Key and handcuffs

How Thick is the Blanket? – Preemptive Pardons as a Presidential Power

How Thick is the Blanket? – Preemptive Pardons as a Presidential Power

December 6, 2024

How Thick is the Blanket? – Preemptive Pardons as a Presidential Power

By: James Trusty

As the presiding judge scolded Hunter Biden’s attorneys this week, “The Constitution provides the President with broad authority to grant reprieves and pardons for offenses against the United States, U.S. Const. art. II, § 2, cl. 1, but nowhere does the Constitution give the President the authority to rewrite history.”[1]  But what exactly is that history he claims is being re-written? Judge Scarsi was challenging the largely academic issue of whether a pardon signed at noon, for instance, protects against crimes committed on the same day at dinnertime. That is a very limited run at the notion of “preemptive” pardons, and it seems to be strictly a question of chronology. The judge did not seem to question the idea of…

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Supremely Improbable

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…

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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…

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Ifrah Law Report: Johns Hopkins Symposium on Social Costs of Mass Incarceration

May 8, 2014

Ifrah Law Report: Johns Hopkins Symposium on Social Costs of Mass Incarceration

By: Jeffrey Hamlin

On April 28, 2014, Ifrah Law attorneys Jeff Hamlin and Casselle Smith attended a symposium on incarceration presented by The Johns Hopkins University and its Urban Health Institute. The day–long program focused on adverse impacts of mass incarceration and potential strategies for mitigating them and reversing trends toward continued prison growth. Throughout the day, panels comprised of medical professionals, sociologists, legal scholars, and ex–offenders took…

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Another SDNY Judge Finds the U.S. Federal Sentencing Guidelines Wanting

April 30, 2014

Another SDNY Judge Finds the U.S. Federal Sentencing Guidelines Wanting

By: Ifrah Law

In a sentencing hearing yesterday in the Southern District of New York, yet another judge reached the conclusion that the quasi-mathematical formulaic approach of the United States Sentencing Guidelines fails to account adequately for differences between criminal defendants.  But, in this case, the result was to the detriment of the individual being sentenced in that case. Judge Jed Rakoff made headlines in October 2012 when…

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Are High Frequency Traders Playing Fast and Loose With the Rules?

April 18, 2014

Are High Frequency Traders Playing Fast and Loose With the Rules?

By: Ifrah Law

When high frequency trading (HFT) first crept into the public consciousness, it related to primarily to the question of whether rapid, computer driven trading posed risks to the safety and stability of the trading markets.  Now it appears that HFT may have also been a means for some traders to gain a possible illegal advantage. High frequency trading involves the use of sophisticated technological tools…

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Offshore Accounts? IRS is Watching

April 16, 2014

Offshore Accounts? IRS is Watching

By: Michelle Cohen

If you have unreported income from offshore accounts, now may be the best time to come forward and report those earnings; otherwise, you may be susceptible to criminal prosecution. The IRS initially began this open-ended Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program (OVDP) in 2009 and later renewed it in 2011. Due to strong interest from previous years, the IRS rolled the 2012 Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program back…

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My, What Long Arms You Have, Uncle

April 4, 2014

My, What Long Arms You Have, Uncle

By: Nicole Kardell

Here’s a visual: Uncle Sam extending his arms around the world, reaching out for his citizens, wherever they may be. He may resemble a candy-striped Gumby, with disproportionately long rubbery arms spanning the globe. The visual is not an endearing one to many Americans abroad. They do not see Uncle Sam’s reach as an embrace, but rather as a stronghold. And a close-up of the…

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Articles and Presentations by Our Firm Attorneys

How Thick is the Blanket? – Preemptive Pardons as a Presidential Power

How Thick is the Blanket? – Preemptive Pardons as a Presidential Power
By: James Trusty

Supremely Improbable

Supremely Improbable
By: James Trusty

Presidential Immunity Ruling Stirs Sound and Fury

Presidential Immunity Ruling Stirs Sound and Fury
By: James Trusty

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