To see where things stand, we have to back up a bit. Senate Rule 1 (Senate rules) says the Senate trial kicks off when the House sends over notice of the impeachment: (As a few of my clever followers on Twitter pointed out, the word “whensoever” takes on added significance, given the current situation.) Pelosi …
While in law school, I attended a lecture from a visiting elections lawyer. Basically he was there to tell us what it’s like to be an election lawyer. He told us this story: A volunteer worker in a local election found a box of ballots that hadn’t been counted. She took the box out to …
John Bolton, who refused to testify in the House proceedings, said he’d testify at the Senate trial, if subpoenaed. This puts Republican Majority Leader Mitch McConnell in a tight spot. Why? Let’s do a quick review of the Senate trial rules. The full post I did is here. Rules V and VII, provide that the …
First, Trump tweeted a violation of the War Power Act, and thumbed his nose at Congressional power and the separation of powers doctrine: For a Twitter thread by Yale prof. Oona Hathaway on the laws broken by this tweets this tweet, click here. The House Foreign Affairs Committee responds by Tweet reminding the President he’s …
Here’s how Trump and Rudy’s gambit would have make Ukraine MORE corrupt instead of less, thus giving Russia more power over Ukraine. Subtitle: Another reason why asking “where is the crime?” intentionally misses the point. Sources: This NPR interview, and the information collected here. From the NPR interview: There’s a “disconnect between how we look …
Best wishes to all of you for the New Year. 2020 will be the year to make voting cool again. Suggested resolutions. #1: Register new voters. Only 58% of the eligible voters in the US voted in 2016. If you live in the US and you’re able: find those who dislike Trump or lean progressive …
Yesterday I wrote about using anti-hardball reform tactics to blunt GOP power grabs and preserve democratic institutions. People have been asking whether Pelosi is playing constitutional hardball with the Articles of Impeachment. I don’t think so. When we’re talking about Pelosi, it’s important to look at her exact words. What she actually says is often …
(This is an update of earlier threads. Long-time readers will find much of this repeated. But I have a lot of new readers, and it was time to do an update.) Harvard Prof. Levitsky, in this lecture explains that the U.S. is passing through a difficult transition. Before the Civil Rights and women’s rights movements, …
I’ve been getting lots of worried questions about all the judges Trump has appointed, mostly because of headlines like this one in The Guardian: A little history will dispel much of the panic. (In a separate post, I’ll chart the way forward.) Through most of U.S. history, courts have been right wing. How far to the …
Here’s the email dump from Friday night. (The administration released the Ukraine-related emails in compliance with a court order.) The emails confirm testimony gathered during the House impeachment investigation, particularly Laura Cooper’s, and adds a few new details. Much of the emails look like this: Raising the question: Why all the redactions? Classified to protect …
