President Biden said he wouldn’t pardon Hunter. But things change, and he did just that on Sunday, December 1, 2024, a few days before his son’s sentencing for tax cheating and lying on a gun purchase form. Trump and Republicans in Congress are crying foul, but this reeks of hypocrisy a [...]
Archive for the ‘Law and Courts’ Category
November 30th, 2024 - 4:42 am § in Donald Trump, Law and Courts
Is birthright citizenship at risk?
First came Dred Scott v. Sanford, the 1857 Supreme Court decision ruling that African-Americans weren’t citizens and had no constitutional rights. After the Civil War, Congress enacted the 14th Amendment to supersede the Dred Scott ruling and make the newly-freed slaves citizens. It declared t[...]
Can a mayor throw a president in jail?
Actually, the question is whether a president can throw a mayor in jail; I pulled a bait-and-switch on readers. Tom Homan, Trump’s deportation czar, threatened to jail Denver’s mayor for threatening to use city police to stop migrant deportations. The mayor later retreated from that post[...]
Trump gets a “people’s pardon”
Jack Smith filed a motion on Monday, November 25, 2024, to dismiss the Jan. 6 indictment against Trump (story here), which the judge quickly approved (see story here) Smith also won’t pursue further the pending appeal of Judge Aileen Cannon’s eye-rolling dismissal of the Mar-a-Lago classified do[...]
November 25th, 2024 - 2:29 am § in Law and Courts
A model border patrol officer
Juan Ortiz (photo, left), is a smart guy with bachelor’s and master’s degrees. He’s a Navy veteran, married with three kids, and was a Border Patrol officer for 10 years with “no reported disciplinary issues while he served.” He’s also a convicted serial killer se[...]
November 24th, 2024 - 7:13 pm § in Law and Courts
Illegal immigrant had 170 guns
Carlos Serrano-Restrepo, 46, who snuck into the U.S. in 2008, has settled in like a citizen. He even claimed to be a citizen on a background check form when he purchased his latest batch of firearms. That got him unwanted attention from law enforcement, who found 170 guns in his Ohio home, including[...]
November 21st, 2024 - 7:29 pm § in Donald Trump, Law and Courts
Cops rounding up immigrants, what could go wrong?
Practice tips: (1) You need a search warrant to enter someone’s home (4th Amendment), (2) they don’t have to answer questions (5th Amendment), and (3) American Samoans aren’t immigrants (read details here). Return to The-Ave.US Home Page[...]
When ya got nuthin, read their poetry to ’em
That’s how far Republicans went trying to block a Biden judicial appointment. Nowadays it’s a given that Republicans will oppose any Biden judicial appointee. It hasn’t always been that way; there used to be more Senate courtesy, but we’re now living in the era of hyper-par[...]
November 18th, 2024 - 1:37 pm § in Law and Courts
Why we need a felony murder law
Israel hanged Adolf Eichmann for his complicity in the murder of 6 million Jews even though he didn’t personally kill anyone. His role in the Holocaust was “collecting information on the Jews in each area, organizing the seizure of their property, and arranging for and scheduling trains&[...]
November 18th, 2024 - 12:28 pm § in Donald Trump, Law and Courts
Ex-soldier and war criminal sentenced for Jan. 6 rioting
The photo below isn’t of a military unit; these dudes aren’t soldiers at all, they’re Jan. 6 rioters. In fact, Edward Richmond Jr. of Geismar, Louisiana (in middle of photo), was court-martialed and dishonorably discharged for murdering a handcuffed Iraqi civilian prisoner. Richmon[...]