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Jonathan Turley Tag

Posted by William A. Jacobson on January 04, 2018 33 Comments
After Trump fired him, James Comey leaked four (4) of seven (7) internal FBI memos he created regarding his interactions with Trump to a Columbia Law School professor, for the purpose of passing on the contents to a reporter. The professor did just that, and it created the basis for NY Times reporting that Trump had demanded a "loyalty" pledge and also raised the issue of shutting down the investigation into Michael Flynn. Comey would testify to the same effect before Congress, which is when the fact of his leak came out under questioning by Susan Collins, almost by accident, and without any meaningful follow up to the bombshell testimony.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on December 31, 2017 7 Comments
This is not one of those heavy year-end posts. You want a heavy year-end post, then re-read my post from last year, New Year's Thanks. Some quick observations, in no particular order:

Posted by Mark Finkelstein on August 25, 2017 11 Comments
On today's Morning Joe, after accusing President Trump of "impairment," Howard Dean said that "people keep talking about" the 25th Amendment as a means to remove the president from office. But Dean immediately poured cold water on the notion, saying "I personally think that's probably hooey." Law professor Jonathan Turley agreed with Dean: "Yes, indeed, that falls under the constitutional doctrine of hooey." Turley went on to describe the complicated procedures under the 25th Amendment, which would ultimately require a two-thirds majority in both houses of congress. Concluded Turley: "the 25th Amendment is not a really good option."

Posted by William A. Jacobson on August 07, 2017 30 Comments
Jeff Sessions, in what so far is the defining event of the Trump administration, recused himself from involvement in the investigation of Russian meddling in the election because of a potential conflict. That recusal set in motion a series of steps that eventually led to the appointment by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, of Robert Mueller as Special Counsel. Trump, his family and associates, are caught in an ever expanding inquisition, and There’s no good way out for Trump from Special Counsel quicksand:

Posted by William A. Jacobson on July 13, 2017 34 Comments
If there's anything I learned from studying about and in the Soviet Union during college, it was that things were never as they seemed. There always seemed to be a manipulation and deception, whether for a specific purpose or just because they could. Kind of like the Clintons. Which leads me to the Donald Trump, Jr. meeting with Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya. My initial thoughts were in my post, Trump Jr. emails show amateurishness, but not “collusion” or illegality.

Posted by Mark Finkelstein on June 27, 2017 33 Comments
Appearing on today's Morning Joe, law professor Jonathan Turley noted that Chief Justice John Roberts teamed with Justice Anthony Kennedy to devise an exception to the Court's ruling of yesterday that permitted President Trump's travel ban to remain in place. Under the exception, the ban does not apply to foreign nationals with a "bona fide" relationship with a person or entity in the United States. Turley said that as of late, Roberts has been "swimming a lot in the middle of the pool," has become very Anthony "Kennedy-like," and would become the new swing vote should Kennedy retire.

Posted by Mark Finkelstein on June 13, 2017 17 Comments
In the wake of the Kathy Griffin severed-head fiasco, and the Central Park play depicting the assassination of President Trump, you'd think that pundits might have the good sense to lay off metaphors invoking the violent death of the president. But today comes law prof Jonathan Turley with yet another sanguinary simile. Appearing on Morning Joe to discuss President Trump's executive order on travel, Turley suggested that President Trump's tweets on the subject are undermining his case. Then Turley went there: "it's like a presidential version of death by cop. Every time you seem to make advances, the president seems to stand up and say 'shoot me, shoot me.'"

Posted by William A. Jacobson on June 08, 2017 73 Comments
I was not able to watch James Comey's testimony today live, as I was in the car much of the day. I was able to listen to the first hour and a half on terrestrial radio, as so many AM stations were carrying it that I was able to keep tuned even as one station faded out. After that, I followed on Twitter, and since then have seen many accounts and videos of what I missed. I'm not going to try to catalog the questions and answers, I'm late to that.

Posted by Mike LaChance on May 18, 2017 30 Comments
George Washington University Law Professor Jonathan Turley is often a voice of reason in a sea of media hysteria. Last night he spoke with Martha MacCallum of FOX News about the appointment of Robert Mueller as special counsel in the FBI Russia investigation. Turley suggested this could work out well for Trump. From the FOX News Insider:
Prof. Turley: Special Counsel Mueller 'Healthy Dose of Tylenol' For US Turley said that until Muller was named, President Trump could not fully clear his name in the face of ongoing leaks and allegations.

Posted by Mark Finkelstein on May 17, 2017 25 Comments
Joe Scarborough likes to make himself out to be a simple country lawyer. But on today's Morning Joe, he ran afoul of a cardinal lawyering rule: never ask a witness a question to which you don't know the answer. Scarborough laid out a lengthy timeline for the purpose of teeing up law professor Jonathan Turley to agree with Joe's conclusion that there was a prosecutable, federal case of obstruction of justice against President Trump. But Turley hit Joe between the eyes with his response:

"This isn't going to be real popular, but I don't think so . . . The fact is, I don't think this makes out an obstruction case."

Posted by New Neo on November 08, 2016 18 Comments
Last Friday, in the civil suit regarding the Sabrina Erdely story about an alleged gang rape at UVA---the attention-getting piece that portrayed "Jackie" as victim extraordinaire---the periodical Rolling Stone and journalist Sabrina Erdely were found guilty of defamation with actual malice:
A 10-person jury in Richmond, Va., found that Rolling Stone defamed a university administrator who was in charge of handling student complaints of sexual misconduct at the school... In a lawsuit filed last year, then-UVA associate dean of students Nicole Eramo alleged that the article and interviews Ms. Erdely gave about her reporting cast the administrator as the callous villain of its tale and falsely asserted that she discouraged a student identified only as “Jackie” from taking her rape allegations to the police.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on April 13, 2016 16 Comments
In December 2013, we reported on how a Utah federal judge strikes down key part of anti-polygamy law in a challenge by the  Brown family of "Sister Wives" TV fame:
The legalization of polygamy followed logically from the legal arguments against one man-one woman, as was predicted not just by me, but also by Professor Martha Nussbaum, one of the leading legal advocates for gay marriage, “Polygamy would have to be permitted.” And it’s coming true in a small step, as a federal court in Utah, while not holding that polygamists were entitled to state-sanctioned civil marriage, nonetheless struck portions of Utah’s anti-polygamy laws banning polygamous “cohabitation” and polygamous “purported” marriages. The full decision is embedded at the bottom of the post....

Posted by Fuzzy Slippers on August 01, 2015 31 Comments
Over the years, Obama has lamented the fact that he's not a king, an emperor, or a dictator and has stated that it would be "so much easier to be president of China."  He also stated no fewer than 22 times that he does not have the authority for executive amnesty . . . before doing it. Apparently recognizing the limitations of being the president of the United States, Obama can't help musing about a third term.  He thinks he'd win. Watch:
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