• Home
  • Mission of This Site
  • Contact

Impeachable Offenses?

~ Examining the Case for Removal of the 45th President of the United States

Impeachable Offenses?

Tag Archives: suit

Suing Trump over Free Speech Violations

29 Wednesday Aug 2018

Posted by crosbysamuel in Uncategorized

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

first amendment, first amendment violation, Impeachment, manhattan, naomi reice buchwald, president, sonja r. west, suit, trump, twitter, unblocked, university of georgia school of law, users

It was reported today that Donald Trump unblocked several more Twitter accounts pursuant to a ruling from May 23rd. U.S. District Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald in Manhattan held that government official’s twitter accounts were public forums and that blocking users based on their political beliefs was a violation of their first amendment rights. Sonja R. West, of the University of Georgia School of Law, offers a more in depth analysis of the intricacies of bringing a first amendment lawsuit against the President in her article entitled Suing the President for First Amendment Violations. Though she expresses some doubt about the capacity of one to sue the President for first amendment violations, West concludes: “courts should take into account the potential damage to our public debate if the President cannot be held accountable for violating the expressive rights of the people.” It would seem that Judge Buchwald agreed.

trump-on-phone.pngTheHustle.co

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook

Like this:

Like Loading...

Kavanaugh, Kavanaugh, Kavanaugh

10 Tuesday Jul 2018

Posted by crosbysamuel in Articles, Uncategorized

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

appointed, Congress, immunity, impeach, indictment, judge, justice, kavanaugh, kennedy, law, law review, minnesota, Mueller, pardon, roberts, shield, sitting, suit, trump

Have you heard? A new Supreme Court Justice has been appointed. His name is Brett Kavanaugh, he hails from the U.S. Court of Appeals, D.C. Circuit, and he’s got Democrats a little bit nervous. Why? Because they think he may try to shield Trump from the Mueller investigation.

Kavanaugh argued in an article written for the Minnesota Law Review in 2009 that sitting presidents should be immune from civil suit and criminal indictment. He cited the investigation of Clinton as a reason for this view, and has implied “that the Starr investigation distracted Clinton from focusing on Osama bin Laden.” Some find this view alarming — however, take a deep breath. As Noah Feldman points out, in an article published by Bloomberg Law, what Kavanaugh actually suggests is that Congress should pass a law that would protect the President. Inherent in that suggestion is an admission that the Supreme Court does not have the power to immunize the President itself. So worries that the Justices may, for instance, enjoin Mueller’s invesitgation, are probably unfounded.

That being said,  that doesn’t mean Kavanaugh cannot be of use to the President in other ways. Kavanaugh may rule that the President can pardon himself, as Trump has suggested in the past. Alternatively, Congress may just take Kavanaugh up on his suggestion and pass a law immunizing Trump. Much remains to be seen.

1200x-1.jpgAl Drago/Bloomberg

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook

Like this:

Like Loading...

Trump and Stone can’t be Sued in D.C.

04 Wednesday Jul 2018

Posted by crosbysamuel in Articles, Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

agent, campaign, Collusion, Conspiracy, D.C., democratic national convention, dismissed, DNC, elleb, Emails, hacked, huvelle, judge, lawsuit, personal jurisdiction, president, roger stone, Russian, suit, trump, venue, washington, wikileaks

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

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook

Like this:

Like Loading...

Trump Walks Away from SoHo Hotel

29 Wednesday Nov 2017

Posted by crosbysamuel in Articles, Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

foreign emoluments clause, hotel, SoHO, standing, suit, trump

The Trump Organization recently received a buyout deal to walk away from Trump SoHo — one of its hotels. President Trump’s lawyers say that in so doing, Plaintiffs who are suing Trump for violation of the Foreign Emoluments Clause, many of which are competitors of Trump SoHo, will lose standing for their lawsuit. The Foreign Emoluments clause is something which has been considered extensively on this blog. However, if the Plaintiffs lose their standing, confirmation of the violation will be substantially less likely.

trumpdonald_101717gn2_lead.jpgGreg Nash

 

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook

Like this:

Like Loading...

Blog Owner

Frank O. Bowman, III


Floyd R. Gibson Missouri Endowed Professor of Law
University of Missouri School of Law

Web Profile

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Professor Bowman on Impeachment »

Bibliographies

Explore bibliographies categorized by author and subject, and find other resources.

Posts by Topic

  • The Case for Impeachment
  • Defining Impeachable Conduct
  • Impeachment on Foreign Policy Grounds
  • Impeachment for Unfitness
  • Obstruction of Justice
  • Abuse of Criminal Investigative Authority
  • Election Law Violations
  • Foreign Emoluments
  • Conspiracy to Defraud the   United States
  • Politics of Impeachment
  • Lying as an Impeachable Offense
  • Abuse of Pardon Power
  • Electoral College
  • House Impeachment Resolutions
  • The Logan Act
  • The Mueller Investigation
  • Impeachment of Missouri Governor Greitens
  • Historical Precedent for Impeachment
  • Messages from Professor Bowman

Student Contributors »

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Blog at WordPress.com.

  • Follow Following
    • Impeachable Offenses?
    • Join 204 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • Impeachable Offenses?
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
 

Loading Comments...
 

    %d bloggers like this: