Bill Blum
Bill Blum is a former administrative law judge and death penalty defense attorney. He is the author of three legal thrillers published by Penguin/Putnam and a contributing writer for California Lawyer Magazine. His non-fiction work has appeared in a wide variety of publications, ranging from The Nation and The Progressive to the Los Angeles Times, the L.A. Weekly and Los Angeles Magazine.
Articles by this author
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Views Saturday, April 11, 2020 Will Trump Be Held Accountable for the Blood on His Hands? As a general principle, we try to hold our public officials liable for acts of gross negligence and reckless disregard for human life. So, what about Donald Trump? Could he one day be held liable, either civilly or criminally, for the deaths of thousands of Americans who have succumbed to the... Read more |
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Views Sunday, March 22, 2020 Unequal Justice: Where Are Impeachment and the 25th Amendment When We Need Them? On March 13, in the midst of a deadly pandemic, President Donald Trump was asked if he took responsibility for the nation's lack of preparedness. His reply : "I don't take responsibility at all." Where are impeachment and the Twenty-Fifth Amendment—the two mechanisms provided by the Constitution... Read more |
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Views Tuesday, February 25, 2020 The Despicable (and Very Predictable) Red-Baiting of Bernie Sanders The red-baiting of Bernie Sanders sank to a new low during the Democratic debate in Las Vegas last week, courtesy of mega-billionaire Mike Bloomberg. Responding to the Vermont senator’s charge that Bloomberg’s employees were at least partly responsible for his business success, the former... Read more |
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Views Thursday, February 20, 2020 The Feud Between Trump and Barr Is a Grand Illusion Don’t place much stock in the purported feud between Donald Trump and Bill Barr. It’s just an illusion. The sad truth is that Trump and Barr are as simpatico as ever in pursuit of their jointly held goal of executive supremacy. The differences between the two men are largely a matter of demeanor,... Read more |
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Views Thursday, January 23, 2020 Unequal Justice: Call Trump to Testify at His Impeachment Trial As the Senate impeachment trial of Donald John Trump unfolds, one fundamental issue is whether witnesses will be called to give live testimony. The parties, not surprisingly, are sharply and bitterly divided on that. There can be little question that justice demands that witnesses be called, and... Read more |
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Views Thursday, January 16, 2020 Trump’s Unprecedented Attack on Iran and the Rule of Law The assassination of Iranian major general Qassem Soleimani on Jan. 3 in Baghdad is what happens when the steady erosion of congressional war-making powers intersects with the tenancy of a madman in the Oval Office. I know. Soleimani was, to invoke the parlance of another grossly unqualified... Read more |
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Views Thursday, December 12, 2019 Unequal Justice: Democrats Go Surgical and Small on Impeachment “You can’t always get what you want But if you try sometime, you find You get what you need.” —Keith Richards & Mick Jagger Barring a last-minute failure of nerve by House Democrats, Donald John Trump will become only the third President in U.S. history to be impeached. That’s welcome news for... Read more |
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Views Friday, November 29, 2019 Now Is Not the Time for Democrats to Waver As the House Judiciary Committee opens the final round of hearings next week in the impeachment investigation of Donald Trump, there are, once again, reports of wavering among centrists and moderates in the Democratic Party. Although conservative news outlets have taken the lead on such reporting,... Read more |
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Views Wednesday, November 13, 2019 Think Capone When It Comes to Trump’s Impeachment Is President Donald Trump more like Richard Nixon or Al Capone? That’s not a question many commentators in search of historical analogies will ask as the House begins televised hearings on Trump’s impeachment this week. But it should be. In my view, the answer to the question is that the legal... Read more |
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Views Tuesday, October 29, 2019 What Will Tump Impeachment Trial Look Like in Mitch McConnell-Controlled Senate? The impeachment of Donald John Trump by the House of Representatives is all but inevitable. The House is slated to hold a formal vote on Thursday to authorize the impeachment inquiry, and in the coming weeks, it is expected to shift from closed-door investigatory sessions to public hearings... Read more |