Mangino talks about police sex ring on Law and Crime's Scandal

Watch my interview with Sierra Gillespie on Law and Crime's Scandal discussing a Texas Couple Sex Trafficked to Cops Out of Suburban Home.

To watch the interview CLICK HERE

CREATORS: U.S. Supreme Court's Favorability Rating Hits Record Low

Matthew T. Mangino
CREATORS
April 21, 2026

The U.S. Supreme Court's favorable rating is at its lowest point since regular polling of the court began in the early 1970s. Last year, the court's favorable rating fell to 42 percent.

The modern highwater mark for the court was 1999, when, according to Gallup, the court was viewed favorably by 80% of Americans. Then the 2000 presidential election rolled around and the high court ruled along partisan lines to award the presidential election to George W. Bush over Al Gore.

The Supreme Court has never rebounded. The high court has come under scrutiny, while some of its members have become blatantly political. Justice Samuel Alito flew an upside-down flag over his home and an "Appeal to Heaven" flag over his vacation home — both with political implications. Justice Clarence Thomas' wife has become an outspoken right-wing political operative.

Adam Liptak and Jodi Kantor of The New York Times recently did an expose on the high court's secret decisions — rulings with no explanation or reasoning — an emergency docket rendering decisions in the shadow of the courtroom of the Supreme Court's building.

According to Liptak and Kantor, in 2016, several justices, including Chief Justice John Roberts, were eager to block a major initiative of former President Barack Obama. By a 5-to-4 vote along partisan lines, the Supreme Court halted the Clean Power Plan, Obama's signature environmental policy. The decision consisted of only legal boilerplate, without a word of reasoning — thus was born the "Shadow Docket."

Could the shadow docket be the product of conflicting personalities at the highest level of government? Liptak and Kantor point out that Obama, as a United States Senator, was one of just 22 senators to vote against Chief Justice Roberts's confirmation. Obama said at the time, the nominee had "far more often used his formidable skills on behalf of the strong in opposition to the weak."

As Liptak and Kantor pointed out, traditionally the Supreme Court had "handled major cases at a stately pace that encouraged care and deliberation, relying on written briefs, oral arguments and in-person discussions. The justices composed detailed opinions that explained their thinking to the public and rendered judgment only after other courts had weighed in."

In the 1960s, when the court was held in high esteem, decisions were made precisely that way. Chief Justice Earl Warren oversaw a deliberative body whose decisions are synonymous with individual rights, often taken for granted today.

The "liberal" Warren Court gave us Brown v. Board of Education and, within the five-year period between 1961 and 1966, gave America Miranda v. Arizona, Gideon v. Wainwright and Mapp v. Ohio.

In Mapp v. Ohio, the high court ruled that evidence obtained in violation of the Fourth Amendment prohibition against illegal searches and seizures cannot be used in court. This decision did more to improve police work and protect the public from overzealous police officers than any decision in modern history.

Gideon v. Wainwright ensured that all defendants charged with serious felonies have the right to counsel, even if they could not afford to hire their own. This decision created the era of public defense and ensured that anyone accused of a crime would not be forced to defend themselves against the resources of the state.

Miranda v. Arizona established "Miranda Rights." A decision so ingrained in the consciousness of viewers of American crime dramas that just about everyone can recite the warning, "You have the right to remain silent, you have the right to an attorney if you can't afford one, one will be appointed for you."

These decisions, though controversial, were not delivered in secret. They were briefed by learned lawyers, argued before the court and the decisions were thoughtful and deliberate. There were powerful dissents — and each of those decisions, some 60 years later, is still the law of the land.

That is how a court builds trust with the public.

Matthew T. Mangino is of counsel with Luxenberg, Garbett, Kelly & George P.C. His book, "The Executioner's Toll," 2010, was released by McFarland Publishing. You can reach him at www.mattmangino.com and follow him on Twitter @MatthewTMangino

To visit Creators CLICK HERE

Florida carries out fifth execution of 2026--the 24th in last 16 months

 The 8th Execution of 2026

 Chadwick Scott Willacy, a Florida man who set his neighbor on fire after she returned from work to find him burglarizing her home was executed on April 21, 2026, reported The Associated Press.

Willacy, 58, received a three-drug injection and was pronounced dead at 6:15 p.m. at Florida State Prison near Starke for the 1990 killing of Marlys Sather. It was Florida’s fifth execution this year.

The curtain to the death chamber went up promptly at the scheduled 6 p.m. execution time, and the lethal injection began 2 minutes later after Willacy made a brief statement.

He apologized to his family and friends and urged his ”brothers on the row” to stay strong. He maintained his innocence, saying he would never kill his friend.

“To the victim’s family, I hope this brings you peace. If it does, that’s good, ” Willacy said. “But this is not right.”

Shortly after the lethal injection got underway, a warden shook Willacy and shouted his name, but there was no response. His skin began to turn gray, and a medic eventually entered the chamber to examine Willacy, declaring him dead.

Court records indicate Sather, 56, had returned to her Palm Bay home on a lunch break from work on Sept. 5, 1990, and discovered Willacy burglarizing her home. He struck her in the head with a blunt object, fracturing her skull, and then bound her hands and ankles with wire and tape, according to investigators.

Willacy attempted to strangle Sather with a phone cord, and when that didn’t work, he doused her in gasoline and set her on fire, the records show. An autopsy determined that Sather had died from smoke inhalation, indicating she was still alive when she was set on fire.

Willacy also stole Sather’s car and other items from her home, and used the woman’s ATM card to steal cash, authorities said. When Sather failed to return from her break, her employer caller her family. Her son-in-law went to check on her and found her body.

Willacy was sentenced to death a year later upon a 9-3 jury recommendation after being convicted of first-degree murder, burglary, robbery and arson.

Then in 1994 the Florida Supreme Court ordered a new sentencing because the trial judge failed to allow defense attorneys a chance to rehabilitate a potential juror who indicated she could not recommend the death penalty. Willacy again drew the death penalty in 1995, following the 11-1 recommendation of a new jury.

Florida’s fifth execution of 2026 followed a record 19 executions in the state last year. Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis oversaw more executions in a single year in 2025 than any other Florida governor since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976. The previous record was set in 2014 with eight executions.

On Tuesday, Willacy woke up at 5 a.m. and remained compliant as the execution hour approached, Department of Corrections spokesman Jordan Kirkland said earlier. The inmate received visits during the day from his mother, two sisters and a cousin, but did not meet with a spiritual adviser.

The U.S. Supreme Court denied Willacy’s final appeal without comment. Last week the Florida Supreme Court also denied his appeals. He had made claims based on the state’s refusal to grant public records requests about executions and lethal injection.

None of Sather’s relatives spoke at a news briefing after the execution, but the family released a statement thanking DeSantis and others.

“We have waited 36.5 years for justice for our mom. Our mother, Marlys Mae Sather should be remembered as a beautiful and loving daughter, wife, mother of 3, grandmother of 5, great grandmother of 5, aunt, cousin and friend,” it said in part. It noted the victim had lost her husband to cancer in July 1990, “just weeks before she was murdered.”

“She was a new widow trying to take one day at a time,” it said. “We miss her so much every day.”

A total of 47 people were executed in the U.S. in 2025. Florida led the way with a long line of death warrants signed by DeSantis. Alabama, South Carolina and Texas tied for second with five executions each.

Another execution is planned in Florida on April 30. James Ernest Hitchcock, 70, is scheduled to received a lethal injection for his conviction in the fatal beating and choking of his 13-year-old niece.

All Florida executions are carried out by injecting a sedative, a paralytic and a drug that stops the heart, according to the Department of Corrections.

To read more CLICK HERE

Presidential pardons impact funds for victims

Since his return to office last year, President Donald Trump has pardoned dozens of white-collar criminals. He’s also forgiven their fines, penalties, and restitution, to the tune of billions. Some of that revenue was supposed to go to a fund to help victims of violent crime — and the organizations that serve them are feeling the pinch, reported The Trace.

The Crime Victims Fund, established in 1984 by the Victims of Crime Act, or VOCA, is sustained by criminal fines and penalties from convictions in federal cases, typically white-collar prosecutions.

All of that money is required by law to be deposited into the fund. The money is distributed to state and local programs including domestic violence shelters, rape crisis centers, and child abuse treatment programs. Gun violence survivors and the families of victims who died rely routinely on VOCA funding to reimburse medical expenses, funeral costs, and lost wages.

To read more CLICK HERE

ICE scrapes bottom of the barrel in employment targets

Their backgrounds stand out. And not in a good way.

Two bankruptcies and six law enforcement jobs in three years. An allegation of lying in a police report to justify a felony charge against an innocent woman — an incident that led to a $75,000 settlement and criticism of his integrity. A third job candidate once failed to graduate from a police academy, then lasted only three weeks in his only job as a police officer, reported The Associated Press.

Their common bond: All were hired recently by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement during an unprecedented hiring spree — 12,000 new officers and special agents to double its force — after the agency received a $75 billion windfall from Congress to enact President Donald Trump’s mass deportation campaign.

The president put a premium on swift action, and for ICE that meant rapid-fire recruitment and hiring, which in turn led to new employees with questionable qualifications. Their backgrounds and training have come under scrutiny after numerous high-profile incidents in which ICE agents used excessive force.

“If vetting is not done well and it’s done too quickly, you have higher risk of increased liability to the agency because of bad actions, abuse of power and the lack of ability to properly carry out the mission because people don’t know what they are doing,” said Claire Trickler-McNulty, who served as an ICE official during the Obama, first Trump and Biden administrations.

To read more CLICK HERE

Zoosman: Israeli death penalty most discriminatory law 'the world has witnessed since Hitler's Third Reich'

 Michael J. Zoosman writes at JuristNews:

Israel’s new death penalty law is one of the most discriminatory pieces of execution legislation that the world has witnessed since Hitler’s Third Reich. This incontrovertible truth is yet another reason why the Israeli Knesset’s recent passage of its heinous “Death Penalty for Terrorists” law on March 30 has effectively defiled this year’s observance of Yom Hashoah, the consummate Holocaust commemoration for Israel and Jews worldwide that is taking place as I write these very words. 

Let there be no doubt: the thousands of members of “L’chaim! Jews Against the Death Penalty” in Israel and abroad are against the death penalty in all cases. As the co-founder of this group, I am keenly aware that this has been the case since our founding in 2020, from the perpetrator of the Pittsburgh Tree of Life Synagogue Shooting in 2018 to the  Washington, D.C., Israeli Embassy murders in 2025, and countless other Jewish and non-Jewish men and women condemned to death across the world. We carry the torch of Holocaust survivor, Nobel laureate, and passionate death penalty abolitionist Elie Wiesel (1928-2016), who, when asked about capital punishment, responded without equivocation that “death should never be the answer in a civilized society.”

L’chaim members adhere to Wiesel’s reflections on the death penalty in the wake of the Holocaust, firmly stating: “With every cell of my being and with every fiber of my memory, I oppose the death penalty in all forms. I do not believe any civilized society should be at the service of death. I don’t think it’s human to be an agent of the Angel of Death.” Countless other Jewish and rabbinic abolitionists since the Holocaust have shared Wiesel’s position. Many of them recognized the direct Nazi legacies of various execution methods in the United States and elsewhere, from lethal injection and gassing to the firing squad.  

Nazi execution laws and protocols were arguably the most racist and vile of the modern era. They functioned not as a system of justice, but rather as a tool for racial persecution, social engineering, and the systematic elimination of the entire Jewish people and other perceived enemies. The laws targeted specific groups — primarily Jews, Roma, people with disabilities, and political opponents — based on the Nazi ideology of biological racism and the concept of “racial purity.”

Israel’s new death penalty law is far from the same as the above Nazi legislation. Yet, by calling for death specifically for Palestinians convicted of killing Israelis, while effectively excluding Israeli citizens and residents, it achieves something that few other societies have done since the time of the Nazis by entrenching an openly two-tiered system of capital “justice.” There can be no doubt that the Nazis’ targets of their dehumanization campaign were wholly innocent of any crimes. They selected their victims for who they were, not what they may or may not have done. This unequivocally contrasts with the would-be victims of Israel’s death penalty law, each of whom is ostensibly convicted of murderous terrorist actions. Still, a similar campaign of dehumanization of those ultimately condemned to death links both systems. The underlying narrative identifying perpetrators of any terrorist act as “monsters” is precisely the kind of thinking that allows an otherwise reasonable person—or “civilized society,” per Wiesel—to deem state-sponsored killing digestible. It is an insidious process that essentially removes the “human” from human rights. 

To read more CLICK HERE

Tulsi Gabbard, Director of Suck up to the President goes after whistleblower

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard asked the Justice Department to investigate two former government officials who played a central role in President Trump's first impeachment inquiry, reported CBS News..

A spokesperson for Gabbard's office confirmed that she drafted criminal referrals for a whistleblower and a former intelligence community watchdog, but did not detail what specific crimes are alleged. Whether to pursue a criminal investigation following a referral is up to prosecutors at the Justice Department.

The referrals came after Gabbard criticized how former Intelligence Community Inspector General Michael Atkinson handled the 2019 whistleblower complaint earlier this week, releasing a trove of documents linked to Atkinson.

The whistleblower — whose identity has not been formally disclosed — reported an "urgent concern" about President Trump's request for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden. The complaint also expressed concerns about how records of a Trump-Zelenskyy phone call were handled, and about the role of Mr. Trump's then-personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, in the U.S.'s relationship with Ukraine.

"I have received information from multiple U.S. Government officials that the President of the United States is using the power of his office to solicit interference from a foreign country in the 2020 U.S. election," the whistleblower wrote. "This interference includes, among other things, pressuring a foreign country to investigate one of the President's main domestic political rivals."

Mr. Trump was impeached in the House of Representatives in late 2019, but was acquitted in a Senate vote mostly along party lines in early 2020. He has long denied any wrongdoing, referring to his phone call with Zelenskyy as "perfect."

Gabbard alleged in a post on X Monday that "deep state actors" in the intelligence community "concocted a false narrative that Congress used to usurp the will of the American people and impeach duly-elected President @realDonaldTrump in 2019." She argued that the inspector general relied on "second-hand evidence" in looking into the whistleblower complaint.

To read more CLICK HERE