Ed. Note: This is Part II of a guest post by Madison, Wisconsin, criminal defense lawyer Christopher Van Wagner. Part I can be found here.

Anyone of a certain age recalls the famous closing argument by the late Johnny Cochran: “If the glove doesn’t fit, you must acquit.” What many may not recall is that it was not Cochran but a prosecutor, Christopher Darden, who risked it all by having Simpson try on the glove despite not taking the stand. Darden lost it all with that blunder.

He tripped on the oldest of trial maxims: Never ask a question if you do not know the answer. Yet in doing so, Darden gave Cochran the line that grabbed the attention of all twelve deliberating jurors and prompted a four-hour acquittal, barely enough time to get the deliberating jury’s sushi delivered and eaten, what with LA traffic. But what that ill-advised demonstration provided was the thing most defense lawyers have long sought: an argument, a point, or a piece of evidence which raised a nagging, persistent doubt in the minds of all twelve jurors, such that they were unanimously compelled to acquit. A criminal defense Rosetta Stone of sorts. Continue reading →

Ed. Note: This is a guest post by Madison, Wisconsin, criminal defense lawyer Christopher Van Wagner.

It has been a busy week for Court TV’s Managing Editor Cathy Russon at Law & Crime: she has dabbled in Tupac, Charlie Kirk, and now Lindsay Clancy. But she may be onto something in Clancy.

After the Clancy jury issued its second “deadlock” note to Judge William Sullivan, the judge finally relented and gave the frozen jury the notably soft-serve Massachusetts version of an Allen charge, dubbed Tuey-Rodriguez and commonly called the “dynamite” charge, by any criminal lawyer under 50 anyway. The Twittersphere exploded with cries of “enough punishment already” for this jury. The “coercion” or blasting cap language in that “try harder, please” instruction, you ask? Continue reading →

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Dan “Raisin'” Caine says the military has “no plans” to have soldiers go to polling stations.

“I have neither received not anticipate receiving any unlawful order concerning the role of the Joint Force in the upcoming November 2026 midterm elections,” General Caine wrote.

That’s good news, particularly that he characterized it as an “unlawful order,” but isn’t quite the same as saying he would never do so even if ordered. After all, one could never anticipate what Trump or Hegseth might order.

Similarly, Second Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin didn’t say he would send Trump’s army of ICE agents to the polls, but offered up advance excuses for why they might end up there anyway. Continue reading →

Lots of news of late, but it seems as if it’s deja vu all over again. Many readers have expressed their burn out on stupid and/or unlawful stuff Trump does, which is understandable given his proclivities. Then again, there are so many legal issues wrapped up in Trump’s actions that it’s hard, if not impossible, to ignore his weekly daily hourly disruption of law and norms to suit his impetuous whims.

Even so, it can get boring and tedious to read about it almost every day. I know that I’m tired of writing about Trump. So it struck me as an opportunity to learn what’s on other people’s minds.

What’s on your minds, dear readers?

*Tuesday Talk rules apply, but keep it rational and civil, please. Please don’t make me regret this.

With some regularity, I get quote-twitted by a fellow named Kurt Schlichter, who has amassed a significant following on the twitters. He’s done it a few times in the past few days, this being his latest effort.

Patriots do a lot of things, none of which Scott has done. Wanting foreigners who hate us to come here to try to destroy us is not one of the things patriots do. https://t.co/ELA9xuZPXx

— Kurt Schlichter (@KurtSchlichter) August 29, 2026

After Kurt has his say, there tends to be a swarm of his followers, whether bots or real, in my replies, offering such insightful comments as these. Continue reading →

Laura Loomer, the dear confidante of a president and long time flaming nutjob, ratted out Milo Yiannopoulos, the one-time provocateur and Trump supporter turned bitter and irrelevant, for having overstayed his visa.

Laura Loomer—another right-wing provocateur, although one still on the side of MAGA faithfuls—has claimed credit for alerting authorities to him; The Telegraph, meanwhile, reports that Yiannopoulos’ “visa status is understood to have been brought to attention after he fell out of favour with senior officials over his increasingly hostile remarks.” While it is unwise to take Loomer’s words at face value, it is a reminder, at a minimum, that culture is in the eye of the beholder.

For many, schadenfreude made it hard to muster any sympathy for Milo’s plight. After all, as a card-carrying member of the Leopards Eating People’s Faces Party, there was something poetic about Milo getting nabbed by ICE. Continue reading →

Friends, today we celebrate the life of the Queen of East Tennessee, the closest thing any of our redneck asses got to a saint, and one of the Greatest Living Americans, Dolly Rebecca Parton Dean who passed this week at the age of eighty following a brief battle with cancer.

You’ll have to excuse me on this one. The whole state is basically in mourning right now. It’s almost as if every Tennesseean lost their favorite granny.

Born in rural Sevier County, Tennessee, Parton grew up in a one room cabin with eleven other siblings and her father, who was a farmer. Parton wrote her first song at age five in 1951 called “Little Tiny Tassel Top.” Her singing and songwriting prowess was such that five years later she was performing on Knoxville’s Cas Walker show regularly. By 1959 she made her debut at the legendary Grand Ole Opry introduced by none other than Johnny Cash. Continue reading →

As predicted by pretty much anyone with the slightest grasp of legal procedure, Judge Indira Talwani granted a temporary restraining order against the implementation of the United States Postal Service’s new rules that would have enabled it to refuse to deliver mail-in ballots for the midterm elections. Sure, the Supreme Court issued its ruling that the prior TRO was premature as it wouldn’t be ripe until final rules were issued, which ironically came the day after the final rules were issued. It was a monumental waste of time, resources and angst, but it gave Trump a day of crowing about his great victory.

The following day, Judge Talwani vacated her other stay based upon the Supreme Court ruling, as new motions were filed now that the final rule was in place. And as day follows night, the judge granted the stay. Continue reading →

More than 223 people have been murdered in the open waters off South America by the United States military under orders of Trump and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth. When I call it murder, that’s because none of these people have been proven to be drug smugglers or have been given the opportunity to defend themselves from accusations. Even if it turned out that they were drug smugglers, as claimed, and even if it turned out that they were bringing drugs to the United States, a dubious proposition, the penalty for smuggling drugs is not summary execution.

President Trump doesn’t care. Hegseth doesn’t care. The MAGA faithful don’t care. But most disturbingly, the Southern Command of the United States doesn’t care. Continue reading →

Remember when President Donald J. Trump announced his intention to demolish the East Wing of the White House in order to build his ballroom? Of course not, because it didn’t happen. One day, it was just gone, demolished, because that was what he wanted to do. After all, Trump was the president, and the president doesn’t have to ask permission. The president is the Executive, and the Executive gets to execute any damn thing he pleases.

Is the Kennedy Center next?

The Trump administration is, for the first time, threatening the demolition of the Kennedy Center if the arts institution isn’t allowed to follow its plans for the site, including adding President Donald Trump’s name to the front of the building.

Continue reading →