JONATHAN TURLEY
BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION
Professor Jonathan Turley is a nationally recognized legal scholar who has written extensively in areas ranging from constitutional law to legal theory to tort law. He has written over three dozen academic articles that have appeared in a variety of leading law journals at Cornell, Duke, Georgetown, Harvard, Northwestern, University of Chicago, and other schools.
After a stint at Tulane Law School, Professor Turley joined the George Washington faculty in 1990 and, in 1998, was given the prestigious Shapiro Chair for Public Interest Law, the youngest chaired professor in the school’s history. In addition to his extensive publications, Professor Turley has served as counsel in some of the most notable cases in the last two decades including the representation of whistleblowers, military personnel, judges, members of Congress, and a wide range of other clients. He is also one of the few attorneys to successfully challenge both a federal and a state law — leading to courts striking down the federal Elizabeth Morgan law as well as the state criminalization of cohabitation.
In 2010, Professor Turley represented Judge G. Thomas Porteous in his impeachment trial. After a trial before the Senate, Professor Turley (on December 7, 2010) argued both the motions and gave the final argument to all 100 U.S. Senators from the well of the Senate floor — only the 14th time in history of the country that such a trial of a judge has reached the Senate floor. Judge Porteous was convicted of four articles of impeachments, including the acceptance of $2000 from an attorney and using a false name on a bankruptcy filing.
In 2011, Professor Turley filed a challenge to the Libyan War on behalf of ten members of Congress, including Representatives Roscoe Bartlett (R., Md); Dan Burton (R., Ind.); Mike Capuano (D., Mass.); Howard Coble (R., N.C.); John Conyers (D., Mich.); John J. Duncan (R., Tenn.); Tim Johnson (R., Ill.); Walter Jones (R., N.C.); Dennis Kucinich (D., Ohio); and Ron Paul (R., Tx). The lawsuit was before the United States District Court for the District of Columbia.
In November 2014, Turley agreed to serve as lead counsel to the United States House of Representatives in its constitutional challenge to changes ordered by President Obama to the Affordable Care Act. The litigation was approved by the House of Representatives to seek judicial review of the claims under the separation of powers. On May 12, 2016, the federal court handed down a historic victory for the House and ruled that the Obama Administration violated the separation of powers in ordering billions to be paid to insurance companies without an appropriation of Congress.
Other cases include his representation of the Area 51 workers at a secret air base in Nevada; the nuclear couriers at Oak Ridge, Tennessee; the Rocky Flats grand jury in Colorado; Dr. Eric Foretich, the husband in the famous Elizabeth Morgan custody controversy; and four former United States Attorneys General during the Clinton impeachment litigation. In the Foretich case, Turley succeeded recently in reversing a trial court and striking down a federal statute through a rare “bill of attainder” challenge. Professor Turley has also served as counsel in a variety of national security cases, including espionage cases like that of Jim Nicholson, the highest ranking CIA officer ever accused of espionage. Turley also served as lead defense counsel in the successful defense of Petty Officer Daniel King, who faced the death penalty for alleged spying for Russia. Turley also served as defense counsel in the case of Dr. Tom Butler, who is faced criminal charges dealing with the importation and handling of thirty vials of plague in Texas. He also served as counsel to Larry Hanauer, the House Intelligence Committee staffer accused of leaking a classified Presidential National Intelligence Estimate to the New York Times. (Hanauer was cleared of all allegations).
Among his current cases, Professor Turley represents Dr. Ali Al-Timimi, who was convicted in Virginia in 2005 of violent speech against the United States. In 2020, the federal court found that there merit in the challenges raised by Professor Turley and his co-counsel Tom Huff. Accordingly, the judge ordered his release to protect him from Covit-19 while the Court prepared a decision on the challenges. Pursuant to a court order, Dr. Al-Timimi was released from the Supermax in Colorado and the two drove across the country so that he could be placed into home confinement. He also represented Dr. Sami Al-Arian, who was accused of being the American leader of a terrorist organization while he was a university professor in Florida. Turley represented Dr. Al-Arian for eight years, much of which was in a determined defense against an indictment for criminal contempt. The case centered on the alleged violation of a plea bargain by the Justice Department after Dr. Al-Arian was largely exonerated of terrorism charges in Tampa, Florida. On June 27, 2014, all charges were dropped against Dr. Al-Arian. He also represented pilots approaching or over the age of 60 in their challenge to the mandatory retirement age of the FAA. He also represented David Murphee Faulk, the whistleblower who disclosed abuses in the surveillance operations at NSA’s Fort Gordon facility in Georgia.
Professor Turley also agreed to serve as lead counsel representing the Brown family from the TLC “Sister Wives, a reality show on plural marriage or polygamy. On December 13, 2013, the federal court in Utah struck down the criminalization of polygamy — the first such decision in history — on free exercise and due process grounds. On September 26, 2014, the court also ruled in favor of the Browns under Section 1983 — giving them a clean sweep on all of the statutory and constitutional claims. In April 2015, a panel reversed the decision on standing grounds and that decision is now on appeal.
Professor Turley was also lead counsel in the World Bank protest case stemming from the mass arrest of people in 2002 by the federal and district governments during demonstrations of the IMF and World Bank. Turley and his co-lead counsel Dan Schwartz (and the law firm of Bryan Cave) were the first to file and represented student journalists arrested without probable cause. In April 2015, after 13 years of intense litigation, the case was settled for $2.8 million, including $115,000 for each arrestee — a record damage award in a case of this kind and over twice the amount of prior damages for individual protesters. The case also exposed government destruction and withholding of evidence as well as the admitted mass arrest of hundreds of people without probable cause.
Professor Turley also served as the legal expert in the review of polygamy laws in the British of Columbia (Canada) Supreme Court. In the latter case, he argued for the decriminalization of plural union and conjugal unions. In 2012, Turley also represented the makers of “Five Wives Vodka” (Ogden’s Own Distillery) in challenging an effective ban on the product in Idaho after officials declared the product to be offensive to Mormons. After opposing to the ban on free speech and other grounds, the state of Idaho issued a letter apologizing for public statements made by officials and lifting the ban on sale for “Five Wives Vodka.”
Turley has served as a consultant on homeland security and constitutional issues, including the Florida House of Representatives. He also served as the consultant to the Puerto Rico House of Representatives on the impeachment of Gov. Aníbal Acevedo Vilá.
Professor Turley is a frequent witness before the House and Senate on constitutional and statutory issues as well as tort reform legislation. That testimony includes the confirmation hearings of Attorney General nominees Loretta Lynch and William Barr as well as Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch. Professor Turley is also a nationally recognized legal commentator. Professor Turley was ranked as 38th in the top 100 most cited “public intellectuals” in the recent study by Judge Richard Posner. Turley was also found to be the second most cited law professor in the country. He has been repeatedly ranked in the nation’s top 500 lawyers in annual surveys (including in the latest rankings by LawDragon) – one of only a handful of academics. In prior years, he was ranked as one of the nation’s top ten lawyers in military law cases as well as one of the top 40 lawyers under 40. He was also selected in the last five years as one of the 100 top Irish lawyers in the world. In 2016, he was ranked as one of the 100 most famous (past and present) law professors.
Professor Turley is one of only two academics to testify at both the Clinton and Trump impeachment hearings. In December 2019, Professor Turley was called as the one Republican witness in the House Judiciary Committee impeachment hearings. He appeared with three Democratic witnesses. Professor Turley disagreed with this fellow witnesses in opposing the proposed articles of impeachments on bribery, extortion, campaign finance violations or obstruction of justice. He argued that these alleged impeachable acts were at odds with controlling definitions of those crimes and that Congress has historically looked to the criminal code and cases for guidance on such allegations. The committee ultimately rejected those articles and adopted the only two articles that Professor Turley said could be legitimately advanced: abuse of power, obstruction of Congress. Chairman Jerrold Nadler even ended the hearing by quoting his position on abuse of power. However, Turley opposed impeachment on this record as incomplete and insufficient for submission to the Senate. He argued for the House to wait and complete the record by seeking to compel key witnesses like former National Security Adviser John Bolton. His testimony was later relied upon in the impeachment floor debate by various House members and he was cited by both the White House and House managers in their arguments before the United States Senate in the Trump impeachment trial, including videotaped remarks played at the trial.
Professor Turley’s articles on legal and policy issues appear regularly in national publications with hundreds of articles in such newspapers as the New York Times, Washington Post, USA Today, Los Angeles Times and Wall Street Journal. He is a columnist for USA Today and writes regularly for the Washington Post. In 2005, Turley was given the Columnist of the Year award for Single-Issue Advocacy for his columns on civil liberties by the Aspen Institute and the Week Magazine. Professor Turley also appears regularly as a legal expert on all of the major television networks. Since the 1990s, he has worked under contract as the on-air Legal Analyst for NBC News, CBS News, BBC and Fox News. Professor Turley has been a repeated guest on Sunday talk shows with over two-dozen appearances on Meet the Press, ABC This Week, Face the Nation, and Fox Sunday. Professor Turley has taught courses on constitutional law, constitutional criminal law, environmental law, litigation, and torts. He is the founder and executive director of the Project for Older Prisoners (POPS). His work with older prisoners has been honored in various states, including his selection as the 2011 recipient of the Dr. Mary Ann Quaranta Elder Justice Award at Fordham University.
His award-winning blog is routinely ranked as one of the most popular legal blogs by AVVO. His blog was selected as the top News/Analysis site in 2013, the top Legal Opinion Blog in 2011 as well as prior selections as the top Law Professor Blog and Legal Theory Blog. It was also ranked in the top 20 constitutional law blog in 2018. It has been regularly ranked by the ABA Journal in the top 100 blogs in the world. In 2012, Turley has selected as one of the top 20 legal experts on Twitter by Business Insider. In 2013, the ABA Journal inducted the Turley Blog into its Hall of Fame.
Professor Turley received his B.A. at the University of Chicago and his J.D. at Northwestern. In 2008, he was given an honorary Doctorate of Law from John Marshall Law School for his contributions to civil liberties and the public interest.
For further information: Mr. Seth Tate – 202-994-0537
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I am also on this and other sites because there are obvious liars out there that want to spread hate and I would like to educate those that may be ignorant, that not everything they hear is true (see Fox, CNN, Bush, Congress).
My dad told me something when I was young that I now tell my children. “An ignorant person who wants to learn is a student; an ignorant person that doesn’t want to learn is stupid”. He also told me that “stupid people think everyone is stupid like they are”. I think my audience is full of students, martha h and percy think their audience is stupid.
zakimar:
Yes, you are so right about dishonoring Hitler. Hitler killed people because he thought he was their ‘aryan’ superior and that he deserved to rule the world. These people like martha h are worse than him because they think they are doing the work of the Lord, and that the Lord will put them at the head of the line in Heaven when they get there. They are truly ‘wolves in sheeps’ clothing’ and are more dangerous, because they hide behind the cross of Jesus and justify that He would approve their words and actions.
I guess there are people who have admitted that they won’t vote for Obama because he’s Black, but I sure haven’t run into any of them.
I know that Jesse Owens had to work as a janitor because he couldn’t get any kind of high paying job after winning all those gold medals in Germany and that Ali refused to be drafted for the ‘white man’s war’ in Vietnam and was arrested and jailed for a while. How terribly they were treated because of the color of their skin…
*A personal note* My husband, who is older than I am and as I wrote before, was born in Mexico and came to live in the United States when he was a teenager, Volunteered to enlist in the US Army in 1965 (this was the same year I started Kindergarten in elementary school). He was stationed for a few months in the state of Georgia, and he and his buddies who were not white-skinned, were NOT allowed to eat at certain restaurants, off base, because they were brown-skinned. I just couldnt’ believe this when he told me, but I know that it’s true. Here he was, Volunteering and Serving in the US Army during the time of the Vietnam War and could have been sent there at any moment (luckily he was sent to Europe for 18 months, but he did lose a few of his friends in Vietnam) and yet he couldn’t get a bite of food in a restaurant because he was brown-skinned. Absolutely Unbelievable!!!
But what people like martha h say IS important to me because, not for what they say, but that some people BELIEVE what they say. This information is Priceless and very useful… 🙂
Mary Leon; I agree with what you say, but you got a few things wrong. Some of these people don’t think they speak FOR Jesus; they speak WITH Jesus, Bush Jr. included. Also, there were a lot of Americans in the primaries that did say I’m not voting for a “Black” or “Colored”.
Cindy McCain put $750 000 on her American express card in one month, the McCains spent $250 000 per year on servants, and the Obamas are the “elitists”. Also, when Jesse Owens came back to the good ol’ US of A after winning the gold, the same Americans that cheered him wouldn’t give him a job and he did stunts to get money. Thirty years later, Muhammad Ali, who was also cheered for winning the gold, was thrown out of a restaurant and told “we don’t serve niggers here”.
And finally, I think it dishonors Hitler when he is compared to the likes of these hateful imbeciles.
zakimar:
I know that ‘these people’ are just going around the edges, too afraid to say the word “BLACK” so they use every excuse to cut down Barack Obama–he’s not experienced, he’s a movie star elitist, he’s a flip-flopper, he’s too skinny (that one made me laugh so much!) LOL.
I just wish one of them would have the GUTS to just say: “I’m not voting for Barack Obama because he’s Black, and that’s the ONLY reason I’m not voting for him because he IS Black and I’m white, and only the white people know how to run the show.”
You know the worst thing, though, is that they think that God LOVES what they are doing–being racist pigs who only care about “their kind of people”, and the rest of us are heathens who will NEVER make it to Heaven. They think they speak for Jesus, but they are actually speaking for the Devil.
They are acting like Hitler was, taking over most of Europe, killing Millions of people, all so the ‘aryan’ race of blonde, blue-eyed people could rule the world. We all know how THAT ended.
I remember my late father telling me that when Jesse Owens was in Germany in the 1930s, on the United States’ track team for the Olympics, that Hitler was SO angry that a Black man could beat his precious ‘aryan’ race of runners, sprinters and high jumpers. I sure wish I could have been there to watch the German crowd when they defied Hitler and cheered for Jesse!
I am not responding to their vulgar comments as much as I’m gathering information for some websites I go to that need to know what ‘these people’ are up to and what they are thinking. This information is very useful and necessary to know as well as fun to read, because of their ‘holier than thou’ approach to life and their ‘delusions of grandeaur’ that they are doing the work of the Lord.
I must admit that Hitler would be proud of martha h and her ‘kind of people’ who think if they tell a lie so many times that people will actually believe it is the truth and that the white people are the only people that should have power to rule the world… 🙂
Mary Leon; Either these people are liars spouting propaganda or they believe their own lies and are thus lunatics. Either way they are never going to respect the truth or an opposing opinion?
I think this is all a cover and if Obama wins or this election could somehow have been held 30 years ago, they’d simply be saying “nigger”. The likes of these people are shocked that this “boy doesn’t know his place”.
The hatred in these genetically misinformed people is obvious. They have used such terms to describe Sen. Obama as: downright ignorant, buffoon, charlatan, enemy of progress, doesn’t care about the troops or America, is preparing to surrender America and low life. The only thing they forgot to add is that they are being “fair and balanced” and that McCain is the Messiah.
This is coming from the same people that state that Islam had a “false Prophet in 1300 AD, and that God reserves his love for only 5% of the world’s population.
So please stop responding to these Zionists (racists), liars, and imbeciles’ vulgar comments, it only gives their puny minds satisfaction and encouragement. Their hero Goebbels would be having a good laugh at their attempts at “disseminating information”.
Barack Obama is NOT flip-flopping! He is trying to tolerate the Republickan side. At least he is willing to Listen to their arguments, for and against offshore drilling. He is to be commended for his approach to ALL sides of a problem.
He’s nothing like Bush, who, for the first 6 years of his presiduncy, had a solid Republickan majority in Congress, both House and Senate, who passed every bill, every act and everything Bush wanted to do. Talk about being in lock-step!
He MAY suggest offshore drilling, but once he is President, he can change his mind. But I do know one thing–he won’t be like McCain, who is just waiting to lead the charge into Iran.
We don’t have enough money, troops or allies left in the world; but when has that ever stopped a Republickan from declaring WAR???
Barack Obama has proven himself slippery on oil. In April, he accused his opponents of taking money from oil lobbies, when in fact Obama himself not only did the same thing but had oil executives as major bundlers to his campaign.
Now he’s reversed himself on off shore drilling, and he did it in a remarkable place — Florida. Of course, this comes shortly after Obama called off-shore drilling “the latest scheme”, telling his supporters that drilling wouldn’t solve anything. How shortly? 48 hours!
zakimar: glad you keep putting your thoughts in writing for the lunatics here to see what they are placating…….
We NEED a law that sterilizes such “simple” folk before they become old enough to produce viable gametes and breed.
The first sane President to succeed McCain should create a Federal Eugenics Agency to weed out the sort that votes for the likes of Bush and McCain.
zakimar: You are just jealous that GOD protects Israel & the United States.
Mary Leon; Bush and Cheney already have what they want: they’ve made themselves rich; made their corporate donors like oil companies, Haliburton and Blackwater rich; and helped Israel by attacking Iraq. Attacking Iran would be a good bonus but the US doesn’t have the manpower left to do it, so they’re betting on McCain. Even that pillar of Republican values, Ted Steven donated money to McCain.
August 1, 2008
Obama Caves On Drilling!
Barack Obama has seen which way the wind is blowing on gas prices, and today he changed his mind about offshore drilling:
“My interest is in making sure we’ve got the kind of comprehensive energy policy that can bring down gas prices,” Obama said in an interview with The Palm Beach Post. “If, in order to get that passed, we have to compromise in terms of a careful, well thought-out drilling strategy that was carefully circumscribed to avoid significant environmental damage—I don’t want to be so rigid that we can’t get something done.”
Obama left no doubt about the political calculation behind his flip-flop:
As I’ve said before, there is no philosophical or political principle that Obama cares much about, other than the desirability of his own ascension to the Presidency. So we can look forward to more such shifts between now and November.
OBAMA DOESN’T HAVE A PRINCIPLED BELIEF IN HIS WHOLE LOW LIFE BODY!
You are right, zakimar. Both Repubs and Democrats are not running to Impeach Cheney and Bush because they all have their little secrets and skeletons in their own closets.
I’ve heard that after the Presidential election then Pelosi and Reid might start more hearings and contempt of court citations once they know that McCain has lost and that they just Might put Impeachment on the table for Cheney and Bush right before Obama is inaugurated on January 20, 2009.
But Bush might pull out that presidential directive he signed last May in 2007, giving himself Total control of all 3 branches of the government, in case of terrorist threat or attack. He may even ‘coincidentally’ allow a ‘terrorist attack’ to make his followers afraid. Percy, russ and martha sure would start running to Bush to ‘save them’ from the terrorists if there would be such an attack. I wouldn’t doubt that Bush would try to hold onto his power as long as he can because he is one man that can’t take “NO” for an answer.
He can try to take over the government, but I know he won’t succeed.
Plus, I’ve heard that Cheney has a plan, starting this October, to have the US Navy Seals be dressed as Iranians and fire at one of the US warships in the Gulf, right across from Iran, and then blame the Iranians for the ‘unprovoked’ attack. A good way to start another ‘war’ by using this tactic, right?
It’s only a crime if someone enforces the “law”. Republicans have no interest and Democrats are frightened. Hence, it’s not illegal. Please refer to Bush and Pelosi, McCain and Obama on FISA.
I just read that WalMart has been having meetings with their management all over the country, reminding them that if a Democratic majority happens in Congress and in the Presidential Election, then there may be fears of employees trying to start unions and think about striking for better wages.
Sounds to me like WalMart is Telling people Not to vote for Barack Obama or any other Democrat in Congress.
Isn’t that ILLEGAL???
His ilk tends to stick together and be of like “mind”.
Hi, zakimar:
I’m beginning to wonder if Percy, russ and martha h are all ONE person. After all, you and I are always being accused of being Mr. Turley’s alter-egos.
Before I ‘cut and paste’ the ridiculous drivel of the Trolls, I read it and I can’t believe how DUMB these people really are!
I don’t give a hoot about Jon Voight and his opinions, or about how we can only ‘save ourselves’ by drilling for oil offshore.
I notice that instead of pointing out facts, these Trolls only attack, attack, attack. They give out estimates of what MAY happen if we drill offshore for oil, or what some has-been actor is saying. Big deal.
What I would like an answer to is what occurred yesterday:
Federal US District Judge John Bates *WHO WAS APPOINTED BY W.BUSH* has concluded that there is NO legal basis why Miers and Bolton cannot testify before Congress and bring non-priviledged documentation about the US Attorney Firings!
Yep, there is NO legal reason why Miers and Bolton can IGNORE a Subpoena issued by Congress!
The White House said it probably will appeal the ruling, dragging the issue into January. But if the Democrats remain the majority party, then the subpoenas will be re-issued in January and Miers and Bolton, and probably Rove will HAVE to at least SHOW UP, then declare ‘executive priviledge’.
So, Percy, russ and martha h: A Federal US District Judge, appointed BY Bush, is disagreeing with him and telling him that he has NO legal reason to tell any of his staff that they can IGNORE a subpoena. What do you think about that???
I know doin reserch is tuff, speshaly wen ur igornant & lazi, butt tri it. lernin can b fun.
zakimar, not even you can be that dumb as to believe 2% of the garbage you print here. Nice try Turley.
Mr. Voight couldn’t raise his own children properly – they aren’t even on speaking terms.
Yet another pillar of the Republican establishment and a McCain supporter has brought disgrace to his office (if that’s possible) Ted Stevens.
-Sen. McCain is best known for being captured while bombing civilians and being a POW.
-Sen. McCain wants another war after supporting the first illegal and unwinnable war.
-Sen. McCain has voted against EVERY effort to provide more money to veterans and veterans’ services.
-Sen. McCain supports torture even though he was supposedly tortured himself.
-Sen. McCain’s “experience” leads him to believe there are a Czechoslovakia and an Iraq/Pakistan border.
You are someone that supports racism, bigotry, murder, persecution and oppression (see Zionism and Israel).
Enough said.