Donald Trump has the opposite of the “Midas touch”: He diminishes everything he comes into contact with. It is hard, for example, to think of a single individual who has emerged from an association with Trump with an enhanced reputation. Take Rudy Giuliani. He was once “America’s Mayor.” Now he will be forever remembered as the shyster hawking crazy conspiracy …
Donald Trump claims, against all evidence, that something is broken. With great bluster, he breaks that something. He then uses the thing he broke to prove he was right to begin with. Given the stakes involved in any decision made by an American president, this is a particularly disturbing form of a self-fulfilling prophesy. ***** D.C. does not have the …
“No matter what.” These are chilling words to hear from any law enforcement official. After all, given the enormous stakes involved in a criminal prosecution, restraint has to be the operative word. It is thus particularly concerning when these words are uttered by the chief federal law enforcement official for the nation’s capital and when the words are targeted at …
We have learned that the same rules apply to everyone. It does not matter if you are a homeless person or the former president of the United States.
Chief Judge Josey-Herring issued an order on March 15, 2024 that renewed the list of attorneys eligible to accept appointments under the Criminal Justice Act.
It is almost as if our former President intentionally peppers his unhinged and whiny tweets with spelling and grammatical errors. He wants to show his devoted followers he is just like they are.
Yes, Marjorie Taylor Greene, there is a two-tiered justice system in effect at the D.C. jail. Unlike their black and brown counterparts at the Central Detention Facility, the J6 defendants are being held in relative comfort at the Correctional Treatment Facility.
Here are the 2022 Judicial Assignments for the D.C. Superior Court Criminal Division
D.C.’s new law on civil protection orders (CPOs) redefines the category of people eligible for protection. It also extends coverage to animals, minors and victims of sex trafficking.
D.C. Superior Court has again extended the judicial emergency, this time through May 10, 2021. The Court will expand some operations.
Chief Judge Anita Josey-Herring has issued an order extending the pandemic-related judicial emergency in D.C. Superior Court through March 31, 2021.
Kevin McCarthy wants unity? The ball is in his court. He should start by acknowledging that he was wrong to propogate the lie of a rigged election. He should start with an apology.
Donald Trump’s problems go beyond a lack of manners or character. He is also a sociopath. He does not learn. He has no shame. He is driven only by immediate self-interest.
A D.C. Superior Court judge — always one of my favorites — retires abruptly after being accused of sexually assaulting a 16-year-old girl.
My mother once said that the hardest part about getting old was the fear of being marginalized. She felt this particularly acutely as an older woman. She complained about feeling invisible.
The President of the United States has access to the best minds in the country. Presumably, this includes people with a basic grasp of grammar and syntax. “Despite this substantial income figure and tax paid, it is totally illegal to steal and publish tax returns.” This is an 18-word sentence from a statement issued recently by the White House. First, …
The 2015 list of lawyers eligible to accept court appointments in juvenile cases is now out. Chief Judge Lee F. Satterfield issued the order approving the list on October 23. The list will be good for the next 4 years. At that time, the panel will again be re-constituted. The Family Court Panels Oversight Committee received 220 applications for one …
The pizza delivery guy is really upset. He has $250 worth of pizza in the backseat of his car, and his next destination – after leaving our house – is smack dab in the middle of the riots. “I can’t believe my boss,” he tells me. “He is an idiot. He agreed to be paid in cash for this order. …
My wife and I live two blocks from North Avenue in Baltimore. Our house is a short walk from the main events of last night. The helicopters have been annoying, and they are back now, suggesting that something is going on again today. But, contrary to the way things are being portrayed on T.V., the looting and the violence have …
Over at our private family page on Facebook, we have been having a lively discussion about Serial, the This American Life podcast that investigates the 1999 murder of Baltimore County high school senior Hae Min Lee. Lee’s former boyfriend Adnan Syed is currently serving a life sentence for her murder. The 12-episode podcast investigates allegations of his innocence. My brother-in-law …
The Metropolitan Police Department will begin a pilot program this week in which police officers will be outfitted with body cameras to record their interactions with civilians. According to the Washington Post, 165 officers will be equipped with a camera on either their shirt or glasses. The purpose of this program is to “increase public trust between police officers and …
With the Marijuana Possession Decriminalization Amendment Act of 2014 having gone into effect yesterday, the Washington Post did an article today discussing the fate of the last few people who were arrested under the old law. (From now on, possession or transfer without payment of one ounce or less of marijuana will be a civil infraction, not punishable as a …
It has always been my definition of government waste. As chairman of the House Energy and Commerce committee, Congressman John Dingell was an extremely powerful man who inspired fear in the hearts of everyone who worked at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. One of my duties as a special assistant in the Office of Air and Radiation during the late …
Without giving anything away, the second season of the House of Cards has picked up on the issue du jour – military rape – and the writers are obviously basing their characters on real people. It is not a stretch, for example, to conclude that the pretty California congresswoman named Jackie Sharp was inspired by the actual pretty California congresswoman …
Former EPA employee John Beale told colleagues that he worked for the CIA, traveling to far-flung places like Pakistan. In an email to his then supervisor, the current Administrator Gina McCarthy, he referred obliquely to his work for “this other agency” (perhaps she had seen something in the news?) and promised that he was still accessible by email. But, he …
Guest Post by Mary Anne Brush We can all agree that smart kids sometimes do stupid things. Studies show that the teenage brain is not fully developed, which leads to impulsive decision-making. And who doesn’t believe an important part of raising children with character is holding them accountable for their actions? I work at a school, where I often hear …
The Associated Press reported on the lawsuit filed yesterday in federal court in San Francisco alleging that current and former members of the U.S. military were sexually assaulted while serving: The 20 women and men filing the lawsuit claim they were harassed, raped or assaulted and suffered retaliation when they reported the incidents. The lawsuit names top Department of Defense …
After pleading guilty to involuntary manslaughter, Dontrell Deaner has been sentenced to 10 years in prison, to be followed by 5 years of supervised probation. Remember Dontrell Deaner? Just over a year ago, his name was all over the Internet in connection with the Joseph Rakofsky fiasco. Rakofsky was the lawyer, a few years out of law school, who took …
The prosecutor has acknowledged that he should have turned over certain information to defense attorneys. That is what he says today. The case was back in 1984. Witnesses came forward when he was still preparing the case to say that there were two other men in the alley that night who were never charged. One of these men, identified by …
Beginning July 1, 2012, every person who is convicted of a drinking-and-driving offense in Virginia and who wants to drive on a restricted license will be required to install an ignition interlock device on his/her car. Current law applies this requirement only to repeat offenders and to first-time offenders who are convicted of a blood alcohol level of 0.15 or …
We are not going to win. We are not going to stabilize the country. We are not going to win any hearts and minds. The only thing we will accomplish by remaining in this miserable, strife-ridden country is to lose more American lives. At some point, maybe, we had an opportunity of doing something positive in Afghanistan. With the full …
The list of lawyers approved to take on court appointments for juvenile cases is now out. D.C. Superior Court Chief Judge Lee Satterfield issued the order approving the list on February 27. The appointment is good for four years. The process began last summer when all members of the Panel were asked to re-apply. The Family Court Panel Oversight Committee, …
I found out about the press conference this morning when Susan asked me for feedback on the suit she was wearing. “How come nobody from the media ever talks about the good-looking and supportive husband?” I asked her. Craving attention almost as much as she eschews it, I was annoyed the last go-round when one of the media reports mentioned …
There are people in this world, it turns out, who don’t like my wife. It is not surprising that, along with the fans, her high-profile public interest and human rights cases have also attracted her share of detractors. When you sue a major U.S. company for illegally dumping its waste in a developing country, people will assume you are anti-big …
The French have always brought out a certain competitiveness in me. Maybe it’s because I know they view us Americans as crass and cultureless. It was therefore with some pleasure that I read about the discomfort they felt when we elected Barack Obama to office; they realized that, unlike us, they were not yet ready to elect a member of …
The Blackwater fraud trial begins tomorrow. For the next two weeks or so, my wife and her team will be sequestered within a two-block radius of the federal courthouse in Alexandria, Virginia, commuting between their hotel, their temporary office, and the courthouse. It is a David and Goliath confrontation right out of Erin Brokovich or A Civil Action. If you …
During a couple of summers while in college, I worked as a bartender at a hotel bar in southern Greece. It was not a big place – just a couple of tables and three or four stools at the bar. Most of our customers were hotel guests who came in for a quick drink before dinner: vacationing Greeks from Athens, …
Over at My Shingle, Carolyn Elefant muses about finding herself on the other end of the attorney-client relationship; in this case, as one of over 80 defendants in what started out as Rakofsky v. The Washington Post, what one wag dubbed Rakofsky v. The Internet, and, with Rakofsky’s lawyer giving notice to withdraw from the case, what now appears to …
Here is the motion to dismiss, filed by my lawyer earlier this week on my behalf, in the Rakofsky defamation case, Joseph Rakofsky v. Washington Post, et al. Also representing Max Kennerly and Mirriam Seddiq in the same suit, David Brickman filed similar motions to dismiss for each of them.
I am a long-time fan of Anna Quindlen. Here, courtesy of The New York Times, is an excerpt from her recent commencement address at Grinnell College at which she was in typically fine form: Your parents, proudly here today, and their parents before them, perhaps proudly here today, understood a simple equation for success: your children would do better than …
I feel badly for Huma Abedin, and not only for the reason you might expect. Yes, with her husband’s confession yesterday that he lied about the Twitter photographs, she has joined Silda Spitzer, Dina McGreevy, her boss Hillary Clinton, and a long list of women who have had to endure the humiliation of a public sex scandal. But I also …
Last month, in what has to be one of Daniel Snyder’s stupidest moves ever, the Washington Redskins’ owner filed suit against the City Paper for an article that was critical of Snyder and his stewardship of the team. The filing prompted an avalanche of other new reports and articles rehashing the criticisms contained in the City Paper and questioning Snyder’s …
“We really didn’t check him out. He said he was this and could do that. We thought he was telling the truth.” — Henrietta Watson, grandmother of defendant Dontrell Deaner The blogosphere has been abuzz the past week with the story of Joseph Rakofsky, a 33-year-old lawyer two years out of law school who took on a murder case in …
I have always been somewhat suspicious of reports in the criminal law blogosphere about lawyers who misrepresent their credentials or who otherwise fail to meet the needs of their clients. Maybe I am naïve but I have questioned how frequently this actually occurs. And just as anything I might say could be viewed as suspect, I have been struck by …
Nick Stuban was 15-years-old when he committed suicide last month. Once a “model student” and “quick-footed linebacker” for the football team at W.T. Woodson High School in Fairfax County, Stuban had been suspended from school for 10 days after he was caught buying a capsule of JWH-018, a synthetic compound that produces a marijuana-like effect. Ten days turned into seven …
Evil looks a lot like the pasty, bloated face of Jared Loughner grinning at us from the front page of today’s New York Times. Children have an innate sense of these things. We do too. We know that, on the scale of apparent evilness, the way Loughner looks places him somewhere between Charles Manson on the one end, even before …
My wife Susan Burke heads to the United Arab Emirates this weekend to depose Blackwater Founder Erik Prince as part of one of her civil lawsuits against him. As reported in yesterday’s New York Times, Susan has brought suit against Prince on behalf of former Blackwater employees accusing Prince of defrauding the government. Susan has already settled seven suits …