Rules of Professional Conduct

Team Trump: not a defense, but political theater of the absurd

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Wow. Just … Wow. The “defense” presentation by Team Trump has been in no way a legal defense presented by competent legal counsel that one would expect to see from any attorney at an actual trial. Instead, what we have bore witness to over the past couple of days is political theater of the absurd, … Read more

Team Trump’s ‘trailer’ of coming attractions does not bode well for American Justice

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“You are entitled to your opinion. But you are not entitled to your own facts.” – Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan. The conservative media entertainment complex aka the Republican propaganda machine has been trying to turn this adage on its head for decades. In a famous exchange between a George W. Bush administration official and journalist … Read more

Having conceded the facts, and lied about the law, Team Trump will ‘pound the table and yell like hell’ smearing the Bidens with Russian propaganda

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“If the facts are against you, argue the law. If the law is against you, argue the facts. If the law and the facts are against you, pound the table and yell like hell.” – Carl Sandburg. Team Trump has already conceded the facts in this impeachment trial. They have argued that even if everything … Read more

Arizona Justice Clint Bolick has an ‘Abe Fortas problem’ with his judicial ethics

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On Sunday, The Arizona Republic ran a profile puff piece on Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery. Bill Montgomery: The son of a smuggler becomes Maricopa County’s controversial prosecutor.

I found the timing of this puff piece curious: why is the mouthpiece of the Arizona Republican Party suddenly promoting Bill Montgomery? I had heard a rumor circulating that Montgomery was under consideration for appointment to John McCain’s Senate seat after Jon Kyl resigns in the coming weeks to return to his more lucrative lobbyist career, but no one could confirm this rumor for me.

Well, that changed on Tuesday. The muckraking Phoenix New Times reported Arizona Supreme Court Justice Urged Governor to Tap Bill Montgomery for Senate:

Arizona Supreme Court Associate Justice Clint Bolick urged Governor Doug Ducey to appoint Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery to the U.S. Senate two days after the death of John McCain.

In text messages obtained by Phoenix New Times under state public records law, Bolick wrote to Ducey on August 27, asking him to tap the polarizing Republican prosecutor for McCain’s Senate seat.

“I hope you will consider Bill Montgomery, one of the few who could fill Sen. McCain’s shoes,” Bolick wrote. “He is respected by everyone, supported by all parts of the GOP, yet unfailingly conservative. Wicked smart, principled, West Point, very modest beginnings, young enough to be there for a long time. Can work across the aisle.”

“Bill has not asked me to do this; to the contrary it would require an appeal to his sense of duty,” Bolick added.

Bolick described Montgomery as “conservative to my libertarian yet there are few I respect more, very much in the mold of [former U.S. Senator] Jon Kyl.”

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Maricopa County prosecutor Rachel Mitchell’s unprofessional memo

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Republican strategist Rick Wilson authored the book Everything Trump Touches Dies.

This is likely to include the professional legal career of Maricopa County prosecutor Rachel Mitchell.

Hired to be a “human shield” for Republican senators in questioning Christine Blasey Ford last week, she proved to be ‘not effective’ in questioning Ford.

Mitchell had barely begun asking questions of Judge Kavanaugh when she zeroed in on his July 1 calendar entry which might corroborate Dr. Blasey’s recollection of a party. Republican senators insulted her by summarily dismissing her, never to be heard from again.

Eleven old white men didn’t want to hear from any woman, even their hired gun.

Mitchell has since compounded her catastrophic performance by providing a partisan political memo to the GOP senators who hired her. Her memo violates the rules of professional conduct for attorneys and prosecutors. Her desire to be in the national spotlight may wind up costing her.

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