Author Archive for: emptywheel
About emptywheel
Marcy Wheeler is an independent journalist writing about national security and civil liberties. She writes as emptywheel at her eponymous blog, publishes at outlets including Vice, Motherboard, the Nation, the Atlantic, Al Jazeera, and appears frequently on television and radio. She is the author of Anatomy of Deceit, a primer on the CIA leak investigation, and liveblogged the Scooter Libby trial.
Marcy has a PhD from the University of Michigan, where she researched the “feuilleton,” a short conversational newspaper form that has proven important in times of heightened censorship. Before and after her time in academics, Marcy provided documentation consulting for corporations in the auto, tech, and energy industries. She lives with her spouse in Grand Rapids, MI.
Entries by emptywheel
DC Circuit Upholds 18 USC 1512(c)(2), Sort Of
/47 Comments/in 2020 Presidential Election, January 6 Insurrection/by emptywheelIn a Florence Pan opinion that Justin Walker largely joined, the DC Circuit rejected an interpretation of 18 USC 1512(c)(2) that Carl Nichols had singularly adopted on January 6 cases. But even where Walker and Pan differ, both would uphold the majority of obstruction cases currently or potentially charged.
The Espionage Act Evidence WaPo Spins as Obstruction Evidence
/91 Comments/in 2020 Presidential Election, emptywheel, Leak Investigations/by emptywheelIn addition to showing that DOJ has developed additional evidence to substantiate suspicions they used to get a warrant to search Trump’s beach resort, WaPo describes Jack Smith’s team collecting the kind of evidence that might be used to charge individual documents as violations of the Espionage Act.