Law Day 2024

May 1, 2024: Happy Law Day. This day is celebrated around the world as Labor Day (or even Labour Day!), but in the USA we think that’s just for commies who don’t know Labor Day is in September, when last year’s cars go on sale and men burn meat over charcoal outdoors in gratitude.

The 34th president, Republican Dwight D. Eisenhower, officially established May 1st as Law Day in 1958, and the 45th, former Republican president and felony defendent Donald J. Trump, is celebrating it in 2024 by spending the day in a New York courtroom. Citizen Trump is accused of disguising hush money payments to a porn star and to others through the National Enquirer as legal expenses when they were undeclared campaign expenses, designed to influence the outcome of the 2016 election. From what we know of the Trump Organization, maybe he claimed the adulterous payoffs as business expenses on his tax returns, too.

Donald Trump claims he is as innocent as Jesus Christ and Alphonse Capone, two of his idols.

More:

“Trump’s ‘Hush Money’ Payment Isn’t Illegal In Itself—Here’s Why He’s Actually On Trial,” Alison Durkee, Forbes

“How a hush money scandal turned into a criminal case: The whirlwind history of People v. Trump,” Erica Orden, Politico

Related:

“Trump’s Lawyer Claims the President Is Above the Law,” Jonathan Chait, New York Magazine

“Above the Law,” written by Betty Wright and Angelo Morris, recorded by The O’Jays, 2018.

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Image: Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

Comments are welcome if they are on-topic, substantive, concise, and not boring or obscene. Comments may be edited for clarity and length.

Donald Trump: Above the Law?

John Dowd, one of President Trump’s lawyers, told Mike Allen of Axios that the president cannot be charged with obstruction of justice:

“The ‘President cannot obstruct justice because he is the chief law enforcement officer under [the Constitution’s Article II] and has every right to express his view of any case.'”

“The Articles of Impeachment against Nixon began by saying he ‘obstructed, and impeded the administration of justice.'”

— “Trump lawyer claims the ‘President cannot obstruct justice,'” Mike Allen, Axios

Presidents can’t obstruct justice? Attorney General Jeff Sessions disagrees. Back in 1999, as an Alabama senator, he said “The facts are disturbing and compelling on the President’s intent to obstruct justice,” he said, referring to Bill Clinton.

“Sessions isn’t alone. More than 40 current GOP members of Congress voted for the impeachment or removal of Clinton from office for obstruction of justice. They include Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell – who mounted his own passionate appeal to remove Clinton from office for obstruction of justice – Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley and Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr, who was a House member at the time. In all, 17 sitting senators supported the obstruction of justice charge against Clinton in 1998 and 1999.”

— “Sessions argued in Clinton impeachment that presidents can obstruct justice,” Kyle Cheney, Politico

More:

“Trump’s Lawyer Claims the President Is Above the Law,” Jonathan Chait, New York Magazine

“Donald Trump’s I-am-the-law defense on the Russia investigation,” Chris Cillizza, CNN

“A bold new legal defense for Trump: Presidents cannot obstruct justice,” Sari Horwitz and Philip Rucker, Washington Post

“19 Times President Trump May Have Obstructed Justice,” Margaret Hartmann, New York Magazine

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Short link: https://wp.me/p6sb6-qMe

Image: Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

Comments are welcome if they are on-topic, substantive, concise, and not boring or obscene. Comments may be edited for clarity and length.

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