We're Not Talking About the Worst Part of the Trump Immunity Decision

The Supreme Court's staggering decision to grant criminal immunity to former President Trump has plenty of obvious downsides. Commentators have been pointing out for months how the Court's delay granted de facto immunity to Trump in the January 6th cases, by making it impossible to try

Opening Arguments Podcast

Can Trump go to jail? Is anyone ever going to treat him fairly? Find out during this excellent legal discussion on the Opening Arguments podcast! OA796: Will Trump’s Big Mouth Land Him In The Big House? (feat. Chris Regan)Liz and Andrew discuss developments in the Fulton County, Georgia

There Doesn’t Have to Be a Way Out

The Republican Party has cornered itself. After Donald Trump’s stunning 2016 win, Republicans have lost and lost and lost. They lost the House, then the Presidency, and the Senate. In Biden’s first midterm they expected to get the Congress back but again lost the Senate and gained only

Mitch McConnell’s Love Letter to Jim Justice

The 2022 elections broke Mitch McConnell’s heart. After multiple terms as Majority Leader and a tantalizing two-year stint in an evenly-divided Senate under President Joe Biden, Mitch could taste his return to power. When Herschel Walker failed to get across the line and Chuck Schumer took full control, Mitch

Traitor Wants to Go to Congress

Derrick Evans attacked the United States Capitol building on January 6th, 2021. He filmed himself at the violent breach of the East Rotunda doors. He shouted at and obstructed the police officers trying to protect the United States Congress as it counted the electoral votes for the 2020 Presidential election,

Merrick Garland is Not Who You Think He Is

If there is one lesson to be learned about our judicial system over the past six years, it is this: we have no "institutions," only people. The mythology of "our institutions" exists mainly to protect officials in powerful positions from scrutiny and criticism. And there is

Us & Them Podcast -- Manchin in the Middle

I spoke with Peabody-Award-winning journalist Trey Kay for his WV Public podcast  "Us & Them." We discussed the Inflation Reduction Act, Joe Manchin's political present, and his future (partial spoiler: if there is one). Listen in particular for Mike Plante's insights – you could learn

"Look there's two kinds of dumb. . ."

George, the basketball coach who has the bad luck to precede Norman Dale at Hickory High in the movie Hoosiers, doesn’t know what’s about to hit him. He’s lived in Hickory forever, and has every reason to believe he knows how it all works. He even has

Featured

Is it Fair to Prosecute Donald Trump?

When we say “no one is above the law” in America, we know we’re kidding ourselves. A great many people are quite obviously above the law. For example, Senator Rick Scott, to pick someone in the news, was part of one of the largest Medicare frauds in the history

CNN Newsroom Interview on Budget Deal

The United States Is Under Attack

[This post was originally published in Black By God / The West Virginian in June, 2022] The United States is under attack. We take casualties by the dozens daily, by the hundreds weekly, and all told the attackers have put hundreds of thousands of our fellow citizens in the ground. We

If You're Tired of Manchin, Guess What?

[This piece was originally published in the Charleston Gazette in May, 2022] In the final weeks of the Republican primary, Joe Manchin weighed in with an endorsement. You might think it odd that the state’s leading Democrat would endorse in a GOP primary, and perhaps even odder that a

West Virginia Wants Build Back Better

[This post was originally published in The New Republic in December, 2021] We’re going to remember 2021 as Joe Manchin’s biggest year in national politics. The second-term senator put himself at the center of negotiations on President Biden’s American Rescue Plan even before Biden’s term began.

CNN Interview on the Fate of Build Back Better

CNN Interview on my Atlantic Article about Joe Manchin

What the Media Are Missing About Joe Manchin

[This post was originally published in The Atlantic, in March, 2021] In 2005, I gathered with my fellow West Virginia trial lawyers for our annual conference in Charleston, the state’s capital. After legal seminars, we headed for back rooms, where the gregarious group told stories, drank whiskey, and assessed

Hey Jim Justice: Take Care of the Counties We Already Have!

This piece was originally published in the Wheeling Intelligencer on February 2nd, 2020.] Learning to take care of what you have is part of life. Any parent who ever had a child who wanted a goldfish or a kitty-cat or a puppy has had the conversation: “If you want to

What Does the Bible Have to Say About the Border Crisis?

This piece was originally published in the Wheeling Intelligencer on July 7th, 2019.] It is written, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. Matthew 4:4. “When the lawyers saw the 2-year-old boy, he wasn’t wearing a

Manchin Replays the Disastrous 2016 Governor's Race Strategy

[This piece was originally published in the Spirit of Jefferson in March, 2019.] Way back before the beginning of time, in early 2015. West Virginia began to talk about the Governor’s race. Earl Ray Tomblin was finishing up and the seat would be open. After a resounding defeat in

Shock for Republicans, and a Strike for the Schools, as Teachers Refuse to Sell Out Students

There’s nothing worse for a corrupt politician than meeting someone who can’t be bought. It’s like watching a cat fall in a bathtub: you see first shock, and then anger, as though the world itself has betrayed him. A sellout simply assumes that everyone else is also

West Virginia Democrats Should Not Help Don Blankenship

[This piece was originally published in the Fayette Tribune in May, 2018] “You can’t shake hands with the devil, and say you’re only kidding.” That’s the line that came to mind when I read about an effort by West Virginia Democrats to help Don Blankenship become the

Washington DC, 2017, and the War on Christmas

[This piece was published on the original Home Yesterday in December, 2017.] Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem. . . .” Two thousand and seventeen years later, in Colorado, pregnant women due in

Coal Executives Take Millions before Bankruptcies

[This piece was published on the original Home Yesterday in November, 2017] Amid the news of Alpha Coal’s bankruptcy, attention is rightly given to the communities and miners affected. The bankruptcy will be used to take away promised benefits from miners who earned them. But there are some people

The Flag, the Medal of Honor, and the President

[This piece was originally published in the West Virginia Record in October, 2017] During the Civil War, flags on the battlefield had enormous tactical and strategic importance. Regimental flags allowed soldiers to know the position of their units, and which direction they should be moving to keep up with it.

Groundhog Day Politics in West Virginia

[This post was originally published in the Fayette Tribune in July, 2017] West Virginia’s new governor stood on the steps of the Capitol and said taxes would be kept to the “irreducible minimum.” Government needed to be less corrupt, and more efficient, spending only what it needed to spend,