An Impoverished Party and Presidency

January 3, 2021

An Impoverished Party and Presidency

impoverished

President Donald J. Trump

im•pov•ish•ed Exhausted of richness and fertility. Poor. Lacking. Sadly, I think impoverished best describes the state of the Republican Party and its leader, soon-to-be former President Donald J. Trump.

The Election

I write as the media reports on 12 senators who plan to challenge the certified electoral college results from the 50 states and the District of Columbia. As a congressman, Louie Goehmert (R – Tex.), and a group of self-appointed Arizona electors lost their lawsuit, which had as its purpose vesting in Vice President Michael Pence the power to choose the next president of the United States, by no evident measurable standard. As roughly two out of three self-identified Republicans

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2021 Update: Rubin & Bernstein PLLC and Mark Rubin

January 3, 2021

2021 Update: Rubin & Bernstein PLLC and Mark Rubin

2021

Lawyers and the Canine Corps

Hey there. On March 16, 2020, I attended an in-person settlement conference at the Pima County Superior Court. Lots of sanitizer cleaned surfaces. No masks. The case settled but, even then, none of us should have been in the courthouse.

Since March 17 I have been at home. Not completely – I have been in the courthouse maybe 10X since March 16, and I did try a case on Election Day, and I drop by the office briefly every several days – but the work life unfolds differently. Lots of phone calls and emailing, Zoom meetings, and many, many work-arounds to avoid personal contact.

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Max

(Confession:

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The Big Case Fallacy

December 13, 2020

The Big Case Fallacy

big case fallacy

President Donald Trump

Donald J. Trump offered these words after the U.S. Supreme Court issued its three-sentence long Order in Pending Case on December 11, 2020:

This is a great and disgraceful miscarriage of justice. The people of the United States were cheated, and our Country disgraced. Never even given our day in Court!

“Never even given our day in Court!” Wow! Mr. Trump and those who share his perspective on the election have been heard in state and federal trial and appellate courts more than 50 times. I believe he obtained an order, granting observers from both parties the right to stand closer to the counting. Otherwise, I think he and his have lost in

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Rudy Giuliani and the Power of the Voice

December 7, 2020

Rudy Giuliani and the Power of the Voice

Giuliani and the Power of Voice

Mark Rubin

Donald Trump informed us on Sunday, December 6, that Rudy Giuliani tested positive for COVID-19. Within hours, we heard about Mr. Giuliani being hospitalized.

I shared some thoughts on Facebook. I mentioned the preciousness of human life and how challenged I was to conjure up empathy for Mr. Giuliani. Specifically, I referenced Mr. Giuliani’s outrageous behavior in the past couple of weeks. No mask. No distancing. Spouting nonsensical absurdities about fraud. Appearing in court while he was under the administrative suspension for failing to pay bar dues. And, most of all, explicitly and implicitly telling people they need not worry about COVID-19, and that The Other stole a Presidential election.

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What’s the Point? DJT and the Post-Election Nonsense

November 29, 2020

What’s the Point? DJT and the Post-Election Nonsense

What’s the Point? DJT and the Post-Election Nonsense     J

President Donald J. Trump

Just shy of four weeks after Election Day 2020, we still have lawyers throwing crap on the wall, hoping something will stick. The latest? On Saturday, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, unanimously, told an R Congressman to go pound sand when he tried to void the 2020 election, claiming voting by mail violates the Pennsylvania Constitution. This decision followed, by a day, the ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. That court upheld a District Court decision, in which Terrible Lawyer Rudolph Giuliani acknowledged the absence of fraud but wanted the court to toss all of the ballots, at least to the extent by

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Thirty-Nine Years Ago … There’s More

November 18, 2020

Thirty-Nine Years Ago … There’s More

39 years more

Mark Rubin

My post on October 17, 2020 shared the events of October 17, 1981, together with some professional lessons I got from early mentors, David Leiberthal and Howard Kashman. This post, begun at the end of the day on October 19, 2020 – the 39th anniversary of my first day at work at Lieberthal & Kashman, P.C. – and finished 30 days later, fills in a few blanks over the past 39 years. Incomplete it is! Stay tuned for more recollections.

Using Technology to Encourage Judicial Economy

An old friend of mine has been a judge more than 20 years. Awhile back, I allowed as how the courts could figure out, what with

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Asymmetrical Craziness

November 17, 2020

Asymmetrical Craziness

Asymmetrical Craziness

Mark Rubin

Dr. Scott Atlas encourages large holiday gatherings. Senator Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) has “inquired about” unlawfully tossing Georgia absentee ballots, while the person to whom he made the suggestion – Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger – gets death threats from Just Folks who want Trump to get the Georgia electoral votes. The Missouri Senate can’t meet because too many senators and staffers tested positive, after a mask-less retreat several days ago. (Same story. Different M state.) Meanwhile, the New York Times reports 166,581 new COVID-19 cases on November 16, 82% more than 14 days ago. And from President Trump? Silence.

Sheer stupidity. Arrogance too. A regular You Are Not The Boss of Me

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Trump: Election Lies

November 8, 2020

Trump: Election Lies

trump: election lies

President Donald J. Trump

No sentient being should have ever expected a normal post-election period in 2020. No. One. Still, POTUS and his minions deserve a trip to the woodshed, to be whipped with a proverbial stick, for making a shambles of our democratic traditions.

Rs tell us, the votes count, not what the media declares. Right, sort of. At the end of the day, we have 51 separate voting systems in the United States, each of which determines which electors get to cast their votes on December 14, 2020, the Monday following the second Wednesday in December. (Rs tend to favor state’s rights, but in 2020, do we really need to let states decide the

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Election Day

November 2, 2020

Election Day: Here We Are!

Election Day

Mark Rubin

The angst drives me nuts, but I was blessed with a solution: a one-day trial on Election Day. I’ve spent most of Monday doing trial prep, and I will be blessedly oblivious until the trial ends on Tuesday afternoon.

I am very optimistic about election results and deeply pessimistic about our nation. Donald Trump represents the ugliest of the ugliness that we have adapted to. One example: Trumpers have been out in force for the past few days, messing with traffic by taking all lanes, driving slowly and, in Texas, trying to force a Biden bus off the road. POTUS cheers, but when I heard about these Jackasses hiding their license plates, I

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Thirty-Nine Years …

October 16, 2020

Thirty-Nine Years …

39 Years ...

Mark Rubin

On a lovely Saturday morning in 1981 – as it happens, October 17 – I travelled to Tempe, to Grady Gammage Memorial Auditorium – to become a lawyer. (Frank Lloyd Wright designed the building, which was completed in 1950.) With me were my mom and my sisters. (My father, whose father was a lawyer and whose determined nature led me to that place on that morning, was elsewhere.

Grady Gammage uplifts me, always. One of my 10 favorite buildings, easily. And, while the occasion was hardly festive – no balloons or banners or such – the room felt joyous.

We lined up by State Bar numbers, issued alphabetically to new admittees. My number was 007092.

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