In the wake of a series of executive clemency actions, and interference with criminal cases being prosecuted by the U.S. Justice Department, President Donald J. Trump declared himself “the chief law enforcement officer of the United States” under the authority…
Category: Constitutional Law
2020
Category: Constitutional Law | Criminal Justice Reform
Former New York mayor and current Democratic Party presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg has a dark authoritarian history. That is not in dispute.
Writing in a November 2019 edition of The Atlantic, Conor Friedersdorf wrote a comprehensive piece about why…
2020
Category: Constitutional Law | Corruption
As has become crystal clear, “not guilty” is not equivalent to “innocent” in the politics of impeachment.
In a series of rambling, disparaging tweets against Democrats and a litany of sophomoric public statements directed against House managers, President Donald…
2019
Category: Constitutional Law | Corruption
Article I, Section 2, Clause 5 of the U.S. Constitution permits the U.S. House of Representatives of investigate and bring articles of impeachment against the President of the United States. Impeachment of the president can be brought for “Treason, Bribery,…
2019
Category: Constitutional Law
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh knows a thing or two about impeachment.
After graduating from Yale College as a “cum laude” undergraduate in 1987 and from Yale Laws School in 1990, Justice Kavanaugh began his legal career as…
2019
Category: Constitutional Law | Criminal Law
Every criminal defense attorney has had a client whose crime repulsed the attorney.
Every criminal suspect is entitled under both our state and federal constitutions to have the assistance of counsel and to have an attorney appointed to them…
2019
Category: Constitutional Law | Corruption
President Donald J. Trump has polarized the American judiciary along racial and political lines. He believes the Attorney General of the United States should serve as the president’s personal attorney and that the Federal Judiciary should rubber-stamp the policies of…
2019
Category: Constitutional Law | SCOTUS
Most people share the common misunderstanding that under our constitution a person cannot twice be put in jeopardy for the same offense. This legal concept is known as “double jeopardy.” The Double Jeopardy Clause is located in the Fifth…
2019
That Michael Kwan, a justice court judge in Taylorsville, Utah, has a history of violating the Utah Code of Judicial Conduct is not subject of debate. During his two decade tenure on the bench, he has faced numerous ethics complaints…
2019
Category: Constitutional Law | Corruption
Congress’s authority to conduct oversight, and its corollary power to investigate, the executive branch of government (and all of its agencies) are not explicitly stated in Article 1, Section 1 of the United States Constitution. But from the very first…