It’s one thing to pardon or commute the sentence of every defendant involved in the insurrection of January 6. It’s another to propose the return of restitution by the insurrectionists, the “roughly $400,000 collected” to cover the roughly $3 million in damage they caused during their Day of Love. But why, oh why, would the government settle a claim for excessive force for the killing of Ashli Babbitt?

The Department of Justice has agreed in principle to settle a $30 million wrongful death lawsuit filed by the family of Ashli Babbitt, the woman fatally shot by a Capitol Police officer during the January 6, 2021, riot at the US Capitol.

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The neon sign outside the Grassy Knoll Pub flickered like a drunk firefly as Sheriff Roy Templeton pulled his cruiser into the gravel lot. Mud Lick, Alabama, wasn’t known for high drama unless you counted the time Leroy Buckshot swore the Piggly Wiggly was a front for a 5G lizard conspiracy. Tonight, though, the call from Cassidy, the Knoll’s doorman, had Roy’s hackles up. “Sheriff,” he’d whispered over the phone, “some fella’s in here swearin’ two wrestlers done a murder. You better hightail it.”

Roy adjusted his Stetson, grabbed his Maglite, and stepped into the smoky haze of the pub. The jukebox was blaring Lynyrd Skynyrd, and the usual crowd—mostly locals nursing Bud Lights—had their eyes glued to a wiry man in a trucker hat waving his arms like he was auditioning for a Pentecostal revival. “I seen it!” he hollered. “Them two over there, the big ‘uns, they killed a man! I heard the shots!” Continue reading →

In a ruling that was both surprising and remarkably unsurprising, Southern District of Texas Judge Fernando Rodriguez Jr. issued a permanent injunction barring the removal of people under the Alien Enemies Act. It was surprising only because Judge Rodriguez was appointed by Trump, and for those on both right and left who believe that judges are mere political hacks for their patron, Judge Rodriguez proved that at least some in the judiciary remain dedicated to the fair and impartial rule of law.

It was remarkably unsurprising because Trump’s invocation of the AEA was a parlor trick, a gimmick that he believed would allow him to circumvent the rule of law and do as he pleased. There was never any serious doubt that Trump’s Executive Order was just another exercise of Trumpian nonsense. And Judge Rodriguez called it fair and square. Continue reading →

It’s not as if Trump or Musk came up with the idea that the government wants to know more about you, about each of us, than we wanted to tell. Remember the efforts to prohibit cash in favor of plastic so that there would be a record of every expense? Remember the elimination of paper prescriptions in favor of electronic so the government would know every drug being given?

But we were promised that the government wouldn’t go full Brave New World, and siloed pieces of information, from medical to financial to personal, in the bowels of different agencies that had a legitimate-seeming claim to gather and maintain such information about us but without the government having the capacity to put it altogether in one big beautiful database. Those days are gone. Continue reading →

Wrong house raids are nothing new, though they remain as inexcusable now as ever, so when ICE, together with whatever spare letters the government cobbled together, obtained a warrant to raid a house in Oklahoma City, it never dawned on the agents that the people living in the house on the day of the raid were not the same people as the ones sought for deportation. And unlike those intended to be taken, these were citizens of the United States.

The agents had a search warrant for the home, but the suspects listed on the warrant do not live in the house.

The woman who actually lives in the house had just moved to Oklahoma City from Maryland with her family about two weeks earlier.

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Forget about such silly inconsistency as pardoning the January 6th insurrectionists for beating capital police. President Trump doesn’t let such hobgoblins get in the way of pretending that he, convicted felon, is a stalwart defender of police. Now that he’s got nearly a billion dollars worth of pro bono legal representation in his pocket, he’s found a use for it that will cost him nothing while enabling him to be that same guy who told cops that slamming a few heads against the hood of a cruiser wouldn’t bother him.

Safe communities rely on the backbone and heroism of a tough and well-equipped police force.  My Administration is steadfastly committed to empowering State and local law enforcement to firmly police dangerous criminal behavior and protect innocent citizens. Continue reading →

When former career public defender Mary Moriarty was elected as Hennepin County district attorney, a choice was made. After all, elections have consequences, whether for better or worse. And Moriarty did what she was elected to do.

Starting Monday, prosecutors in Hennepin County will be required to consider race when offering plea deals, according to a new policy from County Attorney Mary Moriarty.

Had this policy been that black defendants were to be treated more harshly than white defendants, a storm of outrage would have rightly arose. After all, it would be fundamentally wrong, not to mention unconstitutional, for black people to be treated worse because of their race. But, of course, that’s not what Moriarty meant. Continue reading →

Remember the Pentagon Papers? Too long ago? What about the second Signalgate, the chaos in the Defense Department, the unsecured internet connection in Hegseth’s office so he can let his wife, brother and lawyer know about military operations? The Trump administration won’t let that sort of embarrassment happen to them anymore, if Trump criminal defense lawyer Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche has anything to say about it.

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No, unlike presidents and sometimes federal agents, judges are not above the law. And few would raise an eyebrow if a judge was arrested for a slew of offenses, from taking bribes to put children in prison to taking bribes to keep adults out. But the arrest of a state judge, Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan, for obstructing ICE, DEA and FBI agents from the warrantless* and permissionless** arrest of an alien raises the stakes in a war on federalism.

According to the complaint, Dugan confronted members of the arrest team while “visibly upset and had a confrontational, angry demeanor.” She told the group members they needed a judicial warrant, not an administrative one, and directed them to report to Chief Judge Carl Ashley’s office.

While this was going on, the bailiff informed the arrest team — which included ICE, FBI and Drug Enforcement Agency officials — that Dugan had expedited Flores-Ruiz’s case. Witnesses told federal authorities that she then “forcefully motioned” for the defendant and his attorney to exit through a side door near the jury box that leads to a private hallway and then to the public area outside the courtroom.

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Sheriff Roy Templeton tucked Junior into bed.

“Tell me a story, dad? And can it be about animals and not one of those times where you make up a story about when Deputy Tyrone handles Animal Control?”

After thinking the request over, this was what the Sheriff told: Continue reading →