Supreme Court denies NY Democrat Sheldon Silver’s appeal of bribery conviction
The Supreme Court on Monday denied an appeal by former New York State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver for his bribery conviction.
It is the latest case in which the nine justices have considered exploring the reach of federal prosecutors when it comes to policing public officials. Silver’s petition had been pending before the justices for several weeks and they discussed it most recently at their private conference last Friday.
In advising the justices to deny the appeal from Silver, a Democrat, former Acting Solicitor General Jeff Wall argued that he engaged in “multiple schemes to use his political positions to enrich himself.” In one example, the government alleges Silver accepted thousands of dollars from two real estate developers in exchange for taking official action that benefited developers.
(www.theyeshivaworld.com) President Donald Trump, in the waning hours of his presidency, granted clemency to 143 people, but did not preemptively pardon himself or his family.
Two of those pardoned are Eli Weinstein of Lakewood and Sholom Weiss, formerly of Borough Park. Weiss was the recipient of what is believed to be the longest-ever white-collar prison sentence more than 800 years in prison in 2000.
Weinstein is currently serving his eighth year of a 24-year sentence for a real estate investment fraud.
President Trump also granted a full pardon to Alex Adjmi who, in 1996, was convicted of a financial crime and served five years in prison. Aviem Sella, former handler of Jonathan Pollard, was also granted a full pardon. Sella is an Israeli citizen who was indicted in 1986 for espionage in relation to the Pollard case. Elliott Broidy, former deputy national finance chair of the Republican National Committee, also received a full pardon by the outgoing president. President Trump g
Good Tuesday morning!
A number of Senate committees will hold confirmation hearings today for several of President-elect Joe Biden’s Cabinet picks.
Janet Yellen, Avril Haines and Alejandro Mayorkas will testify in front of Senate committees this morning, while Tony Blinken and Lloyd Austin are scheduled to appear before the Foreign Relations and the Armed Services Committees, respectively, this afternoon. More below.
A report in
Politico indicates that Biden’s transition team is alarmed about the number of Trump appointees “burrowing into career positions throughout the federal government.”
Biden has selected Pennsylvania Health Secretary Rachel Levine to be assistant secretary of health. If approved, Levine would be the first openly transgender official confirmed by the Senate.
During an interview with WAMC on Tuesday, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) discussed the possibility of President Donald Trump pardoning former New York | Clips
Schumer has come a long way.
Now, after victories for Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock in competitive Senate runoffs in Georgia, Schumer whose career took off from the depths of dirty Holocaust digs and Yiddish swears will become the first-ever Jewish Senate Majority leader.
“The fact that he will be elevated to that position by the victories of a Jewish and Black candidate in the South should give us all hope for a more just world,” said Rob Raich, a longtime former president of Schumer’s Park Slope synagogue, Congregation Beth Elohim, in an email. “I believe Senator Schumer will be a strong leader of our country and its constitution, and a staunch defender of Israel and the Jewish people.”