Now they have even more influence, thanks to the ways that President Donald Trump and his allies have battered the law over the last 18 months.
Law enforcement authorities began detecting large-scale shipments in the 1980's, when Colombian drug cartels, battered by aggressive law enforcement, opened new routes to that largely untapped market.
Or did he have this all figured out before that mustachioed Italian law man battered down his door?
Arizona's crudely drafted and unconstitutional immigration law, already battered in its journey through the federal courts, had yet another setback today.
While the industry was financially battered by the new law and some smaller cities lost service, Mr. Kahn over the years stoutly defended his handiwork by saying that many more Americans were flying with greater choice of carriers and at lower fares than ever before.
The Obama administration has granted asylum to a Mexican woman who was sexually abused and severely battered by her common-law husband.
Champions of Thatcherism hail the crippling of the trade unions, which were battered by anti-union laws, mass unemployment, and crushing defeats of strikes, not least after the rout of the iconic miners.
A second factor, Professor Rosenfeld said, is the panoply of changes to help battered women, including new restraining laws, quicker arrests of batterers, shelters and support groups.
Carvin spoke first, and all four Democratic appointees — Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor, and Elena Kagan — battered him with hostile questions about his reading of the law.
Mohammad Khatami's lethargic presidency, which has been battered by these hard-liners, can hardly fulfill promises for civil liberties, the rule of law, democracy and political accountability.
