Clark Neily

Poo-pooing today’s scandal may be inevitable—but it will not age well.

Love it! Good luck!!

Hahahaha. Please do!

So there you go. I stated my case. I sincerely hope that anyone who disputes my characterization of DOJ as arguably the most corrupt agency within an increasingly corrupt government will address this thread on the merits instead of the usual parade of rhetorical fallacies. /end

We know for certain that some of those coerced guilty pleas are false, but we have no idea how many. DOJ has not made the slightest effort to figure that out, despite a number of straightforward ways it could do so.

3. Today 98.3% of all federal criminal convictions come from guilty pleas—and most are the result of sometimes quite coercive plea-“bargaining,” which often features massive trial penalties and can even include threatening to indict a defendant’s family members simply to exert plea leverage.

2. The Jeffrey Epstein non-prosecution agreement. Here it is. Read it for yourself. I believe you will never see a more corrupt document in your life. Besides letting Epstein himself off the hook, it absolves all of his co-conspirators, named and unnamed. reason.com/wp-content/u...

1. In 2008, DOJ cheated its way through the prosecution of former Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens. This was only brought to light by an FBI whistleblower at the very end. Not one of those cheating prosecutors received any meaningful punishment—zero accountability across the board.

I believe the Department of Justice is the most corrupt agency in an increasingly corrupt govt. But I don’t ask you to take my word for it. Instead, I’ll relate three things that I believe represent the quintessence of DOJ and that cry out for explanation:

Ten Years of Short Circuit - Institute for Justice Ten Years of Short Circuit On Thursday, April 3, 2025, at 7pm join us at the Studio Theatre in Washington, D.C. to celebrate Short Circuit’s […]

Want to learn more? And party in celebration? Come to our event on April 3 @ 7pm in DC! See Judges Diane Wood & Kent Jordan @adamliptak.bsky.social Eugene V @rmfifthcircuit.bsky.social @conlawwarrior.bsky.social plus a bunch of us from IJ.

Thanks for 10 years everyone! 6/6

ij.org/event/ten-ye...

Short Circuit 001 (2/27/15) - Institute for Justice Subscribe today to receive Short Circuit, a weekly email roundup of important decisions from the U.S. Courts of Appeal. It’s a Friday afternoon treat for […]

10 years ago today we dropped our 1st podcast, snappily titled "Short Circuit 1". @johnkennethross.bsky.social hosted @conlawwarrior.bsky.social & @evanbernick.bsky.social to discuss a 5th Cir & 2 6th Cir cases. Setting a theme, one of the topics was ... qualified immunity!

ij.org/podcasts/sho...

2025 marks 10 years of Short Circuit. We've holding a party & you're invited!

April 3 @ 7pm in DC. See Judges Diane Wood & Kent Jordan @adamliptak.bsky.social Eugene Volokh @volokhc.bsky.social @rmfifthcircuit.bsky.social @conlawwarrior.bsky.social plus @ij.org folks. Register below! #AppellateSky

Libertarian! But thanks!!

Thank you!!

A Glimmer of Hope in a Sea of Judicial Despair Prosecutors are permitted to do just about anything short of physical torture to exert plea leverage and deter a defendant from going to trial.

One memo out of Trump's new Justice Department encourages federal prosecutors to go big with lurid charges, increasing plea bargain pressure on defendants. Does a second, more recent memo issued by AG Pam Bondi back off from some of the implications? [@foxmike90.bsky.social]

Dead serious.

Thanks! Good to here. I think.

Trump should insist on a waiver of prosecutorial immunity as a condition of employment at DOJ. If it turns out prosecutors really do need absolute immunity from civil suits, let them persuade Congress. Heck, they’ve got their own in-house, taxpayer-funded lobbying shop. www.justice.gov/ola

Anybody here feel like they have a persuasive definition of what it means to be “unfit” to hold a given senate-confirmed position anymore? Especially if graded on the curve? Because I sure don’t.

“Many Shubs and Zuuls knew what it was to roast in the depths of a Sloar that day I can tell you!”

a man in a bathtub with the words welcome to the party pal on the bottom ALT: a man in a bathtub with the words welcome to the party pal on the bottom

If you’re just now starting to worry about a Department of Justice that obtains 98.3% of its criminal convictions by inducing presumptively innocent defendants to waive their constitutional right to a jury trial and condemn themselves instead—sometimes falsely—all I can say is…

I say again, disaster. www.cato.org/study/are-di...

For my first post here, I’m going to note what an absolute disaster it is to have a judiciary whose main job is to enforce constitutional limits on govt that is wildly disproportionately composed of former prosecutors and other courtroom advocates for govt. www.cato.org/study/are-di...