1/ First argument in the memo--"AG concluded it's illegal because CTA5 said so," notwithstanding extensive DOJ opinions and briefs for the U.S. to the contrary--remains absurd, and arbitrary/capricious, as @adambcox, @cmrodriguez95 and I explained and as several courts have held.
2/ See balkin.blogspot.com/2017/10/a-prim….
The five grafs beginning in middle of p.2, however, ought to resolve most or all of the current #DACA litigation. Inexplicable why it took them 10 months, and countless court challenges, to write it.
3/ Now up to Congress to correct this cruel, deeply counterproductive Trump/Nielsen policy.
4/ In the meantime, the Trump administration should thank Judge Bates for saving their butts by directing them to do what any ordinary officials/lawyers would have understood they needed to do on Day One.
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1/ Genuinely befuddled what, exactly, Rachel Mitchell thinks is not demonstrated by a preponderance: She appears to think--unlike all(?) the GOP Senators--not only that Ford wasn't assaulted in 1982, ...
2/ ... but that Ford probably wasn't at the gathering in question at all before she got her driver's license, because "most importantly" she can't recall how she got to or from the house. Curious: How many of us recall how we got to or from *any* gatherings in HS ...
3/ ... to which we didn't drive ourselves? I got driven to countless such gatherings and could not tell you from whom I got 95+% of such rides even though I didn't drink at all. Does that make it more likely than not I didn't really attend them? ...
1/ If I were a judge and learned that a clerkship applicant had read all--or even more than a handful--of my opinions, it'd be virtually disqualifying: pandering that demonstrated horrendous judgment and overweening ambition.
2/ Do other profs actually give such advice? Of course, if there are a handful of egomaniacal judges who expect applicants to have absorbed their life's work, students should be alerted about them, but I wouldn't be terribly eager to advise clerking for such a judge.
3/ Wholly apart from the "how to dress" controversy, if this is truly the sort of advice that #YaleLawSchool students are receiving these days--the example they're being encourage to follow--then I don't envy the challenge for @GerkenHeather in recovering the school's bearings.
2/ The upshot is that I suspect a huge part of the problem, and source of the skepticism of many, is--as is often the case--the vague & confusing way that reporters identify and discuss their sources.
3/ There doesn't appear to be any question that RR made the comments about wires and the 25th in one or two meetings on 05/16/17. RR himself doesn't even dispute it--he insists only that “I never pursued or authorized recording the president ...
1. A few thoughts on the Rosenstein story:
First, the Times headline and lede are surprisingly, and regrettably, far too credulous and unequivocal, asserting that RR in fact made serious suggestions about wearing a wire and moving toward use of the 25th. @adamgoldmanNYT@nytmike
2. As @adamgoldmanNYT and @nytmike explain, however, their account is not based on interviews w/anyone who actually heard RR, but instead with "people briefed either on the events themselves or on memos written by F.B.I. officials, including Andrew G. McCabe."
3. Perhaps RR meant those things--but there's no particular reason in the Times account to think so, and it's almost inconceivable he'd be so stupid and/or naive to make such suggestions seriously in that setting.
1/ Acc. to @adamdavidson, NPR and Politico's inaccurate reports that the cooperation agreement was limited to noncampaign-related info was based on tips from S.H. Sanders and Rudy! Which begs the questions: (1) Why on earth would they (and others) ...
2/ ... *ever* rely on info offered by Sanders and Giuliani, who are obviously ignorant and/or disingenuous in virtually *every* case; and (2) why don't they run stories about how (named) sources have misled them--something that would truly be newsworthy and ... @just_security
3/ ... might actually have the salutary effect of deterring such bullshitting. Good rule of thumb for all writers and readers: The *only* reliable sources here are the public filings and statements by Mueller's team, which (appropriately) doesn't leak. @just_security@lawfareblog
1/ I don't understand why Judge Kavanaugh continues to say that he's never taken a position on whether a sitting POTUS can be indicted. In his '98 GLJ article he wrote that "The Constitution itself seems to dictate . . .
2/ "... that congressional investigation must take place in lieu of criminal investigation when the President is the subject of investigation, and that criminal prosecution can occur only after the President has left office." (citing art. I, § 3, cl. 7, which doesn't say ...
3/ ... let alone "dictate" that). His later writings are more equivocal, and I assume he'd now repudiate what he wrote in '98; but then his view was that the Const. appears to "dictate" not only that prosecution be delayed until after office, but that even *investigation* ...