought us the Russia hoax seem to have a pipeline into the investigation. They have reported on it with pornographic glee. I have covered it in a series of
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December 23, 2021 — Scott Johnson
The Supreme Court has set a special session to hear oral argument in vaccine mandate cases on January 7. The cases to be heard involve the OSHA vaccine mandate that I wrote about last week here (decided by the Sixth Circuit in a 2-1 opinion) and the CMS mandate promulgated as to health care workers (essentially stayed in the Fifth Circuit and the Eighth Circuit; the Faegre Drinker firm at
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December 16, 2021 — Scott Johnson
The Department of Justice sent out a press release yesterday afternoon on the Chauvin plea deal following the hearing before Judge Magnuson yesterday morning. It is posted online here. The release fabricates this quote for Attorney General Garland: “Defendant Chauvin has pleaded guilty to two federal civil rights violations, one of which led to the tragic loss of George Floyd’s life,” said Attorney General Merrick B. Garland. “While recognizing that
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December 15, 2021 — Scott Johnson
I’m inside the Jury Assembly Room of the Warren E. Burger Federal Building in St. Paul, where I viewed the Derek Chauvin plea hearing by video livestream this morning. I couldn’t keep up with the proceeding working on my phone. The hearing concluded just after 9:30 a.m. (Central). I am writing on my laptop following Judge Magnuson’s adjournment of the hearing. I just have few points to offer at this
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December 15, 2021 — Scott Johnson
Derek Chauvin is to appear at a 9:00 a.m. hearing in St. Paul’s Warren E. Burger Federal Building this morning to change his plea in the federal civil rights charge brought against him in the Floyd case. Late yesterday afternoon I was advised by the court that I would be afforded a seat to cover the hearing from the Jury Assembly Room (JAR), which will include a livestream of the
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December 14, 2021 — Scott Johnson
Having been convicted of the murder of George Floyd in state court, Derek Chauvin was charged by federal authorities with the violation of the Floyd’s civil rights. Federal authorities also charged the three other officers involved in Floyd’s arrest. The charges are pending before Judge Paul Magnuson in federal court in St. Paul. The federal proceedings seem to me both untoward and unwarranted. In the Chauvin case, they are duplicative.
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December 7, 2021 — Scott Johnson
The House of Representatives Select Jan. 6 Committee has undertaken to subpoena the communications of private citizens and others in the scope of its investigation. In a November 8 press release, the committee announced that it sought to sweep up the records of six named individuals, including attorney John Eastman. Eastman rendered legal advice to Trump on the applicable constitutional provisions and spoke at the January 6 rally. They are
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December 5, 2021 — Paul Mirengoff
On Friday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit issued an order disposing of several procedural motions in the litigation challenging the Biden administration’s vaccine mandate. The most important ruling is the denial of a motion to transfer the case to the D.C. Circuit. The case landed in the Sixth Circuit as the result of a multi-circuit lottery. Team Biden’s attempt to overturn that result was forum shopping,
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December 4, 2021 — Scott Johnson
In the multilayered saga of Trent Colbert at Yale Law School, we last noted “Dean Gerken regrets.” Dean Gerken is the dean of Yale Law School. Her regret over the false disparagement of second-year law student Trent Colbert was inane, shallow, and phony. Now David Lat updates the story in “As the YLS world turns.” Lat reports that an investigative report ordered up by Gerken herself and prepared by Professor
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December 1, 2021 — Paul Mirengoff
That, at least, is how the Washington Post interprets today’s oral argument in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. The team of five (yes, five) Post reporters that covered the argument writes: The Supreme Court on Wednesday signaled that it is on the verge of a major shift in its abortion jurisprudence after hearing nearly two hours of arguments from attorneys for Mississippi, an abortion provider from the state and
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November 29, 2021 — Paul Mirengoff
A Missouri federal judge, Matthew Schelp, has just issued an order temporarily blocking the Biden administration’s coronavirus vaccine mandate for health care workers in ten states. The states are Alaska, Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming. These are the states whose attorneys general filed the lawsuit in question. The mandate is now blocked in these states while litigation on the merits of the
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November 23, 2021 — Scott Johnson
I am in search of a deeper understanding of the facts underlying the FBI raids on James O’Keefe’s and former Project Veritas associates in the matter of Ashley Biden’s diary. Pending before the court that issued the search warrants authorizing the raids is the motion of Project Veritas for the appointment of a Special Master to review the contents of O’Keefe’s cell phones and protect against the disclosure of otherwise
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