Law
April 17, 2024 — Scott Johnson
In a week laden with news, we shouldn’t overlook the oral argument held yesterday by the Supreme Court in Fischer v. United States. The issue before the Court. Fischer is one of some 350 January 6 defendants charged with obstructing an official congressional proceeding allegedly in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1512(c)(2) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (as well as other federal offenses). The question before the Court is whether the
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April 16, 2024 — Scott Johnson
Not from the river to the sea, but from sea to shining sea the Kill the Jews crowd was out in force blocking bridges and roadways around the United States yesterday. They did their thing in San Francisco, Oakland, New York City, Philadelphia, San Antonio, Seattle, and points elsewhere in the United States. In the heart of the country they temporarily shut down travel into Chicago O’Hare International Airport. For
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April 15, 2024 — John Hinderaker
I find this, from this morning’s proceedings in Trump’s “hush money” trial, inexplicable: Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass looked for a backdoor way of introducing Donald Trump’s infamous “Access Hollywood” interview into the hush money trial Monday morning, where he recited, word for word, Trump’s “grab ’em by the p—y” speech. Justice Juan M. Merchan had previously ruled that the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office could not play Trump’s interview to a jury
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April 15, 2024 — John Hinderaker
Alvin Bragg’s criminal case against Donald Trump goes to trial today. It says something about the world we live in that we haven’t even bothered to mention it lately. I summed up Bragg’s case against Trump here. In a word, it is pathetic. Trump made one or more “hush money” payments to Stormy Daniels, which was perfectly legal. The alleged crime is that his business documents reflect falsely that the
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April 13, 2024 — Scott Johnson
Abbe Lowell is the attorney for Hunter Biden in the criminal proceedings that have been brought against him. I’ve observed a time or two before that Lowell will say approximately anything on Biden’s behalf in return for his compensation in the cases. Judge Maryellen Noreika asked the question that crushed the sweetheart plea deal arranged for Hunter. She says as much about Lowell as I do above in denying his
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April 11, 2024 — Scott Johnson
Over the weekend I received an invitation to attend the New Civil Liberties Alliance conference hosted by George Washington University Law School yesterday: “Is administrative law still unlawful?” (Plot spoiler: the answer is “yes.”) Luckily for me, I am in Washington visiting family this week and was able to attend the conference. The conference celebrated the tenth anniversary of the publication of Professor Philip Hamburger’s monumental treatise Is Administrative Law
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April 9, 2024 — John Hinderaker
The European Court of Human Rights has ruled that Switzerland is liable to its citizens for its alleged failure to do enough about “climate change”: A group of 2,000 Swiss women have won a climate change case against Switzerland at the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), in a ruling hailed as “monumental” by experts. The court agreed with the KlimaSeniorinnen, or Senior Women for Climate Protection, that the Swiss
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April 8, 2024 — Scott Johnson
I found the oral argument of the case now styled Murthy v. Missouri last month to be utterly demoralizing. As soon as the oral argument concluded I rashly hazarded my assessment that it portends a victory for the massive censorship-industrial complex represented by the Biden administration, probably on procedural grounds (i.e., standing). My assessment was a hot take based on the tenor of the argument. The argument seemed to me
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April 5, 2024 — Scott Johnson
Douglas Murray has just posted the documentary America’s Drug Crisis on his YouTube channel. I have embedded it below. He writes in the YouTube caption: “As the U.S. has turned away from ‘the war on drugs,’ many cities have sought more ‘humane’ approaches to dealing with addiction. They’re not working. In my new documentary, I explore just how deep-seated America’s Drug Crisis has become – and how the policies we’ve
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April 5, 2024 — Scott Johnson
Philip Hamburger’s Is Administrative Law Unlawful? (2014) constitutes a pioneering work of intellectual restoration. Provoked by recent developments in administrative law, I have returned to it this week. Just in time for this concluding post, I heard from Professor Hamburger last night. He wrote: Dear Scott, Thank you so much for your kind discussion of my book! Alas, there is still a long way to go in clearing up the
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April 4, 2024 — Scott Johnson
John Tierney was a long-time reporter and columnist for the New York Times. He is now a contributing editor to City Journal. Among his book credits is God Is My Broker, written with Christopher Buckley. A parody of self-help books, it tells the story of Brother Ty, a failed Wall Street trader who becomes a monk and rescues his impoverished monastery by receiving receiving stock tips from God. Along the
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April 4, 2024 — Scott Johnson
Philip Hamburger is the Maurice and Hilda Friedman Professor of Law at Columbia Law School and the author of Is Administrative Law Unlawful? I thought I would follow up “The case against administrative law” with the interview I conducted with Professor Hamburger back in 2014, after I had reviewed Is Administrative Law Unlawful? for National Review. It may be slightly dated. However, as the song goes, “the fundamental things apply.”
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April 2, 2024 — Scott Johnson
Hunter Biden moved to dismiss the criminal tax charges pending against Hunter Biden in federal court (the Central District of California). Indeed, Biden attorney Abbe Lowell filed eight motions to dismiss the charges. Judge Mark Scarsi — a Trump appointee — denied the motions in an order that is accessible online here. Judge Scarsi writes at page 33: As the Court stated at the hearing, Defendant filed his motion without
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March 29, 2024 — Scott Johnson
John Hinderaker knows the history of the Civil War about as well as anyone I know, so I’m sure he’s ever more familiar with the case against secession than I am. His case for secession is pretty, pretty good, but I believe it runs contrary to the Constitution as well as American tradition and history. I thought the case was decided more or less definitively against it by the Civil
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March 28, 2024 — John Hinderaker
On Tuesday, a three-judge panel of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Texas cannot enforce its border control law, SB 4, because it conflicts with federal law that preempts the field of immigration. The decision is here. Jonathan Turley analyzes the issue here. Briefly, Turley thinks the panel decision is a correct interpretation of the Constitution and of case law on preemption. The constitutional issue turns on the
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March 19, 2024 — John Hinderaker
Donald Trump has sued ABC News and host George Stephanopoulos for falsely claiming that Trump was found liable for rape by a court and jury: Former President Donald Trump has filed a defamation lawsuit against ABC News and George Stephanopoulos, claiming his reputation was tarnished by the anchor saying multiple times on-air that Trump had been found liable for raping writer E. Jean Carroll. Trump filed the lawsuit in federal
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March 18, 2024 — Scott Johnson
On the local front, I have sought to draw attention to the case of JaycCee Cooper v. USA Powerlifting in several posts accessible here. Filed in Ramsey County District Court and assigned to Judge Patrick Diamond, the case raises the question whether USAP’s separation of men from women in USAP’s Minnesota competitions must yield to Cooper’s self-identification as a woman. Although a biological male, Cooper seeks to compete with the
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