MADURO IN CUSTODY—A CONSTITUTIONAL ACTION BY THE PRESIDENT   INTRODUCTION Americans on Saturday woke up to the news that Venezuelan “President” Nicolas Maduro and his wife were captured in Caracas and taken to New York to face an indictment that issued from the Southern District of New York in March of 2020. It can be…

Ilya Shapiro speaking at the 2016 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in National Harbor, Maryland. Photo by Gage Skidmore, licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0. This article was originally published on Shapiro’s Gavel on Substack and is republished here with permission. I was recently invited to participate in a symposium on the future of the conservative legal movement hosted by The…

The 167th JAG section and the Alabama National Guard Trial Defense Service finishes a mock trial, Aug. 8, 2018, at the Calhoun County Courthouse, Anniston, Alabama. (Army National Guard photo by Staff Sgt. Katherine Dowd.) MILITARY ORDERS 101—SIX MEMBERS OF CONGRESS TRY TO TAMPER WITH WELL-SETTLED MILITARY DISCIPLINE AND POLICY   INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND I…

THE NUREMBERG TRIALS—THE VICTOR’S RETRIBUTION OR A REVOLUTION IN INTERNATIONAL LAW?   INTRODUCTION AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND November 20th, 1945, saw opening statements in the Palace of Justice in the city of Nuremberg, Germany. An Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court, Robert Jackson, handpicked by President Truman in Executive Order 9547, laid out as…

PRESIDENT TRUMP’S CONTROVERSIAL TARIFFS AT THE SUPREME COURT ON NOVEMBER 5TH—THE ISSUES AND POSSIBLE OUTCOMES   INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND I have routinely in this Blog opined that the President has sought to utilize his Article II vested powers to protect national security in a variety of ways. In the realm of immigration enforcement, he has…

The USS Gravely, an Aegis-class destroyer, deployed to the waters near Venezuela as part of counter-narcotics operations. THE USE OF DEADLY MILITARY FORCE TO DEFEND THE HOMELAND—LAWLESSNESS OR ARTICLE II AUTHORITY TO ADDRESS WHAT IS CLEARLY IRREGULAR WARFARE?   INTRODUCTION My analysis herein may be considered an outlier—many argue that what is occurring in the…

SCOTUS OCTOBER TERM CONTINUING COVERAGE—IN NOVEMBER A PRESIDENT’S ARTICLE II AUTHORITY TO REMOVE SUPERIOR OFFICERS WILL BE VINDICATED—ANOTHER DISMANTLING OF THE FOURTH BRANCH OF GOVERNMENT   INTRODUCTION Humphrey’s Executor v. United States, 295 U.S. 602 (1935), decided by the Supreme Court during FDR’s New Deal Era, upheld Congress’ creation and protection of the Federal Trade…

“Panorama of United States Supreme Court Building at Dusk” by Joe Ravi is licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0 SUPREME COURT OCTOBER 2025 TERM—CONTINUING COVERAGE—LOUISIANA CHALLENGES RACE-BASED REDISTRICTING AND SHOULD WIN   INTRODUCTION On October 15th, 2025, the Supreme Court will hear arguments on yet another challenge to the requirements of the Voting Rights Act, which led…

THE SUPREME COURT’S OCTOBER 2025 TERM BEGINS—SOME CASE HIGHLIGHTS   INTRODUCTION The October Term of the United States Supreme Court features oral argument on cases that include the conflict between the objectives of Title IX and the social contagion of “gender identity,” which has seen a conflation of sex and “gender identity” in Circuit Courts…

THE TRUMP FDA GIVES HOPE AND A PATHWAY TO PARENTS OF AUTISTIC AND ADHD CHILDREN—THE MAJORITY OF DEMOCRATS STILL ENJOY BIG PHARMA MONEY—FOLLOW IT HERE   INTRODUCTION Recently, and ignoring the cries of “junk science,” President Trump and his HHS and FDA team of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Marty Makary publicly announced that the…

RYAN WESLEY ROUTH CONVICTED ON SEVERAL COUNTS INCLUDING ATTEMPTED ASSASSINATION OF A MAJOR PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE—INTO THE WEEDS LOOK BACK   INTRODUCTION   In the wake of Ryan Routh’s arrest last year, I wrote a piece that we will republish here in order to provide an understanding of why the Florida Federal Jury only took a…

An image of the Utah state flag and the American Flag generated by Google Gemini. THE TRIAL OF TYLER ROBINSON—TWO SOVEREIGNS OR ONE? KEEP IT SIMPLE   INTRODUCTION The violent and senseless killing of Charlie Kirk at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah, on September 10th, 2025, was a political assassination that will have a…

The USS Gravely, an Aegis-class destroyer, deployed to the waters near Venezuela as part of counter-narcotics operations. THE PRESIDENT AUTHORIZES A LETHAL STRIKE ON A VESSEL TRANSPORTING DRUGS—THE OPENING SHOT IN A NEW AND EVOLVING WAR ON TERROR   INTRODUCTION The current Administration is formulating a strategy to join issue with an increasingly dangerous influx…

A LABOR DAY WEEKEND TARIFF RULING FROM THE COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FEDERAL CIRCUIT—A SEPARATION OF POWERS SHOWDOWN GOES TO SCOTUS   INTRODUCTION AND ANALYSIS On Friday, August 30th, a divided federal appeals court issued a ruling on the majority of the President’s tariffs imposed to address various declared emergencies from trade imbalance, fentanyl…

THE TRUMP ORGANIZATION IS PARTIALLY RELIEVED FROM LETITIA JAMES’S CORRUPT CIVIL ACTION, BUT REAL JUSTICE AWAITS A FURTHER APPEAL   INTRODUCTION AND ANALYSIS It appears that a few Justices of the Appellate Division, First Department, an intermediate appellate court within the New York legal structure, may have read my blog on these issues from September…

EXPLODING THE STATUS QUO AND ENSURING LIFE AND LIBERTY IS NOT AUTOCRACY—IT IS A STRONG ARTICLE II PRESIDENT WIELDING CONSTITUTIONAL AUTHORITY   INTRODUCTION The status quo in the Nation’s Capital has seen a disproportionate share of violent crime, the actual impact and effect of which seems to contradict so-called crime statistics. A politically broad swath…

The District of Columbia Court of Appeals. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license. JUDGE BOASBERG’S UNCONSTITUTIONAL QUEST TO HOLD TRUMP’S DOJ IN CONTEMPT COMES TO AN ABRUPT AND IGNOBLE END   INTRODUCTION Previous editions of this blog have examined the drama between the Executive and Judicial branches as…

JACK SMITH UNDER INVESTIGATION—THE PROS AND CONS   INTRODUCTION Donald Trump was elected to a second term of office in part due to a large portion of the electorate rejecting the weaponization of the law, which has assumed the nefarious term “lawfare.” Jack Smith secured indictments in federal District Courts in the District of Columbia…

TRUMP SUES THE WALL STREET JOURNAL AND ITS OWNERS—A DIFFICULT ROAD AHEAD   INTRODUCTION Last week the Wall Street Journal took the low road and published a story describing what purported to be a birthday greeting to Jeffrey Epstein in 2003 from then-citizen Trump that took the form of a letter or card that had…

A CALIFORNIA FEDERAL COURT ENJOINS ICE—JUSTICE JACKSON WOULD APPROVE BECAUSE FEELINGS ARE ACTUALLY LAW   INTRODUCTION On July 11th, 2025, US District Judge Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong, a recent Biden appointee, entered an extraordinarily broad and likely unlawful Ex Parte Restraining Order essentially telling federal immigration authorities that they cannot enforce immigration law in the Central…

SCOTUS’S 27 JUNE OPINIONS—NOTHING LESS THAN COMMON SENSE JURISPRUDENCE   INTRODUCTION The left’s handwringing over the three decisions that I will discuss herein continues to establish its untethering from mainstream moral and legal thought. The bottom-line takeaways from these decisions clearly resonate with most Americans, who do not need to be Constitutional scholars or lawyers…

A United States Air Force B2 Spirit. This file is licensed under the Open Government Licence version 1.0. OPERATION MIDNIGHT HAMMER—UNCONSTITUTIONAL? DEPENDS ON THE POLITICAL WINDS   INTRODUCTION Since Congress overrode Nixon’s veto in 1973, the War Powers Resolution has been the subject of uniform disdain by Presidents regardless of party. Whether or not its…

FEDERAL AUTHORITY VIOLENTLY CHALLENGED IN LOS ANGELES—WHEN POLITICS AND THE LAW COLLIDE   INTRODUCTION This weekend saw the truth of what propelled Trump to victory. The Mexican flag flown by violent protestors (mingled with “peaceful ones”) who attacked and injured state and federal law enforcement officers while displaying the American flag upside down is a…

EXECUTIVE PRIVILEGE—A PRIMER   INTRODUCTION The controversy over President Biden’s actual ability to govern, in fact, and his clear lack of mental acuity and physical decline has ripened into what will become a procedural and substantive battle between Congressional oversight functions and the deliberative and communicative processes of the Executive during the pendency of his…

View of names etched into the granite face of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license. REMEMBER This weekend hundreds of thousands of bikers rode to Washington, DC, for the Rolling Thunder commemorative. Its purpose for years has been to bring awareness to the POWs and MIAs still…

A QUICK TOUR OF THE WEEK’S LEGAL NEWS—AN ANALYSIS   INTRODUCTION This week saw several issues thrust onto the legal landscape. The Supreme Court ruled on Friday that the Alien Enemies Act deportations are on hold but for a procedural reason that has been misread by the lay media. Universal injunctions were considered in the…

AN OKLAHOMA CASE WILL DEFINE THE FUTURE OF PUBLICLY FUNDED RELIGIOUS SCHOOLS—UNPACKING LAST WEEK’S SUPREME COURT ARGUMENT   INTRODUCTION Last week the Supreme Court heard arguments in a case wherein the Oklahoma Charter School Board and St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School challenged a ruling by the Oklahoma Supreme Court. The school had entered…

ARE JUDGES ABOVE THE LAW? OF COURSE NOT   INTRODUCTION AND OVERVIEW On January 21st, 2025, Acting Deputy United States Attorney General Emil Bove issued an “all-hands” memorandum throwing down a gauntlet and reasserting the federal Executive Branch’s exclusive authority to enforce immigration law without interference from the political motivations of state and local actors…

THE SUPREME COURT EMERGENCY OR “SHADOW” DOCKET IS IN HIGH GEAR   INTRODUCTION President Trump’s agenda to address the excesses of the Biden administration on crime, immigration, DEI, and “education” has led to an unprecedented slate of US District Court orders enjoining actions of the Executive that, in large part, are overbroad, arbitrary, and obviously…

TARIFFS AND THE EMERGENCY POWERS OF THE PRESIDENT—AN UNLIKELY CHALLENGE EMERGES   INTRODUCTION On Friday, April 4th, in the Northern District of Florida, attorneys of the New Civil Liberties Alliance (NCLA) filed a challenge to President Trump’s Executive Orders imposing across-the-board tariffs on our three largest trading partners—China, Mexico, and Canada. An examination of the…

THE FIRST AMENDMENT AND THE ALIEN NON-CITIZEN—A PRIMER   INTRODUCTION Recent Executive Orders of the President have placed a historic focus on Executive authority around immigration. Antisemitic rhetoric from students given the privilege to study here, who have not been naturalized, has tested and will test the limits of due process in connection with their…

THE TdA REMOVALS DRAMA AND JUDGE BOASBERG—WHO GETS TO DECLARE A “PREDATORY INCURSION,” AND WHO GETS TO PROTECT OUR NATIONAL INTERESTS?   INTRODUCTION It appears that the opposition to the President’s Proclamation based on and in reliance upon the Alien Enemies Act overlooks, in convenient fashion, key issues necessary to a real analysis of this…

Aerial view of the Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT). This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license. THE ALIEN ENEMIES ACT—ALMOST AS OLD AS THE CONSTITUTION AND A STILL VIABLE LAW FOR A STRONG EXECUTIVE TO INVOKE TO PROTECT THE HOMELAND   INTRODUCTION On Friday the President issued a Proclamation that is…

THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA FINALLY EMBRACES THE REALITY OF EQUAL PROTECTION OF THE LAWS—IT IS ABOUT TIME   INTRODUCTION Last week, and apparently as the result of President Trump’s Executive Order “Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity” (which bans DEI from not only the federal government but from any entity, private or not, receiving…

THE APPOINTMENTS CLAUSE AND DOGE—A BRIEF OVERVIEW AND ANALYSIS   INTRODUCTION Last week U.S. District Judge Chutkan, who seems to be the Trump and January 6th “duty judge” in the DC District Court, denied a temporary restraining order to fourteen (14) state Attorneys General who sought to enjoin the actions of the Department of Governmental…

George Washington THE EXECUTIVE AUTHORITY OF THE PRESIDENT—PART TWO—THE UNITARY EXECUTIVE   INTRODUCTION The current Democrat chorus of “chaos” and the gnashing of teeth over the Administration’s goal of fiscal responsibility is setting the stage for a historic review of the structure of the Constitution and a restoration of the original constitutional design. In this…

ICE Arrest THE EXECUTIVE AUTHORITY OF THE PRESIDENT—PART ONE—THE IMMIGRATION WARS   INTRODUCTION In Part One of this two-part “Into the Weeds” series, the fundamentals of the role of the Executive Branch and its vast and nearly exclusive authority and power over the subject of immigration and the status of aliens will be examined. An…

Air route traffic controllers at work at the Washington ARTCC DEI IS UNCONSTITUTIONAL AND HAS INFLUENCED FEDERAL HIRING DECISIONS, INCLUDING AT THE FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION, FOR YEARS   INTRODUCTION AND BACKSTORY There is no question that when George Floyd died from the combined effects of years of drug abuse and the reckless negligence of a…

The Statue of Liberty BIRTHRIGHT CITIZENSHIP—WHEN THE NOBLE INTENT OF THE RECONSTRUCTION CONGRESS WENT IN AN UNINTENDED DIRECTION   INTRODUCTION In furtherance of a campaign promise and to tackle the concerns of many constitutional scholars and some in the political class, President Trump signed an Executive Order on January 20th purporting to direct Homeland Security…

Dr. Martin Luther King at a press conference. WOULD MARTIN LUTHER KING HAVE EMBRACED “EQUITY,” OR WOULD HE HAVE SEEN IT AS INJURIOUS TO HIS COLOR-BLIND DREAM OF TRUE EQUALITY?   INTRODUCTION When on April 4th, 1968, Dr. King was assassinated, the full progress and effects of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 had little…

Manhattan Criminal Courts Building by Americasroof is licensed under CC-BY-3.0 PRESIDENT-ELECT TRUMP SHOULD NOT APPEAR AT JUDGE MERCHAN’S “PUBLIC INTEREST” SENTENCING ON JANUARY 10th   INTRODUCTION If you thought that Judge Engeron, who presided over Letitia James’s Stalinesque civil case against the Trump Organization, was a partisan party to pure politics, Judge Merchan is the…

The Seal of the President of the United States from Wikipedia. TERROR IN THE NEW YEAR—TRUMP’S JOB ONE IS CLEAR   INTRODUCTION My plan was to write yet another take on 2024 as the year the rule of law and due process were sacrificed at the altar of political expediency. I woke up to the…

Portrait of Henry VIII in 1540, by Hans Holbein the Younger THE BIDEN PARDONS—HUNTER AND THE CROOKED JUDGE WILL BE FORGOTTEN WHEN WE SEE HIM MASS PARDON DEPORTABLE ALIENS—BUCKLE UP FOR THE RIDE   A BRIEF BACKGROUND ON THE PARDON POWER—The English Monarchy bled into the Republic It is widely understood that the Executive unilateralism…

Portraits of Thomas Jefferson and George Mason. THANKSGIVING FOOD FOR THOUGHT: A NOTE ON THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS   Over a year from the date that the Minutemen engaged British regulars in Lexington, Massachusetts, the Continental Congress formed a committee to formalize and to give effect to Richard Henry Lee’s motion that…   “These United…

A portrait of Alexander Hamilton A WALK THROUGH THE APPOINTMENTS CLAUSE AND THE COMING STORM   The election of Donald Trump to the Presidency will see a reformulation of government as we know it. The changes will reinvigorate the economy and attack the enormous waste in the federal government as well as its unending expansion.…

“I Voted” by Vox Efx is licensed under CC-BY-2.0 THE PEOPLE’S COURT USING THE ELECTORAL PROCESS RENDERED A VERDICT OF ACQUITTAL IN THE TRUMP LAWFARE CASES AND SENTENCED DEI TO DEATH   The German philosopher Immanuel Kant once said:   “Science is organized knowledge; Wisdom is organized life…”   The election of Donald Trump in…

“Panorama of United States Supreme Court Building at Dusk” by Joe Ravi is licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0 THE COLORADO BALLOT CASE: A TRUMP VICTORY OR A ROAD MAP TO ANOTHER CIVIL WAR IF CONGRESS BLOCKS THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE COUNT IN THE EVENT HE WINS   OVERVIEW & INTRODUCTION This summer in Trump v. Anderson, 144…

“A Kawasaki R160B northbound F train arriving at Forest Hills-71 Avenue.” by Electric2010 is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK V. DANIEL PENNY—A STUDY IN PROSECUTORIAL LAWLESSNESS   OVERVIEW & INTRODUCTION   Alvin Bragg and Letitia James, the two most powerful law enforcement authorities in the increasingly woke…

“John Joseph Moakley United States Courthouse, Boston” by David Apri is licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0. MEXICO IS COMING FOR YOUR GUNS   AND YOU THOUGHT IT WAS JUST THE DEMOCRATS Mexico routinely ranks among the top five countries in the world in the category of gun-related homicides. Of course, this is due to the…

A TALE OF TWO CASES   TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME INFECTS THE NEW YORK STATE JUDICIARY AND COLLIDES WITH THE EIGHTH AND FOURTEENTH AMENDMENTS—CASE 1   On February 16, 2024, Judge Arthur F. Engoron of the New York Supreme Court, the trial-level court in the New York judicial system, issued his decision in People v. Trump.…

THE BASELESS ATTACKS ON THE LEGITIMACY OF THE UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT CONTINUE—THE REPUBLIC UNDER SIEGE   OVERVIEW & INTRODUCTION   Not surprisingly, the New York Times on September 15th posited that Chief Justice Roberts put his thumb on the scale of justice by urging in a memo that the Court review cases that directly…

SPRINGFIELD OHIO IS NOT ABOUT CATS, DOGS, AND DUCKS; IT IS A LIVING EXAMPLE OF WHAT THE BIDEN-HARRIS-GARLAND TEAM HAS DONE TO DESTABILIZE COMMUNITIES AND DESTROY THE RULE OF LAW.   OVERVIEW & INTRODUCTION   On April 16th, 2024, the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on the Judiciary released a report—with undeniable statistical and legal…

THE NEW YORK TIMES PLATFORMS AN ATTACK ON THE REPUBLIC AND HIGHLIGHTS HOW MUCH WE HAVE LOST OUR WAY   OVERVIEW & INTRODUCTION   On August 31st, 2024, book critic and constitutional moron Jennifer Szalai published a piece in the New York Times that posited that the Constitution “was one of the biggest threats to…

Riley Gaines speaking with attendees at the 2023 Pastors Summit. From: Wikipedia | Gage Skidmore. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license. THE TITLE IX DISMANTLING IN THE NAME OF POLITICAL EXPEDIENCY MAY HAVE HIT A WALL   OVERVIEW & INTRODUCTION   Over the weekend, Riley Gaines, the gifted…

From Wikipedia. On Thursday, Sept. 19, 2019, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch spoke at the LBJ Presidential Library as the sixth annual Tom Johnson lecturer. “OVER RULED – THE HUMAN TOLL OF TOO MUCH LAW”- JUSTICE GORSUCH’S BOOK IS A CALL TO RETURN TO THE CONSTITUTIONAL DESIGN AND MADISON’S DREAM OF A TRUE REPUBLIC…

From Wikipedia. Photograph of “The Minute Man,” a statue by Daniel Chester French erected in 1875 in Concord, Massachusetts. THE ARBITRARY EXERCISE OF JUDICIAL POWER: THE FOURTH CIRCUIT COURT OF APPEALS DESTROYS THE SECOND AMENDMENT ON A TUESDAY.   OVERVIEW & INTRODUCTION On Tuesday, August 6th, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals was compelled, in…

Colt AR-15 Sporter Lightweight rifle. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license. A GREAT WEEK FOR THE SECOND AMENDMENT IN THE UNLIKELIEST OF PLACES THANKS TO THE CLARITY AND FORCE OF BRUEN AND HELLER   OVERVIEW & INTRODUCTION In N.Y. State Rifle and Pistol Ass’n v. Bruen, 597 U.S.…

JTF Guantanamo photo by Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Michael Billings MILITARY COMMISSIONS AND GUANTANAMO ARE IN THE NEWS IN THIS POLITICAL SEASON, AND IT IS INDEED POLITICS THAT HAS DEPRIVED THE COLLECTIVE AMERICAN PUBLIC OF BOTH JUSTICE AND CLOSURE FOR BOTH 9/11, THE USS COLE ATTACK, AND OTHER ACTS OF WAR.   OVERVIEW &…