Below is my column in The Hill newspaper on the Andrew Johnson impeachment trial and its reliance by Harvard Professor Alan Dershowitz to support the argument that impeachable offenses must be based on criminal conduct.
Here is the column:
Continue reading “The Johnson Fallacy: Why Dershowitz Is Wrong About The Prevailing Argument In the Johnson Trial”
We have often discussed the struggle of women in Muslim countries in resisting religious-based requirements for coverings and limitations on their movements and interactions. Turkey was once the exception among these countries as a secular, modern nation. That was before the rise of Islamic parties under the authoritarian President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Turkey under Erdogan has already rolled back on protections for girls and women in abuse cases. Now the country is considering a horrific law aptly called the “marry-your-rapist” bill. Under this legislation, men accused of having sex with underaged girls could avoid punishment if they marry their victims.
Continue reading “Turkey Moves Toward Passage Of Controversial “Marry Your Rapist” Law”
Below is my column in Washington Post on a little discussed issue lingering in the hundreds of pages of briefing in the Trump Senate trial: what to do with an attempt to abuse power. Many of us have been discussing whether abuse of power is an impeachable offense. The White House maintains that it is not because articles of impeachment must be based on criminal acts. Many of us have criticized that theory as untenable and unsupportable in the history of English and American impeachments. However, the more interesting question is not what to do with an abuse of power but an attempted abuse of power.
Here is the column:
Continue reading “A “Lovely, Knotty Problem”: Is The House Impeachment Case On A Collision Course With The Law of Attempts?”
We previously discussed the allegations against former Drexel University professor Chikaodinaka Nwankpa, 57, for using $185,000 on adult entertainment and other personal expenses. He has now been charged criminally with theft by unlawful taking and theft by deception. The charging documents however revealed one curious element. Many of the charges were processed during a window between midnight and 2 a.m.
Below is my column on history — and some dubious historical claims — related to Senate impeachment trials. As with the conflicting position on witnesses of some senators, the growing narrative in the media that Republicans senators have departed from the tradition of the Senate in commenting on trial has more hypocrisy than history behind it. I have repeatedly encouraged senators not to discuss the evidence or their likely votes, but that is a rule honored historically in the breach by members of this curious trial jury.
Here is column: Continue reading “What History Really Tells Us About Senate Trials”
Rep. Jason Crow, D-Colo., will be one of the seven Democratic impeachment managers prosecuting President Trump this week in his Senate trial. However, he seems a tad unclear on what the trial is about or at least what the defendant is facing as the allegations of impeachable conduct. Crow declared on CNN’s State of the Union that Trump was really guilty of bribery. The problem is that bribery was rejected as an article of impeachment. Not only is it grossly unfair to go to trial while alluding to uncharged conduct, it is especially bizarre when the Supreme Court seems prepared to reaffirm the very case law that I cited earlier in rejecting such expansive interpretations.
Continue reading “House Manager Declares President Guilty Of . . . Attempted Bribery”
Former FBI Director James Comey is back in the news this week after The New York Times reported late Thursday that he is again under investigation for leaking information to the media. The Justice Department Inspector General previously found that Comey was a leaker and violated FBI policy in his handling of FBI memos, including material containing the “code name and true identity” of a sensitive source. Now, he is again accused of leaking information. There is an element of a modus operandi in the story since the same academic Comey used in the earlier leaks is also named in this leak, Columbia Law Professor Daniel Richman.
Continue reading “Modus Operandi or Old News? Comey Under Investigation In New Leak Probe”
There is a deeply disturbing ruling out of Mississippi where the state supreme court affirmed the sentence of Willie Nash for having a cellphone in the Newton County Jail. He received an absurd 12-year sentence. The decision not only shows how our criminal justice system continues to disproportionate sentencing but also how the Eighth Amendment has been effectively gutted as a tool to address such cases.
Continue reading “Mississippi Man Sentenced To 12 Years For Having Cellphone In Jail”
Below is my column in the Washington Post (slightly expanded) on the upcoming fight over witnesses, including the unresolved question of Hunter Biden. The problem facing Democrats is that Hunter Biden is a clearly material witness to the defense on why there was a hold on military aid to Ukraine. The plain fact is that, from the perspective of the defense, the worst Hunter looks, the better the hold looks.
Here is the column:
Continue reading “Courting Disaster? The Democrats Are Demanding Witnesses With One Notable Exception”
The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court has triggered a wave of condemnations over the selection of David Kris, to oversee reforms of the FBI FISA process. Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) presiding Judge James Boasberg, left, appointed Kris, a lawyer that the Washington Post describes as “highly controversial.
Critics have objected that Kris writes for Lawfare, a legal site widely criticized by conservative lawyers for its left-oriented, anti-Trump positions, as well as shows like Rachel Maddow on MSNBC. That objection strikes me as attenuated and unfair. The more serious allegations however is that Kris was one of the most public advocates for rejecting allegations of FBI abuse. In a city where you can throw a stick and hit ten lawyers, FISC went to someone who insisted that allegations of abuse were nonsense and should be rejected. If the court was seeking to assure the public, it has added a new controversy for those who see a “deep state” response to reforms.
There is an interesting case out of Oregon where the wife of a convicted child sex offender is suing The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for contacting police after he confessed to sexually abusing the couple’s daughter. Timothy Samuel Johnson and his wife Kristine Johnson were members of a Stayton “ward” and his wife prompted his going to the church after learning that he had “engaged in inappropriate conduct” with a minor known to him. Kristine Johnson is seeking $9.5 million for the breach of promised confidentiality by a clergy member. It is a fascinating twist on the usual challenge to evidence obtained by police in such clergy cases. Here the defendant is the church itself in a civil action for inducing the disclosure of incriminating information under allegedly false representations of confidentiality. The case could prompt churches and religious organizations to post warnings about their intention to go to police with any allegation of criminal conduct — a notice that could have an impact on the willingness of the faithful to be forthcoming in such confessional settings.
Continue reading ““Behold He Who Has Repented of His Sins”: Oregon Women Sues Mormon Church Over Reporting Husband’s Child Abuse”
For those who remain suspicious about the timing of the suicide of disgraced financier and pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, news yesterday from the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York legitimately magnified those concerns. In a breathtaking statement, the MCC announced that a “clerical error” led to the destruction of the surveillance footage taken from outside Jeffrey Epstein’s jail cell on the day that he first attempted suicide attempt. The tape was permanently deleted due to confusion with another tier. The levels of sheer incompetence, negligence, and stupidity required for such an act is almost beyond belief.
Continue reading “Prison Officials Announce Video Of Epstein’s Cell Has Been Permanently Deleted In Due To “Technical Errors””
There have been a highly disturbing increase in anti-Semitic attacks around the world. Not surprisingly, those carrying out such attacks tend to be disturbing or extremist elements. Tristan Morgan fits that profile and showed that his overwhelming hate is combined with an underwhelming intellect. Morgan succeeded in lighting his own head on fire in trying to burn down a synagogue and then walked away laughing in front of witnesses.
Continue reading “British Man Lights His Head On Fire In Attempting To Burn Down Synagogue”
We have discussed disgraceful attacks or abuse of wild animals from birds to squirrels to tortoises to rabbits to sharks in the past but few reach the level of reported savagery as this week in New Zealand where a shark allegedly was pulled from the water and kicked to death on a beach. Most of us cannot imagine wanting to participate in such an attack on a wild creature. Indeed, many of us travel hundreds or thousands of miles just to see these magnificent creatures in their natural habitats. Yet, there remain many people who get a sick joy in harming animals or watching such unspeakable scenes of cruelty. The most distressing element is to see children in some of these pictures. However, the one promising note is that there were people who sought to intervene to help the shark though they said that they roughly treated by the mob.
Continue reading “New Zealand Horrified By Videos Of Beachgoers Kicking Shark To Death While Laughing and Taking Selfies”
I wanted to start the New Year on a positive note and one legal story stood out. The Italian Mafia has reportedly opened its doors to gay men for the first time. However, La Cosa Nostra has adopted a type of organized crime “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy implemented by the Clinton Administration.
Continue reading “Homicidal But Not Homophobic? Mafia Reportedly Embraces Gay Mobsters”