Law and Legitimacy

Norm is still broadcasting from the shores of Lake Memphremagog, a glacial lake next to the border between Vermont and Quebec, Canada.

The first thing on his mind is the emerging public health state. This was a topic Norm unpacked a few weeks back and he was inspired to review the history of the separation of powers pursuant to the United States federal constitution. But? Federal power under the constitution has been a constant source of concern for those who have catalogued the stretch and flex of the constitution from the founding through the Civil War (13th, 14th, 15th amendments, and equal protection and due process), the Great Depression (the administrative state).

But Norm believes we are on the brink of a fourth wave of constitutional interpretation and staring down at the emergence of the public health state. The fear? Something fundamentally new in American government—perhaps something not seen since King George—is coming. President Biden is set to issue an executive order declaring a climate change a national health emergency.

With federal, state, and local governments' botched responses to COVID-19 in the rear view, why would we want to give the executive branch sweeping new powers to address climate change?

Of course, the problem is that not everyone's vision of public health is the same. Consider handgun violence and racism. Arguments have been advanced by advocates that those, too, are public health emergencies.

Norm takes calls on the subject.

What is the proper vision of individualism?

Norm discusses the curious case of Steve Bannon, his background, and why the disposition of his case is significant. The House Select Committee on J6 issued a subpoena for Bannon to testify. He ignored it. Rule number 1: don't ignore a subpoena.

Bannon was playing the odds. But he didn't anticipate the Justice Department convening a grand jury, which would indict Bannon for contempt of Congress. What defense can Bannon raise? And what is jury nullification?

Norm spends time in the latter part of the show talking about the danger of a government that prioritizes the instruction of virtue to its citizens at the expense of the hard skills, such as S.T.E.M. Such manifests as a form of social slavery not so different from the momentum we are seeing today. The narrative of white supremacy is alluring. But the study of such grievances destroys culture.

No one is entitled to anything simply because of who they are. And when the Department of Education is behind that, it has totally lost its legitimacy.

Like, share, and subscribe! Norm is live every weekday from 12pm ET to 2pm ET on WICC 600AM/107.3FM. Stream Norm live at https://www.wicc600.com/. Follow @PattisPodcast on Twitter!

Norm opens the show by asking listeners to opine on the possibility that disgraced Bridgeport, Connecticut, Mayor might make a comeback in the realm of law and politics. And listeners called in in resounding fashion.

Joe Ganim served 7 years in a federal prison for a myriad convictions including extortion and wire fraud, but not before being elected as the Mayor of Bridgeport from 1991 to 2003. He won election again in 2015 and is currently serving his 7th term as Mayor of Bridgeport.

But there is another investigation ongoing. Should Ganim be allowed to continue holding public office? And should he be granted his law license back?

The entree of today's show is the return of one of LAL's favorite guests, Jimmy Vallee of Valhil Capital. Norm and Jimmy dive deep into the ongoing litigation between the Securities and Exchange Commission and Ripple Labs, the blockchain technology company that promulgated popular crytocurrency XRP.

$100MM in legal fees? Is XRP a security? And who regulates the regulator?

Jimmy unpacks many of the very obvious conflicts between private companies competing with Ripple, the transition of key figures from those private entities into the public service at the SEC, and the SEC's subsequent behavior with respect to XRP's rather arbitrary designation as a security.

The notion of 'regulatory capture' is a concept that LAL routinely indulges. And the Ripple case is a complicated one.

For all of our listeners, please visit cryptolaw.us (run by a former guest, John Deaton) to find all of the information related to this case. There is even a button that will pre-fill an email to your local representative.

The SEC has some 'splainin' to do. And the outcome of midterm elections may portend a fiery future, perhaps by way of congressional committee or other investigative means.

Norm updates on the Twitter v. Elon Musk matter. The Delaware Chancery Court has granted Twitter's motion to expedite trial, and has set the date for October 2022. Rocket docket, here we come!

Like, share, and subscribe! Norm is live every weekday from 12pm ET to 2pm ET on WICC 600AM/107.3FM. Stream Norm live at https://www.wicc600.com/. Follow @PattisPodcast on Twitter.

Norm is joined as he is at the start of every work week by producer of law and legitimacy and North Carolina-based attorney, W. Michael Boyer.

On the menu for the first hour is the latest developments in the Elon Musk-Twitter acquisition efforts. In particular, Musk and his team sent a letter terminating the deal and Twitter has responded by filing a lawsuit in the Delaware Chancery Court seeking Elon's specific performance of the $44B contract between them, along with a motion to set an expedited trial schedule.

Norm queries Mike on the basics of Twitter as a technology, the basics of the deal, and the basics of the lawsuit Twitter has filed. So far, Elon and his team have only responded in opposition to Twitter's motion to expedite trial. We await the disposition of that motion before Elon and his team will file an answer to Twitter's lawsuit in earnest.

Mike speculates about the reasons anchoring Twitter's strategy, the likelihood of the success, and ponders the profound idea that a court could ever grant Twitter equitable relief—that is, order Elon and his team—to spend $44B. Is there sound legal precedent?

Norm backs up to establish the legal fundamentals of every contract (e.g., offer, acceptance, consideration) and Mike illustrates the concepts using the facts of Elon-Twitter lawsuit.

The two end the first hour by analyzing the most recent information flowing from the investigation of the Ulvade shooting—370+ officers responded but no one had the impetus to intervene in more than an hour of unabated massacre? Are we at a crisis of competency in this country?

In the second hour, Norm forges ahead solo. He opens with a historical lookback of witchcraft and executions in the early colonial territory of Connecticut. Connecticut's experiments predate the Salem Witch Trials in Massachusetts. How is it that we come to believe things that in a calmer moment may be implausible?

In the 17th century, there was a phenomenon known as "Frontier Anxiety." Are we experiencing that today in some material respect? And is the continued preoccupation with remedying the alleged wrongs from hundreds of years ago a troubling development for a country seemingly infatuated with race based transfer payments?

Like, share, and subscribe! Norm is live every weekday from 12pm ET to 1pm ET on WICC 600AM/107.3FM. Stream Norm live at https://www.wicc600.com/. Follow @PattisPodcast on Twitter.

Norm is of the view that life begins at conception. He will even go so far as to say that there are circumstances that warrant taking that life.

The springboard for this conversation is the news making headlines about the 10 year-old Ohio girl who was brought to an Indiana abortion clinic to terminate a pregnancy. The supposed father has been arrested for statutory rape. Neither the 10 year-old nor her mother have made allegations of unconsented conduct between the two. But there is no doubt. This case is quite complex factually and morally.

Norm shares that the age of consent at the time of America's founding was 7. That is shocking. But so is the notion that a 27 year-old could have a consensual sexual relationship with a 10 year-old.

Should the mother be prosecuted? Under what theory?

Looking back, it is important to understand that the Supreme Court of the United States did not render abortion illegal in the United States. States have the freedom to set their own course. In this case, Ohio's law made abortion unavailable to the 10 year-old because of the maturity of her pregnancy. She thus was referred by a clinician to an Indiana clinic because of the 'favorable' contrast in state law.

But Norm shares his deep feelings about abortion and the battle lines being drawn around the abortion issue: life for life vs. quality of life. In other words, when the mother to-be is at existential risk in connection with the pregnancy, it appears obvious that the moral case for abortion is clear. However, when the justification locates around "quality of life" for the unborn baby, the moral case is extremely murky.

What life can be more important than that of being a parent?

Norm takes a call from Andy of Derby. Always a delight!

Like, share, and subscribe! Norm is live every weekday from 12pm ET to 2pm ET on WICC 600AM/107.3FM. Stream Norm live at https://www.wicc600.com/. Follow @PattisPodcast on Twitter.

Norm opens the show with breaking news out of Norwich, Connecticut—a shooting outside the courthouse.

If ever there appeared a time in our nation's history that we need defense from each other, it is most certainly now. Norm references Thomas Hobbs' 17th century thoughts on nature. Is our social contract broken? With more than 300 mass shootings tallied for 2022 by the end of June, we should be rattled into real self-reflection about that.

Norm takes a call from listener, Dorothy, to talk about hope. And the two exchange some moving stories from their own lives to all listeners.

An attorney from Norm's office calls to give additional details about the shooting incident at the Norwich courthouse (GA-21).

The big question on Norm's mind is one that has been percolating recently in the public consciouness: should the parents of mass shooters share in culpability for the crimes of their children?

Like, share, and subscribe! Norm is live every weekday from 12pm ET to 2pm ET on WICC 600AM/107.3FM. Stream Norm live at https://www.wicc600.com/. Follow @PattisPodcast on Twitter.

Norm opens the show with a somewhat redeeming story about the Wall Street Journal in response to a correction the publication made about Alex Jones and his presence at the Capital on January 6, 2021.

But the J6 Committee is doing damage. Norm uses the Wall Street Journal Correction to contrast the regrettable behavior of U.S. Representative Jamie Raskin and his role in the current politcal maelstrom resulting from the Committee's ongoing hearings.

While Norm rejects the proposition that the 2020 Presidential election was compromised in a manner consistent with intentional voter fraud, and further underscores the disappointment with President Trump's lack of grace and exploitation of his disenchanted voter base, he reaffirms that there is no legitimate proof that President Donald Trump authorized an invasion of the Capital nor did any of those sympathetic to him.

The fact is simple. The J6 Committee is in over its head, underfunded, and chasing a ghost. The Committee cannot consummate its promise to the American people. We should be done with it.

Norm talks about the testimony of an Oath Keeper at the J6 Hearings and the dubious credibility thereof.

Why have we not formed a congressional committee focused on the causes of the obvious disaffection and sense of declining legitimacy among so many of our fellow American citizens?

Norm transitions to a discussion of the exchange between Senator Holly and Professor Bridges at a recent Senate Hearing this week. It is a simply astounding window on the world.

Like, share, and subscribe! Norm is live every weekday from 12pm ET to 2pm ET on WICC 600AM/107.3FM. Stream Norm live at https://www.wicc600.com/. Follow @PattisPodcast on Twitter.

Mike sticks around for the second hour of the show as Norm continues his Monday walk on the wild side.

The two first address the seeing reemergence of masks in response to the rising levels of the latest variant. Norm shares his reluctance to put one on and a nearing level of contempt for the idea itself. Mike agrees, expressing the apparent religiosity of it all.

Norm queries whether Mike is afraid of the Proud Boys as a way of connecting the otherwise separate concepts through the observation that people seem callous to re-examination of their own initial conclusions on the topics du jour.

Norm then reads from an article in the New York Post in which a Manhattanite visits Boston and marvels at how normal Boston is by comparison.

The duo entertain listener calls, one in particular asking for an explanation of what Norm and Mike mean when they say "co-equal" branches of government in the context of the federal separation of powers.

Like, share, and subscribe! Norm is live every weekday from 12pm ET to 2pm ET on WICC 600AM/107.3FM. Stream Norm live at https://www.wicc600.com/. Follow @PattisPodcast on Twitter.

Norm is joined as he is on the first day of every week by W. Michael Boyer, the producer of Law and Legitimacy and North Carolina-based attorney.

Norm opens the show with a monologue inspired by ParaCon II, Connecticut's first and original paranormal convention coming to the Ansonia Armory on July 16th and 17th. Find tickets here: https://paraconn.ticketleap.com/paraconn2/dates.

Norm is, as the kids say, "on one" today and in full comedic bloom as he catches up with Mike after his lakeside vacation. Mike talks about his beautiful tan, the freedom of not wearing shoes, and then takes Norm's questions about Michael Moore's latest muppet-driven public offering.

Michael Moore has proposed what he regards as the 28th Amendment to the United States Constitution, which is an explicit repeal of the Second Amendment and the individual's right to bear arms. Norm and Mike briefly analyze the components of Moore's verbose offering before talking about the bigger question: is liberty and safety a false dichotomy?

The duo then transitions before the break to some observations about the upcoming testimony in the January 6 Committee Hearings. The next testimony has been promised to link the events of January 6 to President Trump's communications.

Like, share, and subscribe! Norm is live every weekday from 12pm ET to 2pm ET on WICC 600AM/107.3FM. Stream Norm live https://www.wicc600.com/. Follow @PattisPodcast on Twitter.

Norm opens the second hour discussing a recent headline in the Connecticut legal community, the matter involving lawyer Carl Ferraro of Norwalk, Connecticut. In particular, Mr. Ferraro has been charged with 8 counts of first-degree larceny for the misappropriate of millions in client funds from the law firm trust account.

One feature of this prosecution that bugs Norm is the court's requiring Mr. Ferraro to post a $2M bond in order to be granted pre-trial release. The Connecticut constitution is unique in that it grants Connecticut's citizens the right to a reasonable bond. Norm compares this bond assessment to one in connection with his representation of another client. What does a 'reasonable bond' mean? The result of not knowing that standard inures exclusively to the detriment of criminal defendants who are supposed to be presumed innocent until proven otherwise.

Norm then pivots to President Biden's recent comments about the Supreme Court of the United States's decision in Dobbs and the troubling implications of the executive branch undermining the legitimacy of the Court through responsive executive action. The popularity or lack thereof of the decision notwithstanding, President Biden's comments are more than a legal infirmity; they reflect a deference to political bias at the expense of our constitutional system.

Later historians will come to know the fourth wave of American Constitutional law by the emergence of the 'Public Health State.' Norm breaks down the first three waves, and then discusses the troubling authoritarian trend of the fourth. What is federalism? What is the separation of powers?

American government is premised on mechanisms that work in concert to diffuse power. Is a declining civics literacy blinding us to the growing consolidation of power we have seen on the back of the pandemic?

Like, share, and subscribe! Norm is live every weekday from 12pm ET to 2pm ET on WICC 600AM/107.3FM. Stream Norm live at https://www.wicc600.com/. Follow @PattisPodcast on Twitter.

Norm opens the show with an important correction regarding the state's authority to involuntarily commit an individual and how long that temporary commitment may last. Thank you to WICC's own Lisa Wexler for listening and providing our listeners with the right information.

Norm begins the show in earnest by discussing the Randy Cox case, which is making headlines for the questionable handling of an inmate transfer resulting in the apparent paralysis.

How are officers trained? What tools are available to them? And what do officers experience on a day to day basis in their encounters with the individual that lead to an observed calousness from the vantage of a detached media and public?

Norm takes a balanced approach in analyzing the Randy Cox case. While the officers might have been correct to be suspicious of Cox's words of apparent injury, Norm explains why they're conduct appears to have been way over the line.

But the bigger issue is what Norm has called race entrepreneurship. As applied here, Norm questions what business Ben Crump has with the Randy Cox case beyond the new requirement that prisoner transport vehicles be equipped with seatbelts. In other words, what about the Randy Cox case warrants the lens of racial discrimination?

The concern here is one anchored in the most fundamental component of legitimacy.

Like, share, and subscribe! Norm is live every weekday from 12pm ET to 2pm ET on WICC 600AM/107.3FM. Stream Norm live at https://www.wicc600.com/. Follow @PattisPodcast on Twitter.