Category Archives: Law

Reason

The Justice Department assault on it:

Sadly, the Department of Justice can probably annoy everyone a great deal before it either loses or gives up trying. “The government doesn’t need reasonable suspicion or probable case to use grand jury subpoenas to seek information,” White confirms. “Regrettably, the government can probably abuse the Grand Jury subpoena power this way.” What it almost certainly cannot do, though, is win in court. Indeed, it is especially bizarre that the DOJ would pick this fight given that just last week the Supreme Court made it clear that, in order for a person to be found guilty of issuing “true threats,” prosecutors must demonstrate not only that a reasonable person would construe the words at hand as a “threat” but convince a jury that he knew what he was doing. Writing for the majority, Chief Justice Roberts concluded that “federal criminal liability generally does not turn solely on the results of an act without considering the defendant’s mental state.” Under this standard, jokes, hyperbole, and rank stupidity in the comments section of a website are, frankly, not going to cut it. Good old mens rea would make sure of that.

Mens rea doesn’t seem to mean much any more. Few people are aware of the multiple federal felonies per day that they are probably committing.

Executive Amnesty

with benefits:

Terrific–so the President can take executive action that not only transforms individuals whom our law classifies as “deportable” into “not deportable,” he can simultaneously confer upon them multiple benefits, including work permits and now, tax refunds, which will be funded by law-abiding individuals who are present in the country legally.

Fundamentally transforming America!

“Blue-State Justice”

…is rarer than red:

On Thursday, Virginia Governor and Democratic candidate for president Terry McAuliffe issued a Task Force report on campus sexual assault organized by the state’s Democratic attorney general, Mark Herring. This 107-page report was perhaps most notable for what it did not include. It did not once mention the phrase “false accusations.” It appears being framed does not concern Virginia policymakers. Perhaps for that reason, this report, which discussed how Virginia colleges need to respond to sexual assault allegations didn’t mention the highest-profile rape allegation on a Virginia campus in recent years. Rolling Stone, Sabrina Rubin Erdely, or the false accuser “Jackie” were, it seems, not relevant to a discussion about campus rape claims in Virginia.

If you wanted to destroy academia, it would be harder to come up with better plans than these people have.

[Update a while later]

“We literally can’t afford to let the Title IX inquisition continue.”

One More Chance For Justice At The IRS

The House has sent a letter to the new Attorney General:

Specifically, the committee provided documents that show three acts by Ms. Lerner that may have violated criminal statutes. One, she helped to target only conservative organizations, thereby robbing them of equal protection and due process. Two, she may have impeded the Treasury inspector general’s investigation of the matter by giving misleading statements. Three, she risked exposing (and may have exposed) confidential taxpayer information by using her personal email address to conduct official business.

And that’s only what we know so far. Congress’s problem is that the IRS has stonewalled it at every turn. The Treasury inspector general, J. Russell George, has become tentative after all the Democratic criticism of his probe. It seems the Justice Department is the only body with the powers to shake loose some answers about what happened.

The Ryan letter asks Ms. Lynch to tell him the status of that referral, and Speaker Boehner chimed in with a statement calling for the new attorney general to prove to Americans that “justice will be served.”

Ms. Lynch’s response will be enormously telling about her view of her job.

It will. But don’t hold your breath.