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How Thick is the Blanket? – Preemptive Pardons as a Presidential Power
FEATURED
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…
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…
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…
Court Finds State Ban on Sex Offenders’ Use of Social Media Tramples Speech Rights
January 25, 2013
Court Finds State Ban on Sex Offenders’ Use of Social Media Tramples Speech Rights
By: Steven Eichorn
In a January 23, 2013, ruling, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit held that an Indiana law that prohibited most registered sex offenders from using social media websites was unconstitutional because it was “not narrowly tailored to protect the state’s interest.” The decision was restricted to the Indiana statute on sex offenders and did not extend its reasoning to another, related issue…
Online Pharma Exec Gets 4 Years in Prison for Selling Foreign Drugs in U.S.
January 11, 2013
Online Pharma Exec Gets 4 Years in Prison for Selling Foreign Drugs in U.S.
By: Ifrah Law
Andrew Strempler, a Canadian citizen who helped to pioneer the cross-border online pharmacy industry, was sentenced on January 9, 2013, to four years in prison in connection with allegations that his former company sold fake and misbranded drugs to U.S. citizens. The sentence follows Strempler’s guilty plea in October in federal court in Miami to a charge of conspiracy to commit mail fraud. Strempler also…
Are the Feds Enlisting FedEx to Police the Illegal Pharma Market?
January 4, 2013
Are the Feds Enlisting FedEx to Police the Illegal Pharma Market?
By: Nicole Kardell
The government may be coming up with a new cost-effective measure to help balance the federal budget – enlisting private companies to do their policing. A 2011 settlement between the Justice Department and Google for $500 million is one recent example. Under the settlement, Google acknowledged responsibility for improperly aiding rogue pharmacies by allowing the pharmacies to post ads through the search engine’s AdWords program….
Bill Could Put Reins on Prosecutors’ Efforts to Seize Domain Names
December 27, 2012
Bill Could Put Reins on Prosecutors’ Efforts to Seize Domain Names
By: Ifrah Law
Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif), a senior member of the House Judiciary Committee, has indicated that she is drafting legislation that would seek to increase judicial oversight over prosecutors’ efforts to act against Internet domain names accused of copyright infringement. While the value of such legislation will depend on the details of the bill, the notion of creating greater control over prosecutorial seizure of domain names…
N.J. Again Passes Online-Poker Bill; Decision Now in Governor’s Hands
December 20, 2012
N.J. Again Passes Online-Poker Bill; Decision Now in Governor’s Hands
By: Ifrah Law
New Jersey could soon become the third state to legalize online gaming within its borders. Its State Senate on December 20, 2012, voted 33-3 to legalize online poker in the state. The General Assembly had previously approved the bill by a vote of 48-25-3. The bill was able to achieve significant bipartisan support in both houses of the state legislature. The bill will now be…
