Clarence and Ginni Thomas: a husband-and-wife controversy

Boston Globe Letters, May 5, 2022 Virginia “Ginni” Thomas, political activist and wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, certainly advanced bizarre conspiracy theories in her text messages to Donald Trump’s White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, urging him to resist certification of the 2020 election results (“No kid gloves: Jan. 6 committee must…

A Black Woman on the Supreme Court? Of Course!

(A part of this piece appeared in the Wall Street Journal) Joe Biden’s loudly proclaimed desire to appoint a Black female to the Supreme Court is, well …. very recent. Janice Rogers Brown had been the first Black female on the California Supreme Court for seven years when President George W. Bush nominated her to the DC Circuit Court…

America’s Voting Laws Are Just Fine

Daily Lynn Item Op-Ed, January 18, 2022 Two malicious myths, one promoted by the political left and the other by the right, continue to roil American politics.  Fringe conspiracy theorists on the right still insist that the 2020 Presidential election was stolen from President Trump. Although it has been demonstrated to a certainty that President…

The Trump Insurrection

When I wrote You can live with President Biden, I took great consolation from the likelihood that the Republicans would probably hold the Senate. I wouldn’t have believed anyone who told me that the Republicans would lose both Georgia Senate seats and their Senate majority and that it wouldn’t be the worst thing that happened…

After the Ball is Over 4: Texas at the Supreme Court

I will be brief here, as the issue I am discussing may be resolved by the U.S. Supreme Court tomorrow afternoon. Texas has brought an action in the in the Supreme Court against the States of Georgia, Michigan and Wisconsin, seeking an order requiring the legislatures of those states to take action to ensure that…

You can live with President Biden

Four years ago, I wrote for friends and family who were despondent at Donald Trump’s election You can live with President Trump. Really.. Today I write for myself and those who share my worry at policies the Democratic Party leaders seem to espouse.  As I write the day after the election there has been no…

No “Courage” Praise Due This Prosecutor

Letter to The Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly:Your Oct. 26 editorial, “Prosecutor deserves praise for courage, professionalism,” is off the mark. It doesn’t take much courage for a lawyer in Massachusetts to write a letter to The Boston Globe trashing Attorney General Barr and President Trump. He is assured of nods of agreement and fawning praise all…

After the Ball is Over 3: A Plague of Lawyers

Election Day is Tuesday. An astounding percentage of eligible voters have already voted by mail or in person at available sites. As I write, four days before the election, voters nationally have already cast 62.2% of the total votes case in 2016. The early votes in Texas have already surpassed the total vote there in…

Cape Cod Times on Race and Police

Cape Cod Times letter. How can Larry Brown purport to draw lessons about racism from the shooting of Breonna Taylor in his Oct. 2 column without mentioning the important fact that the man with her fired first at police who had announced themselves? When police are fired upon, they usually shoot back, for their own…

Replacing RBG

I have written frequently here of the Kabuki theater of Supreme Court nominations. Each Senate actor has a highly scripted role to play. There are different parts to be played by the Senate actors, depending on whether they in the Majority party in the Senate and whether they are in the nominating President’s party. Following…

The Demonization of William Barr

Expanded from a letter in The Boston Globe, June 20, 2020 The House Democrats unavailing efforts to smear Attorney General William Barr during his recent testimony before the House Judiciary Committee were only the latest in a steady drumbeat of criticism of Barr by the Democrats. I have written previously of Attorney General Barr’s qualities….

Textualist Gorsuch and the Oklahoma Reservation

Wall Street Journal letter   (This letter was in response to a Wall Street Journal editorial “The Tempting of Neil Gorsuch” criticizing Judge Gorsuch for joining the four liberal justices in ruling that much of eastern Oklahoma was still an Indian reservation.  Congress had passed a law creating the reservation and never repealed or replaced it. Chief Justice…