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Braswell testified in the case last week, but admitted to no wrongdoing.

Rita Braswell, the administrative program manager in the Atlanta department of public works. Elvin E.R. Mitchell testified that he gave bribery money to Mitzi Bickers, who then gave some of those funds Braswell to steer work to Mitchell's company. Braswell, who testified in the case in March, was placed on administrative leave. (City of Atlanta flyer)

Credit: City of Atlanta

Rita Braswell, the administrative program manager in the Atlanta department of public works. Elvin E.R. Mitchell testified that he gave bribery money to Mitzi Bickers, who then gave some of those funds Braswell to steer work to Mitchell's company. Braswell, who testified in the case in March, was placed on administrative leave. (City of Atlanta flyer)

Credit: City of Atlanta

Credit: City of Atlanta

Braswell has worked for the city since 2005, according to her LinkedIn profile. Shes held her position in the public works department since July 2011. She did not respond to a call and voicemail left for a number listed for her name.

The city placed Alexander on leave more than a week ago, after Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Davis alleged Bickers gave cash to Alexander to secure millions of dollars of work for Mitchell removing snow, debris and hauling salt in the wake of the 2014 Snowjam storm. Prosecutors allege Alexander bought personal items and paid off at least $30,000 in debt with the payments.

The mayors office previously told the AJC that federal authorities have never given city officials the names of any employees tied to the case. It appears that neither Alexander nor Braswell have been charged in the investigation.

Suspended city employee suspected of steering millions in contracts is refusing to testify at trial

Suspended city employee suspected of steering millions in contracts is refusing to testify at trial

Defense attorneys for Bickers said last week that they subpoenaed Alexander, and that she was cooperating until the lawyers were told she planned to take the Fifth or exercise her right under the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution against self-incrimination. The attorneys sought a mistrial due to Alexanders decision, but U.S. District Court Judge Steve C. Jones rejected their request.

Mitchell said some city leaders began to ask questions about costs associated with the contracts steered his way. For instance, former Atlanta Commissioner for Public Works Richard Mendoza and others zeroed in on the higher hourly rates he charged compared to competitors for snow removal at Georgia Tech in the wake of the January 2011 storm.

Despite the concerns, Mitchell got the contract and charged the city around $1.2 million for the work. Bickers allegedly received $190,000 as a kickback from the deal.

When asked how Bickers planned to spend the money, Mitchell alleged: Any monies that I paid (Bickers) would be spread around by other city officials.

October 10, 2017 Atlanta - Elvin E.R. Mitchell Jr. walks to the federal court Tuesday morning, October 10, 2017. Contractors Elvin E.R. Mitchell Jr. and Charles P. Richards Jr. are scheduled to be sentenced Tuesday in federal court for their roles in the Atlanta City Hall bribery scheme. HYOSUB SHIN / HSHIN@AJC.COM

October 10, 2017 Atlanta - Elvin E.R. Mitchell Jr. walks to the federal court Tuesday morning, October 10, 2017. Contractors Elvin E.R. Mitchell Jr. and Charles P. Richards Jr. are scheduled to be sentenced Tuesday in federal court for their roles in the Atlanta City Hall bribery scheme. HYOSUB SHIN / HSHIN@AJC.COM

Mitchell told the court that after Bickers left City Hall in 2013, he more openly forwarded emails, phone messages or other correspondence with city officials such as Alexander.

When the National Weather Service forecast the January 2014 storm that ultimately crippled Atlanta for days, Mitchell accused Bickers of contacting him to repeat their earlier efforts.

Bickers allegedly told him: I believe we can get some of this work, just like last time.

See the original post here:
Second Atlanta employee on paid leave over alleged ties to bribery trial - The Atlanta Journal Constitution

Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Biden administration has undertaken a vast scheme against Russian economic actors, which it characterizes as sanctions. The scheme consists in seizing assets, freezing assets, and prohibiting lawful and constitutionally protected commercial transactions.

All of this is aimed at dissuading Russian President Vladimir Putin from his determination to use extreme state violence to neutralize the government of Ukraine and install a government more favorable to the Kremlin. Yet, the targets of these sanctions are neither Putin nor the Russian state. Rather, his friends and political supporters, as well as Russian banks and commercial entities, and even American banks and commercial entities, have been targeted and hundreds of millions of consumers and investors have been harmed.

By prohibiting the use of assets and international money transfers, the sanctions have severely harmed folks in Russia who have nothing to do with Putins war by radically reducing their purchasing power and eliminating many everyday choices from their spending options. All of this was done by presidential edict.

Can the president constitutionally prevent Americans and foreign persons from the lawful use of their own assets and from engaging freely in lawful commercial transactions? In a word: No.

Here is the backstory.

The Constitution was written to establish the federal government and to limit it. The same document that delegates to Congress the power to keep interstate and foreign commerce regular also prohibits the states in the Contracts Clause from interfering in private contracts. But there was originally no comparable prohibition restraining the federal government.

In 1791, James Madison, the author of the Constitution, argued as a member of the House of Representatives against legislation establishing the First National Bank of the United States because he feared federal control of commerce. Of course, it became law, caused recessions and was sunset 20 years later.

Yet in 1816, shortly before the end of his second term in the White House, Madison caved to corporatism and signed into law the Second National Bank of the United States. After its constitutionality was upheld by the Supreme Court in 1824, the feds insinuated themselves into all sorts of economic activity, none of it enhancing personal liberty, all of it favoring their patrons.

While still a congressman, and fearing federal insinuation into commerce, Madison authored the Bill of Rights the first 10 amendments to the Constitution. He crafted the Fifth Amendment to protect life, liberty and property from the government.

By requiring due process a trial at which the federal government must prove fault prior to interfering with any persons life, liberty or property, Madison arguably crafted more restraints on the feds than the original Constitution imposed upon the states.

Similarly, by requiring a search warrant issued by a neutral judge based on sworn testimony of probable cause of crime before the feds could seize any person or tangible thing, Madison again added strength and vitality to his understanding of the Constitutions protections of the primacy of the individual with respect to property and privacy.

Both the Fourth and the Fifth Amendments protect all people and every person, not just Americans. This is critical to an understanding of why the sanctions imposed by the Biden administration upon those as to whom there has been no due process or against whom there have been no search warrants issued are profoundly unconstitutional.

For generations, the government argued that the rights to privacy and due process protected Americans only. In the post-World War II era, the feds have lost those arguments.

Thus, when the feds seize a yacht from a person whom they believe may have financed Putins political rise to power, or even his personal lifestyle, they are doing so in direct violation of the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment. Similarly, when they freeze foreign assets in American banks, they engage in a seizure, and seizures can only constitutionally be done with a search warrant.

As well, when the feds interfere whether by presidential edict or congressional legislation with contract rights by prohibiting compliance with lawful contracts, that, too, implicates due process and can only be done constitutionally after a jury verdict in the governments favor from a trial at which the feds have proven fault.

As if to anticipate these constitutional roadblocks to its interference with free commercial choices by investors, workers and consumers, Congress enacted the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977 and the Magnitsky Act of 2016. These constitutional aberrations purport to give the president the power to declare persons and entities to be violators of human rights and, by that mere executive declaration, to punish them without trial.

These laws turn the Fourth and Fifth Amendments on their heads by punishing first and engaging in a perverse variant of due process later.

How perverse? If the feds seize assets or interfere with contracts involving foreign ownership or interests, and the victims want justice, the persons or entities whose assets have been seized or whose contractual rights have been diminished must consent to the jurisdiction of American courts and prove that they are NOT human rights violators.

These statutes are a federal version of Alice in Wonderland, whereby the punished person or entity must prove innocence. Such a burden defies all American concepts of property ownership, fairness and due process. It is antithetical to our history, repugnant to our values and mocks the Constitution that all in government have sworn to uphold. All persons are presumed innocent. The government must always prove fault.

The restrictions that the Constitution imposes upon the federal government have no emergency exceptions, nor are they theoretical or fanciful. They were crafted by men who knew and had tasted the torments of unbridled government power. They wrote the restrictions to assure that the new federal government could not do to Americans what the British had done to them.

They failed.

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Sanctions on Russia violate the constitution | News, Sports, Jobs - Minot Daily News

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Highs will be in 50s today with increasing cloud coverage. Showers are likely Tuesday and will continue Wednesday and possible further into the week. Temps will be in the mid-50s until Friday, when temps may drop into the 40s. Read more.

Free transit: For years Cuyahoga County has floated the possibility of offering free public transit for all, but Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authoritys top official said she doesnt think its likely to happen. No transit agency of similar size has yet figured out a way to successfully sustain a free-fare environment while navigating all of the potential unintended consequences, reports Kaitlin Durbin. One analysis estimated it would cost RTA at least $40 million annually to eliminate fares.

Pleading the fifth: Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost wants permission to proceed with his lawsuit against FirstEnergy and key players in the House Bill 6 scandal. Robert Higgs asks why, when so many witnesses would likely exercise their Fifth Amendment right and decline to answer questions that could be self-incriminating? Experts say Yost may want to preserve evidence, press for settlement of the case or ensure reelection.

Fracking: How much has Ohios fracking industry contributed to the state economy? Eric Heisig reports that with operations spread out across the eastern side of the state to cash in on shale drillings economic potential, many numbers are in. But they are fuzzy and tell different stories from different viewpoints.

Redistricting: Ohio officials on Saturday headed back to the drawing board -- for a fourth time -- on drawing new state legislative lines. The Ohio Redistricting Commission charted a path during their first meeting since the Ohio Supreme Court rejected the latest Republican state legislative map plan on Wednesday as illegally gerrymandered in favor of the GOP. Andrew Tobias reports the commission voted to hire a pair of outside mapmakers and a mediator to resolve disputes, and scheduled meetings for this week.

TODAY IN OHIO

Gov. Mike DeWine said hes taking the lead on a fourth Ohio legislative map, after the Ohio Supreme Court rejected the third. DeWine is finally suggesting having Democratic and GOP mapmakers work together, following the Supreme Courts instructions. Were talking about his promises on Today in Ohio, cleveland.coms daily half-hour news podcast.

Election delay: The U.S. Department of Defense has signed off on Ohios request to allow elections officials to mail military ballots as late as April 5 with expedited postage, reports Jeremy Pelzer. The Defense Departments approval of the changes came just in time, as Friday had been the deadline for military ballots to be sent out. However, state lawmakers passed legislation moving that deadline back because of the Republicans ongoing battle with the Ohio Supreme Court over redistricting.

Great Lakes Authority: U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur has introduced legislation that would establish a new federal entity called the Great Lakes Authority that would promote regional development in Great Lakes states much as the Tennessee Valley Authority was founded as part of the New Deal. Sabrina Eaton reports that Kaptur says new efforts are needed to catalyze the regions revitalization after decades of bad trade deals that outsourced-living-wage jobs and let industry atrophy.

High-speed internet: State officials announced Friday that an estimated 227,000 Ohioans will get access to affordable, high-speed Internet service within the next two years thanks to dozens of projects paid for with a combined $480 million in state and private-sector money, reports Jeremy Pelzer.

Prosthetic research: A Case Western Reserve University bioengineering professor who has spearheaded technologies that let people with prosthetic hands experience the sense of touch met for an hour Friday with President Joe Biden and former National Institutes of Health Director Francis Collins to showcase his research and provide advice on how to set up a new NIH agency to fund cutting-edge medical research. Sabrina Eaton reports a $1.5 trillion spending bill that Congress approved last week contained $1 billion to set up a new Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health.

Bachelors degree: In 11 Ohio cities, at least 70% of the residents aged 25 years and older have a bachelors degree or above, well above the statewide share of 29.6%, reports Zachary Smith. Tops for bachelors degrees or above is the wealthy Cincinnati suburb of Indian Hill, at 80.3%, the only city to break 80%. Pepper Pike leads the Greater Cleveland area at 76.9%.

Police reform: A federal judge on Friday approved changes to Clevelands 2015 police reform agreement with the U.S. Justice Department to incorporate a new system of police accountability that voters approved last year. Adam Ferrise reports that Senior U.S. District Judge Solomon Oliver approved the changes to Clevelands consent decree, which clears the way for city officials to begin implementing the changes brought on by the passage of Issue 24.

Trolley fleet: Fueling issues for buses that run on compressed natural gas have temporarily forced the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority to put its largely unused trolley fleet back into commission on some routes. The trolleys are currently being used as needed on four routes usually serviced by buses, reports Kaitlin Durbin.

Menlo Park: The National Labor Relations Board scheduled an election for teachers at a Cleveland charter school that specializes in educating gifted children. About 50 Menlo Park Academy teachers, social workers, counselors, intervention specialists, instructional assistants and aides are scheduled March 30 to vote by secret ballot in the school gym about whether they want to be represented by the Cleveland Alliance of Charter Teachers & Staff, reports Laura Hancock.

Deshaun Watson: The Cleveland Rape Crisis Center issued a statement Saturday after receiving more than 1,000 donations in wake of the Cleveland Browns trade for Houston Texan quarterback Deshaun Watson Friday, reports Kaylee Remington. Houston attorney Rusty Hardin, who is representing Watson, previously defended an executive in the fraud investigation of Browns owner Jimmy Haslams company, Pilot Flying J.

Spring planting: The cold, muddy weeks between Valentines Day and Mothers Day can be a dreary time that is only worsened by the longer days. Susan Brownstein writes her first gardening column about planting seeds, including San Marzano tomatoes this year.

Rowing the Cuyahoga: Ted Diadiun spent the last 22 years of participating in the Western Reserve Rowing Associations summer league. He writes about the exhilarating sport, and by the blend of joy, hard physical exercise, camaraderie, discipline, teamwork, and just a hint of danger it provides, in the first in a periodic series of stories introducing Clevelanders to recreational pursuits in the region.

Lorain intersections: John F. Kennedy Memorial Parkway in Elyria is among the most dangerous stretches in Elyria, making four appearances among Lorain Countys 10 most dangerous intersections. Kaylee Remington reports intersections in Avon, Lorain, Sheffield and Amherst are also on the list.

Ukrainian trip: When Russia invaded Ukraine, Trevor Littleton, the pastor at First Church of Christ in Painesville, made it his mission to save his daughters and get them to safety. Littleton -- who has nine children, five from Ukraine -- traveled last week to save Dasha, 20, and Nastya, 26. But Kaylee Remington reports Nastya is now missing.

Second booster: Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said people will need a fourth vaccine dose to ward off another variant wave, Marc Bona reports in his weekly roundup of coronavirus news.

Russian business: Eaton, Vitamix, Lincoln Electric and Squire Patton Boggs all are hitting pause on doing business in Russia, if not pulling out entirely, after Russias invasion of Ukraine.

Union projectionists: After being accused of locking union projectionists out during the Cleveland International Film Festival, the parties have come to an agreement. The North Shore AFL-CIO and International Association of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) Local 160 say theyve reached an agreement with Playhouse Square, reports Jane Morice.

Police shooting: An East Cleveland officer shot a man early Thursday after responding to a loud music complaint and discovering the car had been reported stolen. Kaylee Remington reports the man suffered non-life-threatening injuries.

2-year-olds death: Police are investigating the death of a 2-year-old boy Friday in Euclid, reports Olivia Mitchell. The boy died following an incident at a home in the 26000 block of Shoreview Avenue.

Browns fans: Quarterback Deshaun Watsons arrival on the Cleveland sports scene is matched only by LeBron James becoming a Cleveland Cavalier in 2003. But Watsons personal behavior is the last straw for some fans, writes Doug Lesmerises.

Alberto Giacometti: Its tempting to view great art through the prism of contemporary events, and thats especially true in the case of the Cleveland Museum of Arts big spring exhibition on the work of Alberto Giacometti. Steven Litt reports the Swiss modernist who spent much of his career in 20th-century Paris is known chiefly for sculptures of gaunt, shell-shocked human figures.

Play House director: Cleveland Play House artistic director Laura Kepley is stepping down from the position. In its announcement on Friday, the venerable cultural institution said she would stay on through June while the search for an interim artistic director is underway, reports Joey Morona.

Breakfast plans: Two and a half years ago, Karen Small first got the keys for Juneberry Table, a new breakfast concept set to take over the former Jack Flaps space in Ohio City. Anne Nickoloff reports the pandemic halted the plans of the chef and owner of The Flying Fig. It wasnt until she decided to rework The Flying Fig in Ohio City that she decided to stick with the breakfast shop

Beatles: The Rock Hall has dedicated a tremendous amount of space to the Fab Four beginning Friday with the opening of The Beatles: Get Back to Let It Be, an immersive new exhibit that serves as a complement to director Peter Jacksons popular Disney+ documentary, reports Troy Smith.

House of the Week: A stones throw where the Rocky River meets Lake Erie, there is a home with a modern interior that belies its classic storybook-style exterior. Built in 1930 in the Beachcliff neighborhood, 44 Buckingham Drive offers more than 3,800 square feet, with a price tag of $925,000.

East Cleveland police officer shoots man after responding to loud music complaint, finding stolen car Read more

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Mayfield Village gets grant to reforest property cleared in 1925 for wastewater plant Read more

Ivory-billed woodpecker gets top billing as birds in UA collection get student makeovers Read more

Parma invites public to Ridgewood Golf Course clubhouse demolition event Read more

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Orange High School robotics team qualifies for world championship Read more

North Olmsted City Council President raising epilepsy awareness after daughters death Read more

Lyndhursts Ward says citys financial outlook for 2022, despite worlds economic upheavals, is stable Read more

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Could the Greater Cleveland RTA ever be free? The Wake Up for Monday, March 21, 2022 - cleveland.com

In September, a judge gave the Trump Organization an ultimatum: Comply with the New York Attorney Generals two-year-old subpoenas, or hire an outside digital forensics company to gather the evidence.

The Trump Organization chose the second option. But with a deadline for the information fast approaching, its becoming clear that the Trump family only hired the company to do some of the joband what is coming will still take plenty more time.

It turns out, the digital forensics company that the Trump Organization chose, HaystackID, wasnt hired to actually get everything investigators wanted.

Haystack has not been engaged to perform item five of the stipulated order (which would be a significant undertaking, requiring detailed instructions, and a modified project agreement) nor to issue more detailed monthly reports, the companys chief information security officer, John W. Wilson, emailed prosecutors and Trump Organization lawyers last week.

Now, state prosecutors are asking a judge to step in and speed up the evidence collection before its potentially too late for the state to sue or file criminal charges against the the Trump Organization.

On Friday, prosecutor Austin Thompson wrote to Judge Arthur F. Engoron, asking him to hold a special conference this week and intervene, warning that the Trump Organization could very well miss its April 30 deadline to turn over information.

There is no reason this entire process should not be completed by mid-April, Thompson said in his letter to the judge on Friday.

New York Attorney General Letitia James has been investigating former President Donald Trump and his family's company over its alleged practice of using wildly varying real estate valuations to secure bank loans and reduce tax bills. The office is suing Trump, son Donald Jr., and daughter Ivanka to force them to testify as the office contemplates a civil lawsuit over bank fraud and tax dodging. Her office is simultaneously also pursuing a criminal investigation alongside the Manhattan District Attorneys Office.

When the judge overseeing the civil court fight told the company to either comply with the AGs subpoenas or hire a third party firm, the Trump Organization was supposed to hire someone to track down devices used by certain witnesses, gather evidence, conduct targeted searches of key terms, and submit monthly reports of its progress.

But, prosecutors complained, the monthly progress reports from HaystackID are too vague and targeted searches arent being doneand theyre worried the Trump Organization is being sly and just trying to run the clock.

The AGs office and the company have signed a tolling agreement that essentially freezes time on the states statute of limitations and lets law enforcement investigate without having to rush and either sue or file criminal charges. But that agreement expires at the end of April, giving prosecutors little time to review the evidence and decide what action to take, if any.

Unfortunately, Haystacks progress is opaque to [Office of the Attorney General] because the Trump Organization has restricted Haystacks ability to report any substantive information, prosecutors wrote to Trump lawyers earlier this month. And that progress which we can discern has been too slow.

By last count, HaystackID had only communicated with half of the 81 people with access to devices that need to be searched. Among the listed records custodians are the former president himself, his three adult business executive children, his longtime executive assistant Rhona Graff, indicted former chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg, company chief operating officer Matthew Calamari, company lawyer Alan Garten, and many more.

And theres no telling when the actual devices will be scanned and sorted through.

The Trump Organization and its outside lawyer at the New York firm LaRocca Hornik Rosen & Greenberg did not respond to questions on Monday. HaystackID said it would review our questions but did not immediately answer questions.

However, in a letter to prosecutors, attorney Lawrence Rosen, who represents the Trump Organization, cast the AGs complaints as an attempt to micromanage the situation in a way that compromises Haystacks independence. He also pinned the whole ordeal on the AGs office, saying prosecutors didnt reiterate the judges entire order when it demanded an outside firm get involved back in November.

The Trump Organization has been working tirelessly and at great expense to address the ever widening and never ending demands made by the OAG and its scorched earth policy for the collection of that information, Rosen wrote to prosecutors last week.

According to Federal Election Commission records, HaystackID has only been paid to work with conservative political groups. The company received $63,948 from the National Republican Congressional Committee for work described as recount legal consulting in 2019. It earned another $77,205 for providing software-related services to the political action committee backing Rep. David S. Schweikert (R-AZ), who represents Phoenix suburbs.

It will now be up to New York State Judge Engoron to step in, but hes shown little patience with the Trump Organization so far. He sided with the attorney general when she sought to depose Trumps son, Eric, who ultimately refused to answer questions by pleading his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination some 500 times.

The judge also recently ruled that Trump, Don Jr., and Ivanka must also sit down for questioning, a matter that is heading to the states appellate court.

Roger Sollenberger contributed to this story.

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The Trump Org Finds a New Way to Play Dirty With NY Investigators - The Daily Beast

Andrew P. Napolitano| Special to the USA TODAY Network

Biden calls Putin 'a murderous dictator' and 'thug'

President Joe Biden called Russian President Vladimir Putin "a murderous dictator" and "pure thug" as he addressed a St. Patrick's Day luncheon at the Capitol Thursday, and thanked Ireland for standing with the world against Putin's aggression. (March 17)

AP

Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Biden administration has undertaken a vast scheme against Russian economic actors, which it characterizes as "sanctions." The scheme consists in seizing assets, freezing assets, and prohibiting lawful and constitutionally protected commercial transactions.

All of this is aimed at dissuading Russian President Vladimir Putin from his determination to use extreme state violence to neutralize the government of Ukraine and install a government more favorable to the Kremlin. Yet, the targets of these sanctions are neither Putin nor the Russian state. Rather, his friends and political supporters, as well as Russian banks and commercial entities, and even American banks and commercial entities, have been targeted and hundreds of millions of consumers and investors have been harmed.

By prohibiting the use of assets and international money transfers, the sanctions have severely harmed folks in Russia who have nothing to do with Putin's war by radically reducing their purchasing power and eliminating many everyday choices from their spending options. All of this was done by presidential edict.

Can the president constitutionally prevent Americans and foreign persons from the lawful use of their own assets and from engaging freely in lawful commercial transactions? In a word: No.

Here is the backstory.

The Constitution was written to establish the federal government and to limit it. The same document that delegates to Congress the power to keep interstate and foreign commerce regular also prohibits the states in the Contracts Clause from interfering in private contracts. But there was originally no comparable prohibition restraining the federal government.

In 1791, James Madison, the author of the Constitution, argued as a member of the House of Representatives against legislation establishing the First National Bank of the United States because he feared federal control of commerce. Of course, it became law, caused recessions and was sunset 20 years later.

Yet in 1816, shortly before the end of his second term in the White House, Madison caved to corporatism and signed into law the Second National Bank of the United States. After its constitutionality was upheld by the Supreme Court in 1824, the feds insinuated themselves into all sorts of economic activity, none of it enhancing personal liberty, all of it favoring their patrons.

While still a congressman, and fearing federal insinuation into commerce, Madison authored the Bill of Rights the first 10 amendments to the Constitution. He crafted the Fifth Amendment to protect life, liberty and property from the government.

By requiring due process a trial at which the federal government must prove fault prior to interfering with any person's life, liberty or property, Madison arguably crafted more restraints on the feds than the original Constitution imposed upon the states.

Similarly, by requiring a search warrant issued by a neutral judge based on sworn testimony of probable cause of crime before the feds could seize any person or tangible thing, Madison again added strength and vitality to his understanding of the Constitution's protections of the primacy of the individual with respect to property and privacy.

Both the Fourth and the Fifth Amendments protect all "people" and every "person," not just Americans. This is critical to an understanding of why the sanctions imposed by the Biden administration upon those as to whom there has been no due process or against whom there have been no search warrants issued are profoundly unconstitutional.

For generations, the government argued that the rights to privacy and due process protected Americans only. In the post-World War II era, the feds have lost those arguments.

Thus, when the feds seize a yacht from a person whom they believe may have financed Putin's political rise to power, or even his personal lifestyle, they are doing so in direct violation of the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment. Similarly, when they freeze foreign assets in American banks, they engage in a seizure, and seizures can only constitutionally be done with a search warrant.

As well, when the feds interfere whether by presidential edict or congressional legislation with contract rights by prohibiting compliance with lawful contracts, that, too, implicates due process and can only be done constitutionally after a jury verdict in the government's favor from a trial at which the feds have proven fault.

As if to anticipate these constitutional roadblocks to its interference with free commercial choices by investors, workers and consumers, Congress enacted the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977 and the Magnitsky Act of 2016. These constitutional aberrations purport to give the president the power to declare persons and entities to be violators of human rights and, by that mere executive declaration, to punish them without trial.

These laws turn the Fourth and Fifth Amendments on their heads by punishing first and engaging in a perverse variant of due process later.

How perverse? If the feds seize assets or interfere with contracts involving foreign ownership or interests, and the victims want justice, the persons or entities whose assets have been seized or whose contractual rights have been diminished must consent to the jurisdiction of American courts and prove that they are NOT human rights violators.

These statutes are a federal version of "Alice in Wonderland," whereby the punished person or entity must prove innocence. Such a burden defies all American concepts of property ownership, fairness and due process. It is antithetical to our history, repugnant to our values and mocks the Constitution that all in government have sworn to uphold. All persons are presumed innocent. The government must always prove fault.

The restrictions that the Constitution imposes upon the federal government have no emergency exceptions, nor are they theoretical or fanciful. They were crafted by men who knew and had tasted the torments of unbridled government power. They wrote the restrictions to assure that the new federal government could not do to Americans what the British had done to them.

They failed.

AndrewP.Napolitano, a former New Jersey Superior Court Judge,haspublished nine books on the U.S. Constitution.

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Sanctions on Russia violate the U.S. Constitution | Napolitano - New Jersey Herald