Copyright © 2022, Los Angeles Times | | | | Advertisement Erwin Chemerinsky When the president of the United States violates the Constitution there must be a way for a federal court to hear the case and provide a remedy. Three different lawsuits have been filed against President Trump claiming that he is violating the emoluments clauses of the Constitution by receiving unlawful payments or other benefits from foreign governments and from the United States.Trump’s position is that the federal courts can hear none of these suits because no one has “standing” to sue him for these...…Copyright © 2022, Los Angeles Times | | | | Advertisement Erwin Chemerinsky When the president of the United States violates the Constitution there must be a way for a federal court to hear the case and provide a remedy. Three different lawsuits have been filed against President Trump claiming that he is violating the emoluments clauses of the Constitution by receiving unlawful payments or other benefits from foreign governments and from the United States.Trump’s position is that the federal courts can hear none of these suits because no one has “standing” to sue him for these...WW…

Copyright © 2022, Los Angeles Times | | | | Advertisement President Trump’s use of federal agents in Portland is not only outrageous, it is clearly unconstitutional.One of the most basic principles of our system of law is that for the federal government, including the president, to take an action, there must be constitutional and statutory authority. In light of this, what can and can’t the president do when it comes to law enforcement in cities?Trump can invoke authority under the Insurrection Act of 1807, which allows presidents to send troops when “any insurrection, domestic violence,...…Copyright © 2022, Los Angeles Times | | | | Advertisement President Trump’s use of federal agents in Portland is not only outrageous, it is clearly unconstitutional.One of the most basic principles of our system of law is that for the federal government, including the president, to take an action, there must be constitutional and statutory authority. In light of this, what can and can’t the president do when it comes to law enforcement in cities?Trump can invoke authority under the Insurrection Act of 1807, which allows presidents to send troops when “any insurrection, domestic violence,...WW…

Copyright © 2020, Los Angeles Times | | | |AdvertisementOnce again, President Trump has shown his ignorance of the Constitution and federal law in raising the question of whether the November presidential election should be delayed. To be clear, President Trump has absolutely no legal authority to do this. The date for the election is set by federal statute and can be changed only by Congress.But that didn’t stop Trump from tweeting on Thursday morning, “With Universal Mail-In Voting (not Absentee Voting, which is good), 2020 will be the most INACCURATE & FRAUDULENT Election in history....…Copyright © 2020, Los Angeles Times | | | |AdvertisementOnce again, President Trump has shown his ignorance of the Constitution and federal law in raising the question of whether the November presidential election should be delayed. To be clear, President Trump has absolutely no legal authority to do this. The date for the election is set by federal statute and can be changed only by Congress.But that didn’t stop Trump from tweeting on Thursday morning, “With Universal Mail-In Voting (not Absentee Voting, which is good), 2020 will be the most INACCURATE & FRAUDULENT Election in history....WW…

Copyright © 2022, Los Angeles Times | | | | Advertisement Authoritarian rulers inevitably try to silence their critics, and President Trump did just that in his clearly illegal executive order that seeks to limit the protections social media companies have from being held liable for the content published on their platforms. I hope that we have not become so desensitized by Trump’s constant misconduct as president that we have lost the ability to be outraged and frightened by something that strikes at the very heart of freedom of speech.The executive order was meant to retaliate against...…Copyright © 2022, Los Angeles Times | | | | Advertisement Authoritarian rulers inevitably try to silence their critics, and President Trump did just that in his clearly illegal executive order that seeks to limit the protections social media companies have from being held liable for the content published on their platforms. I hope that we have not become so desensitized by Trump’s constant misconduct as president that we have lost the ability to be outraged and frightened by something that strikes at the very heart of freedom of speech.The executive order was meant to retaliate against...WW…

There was a time when the Constitution’s protection of the “free exercise” of religion was a sort of shield, a protection for religious minorities from the prejudices of the powerful. No longer. The Supreme Court’s conservative majority is in the process of transforming this First Amendment clause into a sword that politically powerful Christian conservatives can use to strike down hard-fought advances in civil rights, especially for LGBTQ individuals and women.At issue is whether religious believers who object to laws governing matters such as health care, labor protections, and...…There was a time when the Constitution’s protection of the “free exercise” of religion was a sort of shield, a protection for religious minorities from the prejudices of the powerful. No longer. The Supreme Court’s conservative majority is in the process of transforming this First Amendment clause into a sword that politically powerful Christian conservatives can use to strike down hard-fought advances in civil rights, especially for LGBTQ individuals and women.At issue is whether religious believers who object to laws governing matters such as health care, labor protections, and...WW…

Copyright © 2022, Los Angeles Times | | | | Advertisement Wouldn’t it be nice if Democrats and Republicans could just agree that the fair and right course would be to not replace Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg until after the presidential inauguration in January? We could simply stick, for now, with the precedent established by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell when he refused to hold a vote on the nomination of Merrick Garland to replace Justice Antonin Scalia.At the time, nearly nine months before the 2016 presidential election, he declared, “The American people should have a voice in...…Copyright © 2022, Los Angeles Times | | | | Advertisement Wouldn’t it be nice if Democrats and Republicans could just agree that the fair and right course would be to not replace Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg until after the presidential inauguration in January? We could simply stick, for now, with the precedent established by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell when he refused to hold a vote on the nomination of Merrick Garland to replace Justice Antonin Scalia.At the time, nearly nine months before the 2016 presidential election, he declared, “The American people should have a voice in...WW…

Copyright © 2022, Los Angeles Times | | | | Advertisement In January 2006, I testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee against the Supreme Court confirmation of Samuel A. Alito Jr. At a break in the proceedings, then-Sen. Joe Biden came up to me and said, “You know this is all an exercise in Kabuki theater. Everyone in this room knows that Sam Alito is going to be a very conservative justice. The Republicans are pretending that he has no ideology. The Democrats are trying to ask questions to trip him up or pin him down and he is too smart for that.”Biden was correct: Alito was...…Copyright © 2022, Los Angeles Times | | | | Advertisement In January 2006, I testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee against the Supreme Court confirmation of Samuel A. Alito Jr. At a break in the proceedings, then-Sen. Joe Biden came up to me and said, “You know this is all an exercise in Kabuki theater. Everyone in this room knows that Sam Alito is going to be a very conservative justice. The Republicans are pretending that he has no ideology. The Democrats are trying to ask questions to trip him up or pin him down and he is too smart for that.”Biden was correct: Alito was...WW…