Justice Matters with Glenn Kirschner

The recent Supreme Court decision, in which the court struck down New York's attempt to limit the size of religious gatherings for public safety reasons, provides a clear and compelling example of why we must increase the number of Supreme Court justices. We should not be locked in the perpetual battle of decisions that are decided by one justice. When we do that, we are letting one non-elected in...

The New York Times published an article titled: "Can America Restore the Rule of Law Without Prosecuting Trump." The answer to that question can be gleaned from the first two statutes of Title 18 of the U.S. Criminal Code: 1 Principals and 2. Accessories After the Fact. Here's why it's critically important to the health and vitality of the rule of law that the incoming administration prosecute Tru...

An emergency room nurse in South Dakota relates her telling experiences with Covid patients who are unwilling to accept their diagnosis because of the continued disinformation from Trump and company. The only way to fix what Trump broke is education, accurate information, empathy and patience.  Please consider becoming a #TeamJustice patron at: https://www.patreon.com/glennkirschner My podcast, "J...

With the election of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, there is a powerful urge to move on from the past four years of the unabated crime and corruption that defines the Trump Administration. However, from the perspective of a former career federal prosecutor, here is why the county must now tackle the difficult but necessary task of investigating and, where the evidence supports it, prosecuting all cr...

We always hear about how candidates make their "closing arguments" to the American people in the final days of the election. As we say in courtrooms - "closing arguments are not evidence." Let's look at six pieces of circumstantial election evidence and see what it tells us about the likely outcome of what may be the most consequential election in the history of our nation.   Please consider becom...

Mitch McConnell has packed the federal courts with 220 judges. Some are already handing down opinions ranging from dubious to destructive of diversity, like Judge Justin Walker deciding that a photographer use her religious beliefs to discriminate against a same sex couple to Judge Neomi Rao who has issued "widely mocked" dissents and had her legal opinion/reasoning reversed by the full court of a...

During her Supreme Court Confirmation hearing, Amy Coney Barrett used something she called super-precedent as a fancy legal-sounding vehicle to hide her ideological preferences. Her confirmation will necessitate future additional to the Supreme Court to help fix what Trump and McConnell broke.  Please consider becoming a #TeamJustice patron at: https://www.patreon.com/glennkirschner My podcast, "J...

Trump's behavior before, during and after the now-exposed conspiracy to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer raises substantial questions of Trump's potential responsibility for how people react to his statements, his suggestions, his commands and his directives. Here is a discussion of the law of conspiracy as well as the 1970 law states regarding Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizatio...

Ignoring all advice from the Center for Disease Prevention and Control, Trump gathers the rich, the powerful, the influential and the connected together at the White House for a special super-spreader event. The "masters-of-the-universe" crowd (h/t to Thomas Wolfe's Bonfire of the Vanities), decides to ignore all CDC guidance: no masks, packed shoulder-to-shoulder, lots of hugs and kisses. The pol...

All indicators are pointing to Trump losing the upcoming election in a landslide. The prevailing wisdom is he will then file legal challenges in various courts contesting the election results. Based on legal doctrines such as "forfeiture by wrongdoing" and the "clean hands" doctrine, Trump will get laughed out of court by the judges. Trump's days in office are numbered.   If you are interested in...

My good friend, retired police officer Brett Parson, pioneered the Washington D.C. Metropolitan Police Department's LGBTQ+ Unit. His work received Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government Innovation in Government Award, complete with a $100,000 grant used to replicate the model in other police departments around the country.  As you all know, I haven't had any guests on "Justice Matters."...

Bill Barr tasked U.S. Attorney John Durham with going on a witch hunt - investigating the Trump-Russia investigators - in efforts to undermine the origins of the Russia investigation, notwithstanding the fact that the Mueller Report AND the DOJ Inspector General (IG) Horowitz report AND the Senate Intelligence Committee reports all concluded that the Trump-Russia investigation was properly opened....

EDITED: I mistakenly state that election day is "November 4, 2020." It is November, 3, 2020. My apologies for the error.  Trump and his nefarious associates believe they have perfected exploiting the delay in the court system to run out the clock and never be held to account. The fix is not as difficult as you might think.  There's an abundance of specialized courts created to deal with specific t...

All the prohibitions in the world (as, for example, banning choke holds), won't accomplish a thing if the wrong people are populating our police forces. After 30 years as a prosecutor working with thousands of police officers, agents and detectives, here's my take on realistic, imminently doable police reform: extreme vetting/hiring practices with FULL citizen participation; extreme training and t...

We all know that Mitch McConnell has been packing the courts with ideologues, including several judges rated "not qualified" by the American Bar Association to serve as federal judges. The judicial candidates identified by McConnell and nominated by Donald Trump have inarguably degraded the quality of the federal judiciary. This episode discusses a three-part plan to unpack the courts. After nearl...

We The People have had to contend with an unending stream of crime, abuse and corruption from the administration of Donald J. Trump. Come January, when we have a law-abiding president and a law-enforcing attorney general, it will be time for accountability. As a 30-year federal prosecutor, I can assure you that there can be no healing without accountability. There can be no deterring other politic...