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Category: Law/Crime

Insurrection and Trump’s ineligibility for office

Insurrection and Trump’s ineligibility for office

Timothy Snyder writes: Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment bans oath-breaking insurrectionists from holding office. The Supreme Court of Colorado has ruled that Trump’s name should not appear on primary ballots in that state. In Trump v. Anderson, the Supreme Court will consider whether Colorado erred. Oral argument begins on Thursday. Under Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment, Trump disqualified himself from office on January 6th, 2021, at the very latest, when he violated his oath of office and took…

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Chutkan contemplates Trump trial extending deep into 2024, as case remains in limbo

Chutkan contemplates Trump trial extending deep into 2024, as case remains in limbo

Politico reports: The judge presiding over Donald Trump’s Washington, D.C., criminal case acknowledged Monday that the former president’s trial could extend deep into 2024 — though significant uncertainty continues to cloud the timeline. U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan told attorneys in another criminal case that she intended to be out of the country in early August — unless Trump’s trial is underway. “I hope not to be in the country on August 5,” Chutkan said in a sparsely attended conference…

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What South Africa really won at the ICJ

What South Africa really won at the ICJ

Sasha Polakow-Suransky writes: For those with long memories, the seed of South Africa’s case against Israel—accusing it of genocidal acts in the Gaza Strip—might be traced to a spring day nearly 50 years ago. On Apr. 9, 1976, South Africa’s white supremacist prime minister, Balthazar Johannes Vorster, was welcomed with full red-carpet treatment to the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem. The moment, for those who knew the prime minister’s past, was incongruous. A former Nazi sympathizer who had proudly…

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What has happened to the rule of law in India?

What has happened to the rule of law in India?

Vaibhav Vats writes: On December 11, India’s supreme court upheld ending the constitutional privileges of the Indian-controlled province of Kashmir, a disputed region claimed by both India and Pakistan. The decision was a sobering example of the Indian judiciary’s creeping servility in the era of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Just as India’s vibrant, secular democracy is transforming into an authoritarian, ethnonationalist state, the supreme court, once vaunted for its fierce independence, is failing to stand up for the rule of…

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Domicide, the mass destruction of homes, should be identified as a crime against humanity

Domicide, the mass destruction of homes, should be identified as a crime against humanity

Balakrishnan Rajagopal writes: We all understand that killing can be a murder, a war crime, a crime against humanity or an act of genocide, depending on the gravity and intention of the act. The same should apply for the destruction of homes. In Gaza, we are witnessing destruction that is overwhelming in terms of its scale and impact, and far worse than what we saw in Dresden and Rotterdam during World War II, where about 25,000 homes were destroyed in…

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The polling ‘disaster’ that’s starting to terrify Team Trump

The polling ‘disaster’ that’s starting to terrify Team Trump

Rolling Stone reports: In the middle of last year, several of Donald Trump’s closest advisers, including some of his 2024 campaign’s senior staff, started noticing an ominous trend in independent polling and in internal Republican survey data: A significant share of swing voters in key states — even some Republicans — say they would not want to vote for a freshly-convicted criminal. The trend spooked them enough that, in recent months, some of these officials and political allies have directly…

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I prosecuted Watergate and never feared for our democracy — but Greg Abbott has me worried

I prosecuted Watergate and never feared for our democracy — but Greg Abbott has me worried

Jill Wine-Banks writes: I am not an alarmist by nature. From my time as a prosecutor investigating the Watergate scandal, I have never doubted that justice would prevail or that democracy would survive. I never doubted that our union would last — until now. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s actions at the southern border and his reaction to the Supreme Court’s decision in favor of the federal government make me fear for the continued existence of the United States of America….

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Can the government of Mexico bring the U.S. gun industry to book?

Can the government of Mexico bring the U.S. gun industry to book?

John Cassidy writes: The history of U.S. gun-control efforts is largely dispiriting. Yes, there have been some examples of progress, such as the spread of “red flag” laws, which allow state courts to temporarily disarm individuals who are considered a threat. At the federal level, though, the gun lobby has long exercised an effective veto. Just last month, Republicans in the Senate blocked a bill that would have banned assault weapons and introduced universal background checks for gun purchases. Over…

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South Africa says all states must stop funding Israel’s military

South Africa says all states must stop funding Israel’s military

Reuters reports: All states have an obligation to stop funding and facilitating Israel’s military actions in Gaza after the World Court made clear those actions could be genocidal, South Africa’s foreign minister said on Wednesday. The International Court of Justice (ICJ) last week ordered Israel to take all measures within its power to prevent its troops from committing genocide and take steps to improve the humanitarian situation of Palestinians in Gaza, in a case brought by South Africa. It stopped…

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Disturbing bill would let Arizona legislators ignore election results

Disturbing bill would let Arizona legislators ignore election results

The Daily Beast reports: An Arizona lawmaker who signed on to be a “fake elector” for Donald Trump after the former president lost his bid for a second term has introduced a bill that would allow members of the statehouse to overturn future election results that they don’t like. The bill, formally known as Senate Concurrent Resolution 1014 and sponsored by state Sen. Anthony Kern, seeks to bypass the popular vote altogether. “[I]t is the responsibility of the Arizona Secretary…

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Unless Israel changes course, it could be legally culpable for mass starvation

Unless Israel changes course, it could be legally culpable for mass starvation

Alex de Waal writes: Gaza is experiencing mass starvation like no other in recent history. Before the outbreak of fighting in October, food security in Gaza was precarious, but very few children – less than 1% – suffered severe acute malnutrition, the most dangerous kind. Today, almost all Gazans, of any age, anywhere in the territory, are at risk. There is no instance since the second world war in which an entire population has been reduced to extreme hunger and…

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The ICJ ruling’s hidden diplomacy

The ICJ ruling’s hidden diplomacy

David Kaye writes: The court’s order is, despite its apparent moderation, damning. It has allowed litigation to move forward on South Africa’s claim that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, placing a virtual sword of Damocles over not only Israel in its future conduct in Gaza, but also those, such as the United States, that have given it such strong support. It has found plausible South Africa’s assertion that Palestinian rights must be protected against genocidal acts. Even Israel’s appointee…

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Republicans now say it might be okay to ignore the Supreme Court

Republicans now say it might be okay to ignore the Supreme Court

Aaron Blake writes: A consequential development of the Trump era is what increasingly looks like the Republicans’ acrimonious divorce from the rule of law. The party that once prided itself as the law-and-order side has leaped headlong into highly speculative theories about the “weaponization” of the justice system, spurred by former president Donald Trump. Both Trump and his former lawyer Rudy Giuliani recently flouted civil defamation verdicts against them by continuing to defame their victims — cheered on by many…

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Ret. Judge J. Michael Luttig urges Supreme Court to disqualify Trump from office

Ret. Judge J. Michael Luttig urges Supreme Court to disqualify Trump from office

CNN reports: A former conservative federal appellate judge is urging the Supreme Court to keep Donald Trump off the ballot, arguing the ex-president’s effort to cling to power after his 2020 election loss was “broader” than South Carolina’s secession from the US that triggered the Civil War. “Mr. Trump tried to prevent the newly-elected President Biden from governing anywhere in the United States. The South Carolina secession prevented the newly-elected President Lincoln from governing only in that State,” J. Michael…

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In federal court, Palestinians accuse Biden of complicity in genocide

In federal court, Palestinians accuse Biden of complicity in genocide

The Intercept reports: At the hearing [in Oakland, CA], U.S. Judge Jeffrey S. White went to some length to state the impact of Israel’s war on Palestinian civilians and the U.S. government’s support for it but indicated the case might ultimately hinge on questions of jurisdiction. “The Palestinian people are living in fear and without food, medical care, clean water, or sufficient humanitarian aid. Defendants — the president of the United States and his secretaries of state and defense —…

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Trump’s secret plan to expand presidential immunity to ‘King George’ levels

Trump’s secret plan to expand presidential immunity to ‘King George’ levels

Rolling Stone reports: This month, Donald Trump’s lawyers have argued in a federal appeals court that he, as a former American president, is “absolutely” immune from criminal prosecution, possibly even if he were to order the assassination of his political enemies. But the arguments that Trump’s lawyers are currently litigating in public are just a preview of Trump and his allies’ private plans to dramatically expand presidential immunity, if he defeats Joe Biden in the 2024 election. According to two…

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