Next Witness...Please

Just a month into Donald Trump’s second term as president, some of his supporters are already pushing a constitutional amendment to allow him a third term in office. Even Trump, himself, is talking about the possibility of a third term being mandated by his MAGA supporters. The day after Trump’s inauguration, Rep. Andy Ogles of Tennessee introduced a resolution in the House of Representatives to a...

As President Donald Trump and his cohort Elon Musk target huge cuts in the federal bureaucracy, the public trusts bureaucrats more than politicians. In an interesting 2024 survey by the Partnership for Public Service, 63 percent of Americans said they did not trust the federal government while only 31 percent said the federal government had a positive impact on the United States. However, 91 perce...

Amid President Donald Trump’s early slew of executive orders, at least four seek to eliminate Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives started as long ago as the presidency of Lyndon Johnson. This edition of Next Witness…Please examines the concept of executive orders, charts some voluntary compliance and delves into current and upcoming litigations challenging the constitutionality of th...

As the first weeks of President Donald J. Trump’s presidency devolve into chaos within the federal government, the Next Witness…Please podcast takes a retrospective look at Trump’s felony sentencing in New York and why it is still important. Retired judges Gayle Williams-Byers and Thomas Hodson talk about the reasoning used by Judge Juan Merchan for his sentence, the sentencing proceeding itself a...

As TikTok, the video app, skyrockets in popularity, a legal battle rages to see if a Congressional ban to shut it down takes effect on Jan.19. The U.S. Supreme Court recently heard 2.5 hours of oral arguments in a lawsuit filed by ByteDance, the parent company who owns TikTok, along with some creators, against legislation passed last April by Congress. The Congressional action said that TikTok eit...

As we approach the inauguration of President Donald Trump, his only remaining active criminal cases are approaching conclusion. Trump is scheduled to be sentenced on January 10 in a New York courtroom by Judge Juan Merchan for the 34 felonies for which a jury found Trump guilty. Judge Merchan has indicated there would be no jail time and no official probation and that the cases would be “unconditi...

Issues affecting transgendered people are hot legal topics in our highest courts and in our state legislatures across the country. The U. S. Supreme Court recently heard oral arguments on a Tennessee law that bans gender affirming care for minors. Half of our states have similar bans. The law prevents minors who claim their genders don’t align with their sex at birth from having access to puberty...

The blanket pardon of Hunter Biden by his father President Joseph Biden has sparked widespread controversy and there will be more pardons to come before President Biden leaves office in January. The broad pardoning of his son Hunter Biden for all “offenses against the United States which he has committed or may have committed or taken part in during the period from January 1, 2014, through Decembe...

Rapper Young Thug pleaded guilty in Atlanta, in October, to gang, drug, and gun charges a year after his racketeering trial had begun. He pleaded guilty to one gang charge, three drug charges, and two gun charges. He also pleaded no contest to another gang charge and racketeering conspiracy. His story is one of a long a protracted legal proceeding with twists and turns that are material for a nove...

As Donald Trump approaches his second term as President, he leaves a landscape cluttered with unresolved legal issues, both criminal and civil. In this episode of Next Witness…Please, retired judges and co-hosts Gayle Williams-Byers and Thomas Hodson give you a post-election update on Trump’s pending legal cases. They delve into the status of the cases and predict what to expect next. Most importa...

With all the turmoil and finger pointing going on in the country and with the U.S. Supreme Court in a tizzy, it is sometimes good to look back and honor some positive role models we have had in our lives. November is National Inspirational Role Model Month so Next Witness…Please cohosts and retired judges Gayle Williams-Byers and Thomas Hodson share with you some people who have been their inspira...

The Menendez brothers, Lyle and Erik, have been in prison for 35 years after being convicted of the 1989 murders of their parents. However, they are pursuing three different legal strategies to now be released from prison. Originally, they were sentenced to two consecutive life sentences without parole. Their original trial defense was that the murders were in self-defense after Erik had long been...

Election 2024 is the most litigated election in history, say experts and we have just seen the beginning. In 2020, Donald Trump’s supporters filed 62 lawsuits post-election and lost 61 of them. This year, we already have had 130 lawsuits filed leading up to the election and promises of hundreds more following Election Day. Big time election lawyers are involved on both sides. Gineen Bresso is head...

The U.S. Supreme Court reconvened the first Monday in October for the new term after a summer recess. On the court’s docket are several high-profile cases with several more to be added. Court observers are watching how the court will handle these key matters to determine if the Supreme Court will continue in its MAGA direction or will it right itself and become more centrist. In this episode of th...

Hundreds of election related cases are being filed across the country and most of these cases land in the laps of state trial judges. They must wade through detailed legal arguments concerning voting rights and ballot counting while meeting tight deadlines for rendering their decisions. In many states early voting has already started. This takes a judicial dexterity and a healthy dose of judicial...

Sending the creation and administration of abortion laws and regulations back to the states is causing a patchwork of confusion and is putting the burden on local state courts to determine their constitutionality. The draconian impact of some of these laws is also causing danger and death to innocent women. In this episode of “Next Witness…Please,” retired judges Thomas Hodson and Gayle William-By...

Why is Sean “Diddy” Combs still in jail and not out on some type of bond, bail, or pretrial release? On this edition of Next Witness…Please, retired judges Gayle Williams-Byers and Thomas Hodson explore the federal criminal charges against Combs and look closely at why he currently is being held in the Metropolitan Detention Center in New York City and not released on bond. Combs is in jail pendin...

America’s criminal courts are facing a crisis, namely the lack of public defenders and court appointed attorneys to defend people charged with crimes. Over the past decade, the paucity of defenders for the indigent has grown from an issue lurking just beneath the surface of our judicial system to one of an acute nature. In some states it has grown beyond acute and is, in fact, a critical problem....

What should judges expect from courtroom participants, and what happens if a judge crosses the line? In this episode of Next Witness...Please, retired judges Gayle Williams-Byers and Tom Hodson tackle the often-overlooked topic of judicial decorum. They offer both insight and entertainment, with personal and humorous examples of maintaining—or losing—judicial decorum. Every court, from state to fe...

Donald Trump is currently entangled in two major federal criminal cases plus a criminal case in New York and at least two civil cases on appeal. These cases amount to a mixed bag of legal issues – some complex and some bordering on frivolous but all problematic for judges. On this episode of Next Witness…Please, retired judges Gayle Williams-Byers and Tom Hodson guide listeners through Trump’s leg...

New York Judge Juan Merchan is set to rule on pivotal motions from Donald Trump’s legal team, aiming to overturn 34 felony convictions in the hush money and campaign finance cases. Trump’s attorneys argue that improper evidence was used to secure the guilty verdicts, citing the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision on presidential immunity. They claim that testimony involving “official acts” from Tru...

Judges are supposed to be unbiased and objective. So are journalists. Is that possible in 2024? Do our preconceived biases seep into our work? Is objectivity even possible? Every judge comes to the bench with his/her own life experiences, biases, and personality, yet the judge is expected to put all of that aside to objectively determine all issues. The same is true of journalists. In court, there...

After the presidential immunity decision and other precedent crushing opinions by the U.S. Supreme Court, President Joseph Biden is proposing significant changes to the court. He has proposed term limits for the justices and wants those to be imposed retroactively. Justices currently have lifetime appointments. Justice Clarence Thomas, Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito are the mo...

As the U.S. Supreme Court term ended, it issued a series of monumental decisions. One sharply curtailed the power of federal administrative agencies to interpret the laws they administer, overturning a precedent from 1984. Just three days later, in a 6-3 decision, the Supreme Court granted the president almost complete immunity from any criminal prosecutions. In response to these decisions, Dr. St...

Federal Judge Aileen Cannon, in Florida, issued a 93-page opinion on July 15 dismissing all 40 counts against Donald Trump of illegally retaining classified documents and obstructing government efforts to retrieve them. Her ruling was based on outlier opinions that the appointment of Special Prosecutor was unconstitutional and that his office was being unconstitutionally funded by the U. S. Treasu...