“Pennsylvania Lawmaker Played Key Role in Trump’s Plot to Oust Acting Attorney General; The congressman’s involvement underlined how far the former president was willing to go to overturn the election, and Democratic lawmakers are beginning to call for investigations into those efforts”: Katie Benner and Catie Edmondson will have this article in Sunday’s edition of The New York Times.
“Yes, the Senate Can Try Trump: Impeachment for former officials was the norm at the time of the founding.” Professor Keith E. Whittington has this op-ed in today’s edition of The Wall Street Journal.
“Trump Pressed Justice Department to Go Directly to Supreme Court to Overturn Election Results; The former president dropped the efforts to replace the acting attorney general after top DOJ officials agreed to resign en masse in protest if he succeeded, people familiar said”: Jess Bravin and Sadie Gurman of The Wall Street Journal have this report.
“Virginia moves toward banning capital punishment, in a shift for prolific death penalty state”: Laura Vozzella and Gregory S. Schneider of The Washington Post have this report.
“Biden DOJ nixes last-minute Trump administration memo on LGBTQ rights; A Supreme Court ruling last June concluded that a half-century-old prohibition on sex discrimination in employment applies equally to discrimination against gay and lesbian workers as well as those who are transgender”: Josh Gerstein of Politico has this report.
“Students Win in Federal Appeals Court — With Argument Partly Via Sign Language”: Mike Fox of the University of Virginia School of Law has this report.
My earlier coverage of the Fourth Circuit’s ruling in this case, and its oral argument, can be accessed here.
“Judicial Notice: January 23, 2021 — Notable legal news from the week that was.” David Lat has this post at his “Original Jurisdiction” Substack site.
“Bad conduct, leering ‘jokes’ — immigration judges stay on bench; Chronicle investigation: U.S. Justice Department lacks strong harassment oversight for judges.” Tal Kopan of The San Francisco Chronicle has this report.
“Why McConnell Dumped Trump: After the Capitol assault — and after losing his perch as Majority Leader — the senator finally denounced the outgoing President; Was it a moral reckoning or yet another act of political self-interest?” Jane Mayer will have this article in the February 1, 2021 issue of The New Yorker.
“Sotomayor Emerges as Heir to Marshall in Death Penalty Dissents”: Jordan S. Rubin of Bloomberg Law has this report.
“Nashville lawyer suspended after posting advice on how to make murder look like self-defense”: Brinley Hineman of The Tennessean has this report.
Yesterday’s ruling of the Supreme Court of Tennessee consists of a majority opinion and an opinion concurring in part and dissenting in part.*
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* The majority opinion describes the separate opinion as dissenting in part, while the separate opinion describes itself as concurring in part. I have thus opted to characterize the separate opinion in a way that encompasses both descriptions.
“House Republican introduces bill to hold Supreme Court at nine justices”: Caitlin McFall of Fox News has this report.
“Woman found dead in Iowa was daughter of Minnesota justice, Allina CEO; Olivia Chutich’s body was found in the parking lot of an Iowa State University sorority house”: The Minneapolis Star Tribune has this report.
And Danielle Gehr of The Ames Tribune reports that “21-year-old Iowa State student found dead at sorority is identified; no foul play suspected.”