Author: bakhtawar

CNN: The US Presidential Election is bound to look different this year. Because of the coronavirus pandemic, both Democratic and GOP party conventions have been dramatically scaled back, and it’s unlikely that there will be rooms packed with people celebrating election night results on November 3. Many states have moved to expand vote-by-mail and absentee voting, which could … Continue reading “Here’s how experts think the press should cover the run-up to the November election” Continue Reading →

NPR: This past week, President Trump renewed his unsubstantiated claim that mail-in voting begets inaccurate or fraudulent results when he raised the prospect of delaying November’s election. “With Universal Mail-In Voting (not Absentee Voting, which is good), 2020 will be the most INACCURATE & FRAUDULENT Election in history,” Trump tweeted Thursday. Trump’s rhetoric alarms Kim Wyman, … Continue reading “Mail-In Voting Is ‘Not Rampant Voter Fraud,’ Says Washington’s Top Election Official” Continue Reading →

WaPo: Outside the Las Vegas Convention Center, Kayleigh McEnany raised a microphone to a mega-fan and asked what it felt like to be acknowledged by President Trump at his February rally in Sin City. At the time a spokeswoman for Trump’s reelection campaign, McEnany nodded as the supporter said the shout-out was most meaningful because … Continue reading “How the Trump campaign came to court QAnon, the online conspiracy movement identified by the FBI as a violent threat” Continue Reading →

In his useful post on the Federalist Society, Josh Blackman notes My general policy is to not sign any statement I do not write–that applies to letters and briefs. When you put your name on something that someone else wrote, you have limited input. You can’t request changes. There may be things you agree with, things you disagree … Continue reading Academics and Open Letters Continue Reading →

From yesterday’s memorandum from the Administrative Office of the United States Courts, quoting the report of the Judicial Conference Committee on Codes of Conduct: [T]he Committee … [circulated] a new draft Advisory Opinion No. 117 … [which] advised that formal affiliation with the ACS or the Federalist Society, whether as a member or in a leadership role, … Continue reading Judges May Continue to Participate in the American Constitution Society and the Federalist Society Continue Reading →

From Tenn. AG Op. 20-14, released a week ago but just posted to Westlaw in the last couple of days; seems quite right to me: Question Is a governmental mandate that requires the general population to wear face coverings in public during a state of emergency caused by COVID-19 constitutionally permissible? Opinion As a general … Continue reading Tennessee Attorney General: Mask Mandates Don’t Violate Due Process or the First Amendment Continue Reading →

8/1/1942: Military commissions conclude for eight nazi saboteurs. The Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of these trials in Ex Parte Quirin   See Campaign: https://reason.com/2020/08/01/today-in-supreme-court-history-august-1-1942/Contact Information:JOSH BLACKMANTags:, Wire, United States, English Continue Reading →

Yesterday afternoon, the Supreme Court denied a request by the Sierra Club to lift a stay on a district court injunction against wall construction along parts of the U.S. border with Mexico. Justice Breyer, joined by the other liberal justices, dissented from the order. This decision should not be much of a surprise. As I noted in a … Continue reading Supreme Court Refuses to Allow District Court to Halt Border Wall Construction Continue Reading →

Last week, I wrote four blog posts (See 1, 2, 3, 4) on Joan Biskupic’s four-part CNN series (See 1, 2, 3, and 4). On Monday, I will publish an Op-Ed in Newsweek that provides a path forward for the Supreme Court. I will offer specific guidance–to the Chief Justice in particular–how to resolve this crisis. A Supreme Court divided cannot stand. This post will … Continue reading The Highlights of Joan Biskupic’s Four-Part Series Continue Reading →

So reports The Oregonian (Maxine Bernstein); this is the condition I discussed a few days ago: “defendant may not attend any other protests … or public gatherings in … Oregon.” As I mentioned then, the condition might well be unconstitutionally overbroad, though the complexity of the law of pretrial conditions makes that not entirely clear. But the article … Continue reading “No-Protest Condition Will Be Dropped for People Facing Federal Charges in Portland Demonstrations” Continue Reading →