Why did Barack Obama win a Nobel Prize? Maureen Dowd writes that it’s because he was a “cool dude.” That’s as good an explanation as any, as there is no substantive explanation for why Obama, after only eight months in office, deserved the prize. But he got it nonetheless and it infuriates Trump, who desperately needs validation.

His longing is partly inspired by his jealousy of Barack Obama, who absurdly got a Nobel Peace Prize after only eight months in office for just being a cool dude. Our 79-year-old president admitted recently that he also envies Obama for the way he airily bopped down the stairs of Air Force One, while he himself has to slowly creep down, grasping the railing, worried that he’ll fall and look as unsteady as Joe Biden.

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It was anticipated that the indictment of New York Attorney General Letitia James, as directed by Trump in a message to Attorney General Pam Bondi that was meant to be private but was somehow transmitted by twit, related to a house she purchased for her niece in Norfolk, Virginia in 2023.

That was the mortgage Bill Pulte, director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency who went digging for crimes with which to charge Trump’s enemies, referred to the Justice Department for prosecution. It was also the mortgage for which there was overwhelming exculpatory evidence that no crime occurred. Except that was not the mortgage with which James was charged. That’s the surprise. Continue reading →

When ICE agents first began covering their faces to conceal their identities, someone asked me if this was lawful. I had no idea. The question had never come up before. Indeed, it was taken as a given that law enforcement should be easily identifiable. Think about people asking police officers for the name and badge number, a practice that became fairly common so that complaints could be lodged against them for improper actions and violations of constitutional rights.

As research quickly proved, there was no law requiring ICE agents to show their faces. Or have their names on their uniforms. Or wear visible shields with unique numbers. There was no way to know who engaged in impropriety or violated constitutional rights. It was just another guy in body armor, camo and a balaclava, undiscernible from any other guy similarly attired. Continue reading →

One of my pro bono activities for years was serving as a small claims court arbitrator in Manhattan. My best guess is that I handled about 1500 trials, and it turned out that I was quite good at getting the parties to settle, which was generally a better outcome than issuing an award to one side, which had the problems of collecting and aggravating hostilities between the parties. It was far more art than science.

The American Arbitration Association announced that it’s introducing AI arbitration into its mix.

“The legal industry has long been cautious about adopting new technologies, but as demand for fair, efficient, and accessible justice grows, innovation is no longer optional – it is essential,” said Bridget Mary McCormack, president and CEO of the AAA-ICDR. Continue reading →

As Trump joked they could laugh and applaud before he launched into his childish grievance spiel to the generals and admirals who flew in for no discernible purpose, they sat silently. Stoically. What they were thinking remains a mystery, but what they were not doing was clear. They were not laughing. They were not applauding. They gave no indication they were ready to forsake their oaths by serving one man rather than one nation and its Constitution.

Then came the 250th Anniversary of the Navy, which did not fall on his birthday and thus didn’t get a very expensive military parade that turned out to be a massive bore. But the Commander-in-Chief took to a pier to speak to his sailors. Continue reading →

Donald Trump says he was poorly served by whoever told him to appoint Karin Immergut as an Article III judge in the district of Oregon. After all, she didn’t rule the way she was supposed to, and it couldn’t be his fault because nothing is his fault, when she restrained the use of the 200 federalized Oregon National Guard troops because, contrary to what Trump saw on the telly, Portland was not only not “on fire,” but was under control to the extent necessary with local law enforcement.

Accordingly, there was no justification to invoke 10 U.S.C. § 12406 and federalize the National Guard against the wishes of the governor of Oregon. Continue reading →

There is so much wrong on so many levels that this one twit by Trump is worthy of a law review article. But one particularly bizarre aspect of the twit is worthy of discussion. Why ICE first?

ICE, short for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, isn’t a general law enforcement agency. Granted, its budget under the Big Beautiful Bill dwarfs the other federal law enforcement agencies. Granted, its personnel are the worst trained by far. Granted, they are empowered to act without constraint, using unwarranted and unlawful force and routinely violating the Constitution by seizing without cause. Continue reading →

You might wonder what legal basis might have existed for the United States Navy to bomb and destroy ships in international waters off Venezuela. You might also have taken comfort in the claims that these were “narco-terrorists” bringing shipments of drugs, which somehow causes people to ignore any legalities in favor of high seas murder since “narco-terrorists” is doubly bad and who could possibly not favor stopping them with extreme prejudice.

Of course, we can’t know that these were drug smugglers, or terrorists, since they were neither captured nor searched to ascertain what, if anything, was on those ships. Instead, we took Trump’s word for it. After all, he said he was certain that they were “narco-terrorists” and it’s not as if Trump would ever tell a lie or be wrong about anything. Continue reading →

I’ve never been a fan of federal judges writing cute or gimmicky opinions. Much as I may enjoy them on occasion, federal cases are serious matters and the court’s decisions should be serious as well. So I join the chorus of those who question why radical left lunatic Reagan appointee, Judge William Young of the District of Massachusetts, began his very lengthy decision in AAUP v. Rubio like this.

But from there, Judge Young got down to business. Continue reading →

After another United States Attorney appointee, wholly lacking in any qualification other than loyalty, failed to get Senate confirmation, she was flipped from “interim” to “acting” in an effort to circumvent the law and give the president what he wanted. Another judge ruled against her.

The A problem is that this administration isn’t like the old one. One of the hallmarks of Trump 1.0 was his stunning ignorance of law and governance was somewhat constrained by others in the administration who told him he couldn’t do some of the things that popped into his head because they were unlawful. In Trump 2.0 (or 3.0, as he informed a clearly impressionable group of generals who flew into Quantico at great expense and disruption, too rapt by the gravitas of Pete Hegseth’s warnings about “beardos” and fatties to utter a sound), he is surrounded by others bent on overcoming the limits of law and governance to accomplish Trump’s and Stephen Miller’s goals of hegemony. Continue reading →