Below is my USA Today column on the testimony of Sally Yates, former acting Attorney General, on her unprecedented order to the Justice Department not to assist President Donald Trump in the defense of his immigration executive order. While the hearing was focused on her warning with regard to former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, some of us were more interested in how she would respond to criticism over the order that led to her being fired. Both Democratic and Republican lawyers have raised serious ethical misgivings over her decision. The hearing however only magnified the questions over the basis for her actions. Here is the column.
Category: Criminal law
President Trump fired FBI Director James Comey this evening in a surprise move. Various politicians and the media have openly referred to the act as “Nixonian” and “another Saturday Night Massacre.” I have previously stated how the Saturday Day Massacre has been misrepresented. I also do not agree with Jeff Toobin on CNN tonight that the decision was clearly due to the fact that Comey’s investigation was getting “too close” to President Trump. I do not see how one can reach that conclusion after months of criticism over Comey’s past conduct, including widespread anger from Democrats over his public statements on Hillary Clinton. I agree that the timing is concerning and legitimately questioned. However, the Administration may also have waited for the Deputy Attorney General to be confirmed to allow a career prosecutor to review the matter and to concur with the decision. Democrats denounced Comey over his actions regarding the Clinton Administration. The matter was given to the Deputy Attorney General who was just confirmed recently.
Houston Judge Hilary Green is the subject of an extraordinary report from the Texas State Commission on Judicial Conduct. The Texas Supreme Court was given a detailed account that alleges that the justice of the peace used illegal drugs like ecstasy and marijuana as well as abused the cough syrup Tussionex. Some of the marijuana had been confiscated by the court bailiff. It also alleged that she engaged in extramarital affairs and hired prostitutes. She is also accused of sexting a court employee. Finally, she is accused of ruling in favor of a convicted conman despite her personal relationship with the defendant. There is an interesting technicality being claimed by Green to bar consideration of much of her misconduct.
For many voters, Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the former chair of the Democratic National Committee , is the embodiment of much that is wrong with the Democratic establishment. She was accused of working to rig the primaries for Hillary Clinton and repeatedly lying to the public. Given that history, one would think that Wasserman Schultz would avoid any questions that remotely deal with ethics or honesty or influence peddling. However, that is not how Washington works. Wasserman Schultz’s supporters enthusiastically re-elected her and most folks in Washington view voters as having the attention span of a Golden Retriever. Thus, Wasserman Schultz was trotted out on CNN to assure the public that President Obama receiving obscene amounts of money from Wall Street interests is none of their business.
The Red Sox management is moving aggressively in the wake of the allegation by Baltimore Orioles outfielder Adam Jones of racist taunts at Fenway Park , including the banning for life of a fan who made a racist comment to another fan during a recent game. Boston police are also looking into any possible criminal conduct, including the throwing of peanuts at Jones and others. Below is my column in The Hill Newspaper on the proposal for a new federal crime for prosecuting racist fans. Putting aside the serious constitutional issues, it is entirely unnecessary. The problem with both rowdy and racist fans is the inaction of ballparks, not the insufficiency of criminal laws.
Continue reading “Calling Out Foul Fans: It Is Time For An Unsportsmanlike Conduct Rule For Fans”
When he played Gordon Deitrich in V For Vendetta, the television personality who challenged an authoritarian state, Stephen Fry exposed the terror of living in a state that reserved to itself the right to determine what speech was considered criminal. He now faces a criminal prosecution over a statement in Ireland that would be entirely protected in the United States as an exercise of free speech. Irish police are investigating him under the country’s infamous blasphemy law for asking why he should “respect a capricious, mean-minded, stupid god who creates a world…. full of injustice.” Ireland allies itself with Iran, Saudi Arabia, and other nations in prosecuting free speech deemed insulting or offensive to any religion. The law is a disgrace to all freedom-loving people and the Irish demean themselves in keeping blasphemy in the criminal code. The only thing missing is some menacing Irish Chancellor saying “Ireland Prevails.” Continue reading “B for Blasphemy: Stephen Fry Under Investigation For Sharing His Views Of Religion”
Police in Baltimore are looking for this 26-year-old for attempted first-degree murder in a particularly heinous alleged crime. Gerald Gaffney is accused of firing at a 90-year-old woman after she scolded him for throwing chicken bones on the ground. It appears that littering may not be the only offense that Gaffney is comfortable with.
We have previously discussed prosecutions of people who defraud caring people by saying that they or a loved one is dying. The latest such case is out of Shelby County, Alabama. Jennifer Flynn Cataldo, 37, allegedly faked terminal cancer and secured $38,000 in donations through online fundraising campaigns. She is charged with two counts of first-degree theft by deception
Continue reading “Alabama Woman Charged With Cancer Hoax That Raised $38,000”
The Church of Scientology is facing renewed allegations of abusive and cult-like conditions of followers. A string of psychiatric facilities run by the Church of Scientology in Cannon County, Tenn. have been closed after police reportedly found that patients there were being held against their will in crude trailers and cabins in the woods. Former Scientologists have accused the Church of holding people against their will and adopting bizarre remedies for mental illnesses due to their founder’s opposition to psychiatry. Marc Vallieres, the operator of the facilities, was charged with two felony counts of facilitation of kidnapping and two other men working at the facility pled guilty to misdemeanors.
We have periodically discussed crimes involving grave robbing and how to punish such heinous acts. The latest such case is out of New Jersey where flowers were being taken from the First Reformed Church Cemetery in Pompton Plains and authorities decided to set up a surveillance camera. Police say that the camera captured Lynda Wingate, 59, in the act. She turns out to be a former police dispatcher and the owner of a floral shop.
Continue reading “New Jersey Florist Captured on Film Removing Flowers From Graves”
When the gun of Atlanta attorney Claud “Tex” McIver went off in a car and killed his wife Diane McIver, he insisted that he pulled out the gun when he thought that they have inadvertently driven into a Black Lives Matter protest. Police however believe that McIver intentionally shot his wife and then sought to cover up the crime with a friend who was driving the car. The case involves a series of factual and legal twists.
Continue reading “Atlanta Attorney Charged In Wife’s Murder”
There is a truly horrific crime in North Carolina. Former Spc. Marinna Rollins, 23, and Spc. Jarren Heng, 25, were charged this week with shooting Rollins’ PTSD service dog on videotape as they laughed. After tying Rollins’ therapy animal (a pit bull named Cam), the two giggle and laugh as Rollins shoot Cam five times.
Continue reading “Couple Arrested After Filming Their Laughing As They Killed PTSD Service Dog”
I recently posted a blog column on the troubling image of President Donald Trump calling Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to congratulate him on his success in securing what are viewed as near dictatorial powers in the close recent referendum. Erdogan did not waste any time in using the powers. Turkish police have arrested 1,000 people suspected of being supporters of Erdogan’s main opponent, US-based Islamic cleric Fethullah Gulen.
Continue reading “Erdogan Quickly Uses New Sweeping Powers To Round Up His Opponents”
Below is my column in the Hill Newspaper on the investigation of former Rep. Aaron Schock (R-Ill), who attracted notoriety for his use of a Downton Abbey motif for the decoration of his office. Obviously a preference for haughty interiors should not be enough to generate a massive criminal investigation. However, the prosecutor in this case has pursued Schock with utter abandon, including trampling over long-established protections accorded to Congress. Regardless of the merits of the fraud allegations against Schock, the investigation raises troubling questions of constitutional law and Congress should hold hearings into the violation of Article I.