Bill Blum

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

There’s no discounting the heavy hand of time, and no underestimating the impact Ginsburg’s departure—whenever it takes place—will have on the future of the Supreme Court and American law.(Photo: Flickr/National Museum of American History Smithsonian Institute) Views
Tuesday, September 03, 2019
If Ruth Bader Ginsburg Can't Hold On
When it comes to Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, there’s one thing the Trump administration shares with many liberals and progressives: To one degree or another, they’re all engaged in a ritualized kind of “deathwatch.” As unsettling and morbid as that sounds, that’s where we are, and we...
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When the court reconvenes in October, its docket will include a new Second Amendment appeal—New York State Rifle & Pistol Association Inc. v. City of New York—that has the potential to rival or surpass Heller for its impact on gun rights and gun regulation.(Photo: PJMixer / Flickr) Views
Tuesday, August 20, 2019
The Biggest Obstacle to Gun Control May Be the Supreme Court
A well-regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the People to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.—Second Amendment to the Constitution of the United States In the wake of recent mass shootings in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, the biggest obstacle...
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President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence exit following Trump's Aug. 5 speech in the White House about the mass shootings in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio. (Photo: Evan Vucci / AP) Views
Wednesday, August 07, 2019
Impeachment Is Designed for Presidents Like Trump
It’s easy to understand why a majority of House Democrats have finally gone on record to call for an impeachment inquiry of President Donald J. Trump. Not only has he committed the requisite “high crimes and misdemeanors” to trigger such an inquiry, but an argument can be made that he’s the most...
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Special Counsel Robert Mueller arrives to make a statement about the Russia investigation on May 29, 2019 at the Justice Department. (Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) Views
Friday, July 05, 2019
Here Are 10 Questions Congress Should Ask Robert Mueller
After weeks of dithering, the House Judiciary and Intelligence committees have subpoenaed Robert Mueller to testify July 17 about his investigation into Russia’s election interference and possible obstruction of justice by President Donald Trump. Mueller has reluctantly agreed to honor the...
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Driven as always by self-interest and opportunism, Trump has now flipped from professing his “love” for WikiLeaks during the campaign to targeting Assange as part of the enemy. (Photo: Reuters) Views
Wednesday, May 29, 2019
Unequal Justice: Julian Assange Is an Enemy in Trump’s War on the First Amendment
The prosecution of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange under the Espionage Act represents a dangerous turn in President Donald Trump’s war on the First Amendment. Whether you love Assange or loathe him, it is vital to understand the eighteen-count indictment filed against him on May 23 in the context...
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Tuesday, May 21, 2019
Why Are Democrats So Scared of Impeachment?
TD Editor’s Note: This is the second installment of a two-part series examining the relationship between President Donald Trump and Attorney General William Barr, and the challenges their assertions of extreme executive authority pose to Congress. Read the first part here . Why haven’t...
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With Barr by his side, there will be few limits to Trump’s aggrandizement of power. (Photo: Carolyn Kaster / AP) Views
Tuesday, May 07, 2019
The Ominous Implications of William Barr’s Testimony
Editor’s note: This is the first in a two-part series examining Attorney General William Barr’s testimony on the extent of presidential power and the challenge his assertions and relationship with President Trump present to Congress. The most shocking aspect of Attorney General William Barr’s May 1...
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Friday, April 26, 2019
Unequal Justice: As the Next Census Approaches, Will the Supreme Court Side with Trump in his War on Immigrants?
he Supreme Court appears poised to hand Donald Trump another victory in his war on immigrants. Last year, in Trump v. Hawaii , the court upheld the President’s Muslim travel ban as a proper exercise of executive branch authority. This year’s battle, in Department of Commerce v. New York , concerns...
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Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. (Photo: Wikimedia Commos) Views
Tuesday, March 26, 2019
The Dangerous and Unrelenting Extremism of Clarence Thomas
Do Republican-appointed Supreme Court justices get more liberal as they age? A formidable body of academic research suggests that they do. This idea offers a sliver of comfort to those alarmed by Donald Trump’s appointment of Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh to the nation’s most powerful judicial...
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While there is little question that Trump has the legal authority to declare a state of emergency, it remains to be seen whether doing so will actually get him the money he wants for the border wall. (Photo: Victoria Pickering / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0) Views
Tuesday, January 15, 2019
This Is How American Democracy Ends
“If there’s a concrete wall in front of you, go through it, go over it, go around it. But get to the other side of that wall.” —Donald Trump, 2004 commencement address , Wagner College, Staten Island, N.Y. (unearthed by “The Daily Show”) For the time being, President Trump has toned down his threat...
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