This morning I will testify at the confirmation hearing on the nomination of the Hon. Neil Gorsuch to the United States Supreme Court. The hearing will commence around 9 am at the hearing room of Hart 216. Ironically, it is the same room that I litigated much of the Porteous impeachment case before final arguments before the 100 Senators on the Senate floor. Below is my written testimony. Continue reading “TURLEY TESTIFIES IN SENATE GORSUCH CONFIRMATION HEARING”
Category: Society
This morning, our blog hit 31,000,000 views. We have had an increase in visitors and our new voices are heartily welcomed to our little band of commentators. We try to offer a place for civil but passionate discourse on legal and policy issues of our time (and perhaps a few wacky stories). We continue to rank in the top legal blogs in the world and we are continuing to see a growing international readership. We often use these milestones to look at the current profile of the blog and its supporters around the world.
As always, I want to offer special thanks for our weekend contributors: Mike Appleton, Larry Rafferty, Darren Smith, Kimberly Dienes, and Cara Gallagher. I particularly want to thank Darren who has continued to help manage the blog and help out folks who encounter posting problems.
I also want to thank our regular commentators and readers. We try to keep this blog as an open forum with as little interference or monitoring of the comments as possible. Given our free speech orientation, we try not to delete comments and, for that reason, we are deeply appreciative of how most people avoid personal or offensive comments in debating these issues. The success of this blog is due to the fact that we offer something more than the all-too-common troll-driven, angry, and insulting commentary of the Internet. Thank you for voluntarily assuming restraint over the tenor and content of your comments. Continue reading “RES IPSA REACHES 31,000,000”
There is an interesting proposal in California where legislators are moving to punishing any companies who work with the federal government in the construction of the wall pledged by President Donald Trump between the United States and Mexico. The bill would force pension funds to divest from participating companies. It is a bill that would significantly raise the level of conflict between the Trump Administration and certain states. The Trump Administration is already moving to withdraw grants from cities and states barring assistance to federal immigration officials. To now have states retaliate against companies for simply contracting with the federal government would push the already bad situation to Def Con 1 over federal/state conflict. There is no way that the federal government could sit ideally by as states retaliated against federal contractors.
Continue reading “California Legislators Move To Punish Companies Working On Border Wall”
Alden Whiteside could not have handled things worse on his way Spring Break in Florida. First, there was the seven cases of beer in plain view in his truck. Then there was the problem of being 19 and not allowed to drink or buy alcohol. Then there was the fact that he was speeding. Then there was the fake driver’s license that he was using. Finally, there was the marijuana discovered in the car. That pretty much covers most of the criminal code. He was not the only Alabama college student facing charges from a Spring Break gone bad.
Continue reading “University of Alabama Students Arrested in Two Epic Spring Break Cases”
Happy St. Patrick’s Day to all of the leprechauns of the blog from the Turley Clan. It is a beautiful St. Patty’s Day in McLean, Virginia and the leprechauns came to bring treats and tricks to the Turley house this morning.
Continue reading “HAPPY ST. PATRICK’S DAY!!!!”
In the latest indictment of our educational system, a new study has found that only 1 out of five kids in Oklahoma City can tell time on an analog clock. These kids rely on iPhone and other devices with numerical readouts of the time.
Continue reading “Report: 4 Out Of 5 Oklahoma City Kids Cannot Tell Time”
Below is my recent column about a type of new article of faith for lawyers in opposing President Donald Trump and his Administration. Here is the column:
Continue reading “Opposing Trump Is The New Article Of Faith For Lawyers”
The build up last night on MSNBC had my phone ringing off the hook. Rachel Maddow proclaimed “we’ve got the Trump returns.” It turned out to be just the 2005 filing. Well, not the 2005 filing, the first two pages. Worse yet, it turned out to be an entirely predictable tax return for a wealthy businessman with tons of deductibles. It seemed like the tax version of Al Capone’s safe with Geraldo Rivera. What was particularly odd is that MSNBC was “all in” — even after seeing that there was little there. Maddow led with a long list of things we want to know from Trump’s tax return. But none of those things were in the return. They lined up experts who seemed a lot like the “weather center” reporters the night before covering the major snow storm in D.C. Reporters literally showed a dusting on cars in parking lots and spoke breathlessly about the possible storm that never came. The tax experts were left in the same curious position — discussing what might have been shown. As a legal commentator, I bowed out. It was like being called as a seismologists to discuss an earthquake that never happened. It is certainly true that Trump and Melania paid is a rate of less than 4 percent on their personal income — $5.3 million. However, they paid an additional $31 million under the alternative minimum tax, or AMT. They used every loophole and tactic to reduce payments but those loopholes were legal and used by many in his tax bracket.
Having said that, the White House and others went too far in raising allegations of criminal conduct by Maddow and MSNBC in reporting on the story. There was also a return to the mantra of the “dishonest media.” There was nothing dishonest in publishing the return. It was clearly overplayed but it was not dishonest to cover the leak.
The new law school ranking are out by U.S. News & World Report and there are the usual winners and losers. Indeed, I have connected to both. George Washington University, where I teach, is down 6 slots to 30 (the continuation of a trend where GW dropped 3 spots the year before and 2.5 slots that year before that). Northwestern, my alma mater, was one of the big winners in breaking into the top ten law schools. While professors overwhelmingly express contempt over the ranking, I have long been in the minority. I view the rankings as very helpful for students. (There was no such resource when I applied to law school). Moreover, they are generally reliable in my view, though I would disagree with some specific rankings.
Continue reading “2017 Law School Rankings: Winners and Losers”
At first I thought it was really gross that people in South Korea were wiping out river rats for food. Then I found out that the rats are being sought for their bile. With bear bile in the short supply due to the overhunting of bears and new national protections, Koreans are turning to river rats as a source of ursodeoxycholic acid. Rats have an even greater amount of the acid than bears.
Continue reading “South Koreans Hunting River Rats As A Source Of Bile For Traditional Medicine”
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”
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.
We have been discussing the rollback of free speech on U.S. college campuses as well the adoption of de facto speech codes. Cardiff Metropolitan University has issued a list of phrases that are now deemed as inappropriate including “right-hand man” and “gentleman’s agreement” as well as “forefather” and “sportsmanship.”
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”
As often seems the case in Washington, the controversy surrounding the meetings of then Senator Jeff Sessions with the Russian Ambassador has quickly descended into a feeding frenzy. When interviewed shortly after the disclosure, I stated that Attorney General Sessions should recuse himself and clarify his testimony. Late this afternoon, Sessions promised to do precisely that. However, the over-hearted rhetoric has continued with calls for Sessions to resign or even be criminally charged. People are getting ahead of their skis on this issue, particularly in claiming that this is the same type of controversy that led to the criminal charges against former Attorney General Richard G. Kleindienst.
Continue reading “Sessions Recuses Himself From Any Russian Investigation”