After forcing Jeff Sessions to resign as attorney general on November 7, President Trump appointed Matthew Whitaker as acting attorney general, even though Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein was next in line for the job. As a result, Whitaker assumed the functions of attorney general. Whitaker’s appointment was an illegal and blatant end run around… Read more »
Tag: Jeff Sessions
Fierce Critic of Mueller Probe Now Has Power to Sabotage the Investigation
The day after the midterm elections, Donald Trump fired Attorney General Jeff Sessions and appointed Trump loyalist Matthew Whitaker as acting attorney general. Whitaker, who has criticized the Mueller probe in the past, could fire Robert Mueller or defang his investigation. Although Sessions was faithfully carrying out Trump’s draconian agenda on civil rights, immigration and… Read more »
Did Trump Break the Law by Ordering Sessions to End Mueller Investigation?
Since the appointment of Robert Mueller as special counsel to investigate ties between Russia and the Trump campaign, Donald Trump’s fury has steadily mounted. Trump has railed against Mueller’s investigation, repeatedly calling it a “witch hunt.” But last week, as Paul Manafort’s trial got underway and Trump expressed fear that his son, Donald Trump Jr.,… Read more »
Trump Disregards Caravan Migrants’ Legal Right to Apply for Asylum
The 300 asylum seekers who arrived at the US border on April 29 after a month-long, 2,000-mile journey have another grueling struggle ahead of them, according to the immigration attorneys who are donating their time to represent them. More than three-quarters of asylum claims from Hondurans, Guatemalans and Salvadorans between 2012 and 2017 were denied, according… Read more »
Sometimes, White House Staff Have a Legal Duty to Disobey the President
Last June, Donald Trump ordered White House Counsel Don McGahn to fire Special Counsel Robert Mueller, according to the New York Times. McGahn threatened to resign rather than fire Mueller, so Trump backed down. Trump had given McGahn an illegal order. The president was asking the White House Counsel to conspire with him to obstruct justice…. Read more »
Will the Courts Save the Dreamers?
The Trump administration’s rescission of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) has been met with widespread resistance by people across the political spectrum. Thousands have marched in the streets to save the “Dreamers” from deportation. Human rights and civil liberties organizations as well as legislators on both sides of the aisle condemned the ending of… Read more »
Sessions Is Wrong: There Is No Legal Justification for Ending DACA
Making good on a campaign pledge to his right-wing nativist base, Donald Trump has rescinded the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. DACA was established by President Barack Obama to encourage young people without immigration papers, who were brought to the United States as children, to come out of the shadows and sign up… Read more »
Donald Trump vs. The Rule of Law
One of the most sacred duties of the president of the United States is to enforce the laws. The Take Care Clause, in Article II, §3 of the Constitution, says the president “shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed.” Yet, six months after taking office, Donald Trump has demonstrated contempt for the rule of law…. Read more »
Comey Bolsters Case for Obstruction of Justice by Trump
Without ever stating that President Donald Trump obstructed justice, former FBI director James Comey methodically laid out the case for charging Trump with the crime of obstruction of justice, an impeachable offense. In written and oral testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee, Comey provided an explosive account of an attempted cover-up by the president. Obstruction… Read more »
Jeff Sessions’ Department of Injustice
Motivated by his deep-seated biases and those of President Donald Trump, Attorney General Jeff Sessions is pursuing a draconian agenda on voting rights, immigration, crime, policing, the drug war, federal sentencing and the privatization of prisons. Sessions, now head of the Department of Justice, which is charged with enforcing the Voting Rights Act, once called… Read more »