Columns, Criminal law, Politics

Letitia James May be Winning the Lawfare but Losing the War

Below is my column in the Hill on the rough week for New York Attorney General Letitia James in court. James has campaigned on lawfare and the Democratic New York voters have wildly supported her weaponization of the legal system against Trump and others. Now some judges are balking…

Here is the column:

In an age of lawfare, New York Attorney General Letitia James has always embraced the total war option. Her very appeal has been her willingness to use any means against political opponents.

James first ran for her office by pledging to bag Donald Trump on something, anything. She did not specify the violation, only that she would deliver the ultimate trophy kill for Democratic voters. James follows the view of what Prussian General Carl von Clausewitz said about war, law is merely politics “by other means.”

Yet, the political success of James in weaponizing her office has been in stark contrast with her legal setbacks in courts.

James earlier sought to use her office to disband the National Rifle Association, the most powerful gun rights organization in the country, due to self-dealing and corruption of executives. James notably did not target liberal groups accused of similar violations. The ridiculous effort to disband the NRA collapsed in court.

It did not matter. James knew that such efforts were performative and that New York voters did not care if such attacks failed. She will continue to win the lawfare battles, even if she loses the war.

This week, two of James’s best-known campaigns were struggling in court.

James is best known for her fraud case against Trump, in which she secured a $464 million fine and a ban on Trump from the New York real estate business for three years. That penalty, which has now risen to $489 million with interest, was in a case where no one had lost a dime due to the alleged inaccurate property valuations in bank loans secured by the Trump organization. Not only where the banks fully paid on the loans and made considerable profits, but they wanted to make additional loans to the Trump organization.

In appellate arguments this week, James’s office faced openly skeptical justices who raised the very arguments that some of us have made for years about the ludicrous fine imposed by Judge Arthur Engoron.

Justice David Friedman noted that this law “is supposed to protect the market and the consumers — I don’t see it here.”

His colleague Justice Peter Moulton told her office “The immense penalty in this case is troubling” and added, “How do you tether the amount that was assessed by [Engoron] to the harm that was caused here where the parties left these transactions happy?”

The answer, of course, is the case was never about markets. It was about politics. The fact that the banks were “happy” is immaterial. Happiness in New York is a political, not legal calculus. The justices did not rule this week, but an opinion could be issued within a month.

In the same week, James faced a stinging defeat in another popular cause. James had targeted pro-life organizations for spreading supposed “disinformation” in not just opposing the use of mifepristone (the abortion pill used in the majority of abortions in the United States), but in advocating the use of reversal procedures if mothers change their minds before taking the second drug in the treatment regimen.

Critics charge that, while there are some studies showing successful reversal cases, the treatment remains unproven and unapproved. It remains an intense debate.

James, however, wanted to end the debate. She targeted pregnancy centers and was then sued by two pro-life ministries, Summit Life Outreach Center and the Evergreen Association.

Judge John Sinatra Jr. blocked James‘s crackdown as a denial of free speech. Notably, these centers were not profiting by sharing this information or advocating such reversal treatment.

James merely declared that people advocating such reversal treatments are engaged in “spreading dangerous misinformation by advertising…without any medical and scientific proof.”

It is a familiar rationale on the left and discussed in my latest book, “The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage.” It is the same rationale that led to the banning and blacklisting of experts during the pandemic for views that have now been vindicated on the efficacy of masks and other issues. They were silenced by those who declared their viewpoints as dangerously unproven or unapproved, but who were themselves wrong.

James claimed a right to crack down on views that she deemed unproven, even by those who were seeking only to disseminate information rather than sell products.

It did not seem to matter to her that, in the 2018 in NIFLA v. Becerra, the Supreme Court rejected the effort by California Attorney General Xavier Becerra (now the secretary of Health and Human Services) to require crisis pregnancy centers to refer abortions.  The court refused to create an exception for requiring speech from licensed professionals.

After the effort failed to force doctors to disseminate pro-abortion information in California, James sought to prevent others from disseminating pro-life information in New York. The court ruled that, under the First Amendment, government officials cannot simply declare certain views as “disinformation” as a pretext to censor disfavored speech.

If there are harmful or fraudulent products or practices, the government has ample powers to target businesses and professionals involved with them. James, however, was seeking to silence those who advocate for a treatment that is unproven but not unlawful.

James’s legacy now includes an effort to disband a civil rights organization, deny free speech and secure confiscatory fines against her political opponents. Yet she is lionized by the media and politicians in an election that is billed as “saving democracy.”

In the end, James knows her audience, and it is not appellate judges. It does not matter to her if she is found to be violating the Constitution or abusing opponents. She has converted the New York legal system into a series of thrill-kills.

For some judges, however, the thrill may be gone.

Jonathan Turley is the Shapiro Professor of Public Interest Law at George Washington University and the author of “The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage.”

204 thoughts on “Letitia James May be Winning the Lawfare but Losing the War”

  1. Just as the Stewart’s of Midwest Oakdale learned, eventually you’ll be replaced, and that replacement may or may not abide by your decisions all the while turning the compass towards you. The old saying “Ignorance is Bliss” sure seems to define the leftist in America, and I hesitate to say the World, where constraining speech (thought) is acceptable. Why anyone would vote for these ill-educated nearsighted ninnies, and their dystopian paradise, I reasoned: Conceited Ignorance.

    If you are worried about Stewart’s, you can find them As the World Turns!

    God help us All!!!

  2. With all due respect, Professor Turley, you tell me nothing I haven’t already surmised on my own. What I don’t read in your article is how to prevent such political lawfare from occurring in the first place. Given you unique position, I would ask that you address this very question in a future article. Thank you.

  3. Meanwhile border czar Harris, the Dem nominee for president, made her first visit to the border, wearing a $62,000 Tiffany’s necklace, and stayed only 20 minutes, just enough time for a photo-op. She chose not to explain to the American people why she decided to let in 10-15 million illegal aliens, 425,000 of whom are convicted criminals, to roam the streets of American cities and small towns. These included tens of thousands of convicted murderers and rapists.

    As for the media, they were focused on whether her opponent was wrong to say some of these people had eaten dogs and cats, opting to completely ignore the more important question of how to deal with tens of thousands of convicted murderers and rapists menacing American women and children.

  6. GEB – I would like to thank the individual who noticed my absence for a time from the comment section. I did not Pass On and i am not being ghostwritten either. I had been in preparation for some time for a right knee replacement. This was accomplished 1 week ago and that encompassed a spinal anesthetic attempt which was not successful but unpleasant. Not an unexpected event since old spines tend to be arthitic and resitent to puncture. But anesthesia ensued and the surgery was succesful. A long list of events led to this starting at birth-6 months of colic-followed by rickets( vit d deficiency)-warped right knee with off angle from straight of 10-15 degrees-injuries-2 previous knee operations-arthritis-worsening angle-instability-then correction. A straight leg now.
    But now I work with physical therapy. An infamous lot they are but you get to take a pain pill just before they appear. Sweet people, well trained but cruel. I wave from my walker (temporary) soon to reappear regularly

    1. I wave from my walker (temporary) soon to reappear regularly

      Waving back 🙋🏽‍♂️🖖🏽 as I sit next to my bottle of 15 mg Meloxicam #30 with refills.
      See you on the gym stair-master machine🦿

      1. I get tylenol or opiates. Nsaids are forbidden to me. Few choices but I manage. I prefer to walk 2 1/2 miles daily up to day before surgery. My legs do ‘t bend well so i have trouble with stairmasters. So i work with what i have. Appreciate the thoughts

    2. GEB,
      Sorry to hear about the knee, but glad to hear the surgery was successful and you are on the mend.
      I did a rotation at a rehab clinic with the PT people. Yep, sometimes they got to push you, but it is for the best! Keep at it!

      1. Yes they got to push and i get to whine. It evens out but then they plug their ears and they win. Drats

  7. If your contributions to the national treasury have been very little, then you should have very little say in how they money is used and spent, and you have no business referring to it as “our money”. Sure, it’s easy to spout off such nonsense, but it doesn’t mean anything.

    1. I meant to say why do you say she’s winning the lawfare- it’s semantics, really, because the Lawfare IS The War.

  9. In Other News: “Letitia James Appoints Herself to the Rank of Attorney Generalissimo”
    ~+~
    In a hastily conviened press conference, New York Attorney General Letitia James announced her self-promotion to the rank of Attorney Generalissimo of New York and her suzerainty over all the other states of New England.

    Generalissimo James adorned herself fittingly, complete with her obligatory medal spangled uniform, ribbon sash, 1970’s aviator style sunglasses, and sporting a long, Cuban cigar.

  14. BTW, if Trump had called Letitia James “mentally impaired,” I would not take that as any more or less insulting than calling Kamala the same. Name-calling is childish, but this nonsense about it being “offensive” to persons who are “mentally impaired” or”mentally-disabled” is an oxymoronish, incongruous notion, in and of itself! Many politicians have called Trump worse, and no one even batted an eyelash, many laughed.

    2. Calling people the “childish” names that they are is TRUTH and the Exercise of the First Amendment. Personally, I think Kamala and Tim are practiced, deceitful liars and traitors to the United States. The attorneys pushing the nonsensical cases against Trump are quite mentally ill to think they can abuse and misuse American Law for personal gain and elimination of democratic procedures, such as elections.

  15. I’m getting sick and tired of BLACK FEMALE LIBERALS brandishing their machetes at the rest of us. If these people ever get the power they want in Washington D.C., we are ruined in every sense of the word. All they have to do is kill the filibuster and it’s over. Kamala Harris will unleash them like a plague of locusts. Every state will have a DEI Gestapo.

    You Lefties know I’m not exaggerating because it’s what you want, even when you lie about it. You are politically insane.

    There, I said it. Come get me.

      1. No, I’m not the racist. You are. Letitia James is. Joy Reid is. DEI is codified racism, like Jim Crow. It’s your gaslighting that is delusional.

              2. Nothing democrats and Trump haters can say will make them sound NORMAL. Their lack of knowledge, brazen attitude and lack of consideration to their country is indicative of the fact they do not love America and want to be a Marxist Communist country. There are more American Patriots who want the Constitution and Bill of Rights and our American way of life, and I hope they all get out and vote the traitors down this November.

        2. Diogenes, these scum do not know what racism is. In my family, the ultimate result of racism is death, and these racists play around with racism and death as if it were candy. That is not hard to believe because they don’t care if a full-term baby is left to die on the table or killed, having his legs and arms pulled from his body. They don’t care about the hundred thousand deaths from drug overdoses or care about the thousands of children that die in the desert. Their attitude is not to separate the children from drug traffickers by making believe the drug traffickers are the parents.

          All we see from the left is racism and power-hungry people who know next to nothing. They are fools who cheer Joyce Reid and DEI, though that is the opposite of what Martin Luther King talked about when he said character over color.

      2. An ad hominem isn’t going to work. You know obama’s hutu’s are coming. What else are they gonna do, get a real job?

      3. The delusion is on the part of the democrats and their voters. They oppose law & order, oppose manufacturing in the US; they oppose a border that defines our country; they oppose the equal administration of justice and application of law, they oppose the upholding of our Constitutional Rights and Bill of Rights, they oppose our Legislative, Executive, Judicial form of Government; they oppose the FAIR nine-member Supreme Court in order to gain unfairness, they are in favor of aborting children by the millions to depopulate the US, but want millions of strangers here; they support Iran and all the terrorists who would eliminate America, Jews, Christians and Israel and any other opposition to their insane beliefs. Why would democrats be self-destructive and not realize it? They have become brainwashed by the Marxist/Socialist/Communists in power in America who use social media, TV and outside interests to do the job. Vote Trump to Save America!!

        1. Lori writes, “they are in favor of aborting children by the millions to depopulate the US, but want millions of strangers here…”

          You bring up one of my favorite points, Lori. The Left claims they want to reduce the carbon footprint in North America, so how does flooding the country with tens of millions of poor immigrants do that? How does increased congestion, pollution, crime, poverty, illiteracy, debt, and institutional failure improve the carbon footprint? It won’t without societal collapse and maybe not even then.

          It’s about power and money to the Left. Always.

        2. @Lori

          You are saying this as though they have any whit of your understanding, context, or perspective. They don’t. I appreciate that you have your values, but we have to understand that this has not carried over one iota. Not a damn thing we discuss on this blog is even a consideration, and this is really important to understand: none of this experience, logic, sensibility matters now unless one is willing to stand up for it. Watching from the side and eliciting a sigh isn’t going to work anymore.

          Would you like to live in a free country or a communist one? That is the choice this year (would love to be wrong, butI doubt we’ll have a decision in January). Choosing the former may inconvenience you for a while. Are you willing to do that?

          1. Look at the paid trolls and fox interns go!!! They’re getting desperate. To be fair, trump’s election strategy has nothing to do with earning more votes than Kamala. It’s about trying to squash votes, rig the judiciary with judges who’ll ignore the law and to try another coup.

        1. Lori,
          Sometimes the server is getting hit with high volume and a comment may not appear right away or get dropped.

    2. This site is AI generated just like everything else in this Obama dystopia. It’s called hell for normal people.

      Adios

      1. You could be correct; I sent two comments that have not appeared. The AI is taught to censor comments.

        1. kathy, comments containing certain words are censored by the WordPress host.
          For example, the spanish word for black.

    3. Diogenes: In the lefty stronghold where I live in the upper Midwest there rules an entity called the Police Civilian Oversight Board. This little DEI Gestapo hates accountability and hates the police force. It is headed by a Black female liberal. It’s a multi-million dollar boondoggle while the police dept. has to struggle to find funding. I plan to vote against money for the “oversight board” when it appears as a referendum question on the ballot during the upcoming Nov 05 Presidential election.

    4. The Founders denied them admission to become citizens.

      What happened…legally, I mean?

      Answer: Nothing legally.
      ____________________________

      Naturalization Acts of 1790, 1795, 1798, and 1802 (four iterations for clarity)

      United States Congress, “An act to establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization,” March 26, 1790

      Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, That any Alien being a free white person, who shall have resided within the limits and under the jurisdiction of the United States for the term of two years, may be admitted to become a citizen…

  16. It may be that the bubble-enclosed delusional, irrational, progressive, left has overplayed their hand and now they realize that there aren’t as many sheeple out there as they thought.

  17. Dear Mr. Turley, Great article! I am thankful to see GEB posting his thoughts once again as I had begun to wonder if he had passed away? Ms. James and others like her have the left-wing media to help fan their flame against Mr. Trump. Thankfully, it looks as though the appeals system will help Mr. Trump against these ridiculous charges. The charges against him were a sham from the get-go. I am hoping the courts will rule in his favor. What will the media do once Mr. Trump has all of this behind him? Hopefully, they will dry up and blow away and allow someone to lead their networks, who may have some common sense. One can only hope!!!

    1. “Hopefully, they will dry up and blow away and allow someone to lead their networks, who may have some common sense. One can only hope!!!” We have as much chance of that happening as we would thinking that a defeat for islamic jihadists will turn them from their cult ordained mission. Yes; progressives are first cousins to jihadis in that they are compelled by a belief system that refutes any facts that conflict with their ideology because that is what a cult is – a mind control device and beleive me progressives are as much an indoctrinated cult as any islamist

  18. Jonathan: Did you watch and did any of your followers on this blog watch DJT’s infomercial hawking his new “gold and diamond” watches? I did and it was quite revealing. DJT’s claims his watches are “the best ever made” and urged his supporters to buy one because it’s “Trump Time”. As with all DJT scams you have to read the fine print.

    On his website for the watches DJT answers the most frequently asked questions–like “Will I get the exact watch that I saw on the site?” Answer? “The images shown are for illustration purposes only and may not be the exact representation of the product”. In other words, don’t expect to get same watch shown in the ad. It probably won’t be of real gold or have real diamonds!

    But there’s more. The ad also answers another frequently asked question: “When will they ship?” Answer with another qualifier: “Shipping and delivery dates are estimates only and cannot be guaranteed. We are not liable for any delays in shipments”. That’s because “Each watch is made to order. We cannot guarantee when an order will arrive…Products that are unavailable at the time of shipping will be shipped as they become available”. In other words, don’t hold your breath because your watch may be long in coming–if ever.

    I don’t know about you but my wife orders stuff from Amazon, Prime, Thrift Books–you name it. You know exactly what is being shipped. You get a tracking number with a follow up message that tells you the exact date your product will arrive. Not so with DJT’s watches or the assassination sneakers. It’s all a scam with no guarantee you will ever see the product you have ordered or, if you do, it may not be in your life time!

    DJT reminds me of the guy selling knife sets at the county fair. My wife and I went almost every year. And there was a guy there with a microphone around his neck hawking knife sets that he claimed “never have to be sharpened”. We passed up that offer. And that is what I recommend with DJT’s latest scam!

      1. bwahahahahahaahaha. Ewe upvoted 7 minutes after your sockpuppet!!!! Loser!!!!!

      1. A single-center, retrospective cohort study was conducted ….

        Methods: A single-center retrospective cohort study conducted between March 1, 2020 and March 1, 2023. Clinical and follow-up information was collected from medical records and patients. Total antibodies (IgM, IgA, IgG) to nucleocapsid (N) antigens were measured by ECLIA (electrochemiluminescence-based immunoassay) to test the immune response to natural infection.

        Results: Total sample of 949 patients, 656 with ST-segment elevation MI (STEMI) and 293 with non-ST-segment elevation MI (NSTEMI). Mean age was 64 (SD 13) years, 80 % men.

        The researchers are in Spain, and the one word that describes their study is basura which means in English “garbage”

        If it is not retracted its only because the authors had fatal cardiac events from the humiliation they endured from this basura article, preventing them to request it being withdrawn

      2. Upstate, I note the criticism below. By trying to shut down mouths, the government raised the volume tremendously no matter what side one takes. I don’t know the study you provided, but Estovir called it garbage. No matter which side is taken, one doesn’t know whether the conclusion is garbage because so many studies are garbage. Some of the studies performed were poorly done for one reason: to make a point. But, that is not the only study.

        I have heard a lot of noise on this subject. The number of adverse effects reported from the Covid vaccine are high. There is too much noise. Then forgetting the harm, one has to look at results. Israel may have the highest vaccination rate, but it also has one of the highest rates of Covid.

        I hope the government has proven one thing. Never stop discussion. Don’t censor opinion.

    3. Dennis, are you STILL having a raging Marxist Midol Moment over consenting adults engaging in voluntary transactions? Whether they’re wealthy banks that do their own risk assessments loaning money to Trump, or adults buying either communist Democrat merchandise or Trump merchandise offered for sale online? Do you wear a Che Guevera t-shirt while posting your daily fecal load?

      You remind us of all the Democrats you post here on behalf of, hawking 400,000+ convicted criminal murderers, rapists, pedophiles (THAT THEY ADMITTED TO), that Border Czar Harris ordered released to run free committing additional crimes.

      Few are buying your online crap commie merchandise, Dennis. Just like they aren’t buying the crap of Democrats and you that 400,00+ convicted violent felon Illegal Aliens and the other 20,000,000 Illegal Aliens that Biden and Harris invited to America and then let in are good for America.

    4. “. . . the exact date your product will arrive.”

      On a made-to-order product? Give one example of that.

      Nice context-dropping.

  19. It’s almost impossible to read a Turley op Ed and not hear, by way of comparison, Don from Queens reading in his monotone teleprompter voice. Well beyond having completely sold out, Turley misappropriates people he’s got grudges against as overtly coming out ‘against free speech’. It’s a pathetic tactic.

    Turley has become an active purveyor of mis and disinformation. Now watch as his trolls snarl and yap about my pointing out the obvious.

    Thing is, what they’ll never address is the fact that Turls tees off on people who disagree with him on some issue, calling them anti free speech disingenuously, and actively ignores the censorship policies being pushed by the right. It’s no wonder Turley has been labeled as being ‘Mike Lindell with tenure’….

    In much more of a pertinent matter, Carville has suggested for trump to use tongs to wipe his arse in order to navigate the problem of reaching around his bulbous backside.. Much more on the relevant side than this hack piece op ed from Turls..

    2. More ad hominen distraction. Quit trying to cover for the mulatto marxist’s hutu army. Who are you Reid Hoffman or a slumlord or illegal immigrant broker?

    3. In much more of a pertinent matter, Carville has suggested for trump to use tongs to wipe his arse in order to navigate the problem of reaching around his bulbous backside.

      Now if you want to actually talk about pertinent rather than soothing your weeping mangina because Turley offends you by criticizing James…

      Cost To Taxpayers For Border Czar Harris’s Importation of Illegal Aliens Equivalent To 36th Largest Economy In The World
      https://wokespy.com/cost-of-illegal-immigration-equivalent-to-36th-largest-economy-in-the-world/

      Every day, millions of American taxpayer dollars are spent on costs directly associated with illegal alien importation and the unprecedented crisis at the Southwest border sparked by Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas’ enacting Border Czar Harris’s policies

      Carville is pertinent to anyone who doesn’t worship him after his years of covering up Bill Clinton’s raping and sexually assaulting women in and outside his time of president, I suppose that physical comparison can be had. Carville as always avoids explaining himself as to why Trump is supposedly so physically unfit that he’s still nearly a scratch golfer – while Carville still hangs around with the Clintons as a couch potato, hoping Bill Clinton will leave him a few of his latest senior citizen conquests for some quick sloppy seconds.

  20. Brings back memories of NYC Mayor David Dinkins.

    When Reverend Jesse Jackson & Al Sharpton referenced NYC as Hymietown.
    Getting everyone worked up into tizzy for the Crown Heights riot and fire bombing Korean stores.

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