It is the honor of a lifetime to be nominated by @POTUS to be the next US Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama. Thank you Mr. President. My wife and I stand ready to serve! And to all of our Rightside Ruffian family, there's more of us than there are of them...God is still on his throne...stay in the fight! "Solid, Conservative, and Just Plain Right!"

Thoughts on the morning drive…..Illegal aliens are caught stealing SNAP benefits! The Department of Homeland Security announced yesterday that it is kicking off a major nationwide sweep to find and arrest illegal aliens who are fraudulently taking public food benefits. In one day they arrested and charged multiple illegals from places like Haiti and Cuba. This follows dozens of similar arrests in June of this year. Let's be clear, public food assistance like SNAP is meant for legal US citizens, NOT for those who break our laws to come here illegally and drain resources. I think it also bears saying that this is evidence that even non-violent criminal illegal aliens harm our society when they take food assistance meant for others. It's like stealing food from another person's table. DHS is on a roll, and I'm sure theres more to come. Thoughts on the morning

Thoughts on the morning drive…..the DOJ just charged a batch of non-citizens illegally registered to vote. Yesterday it was announced that the combined US Attorney's offices in California charged a total of 28 non-citizens who had fraudulently registered to vote. Every non-citizen who illegally votes in an election dilutes the vote of a legal US citizen. This is a matter of national concern. Good job in California! But let's also take note that recently I told you that the DOJ had sent a list of suspected names to the State of California asking them to review the legality of these names listed on their mail-in ballots database. It turns out that list contained over 20,000 names! Just 3 weeks ago the US Supreme Court cleared the way for the Trump Administration to offer the use of the DHS database for states to verify citizenship in their voter registrations. Its okay to do so. But also just yesterday the State of Wisconsin Board of Registrars unanimously voted to ban the use of the same federal database. Never mind that Wisconsins most recent Democrat primary was decided by less than 1%... a mere 4000 votes! Wisconsin, and California, are among several states who are rejecting any effort to ensure that their voter databases are not filled with illegal registrations of non-citizens. It makes no sense. By doing so they create speculation and doubt. Meanwhile, in Alabama we have voter ID, clean databases, and our election results are in on the night of the election itself. It's not rocket science! Thoughts on the morning drive.

Thoughts on the morning drive…..the DOJ wants California to clean up it's voter rolls. Why would they not? The Department of Justice just recently sent the state of California's Secretary of State a listing of potentially illegally registered voters that California may have mailed a ballot for the upcoming elections. The DOJ can see this potential problem based on postal records and other open source records from California. But California is resisting this effort. You have to question why if they've been gifted a list to double check that they would choose not to do so. It was just a few months ago that the Governor of New Jersey announced that they had discovered over 6,600 names on their voter rolls that needed to be purged . In the last couple of months over 200 people have been either charged or convicted across the nation for illegally voting when they should not have been able to. We had three of them right here in Alabama. And keep in mind that Alabama is a state that uses voter ID and has made an incredible effort to clean up its voter rolls. If we are finding them here then you have to wonder what is going on in states like California that resist all such election integrity efforts. The bottom line is that the DOJ just handed California an opportunity for transparency, clarity, and integrity. If California chooses not to follow through on it it begs serious questions about the integrity of their election systems. Thoughts on the morning drive.

Thoughts on the morning drive…..ICE detainers make America safer. You've probably heard that sanctuary cities refuse to honor ICE detainer requests. So, what is that? When a local police department arrests an illegal alien ICE can see the records and comparethem to their own database. If the person is seen as an illegal with a criminal history ICE request that the locals "detain" releasing them a mere 48 hours until ICE can pick them up. Keep in mind that the simple fact that they are in a jail to begin with means that the local police had already arrested the person for some criminal act. But so-called "sanctuary cities" ignore the ICE requests. So instead of an ICE Agent being able to calmly walk into the controlled environment of the local jail and take custody of the illegal criminal alien, now ICE Agents have to search the community to find them again which creates exponentially more risk. Recent reports show that New York City refused to honor over 16,000 ICE detainer requests. Those same requests had records of over 52,000 crimes and convictions that ICE knew about! But NYC sanctuary policies just released the criminal illegals back into the community. The bottom line is that sanctuary city policies make life far less safe for the LEGAL residents. It's really not rocket science. Thoughts on the morning drive.

Thoughts on the morning drive…..Congresswoman Ilhan Omars house was just rated by federal agents from Homeland Security Investigations (HSI). Wow! I'm not going to comment or speculate on the nature of the investigation against Ilhan Omar. I’ll leave that to the pundits. But there is one thing I want to discuss here: this was a search conducted after first obtaining a search warrant signed by a federal judge. The Fourth Amendment rights under the Constitution protect us from unlawful search and seizure. For HSI to get a search warrant they had to have submitted a full application along with a sworn affidavit showing the Court that there was sufficient "probable cause" that information, evidence or criminal presence were at the location relevant to a criminal investigation. BUT, and this is key, the Judge is allowed to ask questions, require further sworn testimony or showing to the Judges satisfaction, that such probable cause exists. AND, this is in a Federal District where the Judges know the hyper sensitive nature of a search on a sitting Congresswoman. So, if you are having a conversation with someone about Ilhan Omar's house being raided just know that the bar is pretty high to even get a search warrant such as that signed by a federal judge. Take that for what it's worth. Thoughts on the morning drive.

I was glad to have US Attorney General Todd Blanche in the Northern District of Alabama yesterday!! I told him there was no better District in all of DOJ! Shout out to FBI SAC David Fitzgibbons and US Attorney Thomas Govan

Thoughts on the morning drive….. we just nailed more voter fraud in Alabama! It is illegal to knowingly cast a vote in a US election if you are not a citizen of the country, or of the jurisdiction in which the votes are being cast. Just yesterday my office arraigned a North Carolina resident named Forrest Woody for casting ballots in Henderson, North Carolina and in Calhoun County Alabama in the same elections on more than one occasion. But just south of us the US Attorney for the Southern District of Alabama just brought charges against two foreign nationals, one from Jamaica and one from Peru, who cast ballots in elections in his district. Shout out to the Alabama Secretary of State who has done a great job at helping create a database that gives the ability to validate voter registrations across state lines. This should be a warning to those who would attempt voter fraud. We are watching. We are watching with intent to prosecute. Election Integrity is paramount. Thoughts on the morning drive.

Thoughts on the morning drive…..illegal aliens in California were just charged with identity theft and racking up credit debt! In one of those “you can’t make this stuff up” stories the US Attorneys Office for the Southern District of California just brought charges against four illegal aliens who stole social security numbers and then used that stolen identity information to fraudulently apply for loans and credit cards. Between them the four individuals who were just charged amassed over $140,000 in debts that they then attempted to erase by each filing bankruptcy. Three of them are from Mexico, one from Guatemala. All of them are in the country illegally. All of them are were alleged to have abused the system of credit we often take for granted in America. If you wonder why interest rates are high, cost of living is tough, insurance rates are through the roof….its not always because of the usual market forces or economic indicators. Too often it is the free market trying to adjust to the strains placed on our systems by massive fraud that for too long has gone unchecked. I’m proud that the DOJ is making fraud a top priority. It affects all of us. And these chuckleheads in California, are innocent until proven guilty, but the evidence is stacked against them because they were the ones who signed on the dotted line. Thoughts on the morning drive.

Thoughts on the morning drive……the Supreme Court just agreed to take up a case that will decide how we US Attorneys handle illegal immigration proceedings. In common practice those who are accused of a crime are generally afforded a bond hearing. It’s rooted in the due process protections guaranteed by the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments to the US Constitution. During the hearing the Court will consider whether or not the accused is a flight risk, or whether they pose an imminent threat to the general public if they are released on bond. BUT, it has been the policy and practice of the DOJ that illegal immigrants are not afforded those same rights to a bond hearing in their detention proceedings. BUT, the federal District Courts are split on the issue. The 5th and 8th Circuits say “no bond hearing”, but the rest say “yes, bond hearing”. How does that impact us? Well, here in the Northern District of Alabama we often see our immigration detainees sent to an immigration detention facility in Louisiana, which is in the 5th Circuit, which says “no bond”. BUT, then we bring them back to Alabama for their proceedings, which is in the 11th Circuit, whose Courts have held that bond hearings are required. We just want to do our jobs as US Attorneys and get it right the first time! When you have splits among the federal courts like this the Supreme Court has to decide whether to step in and lay down a uniform application of the law. So that’s what just happened this past week. SCOTUS will decide once and for all if all illegal detainees are due to have a bond hearing and be potentially released back into society pending their final determination on their status. In the meantime, the men and women of the DOJ will keep doing their jobs processing the vast numbers of illegal alien detainees and doing so evenly under the laws that apply. Thoughts on the morning drive.

Diggin' this

Thoughts on the morning drive…… scamming veteran healthcare is just like Stolen Valor! Just this past week in the Northern District of Texas the US Attorney's office achieved a conviction of a doctor who had been lying for years on Tricare claims. He allegedly paid kickbacks and scammed veteran families into applying for treatments they did not need, and often never received. He also used fake credentials , and occasionally stole the credentials of other licensed practitioners. This guy was so brazen in the $26 million fraud he perpetrated that he led a lavish lifestyle to include a gold-plated Tesla truck. You can't make this stuff up! But the bottom line is he is now facing years in prison for having defrauded the healthcare system dedicated to our military and veterans. Just one more effort in the fight against fraud that has been allowed to go on for far too long. And when you scam our veterans it's about the same as stolen valor! Thoughts on the morning drive.

Thoughts on the morning drive......we just helped lift old desegregation orders from Alabama schools! The Department of Justice Just lifted old consent decrees for approximately 50 school systems and local governments nationwide. Members of the Civil division The northern district of Alabama were able to assist with lifting three of those in Alabama alone. What happened was that during the era of civil rights changes many districts nationwide were forced by the federal government to desegregate, and rightfully so. But the problem was that 50 and 60 years later some of those consent decrees still required special expenses by those school systems and local governments even though they had already complied with all aspects of the law. Lifting a consent decree gives the freedom to begin making more localized choices, and since federal law, and many state laws, have now been amended appropriately, those consent decrees were no longer necessary. It's amazing they stayed on the books this long. But I'm proud that our office at the Northern District of Alabama was able to assist in getting three of those lifted most recently. And there are likely more to come. Does this mean that civil rights are in jeopardy? Absolutely not. What it means is that burdensome and costly regulations that are no longer needed are being lifted off the backs of local officials and governments. Thoughts on the morning drive.

Thoughts on the morning drive..... the "Green New Deal," or "Green New Steal", just got handed a setback by a Federal District court in Michigan. The Department of Justice assisted in pursuing claims against the State of Michigan for its attempt to sue energy companies for so-called "climate change" under theories of state law. Federal law preempted, the Court agreed, and the case known as People of Michigan vs BP, et al, was just dismissed. One can only imagine what would happen to energy rates if states like Michigan, California, or New York were allowed to sue the companies that make energy for our nation on purely partisan activist grounds. But they won't be able to proceed at this point. It remains to be seen what they will try next. But in the meantime we just got good news and the "Green New Steal" is on its heels. Thoughts on the morning drive.

Thoughts on the morning drive…… the Department of Justice Just indicted a postal worker for interfering with an election. There is a major push right now to ensure that those who would attempt to damage the Integrity of US elections understand that this will not be tolerated. Election Integrity cases are a very big deal. And most recently, in Colorado, a US postal worker was just indicted for deliberately interfering in the delivery of up to 300 ballots. There is no telling the impact that even the loss of a few ballots can make on local and state elections. If you stop and think about it, the election of 2000 came down to one district in one state counting ballots by hand to determine who won the presidential election. In the Northern District of Alabama we have recently convicted two individuals for casting ballots illegally. Every lawfully cast vote should count. But every vote should be given its chance to be counted. And no one should be allowed to stand in the way of that constitutional right. Election Integrity matters! Thoughts on the morning drive.

Thoughts on the morning drive.......Did you know there's a new assisted suicide law in Illinois?! A new Illinois Law just took effect last week. It provides the means for patients to be advised on how to kill themselves and even prescribed the drugs to do so. The law would also penalize doctors, pharmacists, and any other health care providers who try to advise against the option. It is basically a death law. But a lawsuit filed by a Catholic Archdiocese and two orders of nuns was just granted a reprieve from being forced to assist patients in killing themselves. Obviously, providing such assistance would go against their faith. Federal District Court in Illinois placed an injunction on enforcing the law against faith-based healthcare providers, to include pharmacists, (and nuns!) who feel that they are being compelled against their faith to advise someone that there is no hope and they should kill themselves. Unfortunately, the case is going forward on its merits, but for now the nuns who have committed their selves to caring for the sick and infirm and providing the hope of a loving God are not required, or penalized, for participating in this death law. You just thought it was out there somewhere else, but it's right here. The Illinois death law is in court right now. Thoughts on the morning drive.

Thoughts on the morning drive....... the Second Amendment is a right! Not an option. The Department of Justice just filed suit against the city of San Jose California for trying to make citizens pay an exorbitant amount for their second amendment rights. The Second Amendment is a constitutional RIGHT, not a constitutional OPTION. The city of San Jose has been charging citizens up to $1,600 for a gun permit. The only reason they would do this is to have a chilling effect on legal gun rights. I remember a few years back reading about one local sheriff in a northern state who attempted to have citizens write a paper to justify their need for a gun permit. In one Pacific northwest city they've also tried to tax bullets to such an extent that it would be unaffordable to purchase them. All of these are efforts to deny people their basic second amendment rights by making them unreachable and untenable. The Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice hasZ decided enough is enough. The city of San Jose fooled around, and they're about to find out. Thoughts on the morning drive.

"I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the Lord." (Psalm 122:1)

Early Saturday visitors.....all is well.