Judge Kopf once told me about how he trusted the representations of the government. It wasn’t that they were right all the time, but that he believed that the government was due the presumption of regularity, that it would not lie to a judge or refuse to abide the court’s order. We argued about this, my position being that AUSAs and federal agents were no more prone to truthfulness than defense lawyers.

While the judge wouldn’t go so far as to say that defense lawyers weren’t truthful (though defendants were another story), he still believed that AUSAs and federal agents were entitled to inherent belief unless and until proven otherwise. Continue reading →

There’s times when those in the legal profession have to make the best out of what can charitably be called a shit sandwich. Doesn’t matter if it’s a bad fact pattern, abhorrent precedent or whatever bad mood a client might be in, lawyers regularly get called to take stinky nuggets of coal and attempt to turn them into diamonds.

One could say this was doubly true during COVID and the era of Zoom court. All of us, from legal professionals to the layperson were busy trying to figure out the time of social distancing, Zoom and Microsoft Teams calls, and how to effectively quarantine. And in that messed up time we were treated to a true gem of the Internet: Lawyer Cat. Continue reading →

On February 13, 2007, the first post appeared on Simple Justice. I’ve told the story of how it came to be before, so I won’t burden you with it again. Back then, blawgs were in fashion, and the legal blogosphere was a thriving community. Not so much today, even though a few of us remain, writing daily (or at least regularly) about things that interest us.

Sadly, the synergies of yore no longer exist. Back then, we would regularly riff off each other’s posts and agree or dispute each others views on the issues of the day. I miss those days, but times change and I’m left with no choice but to change with them. At the moment, the pressing and interesting issues mostly revolve around Trump’s bastardization of government. The overwhelming majority of legal issues revolve around Trump, and so he’s become the primary focus of posts here. I’m bored with him, as I would expect most of you are, but that doesn’t change the reality we’re living in. Continue reading →

Watching Attorney General Pam Bondi respond to questions by Democratic (and one Republican) members of the House Judiciary Committee by deflecting, pivoting, attacking and name calling was a shocking experience. The committee, chaired by Republican Jim Jordan, has the responsibility of overseeing the Department of Justice.

While Bondi was praised by most Republican members, she was attacked by every Democratic member, mostly for her handling of the Epstein matter and the killings in Minneapolis by federal agents of Renee Good and Alex Pretti. Bondi responded well to praise. Bondi refused to answer any question that failed to praise her or Trump. Continue reading →

The Hon. Brett R. Alldredge (Ret.) is a retired California Superior Court judge. The opinions expressed herein are his alone, although he wishes to acknowledge the significant lifetime body of work of Tim Schnake.

The United States produces the finest, most highly skilled medical professionals in the world. The best and brightest travel to America to be educated and trained at its exceptional academic and medical institutions. No one, however, including those very same esteemed professionals,
pretends that America’s health care system comes even close to being universally admired.

What was allowed in just over a generation or two to stand between the world’s best physicians and those in their direct care that now prevents millions from benefitting from such presumptive good fortune? The health insurance industry, a multi-billion dollar for-profit industry so lucrative and influential that while living in a land of unparalleled wealth and resources, millions are simply unable to afford the care that their doctors are so well
trained to provide. It was never by intentional design of the expert professionals. We just sat by while the moneychangers determined how health care is delivered without it having to even masquerade as an improvement. And no honest and trusted physician pretends that we’re the
better for it. Continue reading →

Since leaving the bench, Paul Cassell has dedicated his energies toward the plight of crime victims, attempting to fundamentally alter the calculus of the criminal legal process so that the constitutional rights afforded the accused are tempered by the “third table in the well” for the victims. The state creates crimes to deter people from engaging in conduct the state determines to be wrong or seeks to prohibit. Criminal prosecution is not about giving the victims “justice,” no matter how hard it tugs at your heartstrings.

While the legitimacy of criminal law is based upon the fundamental notion that it is a matter between the defendant and the state, Cassell has long sought to reinvent criminal law by making it a conflict between the accused, the state and the victim. Continue reading →

I’ve always been somewhat ambivalent about marijuana legalization. It’s not that I don’t abhor the impact of criminalization, but that there are perils to having altered states of consciousness. That goes for alcohol as well. Get high if you want, but do it responsibly. The problem is that getting high and being responsible do not easily go hand in hand.

The New York Times has an editorial addressing the experience of recreational pot legalization that begins by recognizing that predictions that it wouldn’t result in widespread use didn’t bear out.

It is now clear that many of these predictions were wrong. Legalization has led to much more use. Surveys suggest that about 18 million people in the United States have used marijuana almost daily (or about five times a week) in recent years. That was up from around 6 million in 2012 and less than 1 million in 1992. More Americans now use marijuana daily than alcohol.

Continue reading →

Career prosecutors are fleeing the offices  of the United States Attorneys and Department of Justice. The MAGA faithful call them “Biden prosecutors,” but they were there long before Biden, including during Trump’s first term, when Bill Barr, the fellow who told Trump he lost the election, was the Attorney General. Bondi is trying to fill the gaps with JAG lawyers, while her former chief of staff, Chad Mizelle, put out a solicitation on twitter.

If you are a lawyer, are interested in being an AUSA, and support President Trump and anti-crime agenda, DM me.

We need good prosecutors. And DOJ is hiring across the country. Now is your chance to join the mission and do good for our country.

— Chad Mizelle (@chad_mizelle) January 31, 2026

Continue reading →

Granted, it’s Steve Bannon, who has inexplicably managed to remain popular with the MAGA base even after stealing their money donated to build the border wall, conclusively proving they, too, are stable geniuses. But Bannon’s ideas still get play among top White House advisors like Laura Loomer, so it’s worth taking seriously.

The former White House strategist called for the Trump administration to send Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers to polling sites to prevent noncitizens from voting, citing a debunked conspiracy theory about widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election.

“We’re going to have ICE surround the polls come November. We’re not going to sit here and allow you to steal the country again,” Bannon said Tuesday on his podcast. “And you can whine and cry and throw your toys out of the pram all you want, but we will never again allow an election to be stolen.”

Continue reading →

The year was 1971. Paul Cohen wore a jacket in a California courthouse that bore the words “Fuck the draft.” Writing for the majority, Justice John Marshall Harlan wrote that the “four letter expletive,” while provocative, was protected speech.

One man’s vulgarity is another’s lyric.

Apparently, this message failed to make its way to Punta Gorda, Florida, where Police Officer David Joseph Lipker arrested Andrew Sheets, appearing pro se, for standing on the sidewalk with two flags, one stating “Fuck Trump” and the other stating “Fuck Biden.” Lipker moved for dismissal based on qualified immunity, that the officer relied on the local ordinance against disturbing the peace. Middle District of Florida Judge Kyle Dudeck denied the motion. Continue reading →