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Supremely Improbable
FEATURED
July 30, 2024
Supremely Improbable
By: James Trusty
President Biden’s pronounced objectives for Supreme Court “reform” are improbable, politically lifeless under a particularly lame duck presidency, and motivated by transparently November-driven calculations. But even if the proposed changes are doomed from the start, they push public discourse on a couple of issues that are red meat for the democrats. The stated reforms are superficially simple ones: 1) to “clarify” that “there is no immunity for crimes a former president committed while in office,” 2) to limit SCOTUS appointments to 18-year terms, and 3) to create a mandatory/enforceable ethics code on the high court. Some context for this agenda is in order. The “clarification” push flows directly, albeit inaccurately, from the recent immunity decision in Trump v. United States….
Presidential Immunity Ruling Stirs Sound and Fury
July 5, 2024
Presidential Immunity Ruling Stirs Sound and Fury
By: James Trusty
The immediate and eventual impact of the Supreme Court’s immunity decision in Trump v. United States is both considerable and dramatically misrepresented. The initial consequences include likely delay to the January 6 prosecution out of D.C. and the setting of hearings—in D.C., Georgia and south Florida—where the judges will be required to make factual findings as to whether the evidence supporting the indictments reflect “official…
The Challenging Terrain of White-Collar Sentencing
June 3, 2024
The Challenging Terrain of White-Collar Sentencing
By: James Trusty
Federal judges are required to balance a number of factors whenever imposing sentence, including specifically enumerated areas that largely stem from the broader philosophical categories of General Deterrence, Specific Deterrence, Retribution/Punishment, Restitution and Victim Impact, and Rehabilitation. In determining the presumptively reasonable range of potential sentences, federal practitioners consult their always-handy U.S. Sentencing Guidelines, which create a sentencing range grid based upon the offense characteristics…
What Expats Need to Know Now about their Taxes, FATCA and the IRS
March 9, 2015
What Expats Need to Know Now about their Taxes, FATCA and the IRS
By: Nicole Kardell
Are you an American abroad living in perpetual fear of the IRS? Do you wake up every morning wondering if today you’ll receive a formidable notice that the taxman cometh? You are not alone. Expats around the world are facing (and fearing) the painful reality that the IRS’s global tax enforcement effort is underway. While you may want to stick your head in the sand,…
SCOTUS Rules No Felony for Throwing the Little Ones Overboard
February 27, 2015
SCOTUS Rules No Felony for Throwing the Little Ones Overboard
By: Ifrah Law
This week, the United States Supreme Court resolved some fishy matters on which prosecutors sought to base a federal felony conviction. The case, Yates v. United States, arose from a offshore inspection of a commercial fishing vessel in the Gulf of Mexico. During the inspection, a federal agent found that the ship’s catch contained undersized red grouper, in violation of federal conservation regulations. The agent…
Court Reins In Prosecutorial Overreach in Insider Trading Cases
February 25, 2015
Court Reins In Prosecutorial Overreach in Insider Trading Cases
By: Ifrah Law
In an effort to reinstate powers stripped from them by the Court of Appeals in U.S. v. Newman and Chiasson, prosecutors have sought a rehearing of the landmark Second Circuit decision which severely curtailed the scope of insider trading cases. The case is one which has already seen a dramatic reversal, so it is perhaps no surprise that prosecutors are hoping for the tide to…
The Government’s [Subpoena] Power is Not Infinite
February 18, 2015
The Government’s [Subpoena] Power is Not Infinite
By: Ifrah Law
It’s not every day that a federal court likens an Assistant U.S. Attorney’s argument to that “of a grade schooler seeking to avoid detention.” But, in a recent opinion, Judge Emmet G. Sullivan of the D.C. District Court did just that. In so doing, he reminded us that—despite the government’s (admitted) routine abuse of its subpoena power—the privacy rights of inmates matter, and a standard…
Closing the Loop: The Proposal of New Subcontracting Limitations on Small Businesses
February 5, 2015
Closing the Loop: The Proposal of New Subcontracting Limitations on Small Businesses
By: Nicole Kardell
Many small business government contractors may have to rethink the way they do business. The Small Business Administration issued a proposed rule at the end of December to implement provisions of the National Defense Authorization Act of 2013. The NDAA, which was signed into law in January 2013, requires several significant modifications to the rules for small business concerns, including changes to the Limitations on…
