Law
October 16, 2017 — Paul Mirengoff
The bribery case against U.S. Senator Bob Menendez will proceed, and eventually be resolved by a jury, the trial judge ruled today. Judge William Walls rejected a motion by the defense to dismiss the charges against Menendez. A few days ago, it looked like the defense motion would succeed. Judge Walls initially indicated a willingness to accept Menendez’s position that the prosecution’s bribery case cannot withstand the Supreme Court’s decision
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October 16, 2017 — Paul Mirengoff
The Washington Post wants to create that impression. Its story on the subject is called (in the paper edition): “Trump may have bolstered kneelers’ legal position.” No sound argument supports this notion. The Post’s Tracy Jan who, according to the paper “covers the intersection of race and the economy,” peddles the view that Trump’s talk about revoking the NFL’s tax breaks means that the government is now infringing free expression.
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October 13, 2017 — Paul Mirengoff
Earlier today, Scott wrote about Harvey Weinstein’s employment contract. Reportedly, it provides that if Weinstein “treated someone improperly in violation of the company’s Code of Conduct,” he must reimburse the company for settlements or judgments. Additionally, “[Weinstein] will pay the company liquidated damages of $250,000 for the first such instance, $500,000 for the second such instance, $750,000 for the third such instance, and $1,000,000 for each additional instance.” The contract
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October 11, 2017 — Paul Mirengoff
Yesterday, the Supreme Court dismissed a challenge to a now-expired version of President Trump’s 90-day ban on travel from six countries. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit had upheld that challenge. The Supreme Court concluded that the challenge is moot because the ban has expired. A new travel ban has superseded it. The Court stated: We granted certiorari in this case to resolve a challenge to “the
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October 6, 2017 — John Hinderaker
The Associated Press reports on a 3rd Circuit decision involving a movie theater: Federal disability law requires movie theaters to provide specialized interpreters to patrons who are deaf and blind, an appeals court said Friday. The Philadelphia-based 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against Cinemark, the nation’s third-largest movie chain, in a case involving a Pennsylvania man who wanted to see the 2014 movie “Gone Girl” and asked a
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September 5, 2017 — Paul Mirengoff
Former President Obama takes to Facebook to attack President Trump’s decision to phase out DACA. As one would expect, Obama’s piece is a masterpiece of misdirection. Scott has posted the full text of Obama’s statement. As Scott says, the former president indulges in his favorite pastimes: question begging, condescension, and attempting to make his opponents out to be indecent, immoral and stupid. I found this passage from Obama’s statement telling:
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September 5, 2017 — Scott Johnson
One of the defining characteristics of President Obama that we disliked most was his disdain for the rule of law. If he could get his way, he might take the prescribed route to his destination. If not, he took a shortcut, with his phone and his pen. He even bragged about it. Obama’s DACA program — a supposedly temporary stopgap — represents the quintessence of his monarchical disposition. Before he
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September 5, 2017 — Paul Mirengoff
President Trump should have ended the DACA program, or at least announced its phasing out, as soon as he took office. Nonetheless, his decision to announce its phasing out now, assuming he sticks to it, represents a victory for the rule of law. The legal status of “dreamers” is a matter for Congress, not the executive, to decide. Even President Obama said so before he elected to decide the matter
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September 4, 2017 — Paul Mirengoff
By all accounts, President Trump is about to phase out the DACA program. DACA grants work permits to about 800,000 undocumented immigrants brought to the United States as children Trump reportedly will delay terminating the program for six months. This gives Congress time to pass legislation to replace it, if Congress chooses to do so. Trump has made the right decision. As Hans von Spakovsky argues, under our Constitution, Congress
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September 1, 2017 — Paul Mirengoff
Whichever way one comes down regarding President Trump’s pardon of Sheriff Joe Arpaio, I think it’s important to recognize the context in which Arpaio took the over-zealous law enforcement actions that led to his conviction. That context was described by Justice Scalia in his opinion (concurring in part and dissenting in part) in Arizona v. U.S., a decision that struck down in large measure an Arizona immigration enforcement law called
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August 30, 2017 — Paul Mirengoff
A federal judge has dismissed a defamation lawsuit filed by Sarah Palin against The New York Times, ruling that Palin’s complaint failed to show that a mistake in an editorial was made maliciously. The editorial accused Palin of having incited Jared Loughner to murder six people, including a sitting Congresswoman, a federal judge, and a nine year old girl. The supposed incitement was an online map with “targeted” Democratic districts.
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August 29, 2017 — Paul Mirengoff
My position on the pardon of Sheriff Joe Arpaio is that it was a reasonable exercise of the president’s pardon power. Not pardoning the sheriff would also have been reasonable, in my opinion. Indeed, as I said in my post on the subject, I don’t like presidential pardons. Absent overwhelming evidence that the person getting the pardon did not commit the offense for which he was convicted, my preference is
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August 29, 2017 — Scott Johnson
University of Minnesota Law School Professor Myron Orfield has materialized in the Star Tribune this morning to play the race card against Minnesota Supreme Court Justice Stras. The Senate’s consideration of Justice Stras’s nomination to the Eighth Circuit has been blocked by Minnesota Senators Amy Klobuchar and Al Franken. With the dishonesty that permeates his column, Orfield declares that Klobuchar and Franken “are exhibiting appropriate diligence.” It is true that
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August 20, 2017 — Paul Mirengoff
If you don’t mind feeling nauseated, check out this statement by Durham County District Attorney Roger Echols, in which he explains the factors he will consider in determining “a just resolution” to the case of those who destroyed the public monument in Durham. Echols says he will balance accountability for the destruction of property against the “climate in which these actions were undertaken.” He seems to believe that a neo-Nazi
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August 17, 2017 — Scott Johnson
We are awash in the spirit of the mob and mob violence. It feels something like the defining feature of the present moment. The true home of such mob violence is on the left and embodied, for example in the forces of Antifa. These forces have been abetted and indulged by authorities on the left. We need to plant a flag of principled resistance. The spirit of the mob permeates
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August 10, 2017 — John Hinderaker
Sarah Palin has sued the New York Times for defamation, on account of a Times editorial that falsely claimed there was a “clear” and “direct” causal connection between Palin’s PAC’s “targeting” of Gabrielle Giffords’ district and Jared Loughner’s murder of six people in Tucson. The paper now calls its smear of Palin an “honest mistake.” I wrote here that Palin has a strong case, despite the extraordinary burden of proof
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August 3, 2017 — Paul Mirengoff
The Wall Street Journal reports that Robert Mueller has impaneled a grand jury in Washington, D.C. A grand jury has already been impaneled in Virginia to investigate Michael Flynn and his work in the private sector on behalf of foreign interests. The new grand jury apparently will focus on Russia and the 2016 election and, quite possibly, on claims of obstruction of justice. The existence of the D.C. grand jury
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