Law
December 28, 2023 — John Hinderaker
Maine became the second state to bar President Trump from running for the presidency when, earlier today, its Secretary of State, a left-wing activist, declared that Trump was an “insurrectionist” under the 14th Amendment. On the merits, this is an absurd claim. What happened on January 6 was a protest that got out of hand. The principal violence, and the only fatality, was inflicted by a capitol police officer. Not
»
December 27, 2023 — John Hinderaker
Special Counsel Democratic Party activist Jack Smith has filed a motion in limine in his Washington, D.C. prosecution of Donald Trump for trying to reverse the apparent result of the 2020 election. The motion won’t be heard for a while, as the case is now on appeal. But Smith is desperate to get it tried in time to imprison Trump, or at least convict him, before the election. So he
»
December 23, 2023 — John Hinderaker
In the wake of the Colorado Supreme Court’s outrageous ruling that bars Donald Trump from the ballot in that state, many Republicans have urged that states controlled by the GOP do the same thing to Joe Biden. My point here is not to endorse that strategy–partisan majorities banning their political opponents from participating in elections is obviously not a good thing–but rather to note that, if Republican-leaning courts in some
»
December 16, 2023 — Scott Johnson
Association with President Trump has led to the ruination of many of his supporters. Rudy Giuliani seems to me foremost among them, but I may be shortchanging some other prominent members of his team. These supporters of President Trump are nevertheless adults responsible for their own actions. In my opinion, the country would nevertheless have been better served by their counseling Trump to take another path than the one he
»
December 10, 2023 — Scott Johnson
We wrote about Judge Laurence Silberman several times on Power Line and marked his death last year at the age of 86 in a brief note here. Judge Silberman’s scholarship and opinions reshaped American jurisprudence in the twentieth century, from constitutionalism to administrative law to national security. This past Thursday AEI hosted a daylong symposium of scholars, lawyers, and public officials to honor his intellectual legacy and immense contributions to
»
November 25, 2023 — Scott Johnson
Today comes word that Derek Chauvin has been attacked and seriously injured by another inmate in federal prison. John wrote about the stabbing and commented on the Chauvin case here earlier this morning. Something’s happening here. What it is is pretty clear. When Derek Chauvin filed an appeal of his conviction for the murder of George Floyd, a funny thing happened on the way to the Minnesota Court of Appeals.
»
November 9, 2023 — Scott Johnson
As it turns out, the Minnesota Supreme Court is the first in the nation (I think) to deal with (or avoid) the question raised about President Trump’s possible disqualification from the ballot under section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment. Yesterday the Court dismissed the petition brought by a gaggle including former Minnesota Secretary of State Joan Growe. The Court held oral argument on the petition last week and posted video
»
November 6, 2023 — John Hinderaker
Donald Trump is testifying today in the fraud case brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James. The presiding judge has already held Trump liable. Trump’s testimony is going about as you would expect: Donald Trump’s courtroom decorum has began to break down as the former president began yelling and attacking the judge and the attorney general from the witness stand. Trump had been testifying for the past roughly two
»
November 2, 2023 — Steven Hayward
Yesterday I spotted on social media the letter shown below from two dozen top law firms (“big law,” as they are sometimes called) addressed to law school deans telling them to get a grip on the anti-Semitism that they have let run rampant at their schools. I was not able to verify its authenticity so I refrained from posting it, but the New York Times reports on it this morning,
»
October 28, 2023 — John Hinderaker
After more than 11 long years, jury selection in Michael Mann’s defamation case against Mark Steyn and others begins on Monday. I had lost track of this case as it wended its tortuous way through the courts, and tried to catch up with it by watching Mark’s deposition, the two short halves of which you can see here and here. The deposition does not lack for entertainment value, but as
»
September 26, 2023 — Scott Johnson
Axios has posted a barebones report that Hunter Biden has a new lawsuit. NRO has slightly more on it here. In the new lawsuit Biden accuses Rudy Giuliani and attorney Robert Costello of “hacking into, tampering with, manipulating, copying, disseminating, and generally obsessing over data that they were given that was taken or stolen from Plaintiff’s devices or storage platforms, including what Defendants claim to have obtained from Plaintiff’s alleged
»
September 19, 2023 — Scott Johnson
Abbe Lowell is the high-powered Washington attorney masterminding the defense of Hunter Biden. His theory is that the best defense is a good offense. Lowell entered the scene with an intimidating volley of criminal referrals and cease-and-desist letters this past February. He has asked federal and state prosecutors to investigate John Paul Mac Isaac and others he accused of disseminating Biden’s personal data. He also threatened former Fox News host
»
September 18, 2023 — Scott Johnson
The Biden administration has deputized Krazee-Eyez Killa Jack Smith to put President Trump away some time before the 2024 presidential election. The train keeps a rollin’, banana republic style. Last week Smith filed a motion in his District of Columbia 2020 election case against Trump. Smith’s motion is supported by a 19-page memorandum that is posted online here. Jonathan Turley criticizes Smith’s motion in “Gagging Donald Trump: Why Smith’s ‘Narrowly
»
September 10, 2023 — Scott Johnson
While we’ve had our guard up against the return of the Branch Covidians, New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham has shown us a new frontier in the malign uses of public health “emergencies.” Grisham has suspended laws that allow open and concealed carry of firearms in Albuquerque for 30 days after declaring a public health emergency (I’m borrowing the formulation of Jonathan Turley, who explains what it’s all about in
»
September 9, 2023 — Scott Johnson
Mark Meadows is one of the defendants in the Georgia state criminal case brought by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis against President Trump and a cast of thousands. Meadows is Trump’s former chief of staff and the two crimes with which he is charged arise from his service to Trump. Meadows therefore sought removal of the charges against him from state to federal court under the federal officer removal
»
September 9, 2023 — Scott Johnson
A month ago the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals heard the Biden administration’s plea to set aside Judge Terry Doughty’s preliminary injunction in Missouri v. Biden. Judge Doughty’s 155-page memorandum ruling in support of the injunction is posted online here. Judge Doughty’s injunction is separately posted here. I anticipated the appellate proceedings in “Walk away, Joe.” Having listened to the oral argument before the Fifth Circuit, I threw caution to
»
August 31, 2023 — Scott Johnson
Mark Meadows is one of the defendants in the Georgia state criminal case brought by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis against President Trump and a cast of thousands. Meadows is Trump’s former chief of staff and the two crimes with which he is charged arise from his service to Trump. Meadows has sought removal of the charges against him from state to federal court. The 14-page Meadows notice of
»
