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
 |
Views Monday, October 08, 2018 5 Truths Exposed by Kavanaugh's Rise to the Supreme Court The ballots have been cast and the verdict is in: By a vote of 50-48, the Senate on Saturday confirmed Brett Kavanaugh as the 114 th justice of the United States Supreme Court. Here are five key takeaways from the confirmation battle: Kavanaugh’s confirmation proves once again that the courts,... Read more |
 |
Views Tuesday, September 18, 2018 After the Flip, What’s Next for Manafort, Mueller and Trump? Now that Paul Manafort, Donald Trump’s former campaign manager, has entered into a cooperation agreement with special counsel Robert Mueller, the question on nearly every observer’s mind is, “What comes next?” The answer depends, of course, on whether you’re Manafort, Mueller or Trump. Although... Read more |
 |
Views Tuesday, September 11, 2018 Unequal Justice: From Russiagate to Trumpgate The greatest immediate threat to American democracy isn’t Russian intervention in our elections. It’s Donald Trump. So if you’re searching for a term to express the dangers posed by Trump’s presidency, don’t invoke “Russiagate.” Think instead of “Trumpgate.” Although I am not the first to use the... Read more |
 |
Views Tuesday, September 04, 2018 Brett Kavanaugh and the Triumph of the Conservative Counterrevolution As much as we have dreaded this moment, the Senate Judiciary Committee’s hearings on the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court are upon us. Barring a miracle bordering on the Immaculate Conception, the committee will vote along party lines to approve the nomination, and shortly... Read more |
 |
Views Tuesday, July 31, 2018 Paul Manafort and the Five Stages of 'Mueller Derangement Syndrome' There’s one thing you can count on when the first of two scheduled trials involving former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort gets underway this week in a federal courtroom in Alexandria, Va. No, it’s not that Manafort, who faces 18 felony counts of financial fraud and tax evasion, will be... Read more |
 |
Views Tuesday, July 17, 2018 Supreme Court Update: Kavanaugh Is No Kennedy, and Kennedy Was No Centrist There is a growing consensus among legal commentators that D.C. Circuit Judge Brett Kavanaugh will move the Supreme Court sharply to the right should the Senate confirm his nomination. Kavanaugh is a loyal Republican operative who has championed conservative causes at every step of his professional... Read more |
 |
Views Tuesday, July 10, 2018 Brett Kavanaugh, Trump’s Supreme Court Pick, Will Drive U.S. Law Hard to the Right President Trump announced the nomination of ultraconservative District of Columbia Circuit Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday night. Short of selecting 7th Circuit Judge Amy Coney Barrett, a religious zealot who belongs to the fringe Catholic cult People for Praise and was... Read more |
 |
Views Tuesday, July 03, 2018 It’s Time to Use the 'F' Word to Describe Trump Is Donald Trump a fascist? With each passing news cycle, more people here and abroad are asking the question. On a trip to Berlin in early June, my wife and I were pressed for answers in spontaneous encounters with cab drivers, waiters, hotel clerks and sundry others. Regardless of occupation,... Read more |
 |
Views Thursday, June 14, 2018 Supremes Give Stamp of Approval to Voter Suppression In a 5-4 decision released June 11, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld an Ohio law that provides for the removal of infrequent voters from the state’s election rolls. On the surface, the court’s majority opinion in Husted v. A. Phillip Randolph Institute is a highly technical analysis of whether Ohio’s... Read more |
 |
Views Monday, May 21, 2018 Trump, the NRA, Mass Shootings and the American Culture of Death “ A fish rots from the head down.” — Ancient proverb of disputed origin Another week has come and gone, and with it, another mass shooting. The American culture of death marches on, fueled by our obscene stockpiles of lethal weaponry and stoked by the divisions, alienation, hatred and fear that... Read more |