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Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion

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On Friday, November 16, 2018, the federal District Court in D.C. granted a temporary restraining order compelling the White House to reinstate CNN's Jim Acosta's "hard pass," that gives him privileged access to the White House for press briefings and events. As described in our coverage of the decision, there is no written opinion or transcript as of now that can be reviewed to understand the precise parameters and reasoning of the judge. As of this writing, we only have media reports as to the judge's stated reasons.

LATEST NEWS

You have to wonder if Representative Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) isn't kicking herself and hearing a constant refrain of "be careful what you wish for" drum through her head.  The House is back in Democrat hands as of January, but she's saddled with a rabble of socialist freshmen who are intent on shaking things up . . . starting with Pelosi's much-coveted prize, the House Speakership. Leading the socialist Democrat charge is newly-elected socialist Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY).  Not only is she hopelessly clueless about . . . pretty much everything, but she's so sure of herself that she's already attended a protest against her own party, specifically against Pelosi.

Senator Bill Nelson (D-FL) has conceded to Florida Governor Rick Scott (R).  Scott will become Florida's junior senator, making this the first time in over a century that Florida has had two Republican senators.  This flipped Senate seat will also strengthen the Republican majority in the Senate to 52-48.  Prior to the midterms, the GOP held a slightly slimmer majority of 51-49. Scott announced that Nelson, who has held public office since 1972, conceded in a phone call Sunday after the second mandatory recount showed Scott leading by approximately 10,000 votes.

As the #NeverTrump right joins forces with the progressive left to call on acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker to recuse himself from the Mueller probe, President Trump appeared on Fox News Sunday and voiced his support for Whitaker's decisions regarding the investigation. Asked if he would be "okay" with any attempt by Whitaker to "limit or curtail" the Mueller investigation, Trump responded, "Look, it's gonna be up to him."

This past Wednesday the Ohio House voted by a 64 to 26 margin to pass HB 228, which seeks to bring Ohio self-defense law into the modern era. It is believed by advocates of this legal advance that the Senate version of the bill will pass that chamber easily, and with sufficient votes to overcome a promised veto by Ohio Governor John Kasich (R). Although the bill makes several changes to Ohio self-defense and gun law, the changes of most interest in the context of self-defense involve changes to the burden of persuasion on a legal claim of self-defense and the adoption of a “hard” stand-your-ground provision.

President Donald Trump will travel to California this Saturday to meet with victims of several deadly wildfires currently burning in the region that have already claimed the lives of over 70 people.
The state is currently fighting two fires, one outside of Los Angeles and another far more deadly fire north of Sacramento. As of Thursday afternoon, authorities had confirmed 56 deaths in the northern California fire known as the Camp Fire, and another three deaths in the southern fire, known as the Woolsey fire.

U.S. District Judge Mark Walker upheld Florida law that "forbids county election offices from counting vote-by-mail ballots received after 7 p.m. Election Day." This was the last best hope for Democrats after suffering several setbacks in recent days, including Florida Governor Rick Scott gaining over 800 votes in the mandatory recount, yet as of this writing Nelson has yet to concede.

This “Case of the Week” involves a conviction and sentencing out of Texas this past week, in which Terry Thompson was sentenced to 25 years in prison as a result of his use of a BJJ-style choke hold that caused the death John Hernandez in May 2017, as reported this week by KTRK (ABC) Television News. I also previously covered this case right here at Legal Insurrection: “Law of Self Defense: Murder re-trial for man who confronted public urination.”

Friday, Georgia Democrat candidate for Governor Stacy Abrams acknowledged that she had not and would not win, but refused to concede. Similar to her election night speech, Abrams criticized Kemp and claimed he is "leveraging his role as the state’s top elections official to suppress voters," according to the AJC.