Mark Rubin, Author at Mark Rubin

Justice Brett Kavanaugh

September 3, 2018

Justice Judge Brett Kavanaugh

Brett Kavanaugh

The Senate Judiciary Committee begins its hearings on the Supreme Court nomination of Justice Judge Brett Kavanaugh on Tuesday, September 4. Here’s the schedule, not that anything about the process will affect the outcome.

Judge Kavanaugh sits presently on the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. He has served on that court for a dozen years. Prior to his appointment he did the private / public shuffle, working for Ken Starr on the Clinton Whitewater (Lewinski) case, the Bush II White House, and for Kirkland & Ellis.

Judge Kavanaugh meets the legal requirements for service on the Supreme Court. He’s a sentient being, and

Brett Kavanaugh, democracy, Democrats, Merrick Garland, Neil Gorsuch, president barack obama, President Donald Trump, Senator John McCain, Senator Mitch McConnell

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Road Trip

August 28, 2018

Mark Rubin

Road Trip

Mark Rubin

A road trip awaits me, soon. A few things must line up, and I’m ever hopeful that they will.

Alignments bring to mind the Age of Aquarius and Hair. (Younger readers: You had to be there, truly, but people took their clothes off on stage.) Unfortunately, I don’t know when the Moon will be in the Seventh House. (Seventh House?) And Jupiter and Mars? This man waits for no planetary alignments. Alignment for me means a week or so with no court appearances, no other obligations, and an available sitter for Max.

Max and My Shoe

And the trip? I’m headed due east, to the Deep South. I want to understand, as well as

Atlanta, Barack Obama, Birmingham, Greg Iles, Jackson, Little Rock, Memphis, Montgomery, Natchez, New Orleans, Penn Cage, road trip, Selma, Ta-Nehisi Coates

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Tough Weekend

August 26, 2018

Mark Rubin

Tough Weekend

Tough weekend. I’m focused on Brush and Bulky, cleaning my house for the arrival of my daughter, and worrying about how to help LB fix her tortoise enclosure, so Robin the tortoise won’t suffer when we get much needed rain. (“I have an engineering problem,” says she. Right, I’m thinking, and you called … me?)

On my side, workwise, there are still post-trial issues which require attention. And plenty of clients who, rightfully, want their matters attended to. None of which, including the personal matters, accounts for the tough weekend.

Scott Gibson

On Saturday I attended a memorial service for an old friend, Scott Gibson, who left us too soon. Scott was an extraordinary contributor to the

John McCain, Scott Gibson

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TrumpLand Circa August 21, 2018

August 22, 2018

Mark Rubin

TrumpLand Circa August 21, 2018

President Donald Trump

Update

Dan Balz wrote After two convictions, pressure mounts on Trump for the Washington Post on August 21. Dan—I’ve had the pleasure of his company, briefly, a couple of times—knows President-stuff as well as anyone today, and he writes beautifully, too. Best line in the piece? “This was a day when truth overran tweets, when facts overwhelmed bald assertions.” (Recall that almost 72 hours ago Rudy Giuliani treated us to “truth isn’t truth.”)

Manafort

To update those who don’t know the facts the Paul Manafort jury convicted Mr. Manafort on eight felony counts. The jury hung—no unanimity—on 10 other counts but: (a) presumptive sentences on the eight counts have

Dan Balz, Jonathan Chait, Michael Cohen, Paul Manafort, President Donald Trump, Robert Mueller, Rudy Giuilini, Tom NIchols

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Hey There, Readers!

August 18, 2018

Mark Rubin

Hey there, Readers!

Mark Rubin

I’ve been away. I checked, and I posted last on July 11, almost six weeks ago. So … what?

I returned from the British Isles* on July 5. On July 31 I started what ended up being an eight-day jury trial. In between? Preparation. Preparation. More preparation! And a dark website and FB presence, as I didn’t want jurors looking into the life of the mouthy lawyer.

If your biorhythms need a shake up, try a case to 10 jurors. (We let the alternates deliberate.) My normal workday runs from 7 to about 4:30, with a few hours on weekends. During the trial? Sunrise until about 9:30 p.m., with a bit of evening time for

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The United Kingdom on 11/07/2018

July 10, 2018

Mark Rubin

The United Kingdom on 11/07/2018

Mark Rubin

Leigh and I left the United Kingdom about 130 hours ago. Since we left England beat Sweden for a spot in the World Cup semi-finals. (Spend a couple of weeks in football-mad countries and you’ll appreciate the game too. Boring? Uh-no!!! And we revel in the fact that England beat Colombia on July 3, for we did not want to experience a football loss in London.)

Prime Minister Teresa May’s government might fall over Brexit. Brexit Minister David Davis, whose official title is Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, quit. So, too, did Alexander Boris de Pfeffl Johnson, Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs. (Boris Johnson was,

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Headed Home from London!

July 5, 2018

Mark Rubin

Headed Home from London!

Camp Corgi

Max

Heading home from London! We leave from Heathrow in about three hours, 15 days and two hours after we arrived. And after 14+ hours of travel we’ll be plenty tired and the 12 limbs with whom we share our lives will be out of their ever-loving minds!*

Once, I traveled for two weeks. In 1986. Otherwise, it’s been a week every few years, and shorter trips in between. Bitten I am, although plenty of work got done from afar and plenty more awaits me on Friday morning.

The Trip

Places and Activities

Direction to The Larder*

We spent seven of our 15 nights in London, two each in Killarney (Ireland) and Cheltenham

Bath, Callooh Callay, Cheltenham, Corgis, Cork, Dishoom, Dublin, Killarney, Kinsale, london, No. 15 Great Pulteney, Shoreditch, Sir John Soanes, Tate, The Lieutenant of Inishmore, trips, Underground

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Greetings from Killarney, Cork, Ireland

June 28, 2018

Mark Rubin

Greetings from Killarney, Cork, Ireland

Deer in Killarney

I’m writing from Killarney, Cork, Ireland. Leigh and I are here to celebrate our friends’ 20^th wedding anniversary. That happened yesterday evening. Lots of fun!

In a bit we are off to Cork. We return to England Friday evening, and are back home on Thursday the 5th. We’re having a grand time, but we’ll be happy to get back to our regular rhythms. (Happy may be a strong word!) We do, though, wonder who will be happiest when we get back? Max and the Corgis, June and Ozzie? Or us, because Max and the Corgis will be among us?

Ireland has been lovely. Much calmer than Great Britain. Dublin felt

Barbican, Cork, Dorothea Lang, Ireland, Killarney

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Greetings from London!

June 22, 2018

Mark Rubin

Greetings from London!

Mark Rubin

We arrived on Wednesday. Hanging out, so far, with a visit to the Tate Modern on Friday to see The EY Exhibition: Picasso 1932 – Love, Fame, Tragedy. Before, we’ll be doing an Inn of Court walking tour, with a quick stop at Sir John Soane’s Museum to see a postmodern British exhibit. (The Tate Modern has a lovely bar on level 6, where one can purchase a fine martini. For a city steeped in gin, martinis are damn near non-existent, and when one can be found it’s often marginal. I expect that we’ll be enjoying a pre-dinner respite soon after we see the Picassos.)

The London Medical Architecture Tour

On Thursday we did

James Comey, Jeremy Benthem, london, Picasso, Sir John Soane''s Museum, Tate Modern, University College London

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Border Fiasco and More

June 16, 2018

Mark Rubin

Border Fiasco and More

President Donald Trump

History matters. Beginning in the late 1930s, German and Eastern European Jews sought refuge in the United States. They were trying to avoid a killing machine. Today, Central American women and children—and men, too—show up on our southern border, running from violent gangs which, with none of the Nazi structure, leave their victims just as dead.

The U.S. government said no to the Jews, mostly. That those in power came from the left side of the political divide insulates them not at all for me. That geo-political issues explain the decision provides more cover for the Roosevelt Administration but, as with the internment of Japanese-Americans, history does not honor the path our government

Attorney General Jeff Sessions, border fiasco, Emma Lazarus, Hitler, Laura Ingraham, President Donald Trump, President Ronald Reagan

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