The Week Ends with Chickens

So, a little programming note. I’m off tomorrow morning to get wisdom teeth pulled and am planning on taking the rest of the week and the weekend off. That probably means no Week Ahead this Sunday night, but I expect to be back early next week.

It’s tempting fate, I know. What are the odds we’ll get an important announcement from DOJ while I’m knocked out?

I’m going to keep the comments on this post open to everyone in hopes that you’ll share your thoughts and your weekend plans and that as I start to feel better, I’ll be able to drop in and see what everyone is up to.

I hope a few chicken pictures will make up for my absence. Since we’ve been out on the road for the Sisters in Law podcast live shows, this morning was my first chance to hang out with the girls in a couple of weeks, and they were lots of fun, although my custard bun did disappear when I wasn’t looking. (And I love looking back and reminiscing about the time when Bob said that it was fine with him if I got chickens but that he wasn’t interested.)

I’m always utterly entranced by the sight of our tribe of fluffy little mini-dinosaurs ravaging my herb beds (and anything else they decide might be tasty), so today I gave myself permission to spend time drinking coffee, watching them, and accomplishing little else of any value.

This beautiful boy, who is pretty much in charge of things around here, is agreeably tolerant of the chickens. He occasionally notices them but then loses interest. I’m beginning to have fantasies that we’ll have one of those adorable Instagrammable moments this spring where all of the baby chicks are found sleeping under a very protective cat–substitute mom, but then I remember this is Harry, and that’s extremely unlikely.

Finally, as we look ahead to a possible Mar-a-Lago indictment, I wanted to leave you with a few things to read over the next few days that may be helpful.

I, along with Andrew Weissmann, Ryan Goodman, and some other very talented lawyers, wrote a mock prosecution memo for the Trump classified documents case last November. Before prosecutors indict a case, they draft a memo that outlines the charges they intend to bring, the factual basis for those charges, and any legal issues that need to be assessed. The memo is used in the indictment review process, where prosecutors and their supervisors determine whether the case should be indicted, evaluating it against the standards in the Principles of Federal Prosecution.

A case can only be indicted when prosecutors have sufficient evidence to obtain a conviction and believe that if they do, it will be sustained on appeal. “Pros memos” are internal documents, so if there is an indictment in the Mar-a-Lago case, we will not see it. Andrew, Ryan, and I envisioned what it might look like, based on the evidence that was public last November. As we wrote when we released it, “Our memo provides a sense of how prosecutors will assemble and evaluate the considerations that they must assess before making a prosecution decision.” Reviewing it may be helpful to you as we all prepare to understand the decisions DOJ is likely in the process of making as we head into the weekend. Although it’s quite long and detailed, you can use the table of contents to read the parts that interest you the most. Find the memo here and the edition of the Just Security podcast where we discuss it, if you’re looking for something to listen to over the holiday weekend, here.

It is starting to look like our patience will pay off. Happy Memorial Day, a bit early.

We’re in this together,

Joyce