A former federal prosecutor has some thoughts on the Barr Gambit … A few thoughts on the Barr Gambit, and Mueller decisions.

Strong discussion of prosecutorial discretion – its use and abuse.

Source: The Barr Gambit – Talking Points Memo

 Prosecutorial discretion! 

Paul Rosenzweig carefully analyzes the ambiguities in Attorney General Barr’s letter on the still secret Mueller report which reportedly concluded that the Trump campaign did not conspire with the Russian government to steal data and interfere in the 2016 presidential election.

The second aspect is that despite conflicting evidence Mueller decided not to charge Trump with obstruction of justice.  The key factors are likely difficulties of proof of intent (liars lying), and adherence to Justice Department policy not to charge if there is another remedy – here impeachment by the U.S. House of Representatives. – gwc

Source: OTHERWISE: Unpacking the Barr Letter re Mueller ~ Rosenzweig // Lawfare – Brookings Institution

Source: 55 years after first SCOTUS appearance, lawyer is back for second redistricting case

Another good thing about legal academia.  No mandatory retirement age. – gwc

Bondurant’s current age is 82, and he says he has no plans to retire or to quit his work to improve democracy through the courts.

“I’d rather spend my time doing that than playing golf, in part because I play golf so badly that the opportunity not to play is itself a positive,” Bondurant told NPR. “But this is really important stuff, and it’s very fundamental.”

 

Danielle Conley of Wilmer Hale and former associate Ariel Levinson have authored an issue brief on Discriminatory License Suspension Schemes.  It is an important access to justice and right to counsel issue.

Source: OTHERWISE: Discriminatory Driver’s License Suspension Schemes – American Constitution Society

Source: OTHERWISE: Legal Deserts – Crisis in Rural America ACS/Harvard Law & Policy Review

 

 The American Constitution Society and  the Harvard Law and Policy Review have announced a new issue on the crisis of  justice in rural areas. 

The New Jersey Supreme Court has issued a Notice to the Bar.  It has rejected in part, accepted in part, and deferred in part the recommendations of its Ad Hoc Committee on Attorney Malpractice Insurance.  It concurred with the November 2017 report recommendation that malpractice insurance not be mandated for all private practitioners.  The Court retains its Rule 1:21-1A that all limited liability firms must carry insurance in the minimum amount of $100,000 (multiplied by the number of attorneys in the firm). The Court concurred with its Committee that lawyers be required to publicly register evidence of the coverage they carry.  The Administrative Office of the Courts is directed to develop procedures to implement the principle.  And the Court announced that it will revisit at an unspecified date whether attorneys who lack coverage should be required to disclose that fact. – gwc

Source: OTHERWISE: New Jersey Supreme Court Rejects Mandatory Malpractice Insurance, embraces disclosure of coverage

 

Source: OTHERWISE: Harvard Law Prof Defends Decision to Represent Weinstein

Ronald Sullivan, a former Public Defender and the Director of Harvard Law’s criminal justice program, is one of the most prominent criminal defense lawyers in the country.  An African American long associated with criminal justice reform, he has drawn disapproval from some for signing on to the defense team of Harvey Weinstein, the Hollywood mogul now under indictment for sexual assault.

After students criticized him, including the editors of the student-edited daily Harvard Crimson fifty two Harvard Law Professors rose to his defense in an open letter.
Sullivan has now defended himself in a long interview published today in the New York magazine.

– GWC

Source: OTHERWISE: A Century Later, a Little-Known Mass Hanging of Black Soldiers Still Haunts Us – Progressive.org

100 years after one of the least-known and saddest chapters in American history, families of executed black soldiers have petitioned Trump for justice. Sixty-three black soldiers were represented by one lawyer in the largest court martial in U.S. history, the first of three that followed the Houston riot of 1917. In total, 110 men out of 118 were found guilty, and nineteen were sentenced to death by hanging.

Source: OTHERWISE: No right is secure: Thomas , Gorsuch and Alito disparage right to counsel set in Gideon v. Wainwright

The breadth of the threat to well established rights is stunning.  In the past few weeks Justice Clarence Thomas has reportedly directly lobbied Senators to place a former clerk on the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit; questioned Times v. Sullivan; disparaged Times v. Sullivan;and declared that Roe v. Wade and Dred Scott v. Sanford are among the worst decisions of the court and the fruit of the same constitutional doctrinal defects.  The targets have expanded to include a three judge attack on the expansion of right to counsel beginning with Powell v. Alabama which reversed the nine notorious death sentences in the Scottsboro cases, the injustices of which are described in this contemporaneous ACLU report.  KEEP READING