Below is my column in the Hill Newspaper on why the legal challenge filed against the Trump Administration byNew York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman (left) and others over the rescinding of DACA. As discussed in the article, I have been a long critic of the executive orders issued by President Barack Obama to achieved unilaterally what he failed to achieve legislatively. Notably, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) has acknowledged that DACA was on shaky legal ground. Notably, CNN host Chris Cuomo observed:
“There’s no question it’s been legally dubious from jump,” Cuomo said at the end of their conversation. “Nobody’s going to argue with that in a very compelling fashion. At least not this morning, but it’s also about what are you going to do for these people. This is a moral argument, not just a legal one.”
However, it is a dangerous thing to take moral exemptions from the constitutional process because it leaves the question of who decides which issues will be given a constitutional pass. This is an argument that can be made to the legislature but it is important to maintain the clear lines of separation between the branches in the creation of new legislation. DACA was a legislative act done by executive order in my view.
Given the intense political dynamic that led to the issuing of the DACA order, the courts will be necessarily leery of a violation of the political question doctrine in being asked to intervene. The Complaint does contain a couple claims that a court could find compelling but these claims are at most likely to delay rather than prevent deportations. However, as I discuss, complaints like people are often painted by first impressions and the first impression in this complaint (which starts with an ill-supported equal protection claim) is not flattering.
Here is the column:
This is Gerard Grandzol, 38, a Philadelphia father who was killed Thursday in one of the most horrific and senseless acts of violence imaginable. Two men stopped Grandzol in front of his home in a carjacking. Grandzol would not turn over the keys of his car until he got his 2-year-old toddler out of the car. One of the men proceeded to murder him in front of his daughter.
This week, many people said goodbye to a woman who they did not know personally, but someone who became an inspiration for many of us. Carrie DeKlyen was given a horrific choice recently: take chemotherapy to prolong her life or accept her own death to allow her unborn daughter to live. She chose the life . . . of her daughter. She died two days after giving birth. With so many people who seem to live on hate and anger these days, there remain those who offer the ultimate proof of the grace and sacrifice that truly defines humanity. Carrie was one of those rare individuals.
It takes a great deal for me to feel sympathy of Martin Shkreli, but the recent filing by the Justice Department has me wondering if he is not being treated unfairly due to this infamous reputation. The 
Below is my column in USA Today on the role that statements from both President Barack Obama and Donald Trump could feature greatly in the unfolding litigation over the rescinding of the DACA order. Ironically, it will be the opposing sides relying on the respective statements from these presidents.
These three men are accused of horrific crimes committed against a teenage girl in Alexandria, Virginia. Police say that Thomas Barker, 32, Steven Powers, 20, and Joshua Holby, 31, kidnapped and sexually assaulted the girl over the course of weeks. The girl only escaped by swimming across a lake.
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has become 
Below is my column in the Hill newspaper on the decision of President Donald Trump to rescind DACA and send the issue back to Congress with a six-month grace period. While I support some accommodation for those brought here as young children and hope that Congress will pass new legislation, I still view DACA as a flagrantly legislative act by President Barack Obama carried out through his unilateral executive authority.
There is a new free speech controversy on a university campus this week. Robbie Travers, a 21-year-old third-year law student at the 
NASA’s Juno spacecraft completed its seventh flyby of Jupiter and sent more stunning pictures of its raging beauty. The pass on September 1st put the spacecraft within 2,200 miles of the planet.
The incendiary and uncivil politics that has gripped the nation has been a long focus on this blog. I am honestly worried about how the insulting and personal attacks from both sides will change political dialogue in this country for a generation. These include some past comments made by President Trump as well as his political opponents. As the father of four children, I emphasize the need to maintain civility, but that lesson is undermined every time the kids watch the news. The latest such incident involves Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-IL) who 
I have 
Michigan State University is being sued after it refused to rent space on campus for white nationalist Richard Spencer to speak later this month. The rental was requested by Georgia State University student Cameron Padgett for an event on-campus at the Kellogg Hotel & Conference Center.