I have the honor of giving a keynote address to the Ninth Circuit Judicial Conference in Anaheim, California this morning. The presentation at 10:30 am at the Marriott Anaheim is entitled “The Rise and Fall of Free Speech In the West.” Continue reading “Turley To Address The Ninth Circuit Conference”
Below is my column in The Hill newspaper on the lingering questions left from the Strzok testimony. While it may seem like a thousand years after Helsinki and the Cohen tape, the testimony of Strzok was shaped by highly dubious instructions from the FBI not to answer core questions. It is highly doubtful that a majority of these refusals would be upheld under judicial review — starting with the first question asked of Strzok.
Here is the column: Continue reading “On Contempt: The FBI Has Congress’ Number”
There is a difference between resistance and ridiculousness. That line was crossed, again, by Trump critics in Washington after a D.C. Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC 4C) announced a petition to pull the Trump International Hotel’s liquor license. The grounds? D.C. law only allows individuals of “good character” qualify for a liquor license. The petition pushed by Zach Teutsch, ANC Commissioner 4C is an example of how leaders are misrepresenting frivolous, meaningless efforts as valid legal arguments. Continue reading “No White Russians To Be Served At Trump Hotel? D.C. Advisory Group Petitions To Pull Trump Liquor License”
In another attack on journalists, President Donald Trump called the “fake news media” the “real enemy of the people” yesterday. The tweet is in response to uniformly negative coverage, including on Fox News, of Trump’s handling of his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Since the vast majority of reporters described the summit as a debacle, it put most reporters in this category. The tweet caused even Fox reporter John Roberts to remark that he must also now be an “enemy of the people.” The White House is still reeling from Trump’s disastrous news conference with Putin and various Republican leaders (and Trump’s own intelligence figures) have made varying levels of corrections or outright contradictions of his words. I have repeatedly criticized the media for unfair coverage of the Trump investigations and related subjects. However, these attacks on the media are as unfounded as they are dangerous for American society. The President often has a point on slanted coverage but his use of such inflammatory and unjustified language should be rejected by all citizens.
Continue reading “No, Mr. President, The Media Is Not The “Real Enemy of the People””
The much-discussed $3.9 billion acquisition of Tribune Media by Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc. is now in serious question after the discovery of undisclosed facts and relationships. A hearing has been called and many believe that Sinclair will drop its bid to avoid the highly damaging adjudication of these issues. On Wednesday, the Federal Communications Commission unanimously voted that undisclosed facts by Sinclair was enough cause for concern that it should be reviewed independently by an administrative judge. That hearing designation order raised the concern that, in light of the new information, the deal may “not be in the public interest.”
I have previously questioned the environmental and economic sense of President Donald Trump pushing the United States into greater coal consumption with the rest of the world developing alternative energy sources. We seem to be pushing a buggy-whip economy as the world and markets pass us by. My greatest concern is the hostility shown by the Trump Administration to new energy sources. A touchstone of the industry is Levelized Cost of Energy Analysis (LCOE) which was used by investment bank Lazard to evaluate the current costs and prospects of different energy investments. It found (as we have previously discussed) that alternative energy costs are plunging and solar energy is now half the cost of coal. Continue reading “Report: Solar Energy Now Costs Half That Of Coal In North America”
FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb may have come up with the greatest tagline since “White Men Don’t Jump.” Gottlieb has announced that the agency is considering blocking the use of the term “almond milk” because “an almond doesn’t lactate.” Continue reading ““An Almond Doesn’t Lactate”: Feds Move To Block The Use Of “Milk” In Almond Milk”
In a moment reminiscent of the William Jefferson freezer cash seizure, police in Williamston (Michigan) have reported the discovery of $63,392 in cash during a second search of the home of Rev. Jonathan Wehrle. He is a Catholic priest charged with embezzling more than $5 million from an Okemos parish. To make matters worse for Wehrle, the cash was still in bundles of $2000 with paper bands reading “For deposit only – St. Martha Parish and School.” There is a time to pray and a time to plea. This would be the latter. Continue reading “Laying Hands On The Faithful: Police Find Fortune In Cash Hidden In Lavish Home Of Catholic Priest”
There is a bizarre criminal case in South Miami where Bryan Deneumostier, 33, has been arrested after filming and posting men tricked into having sex with him under the pretense that he was a bored housewife. Deneumostier allegedly ran the site for four years where gay men would pay to watch straight men tricked into having sex with him. The charges in the case may surprise you.
Florida gas station store owner Mehedeun Hasan, 22, is facing a charge of attempted murder after shooting Rennie Defor, Jr. as he was trying to steal beer worth $36. It is another example of the common law rule that you cannot protect property with potentially lethal force.
MGM Resorts International has gone to an extraordinary point to forum shop for more sympathetic judges: it is actually suing the victims of last year’s Las Vegas concert mass shooting. The move has outraged many as MGM shamelessly sues grieving families and individuals to get before the more conservative federal bench. It is a move that is a stark reminder of how corporations openly forum shop for judges as well as the view of the federal bench as being more sympathetic to corporate defendants. What is all the more unsettling is that MGM and Mandalay Bay could well succeed.
Continue reading “Changing Dealers? MGM Resorts Sues The Victims In The Mandalay Bay Massacre”
Jose Nahun Lopez-Cruz, 24, appears to follow a rather flexible view of the criminal code. When police approached him while illegally parking, Lopez-Cruz introduced them to his 15-year-old wife but assured the officers that “It’s OK, she is gonna be 16 soon.” It didn’t. He was charged with sexual assault of a child.
As many of you know, I am a history nut and I could not ignore the 100th anniversary of the murder of the entire Romanov family on July 17, 1918. It is an ironic anniversary after the disastrous meeting of President Donald Trump in Helsinki with Russian President Vladimir Putin. There are perils to trusting some Russian leaders and I am afraid that Putin, the former KBG officer, would be one of those least worthy of trust. Continue reading “A Bad Week For Trusting Russian Leaders”
In what may be the clearest example of assumption of risk in torts, a 37-year-old Menasha, Wisconsin woman rode around flashing barriers on a bridge to try to make it across before it was open for river traffic. She did not make it.
In one of the most troubling orders issued by a court in years, U.S. District Judge John F. Walter issued an order on Saturday to the Los Angeles Times to remove information from an article describing a plea agreement between prosecutors and a Glendale police detective. The detective is alleged to have been in the pocket of the blood-soaked Mexican Mafia. The newspaper discovered the details in a posted order on PACER the online court database, which was supposed to be left under seal. I have been in cases when such mistakes have occurred but the court’s actions in this case drive to the heart of press freedom in this country. In my view (which will hardly surprise our regular readers), the order is a direct and dangerous violation of the First Amendment. [UPDATE: After a national outcry, the judge has rescinded his order and says that he was not sure that the LA Times had obtained the material legally.]