For the third year in a row, the number of exonerations in the United States has hit a record high. A total of 166 wrongly convicted people whose convictions date as far back as 1964 were declared innocent in 2016, according to a report from the National Registry of Exonerations released Tuesday. On average, there are now over three exonerations per week—more than double the rate in 2011. The number of exonerations has generally increased since 1989, the first year in the National Registry’s database. There are 2,000 individual exonerations listed in the registry as of March 6.

Clyde Spencer appeals from the judgment of U.S. District Court Judge Benjamin Settle who overruled a jury verdict in Spencer’s favor following a seventeen-day jury trial in his 42 U.S.C. § 1983 action. Spencer spent nearly two decades in jail until his criminal conviction was vacated because Clark County police officer, Sharon Krause, fabricated evidence to gain Spencer’s conviction.

Each year, thousands of new laws get generated by our beloved congressmen, further adding to an already over-burdened society.  Instead, each year legislators should erase thousands of existing laws!  This would be a giant step towards restoring true justice in our U.S. legal system.  During this year, 898 new state laws will be going into effect in California alone.  This number, of course, neglects new local and federal laws that will also affect Californians.  Below is a sampling of the many laws that are being enacted in three different states across the nation.

I think it’s safe to say that most everyone would agree that we have never had a president in our history like President Trump. Beyond his lack of political correctness, the United States has not had a president who has an international business empire like him. Moreover, it has been many decades since someone with no political experience has been put in the Oval Office. Several leading legal scholars have recently filed a lawsuit that claims payments by foreign powers to President Trump’s companies violate the Title of Nobility Clause, commonly known as the Foreign Emoluments Clause of the U.S. Constitution. The suit alleges that Trump’s business interests create countless conflicts of interest, as well as unprecedented influence by foreign governments.

Readers who have been following us and our posts and those who have read our book, Stack the Legal Odds in Your Favor: Understand America's Corrupt Judicial System—Protect Yourself Now and Boost Chances of Winning Cases Later, know that corruption is rampant within our legal system, a central theme in our book. Most recently, corruption has paid yet another visit to our own back yard here in southern California.

The United States legal system has basically become a criminal enterprise with no competition.  But the widespread corruption found in this form of organized crime extends beyond merely our system. Look at any country or industry where there is money, power, or both, and you will find corruption.

Corruption is rampant in the U.S. legal system. As we mention in our book, Stack the Legal Odds in Your Favor: Understand America's Corrupt Judicial System—Protect Yourself Now and Boost Chances of Winning Cases Later, it would take at least a multi-volume series of tomes to cover all cases in U.S. history.  Last month, the Orange County Register brought to light one instance of the widespread corruption by publishing an article about an Orange County Superior Court clerk who ran an illegal network that collected bribes to fix more than 1,000 traffic cases over a five-year period. Federal prosecutors say Jose Lopez Jr. turned ticket-fixing into a profitable side business during an otherwise unblemished career as an Orange County Superior Court clerk. Sadly, stories such as this one are just the tip of the iceberg with respect to exposing unbelievable tales of corruption that span the entire system from local courts to the United States Supreme Court.