Sessions Preview and Review

6/13/17  //  Commentary

The already strong case for felony false statement might get unbearably stronger

Jed Shugerman

Fordham Law School

Why Trump Can’t (Lawfully) Fire Mueller

6/13/17  //  Commentary

There’s been a great deal of noise from some of the President’s confidants over the past 48 hours suggesting that he might (try to) remove Special Counsel Robert Mueller.

Marty Lederman

Georgetown Law

Yes, Hope is a Sufficient Basis for Obstruction of Justice

6/13/17  //  Commentary

I reviewed all federal circuit courts of appeals cases, federal district court cases, and state supreme court cases for obstruction of justice cases involving a defendant’s use of language similar to “I hope” or “I’m hoping.” The results are in line with what we would expect if “hope” verbiage is uncontroversially and generally understood as implying direction.

What If There’s a Fake Tape?

6/13/17  //  Commentary

Many are speculating about whether President Trump recorded his conversations with fired FBI Director Jim Comey, and Wikileaks has even offered a reward for any Trump-Comey recordings. But new technology allows creation of fake recordings with real people's voices. Now is a good time to start thinking about this technology's implications for our democracy and legal system.

Zachary Price

U.C. Hastings College of the Law

Morales-Santana and the "Mean Remedy"

6/12/17  //  Commentary

Justice Ginsburg's opinion in Sessions v. Morales-Santana exacerbates many of the shortcomings of our immigration system.

Ian Samuel

Harvard Law School

States And The Emoluments Clause

6/12/17  //  Commentary

In a new lawsuit, Maryland and D.C. allege that the President's violations of the Emoluments Clauses harm their sovereign, quasi-sovereign, and proprietary interests. Those interests get special solicitude in federal court.

Leah Litman

Michigan Law School

More Attacks on Immigrants’ Due Process Rights

6/12/17  //  Commentary

The Trump Administration’s expansion of deportation efforts has occurred alongside systematic efforts to strip people caught in the enforcement web of their right to due process.

Jennifer Chacón

U.C. Irvine School of Law

Executive Privilege(s) and the Testimony of James Comey

6/9/17  //  Commentary

The various references to executive privilege and unauthorized disclosures must be analyzed more closely.

Peter M. Shane

Ohio State, Moritz College of Law

Why Process Matters: Health Care Reform Edition

6/9/17  //  Commentary

While attention is drawn to Comey’s very public hearing, something else is happening, largely in secret. The Senate is moving forward with a health care bill that will likely take coverage from tens of millions of Americans, and that will likely cut taxes for the wealthy on the backs of the poor.

Rachel Sachs

Washington University Law School

Comey Counterarguments: The Trees, the Forest, and the Firing.

6/8/17  //  Commentary

I’ve been reading the arguments that Comey’s written testimony does not show obstruction of justice. Ultimately, these arguments focus on the trees to obscure the forest, and at the end of that forest is the decisive event of obstruction: Trump firing Comey.

Jed Shugerman

Fordham Law School

Senators to DOJ: Mandatory Minimums Policy Is Misguided

6/8/17  //  Commentary

A new letter from a bipartisan group of senators shows that Attorney General Sessions’s approach to charging is out of the mainstream, contrary to our justice system’s values, and unsupported by existing crime research.

Chiraag Bains

Harvard Law School

Versus Trump: "What About Congress? + Steven Wu"

6/8/17  //  Commentary

On a new episode of Versus Trump, Take Care's podcast, Easha, Jason, and Charlie discuss Congress's role and powers in investigations of the Executive. Then, Jason talks with Steven Wu, a Deputy Solicitor General in the Office of New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, about the case against Trump University, the active role of states in recent years, and other issues in which New York is adverse to the President. Listen now!

Easha Anand

San Francisco

Charlie Gerstein

Gerstein Harrow LLP

The Government’s Vanishing National Security Rationale (aka Round 10000 In The Incompetence Versus Malevolence Debate)

6/8/17  //  Commentary

The government’s litigation strategy in the travel ban litigation undermines the purported national security rationale for the entry ban.

Leah Litman

Michigan Law School

The Travel Ban's Non-Urgency, In Pictures

6/7/17  //  Commentary

The Administration's unhurried pace in defending its revised travel ban belies its representations of urgency to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Amir Ali

Roderick & Solange MacArthur Justice Center

The Basic Error In Texas’s Amicus Brief In The Travel Ban Case (aka Youngstown Zone Zero Redux)

6/7/17  //  Commentary

Texas’s Amicus Brief Makes An Argument That Is So Obviously Wrong Some People Thought It Was Not Worth Responding To

Leah Litman

Michigan Law School

Ian Samuel

Harvard Law School