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 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... Read more |
 |
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... Read more |
 |
Views Thursday, January 03, 2019 Donald Trump Will Not Go Quietly Like Nixon “History,” as Mark Twain reputedly remarked, “doesn’t repeat itself, but it often rhymes.” As we flip the calendar to a new year, Donald Trump would be well-advised to take careful heed of Twain’s maxim. Unless Trump suddenly discovers an untapped reservoir of self-restraint, he’s going to confront... Read more |
 |
Views Monday, December 03, 2018 5 Reasons Trump Won’t Fire Mueller For those who fear that Donald Trump is about to lower the boom on special counsel Robert Mueller, take a deep breath and slowly exhale. Despite all you’ve heard from Trump himself, press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, and law professor Alan Dershowitz about the commander-in-chief’s unfettered... Read more |
 |
Views Friday, November 16, 2018 Unequal Justice: Ginsburg’s Ribs and the Future of SCOTUS The biggest story coming out of the U.S. Supreme Court these days is no longer the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh. It’s the tumble Ruth Bader Ginsburg took in her office earlier this month, which resulted in three fractured ribs. Although Ginsburg is out of the hospital and expected to return to... Read more |
 |
Views Tuesday, November 06, 2018 The Attacks on Birthright Citizenship Are Just the Beginning If you think the attacks on birthright citizenship led by our ignoramus-in-chief are just a midterm issue, think again. Beneath the bluster, the attacks are a rallying cry for voter suppression and will in all likelihood accelerate as the 2020 presidential race begins in earnest. The attacks,... Read more |
 |
Views Thursday, October 25, 2018 Unequal Justice: Why Trump Picked Kavanaugh When President Donald Trump announced the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to replace retiring Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy at a televised ceremony in the East Room of the White House on July 9, both he and the nominee uttered a whopping pack of lies. “In keeping with President Reagan’s... Read more |
 |
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 |