I have been a long critic of Germany’s criminal speech laws, including its long criminalization of Nazi symbols. Now, Sven Pohl, 37, is facing charges in Germany for “heavy drug trafficking” after he triggered a raid due to his posting of a Nazi-themed breakfast. The police arrived being found with massive quantities of methamphetamine and marijuana.
Continue reading “Mein Meth: German Arrested After Posting Hitler Toast”
We just discussed the move in Hawaii to secure a new restraining order to cover the second Trump executive order. That was the most likely move that we previously discussed. The other option was to seek to extend the existing restraining order to cover the second executive order on the grounds that there was not a substantial change. That is the option that Washington state is taking. Today, Washington state Attorney General Bob Ferguson indicated that he will ask that Judge James Robart’s Feb. 3 ruling be extended on the grounds that the second Executive Order contains the same alleged violations as the first.
Continue reading “Washington State To Move To Extend Restraining Order To Second Executive Order”
The United Arab Emirates have supplied the most recent example of the Sharia legal system in the Muslim world. South African Emlyn Culverwell‚ 29, and his Ukrainian fiancée Iryna Nohai, 27, were arrested after Nohai wemt to the doctor over stomach pains. In the UAE doctors appear to have no notion of confidentiality (or humanity) and informed the police when he discovered that she was pregnant. Since she had not yet married Culverwell, that meant that they had violated the Islamic code against sex outside of marriage — even though the impregnation occurred outside of the UAE. They are criminally charged.
Just a day after Sen. Al Franken publicly accused Attorney General Jeff Sessions of perjury, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) went public on CBS with a theory that appears to have been bothering him: “You can imagine a set of circumstances in which the Trump campaign gave him talking points [and] he was a message boy for them.” The purpose, Whitehouse suggested, was for Sessions to convey “Mission accomplished” after meeting with his Russian handlers. It is a curious notion that Sessions was a Manchurian senator but the Russian ambassador still met with him in the presence of staffers on the Hill or in public at the Republican National Convention. If this is a sequel to the Manchurian Candidate, I may have to pass.
While most Democratic senators have been somewhat circumspect in characterizing the testimony of Attorney General Jeff Sessions as “inaccurate” or “misleading,” Minnesota Sen. Al Franken yesterday publicly accused Franken of perjury. It is a weighty charge that I have previously said would be highly difficult to actually prosecute.
Continue reading “Sen. Al Franken Accuses Sessions Of Perjury”
Pakistani media is reporting a disturbing series of comments by Islamabad High Court (IHC) Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui who has shown the danger of Sharia law and the erosion of the separation of mosque and state. Justice Siddiqui went on a religious rant recently in denouncing “disrespectful” comments on social media and pledged to treat all such blasphemers as terrorists.
Continue reading “Pakistani Justice Pledges To Treat Blasphemers On Social Media As Terrorists”
With the rollout of the new GOP health care law, a new CNN/ORC poll shows that the nation remains deeply divided on the issue. Indeed, little has changed since Obamacare was first passed by a handful of votes. Some 50% of people oppose the removal mandatory health care coverage while 48% are in favor of such a change. While some have called the new plan “Obamacare-lite,” it is clearly a repeal and massive change in the existing law. The thumping heart of Obamacare is the individual mandate and this plan would drive a stake through it.
Continue reading “Poll: Americans Split Evenly Over Repeal Of Obamacare”
The Trump Administration has issued a new executive order on immigration. As expected, the second order removes some of the most controversial provisions of the first order and tightens the language. Iraq has been dropped from the list of countries subject to the 90 day ban. However, there will be additional security of Iraqi nationals. That would leave Iran, Somalia, Sudan, Yemen, Syria and Libya. The permanent ban on entry of Syrians has been removed. There is still a limit on all refugees to 50,000 — a 50 percent cut. Current VISA holders and permanent residents are exempted. Notably, this travel ban will be implemented on March 16 and the order will be dated to run from the date of the original executive order (which was . Finally, the preferential treatment afforded to religious minorities has been removed.
The new order removes the edges from the rather casual drafting of the first order. As I previously noted, good lawyering rarely changes the outcome of litigation but bad lawyering can. The first order reflects remarkably bad lawyering — if indeed it was drafted primarily by lawyers. Of course, this still distinguishes between people based on their nationality — the core of the challenge of the earlier litigation. Thus, it is likely that this will face new challenges — or attempts to amend earlier complaints. The rollout with the Secretary of State, Homeland Security Security, and the Attorney General shows a significant change in the level of professionalism from the more improvisational effort of the original order. It was a surprisingly sharp learning curve but the A-Team appears to have shown up to defend this order. The new order is below.
Continue reading “TRUMP SIGNS NEW IMMIGRATION EXECUTIVE ORDER”
With the chorus of calls for an “independent counsel” or “special prosecutor” to investigate the Russian hacking scandal, there has been one element that remains rather ambiguous: what is the specific crime to be investigated? Clearly there is the hacking but that crime is well-known and was committed by Russians who are unlikely to be subject to any real investigation. A special counsel, as opposed to a bipartisan commission, would require the articulation of a crime and the basis for the investigation. I am all in favor of independent investigations of this and other issues. However, if we are going to move beyond a special commission to special counsel we need to have more evidence and a notion of what we are investigating. That may come but we are not there yet. Below is my column in The Hill Newspaper on the subject — and the moral outrage over hacking.
Continue reading “Hacking and the Politics of Moral Outrage”
I recently discussed an ethics complaint by law professors against presidential aide Kellyanne Conway that I viewed as facially political in character and lacking a substantive foundation. (Of course, this was before the “Couchgate” scandal) My reaction to a new proposed first amendment lawsuit by news media is little better. Democratic U.S. Rep. Carolyn Maloney and first amendment advocated joined in condemning the Trump Administration’s exclusion of some new organizations from a White House press briefing. I share their view that the exclusion was wrong and, with the recent attacks on the media by President Trump, contradict our core values as a nation that values the freedom of the press. However, I do not see a credible constitutional claim brought under the threatened lawsuit.
Until now, I thought “eco-terrorist” was an industry spin. However, the leader of the Taliban in Afghanistan, Hibatullah Akhundzada, has gone all green. It appears that when his followers are not throwing acid in the faces of girls seeking to be educated or blowing up mosques and markets, they should be planting trees. It is the Taliban version of Greenpeace without the peace part.
Continue reading “Eco-Terrorists: The Taliban Goes Green With Tree Planting Message”
Below is my column in USA Today on the continuing controversy over President Trump’s attack on judges who have ruled against his executive orders. I have been critical of Trump’s attacks on the media and the courts, which undermine not just those critical institutions but the White House itself. As discussed below, presidents have learned that attacking the courts tend to diminish their own credibility over time. Having said that, Trump is not as much as a departure from other presidents as some have made out. Indeed, public discord between the executive and judicial branches has a long history in our country. Of course that is no license to continue a bad practice and most modern presidents have avoided direct personal attacks on judges and justices. Most importantly, the criticism of the judges in the Ninth Circuit in my view are unwarranted and unhelpful. The executive order on immigration was, as I have previously stated, poorly drafted, poorly executed and poorly defended. The law favored the President and still does. Yet, through remarkably causal drafting, the Administration gave judges a target rich environment in the first executive order. While I disagree with fundamental parts of these opinions, the result had more to do with the sloppy drafting of the order than any bias of the judges.
Here is the column.
Continue reading “Trump and The Courts: Presidential Attacks On The Courts Have A Long History”
A group of 15 ethics law professors from around the country has filed bar charges against White House counselor Kellyanne Conway. For full disclosure, Conway is one of my former students at George Washington University Law School (she graduated in 1995). The letter from 15 professors alleged ethical violations of government rules as well as “conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit or misrepresentation.” Most of the allegations in the letter are, in my view, without merit and seem overtly political. The one issue that has already been raised in Congress and has a legal foundation is the alleged endorsement of Conway of the product line of Ivanka Trump. That is a technical violation of federal rules, but the question is whether it was a venial rather than mortal sin. The “violation” was the result of a side comment by Conway on television criticizing the decision of Nordstrom to drop the line. The White House Counsel’s office let it be known that Conway had been “counseled” over the infraction. However, ethics charges should not be a form of politics by other means and, with all due respect to these accomplished academics, this letter strikes me as raising largely political objections to Conway’s work as a spokesperson for the Administration.
Continue reading “Law Professors File Ethics Complaint Against Kellyanne Conway”
We previously discussed the controversy over a painting by a constituent of Democratic Rep. William Lacy Clay that depicted police as pigs in Ferguson, Missouri. As we discussed, the House had a right to remove the art and eventually did precisely that. However, before that decision from the House, Rep. Duncan Hunter (R., Cal.) took down the painting. Clay called for criminal charges. When the painting was rehung, another Republican member removed it. At the time, Rep. Cedric Richmond (D-La.), chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, said “We may just have to kick somebody’s ass and stop them. Then the architect stepped in and barred the hanging of the picture. Now Clay has announced that he will file a lawsuit challenging the actions of the House of Representatives. It is hard to see a strong legal basis for such a challenge. The odds heavily favor the House of Representatives in the action.
By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor
What so far has proven to be a long ordeal for two men originally wanting only to be provided with a floral arrangement for this upcoming wedding, and also for florist Barronelle Stutzman who asserts her right to religious freedom by denying this service, has now come to another milestone in Washington.
A unanimous ruling by the Washington Supreme Court, the court denied Stutzman and her business, Arlene’s Flowers, INC’s assertions, ruling:
“…Discrimination based on same-sex marriage constitutes discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.” and therefore held that “the conduct for which Stutzman was cited and fined in this case-refusing her commercially marketed wedding floral services to Ingersoll and Freed because theirs would be a same-sex wedding-constitutes sexual orientation discrimination under the WLAD.” (Washington Law Against Discrimination)
Continue reading “WA Supreme Court Rules Against Florist In Gay Marriage Discrimination Case”
