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Ten academics and human rights advocates, including a former chairman of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, called on the Biden administration Friday to sanction Finland's top prosecutor after she filed charges against Christians who declared what they believe the Bible says about homosexuality.
Good morning, it’s Monday, May 17, 2021. Forty-eight years ago today, the American people were riveted by a spectacle that would result in the end of a presidency. With North Carolina Democrat Samuel J. Ervin Jr. presiding and Tennessee Republican Howard H. Baker Jr. serving as co-chairman, the Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities commenced its much-anticipated public hearings. Sam Ervin’s record on race relations wouldn’t fully pass muster today: 76 years old at the time of the Watergate hearings, he was a product of his time in a segregated South. But Ervin had ...
MAY 5 • Yesterday afternoon Chauvin defense attorney Eric Nelson filed a motion for new trial and a related motion for a hearing to interrogate the jury in order to impeach the verdict (a so-called Schwartz hearing now codified in Rule 26.03, Subd. 20(6) of the Minnesota Rules of Criminal Procedure). Nelson also asked for additional time to file a memorandum of law in support of the motions “in light of the time that was required for preparation of partial transcripts of the proceedings.” The court has posted the motions here. • With one or two exceptions Nelson’s new trial motion ...
Chauvin trial footnotes (3) I have posted two previous editions of footnotes to our coverage of the trial of Derek Chauvin for the death of George Floyd. My purpose here is to provide background on the legal issues in the case for those who seek to understand them. If you are certain that the issues constitute nothing more than a smokescreen for a predetermined outcome, these footnotes are not for you. I post these footnotes in the form of bullet points and differentiate facts and law from (my) opinion. Previous editions are included below under May 2 and April 25. Today I want to add a fe...
Good morning, it’s Monday, May 3, 2021. Over the weekend, Illinois Rep. Cheri Bustos became the latest swing district Democrat to announce her impending retirement. Then, Texas Democrats in a district southwest of Fort Worth splintered their vote, thereby botching any chance they had of picking up a House seat in a special election. In non-political news, a horse named Medina Spirit won the Kentucky Derby, a record seventh time trainer Bob Baffert has won the “Run for the Roses.” Baffert’s horse won in 2020, too, and with the same rider -- John Velazquez -- who was in the winner’s c...