Category Archives: Articles

Trump and Stone can’t be Sued in D.C.

04 Wednesday Jul 2018

Posted by in Articles, Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

U.S. District Court Judge Ellen Huvelle, of Washington, D.C., decided yesterday that her court lacks personal jurisdiction, or alternatively that it constitutes improper venue, to entertain a suit brought against the Trump Campaign and Roger Stone by members of the Democratic National Convention (“DNC”). The suit alleged that Stone and the Campaign conspired with unidentified Russian Agents and Wikileaks to hack the DNC’s emails, a tort amounting to conspiracy to violate their privacy rights, to inflict emotional harm,  and to  interfere with their right to support the candidate of their choice. The judge ruled that D.C. lacked sufficient contacts with the allegations to make it a viable place for suit, but avoided making any ruling on the sufficiency of the Plaintiff’s evidence.

So what’s this result mean? We keep holding our breath, while hoping they can find a place to bring their suit. Should these Plaintiffs manage to find a court willing to entertain their action, then they will be able to bring the power of liberal civil discovery procedure against the Trump campaign, and perhaps expedite the collusion investigation. Fingers crossed. Interested readers can find the opinion here.

BCWin17_F_Huvelle_Slide2-690x414.jpgJudge Ellen Huvelle, Picture taken from lawmagazine.bc.edu

The Travel Ban, Constitutionality, and Impeachment

28 Thursday Jun 2018

Posted by in Articles, Uncategorized

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The Supreme Court held, yesterday, that the Trump Administration’s travel ban had “sufficient national security justification to survive a rational basis review,” and that therefore it would reverse the preliminary injunction granted by the District Court. This is an indication that the travel ban is constitutional, and allows it to go forth unhindered, at least for the time being. Because the travel ban has been cited in at least Representative Green’s impeachment resolution as evidence of the President’s “bigotry,” one might wonder what effect this decision will have on the President’s chances of impeachment.

While it could be argued that the Supreme Court decision could set some, perhaps ethereal, precedent, it is still Congress that decides whether the President will be removed. And while the Supreme Court’s decision could in some way be construed as an endorsement of the executive order, so too can Justice Sotomayor’s dissent remind Congress of the reason the travel ban was cited as an impeachable offense in the first place:  “[the] appearance of discrimination that the President’s words have created.” Though Trump’s “muslim ban,” may have been rolled back enough to be constitutional, it can still evidence the  President’s bigotry, and therefore could still contribute to his impeachment.

ap_18115517534302_custom-de2433708c26b21f70c27b24fa1da4764a5b7a5d-s1600-c85.jpgAndrew Harnik/AP

Terribly Charitable Trump

15 Friday Jun 2018

Posted by in Articles, Uncategorized

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , ,

The New York State attorney general’s office is suing the Donald J. Trump Foundation for “violating campaign finance laws, self-dealing, and illegal coordination with the presidential campaign.” The suit alleges that the charity used its funds to help Trump curry political favor, and seeks to dissolves the charity, to ban Trump and his three children from serving on non-profit organizations, and to collect $2.8 million in restitution (“the amount raised for the foundation at a 2016 Iowa political fund-raiser.”). Interested readers can find the petition here.

These election law violations are just the latest on a laundry list of unfit behavior, including conspiracy to defraud the United States,  inappropriate pardons, obstruction of justice, and generally dishonest behavior; however, these charges seem especially important. It may be a local’s bias, a sort of impeachment ethnocentrism, but it feels significant that these charges are brought so soon after the resignation of  Missouri Governor Eric Greitens, who was alleged to have illegally used his charity to raise campaign finance funds. In a country where the removal of executive officials is so rare, it may be that Greitens’ resignation could act as a sort of precedent. Is using a charity to raise campaign funds the line one must not cross?

15trumpfoundation-01-jumbo-v2.jpgDamon Winter/The New York Times

The G-7 plus 1?

09 Saturday Jun 2018

Posted by in Articles, Uncategorized

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

President Trump, at the annual summit meeting, suggested that Russia be readmitted into the G-7, the group of 7 nations (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States) which meet to discuss world-economic policy. Russia was ousted from the then G-8 in 2014 for seizing parts of the Ukraine. Trump defended his suggestion, stating as follows:

“You know, whether you like it or not — and it may not be politically correct — but we have a world to run. And in the G-7, which used to be the G-8, they threw Russia out. They should let Russia come back in. Because we should have Russia at the negotiating table.”

President Trump acted antagonistically at the summit meeting, rendering himself an outsider, and causing some to refer to it as “G-6 plus 1.”  For some this is a cause of concern: Trump treating allies as enemies and enemies as allies. And it could further bolster the theory that there was and is collusion going on between Russia and Trump; however, it is unclear that that rejoining the G-8 is actually on Putin’s agenda. In response to the news, the Kremlin spokesman, Dmitri S. Peskov, said that “we are putting emphasis on different formats,” insinuating that Russia is not particularly interested in rejoining the G-7. Russian officials made similar comments in 2014 when they were removed: Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that Russia was “not attached to this format and we don’t see a great misfortune if it will not gather.” So if Trump is acting on behalf of Russia, it is the result of some very coy maneuvering. Regardless of the reason for his stance, however, it betrays more of the same peculiar friendless we have seen since the beginning of Trump’s presidency. We will find out exactly what it means in due time.

g7-summit-trump-may-merkel-macron-809690.jpgexpress.co.uk

The Foreign Emoluments Clause: an Analysis and History

31 Thursday May 2018

Posted by in Articles, Uncategorized

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , ,

Erik M. Jensen, Coleman P. Burke Professor Emeritus of Law of Case Western Reserve University, wrote a journal article published in the Elon Law Review titled the Foreign Emoluments Clause. That article examines the definition of emoluments, the history of the emoluments clause, and debate as to whether the clause applies to Trump and his businesses.  He sums up the problem of the Trump Hotels as follows:

[S]uppose a foreign diplomat is paying the same rate as the guest in the next room, but he is occupying a room that would otherwise have been empty for the night.Or suppose the diplomat, in selecting sleeping quarters, chooses an otherwise unoccupied luxury suite over an otherwise unoccupied, but substantially less expensive, room. In those cases, whatever is paid for the room, or the extra that is paid for the luxury suite, is mostly gravy for the hotel’s owners. Why is that not a potential problem under the Foreign Emoluments Clause (at least if we assume that the presidency is an “office of profit or trust”)? By any standard, the arrangement is unseemly, and by its terms the clause has no de minimis exception.

180529204622-trump-rally-052918-exlarge-169.jpg

Limiting the Removal Power

28 Monday May 2018

Posted by in Articles, Uncategorized

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , ,

Qualified Tenure: Presidential Removal of the FBI Director is an article written by Leah A. Hamlin which was published in the Ohio Northern University Law Review. It addresses the question of whether the President’s power to remove an FBI director is limited by the 10-year term instituted by Congress, and whether it may, constitutionally, be further limited by Congress. Hamlin ultimately concludes:

that the ten-year term does not limit the president’s ability to remove the director at will, and that, given the importance of the FBI director to the effective functioning of a unitary executive, Congress may not limit the president’s removal power without infringing on the separation of powers limits laid out in case law.

This question is especially significant, of course, in light of the firing of James Comey which was met with such outrage, and which some believe could constitute obstruction of justice.  Though Hamlin concludes that Congress cannot not interfere with the President’s removal power, it is doubtful that her conclusion would extend so far as to suggest that Congress could not wield its impeachment power in wake of a removal which constitutes a high crime or misdemeanor.

gettyimages-694398560.jpgThe Washington Post/Getty Images

A Deeper Conspiracy: Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates Enter the Mix

20 Sunday May 2018

Posted by in Articles, Uncategorized

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The New York Times reports that Donald Trump Jr. met with George Nader, an emissary for the princes of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, and Joel Zamel, an Israeli social media specialist, 3 months before President Trump’s 2016 election. Supposedly, the main purpose of the meeting was to develop relationships among the parties, but there was also discussion of the potential for social media manipulation on behalf of the Trump campaign. Nader and Zamel met with the Trump team again after he was elected. These meetings are being investigated by the FBI.

The question which may spring to one’s mind is whether this meeting could constitute further conspiracy to defraud the United States. This question has been analyzed thoroughly by Professor Bowman in the context of the Russian Lawyer Meeting. The crime is composed of two basic elements: 1) an agreement to 2) defraud the United States. The United States can be defrauded of its right to a fair and honest election, and we will assume for the sake of this post that the manipulation of social media constitutes such a fraudulent taking (though that may in fact be a gray area). So what is left to be examined is whether the meeting between Trump Jr., Nader, and Zamel constitutes an agreement.

Though we have no direct evidence of an agreement, a conspiracy may be established, at least in the context of antitrust, by parallel behavior accompanied by certain “plus factors” (those which add to the circumstantial possibility of agreement).  What we know is that Nader paid Zamel $2 million after President Trump was elected, the reason for which is unclear. We also know that Trump recently abandoned the Iran Nuclear Deal, a position Nader was known for advocating. This is probably not enough to establish a conspiracy, but perhaps further investigation will reveal more. There is also some evidence of ties between Nader and Zamel and Russia. Though it is very unclear as of yet, we may be dealing a conspiracy much larger than we first imagined.

20DC-INVESTIGATE-nader-superJumbo-v2.jpgRon Sachs/Picture-Alliance, via Associated Press

Trump won’t be Indicted

17 Thursday May 2018

Posted by in Articles, Uncategorized

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

, , , , , , , ,

Rudolph Giuliani claims that he has it on good authority that Mueller will not indict President Trump; and the Washington Post says that there is good reason to believe him, because the Justice Department guidelines say that he can’t.  This question has been examined by Professor Frank Bowman on this blog; and he pointed out that the question, as far as Mueller goes, is not whether an indictment will occur, but whether Mueller will recommend that Trump be indicted. Bowman proposed that this recommendation may come in two forms; that Trump be indicted after his presidency, or that he be indicted immediately. The latter recommendation, even if doomed to fail, will potentially have the same effect as the former recommendation: Mueller’s report will reach Congress and lead to impeachment.

180503095830-01-rudy-giuliani-file-exlarge-169.jpgCarolyn Kaster, AP

 

Pres. Trump Hiding his Health

03 Thursday May 2018

Posted by in Articles, Uncategorized

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Trump’s former doctor, Harold Bornstein, claims that a 2015 statement about the  President’s health, which was then attributed to Bornstein, was in fact written by Trump himself. For those who don’t recall, a passage from the “Doctor’s letter” which received special attention went as follows: “[h]is physical strength and stamina are extraordinary. If elected, Mr. Trump, I can state unequivocally, will be the healthiest individual ever elected to the presidency.” Bornstein went on to say that, after he let it slip that Trump took a hair-loss medication, three men from Trump’s office, a group which included Alan Garten, a lawyer, and Keith Schiller, former director of Oval Office  operations, came to his office and took Trump’s medical records in a “raid”-like fashion.

Trump’s actions have been described as totalitarian, and one opinion summarizes his concern over the news as follows: “[d]oes he have a condition or problem that will shorten his life or impair his ability to do the job?” The problem with Trump’s attempts to hide his medical history can be divided into two issues: 1) his fitness to serve, and 2) a trend of dishonesty.

There has been some speculation about the use of the 25th amendment to remove Trump for mental or physical unfitness.  One might argue that if Trump is trying to hide some serious health issues, that might increase the likelihood of his removal; however, Trump is hardly the first president to have and hide health issues. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt  concealed the true extent of his polio-caused paralysis throughout his political career, and kept his increasing heart problems carefully under wraps during his third and fourth terms. President Wilson suffered from a severe stroke while in office which his wife and doctor hid from the public, and President Kennedy, though “famous for having a bad back,” successfully hid “other illnesses, including persistent digestive problems and Addison’s disease, a life-threatening lack of adrenal function.”

What may distinguish Mr. Trump’s blatant falsification of his medical history from the concealment practiced by some of his predecessors is the degree to which this incident is part of a larger pattern of lying.

The topic of President Trump’s pervasive falsehoods has been explored thoroughly on this blog. Should congress choose to pursue impeachment on that basis, Trump’s efforts to hide his health may constitute another avenue of inquiry.

 

Justices Signal that Revised Travel Ban is Constitutional

26 Thursday Apr 2018

Posted by in Articles, Uncategorized

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , ,

Oral arguments over the Trump Administration’s new travel ban occurred yesterday in front  of the Supreme Court. The conservative justices of the Court signaled that they believed the revised ban to be a constitutional exercise of executive power done in pursuit of national security. Significantly, Chief Justice Roberts indicated that President Trump’s statements detailing an intention to implement a “Muslim-ban” would likely not be considered in determining the order’s constitutionality.

If the Supreme Court ultimately confirms that the revised travel ban is constitutional despite Trump’s statements, it may have a negative effect on future impeachment proceedings. Representative Al Green’s impeachment resolution cited President Trump’s travel ban as one reason he should be impeached. Though an act may be both constitutional and worthy of impeachment, as they have far different standards, the Supreme Court decision could still set a precedent. It may act as an endorsement of sorts.

A3C0CAC7-5D5B-4C82-8E01-AB1360326948_cx0_cy7_cw0_w1023_r1_s.jpgV. Macchi/VOA