tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26342867799406644732024-03-13T09:15:04.002-07:00GTMO DOCUMENTSH. Candace Gormanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15947267626405585323noreply@blogger.comBlogger202125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2634286779940664473.post-91671544154591209792024-02-29T07:33:00.000-08:002024-02-29T07:33:40.685-08:00From Roger Fitch and our friends down under- at Justinian<p> </p><h2 class="title" style="background-color: #f9f4f1; color: #bf370a; font-family: Brawler, "sans-serif"; font-size: 21px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><a class="journal-entry-navigation-current" href="https://justinian.com.au/columnists/danger-ahead-falling-rocks.html" style="color: #bf370a; letter-spacing: 0px; line-height: 1em; margin-bottom: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;">Danger ahead - falling rocks</a></h2><div class="journal-entry-tag journal-entry-tag-post-title" style="background-color: #f9f4f1; color: #a6a6a6; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 10px; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-top: 10px; text-transform: uppercase;"><span class="posted-in"><span class="tag-element" style="text-wrap: nowrap;"><a href="https://justinian.com.au/columnists/category/roger-fitch-esq" rel="tag" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">ROGER FITCH ESQ</a></span></span> • <span class="posted-on" style="text-wrap: nowrap;">WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2024</span></div><div class="body" style="background-color: #f9f4f1; color: #0b0b0b; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 16px; margin: 1em 0px;"><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><strong>Voting in America ... Gerrymanders and voter suppression give Republicans a whopping advantage ... The 14th amendment and its possibilities ... The post-Civil War reconstruction amendments ... Trump and the suspension of the Constitution ... Roger Fitch explains </strong></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><span class="full-image-block ssNonEditable" style="display: block;"><img alt="" src="https://justinian.com.au/storage/photos-general/Republicans_voting_660.jpg?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1709105433456" style="border: 0px none;" /></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><strong style="font-size: 17.6px;">If</strong> more Americans had been able to vote in 2016, Donald Trump would have lost. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">However, thanks to the supreme court's decision in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shelby_County_v._Holder" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>Shelby County v Holder</em></a><em> </em>(2013), the 2016 presidential election was the first in 50 years without the essential protections of the 1965 <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voting_Rights_Act_of_1965" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>Voting Rights Act</em></a>, resulting in massive vote suppression.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">After the court inexplicably struck down the recent, near-unanimous, re-enactment of the Act's provisions requiring federal pre-clearance of voting measures, a toxic torrent of voting restrictions poured forth from conservative (and racist) states.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Private enforcement actions remained, but in <a href="https://washingtonmonthly.com/2023/11/21/a-body-blow-to-the-voting-rights-act/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">November 2023</a>, a 2-1 panel of the 8th circuit issued a <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2023/11/20/politics/voting-rights-act-supreme-court-thomas-gorsuch/index.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">clearly-wrong</a> decision that <a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/society/a-rando-trump-judge-just-blew-a-giant-hole-in-the-voting-rights-act/?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">such actions are not allowed</a>, though they've been used for 40 years during which time private litigants brought 182 successful lawsuits and the DoJ alone only 15. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Worse, four Republican states are cynically pursuing a <a href="https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/republicans-voting-rights-act-court?lh_aid" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">two-pronged attack</a> on the remnants of the <em>VRA</em>.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">A third of eligible voters in America fail to vote. Why? It's the difficulty of doing so under Republican Party governance. Voting is voluntary, and it's actively discouraged through onerous registrations and voting, pointlessly-purged voter rolls, inconvenient polling sites, Tuesday elections, deliberately-burdensome ID requirements, restricted voting hours, and even punishments for poll assistance.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">If one succeeds in voting, gerrymanders can give Republicans an advantage of 7% or more; in Wisconsin 47.5% of the vote gives Republicans a <a href="https://prospect.org/politics/2023-10-13-wisconsins-legislative-islands-voters-stranded/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">two-thirds super-majority</a> in the legislature, enough to override executive actions of the progressive Democrat governor.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Enforcement of an overlooked provision of the 14th amendment might address these problems.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Americans are constantly reminded of the holy writ enshrined in the Constitution (1789) and Bill of Rights (Amendments 1-10, adopted 1791), but people know little about the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reconstruction_Amendments" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Reconstruction Amendments</a> hammered out by Congress after the Civil War, in debates rivalling those of the Philadelphia <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constitutional_Convention_(United_States)" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Constitutional Convention</a> eighty years earlier. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><span class="full-image-block ssNonEditable" style="display: block;"><img alt="" src="https://justinian.com.au/storage/photos-general/Reconstruction_Amendments_660.jpg?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1709105676675" style="border: 0px none;" /></span><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">Reconstruction Amendments - deliberations</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Following the Civil War, the 13<sup>th</sup>, 14<sup>th</sup> and 15th amendments were adopted to recast the Constitution and Bill of Rights, and vindicate the supremacy of the federal over state governments, not least in matters of citizenship, voting, and (gender aside) freedom from discrimination. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Most people have heard of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thirteenth_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">13th Amendment</a>, abolishing slavery, and perhaps the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fifteenth_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">15th</a>, but it's the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourteenth_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">14th</a> that is most well-known, the amendment that turbo-charged the Bill of Rights. Properly interpreted, the 14th would be <a href="https://tomdispatch.com/throwing-out-the-constitution/#more" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Donald Trump's kryptonite</a>, as its Section 3 prohibits certain insurgents <em>holding office</em>. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">The supreme court, however, seems sure to allow Trump <em>on the</em> <em>ballot</em>, simply <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/feb/14/us-supreme-court-trump-election-sidney-blumenthal?" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">deferring a constitutional crisis</a>. Why? Perhaps because Section 3 <a href="https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2024/02/supreme-court-trump-ballot-originalism-flaw.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">doesn't mention</a> the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secret_ballot" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">(Australian) ballot</a>. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Other sections of the 14th are more consequential: Section 1 adds birthright citizenship, equal protection and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Privileges_or_Immunities_Clause" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">privileges or immunities</a> to the due process provided in the Bill of Rights, making these federal protections also those of state citizens. <a href="https://prospect.org/justice/2024-01-02-election-lawsuit-14th-amendment-trump/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Then there is Section 2</a>: </p><blockquote style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic;"><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">"Representatives shall be apportioned among the several States according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each State ... when the right to vote at any election for the choice of electors for President and Vice President of the United States, Representatives in Congress, the Executive and Judicial officers of a State, or the members of the Legislature thereof, is denied to any of the <strong>male</strong> inhabitants of such State, being twenty-one years of age, and citizens of the United States, or in any way abridged, except for participation in rebellion, or other crime, the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the number of such<strong> <em>male</em></strong> citizens shall bear to the whole number of <strong>male</strong> citizens twenty-one years of age in such State." (emphases added)</p></blockquote><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">It was Section 2 that introduced a gender distinction for the first time through its "male" references: no mention of sex appears in the Constitution or Bill of Rights.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">In Section 1, women were included in the same birthright citizenship, "privileges or immunities", due process, and equal protection as men. Yet during the compromises in drafting section 2, recognition of women was dropped: it was thought its inclusion would make ratification too difficult.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">The campaign for women's suffrage had begun before the War, in the 1848 <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seneca_Falls_Convention" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Seneca Falls Convention</a>, and there were precedents for women voting, e.g, single women and widows voted in New Jersey from 1776 to 1807, when the all-male legislature put a stop to it. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Hence one purpose of Section 2 - in referring to male inhabitants and male citizens - was deterring states from increasing their representation in congress by enfranchising women, as soon occurred in Wyoming Territory (1869) and elsewhere in the West. The "male" distinction became redundant after the adoption of the 19th Amendment (1920).</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">The 15th Amendment also refers to "males", as it only sought to deal with racial, not sex, discrimination. What is striking is that the amendment <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/16/opinion/voting-rights-constitution-28th-amendment.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">does not contain a right to vote</a>, something the US, alone among advanced democracies, lacks. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em; text-align: center;"><strong><span style="font-size: 20.8px;">≈ ≈ ≈</span></strong></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><span class="full-image-float-right ssNonEditable" style="float: right; margin: 0px 0px 8px 10px;"><img alt="" src="https://justinian.com.au/storage/people/news-stories-2023/Trump_Exposed_New_Yorker_330.jpg?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1709106094586" style="border: 0px none;" /><span class="thumbnail-caption" style="display: block; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 9px; line-height: 14px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-top: 5px; width: 330px;">Barry Blitt's "Exposed"</span></span>Donald Trump's absurd and intensely-contested claim of presidential immunity from criminal prosecution in DC has <a href="https://www.scotusblog.com/2024/02/trump-asks-justices-to-intervene-in-jan-6-case/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">reached the supreme court</a> (he's proposing <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2024/02/23/trump-classified-documents-case-00142907" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">another immunity</a> in the Florida documents case).</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">As Michael Dorf <a href="https://www.dorfonlaw.org/2024/02/trumps-scotus-stay-application-says.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">lamented</a>, it's been over eight years since Trump, "descended his escalator to destroy American democracy and basic human decency". </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Now there's another election in less than nine months; if Trump wins again, there may be <a href="https://newrepublic.com/article/177149/trump-wins-again-may-no-stopping?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">no stopping</a> his mission. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">The <a href="https://www.economist.com/leaders/2023/11/16/donald-trump-poses-the-biggest-danger-to-the-world-in-2024" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">world itself</a> is in danger.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Trump has meanwhile gone full fascist: his <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/13/us/politics/trump-vermin-rhetoric-fascists.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">vermin rhetoric</a> is <a href="https://newrepublic.com/article/176877/trump-vermin-speech-nazi-language" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Nazi talk</a>, and should alarm media who quibbled over Hillary Clinton's mild characterisation of Trump supporters as <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basket_of_deplorables" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">deplorable</a>. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">The <em>NY Times</em> compiled a list of Trump's <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/05/us/politics/trump-2024-president-campaign.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">frightening rants</a> in a new series of articles designed to alert Americans to the existential danger they face should the bestial Trump be elected this year. More <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/04/us/politics/trump-2025-overview.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">here</a>.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">He has spoken of <a href="https://go.brennancenter.org/e/557782/-constitution-republicans-html/7tp1kd/1487652362/h/AREGcT7_oRhY7gR5vPGoJpgu-NswRKJeH32vZ7z6qsQ" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">suspending the Constitution</a>, building <a href="https://go.brennancenter.org/e/557782/p-2025-immigration-agenda-html/7tp1md/1487652362/h/AREGcT7_oRhY7gR5vPGoJpgu-NswRKJeH32vZ7z6qsQ" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">deportation camps</a>, <a href="https://go.brennancenter.org/e/557782/epartment-political-opponents-/7tp1kh/1487652362/h/AREGcT7_oRhY7gR5vPGoJpgu-NswRKJeH32vZ7z6qsQ" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">weaponizing the Department of Justice</a>, purging <a href="https://go.brennancenter.org/e/557782/-agenda-second-term-index-html/7tp1kl/1487652362/h/AREGcT7_oRhY7gR5vPGoJpgu-NswRKJeH32vZ7z6qsQ" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">career civil servants</a> (a <a href="https://prospect.org/politics/2023-11-27-far-right-blueprint-america/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">long-time project</a> of the quasi-fascist <a href="https://washingtonmonthly.com/2023/11/13/blitzkrieg-against-the-administrative-state/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>Heritage Foundation</em></a>), and <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2023/11/16/politics/trump-agenda-second-term/index.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">more</a>, seeking <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/27/opinion/trump-deep-state-schedule-f.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">destruction of the "Deep State</a>". </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Trump promises to invoke the 1807 <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insurrection_Act_of_1807" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>Insurrection Act</em></a>, a step towards martial law, on his first day in office. It's all part of an <a href="https://www.authoritarianplaybook2025.org/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">authoritarian playbook</a> for 2025. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">People tend to forget that Donald Trump is an accomplished conman with a <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2024/01/12/donald-trump-indictments-legal-system-00135151" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">lifetime's practice</a> abusing the law; if he wins the election, the powers a president has for pardons, payoffs, and payback will <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/20/opinion/trump-second-term-2025.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">be misused</a> to the fullest extent. He could <a href="https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/convict-in-chief-how-trump-ii-could-make-his-legal-troubles-go-away" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">make some legal troubles go away</a>. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Meanwhile, in a <a href="https://www.justsecurity.org/92390/trump-must-pay-more-than-350-million-in-ill-gotten-gains-banned-for-three-years-from-running-n-y-biz-judge-rules/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">NY state fraud</a> case, Trump has been <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/16/nyregion/trump-civil-fraud-trial-ruling.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">fined</a> (with prejudgment interest) <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/feb/22/trump-now-owes-more-than-500m-how-will-he-pay" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">$450 million</a>; $112,000 a day accrues post-judgment.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">The NY "<a href="https://www.politico.com/interactives/2023/trump-criminal-investigations-cases-tracker-list/#hush-money" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">hush-money</a>" <a href="https://www.justsecurity.org/92301/trump-fails-to-get-n-y-hush-money-case-dismissed-as-judge-gears-up-for-march-trial/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">pay-off</a> trial <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/feb/15/trump-court-hush-money-stormy-daniels" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">begins March 25</a>. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">The "<a href="https://www.justsecurity.org/89121/clearinghouse-mar-a-lago-documents-case-southern-district-of-florida/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Mar-a-Lago documents" case</a> for <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/793" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Espionage Act</a> violations and <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/1512" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">witness tampering</a> is tentatively <a href="https://newrepublic.com/post/179061/judge-cannon-shut-down-trump-delay-tactic-classified-documents-trial" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">set for May 20</a>.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Enjoy!</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"> </p></div>Candacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08551216220515434004noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2634286779940664473.post-52300247575345828382024-01-30T06:58:00.000-08:002024-01-30T06:58:58.620-08:00FROM ROGER FITCH and our friends down under at Justinian.<p> <span class="posted-in" style="color: #a6a6a6; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 10px; text-transform: uppercase;"><span class="tag-element" style="text-wrap: nowrap;"><a href="https://justinian.com.au/columnists/category/roger-fitch-esq" rel="tag" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">ROGER FITCH ESQ</a></span></span><span style="background-color: #f9f4f1; color: #a6a6a6; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 10px; text-transform: uppercase;"> </span><span style="background-color: #f9f4f1; color: #a6a6a6; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 10px; text-transform: uppercase;">•</span><span style="background-color: #f9f4f1; color: #a6a6a6; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 10px; text-transform: uppercase;"> </span><span class="posted-on" style="color: #a6a6a6; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 10px; text-transform: uppercase; text-wrap: nowrap;">MONDAY, JANUARY 29, 2024</span></p><div class="body" style="background-color: #f9f4f1; color: #0b0b0b; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 16px; margin: 1em 0px;"><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><strong>The cowboys of Texas ... Asserting control over immigration ... Operation Lone Star ... Confederate theory of secession is alive and kicking ... Usurping federal powers ... Trump judges to the rescue ... Wild defence claims in election conspiracy case ... Roger Fitch reports from Washington </strong></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><span class="full-image-float-right ssNonEditable" style="float: right; margin: 0px 0px 8px 10px;"><img alt="" src="https://justinian.com.au/storage/photos-general/texas-lonestar-state.jpeg?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1706511546557" style="border: 0px none;" /></span><strong>Texas</strong> has always asserted its enduring sovereignty, claiming to be the only state that was previously a republic (Vermont disagrees). The state bolted from the Union once: it was almost the first to secede in 1861, and in 1870 it was one of the last readmitted.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Why? It was among the last to ratify the 15th amendment guaranteeing the right of "males" to vote without racial discrimination. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">In fact, the original admission of Texas in 1846 was so contentious and unpopular that, alone among the states, it was done by joint congressional resolution. Texas reserved the right to subdivide into five states, which, happily, never occurred; 108 US senators, ten of them Texans, doesn't bear thinking about. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">When British author John Bainbridge's seminal book about Texas, <em>The Super-Americans</em>, appeared in 1961, the state was still ruled by the same conservative Democrats (today's Republicans) who defended the "<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_primary" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">White Primary</a>" (disallowed in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smith_v._Allwright" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>Smith v Allwright</em></a>, 1944) and segregated state universities (struck down in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweatt_v._Painter" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>Sweatt v Painter,</em></a> 1950). </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">The Bainbridge paperback bore the cover blurb, "an incipient fascist state". Perhaps incipient no more: the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Majority_minority_in_the_United_States" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">majority-minority</a> Texas has been tightly controlled by white-minority Republicans for a generation. Since George Bush's 1994 election as governor, most state-wide officers (governor, lieutenant governor, attorney-general, members of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supreme_Court_of_Texas" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">supreme court</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_Court_of_Criminal_Appeals" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">court of criminal appeals</a>) have been Republicans. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Since the Republicans' unprecedented <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2003_Texas_redistricting" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">2003 do-over</a> of the previous (Democrat) legislature's 2000 census-based redistricting, the party's unshakeable gerrymanders have guaranteed perpetual Republican control of the legislature and state congressional delegation.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">In 2019 (in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rucho_v._Common_Cause#:~:text=The%2520Court%2520ruled%2520that%2520while,the%2520jurisdiction%2520of%2520these%2520courts.&text=Robert%2520A.,Rucho%2520et%2520al." style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>Rucho v Common Cause</em></a>)<em>,</em> a Republican-dominated US supreme court stopped all federal judicial review of partisan gerrymanders at the moment when most gerrymanders favoured Republicans. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">With permanent government assured, Texas Republicans have taken increasingly bold stances against the federal government, and with Donald Trump's extreme <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federalist_Society" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Federalist Society</a> judges now in place at all levels of the federal judiciary, the state is reasserting its independence, bringing test cases of Texas's purported sovereign supremacy in sympathetic federal courts. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">It's the 1830s and "<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nullification_(U.S._Constitution)" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Nullification</a>" again, with <a href="https://verdict.justia.com/2023/10/25/did-scotus-finally-wake-up-to-the-threat-of-state-nullification-of-federal-law" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Texas</a> standing-in for <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nullification_crisis" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">South Carolina</a>. Indeed, 24 of the 25 Republican governors have <a href="https://www.rga.org/republican-governors-ban-together-issue-joint-statement-supporting-texas-constitutional-right-self-defense/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">piled on</a> with what is essentially the <a href="https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2024/01/texas-border-greg-abbott-gop-governors-confederacy.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Confederate Theory of Secession</a>.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Lone_Star" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Operation Lone Star</a> appropriates immigration control, though states have no right or power to participate in immigration policy, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/23/us/supreme-court-immigration-biden.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">a federal matter</a>. No matter, Texas found a friend in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drew_B._Tipton" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Drew Tipton</a>, the district judge <a href="https://ballsandstrikes.org/fedsoc-twelve/the-worst-trump-judge-in-america-is-drew-tipton/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">alternating</a> with fellow Texan <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_J._Kacsmaryk" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Matthew Kacsmaryk</a> as worst Trump-appointed judge.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Texas governor <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greg_Abbott" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Greg Abbott</a> has also attacked immigration law in Kacsmaryk's court, where <em>ultra vires </em>interventions in federal immigration policies have succeeded. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><span class="full-image-block ssNonEditable" style="display: block;"><img alt="" src="https://justinian.com.au/storage/people/news-stories-2023/Abbott_Greg_Texas_660.jpg?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1706512137552" style="border: 0px none;" /></span><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">Abbott: all hat, no cow</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">An early Texas victory reached the supreme court, which declined to stay (pending appeal) a Kaczmaryk ruling that Biden could be forced to reimpose a discarded Trump <a href="https://www.vox.com/2021/8/24/22640424/supreme-court-remain-in-mexico-trump-biden-samuel-alito-immigration" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">remain-in-Mexico policy</a> (now lapsed) that the Mexican government might refuse to implement.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><a href="https://www.chron.com/politics/article/Texas-Greg-Abbott-Houston-border-Haiti-bridge-16465197.php" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Wrongly claiming</a> that refugees can only enter the US at state-selected border bridges, Governor Abbott claimed authority over the entire border, placing buoys to deter migrants at shallow river crossings, e.g, near the International Bridge at <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/texas-national-guard-blocking-border-patrol-southern-border-greg-abbott-1860329" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Eagle Pass</a>. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">When the <a href="https://www.lawfaremedia.org/article/justice-department-sues-texas-over-installation-of-anti-migrant-barriers-in-the-rio-grande" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">US sued over "anti-migrant barriers"</a>, a federal judge ordered the state to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/sep/06/texas-buoys-rio-grande-migrants-mexico-border" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">remove the buoys</a>, a decision upheld by a Fifth circuit panel, but the Texas AG, criminally-indicted <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ken_Paxton" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Ken Paxton</a>, is getting an <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2024/01/17/texas-river-border-buoys-to-stay-in-place-while-5th-circuit-rehears-case-00136125" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>en banc </em>rehearing</a> before the Fifth circuit, the <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2023/11/fifth-circuit-conservative-supreme-court/676116/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">most conservative</a> (12 of 17 judges are Republican appointees).</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">The buoys remained, and Texas began rolling out razor wire, including at the state's <a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2023/10/17/texas-border-new-mexico-concertina-wire-abbott/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">land border with New Mexico</a> near El Paso. The state also began booby-trapping likely river crossings.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">When the federal government removed the river wire as obstructing navigation and access to migrants, <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2023/10/24/politics/texas-paxton-biden-administration-border-razor-wire-lawsuit/index.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">AG Paxton sued</a>, claiming the state's razor wire at Eagle Pass had been "illegally" cut by the Biden Administration. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Paxton's laughable legal theory, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trespass_to_chattels" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>trespass against chattels</em></a>,<em> </em>was rejected, and the district court ruled for the US. On appeal, a Trump-tainted Fifth circuit panel accepted Texas's doctored videos of purported federal inaction and granted an injunction preventing the <a href="https://www.jurist.org/news/2023/12/us-appeals-court-temporarily-blocks-immigration-officials-from-cutting-border-fencing/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">US cutting the wire</a>. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><span class="full-image-block ssNonEditable" style="display: block;"><img alt="" src="https://justinian.com.au/storage/photos-general/Texas_border_control.jpeg?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1706512355623" style="border: 0px none;" /></span><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">Lone Star border control</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Texas then wired off more of the border, with the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_State_Guard" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Texas State Guard</a> blocking the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Border_Patrol" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">US Border Patrol</a> and <a href="https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2024/01/supreme-court-texas-border-patrol-standoff.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">federal law enforcement</a>, including US military. The <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2024/01/16/opinions/texas-border-abbott-immigration-family-drowning-driver/index.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">state's exclusion of the US</a> contributed to the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/jan/14/texas-three-migrants-drown-us-border-patrol" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">death of three migrants</a>, and there was a <a href="https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/texas-sets-up-showdown-over-federal-control-of-the-border" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">showdown</a> with the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_Military_Forces" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Texas Military Forces</a>, who ostensibly act under federal authority.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">The Department of Homeland Security sent a <a href="https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/24361467/letter-to-k-paxton-from-j-meyer-1142024.pdf" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">polite letter</a> to Paxton, giving him until January 17 to cease and desist blocking US Border Patrol's access to the river; Paxton's reply was <a href="https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/sites/default/files/images/press/OAG%20Response%20to%20DHS%20Demand%20Letter%2001172024.pdf" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">puerile and insolent </a>(press release <a href="https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/news/releases/attorney-general-ken-paxton-responds-biden-administrations-demand-texas-cease-and-desist-securing" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">here</a>). </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">The supreme court ruled 5-4 for the <a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2024/01/22/texas-border-supreme-court-immigration/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Biden administration</a>, but Texas <a href="https://gov.texas.gov/uploads/files/press/Border_Statement_1.24.2024.pdf" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">continues to flout the law</a>, more <a href="https://www.vox.com/scotus/2024/1/27/24051657/supreme-court-texas-border-immigration-greg-abbott-biden-invasion" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">here</a>. Worse, the legislature's <a href="https://www.texasobserver.org/sb-4-texas-state-immigration-law/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Senate Bill 4</a> has taken effect, creating a <a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2023/12/18/texas-governor-abbott-bills-border-wall-illegal-entry-crime-sb3-sb4/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">parallel immigration system</a> where state law enforcement agencies can <em>arrest and deport</em> undocumented immigrants within the state's borders. The <a href="https://newrepublic.com/article/177725/texas-immigration-law-federal-government-constitution?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>New Republic</em></a> and <a href="https://stevevladeck.substack.com/p/bonus-62-what-the-heck-is-happening?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Steve Vladeck</a> have more.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Clearly, a state law purporting to authorise arrest of "illegal" immigrants is <a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/texas-sb4-immigration-law-unconstitutional/?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">blatantly unconstitutional</a>, usurping federal powers and arrogating to the state the power to issue international deportation orders. More <a href="https://prospect.org/justice/2023-11-16-texas-legislature-immigration-authority/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">here</a> on Senate Bill 4.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/19/us/el-paso-texas-migrant-arrest-suit.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">El Paso County</a> and immigrant groups have <a href="https://www.aclutx.org/sites/default/files/2023-12-19_complaint.pdf" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">filed suit</a> in federal court, <a href="https://www.aclu.org/documents/las-americas-immigrant-advocacy-center-v-mccraw-motion-for-preliminary-injunction" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">seeking an injunction</a>. Governor Abbott cannot have legal advice (other than his devious AG's) that the state can lawfully arrest, imprison and deport people; some are entitled to refugee status or <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parole_(United_States_immigration)" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">parole</a> (e.g, the Republican-hated "humanitarian parole"), others may be legal residents or even American citizens. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Even so, <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2024/01/18/us/texas-border-patrol-us-mexico-thursday/index.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">false arrests have already begun</a>; the many lawsuits that follow will prove costly for the state's employees and taxpayers. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em; text-align: center;"><strong style="font-size: 20.8px;">≈ ≈ ≈</strong></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">The <em>Washington Monthly </em>has a <a href="https://washingtonmonthly.com/2023/12/22/a-trump-coup-trial-primer/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Trump coup trial primer</a> for Special Counsel Jack Smith's election conspiracy case, the "highest-level criminal trial in America" since 1807, when Thomas Jefferson's former VP <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aaron_Burr" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Aaron Burr</a> was acquitted of treason. This time, <a href="https://newrepublic.com/post/178212/legal-expert-warning-trump-cases-jurors-witnesses-organized-crime" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">jury tempering and witness intimidation</a> are real possibilities. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><span class="full-image-block ssNonEditable" style="display: block;"><img alt="" src="https://justinian.com.au/storage/people/news-stories-2023/Aaron_Burr_660.jpeg?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1706512846357" style="border: 0px none;" /></span><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">VP Burr ... Trump's criminal trial will be bigger</span> </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Trump's coup trial lawyers are pressing for wild and irrational defence claims to be heard by the DC jury, pursuing a <a href="https://washingtonmonthly.com/2023/12/26/trumps-laughable-claim-of-immunity/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">laughable</a>, nonsensical and ultimately <a href="https://www.dorfonlaw.org/2023/12/trumps-immunity-claims-are-idiotic.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">idiotic argument</a> that he can't be prosecuted for any crimes committed when he was president, arguments that are <a href="https://verdict.justia.com/2024/01/11/the-incredible-inconsistent-incoherent-legal-arguments-about-presidential-immunity-made-by-donald-trumps-lawyer" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">incredible, inconsistent and incoherent</a>.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">In due course, the <a href="https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/crybully" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>crybully</em></a> Trump <a href="https://www.lawfaremedia.org/article/trump-and-smith-reunited-at-the-d.c.-circuit" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">appeared at the DC Circuit</a>, where his lawyers <a href="https://prospect.org/justice/2024-01-10-trumps-lawyers-invite-biden-assassinate-him/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">artlessly argued</a> that he could even assassinate rivals <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/10/us/politics/trump-immunity-prosecution-assassination.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>while president</em></a>, and get away with it, unless previously tried <em>and convicted</em> by the senate, something a mere 34 Republican senators can prevent. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Trump's argument during his second impeachment in 2021 was just the reverse: that he should be charged, if at all, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/10/us/politics/trump-impeachment-immunity-appeals-court.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">in a criminal court</a>. Professor Dorf has <a href="https://verdict.justia.com/2024/01/17/trump-and-house-republicans-heads-i-win-tails-you-lose-view-of-impeachment?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">more</a>. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Meanwhile, in a shameless <a href="https://www.justsecurity.org/90648/an-analysis-of-the-biden-impeachment-inquiry/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">election year stunt</a>, Trump's drumhead congress wants to impeach President Biden for what he did <a href="https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2023/12/13/congress/inquiry-is-official-00131658" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>before he took office</em></a>. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"> </p></div>Candacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08551216220515434004noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2634286779940664473.post-27810352427348544552023-11-17T06:04:00.000-08:002023-11-17T06:04:06.047-08:00From Roger Fitch and our friends down under<p>LETTER FROM WASHINGTON </p><p><span class="posted-in" style="color: #a6a6a6; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 10px; text-transform: uppercase;"><span class="tag-element" style="text-wrap: nowrap;"><a href="https://justinian.com.au/columnists/category/roger-fitch-esq" rel="tag" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">ROGER FITCH ESQ</a></span></span><span style="background-color: #f9f4f1; color: #a6a6a6; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 10px; text-transform: uppercase;"> </span><span style="background-color: #f9f4f1; color: #a6a6a6; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 10px; text-transform: uppercase;">•</span><span style="background-color: #f9f4f1; color: #a6a6a6; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 10px; text-transform: uppercase;"> </span><span class="posted-on" style="color: #a6a6a6; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 10px; text-transform: uppercase; text-wrap: nowrap;">THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 2023</span></p><div class="body" style="background-color: #f9f4f1; color: #0b0b0b; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 16px; margin: 1em 0px;"><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><strong>Trump ramping up his next term ... Wrecking crew of lawyers on his team ... Authoritarian agenda ... New season for the Supreme Court ... Gun rights for perpetrators of domestic violence ... Texas prohibits wealth taxes - forever ... Entrenched voting distortions ... The new Speaker - a Christian Taliban ... Roger Fitch files - Psychiatrist, <a href="https://www.salon.com/2023/11/07/dr-lance-dodes-on-courtroom-antics-decompensate-to-the-point-of-gross-paranoid-psychosis/?lh_aid" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>Salon</em></a></strong></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><span class="full-image-float-right ssNonEditable" style="float: right; margin: 0px 0px 8px 10px;"><img alt="" src="https://justinian.com.au/storage/lawtoons/toons-other/Flom_Washington_300.gif?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1700123294619" style="border: 0px none;" /></span><strong>As</strong> the 2024 presidential election approaches, it's beyond belief that, <a href="https://newrepublic.com/article/176738/new-york-times-biden-poll-democrats-panic?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">according to some polls</a>, more than half of America's voters prefer an indicted, mentally-unbalanced, narcissistic sociopath who now claims he won the 2020 election <a href="https://www.salon.com/2023/11/05/claims-he-won-all-50-states-in-the-2020/?lh_aid" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">in all 50 states</a>. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Here's an <em>actual</em> statistic: Donald Trump faces <a href="https://newrepublic.com/article/175886/trump-seven-trials-campaign-season?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">seven significant court cases</a> that are scheduled during the presidential campaign season (<a href="https://www.justsecurity.org/88039/trumps-legal-and-political-calendar-all-the-dates-you-need-to-know/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">handy calendar here</a>). They will continue in some form, despite Trump's absurd motions such as the one to <a href="https://www.emptywheel.net/2023/10/24/trumps-motions-to-dismiss-things-that-arent-the-charges-against-him/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">dismiss the January 6 insurrection</a> charges. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Even <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aileen_Cannon" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Aileen Cannon</a>, the <a href="https://www.salon.com/2023/11/07/not-credible-experts-say-cannons-new-orders-suggest-she-has-her-thumb-on-the-scale-for-trump/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">oft-criticised Trump-appointed judge</a> hearing the Florida <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_prosecution_of_Donald_Trump_(classified_documents_case)" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">classified documents case</a>, has tired of Trump's <a href="https://www.emptywheel.net/2023/11/10/john-lauros-dc-delay-tactics-backfire-in-florida/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">dishonest and dilatory</a> tactics.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Surely, many voters will change their minds after Trump's trials and court appearances. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">This month, the former president <a href="https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2023/11/trump-engoron-new-york-fraud-trial/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">testified</a> in New York, in the <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/donald-trumps-contentious-day-on-the-witness-stand" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">civil fraud case</a> against <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Trump_Organization" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">The Trump Organization</a>, and Trump's family. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">As expected, he behaved erratically, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/nov/06/donald-trump-expected-to-appear-in-250m-civil-trial-in-new-york" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">abusing to their faces</a> both the prosecutor, NY Attorney General <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Letitia_James" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Letitia James</a>, and the well-regarded judge, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Engoron" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Arthur Engoron</a>. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">In bringing civil rather that criminal fraud charges, Attorney General James laid a trap: in civil cases, a plaintiff can subpoena a defendant to appear and answer questions, a tactic ideally suited to unsettle an evasive or belligerent defendant, even <a href="https://verdict.justia.com/2023/11/07/four-key-takeaways-from-trumps-civil-fraud-testimony-monday?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">one with a script</a>. It was a trap into which the ex-president <a href="https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2023/11/trump-testimony-new-york-trial-lawyers-disaster.html?sid" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">neatly fell</a>.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Clearly, Trump was <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/trump-testimony-new-york-fraud-case-off-rails-1234870774/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">indignant</a> - outraged - that <em>he</em>, <em>Donald Trump</em>, should be called to account in <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2023/11/06/trump-civil-fraud-trial-00125515" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">a court of law</a>. In fact, he essentially admitted to <a href="https://www.salon.com/2023/11/06/verging-on-a-confession-legal-experts-say-admitting-to-more-fraud-in-word-salad-testimony/?lh_aid" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">even more fraud</a> while on the stand.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Though he won't be a witness in his criminal prosecutions, Trump is also digging holes deeper in the four criminal cases in which he faces a total of <a href="https://www.justsecurity.org/88175/trump-trials-clearinghouse/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">91 felony charges</a>. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">It's the stuff of <em>Trumpen-Schadenfreude</em>. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Even so, the defendant is busy planning his next term as US president. In addition to <a href="https://www.salon.com/2023/11/06/nightmare-scenario-legal-scholars-alarmed-over-plot-to-abuse-his-power-for-revenge/?lh_aid" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">personal revenge</a>, Trump wants to pick up where he left off in his authoritarian remodelling of the country. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">He has begun by recruiting a <a href="https://newrepublic.com/article/176569/trump-second-term-legal-team" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">wrecking crew</a> of <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/01/us/politics/trump-2025-lawyers.html?" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">meretricious lawyers</a>, legal prostitutes so bad that even the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federalist_Society" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Federalist Society</a> won't touch them. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">It's a frightening thought, <em>seeking, </em>rather than <em>avoiding, </em>intellectually-dishonest, lemming-like lawyers to staff a government, but media reaction has been mild. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">The new gang's reinstatement of Trump's dreaded public-service-gutting <a href="https://tomdispatch.com/republican-contradictions/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Schedule F</a>, overturned by Biden in his first days in office, will top the list for party thugs and mischief-minded legal acolytes.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em; text-align: center;"><strong><span style="font-size: 20.8px;">≈ ≈ ≈</span></strong></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><span class="full-image-block ssNonEditable" style="display: block;"><img alt="" src="https://justinian.com.au/storage/photos-general/voting-rights-usa.jpeg?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1700123630680" style="border: 0px none;" /></span><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">Voting: a long threatened right</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">The 2023 supreme court term has opened, producing understandable unease because of the <a href="https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2023/10/new-supreme-court-term-bad-cases.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">bad cases</a> on its docket. The first of such cases, predicted to be its worst, was a 2nd Amendment, "gun rights" case, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v._Rahimi" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>US v</em> <em>Rahimi</em></a>, and concerned the right to keep and carry firearms when subject to a domestic violence order. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Applying Clarence Thomas's bizarre test from last season's <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_State_Rifle_&_Pistol_Association,_Inc._v._Bruen" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>Bruen</em></a><em> </em>case, the Fifth Circuit found Rahimi was entitled to access his firearms as there were no comparable restrictions on gun ownership in the 18th-century. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">That's quite true: there were few, if any, colonial prosecutions for <a href="https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2023-11-06/supreme-court-case-domestic-violence-guns-rahimi" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">domestic violence</a>. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><em>Rahimi </em>has now been argued, and <a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/us-vs-rahimi-gun-rights-domestic-violence-converge-supreme-court-case/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">contrary to expectations</a> it <a href="https://www.scotusblog.com/2023/11/justices-appear-wary-of-striking-down-domestic-violence-gun-restriction/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">doesn't look good</a> for "gun enthusiasts". The court may finally be <a href="https://newrepublic.com/article/176722/supreme-court-gun-rights-finally-drawing-line?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">drawing a line</a> on "gun rights". <a href="https://www.dorfonlaw.org/2023/11/how-will-rahimi-lose.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Michael Dorf</a> has more. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">The supreme court will also be hearing a <a href="https://www.scotusblog.com/2023/10/court-to-hear-argument-in-racial-gerrymandering-challenge-to-s-c-district/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">South Carolina</a> redistricting case that could <a href="https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2023/10/supreme-court-alexander-naacp-nancy-mace-gerrymandering/?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">decide the majority</a> in the next congress. The new districting is pretty clearly racist, but since the 2019 supreme court ruling (in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rucho_v._Common_Cause" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>Rucho v Common Cause</em></a>) that partisan gerrymanders are non-justiciable, the Republican legislature has rebranded the districts as merely partisan. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">It's an irrelevant co-incidence that the voters are black; they were actually targeted for voting Democrat… </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Meanwhile, on the tenth anniversary of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shelby_County_v._Holder" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>Shelby County v Holder</em></a>, Americans should reflect on the damage caused by one of the most outrageous decisions in US supreme court history, the opinion that judicially annulled the essential section of Lyndon Johnson's landmark <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voting_Rights_Act_of_1965" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>Voting Rights Act </em>of 1965</a>. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">The <em>VRA</em> had only recently been reconfirmed by a near-unanimous bipartisan majority of congress; its extralegal invalidation by the supreme court has never been adequately explained.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">The immediate consequence of <em>Shelby County </em>was the introduction of state restrictions on voting that are now notorious: the decision is <a href="https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2023/06/blame-the-supreme-court-for-americas-decade-of-voter-disenfranchisement/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">directly responsible</a> for the ten years of voter disenfranchisement that have followed in Red States, and for the gerrymandered legislatures that are able to perpetuate themselves, as well as <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerrymandering#Tactics" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">pack and crack</a> congressional districts for the benefit of the Republican party.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Although the US constitution famously lacks an explicit right to vote, 49 state constitutions do contain this right. That's why it's important that state supreme courts <a href="https://publicintegrity.org/politics/high-courts-high-stakes/how-republicans-flipped-americas-state-supreme-courts/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">remain free of partisan control</a>.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em; text-align: center;"><strong><span style="font-size: 20.8px;">≈ ≈ ≈</span></strong></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><span class="full-image-block ssNonEditable" style="display: block;"><img alt="" src="https://justinian.com.au/storage/photos-general/Tax_Rich.jpeg?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1700123797154" style="border: 0px none;" /></span><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">Not in Texas</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">November's elections in several US jurisdictions actually <a href="https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2023/11/tuesdays-elections-were-a-huge-win-for-democracy/?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">boosted voting rights</a>, and were <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-67353115" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">a win for Democrats</a>, including the establishment in Ohio's constitution of a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/nov/08/abortion-winning-issue-rights-victories-2024-election" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">right to abortion</a> that had been bitterly opposed by the Republican legislature.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Further south, in the <a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/texas-proposition-3-wealth-tax/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">plutocrat paradise</a> of Texas, there were also constitutional amendments on the ballot. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">In a state with 30 million residents, it took less than 2 million voters to embed a prohibition on wealth taxes that will bind future legislatures forever. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em; text-align: center;"><strong><span style="font-size: 20.8px;">≈ ≈ ≈</span></strong></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Johnson_(politician)" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Mike Johnson</a>, a Louisiana congressman who played a leading role in the <a href="https://www.dorfonlaw.org/2023/10/the-scotus-amicus-brief-mike-johnson.html#:~:text=His%2520name%2520and%2520only%2520his,to%2520block%2520the%2520certification%2520of" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">legal ploys</a> of the 2020 <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sedition_Caucus" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>Sedition Caucus</em></a>, is the new <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speaker_of_the_United_States_House_of_Representatives" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Speaker of the US House</a>, second in line for president. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">He's also the first "<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_nationalism" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Christian nationalist</a>" to hold the position, the secular republic's first <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/nov/04/mike-johnson-theocrat-house-speaker-christian-trump" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">theocrat Speaker</a>. The <em>Washington Spectator </em>has <a href="https://washingtonspectator.org/how-christian-nationalists-big-oil-and-the-big-lie-seized-the-speakers-gavel/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">more</a>. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><span class="full-image-block ssNonEditable" style="display: block;"><img alt="" src="https://justinian.com.au/storage/people/news-stories-2023/Johnson_Mike_prayer.jpeg?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1700124346219" style="border: 0px none;" /></span><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">Johnson: governing by the Bible</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Johnson is a former lawyer for <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alliance_Defending_Freedom#Associated_people" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Alliance Defending Freedom</a>, the <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/mike-johnson-alliance-defending-freedom-anti-lgbtq-1234865340/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">legal hot-house</a> where novel "religious freedoms" are concocted, embellished with <a href="https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2023/10/supreme-courts-conservative-plaintiffs-alito.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">phony plaintiffs</a> and forwarded for high court <em>imprimatur</em>. It's former staff includes extreme Trump judges including 9th circuit judge <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawrence_VanDyke" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Lawrence VanDyke</a>, and Texas's US district court judges <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_J._Kacsmaryk" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Matthew Kacsmaryk</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brantley_Starr" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Brantley Starr</a>. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">America experienced theocracy, e.g, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Haven_Colony" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">New Haven Colony</a> (1638-1664), where only male Puritan church members could vote or hold office, and law was based strictly on the bible. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">The federal constitution of 1789 outlawed <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_Religious_Test_Clause" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">religious tests</a>, but eight state constitutions still have them. These unconstitutional provisions are unenforceable since a 1961 Supreme Court decision, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torcaso_v._Watkins" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>Torcaso v Watkins</em></a><em>.</em> </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Even so, Speaker Johnson <a href="https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2023/10/mike-johnson-urged-a-religious-test-for-politicians/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">believes in religious tests</a>; it seems he intends to <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/role-speaker-mike-johnsons-religious-views-play-politics/story?id=104366347" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">consult the bible</a> the "New Haven" way. </p></div>Candacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08551216220515434004noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2634286779940664473.post-25858235063102221392023-10-03T06:54:00.002-07:002023-10-03T06:54:38.102-07:00From Roger Fitch and our Friends Down Under<p> </p><h2 class="title" style="background-color: #f9f4f1; color: #bf370a; font-family: Brawler, "sans-serif"; font-size: 21px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><a class="journal-entry-navigation-current" href="https://justinian.com.au/columnists/the-travesty-of-americas-judiciary.html" style="color: #bf370a; letter-spacing: 0px; line-height: 1em; margin-bottom: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;">The travesty of America's judiciary</a></h2><div class="journal-entry-tag journal-entry-tag-post-title" style="background-color: #f9f4f1; color: #a6a6a6; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 10px; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-top: 10px; text-transform: uppercase;"><span class="posted-in"><span class="tag-element" style="text-wrap: nowrap;"><a href="https://justinian.com.au/columnists/category/roger-fitch-esq" rel="tag" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">ROGER FITCH ESQ</a></span></span> • <span class="posted-on" style="text-wrap: nowrap;">MONDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2023</span></div><div class="body" style="background-color: #f9f4f1; color: #0b0b0b; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 16px; margin: 1em 0px;"><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><strong>Transformation of SCOTUS ... Alito and Thomas's ethical voids ... Rorting and stacking the courts in the Red States ... Circuit mischief ... Trump judges on the loose ... Roger Fitch reports from Washington </strong></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><span class="full-image-float-right ssNonEditable" style="float: right; margin: 0px 0px 8px 10px;"><img alt="" src="https://justinian.com.au/storage/lawtoons/toons-other/Flom_Washington_300.gif?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1696223821288" style="border: 0px none;" /></span><strong style="font-size: 17.6px;"><span style="font-size: 19.36px;">After</span></strong> Donald Trump's presidency, no US government institution, however respected, may be considered safe or immutable. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Perhaps the most striking change has been the installation of a reactionary and theocratic majority on a rogue supreme court.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">The court's new term is about to start, with <a href="https://www.vox.com/scotus/23845702/supreme-court-fifth-circuit-term-cfpb-guns-voting-chevron" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">grave consequences likely</a>; with a prospect that the court may claim <a href="https://prospect.org/justice/2023-07-11-supreme-court-could-claim-more-power/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">even more power</a>. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Perhaps it's time to <a href="https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2023/10/05/the-courts-conservative-constitutional-revolution-noah-feldman/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">reflect</a> on the court's transformation under its <a href="https://washingtonmonthly.com/2023/07/03/john-robertss-tiresome-act/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">tiresome</a> Chief Justice <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Roberts" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">John Roberts</a>, in the years leading up to this term. In the view of the veteran court observer Linda Greenhouse, the CJ has <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/09/opinion/supreme-court-conservative-agenda.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">already achieved</a> everything he set out to do in 2005.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">He had the help of justices who had all worked in Republican administrations (Alito, Thomas, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neil_Gorsuch" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Gorsuch</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brett_Kavanaugh" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Kavanaugh</a>) or participated as loyalist Republican lawyers in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bush_v._Gore" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>Bush v Gore</em></a> (Kavanaugh, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amy_Coney_Barrett" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Barrett</a>)<em>.</em></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">During the CJ's early years, the sleeper cell of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Alito" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Sam Alito</a> (appointed 2005) and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clarence_Thomas" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Clarence Thomas</a> (1991) lay low, awaiting the moment some timely death (e.g, that of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruth_Bader_Ginsburg" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Ruth Bader Ginsburg</a>) might make them part of an <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Originalism" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">originalist</a> majority. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">The Republican Senate's refusal to confirm Obama's appointee <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merrick_Garland" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Merrick Garland</a> (now Biden's AG) brought forward plans, and the unexpected 2016 election of Trump fully activated the two men and their intractable rightwing agenda - witness last year's full-throated implementation by Alito of Catholic abortion policy (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dobbs_v._Jackson_Women's_Health_Organization" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>Dobbs</em></a>)<em>, </em>and Thomas's expansive, indeed shocking, gun decision (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_State_Rifle_%26_Pistol_Association,_Inc._v._Bruen" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>Bruen</em></a>)<em>.</em></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Justices Thomas and Alito both have shocking ethical standards, but the court has declined to adopt an ethics code. Alito actually claims congress has no power to legislate respecting the court, but that's <a href="https://verdict.justia.com/2023/08/16/justice-alito-is-wrong-congress-can-and-does-regulate-the-supreme-court?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">clearly wrong</a>.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Compounding his own ethics problems, Alito recently gave a controversial <em>WSJ </em><a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/behind-scenes-alito-wall-street-journal-prebuttal-editorial" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">interview</a> refuting a yet-unpublished <a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/samuel-alito-luxury-fishing-trip-paul-singer-scotus-supreme-court" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>Pro Publica</em> article</a> about him. The interviewer? A lawyer with business <a href="https://talkingpointsmemo.com/muckraker/alito-gets-softball-wsj-interview-with-attorney-on-key-tax-case-before-scotus" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">before the court</a>. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><span class="full-image-block ssNonEditable" style="display: block;"><img alt="" src="https://justinian.com.au/storage/people/new-stories-2018/Alito_Catholics.jpeg?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1696223924661" style="border: 0px none;" /></span><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">Alito: enforcing Catholic abortion policy on the court</span> </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><a href="https://newrepublic.com/post/175709/clarence-thomas-corruption-saga-just-got-even-worse?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Thomas's ethics offences</a> are even <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/sep/22/clarence-thomas-koch-revelations-calls-supreme-court-reform" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">greater</a>, and arguably <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/26/opinion/clarence-thomas-koch-ethics.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">impeachable</a>. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">One <a href="https://washingtonmonthly.com/2023/08/01/the-way-to-respond-to-the-alito-and-thomas-gift-and-recusal-scandals/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">law prof's suggestion</a>: a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Declaratory_judgment" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">declaratory judgment</a> of violations under the <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/28/455" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">federal recusal statute</a>, to "clarify for the voters whether they should accord legitimacy to the high court". </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em; text-align: center;"><strong><span style="font-size: 20.8px;">≈ ≈ ≈</span></strong></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">The US supreme court's rulings may not have been openly bought, but that can't be said of some of the 31 state and territory jurisdictions with <a href="https://boltsmag.org/what-to-know-about-state-supreme-courts/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">partisan judicial elections</a>; there, political parties and special interests promise that their favoured candidates, if successful, will faithfully alter existing judicial precedents.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">A number of state constitutions have embedded in them rights and protections, e.g, personal freedoms and the right to vote, exceeding those in the US constitution. These are regarded by Red State legislatures as impediments to the reordering of society they intend. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Consequently, following the US supreme court decisions disclaiming any responsibility for abortion or partisan gerrymanders, Red States have resorted to "turning" the state courts whose decisions - based on state constitutions - might, e.g, liberalise abortion or end gerrymanders. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Recently, such supreme court rebalancing has occurred in Republican Ohio and North Carolina, and Democrat Wisconsin, where the judicial philosophy of the supreme court has been reversed by expensive elections of party-aligned justices. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">The undisguised objective in Republican states is to obtain the state supreme court's blessing for partisan gerrymanders that the US supreme court (in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rucho_v._Common_Cause#:~:text=In%2520the%25205%25E2%2580%25934%2520majority,dismiss%2520for%2520lack%2520of%2520jurisdiction" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>Rucho</em></a>) found non-judiciable under the federal constitution. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Such elections don't always bring finality. In Wisconsin, the Republican legislature has a veto-proof majority, and is already talking about impeaching Wisconsin's newly-elected, Democrat-aligned, justice. A vacancy would tie the court and thwart appeals against gerrymanders. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Racial (as against partisan) gerrymanders remain illegal. Alabama's <a href="https://washingtonmonthly.com/2023/08/14/the-looming-supreme-court-nullification-crisis/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">race-based gerrymander</a> has been <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2023/09/26/supreme-court-alabama-redistricting-00118122" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">knocked back twice</a>, more <a href="https://www.newsfromthestates.com/article/us-supreme-court-rejects-alabamas-request-stay-redistricting-decision?" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">here</a>, and other southern states will also have to create additional districts with an African-American majority. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><span class="full-image-block ssNonEditable" style="display: block;"><img alt="" src="https://justinian.com.au/storage/people/news-stories-2023/Ho_James.jpeg?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1696224259210" style="border: 0px none;" /></span><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">Trump's judicial Ho-Ho</span> </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Democrats could pick up several house seats as a result. Or maybe not: the Trump-dominated Fifth Circuit has intervened on party lines to <a href="https://electionlawblog.org/?p=138905" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">stay and delay</a> Louisiana's new district. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Behind this circuit mischief we find <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_C._Ho" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">James C Ho</a>, a former Texas Solicitor General and perhaps Donald Trump's most dreadful appellate appointment.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 20.8px;"><strong>≈ ≈ ≈</strong></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">The most appalling federal judges appointed by Donald Trump are in the South, where the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Court_of_Appeals_for_the_Fifth_Circuit" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">5th</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Court_of_Appeals_for_the_Eleventh_Circuit" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">11th</a> circuit courts of appeal have been stacked with Republican ideologues. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">At the same time, careful and reticent federal district court judges in the two appellate circuits have seen their influence reduced through the appointment of brash <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federalist_Society" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Federalist Society</a> protégés, ambitious and proactive men and women ready to declare executive orders of (Democrat) presidents, and even established Acts of Congress, invalid.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">The worst of these <em>Trumpistes </em>have been appointed to single-judge federal districts (e.g, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aileen_Cannon" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Aileen Cannon</a> in Florida), thus simplifying conservative forum-shopping.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Texas has been the centre of most of this; the state offers a <a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2023/07/31/texas-federal-courts-conservative-takeover-cornyn-abbott/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">textbook example</a> of the express train that transports "movement" Republican lawyers from elected (attorney general) or appointed (solicitor general) state offices to lifetime judicial appointments on the federal bench.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">A previously unremarked Trump appointee in Texas, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brantley_Starr" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Brantley Starr</a> (Ken Starr's nephew) has surfaced and is already being called the <a href="https://ballsandstrikes.org/fedsoc-twelve/brantley-starr-worst-trump-judge/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">worst Trump judge in America</a>. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">In one <a href="https://www.abajournal.com/news/article/sanctioned-lawyers-must-take-classes-from-conservative-christian-nonprofit-federal-judge-rules" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">ruling</a>, Starr ordered <a href="https://newrepublic.com/post/174906/texas-judge-orders-airline-lawyers-take-training-far-right-hate-group-adf" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">an airline's lawyers to take "religious liberty training"</a> conducted by the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alliance_Defending_Freedom" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Alliance Defending Freedom</a>. That's the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jun/30/christian-hate-group-funding-us-anti-lgbtq-anti-abortion-organizations" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">"Christian" litigant</a> systematically rolling back civil liberties, e.g, in <a href="https://prospect.org/justice/2023-07-12-gorsuch-opinion-303-creative-dangerous/?utm=" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>303 Creative v Elenis</em></a>, last June's <a href="https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2023/06/real-story-behind-gay-marriage-case.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">fraudulent</a> supreme court decision that licensed discrimination against sexual minorities on the basis of claimed religious beliefs. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">The lawyers <a href="https://www.abajournal.com/news/article/lawyers-avoid-mandatory-religious-liberty-instruction-for-now?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">obtained a temporary stay</a>.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Starr joins the <a href="https://newrepublic.com/article/175759/judge-wants-drag-us-back-victorian-era?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">pungent company</a> of fellow Texan <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_J._Kacsmaryk" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Matthew Kacsmaryk</a>, <a href="https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2023/09/judge-matthew-j-kacsmaryk-declares-war-on-drag.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">another "worst judge"</a>. In <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alliance_for_Hippocratic_Medicine_v._FDA" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine v FDA</em></a> (also an ADF case), Kasmaryk struck down the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_and_Drug_Administration" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">FDA's</a> <em>2000</em> approval of the abortion drug <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mifepristone" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">mifepristone</a>. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><span class="full-image-block ssNonEditable" style="display: block;"><img alt="" src="https://justinian.com.au/storage/people/news-stories-2023/Kacsmaryk_Matthew_women_protest.jpeg?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1696224687664" style="border: 0px none;" /></span><span style="font-size: 12.8px;"> Kacsmaryk's appointment met with alarm </span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Limitations having run, the Fifth Circuit quickly reversed.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Yet another Trump-Texan, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drew_B._Tipton" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Drew Tipton</a>, attempted to <a href="https://www.lawfaremedia.org/article/united-states-v.-texas-explained" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">stop an immigration policy</a> at the behest of Texas and Louisiana. As neither state had standing to sue, the supreme court <a href="https://www.scotusblog.com/2023/06/texas-and-louisiana-lack-right-to-challenge-biden-immigration-policy-court-rules/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">overruled Tipton</a> without reaching the question of states exercising immigration powers or purporting to participate in immigration policy, exclusively <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/23/us/supreme-court-immigration-biden.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">a federal matter</a>. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Neighbouring Louisiana also has an activist Trump judge, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_A._Doughty" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Terry Doughty</a>, who has issued an "<a href="https://verdict.justia.com/2023/07/07/judge-doughtys-aberrant-first-amendment-decision-sows-distrust-in-the-law" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">aberrant</a>" First Amendment decision constraining Biden administration <a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/society/ruling-social-media/?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">communication with tech companies</a> such as <em>Facebook</em>. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">One journo suggested that Judge Doughty had effectively <a href="https://prospect.org/justice/2023-07-06-trump-judge-effectively-names-himself-president/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">named himself president</a>. More <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/05/business/media/disinformation-researchers-judge-restrictions.html?" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">here</a>.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em; text-align: center;"><strong><span style="font-size: 20.8px;">≈ ≈ ≈</span></strong></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">With luck, there will be no more Trump judges. Here's an update on Trump-related trials:</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em; padding-left: 30px;">• September 29 - <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/first-defendant-in-georgias-2020-election-case-takes-a-plea-deal/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Georgia state RICO case</a> - first guilty plea by a Trump co-defendant;</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em; padding-left: 30px;">• October 2 - Trump's bench trial in NY for civil damages; judge has already called in receivers after <a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/trump-fraud-ruling-property-valuation-michael-cohen?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">entering summary judgment for fraud</a>;</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em; padding-left: 30px;">• October 23 - Georgia RICO co-defendants <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/09/29/politics/powell-chesebro-georgia-trial-plea-deals/index.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Chesebro and Powell</a> face trial, and could plead out;</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em; padding-left: 30px;">• January 15 - NYC civil trial to determine the measure of damages for Trump's <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/sep/06/e-jean-carroll-trump-trial-damages" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">renewed defamation</a> of the writer E Jean Carroll;</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em; padding-left: 30px;">• March 4 - Trump's <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-dc-trial-date-to-be-scheduled-judge/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">DC trial for election-interference</a>;</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em; padding-left: 30px;">• March 25 – <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/US/judge-open-moving-date-trumps-hush-money-trial/story?id=103115524" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">tentative date</a> for Trump’s NY State trial for hush-money payments to Stormy Daniels;</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em; padding-left: 30px;">• May 20 - <a href="https://www.npr.org/2023/07/21/1188280400/things-to-know-donald-trump-classified-documents-trial" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Trump's Florida trial</a> for mishandling classified documents. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"> </p></div>Candacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08551216220515434004noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2634286779940664473.post-9221578977749565502023-08-24T08:53:00.003-07:002023-08-24T08:53:57.467-07:00From our friends down under at Justinian<p> <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", Palatino, serif; font-size: 24px;">Accused felon at large</span></p><div style="font-family: "Times New Roman", Palatino, serif; font-size: 14px;">Monday, August 21, 2023<br />Justinian in Donald Trump, Indictment, Roger Fitch Esq, US Presidential election, US politics</div><div style="font-family: "Times New Roman", Palatino, serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 20px;"><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><strong>The Washington and Atlanta indictments of Donald Trump ... A large number of lawyers as indicted gangsters ... History of unpunished Republican crimes ... First attempt to hold lawless politicians and operatives to account ... Quandaries and implications ... Possible defences ... Roger Fitch files from Washington </strong></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><span class="full-image-float-right ssNonEditable" style="float: right; margin: 0px 0px 8px 10px;"><img alt="" src="https://justinian.com.au/storage/lawtoons/toons-other/Flom_Washington_300.gif?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1692607491858" style="border: 0px none;" /></span><strong style="font-size: 18.7px;">This</strong> column occasionally reports on a colourful American politician facing criminal charges in <span style="text-decoration-line: line-through;">two</span> four US jurisdictions. <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/humor/borowitz-report/trump-only-a-few-indictments-away-from-clinching-gop-nomination" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Some joke</a> that every fresh indictment increases his popularity among his lemming-like followers. The general electorate <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/trump-boasts-strong-support-among-republicans-the-general-election-could-be-a-different-story" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">could be another matter</a>.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">In July, a <a href="https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/23888938/superseding-indictment-in-classified-documents-case.pdf" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">superseding indictment</a> was returned in the Florida federal court where this Donald John Trump stands charged with unlawfully retaining and concealing classified documents. New counts were added for evidence-tampering.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">In August, Mr Trump was indicted <em>twice </em>more. That's encouraging: Americans are usually very slow to investigate and prosecute politicians' crimes, especially those committed by Republicans. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">There's a long history of unpunished Republican Party operations: Nixon's <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/02/us/politics/nixon-tried-to-spoil-johnsons-vietnam-peace-talks-in-68-notes-show.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">treacherous sabotage</a> of LBJ's 1968 Vietnam peace talks in Paris, leading to seven more years of war; <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1980_October_Surprise_theory" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">interference</a> in Carter's 1979 negotiations with Iran for the release of American hostages; and the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2000_United_States_presidential_election_recount_in_Florida" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">outright theft</a> of the 2000 presidential election. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Although much has been made of Richard Nixon's come-uppance in the 1970s, he was pardoned and never held to account.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">The 80s under Ronald Reagan and Bush the Elder<em> </em>witnessed a crime wave, but with the help of judicially-sanctioned meddling in the Independent Counsel's work, only a few of those indicted in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran%E2%80%93Contra_affair" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Iran-Contra scandal</a> (e.g, Defence Secretary Caspar Weinberger) were convicted. Most were pardoned by Bush as he left office.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Beginning in 2001, shocking and uncountable crimes were committed under the lawless G.W. Bush, e.g, round-ups of innocent Muslims, CIA torture, and unlawful military detention and trials. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">All these went unpunished under Bush and his successor Obama, who continued the previous administration's shameful and dishonest practice of asserting the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v._Reynolds" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">shaky state secrets defence</a> in civilian lawsuits by victims, even against complicit third parties.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">The charges against Bush Junior's <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torture_Memos" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">torture lawyers</a> also went unpunished, after a timid DOJ internal inquiry, and the habitual DOJ fixer <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Durham" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">John Durham</a> gave the CIA a clean bill of health for actual murders in custody.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Given that background, the indictments during August 2023 were big news: this century's first attempt to hold lawless US government officials and their political accomplices to criminal account.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em; text-align: center;"><strong style="font-size: 22.1px;">≈ ≈ ≈</strong></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><span class="full-image-block ssNonEditable" style="display: block;"><img alt="" src="https://justinian.com.au/storage/people/news-stories-2023/Trump_tennis.jpeg?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1692608449454" style="border: 0px none;" /></span><span style="font-size: 13.6px;">Disregard for court rules</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">In Washington, over 1100 people have been charged in the January 6, 2020 siege and occupation of the Capitol. Now, a deadbeat New Yorker living in Florida has been added to the number of DC defendants.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Donald Trump was indicted twice in August, first in Washington, under federal charges filed by the special prosecutor, and then under state charges in Georgia - where <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/21/us/trump-bail-georgia-election-case.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">a modest bail</a> of $200,000 has been set. The bond conditions, absent the amount, are <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/23846283-trump-bond-conditions" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">here</a>. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">He's facing two other indictments, in New York and Florida; even so, and despite his <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/16/us/politics/trump-chutkan-2020-election-truth-social.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">disregard for court orders</a>, the accused felon has remained free on his own recognisance.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Mr Trump's <a href="https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.258149/gov.uscourts.dcd.258149.1.0_1.pdf" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">DC indictment</a> is worth reading in full, adding as it does an additional wrinkle to the January 6 crimes: the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/08/us/politics/trump-indictment-fake-electors-memo.html?campaign_id=2&emc=edit_th_20230809&instance_id=99607&nl=todaysheadlines&regi_id=17402229&segment_id=141500&user_id=7a2e5f11f39e85cea64398402a79bbad" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">fake electors scheme</a>. Sadly, all six of the unindicted co-conspirators are <a href="https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2023/08/rudy-giuliani-co-conspirators-jack-smith-indictment.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">lawyers</a>. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><em>Lawfare</em> explained the <a href="https://www.lawfaremedia.org/article/trump-jan.-6-indictment-the-facts" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">facts</a> and <a href="https://www.lawfaremedia.org/article/trump-jan.-6-indictment-the-statutes" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">law</a> of the DC indictment and provided a <a href="https://www.lawfaremedia.org/article/docket-watch-trump-prosecuted-in-d.c" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">docket watch</a>, while Fintan O'Toole laid out <a href="https://www.nybooks.com/online/2023/08/04/invasion-of-the-democracy-snatchers-trump-indictment/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">the plot</a>. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Insurrection has not been charged, thus avoiding endless sham free speech claims by Trump, but he's as <a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/trump-14th-amendment-indictment/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">guilty of insurrection</a> as the last "president" to be charged, Confederate leader <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jefferson_Davis" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Jefferson Davis</a>.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Conservative law professors agree that <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/10/us/trump-jan-6-insurrection-conservatives.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">insurrection disqualifies Trump</a> from office absent a two-thirds vote of congress lifting his ineligibility under the 14th amendment, and states also have the power to judge qualifications of presidential candidates and <a href="https://electionlawblog.org/?p=138062" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">exclude the ineligible</a>.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Attention has turned instead to the <a href="https://www.lawfaremedia.org/article/the-last-time-the-justice-department-prosecuted-election-interference-under-section-241" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">surprise inclusion of "section 241"</a>, the election interference count derived from an Act popularly known as the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conspiracy_against_rights" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Ku Klux Klan law</a>, more <a href="https://www.justsecurity.org/87435/an-overlooked-january-6-charge-the-stop-the-count-scheme/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">here</a>. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">After special prosecutor Jack Smith's federal indictment of Donald Trump for the phony stolen election events, there was some debate as to which of Trump's unindicted co-conspirators <a href="https://talkingpointsmemo.com/muckraker/chesebro-or-eastman-who-really-masterminded-stop-the-steal" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">masterminded the "stop-the-steal"</a> hustle after the 2020 election. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Was it the quack law professor <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Eastman" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">John Eastman</a> (Co-Conspirator 1 in the DC indictment), who wrote <a href="https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/21066248/eastman-memo.pdf" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">this memo</a>, or the dodgy lawyer <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenneth_Chesebro" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Kenneth Chesebro</a> (Co-Conspirator 5), who wrote <a href="https://int.nyt.com/data/documenttools/chesebro-dec-6-memo/ce55d6abd79c2c71/full.pdf" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">this one</a>? </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em; text-align: center;"><strong><span style="font-size: 22.1px;">≈ ≈ ≈</span></strong></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><span class="full-image-block ssNonEditable" style="display: block;"><img alt="" src="https://justinian.com.au/storage/people/news-stories-2023/Mobsters_Five_Families.jpeg?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1692608958453" style="border: 0px none;" /></span><span style="font-size: 13.6px;">Mafia mobsters prosecuted under RICO law in mid-1980s</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">The new Atlanta case may throw light on that. The <a href="https://int.nyt.com/data/documenttools/georgia-indictment-trump/daed97d37562a76f/full.pdf" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Georgia indictment</a> includes 18 additional defendants, again many are <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/14/opinion/trump-indictment-lawyers.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">lawyers</a>. There are also <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/aug/16/30-unindicted-co-conspirators-georgia-investigation-explainer?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">30 unnamed and unindicted co-conspirators</a>. As required by Georgia law, the indictment was signed by the <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2023/08/17/politics/fulton-county-grand-jurors-far-right-internet/index.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">now-endangered grand jurors</a>.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">The <em>Times </em>has <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/08/15/us/politics/trump-georgia-indictment-annotated.html?" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">annotated the indictment</a>. <em>Lawfare </em>has a <a href="https://www.lawfaremedia.org/article/the-fulton-county-indictment-an-initial-examination" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">deep dive</a>, and <a href="https://www.lawfaremedia.org/article/docket-watch-trump-prosecuted-in-fulton-county" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">docket watch</a>. The <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/aug/15/georgia-indictment-trump-election-plot-analysis?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>Guardian</em></a><em> </em>and <a href="https://newrepublic.com/post/174992/georgia-prosecutor-gives-donald-trump-label-hes-deserved-years-racketeer?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>New Republic</em></a><em> </em>have more.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">In addition to having very <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/15/opinion/georgia-donald-trump-indictment-case.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">effective laws against lying</a>, Georgia has a <em>RICO </em>(<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racketeer_Influenced_and_Corrupt_Organizations_Act" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations</em></a>) law, and it's <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/14/us/trump-georgia-rico-charges.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">broader than the federal Act</a>. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">The federal RICO was used to convict members of NY's <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five_Families" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Five Families</a> in the 1985/86 <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mafia_Commission_Trial" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Mafia Commission Trial</a>. The winning US Attorney was ... #2 Georgia defendant <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rudy_Giuliani" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Rudy Giuliani</a>.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">The indictment is the first to identify Mr Trump and Giuliani as <em>racketeers</em>. The <a href="https://washingtonspectator.org/donald-trump-indicting-a-career-racketeer/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>Washington Spectator </em>explores</a> the implications for other prosecutions in the 33 states and two territories who have their own RICO laws: </p><blockquote style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic;"><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">"Once Trump and his associates are understood as members of a gang engaged in organized crime" other states "could now consider whether Trump has engaged in a pattern of crimes in their states." </p></blockquote><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">The <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/aug/15/donald-trump-georgia-charges-most-important" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>Guardian</em></a> and <a href="https://www.emptywheel.net/2023/08/15/the-various-kinds-of-georgia-crimes-in-the-rico-indictment/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>Emptywheel</em></a> have more, while <a href="https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2023/08/preview-georgia-trump-trial-giuliani.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>Slate</em></a><em> </em>imagines an opening statement prosecutor <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fani_Willis" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Fani Willis</a> might make to the Atlanta jury. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Rick Hasen sees race as <a href="https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2023/08/fulton-county-indictment-vs-jack-smith-trump-case.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">the biggest difference</a> between the DC and Atlanta indictments. Also significant: the Georgia trial will very likely be <a href="https://electionlawblog.org/?p=138142" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">televised</a>. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">One defendant, Trump's former White House chief of staff <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Meadows" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Mark Meadows</a>, filed a motion to <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2023/08/15/meadows-georgia-case-federal-court-00111382" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">remove his case</a> to the Georgia federal court, claiming (<a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2023/08/15/trump-georgia-case-removal-federal-court-00111240" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">as will Trump</a>) that he is immune from prosecution: the state charges amount to "state interference in a federal official's duties". </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Atlanta federal judge Steve Jones, an Obama appointee, denied a summary removal and <a href="https://www.dorfonlaw.org/2023/08/federal-officer-removal-and-immunity-to.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">set the matter for hearing on August 28</a>.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Apparently, the prosecutors Jack Smith and Fani Willis <a href="https://www.salon.com/2023/08/01/bizarre-and-unusual-legal-experts-raise-concerns-that-fani-willis-and-jack-smith-arent-talking/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">didn't coordinate</a> their investigations into Trump. As a result, Meadows has a dilemma: he was a cooperating grand jury witness in Washington, but he's an indicted co-conspirator in Atlanta, presumably for the same events. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">The two cases may be <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/15/opinion/trump-indictment-georgia-fani-willis.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">complementary</a>, but not for Meadows.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Next, lawyers for "President Trump" filed pleadings in DC District Court seeking to (1) <a href="https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.250732/gov.uscourts.dcd.250732.45.1_1.pdf" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">stay the Georgia proceedings</a> pending the resolution of special prosecutor Jack Smith's case in Washington (this <a href="https://www.salon.com/2023/08/15/experts-gambit-to-move-fulton-case-to-may-actually-work--but-theres-a-catch/?lh" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">might succeed</a>), and (2) set a DC trial date of <a href="https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.258149/gov.uscourts.dcd.258149.30.0.pdf" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>April 2026</em></a>. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em; text-align: center;"><strong><span style="font-size: 22.1px;">≈ ≈ ≈</span></strong></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><span class="full-image-block ssNonEditable" style="display: block;"><img alt="" src="https://justinian.com.au/storage/people/news-stories-2023/Trump_mad.jpeg?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1692609878889" style="border: 0px none;" /></span><span style="font-size: 13.6px;">Trump: a medical defence</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">If Trump has to face trial in Washington or Atlanta, what might his defences be? </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Whatever they are, his alleged <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">First Amendment</a> freedom of speech claims <a href="https://newrepublic.com/article/174836/first-amendment-trump-indictment-speech" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">won't fly</a>. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">What else might Trump try as a defence? </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">A <a href="https://www.salon.com/2023/08/10/donald-has-gone-off-the-deep-end-for-real-hes-a-danger-to-humanity/?lh_aid" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>Salon </em>writer</a> imagines a well-founded plea of insanity:</p><blockquote style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic;"><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">"He is unquestionably insane, either temporarily or for good. Perhaps he's setting himself up to plead diminished mental capacity ..." </p></blockquote><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"> </p></div>Candacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08551216220515434004noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2634286779940664473.post-5921863411093870702023-07-14T12:29:00.000-07:002023-07-14T12:29:03.710-07:00From Roger Fitch and our friends down under<p> </p><h2 class="title" style="background-color: #f9f4f1; color: #bf370a; font-family: Brawler, "sans-serif"; font-size: 21px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><a class="journal-entry-navigation-current" href="https://justinian.com.au/columnists/the-infallibility-of-scotus.html" style="color: #bf370a; letter-spacing: 0px; line-height: 1em; margin-bottom: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;">he infallibility of SCOTUS</a></h2><div class="journal-entry-tag journal-entry-tag-post-title" style="background-color: #f9f4f1; color: #a6a6a6; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 10px; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-top: 10px; text-transform: uppercase;"><span class="posted-in"><span class="tag-element" style="text-wrap: nowrap;"><a href="https://justinian.com.au/columnists/category/roger-fitch-esq" rel="tag" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">ROGER FITCH ESQ</a></span></span> • <span class="posted-on" style="text-wrap: nowrap;">TUESDAY, JULY 11, 2023</span></div><div class="body" style="background-color: #f9f4f1; color: #0b0b0b; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 16px; margin: 1em 0px;"><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><strong>US Supreme Court makes it up as it goes along ... Contrived cases to fit a reactionary agenda ... Plaintiffs with no standing ... Further indulgence for religious discrimination ... Under-equipped judges on a rampage ... Roger Fitch reports from Washington </strong></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><span class="full-image-float-right ssNonEditable" style="float: right; margin: 0px 0px 8px 10px;"><img alt="" src="https://justinian.com.au/storage/lawtoons/toons-other/Flom_Washington_300.gif?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1689066183263" style="border: 0px none;" /></span><strong style="font-size: 17.6px;">The</strong> supreme court is in free-fall, an outlaw court making extrajudicial decisions. Spurious or controversial legal doctrines, some invented by the court, are deployed to achieve desired results: usually, the rolling-back of progressive legislation. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">A court that once heard 200 cases a year now hears less than 60, yet far from exercising any judicial restraint, the justices seem to relish "culture war" cases that fit the Catholic majority's rightwing agenda.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">The cases that the court now agrees to hear, often manufactured by special-interest groups, are designed to give the conservative majority constitutional "cases or controversies" with which they can overturn policy decisions they dislike, and they're not afraid to <a href="https://verdict.justia.com/2023/07/05/the-not-so-subtle-vices-of-a-none-too-passive-supreme-court?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">manipulate standing and jurisdiction</a> in order to hear them.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">A common characteristic of these decisions has been the <a href="https://www.dorfonlaw.org/2023/07/the-year-of-to-be-continued-at-supreme.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">confusion they cause</a>, but more than that, they bring into question the court's <a href="https://www.salon.com/2023/07/03/fraud-justice-anti-lgbtq-decision-based-on-a-fake-case-showcases-the-illegitimacy/?lh" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">legitimacy</a>. There's an apprehension that the court is becoming a super-legislative body from which there is no appeal, infallible because final, and it's borne out by the final decisions of this year's term:</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><strong><span style="font-size: 20.8px;">Habeas corpus</span></strong></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">The court began by <a href="https://www.scotusblog.com/2023/06/court-blocks-pathway-for-federal-prisoners-to-raise-legal-innocence-claims/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">dashing the hopes of prisoners</a>, closing down appeals based on claims of <a href="https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2023/06/supreme-court-conservatives-jones-hendrix-disaster.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">actual innocence</a>, in the appalling <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jones_v._Hendrix" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>Jones v Hendrix</em></a>, more <a href="https://www.vox.com/scotus/2023/6/22/23769886/supreme-court-innocent-jones-hendrix-clarence-thomas-habeas" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">here</a>. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><strong><span style="font-size: 20.8px;">"Free speech" (faith-based discrimination)</span></strong> </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">The <a href="https://www.npr.org/2023/06/30/1182121291/colorado-supreme-court-same-sex-marriage-decision?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">most shocking case</a> of intellectual dishonesty was <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/303_Creative_LLC_v._Elenis" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>303 Creative v Elenis</em></a>, another "religious" attack on Colorado's anti-discrimination laws, the subject of last term's <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masterpiece_Cakeshop_v._Colorado_Civil_Rights_Commission" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>Masterpiece Cakeshop</em></a><em> </em>case. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Announced on the court's final day, <em>303 Creative </em>presented a fabricated "controversy" with contrived standing. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Though <a href="https://www.vox.com/scotus/2023/6/30/23779816/supreme-court-lgbtq-ruling-neil-gorsuch-303-creative-elenis" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">dressed as a <em>free speech</em> case</a>, it was designed to expand <em>religious</em> indulgence. It contains, moreover, the seeds of a new <a href="https://www.salon.com/2023/07/08/the-new-separate-but-equal-doctrine/?lh" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">separate but equal</a> doctrine in <a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/supreme-court-303-creative-decision-mystal/?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">public accommodation</a> law. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">It also represents the first supreme court decision <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/live/2023/06/30/us/gay-rights-free-speech-supreme-court#supreme-court-same-sex-marriage" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">based on a hypothetical</a>: the plaintiff <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2023/06/30/supreme-court-limits-lgbtq-protections-in-dispute-over-services-for-same-sex-weddings-00104398" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">suffered no injury</a>. As Justice Gorsuch <a href="https://americanprospect.bluelena.io/index.php?action=social&chash=d30960ce77e83d896503d43ba249caf7.2233&s=3e63ce701c6eb31cb2486802e89c82c1" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">acknowledged in his majority opinion</a>, the plaintiff had not yet offered the service of designing websites for weddings, but "she worries that, if she enters the wedding website business, the State will force her to convey messages inconsistent with her belief that marriage should be reserved to unions between one man and one woman". </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">The day before the decision was announced, it was revealed that the speculative projected harm had been based on an apparently <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/law/2023/jun/29/supreme-court-lgbtq-document-veracity-colorado?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">forged email</a> enquiry from a potential client, more <a href="https://newrepublic.com/article/173987/mysterious-case-fake-gay-marriage-website-real-straight-man-supreme-court" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">here</a>. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">The alleged "offender" has come forward; he's married to a woman, doesn't know the plaintiff, and never sent the purported email seeking the preparation of a website for a gay wedding. In fact, he's a website designer with no need of such services. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Affirmative_action_in_the_United_States" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><strong><span style="font-size: 20.8px;">Affirmative action</span></strong></a> </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><span class="full-image-block ssNonEditable" style="display: block;"><img alt="" src="https://justinian.com.au/storage/people/news-stories-2023/Blum_Edward_660.jpg?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1689066598575" style="border: 0px none;" /></span><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">Blum: contrived a case to fit his anti-affirmative action agenda</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">After 50 years, <a href="https://www.npr.org/2023/06/29/1181138066/affirmative-action-supreme-court-decision?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">affirmative action in university admissions</a> has been <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/22pdf/20-1199_hgdj.pdf" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">found unconstitutional</a>. The case involved admissions at the Ivy League <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/29/us/politics/supreme-court-admissions-affirmative-action-harvard-unc.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Harvard College</a> and the "<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_Ivy" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Public Ivy</a>" North Carolina. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">The case, <a href="https://www.npr.org/2023/07/02/1183981097/affirmative-action-asian-americans-poc?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">cynically-contrived</a> by the rightwing gadfly <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Blum_(litigant)" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Edward Blum</a>, produced a plaintiff in the Asian-based <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Students_for_Fair_Admissions" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Students for Fair Admissions</a>, which had no real standing: it failed to produce any Asian student alleging exclusion due to African-American or Hispanic preference - in fact, Asians make up 30 percent of Harvard graduates.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Justice <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ketanji_brown_jackson" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Ketanji Brown Jackson</a>, who's a Harvard Overseer, recused in <em>Harvard</em>, but she had a <a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/society/kbj-dissent-affirmative-action/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">full-throated dissent</a> in the <em>UNC</em> case. The <a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/society/supreme-court-killed-affirmative-action/?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>Nation</em></a><em> </em>and <a href="https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/supreme-court-affirmative-action?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>TPM</em></a><em> </em>have more. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Republican-led states are meanwhile busy ending <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/supreme-court-affirmative-action-minority-scholarships-republicans-1234783254/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">race-backed academic scholarships</a> that supported their citizens of colour. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><span style="font-size: 20.8px;"><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/live/2023/06/30/us/student-loans-supreme-court-biden" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><strong>Student loan debt relief</strong></a> </span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Another case in which the plaintiff had no colourable claim to standing was <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biden_v._Nebraska" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>Biden v Nebraska</em></a>, which <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/live/2023/06/30/us/student-loans-supreme-court-biden" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">invalidated a Biden executive order</a> based on an identical emergency (Covid) and identical education legislation (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Higher_Education_Relief_Opportunities_For_Students_Act" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>HEROES</em></a>) used successfully by Donald Trump.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">The <em>Higher Education Relief Opportunities for Students</em> legislation gives the US Education Department special powers to <em>change</em> <em>or waive</em> rules of federal student loans to respond to a national emergency. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Trump's decision to change (defer) repayments was never questioned, and by any fair reading of the statute, the Department <a href="https://washingtonmonthly.com/2023/07/07/unforgiven-the-supreme-court-and-the-student-loan-conundrum/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">retains the power to waive</a><em> </em>student loan repayments.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Even so, Biden's regulations, using identical emergency powers and waiving individual repayments of up to $20,000 of student loan debt, were <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2023/06/30/supreme-court-strikes-down-bidens-student-debt-relief-plan-00104409" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">struck down</a>, in a case brought by a plaintiff without standing or injury. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">As one headline put it, "Supreme Court Decides Fake Plaintiffs Are Good Plaintiffs" and followed with <a href="https://prospect.org/justice/2023-06-30-supreme-court-decides-fake-plaintiffs-good/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">this analysis</a>:</p><blockquote style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic;"><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">"Approximately 43 million Americans were made between $10,000 and $20,000 poorer today (plus interest) thanks to six Republican lawyers from Harvard and Yale. They decided that a program based on a statute intended to modify student loan balances in the event of an emergency could not modify student loan balances in the event of the COVID-19 emergency. And they did it by claiming that a plaintiff was injured by this program, when that plaintiff did not petition the Court over its injury, had no involvement in the case, and would likely not be injured by the program." </p></blockquote><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Although the decision to offer debt relief was entirely beneficial and no student was injured, six Republican states banded together and agreed on a state plaintiff, Missouri, who asserted injury to an independent state body administering student loans, MOHELA, not a party to the lawsuit.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><span class="full-image-block ssNonEditable" style="display: block;"><img alt="" src="https://justinian.com.au/storage/lawtoons/toons-other/Scotus_Trapped.jpeg?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1689067059204" style="border: 0px none;" /></span><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">From <em>The Buffalo News</em></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">None of the plaintiffs had standing, but the Republican majority on the court didn't let standing <a href="https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/supreme-court-biden-student-debt-relief-plan" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">stand in their way</a>; Missouri was found adequate for the policy reversal the court intended, based on the absurd claim of a hypothetical loss (of student revenue) by the state-chartered loan administrator.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">In fact, MOHELA, an independent public entity, refused to participate in Missouri's case; any assistance was provided under legal compulsion. However, as Justice Kagan's <a href="https://amylhowe.com/2023/06/30/supreme-court-strikes-down-biden-student-loan-forgiveness-program/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">dissent noted</a>, MOHELA was the proper plaintiff. The state had no standing to even bring the case. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">The court majority ultimately deployed the diabolical, recently-rediscovered "<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_questions_doctrine" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">major questions doctrine</a>" to strike down the Biden regulations. <a href="https://www.npr.org/2023/06/30/1182216970/supreme-court-student-loan-forgiveness-decision-biden?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">According to the Chief Justice</a>: </p><blockquote style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic;"><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">"The authority to 'modify' statutes and regulations allows the Secretary to make modest adjustments and additions to existing provisions, not transform them." </p></blockquote><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">It was a cruel and unnecessary decision. 25 million students applied for the $400 billion in debt relief offered. But, as <a href="https://www.nybooks.com/online/2023/07/08/the-unforgiven/?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>NYRB</em></a> observed, "The crimes of the rich are more readily forgiven than the debts of the poor".</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em; text-align: center;"><strong><span style="font-size: 20.8px;">≈ ≈ ≈</span></strong></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">There was one bright note in the term's June decisions: the court <a href="https://www.scotusblog.com/2023/06/supreme-court-rules-against-north-carolina-republicans-over-election-law-theory/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">ruled against</a> North Carolina in the closely-watched <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moore_v._Harper" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>Moore v Harper</em></a>, the case testing the "<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Independent_state_legislature_theory" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">independent state legislature" theory</a>.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">ISL posited that, in drawing federal election districts, the decisions of a state's legislature trumped its state constitution and court decisions interpreting it. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">CJ Roberts <a href="https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2023/06/moore-v-harper-supreme-court-rejects-independent-state-legislatures-theory/?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">found otherwise</a>, with the conservative Justices Kavanaugh and Barrett <a href="https://www.npr.org/2023/06/27/1181152636/independent-state-legislature-theory-supreme-court-decision?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">joining the majority</a>.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><a href="https://verdict.justia.com/2023/07/05/huzzah-for-the-court-in-moore-v-harper?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Many were pleased</a>, but there are <a href="https://electionlawblog.org/?p=137093" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">premonitions of future harm</a> (e.g, in the 2024 elections).There's danger in any opinion that "<a href="https://electionlawblog.org/?p=137104" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">vindicates</a>" the <a href="https://washingtonmonthly.com/2023/06/27/a-mostly-good-supreme-court-ruling-nixing-the-maga-favored-independent-state-legislature-theory-of-election-law/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">dicta</a> in the discredited and seldom-cited <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bush_v._Gore" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>Bush v Gore</em></a>. </p></div>Candacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08551216220515434004noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2634286779940664473.post-55388765733189308862023-06-16T07:39:00.003-07:002023-06-16T07:39:59.886-07:00FROM ROGER FITCH AND OUR FRIENDS DOWN UNDER<p> </p><h2 class="title" style="background-color: #f9f4f1; color: #bf370a; font-family: Brawler, "sans-serif"; font-size: 21px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><a class="journal-entry-navigation-current" href="https://justinian.com.au/columnists/deep-doo-doo.html" style="color: #bf370a; letter-spacing: 0px; line-height: 1em; margin-bottom: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;">Deep doo-doo</a></h2><div class="journal-entry-tag journal-entry-tag-post-title" style="background-color: #f9f4f1; color: #a6a6a6; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 10px; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-top: 10px; text-transform: uppercase;"><span class="posted-in"><span class="tag-element" style="text-wrap: nowrap;"><a href="https://justinian.com.au/columnists/category/roger-fitch-esq" rel="tag" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">ROGER FITCH ESQ</a></span></span> • <span class="posted-on" style="text-wrap: nowrap;">TUESDAY, JUNE 13, 2023</span></div><div class="body" style="background-color: #f9f4f1; color: #0b0b0b; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 16px; margin: 1em 0px;"><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><strong>Trump indictment ... Top secret, purloined documents ... Fingered by his own people ... More indicting to be done ... Dangerous crim running for president ... Latest from the Supreme Court ... Clarence Thomas weighs in on one of Harlan Crow's cases ... Roger Fitch reports from Washington </strong></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em; padding-left: 30px;">"How many indictments does it take to bring down a cult leader?" - <a href="https://theintercept.com/2023/06/09/trump-indictment-republicans/?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>The Intercept</em></a> </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><strong><span class="full-image-float-right ssNonEditable" style="float: right; margin: 0px 0px 8px 10px;"><img alt="" src="https://justinian.com.au/storage/lawtoons/toons-other/Flom_Washington_300.gif?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1686649152588" style="border: 0px none;" /></span>There's</strong> not much news to report from the US, other than the federal indictment for espionage of a former president, and the apparent indifference with which it was greeted by his mentally or morally-deficient supporters.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">As <a href="https://www.salon.com/2023/05/11/gosh-how-do-the-keep-accidentally-hanging-out-with-hitler-fanboys/?lh" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Salon</a> observed <em>apropos </em>the MAGA response to Trump's dinner party with "Hitler fanboys": </p><blockquote style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic;"><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">"If anything, Republican voters keep rallying to his side, predictably pleased that Nazi-snuggling has the liberal-triggering effect they crave." </p></blockquote><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Still, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Espionage_Act_of_1917" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>Espionage Act</em></a><em> </em>violations? Shouldn't <em>that</em> disturb them?</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><a href="https://www.justsecurity.org/86771/model-prosecution-memo-for-trump-classified-documents/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>Just Security</em></a> had already provided a <a href="https://justsecurity.us7.list-manage.com/track/click?u=96b766fb1c8a55bbe9b0cdc21&id=909cb3866f&e=8f5c6eb54a" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">model prosecution memorandum</a> analysing six federal crimes that could form the basis for charges against Trump who, in the event, was charged with seven crimes. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">The indictment, which included charges against his former While House valet and loyal acolyte, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walt_Nauta" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Walt Nauta</a>, ran to 38 counts.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Even before charges had been filed in a Florida court (and the arraignment randomly assigned to the horrible Trump-judge <a href="https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2023/06/aileen-cannon-federal-prosecution-donald-trump.html?sid" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Aileen Cannon</a>), the Trump-backlash began; <a href="https://morningmemo.talkingpointsmemo.com/p/trump-indictment-shows-the-insidious?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">as <em>TPM </em>put it</a>: </p><blockquote style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic;"><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">"The GOP speaker of the House, GOP senators and representatives, the leading GOP candidates for president, and the whole right-wing Wurlitzer launched a furious attack on the rule of law."</p></blockquote><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">In fact, Trump faces <a href="https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2023-06-08/donald-trump-classified-documents-federal-indictment-jack-smith-florida?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">very serious charges</a> under the espionage laws; as George Bush <em>père </em>would say, he's in <a href="https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2023/06/trump-indictment-unsealed-classified-documents-national-security.html?sid" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>deep doo-doo</em></a>, and his prior statements about classified documents don't help him. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><span class="full-image-block ssNonEditable" style="display: block;"><img alt="" src="https://justinian.com.au/storage/people/news-stories-2023/Natua_Walt_Trump.jpg?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1686666377453" style="border: 0px none;" /></span><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">Walt Nauta: collar attendant and valet</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">The <a href="https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/23839639/trump-indictment.pdf?sid" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">indictment itself</a> (a "<a href="https://www.salon.com/2023/06/10/jack-smiths-indictment-of-is-devastating-a-reckless-criminal-has-finally-met-his-match/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">speaking indictment</a>") cites a 2018 <a href="https://www.emptywheel.net/2023/06/10/hillarys-revenge-trump-promised-voters-he-would-protect-classified-information/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">quote</a> in which Trump railed against - </p><blockquote style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic;"><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">"... the practice of former officials maintaining access to our Nation’s most sensitive secrets long after their time in Government has ended. Such access is particularly inappropriate when former officials have transitioned into highly partisan positions and seek to use real or perceived access to sensitive information to validate their political attacks. Any access ... to ... secrets should be in furtherance of national, not personal, interests."</p></blockquote><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">That quote, seized upon by savourers of hypocrisy, concerned Trump's threatened revocation of the security clearance of Obama's CIA director, John Brennan, now enjoying considerable <em>Schadenfreude</em>.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><a href="https://www.justsecurity.org/84336/mar-a-lago-clearinghouse-key-documents-in-the-special-counsel-investigation/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>Just Security</em></a><em> </em>has more on the purloined and withheld "MAL" documents, named after <em>Mar-a-Lago</em>, the tasteless lair of America's <em>clase-baja ex-presidente.</em> </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">It seems that it was at MAL that the accused may have been hoisted by his own security cameras, and indeed his own employees, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/11/us/politics/trump-indictment-m-evan-corcoran.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">some of whom</a> seem to have dobbed him in. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">The investigations into the theft of government documents (many classified or top secret) had recently intensified, with <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/04/us/politics/trump-documents-subpoenas-justice-department.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">new layers of criminality detected</a> by the special prosecutor Jack Smith. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Even as Smith investigated a <em>smorgasbord </em>of possible criminal offences, he received <a href="https://www.justsecurity.org/86619/trumps-most-pivotal-incriminating-admission-on-cnn/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">unexpected assistance</a> through Trump's <a href="https://www.justsecurity.org/86568/how-trumps-cnn-town-hall-remarks-put-him-in-greater-legal-peril-for-jan-6-investigation/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">wildly-incriminating boasting</a> about his actions. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><span class="full-image-block ssNonEditable" style="display: block;"><img alt="" src="https://justinian.com.au/storage/people/news-stories-2023/Smith_Jack-2.jpg?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1686698905343" style="border: 0px none;" /></span><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">Smith: detected new layers of criminality</span> </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">There's still the civil fraud case against Trump in New York, with a trial scheduled for October, and Trump is also likely to be criminally indicted again, probably this summer in <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2023/04/18/trump-investigation-georgia-false-electors-00092670" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Georgia</a>. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Even so, Mr Trump, confident in the bottomless credulity of his followers, vowed he will continue his campaign for president, even if convicted of the federal charges in Florida. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">It's risky for democracy: the danger of having a <em>convicted </em>criminal as president, one who won't hesitate to pardon every crime from 2020 and 2021, and purge every Justice Department and FBI official he bears a grudge against, yet a rematch of Trump and Biden looks all upside for Joe Biden. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Perhaps 74 million-(very)odd Americans did vote for Trump in 2020, yet surely, a few adherents to his <a href="https://theintercept.com/2023/06/09/trump-indictment-republicans/?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">cult</a> will awake from their mass delusions, their <a href="https://www.rawstory.com/2020/11/whats-wrong-with-68-million-americans-expert-says-trumps-mental-illness-infected-48-of-the-electorate/?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>folie</em></a>, as a result of the latest charges.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em; text-align: center;"><strong><span style="font-size: 20.8px;">≈ ≈ ≈</span></strong></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><strong>Supreme Court</strong> justice Louis Brandeis once said: </p><blockquote style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic;"><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">"We can have democracy in this country, or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can't have both." </p></blockquote><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Little did Brandeis anticipate that judges would become the target of that great wealth, hollowing out democracy from the place of last resort. He would have known conservative politicians who became judges, but perhaps not judges who <a href="https://washingtonmonthly.com/2023/05/01/conservative-judges-have-become-politicians/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">became politicians</a> on the bench. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">The present court has six political justices, and this final month of the court's term is being closely watched to see what role politics plays in the pending cases, notably, the technically-moot test case of the newly-invented <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Independent_state_legislature_theory" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Independent State Legislature Theory</a>.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">If ISL is recognised, then, as Justice Robert Jackson wrote in the internment case <em>Korematsu</em>:<em> </em></p><blockquote style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic;"><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">"... the principle ... lies about <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korematsu_v._United_States" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">like a loaded weapon</a> ready for the hand of any authority that can bring forward a plausible claim of an urgent need." </p></blockquote><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">More <a href="http://www.dorfonlaw.org/2023/05/why-court-should-dismiss-most-important.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">here</a> on <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moore_v._Harper" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>Moore v Harper</em></a> and why it should be dismissed. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><span class="full-image-block ssNonEditable" style="display: block;"><img alt="" src="https://justinian.com.au/storage/people/news-stories-2023/Jackson_Robert_SCOTUS.jpg?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1686699265987" style="border: 0px none;" /></span><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">Robert Jackson: warned about the "loaded weapon"</span> </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">There have been surprises from the court, some indication that the majority are pulling back from the conservative-agenda brink. To the surprise of many, section 2 of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voting_Rights_Act_of_1965" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>Voting Rights Act</em></a>, the prohibition against race-based gerrymanders, has <a href="https://www.scotusblog.com/2023/06/supreme-court-upholds-section-2-of-voting-rights-act/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">been maintained</a>.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Ten years ago, in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shelby_County_v._Holder" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>Shelby County v Holder</em></a>, Chief Justice John Roberts nearly destroyed the <em>VRA, </em>a goal of his since his days as a Reagan administration lawyer. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Now, in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allen_v._Milligan" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>Allen v Milligan</em></a>, Roberts has <a href="https://verdict.justia.com/2023/06/09/a-decade-after-gutting-the-voting-rights-act-chief-justice-roberts-rescues-it?" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">rescued</a> an important remnant of Lyndon Johnson's signature 1965 voting rights legislation. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Sadly, the court only did so after manipulating the decision to fall after the 2022 election cycle, in which its implementation might have resulted in enough additional seats to give Democrats <a href="https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/supreme-court-alabama-2022-2024-election" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">control of the House</a>. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Another surprise was the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_and_Hospital_Corporation_of_Marion_County_v._Talevski" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>Talevski</em></a><em> </em>decision, a <a href="https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/medicaid-supreme-court-talevski?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Medicaid case</a> that upheld the mechanism for beneficiaries of federal spending programs to sue if states violate their rights.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">There was bad. After an <a href="https://washingtonmonthly.com/2023/06/08/the-supreme-courts-latest-ruling-against-unions-is-really-aimed-at-the-new-deal/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">attack on unions</a> that attracted liberal support (<a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/22pdf/21-1449_d9eh.pdf" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>Glacier Northwest v Teamsters</em></a>), the court gutted <a href="https://washingtonmonthly.com/2023/06/09/reclaiming-our-public-waters-after-the-supreme-courts-devastating-decision/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">wetlands regulations</a> under the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clean_Water_Act" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>Clean Water Act</em></a>. The court had already gelded the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clean_Air_Act_(United_States)" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>Clean Air Act</em></a>, last term, in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Virginia_v._EPA" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>West Virginia v EPA</em></a>.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Justice Alito's majority opinion in the wetlands case was <a href="https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2023/06/samuel-alito-destroys-wetlands-science-free.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">so extreme</a> that Brett <a href="https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2023/05/samuel-alito-wetlands-opinion-lost-brett-kavanaugh.html?sid" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Kavanaugh declined to join it</a>, and the remaining 5-4 majority could not have occurred without Clarence Thomas's vote. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Shortly after the vote, it came out that Thomas's patron, the Texas developer Harlan Crow, had been <a href="https://www.levernews.com/clarence-thomas-billionaire-benefactor-is-grateful-for-latest-scotus-bombshell/?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">heavily involved in bringing the case</a> and supporting it - not least through <em>amicus </em>briefs of organisations in which he plays a significant part. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><span class="full-image-block ssNonEditable" style="display: block;"><img alt="" src="https://justinian.com.au/storage/people/new-stories-2018/Alito_Catholics.jpeg?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1686699445075" style="border: 0px none;" /></span><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">Alito: extreme opinions</span> </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Crow has other causes. There's to be <a href="https://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/scotus-to-hear-case-that-could-upend-6192519/?origin" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">a new challenge</a> to the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chevron_U.S.A.,_Inc._v._Natural_Resources_Defense_Council,_Inc." style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>Chevron </em>precedent</a>. That's the doctrine that the courts should generally accord deference to federal agency decisions as expressed in their policies, regulations and rules. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Overturning this 1984 precedent, once supported by Clarence Thomas, has long been the holy grail of corporate America including Harlan Crow.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">There's meanwhile much to fear from last term's <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dobbs_v._Jackson_Women's_Health_Organization" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>Dobbs</em></a><em> </em>decision withdrawing, for the first time, a constitutional right. <a href="https://projects.propublica.org/supreme-risk/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>ProPublica</em></a> has a data base of all the constitutional rights that may be on the chopping board.</p></div>Candacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08551216220515434004noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2634286779940664473.post-86260671764505853512023-05-12T09:35:00.002-07:002023-05-12T09:35:32.834-07:00Roger Fitch and our friends down under at Justinian<p> </p><h2 class="title" style="background-color: #f9f4f1; color: #bf370a; font-family: Brawler, "sans-serif"; font-size: 21px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><a class="journal-entry-navigation-current" href="https://justinian.com.au/columnists/stone-the-crow.html" style="color: #bf370a; letter-spacing: 0px; line-height: 1em; margin-bottom: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;">Stone the Crow</a></h2><div class="journal-entry-tag journal-entry-tag-post-title" style="background-color: #f9f4f1; color: #a6a6a6; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 10px; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-top: 10px; text-transform: uppercase;"><span class="posted-in"><span class="tag-element" style="white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://justinian.com.au/columnists/category/roger-fitch-esq" rel="tag" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">ROGER FITCH ESQ</a></span></span> • <span class="posted-on" style="white-space: nowrap;">THURSDAY, MAY 11, 2023</span></div><div class="body" style="background-color: #f9f4f1; color: #0b0b0b; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 16px; margin: 1em 0px;"><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><strong>The sexual battery verdict against Trump ... Further peril pending ... Clarence Thomas in the pocket of reactionary benefactor ... Secret gifts sink the remnants of SCOTUS' ethical standing ... Ousting the veto power of state governors ... Voting limitations run riot ... Roger Fitch in Washington </strong></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em; padding-left: 30px;"><em>"Trump's selling point ... has long been his criminality. The MAGA base was compelled by the idea that only a true villain could get them what they want because he would flout all rules and laws in his pursuit of their authoritarian goals. So to claim Trump is 'innocent' is not to deny that he committed a crime, so much as it is to assert that he should be above the law"</em> - <a href="https://www.salon.com/2023/04/05/alvin-bragg-proves-skeptics-wrong-34-count-felony-indictment-is-serious-business/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Salon</a> </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em; padding-left: 30px;"><em>"Evangelical leaders justified their support for Trump by <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/jan/11/donald-trump-evangelical-christians-cyrus-king" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">comparing him to King Cyrus</a>, who ... liberated the Jews from Babylonian captivity, despite himself being a Persian ruler who did not believe in the god of Israel ... Trump, like Cyrus, was seen as an 'imperfect vessel' ... God was using him for the greater good … to hand political and cultural power back to white conservative Christians"</em> - <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/apr/01/donald-trump-white-evangelical-christians-indictment" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Guardian</a> </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em; padding-left: 30px;"><em>"The belief is that God uses a wicked man as a tool of divine destiny and will"</em> - <a href="https://www.salon.com/2023/04/05/treating-like-jesus-indictment-proves-maga-is-a/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Salon</a><strong> </strong></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><strong><span class="full-image-float-right ssNonEditable" style="float: right; margin: 0px 0px 8px 10px;"><img alt="" src="https://justinian.com.au/storage/lawtoons/toons-other/Flom_Washington_300.gif?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1683796645656" style="border: 0px none;" /></span>Donald Trump</strong> has been <a href="https://www.npr.org/2023/05/09/1174975870/trump-carroll-verdict?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">found liable</a> for <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/live/2023/05/09/nyregion/trump-carroll-rape-trial-verdict?" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">sexual battery and defamation</a> in a New York civil damages case brought by the writer <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E._Jean_Carroll_litigation_against_Donald_Trump" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Jean Carroll</a>. The events occurred in the mid-90s in a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bergdorf_Goodman" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Bergdorf-Goodman</a> dressing room. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">The defence called no witnesses (Trump was, however, <a href="https://www.salon.com/2023/05/09/rape-deposition-tape-shows-exactly-what-maga-loves-him/?lh" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">deposed</a>), and it took the jury only three hours to find that he "sexually abused " and defamed Carroll, awarding <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2023/05/09/e-jean-carroll-trump-trial-verdict/?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">$5 million in damages</a>.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">The wicked ex-president will soon face greater peril in another New York court: the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indictment_of_Donald_Trump" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">hush-money criminal case</a>. In an own-goal, Trump's D-list Florida lawyer <a href="https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2023/04/donald-trump-michael-cohen-stormy-daniels-lawyers-big-mistake/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">foolishly sued NY State's star witness</a> Michael Cohen, in a local federal court. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">If that case proceeds, Cohen's discovery motions would likely produce damning evidence of Trump's direct participation in the hush-money scheme.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">In addition to suing the witness, <a href="https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2023/04/donald-trump-new-york-indictment-bragg-revenge-rage/?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">raging</a> against the Manhattan prosecutor and insulting the judge hearing his case, Trump wants venue for his Manhattan indictment <a href="https://www.salon.com/2023/04/04/very-unfair-demands-to-move-case-to-pro-staten-island-over-unpopularity-in-manhattan/?lh" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">moved to Staten Island</a><strong>, </strong>the only New York borough he won in 2020. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">In fact, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juan_Merchan" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Judge Juan Merchan</a> seems abundantly qualified: in addition to his position as a judge of the state's <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_Supreme_Court" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Supreme Court</a> (in New York, a trial court), he presides in mental health matters. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><span class="full-image-block ssNonEditable" style="display: block;"><img alt="" src="https://justinian.com.au/storage/people/news-stories-2023/NewYork_Carroll_cover.jpeg?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1683797316625" style="border: 0px none;" /></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em; text-align: center;"><strong><span style="font-size: 20.8px;">≈ ≈ ≈</span></strong></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clarence_Thomas" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><strong>Clarence Thomas</strong></a> is a lucky fellow. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Though born poor and black in a small <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gullah" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Gullah</a> community in Georgia, his first language <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gullah_language" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Geechee</a>, he's come a long way. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Assisted, perhaps, by the liberal affirmative action policies he so despises, he made it to Yale Law School. After graduation, he, like all the conservative members of the present Supreme Court, worked in Republican administrations.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Despite an undistinguished record as the Reagan-appointed chair of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equal_Employment_Opportunity_Commission" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Equal Employment Opportunity Commission</a>, the then 43-year-old Thomas was appointed by George Bush <em>père</em> to a lifetime appeals court position. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Then, after 19 months as an indifferent circuit judge, he was nominated for the supreme court seat of the retiring, and truly-distinguished, African-American lawyer <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thurgood_Marshall" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Thurgood Marshall</a>.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">At this point Thomas's ascent <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clarence_Thomas_Supreme_Court_nomination" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">hit turbulence</a>, with numerous accusations of sexual improprieties during his spell at the EEOC, most notably, the complaint of one employee, the black lawyer <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anita_Hill" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Anita Hill</a>.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Republicans played the colour-card to wedge him on the court, and the lucky judge squeaked in with the votes of 52 senators, at a time when there were 56 Democrats and only 44 Republicans. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">On the court, Thomas has pursued a legal philosophy so reactionary that, until recently, he seldom found himself in the majority and rarely were his dissents joined by other justices. He was a lonely figure who famously never spoke at oral arguments. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Thomas did what he wanted ethically. He didn't report gifts or favours, as the law required, until 2004 when the <a href="https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2023-04-06/the-times-reported-about-justice-thomas-gifts-20-years-ago-after-he-just-stopped-disclosing-them" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>LA Times</em></a><em> </em>disclosed his extraordinary gifts from Dallas developer Harlan Crow; thereafter, Thomas continued to receive Crow's favours, he just didn't disclose or report them - problem solved!</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><span class="full-image-block ssNonEditable" style="display: block;"><img alt="" src="https://justinian.com.au/storage/people/news-stories-2023/Thomas_Clarence_Ginni.jpeg?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1683797752084" style="border: 0px none;" /></span><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">Clarence and Ginni Thomas: on the take</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Now it seems Clarence Thomas's luck may have run out. A series of investigations by <a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/clarence-thomas-scotus-undisclosed-luxury-travel-gifts-crow" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>ProPublica</em></a> has revealed that the connections of the justice and developer <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/05/04/clarence-thomas-timeline-harlan-crow/?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">have only intensified</a> over the years.<em> </em></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><em>Slate </em>called it <a href="https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2023/04/clarence-thomas-disclosure-history-jurisprudence.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>quid pro </em>Crow</a><em>.</em> Now, evidence is emerging that Harlan Crow <a href="https://www.levernews.com/thomas-helped-kill-eviction-ban-threatening-benefactors-business/?utm%5C%5C" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">has actually benefited</a> from his gifts.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">It's not just hospitality and holiday, yacht cruises or stays at Crow's tacky retreat in the Adirondacks, but things of <a href="https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2023/04/clarence-thomas-broke-the-law-harlan-crow.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">more material value</a>, e.g <a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/clarence-thomas-harlan-crow-real-estate-scotus" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">real estate</a> and <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/2023/05/04/leonard-leo-clarence-ginni-thomas-conway/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">cash contributions for family members</a>, like his wife <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ginni_Thomas" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Virginia "Ginni" Lamp</a><strong>. </strong>Justice <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abe_Fortas" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Abe Fortas</a> was forced-off the court for far less in 1969.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Thomas was only following in the <a href="https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2023/04/clarence-thomas-ethics-laws-violations-antonin-scalia.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">footsteps of Nino Scalia</a>, who chalked up 89 free hunting trips with rich donors (and litigants), and actually died in bed at an $800-a-night hunting lodge in Texas. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em; text-align: center;"><strong style="font-size: 20.8px;">≈ ≈ ≈</strong></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><strong>There</strong> are now 28 states where the legislature has a veto-proof majority, and <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/04/24/supermajorities-state-legislatures-undemocratic/?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">21 of them are controlled by Republicans</a> who pass legislation at will, e.g. <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2023/04/16/ron-desantis-florida-proposals/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Florida</a>, where the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ron_DeSantis" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Republican governor DeSantis</a><strong> </strong>and a rubber-stamp legislature <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/apr/10/ron-desantis-florida-blueprint-usa" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">create chaos</a> while enacting <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2023/05/01/desantis-death-penalty-child-rapists/?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">blatantly unconstitutional</a> legislation.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">North Carolina may be <a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/north-carolina-gop-gerrymandering/?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">the most outrageous state</a>. It already had a Republican<strong> </strong>majority in both houses, but there's a Democrat governor, and the<strong> </strong><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Carolina_General_Assembly" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">general assembly</a><strong> </strong>lacked the supermajority needed to overrule him. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Now, a previously-loyal Democrat has been persuaded to<strong> </strong><a href="https://www.npr.org/2023/04/05/1168246535/north-carolina-democrats-republicans-tricia-cotham-abortion-vote" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">change sides</a>, giving the Republicans the <em>exact</em> two-thirds supermajority needed to override vetoes by the governor. Did money (<em>lots</em>) change hands?</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">The only thing that stood in the way of complete Republican control had been the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Carolina_Supreme_Court" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">NC supreme court</a>. In 2016 the justices began to be selected on a partisan basis, and at first Democrats and Republicans on the seven-seat court were evenly-balanced, with Democrat-endorsed justices recently holding a 4-3 majority. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Then, last November's elections gave Republicans a 5-2 court and <a href="https://washingtonmonthly.com/2023/05/05/once-again-voting-rights-and-democracy-are-under-siege-in-north-carolina/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>quelle surprise</em></a>, the newly-Republican court immediately <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/28/us/north-carolina-supreme-court-gerrymander.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">revisited and retrospectively blessed</a> the highly-partisan legislative gerrymanders that federal courts and the state's previous high court <a href="https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2023/05/north-carolina-new-republican-court.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">had found unlawful</a>. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">A little history. In 2018, the US supreme court ruled (in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rucho_v._Common_Cause" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>Rucho v Common Cause</em></a>) that partisan gerrymanders were "non-justiciable political questions" best left to the states. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">The then-Democrat-majority NC supreme court accordingly struck-down the Republican gerrymanders<em>, </em>based on the NC constitution's prohibition against partisan gerrymanders. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">It is this precedent that the Republican-majority NC supreme court reconsidered and overruled. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">The NC legislature had already collaterally attacked the previous court's decision by arguing in the US supreme court (in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moore_v._Harper" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>Moore v Harper</em></a>, still <a href="https://verdict.justia.com/2023/05/01/the-court-should-maintain-optionality-in-resolving-the-so-called-independent-state-legislature-isl-theory-by-granting-cert-in-huffman-v-neiman-right-away-as-the-justices-chew-on?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">pending</a>), that, under a newly-contrived "<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Independent_state_legislature_theory" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">independent state legislature theory</a>", a legislature's election decisions are exclusive, trumping the governor and state administration, and even the state's constitution and supreme court rulings interpreting it.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">The veto-proof state assembly can now confidently implement voting limitations from 2013 that the 4th circuit found "<a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/05/15/528457693/supreme-court-declines-republican-bid-to-revive-north-carolina-voter-id-law" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">target African-Americans with almost surgical precision</a>", as well as <a href="https://www.npr.org/2021/09/17/1038354159/n-c-judges-strike-down-a-voter-id-law-they-say-discriminates-against-black-voter" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">voting restrictions struck down in 2018</a> by North Carolina's state courts. </p></div>Candacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08551216220515434004noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2634286779940664473.post-59010081805062810892023-04-07T06:17:00.003-07:002023-04-07T06:17:48.825-07:00FROM ROGER FITCH AND OUR FRIENDS DOWN UNDER AT JUSTINIAN<p> </p><h2 class="title" style="background-color: #f9f4f1; color: #bf370a; font-family: Brawler, "sans-serif"; font-size: 21px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><a class="journal-entry-navigation-current" href="https://justinian.com.au/columnists/our-man-in-washington-3.html" style="color: #bf370a; letter-spacing: 0px; line-height: 1em; margin-bottom: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;">Our Man in Washington</a></h2><div class="journal-entry-tag journal-entry-tag-post-title" style="background-color: #f9f4f1; color: #a6a6a6; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 10px; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-top: 10px; text-transform: uppercase;"><span class="posted-in"><span class="tag-element" style="white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://justinian.com.au/columnists/category/roger-fitch-esq" rel="tag" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">ROGER FITCH ESQ</a></span></span> • <span class="posted-on" style="white-space: nowrap;">THURSDAY, APRIL 6, 2023</span></div><div class="body" style="background-color: #f9f4f1; color: #0b0b0b; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 16px; margin: 1em 0px;"><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><strong>Lawyers, guns & money ... Trump turns his indictment into a cash cow ... More guns for Republicans ... Gun originalism ... Judicial manipulation ... Torture memos ... Review of detainee treatment ... Wisconsin Supreme Court on the move ... Roger Fitch reports </strong></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em; padding-left: 30px;"><em>"What kind of person can charge another person, in this case a former President of the United States ... with a Crime, when it is known by all that NO Crime has been committed, & also known that potential death & destruction in such a false charge could be catastrophic for our Country? Why & who would do such a thing? Only a degenerate psychopath that truely [sic] hates the USA!"</em> - Donald Trump tweet</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em; padding-left: 30px;"><em>"Paying hush money to a porn star is the broken tail light of white collar crime - not something you can afford when there's a body in the trunk"</em> - Caitlin Flanagan, in the <a href="https://washingtonmonthly.com/2023/03/31/trump-indictment-the-blows-are-coming-from-everywhere-and-he-is-up-against-many-better-boxers/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Washington Monthly</a></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em; padding-left: 30px;"><em>"[I]f Trump has to pay a fine, he will likely steal the money from his campaign funds, lie in official records to disguise the payment, and start the criminal wheel turning again. One constant feature about Trump is he's always committing new crimes to take the place of the ones he’s already gotten away with"</em> - <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elie_Mystal" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Elie Mystal</a> in the <a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/trump-indictment-bragg-legal-case/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>Nation</em></a> </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em; text-align: center;"><strong style="font-size: 20.8px;">≈ ≈ ≈</strong></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><span class="full-image-float-right ssNonEditable" style="float: right; margin: 0px 0px 8px 10px;"><img alt="" src="https://justinian.com.au/storage/lawtoons/toons-other/Flom_Washington_300.gif?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1680749186831" style="border: 0px none;" /></span><strong>Tuesday, April 3, 2023</strong> was a Big Day in the States. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Democrats <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/apr/04/wisconsin-supreme-court-election-results" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">gained a majority</a> on the Wisconsin Supreme Court, ending fears of dirty judicial tricks in the 2024 elections, and <a href="https://www.npr.org/2023/04/04/1167815077/wisconsin-supreme-court-election-results-abortion-voting-protasiewicz-kelly" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">offering hope</a> of breaking the Republicans' gerrymandered lock on the state. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Chicago elected a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/live/2023/04/04/us/chicago-mayor-runoff?" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">progressive Democrat mayor</a>.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">The <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/04/01/trump-investigations-history-timeline/?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">recidivist</a> Donald Trump was <a href="https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/23741550/donald-j-trump-indictment.pdf" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">criminally charged</a> in Manhattan (see <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/03/16/nyregion/trump-indictment-annotated.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">annotated indictment</a> and <a href="https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/23741609/2donald-j-trump-sof.pdf" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Statements of Facts</a>).</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Outside court, his <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2023/04/04/donald-trump-lawyers-blast-bragg/11598646002/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">foolish</a> lawyers vilified the prosecutor. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">A fundraising carnival was already underway. Within 24 hours of indictment, America's <a href="https://prospect.org/power/2023-03-27-trump-deserves-to-be-indicted/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">worst and most corrupt</a> president raised $4 million from his rube supporters, likely to be spent as <a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/trump-indictment-bragg-legal-case/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Elie Mystal surmised</a>. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Of Trump's <a href="https://www.justsecurity.org/75032/litigation-tracker-pending-criminal-and-civil-cases-against-donald-trump/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">many</a> legal problems, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/mar/27/monday-briefing-the-four-criminal-cases-that-could-leave-donald-trump-in-real-trouble" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">four criminal cases</a> present the gravest danger: "<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/04/opinion/donald-trump-alvin-bragg-indictment-charges.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">hush-money</a>" payoffs; <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2023/04/mar-a-lago-classified-documents-trump-indictment/673605/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">purloined classified documents</a>; election interference in <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2023/03/20/politics/georgia-racketeering-conspiracy-trump-willis/index.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Georgia</a>; and the January 6 insurrection. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><a href="https://www.justsecurity.org/85761/detailed-chronology-of-trump-cohen-hush-money-scheme/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Hush-money</a> seemed least important, yet even before arraignment, Trump was <a href="https://www.salon.com/2023/03/27/indictment-watch-continues-a-panel-of-experts-on-what-gruesome-damage-will-wreak-next/?lh_aid" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">attacking the NY County prosecutor</a>, the "degenerate psychopath" <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alvin_Bragg" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Alvin Bragg</a>; he's a Democrat, and black, useful for Trump's dog whistles to racist supporters. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">After court, Trump insulted the judge, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juan_Merchan" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Juan Merchan</a>, who (perhaps unwisely) had withheld a gag order.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Much has been made of the initial "hush-money" payments. In fact, the case centres, not so much on the legality of payments as on fraudulent statements and falsification of records that offend New York State laws, some rising to felonies when designed to cover up a crime, e.g, violations of federal election law. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><span class="full-image-block ssNonEditable" style="display: block;"><img alt="" src="https://justinian.com.au/storage/people/news-stories-2023/Judge_Juan_Merchan.jpeg?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1680758501759" style="border: 0px none;" /></span><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">Judge Merchan: family threatened by the Trumpenvolk</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Congressional Republicans attacked the prosecution and called the charges "political", ignoring the fact that the same transactions formed the basis for Michael Cohen's conviction during the Trump administration - a prosecution in which Trump was identified as the unindicted co-conspirator.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Sadly, aside from the 14th amendment's bar of insurgents, the US constitution is silent on criminality of federal officeholders, impeachment being the sole remedy for rotten presidents. Twice, candidates have stood for president <a href="https://electionlawblog.org/?p=135336" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">while in prison</a>.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Meanwhile, it's all hands on deck in the House of Reps, as Republicans endeavour to save Trump's skin and spoil Biden's presidency. Sharing responsibility for this are <a href="https://newrepublic.com/article/171386/house-republicans-five-families-mccarthy-marjorie-greene-mob" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">five Republican house groups</a>, which artlessly compare themselves to the five Mafia families that once shared-out organised crime in New York City. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em; text-align: center;"><strong style="font-size: 20.8px;">≈ ≈ ≈</strong></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">In the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kakistocracy" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">kakistocratic</a> Republican red states, ever more extreme gun legislation is proposed. Oxymoronically called "gun rights", the laws are designed to promote and spread gun ownership/use, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/29/us/nashville-gun-laws.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">no matter the mass shootings</a>. Their lodestar is the supreme court's appalling 2022 <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_State_Rifle_&_Pistol_Association,_Inc._v._Bruen" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>Bruen</em></a><em> </em>decision (see below). </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Where elections are concerned, no Bill is too wild for consideration. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">In the Texas legislature, proposed legislation would give the election supervisor (a Republican) the authority to <a href="https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/texas-gop-proposes-bill-to-allow-sec-of-state-to-overturn-election-results-in-states-largest-blue-county" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">overturn election results</a> in Harris County, the state's most populous county (circa five million) and the third most populous county in America. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Time is short: millions of Houstonians are voting Democrat.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Red state courts are drafted into the cause: judicial corruption reached its logical conclusion in North Carolina, where a newly-elected Republican-dominated supreme court plans to <a href="https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/north-carolina-redistricting-harper?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">rehear and overturn</a> a decision made only a few months ago by a Democrat-majority court, all in order to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/mar/14/north-carolina-court-gerrymandering-case-voting-rights" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">reinstate Republican gerrymanders</a> the last court struck down. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em; text-align: center;"><strong style="font-size: 20.8px;">≈ ≈ ≈</strong></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><span class="full-image-block ssNonEditable" style="display: block;"><img alt="" src="https://justinian.com.au/storage/people/news-stories-2023/Thomas_Clarence_chambers_660.png?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1680758615486" style="border: 0px none;" /></span><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">Thomas: gun originalism</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">In the wake of the supreme court's dreadful <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dobbs_v._Jackson_Women's_Health_Organization" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>Dobbs</em></a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_State_Rifle_&_Pistol_Association,_Inc._v._Bruen" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>Bruen</em></a> decisions, there's a new demand for historians schooled in 18th century <a href="http://www.dorfonlaw.org/2023/04/federal-judge-says-dobbs-means-arkansas.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">sexual practices</a>, and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/14/us/gun-law-1791-supreme-court.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">weaponry</a>, respectively. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">The results of Clarence Thomas's <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/29/opinion/guns-supreme-court.html?" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">gun originalism</a> are <a href="https://www.jurist.org/commentary/2023/03/segal-supreme-court-second-amendment/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">everywhere</a>.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">In <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v._Rahimi" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>US v Rahimi</em></a>, a Fifth Circuit panel comprising <em>Trumpistes </em><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_C._Ho" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">James C Ho</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cory_T._Wilson" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Cory T Wilson</a> and Reagan appointee <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edith_Jones" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Edith Jones</a> put a horrifying gloss on <em>Bruen</em>.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">In the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/02/05/guns-bruen-supreme-court-second-amendment/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">initial opinion</a>, written by Wilson, the court ruled threats of imminent domestic violence cannot deprive an offender of his weapon; in a revised opinion, Judge Ho dug the hole <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/03/03/ruling-guns-domestic-offenders-worse/?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">even deeper</a>. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Ho is a case-study in Republican judicial manipulation. He was appointed in 2017 to a seat on the 5th circuit vacant since 2013, when a Carter-appointee took senior status. Republicans blocked filling the seat until Trump could appoint a "movement" lawyer.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">When Ho was appointed, the former Texas SG already had a reputation as an extreme right-wing lawyer with the Dallas-based <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Liberty_Institute" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">First Liberty Institute</a>, the "Christian conservative" legal group that employed Trump-appointed Texas federal judge <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_J._Kacsmaryk" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Matthew J. Kacsmaryk</a>.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Ho was <a href="http://civilrightsdocs.info/pdf/policy/letters/2017/James-Ho-serious-concerns-letter-12.6.17.pdf" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">vigorously opposed</a> in the US Senate, not least for his part in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torture_Memos" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Torture Memos</a>: he wrote a pro-torture memo for Assistant AG <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jay_Bybee" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Jay Bybee</a> (now a 9th circuit judge) in 2002 when both were employed by the Justice Department.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Ho's memo <em>Possible Interpretations of Common Article 3 of the 1949 Geneva Convention Relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War</em>, falsely claimed the <em>Convention Against Torture (CAT</em>) "distinguishes between torture and other acts of cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment".</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">This was cited by Bybee in his infamous memo, <em>Standards of Conduct for Interrogation under [the US Torture Act]</em>.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Bybee's still-shocking memo (mostly by John Yoo) concluded that, notwithstanding US obligations under the <em>CAT</em>, the <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/2340" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>Torture Act</em></a> reached only the most "extreme" and "heinous" acts, those causing pain "akin to that which accompanies physical injury such as <em>death or organ failure</em>".</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">This advice led directly to CIA torture overseas, while the US also failed to fulfil its <a href="https://www.justsecurity.org/85389/rehabilitation-for-torture-at-guantanamo-is-a-moral-and-legal-imperative/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>CAT </em>obligations at Guantánamo</a><em>, </em>according to a newly-published <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/26/us/politics/un-guantanamo-bay-health-care.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">review of detainee treatment</a> by the UN <em>Rapporteur</em>. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em; text-align: center;"><strong style="font-size: 20.8px;">≈ ≈ ≈</strong></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Recently, the US urged the International Criminal Court to hold Russians to account for war crimes and torture in Ukraine, though the US routinely obstructs the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Criminal_Court" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">ICC</a> when Americans or Israelis are involved. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">It seems only yesterday that congress passed the belligerent<em> </em>"<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Service-Members'_Protection_Act" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Hague Invasion Act</a>", and Donald Rumsfeld threatened "consequences" for NATO headquarters in Belgium unless its government shut down war crime and torture claims against American officials, <a href="https://www.news24.com/news24/bush-blair-up-for-war-crimes-20030619" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">including himself</a>.</p></div>Candacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08551216220515434004noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2634286779940664473.post-63252097818380320402023-02-28T06:10:00.003-08:002023-02-28T06:10:29.365-08:00From Roger Fitch and our friends down under at Justinian.<p> </p><h2 class="title" style="background-color: #f9f4f1; color: #bf370a; font-family: Brawler, "sans-serif"; font-size: 21px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">T<a class="journal-entry-navigation-current" href="https://justinian.com.au/columnists/the-morning-after.html" style="color: #bf370a; letter-spacing: 0px; line-height: 1em; margin-bottom: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;">he morning after</a></h2><div class="journal-entry-tag journal-entry-tag-post-title" style="background-color: #f9f4f1; color: #a6a6a6; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 10px; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-top: 10px; text-transform: uppercase;"><span class="posted-in"><span class="tag-element" style="white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://justinian.com.au/columnists/category/roger-fitch-esq" rel="tag" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">ROGER FITCH ESQ</a></span></span> • <span class="posted-on" style="white-space: nowrap;">TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2023</span></div><div class="body" style="background-color: #f9f4f1; color: #0b0b0b; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 16px; margin: 1em 0px;"><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><strong>The trickle down judiciary ... Novel legal theories the order of the day ... No precedents required ... Trump's debauchery of the courts is coming home to roost ... Forum shopping for "Trump judges" ... Gilead fermenting ... High noon for the Murdochs ... DeSantis' torture taint ... Roger Fitch's Letter from Washington </strong></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><span class="full-image-float-right ssNonEditable" style="float: right; margin: 0px 0px 8px 10px;"><img alt="" src="https://justinian.com.au/storage/lawtoons/toons-other/pillsbury_flom_300.gif?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1677571397142" style="border: 0px none;" /></span><strong style="font-size: 17.6px;">Washington</strong> is pretty quiet. The supreme court has not announced any major mischief, and the Republican majority in the house have barely started their strategy of <a href="https://www.salon.com/2023/02/06/jim-jordan-sends-on-a-wild-goose-chase-with-weaponization-prob/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">wild goose chases</a> and investigating Democrats. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Democrats usually lose the house due to gerrymanders that give Republicans control with a minority of the voters, but this year, Republicans actually won: <a href="https://newrepublic.com/article/170248/democrats-lost-house-2022-midterm-election-mistakes" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">by 6,675 votes</a>.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">At the moment, congressional Republicans are more interested in spoiling the January 6 investigation conducted by the previous house, and Speaker McCarthy set that in motion by <a href="https://www.salon.com/2023/02/21/smell-the-maga-propaganda-coming-mccarthy-exclusively-gives-jan-6-footage-to-tucker-carlson_partner/?lh" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">handing over</a> the January 6 committee's video surveillance footage to <a href="https://www.salon.com/2023/02/22/alarm-after-funneled-jan-6-video-to-unrepentant-manipulator-and-liar-tucker-carlson_partner/?lh" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Tucker Carlson</a>, who <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/02/24/tucker-carlson-jan-6/?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">may be forced to share it</a>.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">The <em>Fox</em> choice aside, Democrats expressed concern that revealing security arrangements in the Capitol endangered all members of congress and their staff.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">The selection of <em>Fox</em> is understandable: Rupert Murdoch's American venture has attained quasi-official standing as a party propagandist, a position his media outlets failed to achieve in Australia or Britain. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">In the US, <em>Fox</em> is openly acknowledged by Republicans as the party's representative and spokesman, a status firmly established during Trump's "<a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/03/11/the-making-of-the-fox-news-white-house" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>Fox</em> White House</a>".</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><em>Fox</em> has a long history of Republican alliance. In 2000, the network arranged for John Ellis, a "freelance political adviser" to head their elections night "decision desk", and it was Ellis who (prematurely) called the election for his first-cousin George W. Bush; <em>Fox</em> was the first network to "call" the election, a curious American practice.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">In 2020, however, calling Arizona and the election for the Democrat Biden proved disastrous; millions of outraged Trumpenvolk took their custom elsewhere, mainly to the execrable <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newsmax_TV" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>Newsmax</em></a>.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><span class="full-image-block ssNonEditable" style="display: block;"><img alt="" src="https://justinian.com.au/storage/people/news-stories-2023/Carlson_Trump.jpeg?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1677571771483" style="border: 0px none;" /></span><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">Carlson and Trump: a big laugh</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Out of desperation, the Murdoch talking heads took up the cry of a "stolen election", <a href="https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2023/02/carlson-ingraham-hannity-fox-news-election-lies/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">knowing it was untrue</a>, and attacked by name the election equipment company <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dominion_Voting_Systems" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Dominion Voting Systems</a>.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><em>Fox's</em> <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/02/25/business/media/fox-news-dominion-tucker-carlson.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">duplicity</a> has now been revealed during discovery for the resulting $1.6 billion libel suit by Dominion, and <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/02/17/fox-news-dominion-lawsuit-texts-election-claims/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>Schadenfreude</em> abounds</a>. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em; text-align: center;"><strong><span style="font-size: 20.8px;">≈ ≈ ≈</span></strong> </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Americans are still debating the <a href="http://www.dorfonlaw.org/2022/12/top-ten-worst-scotus-moments-of-2022.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">10 worst</a> supreme court moments of 2022, and watching for <a href="https://www.thebulwark.com/signals-from-the-supreme-court-on-its-high-stakes-cases-this-term/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">signals</a> of this term's impending decisions, some <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2023/01/18/politics/supreme-court-conservative-politics-analysis/index.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">possibly partisan</a>.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">The <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/11/moore-v-harper-scotus-elections-amicus-brief/672281/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">number-one worry</a> for democracy, as well as Democrats, has been the now-argued <a href="https://newrepublic.com/article/169091/supreme-court-independent-state-legislature-theory" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>Moore v Harper</em></a>, pushing the alarming <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2022/12/4/23481063/supreme-court-moore-harper-independent-state-legislature-doctrine-elections" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">independent state legislature doctrine</a>. It's a new theory, although the late CJ William Rehnquist <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2022/12/06/politics/supreme-court-rehnquist-independent-state-legislature-bush-gore/index.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">posited its existence</a> in the notorious <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bush_v._Gore" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>Bush v Gore</em></a> of 2000.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">It may be what Jack Balkin calls an <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2012/06/from-off-the-wall-to-on-the-wall-how-the-mandate-challenge-went-mainstream/258040/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">off-the-wall</a> idea, but it's a theory with legs, thanks to a <a href="https://www.salon.com/2022/12/10/dark-money-groups-pump-nearly-90-million-into-independent-state-legislature-case/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">$90 million</a> infusion of "dark money", i.e, secret and unregulated. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">A foul odour still lingers from the last supreme court term. It's the diabolical <a href="https://newrepublic.com/article/169069/supreme-court-second-amendment-test" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">second amendment test</a> enunciated by Clarence Thomas in the appalling <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_State_Rifle_&_Pistol_Association,_Inc._v._Bruen" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>Bruen</em></a> case. Following the bizarre logic of Thomas, the hyper-reactionary 5th circuit knocked out gun restrictions against men under <a href="https://www.salon.com/2023/02/07/phony-constitutional-originalism-is-likely-to-women-after-second-amendment-decision/?lh" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">domestic violence orders</a>, on the basis that there were no such orders against men in the 18th century. More <a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2023/02/09/guns-domestic-abuse-second-amendment/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">here</a>. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><span class="full-image-block ssNonEditable" style="display: block;"><img alt="" src="https://justinian.com.au/storage/people/news-stories-2023/Thomas_Clarence_chambers_660.png?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1677572465831" style="border: 0px none;" /></span><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">Thomas: holding firm to the 18th century (pic. Reuters)</span> </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">One of the reasons the current high court is so attached to the 18th century social setting appears to be the enhanced role that men had at that time. Staying in the past allows the court to conveniently ignore the current society in which they would rather not be living.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">The court risks becoming a <a href="https://newrepublic.com/article/169938/supreme-court-destroy-federalism" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Taney court</a>, i.e, like that of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_B._Taney" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Roger Taney</a>, the disgraced pre-Civil War chief justice of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dred_Scott_v._Sandford" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>Dred Scott</em></a><em> </em>notoriety<em>.</em> </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><strong>≈ ≈ ≈</strong></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">America's <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/19/us/politics/supreme-court-power.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">imperial</a> supreme court is being assisted by obeisant courts below. Donald Trump did <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/01/29/5th-circuit-court-trump-judges-conservative/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">untold damage</a> to the lower courts, and in a <a href="https://washingtonmonthly.com/2022/12/14/the-trickle-down-supreme-court/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">trickle-down</a> effect, lower federal courts staffed by Republican-appointees (mainly Trump's) are pushing novel legal theories that are presently without precedent, anticipating or inducing the support of the far right cabal that now controls the nation's highest court.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">In this supreme court, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2021/08/26/shadow-docket-supreme-court-biden-mexico/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Trump's executive orders</a> received nothing but <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2021/08/27/politics/supreme-court-biden-trump-eviction-moratorium-immigration/index.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">deference</a>, under what seems <a href="https://verdict.justia.com/2021/08/31/the-courts-partisan-rules-on-executive-power?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">partisan rules</a>; Biden's orders, by contrast, have been overturned, and Trumped lower courts are <a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/supreme-court-tackles-drew-tipton/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">leading the way</a>.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Any <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/29/opinion/supreme-court-decisions-vacated.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">uncongenial decisions</a> of courts of appeal are disposed of through the supreme court's <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadow_docket" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">shadow docket</a>: orders <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/26/us/supreme-court-election-cases.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">giving no reasons</a> and leaving fewer precedents for decisions by moderate lower courts. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">The best district courts for Republican-aligned bomb-throwers to upset established law are in Texas. The Justice Department has in fact had to crack down on aggrieved "conservatives" <a href="https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2023/01/biden-texas-justice-department-immigration-judges.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">forum-shopping</a> rightwing Trump judges in the state, more <a href="https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/news/republicans-can-choose-the-judge-who-hears-their-lawsuits-doj-wants-to-stop-that/ar-AA17tNXg" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">here</a>. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">It's too late for one case, where a cherry-picked Trump appointee has actually been asked to <a href="https://www.jurist.org/news/2023/02/us-dispatch-texas-case-could-limit-access-to-abortion-medication/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">declare an FDA approval invalid</a>. Trump judges have already interfered in other federal responsibilities, e.g, <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2022/11/27/23464741/supreme-court-ice-drew-tipton-texas-united-states-immigration" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">immigration law</a>, so why not in federally-regulated <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2023/02/09/court-ban-abortion-pills-nationwide-00081946" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">morning-after pills</a> and <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2022/12/13/23505459/supreme-court-birth-control-contraception-constitution-matthew-kacsmaryk-deanda-becerra" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">contraception</a>?</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">The judge, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_J._Kacsmaryk" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Matthew Kacsmaryk</a>, sits in Amarillo in the Texas Panhandle; he previously worked for the "First Liberty Institute", which frequently litigates "religious liberty" cases before the Supreme Court. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">As law prof Steve Vladeck <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/05/opinion/republicans-judges-biden.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">notes</a>, Donald Trump succeeded in appointing such judges to single-member districts: any new suit filed in Amarillo is sure to go to Judge Kacsmaryk, any suit filed in Wichita Falls goes to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reed_O'Connor" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Reed O'Connor</a>, and any suit filed in Victoria goes to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drew_B._Tipton" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Drew Tipton</a>, the border control expert. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Judge O'Connor, you may recall, attempted (unsuccessfully) to kill off the entire suite of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Affordable_Care_Act" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Obamacare</a> legislation, and more recently, he declared invalid key parts of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Child_Welfare_Act" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>Indian Child Welfare Act</em></a>. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">That appeal, already heard by the supreme court, could result in a successful <a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/society/tribal-rights-attacked/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">attack on native American rights</a> (more <a href="https://daily.jstor.org/understanding-the-indian-child-welfare-act/?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">here</a> on the <em>ICWA</em>).</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haaland_v._Brackeen" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>Haaland v Brackeen</em></a>, begun by Anglo parents seeking an Indian child adoption, has been shamefully joined by the states of Texas, Louisiana and Indiana. It's another opportunity for partisan Republican state attorneys general to tell the supreme court's conservative majority <a href="https://ballsandstrikes.org/scotus/student-debt-case-supreme-court-case-preview/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">what they want to hear</a>. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><span class="full-image-block ssNonEditable" style="display: block;"><img alt="" src="https://justinian.com.au/storage/people/news-stories-2023/Lithwick_Dahlia.jpeg?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1677573097456" style="border: 0px none;" /></span><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">Lithwick: honour of the justices remains in question</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">What will the extremist supreme court's next agenda be? <a href="https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2023/01/roe-anniversary-politics-power-amidst-uncertainty.html?sid" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Dahlia Lithwick</a> is concerned about Dobbs and its implications, while <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/30/opinion/religion-supreme-court.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Linda Greenhouse</a> worries about the push for religious supremacy. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">For <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/analysis-how-a-supreme-court-ruling-led-to-the-overturning-of-a-guns-and-domestic-violence-law" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Marcia Coyle</a>, the most frightening trajectory is that of last term's <a href="https://newrepublic.com/article/170533/bruen-second-amendment-gun-safety" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>Bruen</em></a>, launching a gun culture beyond the control of any government.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><strong>≈ ≈ ≈</strong></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Little seems to happen at America's longest-running injustice, Guantánamo. Lately, however, there have been developments: two prisoners, brothers, <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/2/24/two-pakistanis-leave-guantanamo-after-20-years-without-charges" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">have been repatriated</a> to Pakistan; 32 prisoners remain. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">The <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-02-25/pakistani-brothers-released-from-guantanamo-bay-after-20-years/102023448" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Rabbani brothers</a> were held for 20 years, although Ahmed's initial detention was one of mistaken identity. They were never charged, and left Gitmo with <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2023/2/26/sorry-seems-to-be-the-hardest-word" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">nothing</a>.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Another recently-released Pakistani, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Majid_Khan_(detainee)" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Majid Khan</a>, was charged and pleaded guilty. Khan's horrific CIA torture was publicly aired at his sentencing and resulted in an earlier release. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">He's just been <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/02/us/politics/tortured-guantanamo-detainee-freed.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">resettled in Belize</a>, with a furnished house, car, laptop and phone, surely the first time the US ever <a href="https://www.khaleejtimes.com/world/former-guantanamo-bay-prisoner-has-big-dreams-for-a-new-life-in-belize" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">provided reparations</a> for torture. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Meanwhile, there are credible <a href="https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/i-was-screaming-and-he-was-smiling:-desantis-ran-guantanamo?mibextid=Zxz2cZ" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Arab accusations</a> of torture participation by a young JAG lawyer stationed at Gitmo in 2006. He's been <a href="https://www.floridabulldog.org/2023/01/ron-desantis-accused-torture-at-guantanamo-when-he-was-navy-jag/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">identified by detainees</a> as <a href="https://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/state-politics/article216615190.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Lieutenant DeSantis</a>. </p></div>Candacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08551216220515434004noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2634286779940664473.post-40873988649188067642023-02-05T08:07:00.002-08:002023-02-05T08:07:11.368-08:00From Roger Fitch and our friends down under at Justinian. february 2023<p> </p><h2 class="title" style="background-color: #f9f4f1; color: #bf370a; font-family: Brawler, "sans-serif"; font-size: 21px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><a class="journal-entry-navigation-current" href="https://justinian.com.au/columnists/a-better-coup-next-time.html" style="color: #bf370a; letter-spacing: 0px; line-height: 1em; margin-bottom: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;">A better coup next time</a></h2><div class="journal-entry-tag journal-entry-tag-post-title" style="background-color: #f9f4f1; color: #a6a6a6; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 10px; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-top: 10px; text-transform: uppercase;"><span class="posted-in"><span class="tag-element" style="white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://justinian.com.au/columnists/category/roger-fitch-esq" rel="tag" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">ROGER FITCH ESQ</a></span></span> • <span class="posted-on" style="white-space: nowrap;">TUESDAY, JANUARY 31, 2023</span></div><div class="body" style="background-color: #f9f4f1; color: #0b0b0b; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 16px; margin: 1em 0px;"><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><strong>Roger Fitch on the Republican screwballs and anarchists in the House ... Protecting the insurrectionists and the <em>Trumpenvolk</em> ... Democracy attacked by extensive litigation ... January 6 report ... Unlawful interference by lawyers</strong></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><strong> </strong><span class="full-image-float-right ssNonEditable" style="float: right; margin: 0px 0px 8px 10px;"><img alt="" src="https://justinian.com.au/storage/lawtoons/toons-other/Flom_Washington_300.gif?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1675132901439" style="border: 0px none;" /></span><strong style="font-size: 17.6px;">The</strong> Constitution, Article I, says "no Person holding any Office under the United States, shall be a Member of either House during his Continuance in Office".</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">However, in his seminal "<em>Constitution and What It Means Today</em> (1973), Professor Edward Corwin opined that nothing in Article II (executive power) prevents a president forming a cabinet from the chairs of the principal committees of the house of representatives. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">A cabinet post <em>as such</em> is not a "civil office under the authority of the United States", so a cabinet member does not "hold any office under the United States". </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">This sensible idea for introducing responsible cabinet government has not been tried, however: it would depend on the president having a majority in the House of Representatives, and this year it was <a href="https://www.insideelections.com/news/article/the-6670-vote-majority-how-republicans-barely-won-the-house" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">only narrowly won</a> by Republicans, who, with gerrymanders, don't need a majority of voters.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">With a small majority, 21 party holdouts, and no Democrat support, the Republicans struggled to elect a Speaker. California representative Kevin McCarthy was finally elected on the 15th ballot, but <a href="https://newrepublic.com/post/169907/concessions-kevin-mccarthy-house-speaker-rules-package?" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">at what cost</a>?</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">A <a href="https://newrepublic.com/post/170072/kevin-mccarthy-gives-21-republicans-key-committees?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">lot</a>. A gang of quasi-anarchists <a href="https://verdict.justia.com/2023/01/09/to-become-speaker-mccarthy-undercuts-law-order-and-country?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">got the concessions they sought</a> for their support, and now McCarthy is saddled with "<a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2023/01/06/gingrich-pelosi-gop-rudderless-00076806" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">deranged disruptors</a>", and House Rules under which his position can be spilled with <a href="https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2023/01/house-rules-package-kevin-mccarthy-congress.html?" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>one vote</em></a>. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><a href="https://www.salon.com/2023/01/04/shshow-has-a-message-for-america-cant-govern-and-doesnt-want-to/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>Salon</em></a> observed, with only slight exaggeration, "These are not serious people dedicated to good-faith oversight. They're a nihilistic carnival act run by folks who are desperate for attention. We're in for a gruesome train wreck of a congressional session." </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Perhaps that's why a congress-based cabinet would be a particularly bad idea this year; not only is the president from a different party, but there's a Republican <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/10/opinion/republican-house-rules.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">chaos caucus</a> in charge. The people <a href="https://rollcall.com/2023/01/11/guide-to-house-committee-chairs-for-118th-congress/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">chairing the principal committees</a> will be predators, foxes in the henhouses of Biden government business.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">The foxes have cunning kits: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ryan_Zinke" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Ryan Zinke</a> of Montana is joining the powerful <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_House_Committee_on_Appropriations" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Appropriations Committee</a>. Zinke is returning to congress after a stint as Trump's <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/dec/15/ryan-zinke-interior-secretary-steps-down" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">spectacularly-corrupt</a> secretary at the Interior Department, where he gained a considerable amount of experience in <em>personal</em> appropriation of government property. More <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/01/13/house-republicans-govern-lie-weaponization-committeee/?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">here</a>, and on House Rules, <a href="https://www.npr.org/2023/01/09/1147875121/what-we-know-about-the-deal-that-won-kevin-mccarthy-the-speakership?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">here</a>.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><span class="full-image-block ssNonEditable" style="display: block;"><img alt="" src="https://justinian.com.au/storage/people/new-stories-2018/Zinke_Ryan_660.png?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1675133260021" style="border: 0px none;" /></span><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">Zinke: theft of government property</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">The Republicans have new subcommittees, e.g, the laugh-out-loud-titled "<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_House_Judiciary_Select_Subcommittee_on_the_Weaponization_of_the_Federal_Government#:~:text=In%2520a%2520221%25E2%2580%2593211%2520vote,the%2520Committee%2520on%2520the%2520Judiciary%2522." style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government</a>"<strong>.</strong> </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">It will "launch a wide-ranging investigation into federal law enforcement and national security agencies ... to scrutinize what they said was a concerted effort by the government to silence and punish conservatives at all levels, from protesters at school board meetings to former President Donald J Trump", as the deferential <em>Times</em> <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/10/us/politics/house-republican-committee-weaponization-government.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">politely reported</a>. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><a href="https://www.justsecurity.org/84869/decoding-the-select-subcommittee-on-weaponization-of-the-federal-government/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>Just Security</em></a><em> </em>and the <a href="https://www.thebulwark.com/the-mccarthy-jordan-plan-to-weaponize-the-house/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>Bulwark</em></a> were less respectful. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">The Democrats call the panel the "Tinfoil Hat Committee" and "Committee on Insurrection Protection", but they nevertheless agreed to serve on it. Some, however, will be blackballed in retaliation for the Democrats' rejection of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Jordan_(American_politician)" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Jim Jordan</a> (now "Weaponization" chairman) as a member of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_House_Select_Committee_on_the_January_6_Attack" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">January 6 Committee</a>.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Representative Jordan, a former wrestling champion and (presently unqualified) lawyer, will also head the powerful <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Senate_Committee_on_the_Judiciary" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Judiciary Committee</a>. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em; text-align: center;"><strong style="font-size: 20.8px;">≈ ≈ ≈</strong></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">The 80th Congress (1947-1949), one of the few congresses controlled by Republicans before 1994, was famously characterised by President Harry Truman as the "<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/80th_United_States_Congress" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Do-nothing Congress</a>", but that won't be said of the Republican House in the 118th, which plans to do many things: <a href="https://www.salon.com/2023/01/29/the-laptop-from-hell-and-other-stories-your-guide-to-2023-congressional-investigations/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">investigate</a> (more <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2023/01/30/house-gop-investigations-biden-mccarthy-00079695" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">here</a>), interfere in the January 6 investigations, and appease the <em>Trumpenvolk </em>with arcane legislation destined for defeat in the Democrat-controlled senate.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">As soon as the Republican majority had been sworn in and established their committees, they got right down to business, with their very first piece of futile legislation: stripping the Internal Revenue of the greatly-increased IRS funding introduced by Biden; the increased tax-enforcement resources could gravely harm the party's chief constituency, the rich. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><span class="full-image-block ssNonEditable" style="display: block;"><img alt="" src="https://justinian.com.au/storage/people/new-stories-2018/Santos_George_swearing-in_660.png?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1675133672388" style="border: 0px none;" /></span><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">Santos: Office of Congressional Ethics defanged</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">The house majority then moved on to "<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/jan/09/house-republicans-defang-ethics-office-investigating-members" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">defanging</a>" its <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_of_Congressional_Ethics" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Office of Congressional Ethics</a>, to forestall sundry investigations of Republican rogues, e.g, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Santos" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">George Santos</a>, more <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/jan/22/george-santos-lies-republican-party-future" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">here</a>. These urgent measures were followed by more <a href="https://www.salon.com/2023/01/11/sets-its-top-priority-covering-up-for-donald-spree/?lh_aid" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">doomed legislation</a>, fresh meat for Trump supporters such as <a href="https://newrepublic.com/post/169983/house-republicans-abortion-bill-criminalize-doctors?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">criminalising</a> participation of doctors in pregnancy terminations. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em; text-align: center;"><strong style="font-size: 20.8px;">≈ ≈ ≈</strong></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em; padding-left: 30px;">"[E]ven though January 6 failed, <a href="http://post.spmailtechnol.com/f/a/gqXahQgoegy8WK8RNlDl6g~~/AASU4wA~/RgRln9hNP0RkaHR0cHM6Ly9saW5rLndoZXJlYnkudXMvNHFoMnV5OGU5ai8_bGhfYWlkPTM1OTYwMDAmbGhfY2lkPWg5Z2ZkeGFmcm4mbGhfZW09cmJyaWdncyU0MG5ldHNwZWVkLmNvbS5hdVcDc3BjQgpjtVFTvWPI614LUhdyYnJpZ2dzQG5ldHNwZWVkLmNvbS5hdVgEAAAAJg~~" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">it's become a rallying point for fascists</a> here and abroad. <a href="http://post.spmailtechnol.com/f/a/2ntpVaqAhJLmdCQNGk1oxA~~/AASU4wA~/RgRln9hNP0RkaHR0cHM6Ly9saW5rLndoZXJlYnkudXMvd2FuYTVra2U5Yi8_bGhfYWlkPTM1OTYwMDAmbGhfY2lkPWg5Z2ZkeGFmcm4mbGhfZW09cmJyaWdncyU0MG5ldHNwZWVkLmNvbS5hdVcDc3BjQgpjtVFTvWPI614LUhdyYnJpZ2dzQG5ldHNwZWVkLmNvbS5hdVgEAAAAJg~~" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">They're treating it like the Alamo</a>, a lost battle that <a href="http://post.spmailtechnol.com/f/a/XoW9Y2xxiJiWUww3fPTYLQ~~/AASU4wA~/RgRln9hNP0RkaHR0cHM6Ly9saW5rLndoZXJlYnkudXMvd2R2cW90NXc5ei8_bGhfYWlkPTM1OTYwMDAmbGhfY2lkPWg5Z2ZkeGFmcm4mbGhfZW09cmJyaWdncyU0MG5ldHNwZWVkLmNvbS5hdVcDc3BjQgpjtVFTvWPI614LUhdyYnJpZ2dzQG5ldHNwZWVkLmNvbS5hdVgEAAAAJg~~" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">created supposed martyrs that</a> inspire those <a href="http://post.spmailtechnol.com/f/a/JdJ2j7RXbahu5u_ghbPHWA~~/AASU4wA~/RgRln9hNP0RkaHR0cHM6Ly9saW5rLndoZXJlYnkudXMvdG45ZmE4MG1nby8_bGhfYWlkPTM1OTYwMDAmbGhfY2lkPWg5Z2ZkeGFmcm4mbGhfZW09cmJyaWdncyU0MG5ldHNwZWVkLmNvbS5hdVcDc3BjQgpjtVFTvWPI614LUhdyYnJpZ2dzQG5ldHNwZWVkLmNvbS5hdVgEAAAAJg~~" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">still fighting to believe they will eventually win</a> ... To the MAGA movement, the insurrectionists are heroes, and they won't hear a word to the contrary" - <a href="https://read.letterhead.email/standing-room-only/letter/9650?" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>Salon</em></a></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Republicans seem to regard the January 6 coup attempt as a <a href="https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2023/01/19/dress-rehearsal-january-6-fintan-otoole/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">dress rehearsal</a> for another (successful) <em>Putsch</em>, and their pseudo-legal sedition continues, e.g, in US courts. A <em>Democracy Docket </em><a href="https://www.democracydocket.com/analysis/2022-litigation-report-how-republicans-lost-and-voters-won-in-court/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">report</a> details an extensive attack on democracy through <a href="https://www.salon.com/2023/01/11/staggering-number-right-wingers-filed-nearly-100-anti-analysis-shows_partner/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">extensive litigation</a> brought by Republican election deniers and vote suppressors. Thus far, the courts have <a href="https://www.democracydocket.com/opinion/the-courts-protected-democracy-in-2022/?" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">protected democracy</a>.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">The <a href="https://www.govinfo.gov/collection/january-6th-committee-final-report?path=/gpo/January%25206th%2520Committee%2520Final%2520Report%2520and%2520Supporting%2520Materials%2520Collection/Final%2520Report" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">full report</a> of the January 6 Committee <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/dec/24/january-6-report-review-845-pages-crimes-trump" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">has now been released</a>, although both the <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2023/01/16/what-the-january-6th-report-is-missing" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>New Yorker</em></a><em> </em>and <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2023/01/17/jan6-committee-report-social-media/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>Washington Post</em></a> identified significant omissions, e.g, the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/documents/5bfed332-d350-47c0-8562-0137a4435c68.pdf?itid=lk_inline_manual_3" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">role of social media</a>.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">The report's <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/12/19/us/politics/jan-6-committee-report-executive-summary.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">executive summary</a> stated a <a href="https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2022/12/january-6-committee-report-devastating-case-against-donald-trump/?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">devastating case</a> against Donald Trump, in <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/19/us/politics/jan-6-committee-key-findings.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">17 specific findings</a>, referring four criminal charges against Trump to the Attorney General. Also referred: Trump's lawyer, the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/19/us/politics/john-eastman-investigations.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">troubled</a> John Eastman.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">No other dodgy lawyers were referred, but many lawyers' testimony <a href="https://www.emptywheel.net/2023/01/09/at-least-25-lawyers-are-subjects-or-witnesses-in-the-various-trump-investigations/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">was revealed</a>, both as subjects and witnesses; the executive summary also alluded to <a href="https://www.justsecurity.org/84512/how-jan-6th-committees-revelations-of-interference-in-their-investigation-can-enable-special-counsel-smith/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">unlawful interference</a> in the committee's activities by legal counsel for <a href="https://www.salon.com/2023/01/03/scene-of-the-crime-was-there-a-conspiracy-to-keep-cassidy-hutchinson-silent/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">some witnesses</a>. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Some lawyers are already being <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/16/us/politics/justice-eastman-trump-lawyers-fake-electors.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">investigated by DoJ</a>: in a <a href="https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/trump-connected-lawyers-records-detailed-in-unsealed-orders-1.1860474" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">DC proceeding</a>, a federal court unsealed documents that incriminate several lawyers, including drafts of an <a href="https://abovethelaw.com/2022/12/trump-doj-coup-lawyer-jeff-clark-has-written-his-memoirs-no-you-cant-read-them-theyre-privileged/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">autobiography</a> the DoJ quisling <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeffrey_Clark" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Jeffrey Clark</a> is writing, more <a href="https://talkingpointsmemo.com/muckraker/court-reveals-details-in-doj-probe-of-rep-scott-perry" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">here</a>. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><span class="full-image-block ssNonEditable" style="display: block;"><img alt="" src="https://justinian.com.au/storage/people/new-stories-2018/Clark_Jeffrey_660.png?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1675133950706" style="border: 0px none;" /></span><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">Election stealer Jeffrey Clark: Trump's man at the DoJ</span> </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">The "<a href="https://talkingpointsmemo.com/morning-memo/the-meadows-texts-jump-from-politics-to-pop-culture?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Meadows texts</a>" of Trump's chief of staff Mark Meadows (also a lawyer) are already available and read like true-crime reports.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><em>Just Security's </em><a href="https://www.justsecurity.org/77022/january-6-clearinghouse/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">January 6 Clearinghouse</a> has the committee's transcripts, and the links to government documents are being protected and mirrored on a repository that should guard against the expected removal of the content by the new Republican congress. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Perhaps the January 6 investigations will lead to <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2022/12/21/what-comes-next-jan-6-report-00074882?" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">tangible reforms</a> in the law, as happened after the (forced) departure of the last comprehensively-crooked president, Richard Nixon. One reform already in place: the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electoral_Count_Reform_and_Presidential_Transition_Improvement_Act_of_2022" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Electoral Count Reform and Presidential Transition Improvement Act</a>, passed in the closing days of the last congress.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Sadly, without personal consequences, the January 6 report means nothing to Republican conspirators; it's just a <a href="https://www.salon.com/2023/01/19/and-un-punishment-now-have-a-roadmap-for-a-better-coup/?" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">road map for a better coup</a> next time.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em; text-align: center;"><strong style="font-size: 20.8px;">≈ ≈ ≈</strong></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Although it's not among offences referred to the attorney general, the January 6 committee report contains plentiful testimony implicating Donald Trump in the <a href="https://www.thebulwark.com/what-the-jan-6th-report-says-about-the-fake-electors-scheme/?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">fake electors scheme</a> that Special Prosecutor Jack Smith is investigating, along with Trump's theft of <a href="https://www.salon.com/2023/01/18/experts-say-trumps-brag-that-he-took-classified-folders-as-cool-keepsake-is-admissible-evidence/?lh_aid" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">cool (classified) keepsakes</a>. A former war crimes prosecutor, Smith has experience indicting presidents, though no American ones. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/06/us/politics/jan-6-capitol-riots-prosecutions.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Prosecutions</a> of individual Capitol insurrectionists <a href="https://www.salon.com/2023/01/18/concludes-jan-6-rioter-broke-into-capitol-was-acting-on-trumps-instructions/?lh_aid" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">meanwhile continue</a>, and it's clear that <a href="https://www.justsecurity.org/84399/the-government-was-right-to-charge-seditious-conspiracy/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">seditious conspiracy</a> charges were warranted for some of them. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"> </p></div>Candacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08551216220515434004noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2634286779940664473.post-30459271658173928362022-12-14T07:48:00.002-08:002022-12-14T07:48:27.714-08:00FROM ROGER FITCH AND OUR FRIENDS DOWN UNDER AT JUSTINIAN<p> </p><h2 class="title" style="background-color: #f9f4f1; color: #bf370a; font-family: Brawler, "sans-serif"; font-size: 21px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><a class="journal-entry-navigation-current" href="https://justinian.com.au/columnists/trumps-tipping-point.html" style="color: #bf370a; letter-spacing: 0px; line-height: 1em; margin-bottom: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;">Trump's tipping point</a></h2><div class="journal-entry-tag journal-entry-tag-post-title" style="background-color: #f9f4f1; color: #a6a6a6; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 10px; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-top: 10px; text-transform: uppercase;"><span class="posted-in"><span class="tag-element" style="white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://justinian.com.au/columnists/category/roger-fitch-esq" rel="tag" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">ROGER FITCH ESQ</a></span></span> • <span class="posted-on" style="white-space: nowrap;">TUESDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2022</span></div><div class="body" style="background-color: #f9f4f1; color: #0b0b0b; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 16px; margin: 1em 0px;"><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><strong>The stolen documents saga ... The attempted coup ... Legal problems piling up for Trump ... 70 million people in America still believe the dangerous fantasies of a disturbed mountebank ... Criminal servitude beckons ... Roger Fitch reports from Washington </strong></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><span class="full-image-block ssNonEditable" style="display: block;"><img alt="" src="https://justinian.com.au/storage/lawtoons/toons-other/Trump_Answer_Coopes-600.gif?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1670920902491" style="border: 0px none;" /></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em; padding-left: 30px;"><em>"No other president has refused to concede that he lost an election, attempted a coup and incited an insurrection and then stolen hundreds of government secrets on his way out the door. He always says there's never been anyone like him, and it's true."</em> - <a href="https://www.salon.com/2022/10/11/now-is-openly-challenging-the-feds-to-indict-him-just-say-yes-doj/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>Salon</em></a></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em; padding-left: 30px;"><em>"Would he really give, say, Kim Jong-Un the names of undercover intelligence agents operating in South or North Korea, thus guaranteeing their assassination? If it meant fending off an indictment, he would ... they're sitting around at Main Justice asking themselves how many assets' lives they might be risking by indicting Trump."</em> - <a href="https://newrepublic.com/article/167862/trump-indictment-political-violence-james?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>New Republic</em></a> </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><strong>In</strong> September, it seemed a <a href="https://www.justsecurity.org/83161/tipping-point-the-new-york-attorney-generals-case-against-trump/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">tipping point</a> had been reached in the legal pursuit of Donald Trump, with the filing of the NY Attorney General's "monumental" civil enforcement action against Trump, his family, and his corporate organisations. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">His accountants Mazars and banker <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/trumps-secret-ugly-breakup-with-deutsche-bank-revealed-2022-10?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Deutsche Bank</a> have both parted company with their deadbeat client and provided evidence against him; Paris-based Mazars is probably used to official requests for the accounts of crooked politicians.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">The man has so many stolen documents that <em>Just Security</em> set up a "<a href="https://www.justsecurity.org/84336/mar-a-lago-clearinghouse-key-documents-in-the-special-counsel-investigation/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Mar-a-Lago Clearinghouse</a>" one can consult.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Even so, just after the elections, Donald Trump <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/nov/15/donald-trump-announces-presidential-run-2024-midterms-ron-desantis" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">announced with astounding <em>chutzpah</em></a><em> </em>that he's standing for president <em>again. </em>As Karl Marx <a href="https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1852/18th-brumaire/ch01.htm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">observed</a>, historical facts and figures appear twice, first as <em>tragedy</em> and then as <em>farce</em>. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Trump proclaimed his candidacy in the glitzy ballroom of his Florida home, an estate as tasteless and garish as the man himself. Ivanka and Don Junior were missing, but the disgraced ex-president was bucked-up by the puzzling presence of the Western Australian mining billionaire Gina Rinehart.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">If he succeeds, it will be <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2022/11/15/why-they-ran-again-00066579?nname=politico-weekend&nid=00000180-3e78-de92-addf-fe7ff2220000&nrid=0000014e-f129-dd93-ad7f-f92d24e70000&nlid=2728662" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">only the second time</a> an ex-president has managed a second term.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">So far, it's <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/letter-from-bidens-washington/trumps-2024-campaign-so-far-is-an-epic-act-of-self-sabotage" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">all been downhill</a>. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><a href="https://www.salon.com/2022/10/26/this-is-the-ballgame-doj-moving-quickly-in-secret-proceedings-in-jan-6-probe/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">One investigation in particular</a> - the January 6 insurrection - seems to be moving forward at the Justice Department. Will there be indictments?<a href="https://verdict.justia.com/2022/11/15/the-united-states-v-donald-j-trump?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"> It seems likely</a>, and for the document heist there's even a <a href="https://www.justsecurity.org/84168/mar-a-lago-model-prosecution-memo/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">model prosecution memo</a> to peruse <a href="https://www.justsecurity.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/just-security-mar-a-lago-model-prosecution-memorandum-november-2022.pdf" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">here</a>. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">In addition, the January 6 committee is winding up its investigation and on December 21 will release its final report in which <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2022/12/08/politics/january-6-committee-criminal-referrals/index.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">a number of people</a> will be <a href="https://www.axios.com/2022/12/08/jan-6-committee-final-report-dec-21-release-plan" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">referred to DoJ</a> for criminal prosecution. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Many wonder why US AG Merrick Garland hasn't already indicted the principal offender, Donald John Trump. One explanation may have been the AG's wish to avoid filing charges so close to a congressional election. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">In response to Trump's 2024 announcement, AG Garland has <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/11/18/justice-trump-garland-special-counsel/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">appointed a special counsel</a>. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Smith_(lawyer)" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Jack Smith</a>, presently Chief Prosecutor of Kosovo war crimes at The Hague, is a man who should be able to find where Trump has buried the bodies, or documents. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">The ex-president is still in legal peril for the latter, although <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/11/14/trump-motive-mar-a-lago-documents/?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">DOJ is said to believe</a> he stole government documents to gratify his unbounded ego - a mere narcissistic hoarder - rather than for the more plausible purposes of blackmail, treason or cash.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">After pausing to assemble staff, Smith has already begun <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2022/12/06/politics/jack-smith-subpoena-local-officials-michigan-wisconsin/index.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">sending out subpoenas</a>. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">After Trump's 2024 candidacy was announced, his situation <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/07/us/politics/donald-trump-republicans-turmoil.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">became more precarious</a>: </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em; padding-left: 30px;">• An 11th circuit appeals panel (two of the judges Trump-appointed) unanimously <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/01/us/politics/trump-special-master.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">shut down the special master</a> that a Trump-sympathetic federal judge in Florida had ordered, a manoeuvre designed to interfere in the FBI's review of government documents the former president had unlawfully retained. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em; padding-left: 30px;">• In DC, the government's theory of a seditious conspiracy on January 6 was <a href="https://www.justsecurity.org/84399/the-government-was-right-to-charge-seditious-conspiracy/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">vindicated</a> in a guilty verdict against the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oath_Keepers" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Oath Keepers</a>, with implications, perhaps, for Trump himself. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em; padding-left: 30px;">• In Manhattan, the Trump corporate organisations were <a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/trump-organization-verdict/?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">convicted on all counts</a> of tax fraud, while Trump personally faces far worse in other NY litigation. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em; padding-left: 30px;">• <a href="https://www.salon.com/2022/12/08/this-reporting-is-stunning-experts-say-newly-found-secret-docs-could-trigger-new-fbi-search/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>More </em>classified documents</a> have been found in a Florida storage unit used by Trump. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em; padding-left: 30px;">• DOJ has filed a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/dec/08/doj-trump-team-contempt-classified-documents-mar-a-lago?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">contempt motion</a><em> </em>(so far <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/09/us/politics/trump-contempt-justice-department.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">unsuccessful</a>) in Washington, seeking penalties for non-compliance with the grand jury's May document subpoena, with <a href="https://www.thebulwark.com/what-the-new-trump-contempt-motion-tells-us-about-the-mar-a-lago-documents-prosecution/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">implications for indictment</a> and venue.</p><div></div><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em; text-align: center;"><strong style="font-size: 20.8px;">≈ ≈ ≈</strong></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><span class="full-image-block ssNonEditable" style="display: block;"><img alt="" src="https://justinian.com.au/storage/lawtoons/toons-other/Statue_Liberty_Trump_Coopes-660.gif?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1670921111429" style="border: 0px none;" /></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><strong>If</strong> a criminal indictment against Trump is <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2022/10/merrick-garland-donald-trump-investigation-indictment/671683/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">inevitable</a>, where would <a href="https://washingtonmonthly.com/2022/11/02/a-primer-on-trumps-legal-woes/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">venue lie</a>? </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">For the taking and retention of classified and other documents, it could be Florida, his adopted domicile after fleeing his New York legal problems.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Florida would be a logical choice, as it's the state where he freely admits he took government documents that he claims to "own", not just (marketable) <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/10/21/trump-documents-mar-a-lago-iran-china/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">classified documents</a>, but also White House <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/20/us/trump-documents-dispute.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">pardon records</a> that might implicate laws about bribery, corruption and/or obstruction of justice. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Judging from a <a href="https://www.emptywheel.net/2022/12/08/the-rules-against-keeping-classified-documents-in-an-unsecure-rv-parked-alongside-jeremy-browns-home/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">similar DOJ prosecution</a> for retained classified documents, now under way, it will be argued that any evidence Trump may offer as to his intent in retaining classified documents (<a href="https://www.salon.com/2022/09/26/why-did-he-steal-the-documents-maggie-habermans-book-may-hold-the-answer/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">whatever it may have been</a>) should be excluded as irrelevant. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">The ongoing case is one where the defendant, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/11/11/trumpdeclassify-mar-a-lago-dearie-appeal/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">like Trump</a>, claims classification was under his control.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">After earlier revelations that confirmed <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/10/13/walt-nauta-maralago-trump-documents/?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">no man is a hero to his valet</a>, the stolen document saga <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/nov/14/donald-trump-handled-records-marked-classified-after-presidency-court-filing-alleges?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">continues</a>, with the discovery of the <a href="https://www.salon.com/2022/12/08/this-reporting-is-stunning-experts-say-newly-found-secret-docs-could-trigger-new-fbi-search/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">additional documents</a>. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Incredibly, loyalist Republican AGs in 10 states filed an <em>amicus</em> brief in the 11th circuit appeal lost by Trump, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/09/21/trump-gop-amicus-brief-mar-a-lago-fbi/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">alleging bias</a> in the Biden administration's search of Mar-a-Lago. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">How successful would the documents charges be in a Florida venue? The state has a generous supply of easily-led MAGA supporters (many elderly) who as jurors might prove unable to exercise independent thought where their Great Leader is concerned. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">After the Republican triumph in the state last month, Florida jurors sound even shakier.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Georgia is also a possible venue. Indeed, Special Prosecutor Smith is spoiled for choice. The document case, best brought in Washington, is meanwhile <a href="https://www.salon.com/2022/11/07/self-incriminating-legal-experts-warn-trumps-admission-at-rally-may-be-admissible-evidence/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">getting stronger daily</a>, as Trump's speeches provide fresh personal <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scienter" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>scienter</em></a>. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">In any case, there's a smorgasbord of transgressions to choose from: <a href="https://www.citizensforethics.org/reports-investigations/crew-reports/president-trumps-staggering-record-of-uncharged-crimes/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">at least 56 crimes</a> could be credibly charged against the lawless ex-president (handy litigation tracker <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/04/29/trump-investigations-litigation/?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">here</a>), not counting fresh offences <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/oct/16/trump-media-truth-social-whistleblower-sec-complaint?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">like this shake-down</a> of investors in Trump's <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truth_Social" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>Truth Social</em></a><em> </em>Twitter alternative.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">There remains Trump's possible <a href="https://www.justsecurity.org/84122/roadmap-to-accountability-how-the-jan-6-committee-can-help-enforce-the-14th-amendment/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">disqualification from office</a> (for <a href="https://scholarship.law.wm.edu/wmborj/vol30/iss1/5/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">insurrection</a>) under the <a href="https://www.pogo.org/report/2022/11/the-constitutions-disqualification-clause-can-be-enforced-today" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">14th amendment</a> but, short of that, there are <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/11/17/opinion/trump-five-major-investigations-dozens-of-ways-out.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">many ways</a> a career recidivist might weasel out of the law's criminal net.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">If Trump gets on the ballot, even under criminal charge, he might win. <a href="https://www.abajournal.com/news/article/trump-could-run-for-president-and-even-govern-the-us-from-prison-legal-scholars-say?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">In theory</a>, he could be elected while under indictment and serve as president behind bars, as the constitutional requirements for the presidency are quite limited and never mention criminal servitude.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">As <a href="https://americanprospect.bluelena.io/index.php?action=social&chash=207f88018f72237565570f8a9e5ca240.1711&s=3e63ce701c6eb31cb2486802e89c82c1" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>American Prospect</em></a> commented: </p><blockquote style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic;"><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">"How in the world did we become a country where 70 million-plus people ever thought that this dangerously evil lunatic should be trusted with the most powerful job in the world, and apparently still do?" </p></blockquote><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><a href="https://www.salon.com/2022/10/14/donald-planned-and-directed-the-whole-damn-thing--why-is-anybody-still-defending-him/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>Salon</em></a><em> </em>added: </p><blockquote style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic;"><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">"He is a damaged, destructive narcissist, beyond all help. But the really disturbing question now is why so many people are eager to believe his dangerous fantasies." </p></blockquote></div>Candacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08551216220515434004noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2634286779940664473.post-86069406114817034402022-11-15T12:35:00.002-08:002022-11-15T12:35:28.050-08:00FROM ROGER FITCH AND OUR FRIENDS DOWN UNDER AT JUSTINIAN.<p> </p><h2 class="title" style="background-color: #f9f4f1; color: #bf370a; font-family: Brawler, "sans-serif"; font-size: 21px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><a class="journal-entry-navigation-current" href="https://justinian.com.au/columnists/election-deniers-get-elected.html" style="color: #bf370a; letter-spacing: 0px; line-height: 1em; margin-bottom: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;">Election deniers get elected</a></h2><div class="journal-entry-tag journal-entry-tag-post-title" style="background-color: #f9f4f1; color: #a6a6a6; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 10px; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-top: 10px; text-transform: uppercase;"><span class="posted-in"><span class="tag-element" style="white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://justinian.com.au/columnists/category/roger-fitch-esq" rel="tag" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">ROGER FITCH ESQ</a></span></span> • <span class="posted-on" style="white-space: nowrap;">SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2022</span></div><div class="body" style="background-color: #f9f4f1; color: #0b0b0b; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 16px; margin: 1em 0px;"><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><strong>Roger Fitch in Washington takes a close look at the mid-term results ... Abortion probably played a bigger role than the Big Lie ... Pre-election meddling by the Supreme Court ... Not all the crazies lost ... The Republican House has inquisitions planned ... Voting rights and abortion protected in some state ballots </strong></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><span class="full-image-float-right ssNonEditable" style="float: right; margin: 0px 0px 8px 10px;"><img alt="" src="https://justinian.com.au/storage/lawtoons/toons-other/Flom_Washington_300.gif?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1668344449879" style="border: 0px none;" /></span><strong style="font-size: 17.6px;">The</strong> Democrats have maintained control of the senate, possibly increasing it, but lost the house.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">The house result was predicted: it's usual in non-presidential election years for lemming-like voters to punish the incumbent president's party for perceived policy failures mostly attributable to obstruction by the party they now vote for. But more was involved than unworldly and uninformed citizens. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Echoing <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bush_v._Gore" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>Bush v Gore</em></a>, the Republican-aligned supreme court <a href="https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2022/11/supreme-court-republican-control-house-alito-mccarthy-gift.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">intervened in the elections</a>, this time <em>before </em>election day. Through <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadow_docket" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">shadow docket</a> orders made without briefing or oral argument, the court rigorously applied its <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purcell_principle" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>Purcell</em> principle</a> to allow use, <em>this year</em>, of Republican-gerrymandered voting districts already <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/08/us/elections/gerrymandering-maps-elections-republicans.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">rejected as unconstitutional</a>. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/11/10/1135718986/candidates-and-political-action-committees-spent-nearly-17-billion-on-midterms" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Prior supreme court rulings</a> liberating campaign contributions from regulation fuelled campaign costs exceeding <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2022/11/total-cost-of-2022-state-and-federal-elections-projected-to-exceed-16-7-billion/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">$16.7 billion</a><em>.</em></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">While other factors (inflation, high petrol prices) played a part, it was the outdated and gerrymandered districts that delivered a <a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/the-gops-bid-to-claim-a-rigged-house-majority/?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">rigged house majority</a> to a "<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/08/04/dana-milbank-republican-destructionists-book-excerpt/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">destructionist</a>" Republican Party. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Before the election, the "wildcard" was thought to be the Big Lie, the imaginary theft by Mr Biden of the 2020 election, credulously believed by Trump supporters; in fact, it may have been <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/10/us/politics/abortion-midterm-elections-democrats-republicans.html?" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">abortion</a>. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">In the event, the Republican "red wave" in congress, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/11/09/media-blew-red-wave-predictions-wrong/?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">arrogantly assumed</a> by media, never materialised. The Democrats' off-year loss of house seats was minor compared to the midterm defeats of the last three presidents.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Some of the Democrats' losses were own goals: in New York, the defeat of incumbent Democrats <a href="https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2022/11/2022-midterms-new-york-republicans-cuomo-maloney.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">could be attributed</a> to the conservatives and Republicans appointed to New York's top court by the deal-making, now-ousted, Democrat governor <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Cuomo" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Andrew Cuomo</a>; the result was new voting districts gerrymandered to benefit minority Republicans, who <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/09/nyregion/new-york-republicans-house.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">picked up a stunning four seats</a> in a liberal Democrat stronghold.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">The Democratic National Committee supported extreme Republican primary candidates on the theory that they would be easier to defeat in the general election, and this <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/11/11/1135878576/the-democrats-strategy-of-boosting-far-right-candidates-seems-to-have-worked" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">risky ploy largely worked</a>. Who were these Republican candidates? </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">According to the<em> </em><a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/archive/2022/10/j-d-vance-and-the-collapse-of-dignity/671704/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>Atlantic</em></a>, Republicans had been "forced to lower their- and our - standards for admission to public office, because the destruction of dignity is the only way they can find the candidates who will do what decent men and women will not, including abasing themselves to Donald Trump." </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">To its credit, the media reported some of the more <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/10/07/republican-house-candidates-2022-crazy/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">unbalanced</a> Republican nominees for congress, e.g, Ohio's JR Majewski, a "Trump-backed lawn painter" who wanted to "abolish all unconstitutional three letter agencies," <a href="https://www.axios.com/2022/08/16/defund-fbi-trump-republicans-midterms" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">including the FBI</a>. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Majewski lost, but two of the other "<a href="https://newrepublic.com/article/168234/five-maga-republican-candidates-congress?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">five craziest</a>" Republican candidates for congress have been elected: George Santos in New York and Derrick Van Orden in Wisconsin, the latter a veteran of the January 6 disturbances.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">On the <em>Washington Monthly's </em>list of <a href="https://washingtonmonthly.com/2022/10/25/the-10-worst-candidates-running-this-year/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">10 worst candidates</a> (including two crazies from the above list), all of them (except Texas AG Ken Paxton, see below) lost, including the alarming Republican candidates for <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secretary_of_state_(U.S._state_government)" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">secretary of state</a> (election supervisor) in <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2022-election/democrat-cisco-aguilar-defeats-trump-backed-election-denier-jim-marcha-rcna56874" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Nevada</a> and <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/11/11/1134934448/arizona-secretary-of-state-election-results-finchem-fontes" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Arizona</a>.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">The worst Trump candidates for the house (Washington State's <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2022_United_States_House_of_Representatives_elections_in_Washington#District_3" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Joe Kent</a>), senate (Pennsylvania's <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mehmet_Oz" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Mehmet Oz</a>) and governor (Michigan's <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tudor_Dixon" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Tudor Dixon</a>, Pennsylvania's <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doug_Mastriano" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Doug Mastriano</a> and almost certainly, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kari_Lake" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Kari Lake</a> in Arizona), lost, but some Trumpistes won: Nevada's new governor <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Lombardo" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Joe Lombardo</a> and Ohio senator <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._D._Vance" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">JD Vance</a>. Georgia senate candidate <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herschel_Walker" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Herschel Walker</a> could possibly win. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">So the house has fallen, as predicted, to gerrymandering Republicans and some Trump acolytes. <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/03/opinion/midterms-republicans-house-majority.html?campaign_id=2&emc=edit_th_20221104&instance_id=76497&nl=todaysheadlines&regi_id=17402229&segment_id=111985&user_id=7a2e5f11f39e85cea64398402a79bbad" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">What will follow</a> in a Republican house? Well, <a href="https://prospect.org/politics/coming-republican-inquisition/?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">inquisitions</a> are <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/08/15/trump-fbi-defund-holman-rule/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">planned</a>, and <a href="https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2022/11/january-6-big-lie-election-results-house-takeover-republicans-column/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>Mother Jones</em></a><em> </em>is not optimistic.<em> </em>But with Democrats in charge of the senate and the White House, Americans will be spared the <a href="https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2022/07/republican-aganda-after-midterms-guns-abortion-social-security-epa/?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">scary new laws</a> Republicans were proposing , schemes that Trump <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/03/opinion/trump-has-big-plans-for-2025.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">still plans for 2025</a>. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Meanwhile, all is not lost for Republican radicals: the counter-revolution will proceed in the judicial branch, where a wholesale dismantling and remodelling of the constitution is being engineered by the <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/07/05/1109444617/the-supreme-court-conservative?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">most conservative supreme court since 1931</a>. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><span class="full-image-block ssNonEditable" style="display: block;"><img alt="" src="https://justinian.com.au/storage/people/new-stories-2018/Trump_mid_term_660.png?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1668344743678" style="border: 0px none;" /></span><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">Trump: down for the count</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em; text-align: center;"><strong><span style="font-size: 20.8px;">≈ ≈ ≈</span></strong></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Some of the election results:</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em; padding-left: 30px;">• Wisconsin, the Republican "<a href="https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2022/10/wisconsin-2022-midterms-gerrymandering-redistricting-evers-michels/?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">laboratory for dismantling democracy</a>", has <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2022/11/09/ron-johnson-mandela-barnes-wisconsin-senate-race-results-2022-00064770" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">re-elected</a> Senator <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ron_Johnson_(Wisconsin_politician)" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Ron Johnson</a>, the most ignorant and (after Ted Cruz) obnoxious US senator. However, the party failed to obtain the veto-proof legislature needed to frustrate its re-elected Democrat governor, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Evers" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Tony Evers</a>, whose <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Michels" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">opponent</a> had promised <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/nov/02/wisconsin-republican-gubernatorial-candidate-tim-michels" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">permanent Republican government</a>.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em; padding-left: 30px;">• In Florida, a 25-year-old Afro-Cuban Democrat became the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/nov/08/midterm-elections-more-diverse-congress?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">first member of "Gen Z"</a> elected to congress;</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em; padding-left: 30px;">• Maryland chose its first African-American governor, the Oxford-educated Democrat <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wes_Moore" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Wes Moore</a>;</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em; padding-left: 30px;">• Democrats made <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/11/11/1135938627/results-midterms-governors-state-lawmakers-legislatures-pennsylvania-michigan?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">significant gains</a> in state legislatures and governors;</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em; padding-left: 30px;">• The Democrats flipped a senate seat in Pennsylvania while keeping those in <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2022/11/11/mark-kelly-blake-masters-arizona-senate-race-results-2022-00064773" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Arizona</a> and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/live/2022/11/12/us/election-results-updates" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Nevada</a>; </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em; padding-left: 30px;">• The top cop in Las Vegas has been elected Republican governor of Nevada;</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em; padding-left: 30px;">• Ohio elected a Trump-endorsed Republican senator (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._D._Vance" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">JD Vance</a>) to an open Republican seat;</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em; padding-left: 30px;">• Georgia will <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2022/11/09/herschel-walker-raphael-warnock-georgia-senate-race-results-2022-00064771" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">hold a run-off</a> for the senate as neither the Democrat incumbent or his <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/oct/27/herschel-walker-worst-candidate-republicans" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">woeful</a> Republican opponent obtained 50% of the vote, and Georgia doesn't have preference voting (in the US, "ranked-choice" or "instant run-off" voting);</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em; padding-left: 30px;">• <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/ranked-choice-voting-decide-alaskas-senate-race/story?id=93063277" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Alaska</a> has ranked choice, and will hold a further election this month where four qualifying candidates from November 8th compete (the top two contenders are both Republicans);</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em; padding-left: 30px;">• America's <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/10/11/ken-paxton-worst-attorney-general-texas/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">worst state attorney general</a>, Ken Paxton, has won his <em>second</em> four year re-election since being indicted for securities fraud; and</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em; padding-left: 30px;">• America's most partisan "secretary of state", <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kris_Kobach" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Kris Kobach</a>, will now make trouble as Kansas Attorney General.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Supported by <a href="https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/big-donors-working-overturn-2020-election-are-backing-election-denial" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Big Money</a>, more than <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/10/06/elections-deniers-midterm-elections-2022/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">half</a> of the Republican candidates for office this year spouted the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/10/13/us/politics/republican-candidates-2020-election-misinformation.html?" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">stolen election claim</a>, and 200 election-deniers (including new Ohio senator Vance) <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/09/us/politics/election-deniers-midterm-wins.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">were elected</a>, but voters <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/nov/09/republican-election-deniers-trump-mastriano-karamo-finchem-marchant-midterms?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">rejected most of the worst</a>, e.g, New Hampshire senate aspirant Brig Gen (ret) <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Bolduc" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Don Bolduc</a>.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><span class="full-image-block ssNonEditable" style="display: block;"><img alt="" src="https://justinian.com.au/storage/photos-general/Voters_mid_terms.png?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1668345028282" style="border: 0px none;" /></span><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">Female voters proved critical</span> </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Even so, the "<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sedition_Caucus" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Sedition Caucus</a>" has grown: so far, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/11/09/election-deniers-midterms-democracy/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">145 Republican election-deniers</a> have been elected to the house, a larger group than the 139 Republicans who fought against counting official electoral votes following the January 6 Capitol invasion.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Some of the most frightening election deniers were those seeking to supervise elections, but they failed to be elected in key states such as <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2022/11/09/jocelyn-benson-kristina-karamo-michigan-secretary-of-state-race-results-2022-00064766" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Michigan</a>.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">There were five Republican candidates for state election supervisors who claimed Democrats only win by cheating, and all of them appear to have lost. If any had won, they would have been well-positioned to wreak maximum mischief for Herr Trump in the 2024 presidential election. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Courts are <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/11/courts-election-deniers-democracy/671957/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">the only thing</a> still standing in the way of complete election subversion. Curiously, however, election-denying officials still don't seem to realise they can face <a href="https://www.justsecurity.org/83975/election-denying-officials-who-refuse-to-certify-election-results-could-face-prosecution/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">criminal charges</a> for misconduct. Their post-election lies can also invite <a href="https://www.thebulwark.com/conspiracists-beware-post-election-lies-could-land-you-in-legal-hot-water/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">defamation</a> claims.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2022/11/01/opinions/democracy-ballot-measures-midterm-elections-douglas/index.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">State ballot initiatives</a> to protect voting and abortion rights have <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/09/us/abortion-rights-ballot-proposals.html?" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">succeeded</a>. In California, Michigan and Vermont, abortion rights have been entrenched in the state constitution, and Kentucky voters rejected a constitutional amendment that sought to prevent courts recognising the right to abortion. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">More ballot measures <a href="https://www.jurist.org/news/2022/11/two-us-states-vote-to-expand-voter-access-in-ballot-measures-two-vote-to-restrict-and-results-pend-in-arizona-and-nevada/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">here</a> and <a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/society/forced-prison-labor-was-also-on-the-ballot/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">here</a>. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"> </p></div>Candacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08551216220515434004noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2634286779940664473.post-36663665482327623122022-09-23T11:43:00.004-07:002022-09-23T11:43:46.905-07:00From Roger Fitch and our Friends Down Under at Justinian....<p> </p><h2 class="title" style="background-color: #f9f4f1; color: #bf370a; font-family: Brawler, "sans-serif"; font-size: 21px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><a class="journal-entry-navigation-current" href="https://justinian.com.au/columnists/disorder-and-decay.html" style="color: #bf370a; letter-spacing: 0px; line-height: 1em; margin-bottom: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;">Disorder and decay</a></h2><div class="journal-entry-tag journal-entry-tag-post-title" style="background-color: #f9f4f1; color: #a6a6a6; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 10px; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-top: 10px; text-transform: uppercase;"><span class="posted-in"><span class="tag-element" style="white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://justinian.com.au/columnists/category/roger-fitch-esq" rel="tag" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">ROGER FITCH ESQ</a></span></span> • <span class="posted-on" style="white-space: nowrap;">MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2022</span></div><div class="body" style="background-color: #f9f4f1; color: #0b0b0b; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 16px; margin: 1em 0px;"><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><strong>Trump's attempted document theft ... Missing pages from confidential files ... Trouble for former president's lawyers ... Patsy judge's flawed reasons ... State judges up for election in November ... Republicans working on the judicial stack ... From Our Man in Washington, Roger Fitch </strong></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em; padding-left: 30px;">"Plaintiff has no property interest in any Presidential records (including classified records) seized from the Premises. The Presidential Records Act provides ... that '[t]he United States shall reserve and retain complete ownership, possession, and control of Presidential records' ... Plaintiff [does not] offer any ... colourable argument that he has a property interest in any Presidential records seized ... Plaintiff's Motion, in fact, asserts that '[t]he documents seized at Mar-a-Lago ... were created during his term as President' ... precisely the types of documents that likely constitute Presidential records. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em; padding-left: 30px;">Because these records do not belong to Plaintiff, [he has] no right to have them returned. And because Plaintiff has no such right, this Court should not appoint a special master to review Presidential records for the purpose of entertaining potential claims of executive privilege ... the former President cites no case ... in which executive privilege has been successfully invoked to prohibit the sharing of documents within the Executive Branch." - <a href="https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.flsd.618763/gov.uscourts.flsd.618763.48.0_1.pdf" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">US response</a>, <em>Trump v US</em></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><strong style="font-size: 17.6px;"><span class="full-image-float-right ssNonEditable" style="float: right; margin: 0px 0px 8px 10px;"><img alt="" src="https://justinian.com.au/storage/lawtoons/toons-other/pillsbury_flom_300.gif?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1663572039785" style="border: 0px none;" /></span>Even</strong> if Donald Trump escapes punishment for e.g, insurrection, he <em>must</em> be guilty of <em>something</em>: consider the example of the American gangster <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Capone" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Al Capone</a>, undone by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internal_Revenue_Service" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Internal Revenue</a>. While tax evasion is likely among Trump's countless crimes, <em>his </em>downfall may be the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Archives_and_Records_Administration" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">National Archives</a> (NARA), wielding the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presidential_Records_Act" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>Presidential Records Act</em></a>. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">After Trump left the White House, NARA discovered that important official papers belonging to the Archives were missing, and asked for their return. When the requested documents were not provided, but <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/09/16/trump-records-archives-clippings/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">lied about</a> ("only news clippings"), <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/31/us/politics/trump-mar-a-lago-documents.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">moved about and hidden</a>, the Justice Department was called in.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">After months of Trump obstruction, DOJ obtained a search warrant for Trump's hotel-home, <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/09/08/1121578102/mar-a-lago-trump-fbi-investigation-history-merriweather-post?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Mar-a-Lago</a>, and retrieved a sizable tranche of government papers, many secret and/or highly classified, that the ex-president had secreted and retained. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">A <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/08/26/takeaways-redacted-affidavit-trump-search/?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">damning affidavit</a> supported the government's search, which yielded "sensitive" documents afterwards compared by Trump lawyers to "overdue library books". </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">American media initially stressed the "<a href="https://niemanreports.org/articles/trump-mar-a-lago-search-warrant/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">unprecedented</a>" search by the FBI of (gasp) a former president's home, assuming some deference was due. That changed when <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-09-03/fbi-found-more-than-11-000-government-records-at-trump-home/101403012" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>11,000</em></a><em> </em>government records were found in Trump's possession and 90 empty folders, half of which were marked confidential.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">What's actually unprecedented is the wholesale theft of government documents by an outgoing president, <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2022/08/30/politics/mar-a-lago-justice-department-response/index.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>320</em> of them classified</a>. Sensitive government documents may have <a href="https://www.emptywheel.net/2022/09/02/return-to-sender-doj-seized-evidence-that-88-documents-highly-sensitive-may-have-disappeared/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">disappeared</a>. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><span class="full-image-block ssNonEditable" style="display: block;"><img alt="" src="https://justinian.com.au/storage/photos-general/Documents_Mar-a-Lago_660.png?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1663572327019" style="border: 0px none;" /></span><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">Top secret documents found in Trump's Mar-a-Lago office (pic DOJ)</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/02/us/politics/trump-fbi-folders-classified.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Missing items</a> may have been destroyed, shared, or hidden somewhere new. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">No one knows <a href="https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2022/08/trump-stole-classified-documents-mar-a-lago-the-big-question-is-why/?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Trump's motives</a> in appropriating the documents found. Was it espionage, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/aug/31/trump-boasted-he-had-intelligence-on-macron-sex-life" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">blackmail</a> and <a href="https://www.salon.com/2022/09/14/has-a-long-history-of-gathering-and-wielding-compromising-sensitive-info-to-help-himself_partner/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">intimidation</a>, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/01/us/politics/trump-intelligence-briefings.html?" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">leverage</a>, greed (marketable documents), obstruction of justice (quite likely) or simple hoarding? </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Whatever it was, Dana Milbank agrees with the former president: he should be <a href="https://wapo.st/3CJgQNt" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">treated just like Hillary</a>. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em; text-align: center;"><strong><span style="font-size: 20.8px;">≈ ≈ ≈</span></strong></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">If only Trump could afford proper lawyers, like the ones from <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jones_Day" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Jones-Day</a>, the large and reputable law firm that <a href="https://www.abajournal.com/news/article/how-jones-days-conservative-machine-helped-shape-policy-in-the-trump-administration?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">staffed</a> his administration. They're unavailable now. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Nor does he enjoy the services of his intensely-political and tractable attorney general, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Barr" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">William Barr</a>, whose <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/08/19/barr-memo-court-mueller-release-russia/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">secret 2019 memo</a> absolving Trump of eleven obstructions of justice in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mueller_report" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Mueller Report</a> has just been published. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><span class="full-image-float-right ssNonEditable" style="float: right; margin: 0px 0px 8px 10px;"><img alt="" src="https://justinian.com.au/storage/people/new-stories-2018/Philbin_Patrick_300.jpeg?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1663572773858" style="border: 0px none;" /><span class="thumbnail-caption" style="display: block; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 9px; line-height: 14px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-top: 5px; width: 300px;">Philbin: subpoenaed for January 6 probe</span></span>Trump has lost White House Counsel <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_Cipollone" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Pat Cipillone</a> and his deputy, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_F._Philbin" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Patrick Philbin</a>, defence counsel in the second senate impeachment. Philbin and Cipillone are <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2022/09/01/politics/pat-cipollone-patrick-philbin-january-6-grand-jury/index.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">busy talking</a> to the January 6 Committee; luckily, they haven't faced the sort of <em>debriefing</em> Philbin approved for George Bush's "terrorist suspects". </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">The January 6 Committee also cost Trump the services of the ex-law professor <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/31/us/john-eastman-trump-investigation.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">John Eastman</a>, who's been forced to hand over documents on which legal privilege was claimed, but contained <a href="https://www.salon.com/2022/06/08/orders-john-eastman-to-give-jan-6-committee-email-that-contains-evidence-of-likely-crime/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">evidence of likely crimes</a>. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Eastman (the subject of <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/07/28/request-disbar-john-eastman-recusal-clarence-ginni-thomas-a-test-for-the-supreme-court/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">multiple ethics complaints</a>) kept <a href="https://newrepublic.com/article/166475/john-eastman-january-6-emails?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">meticulous notes</a>; revelations in court filings have been <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2022/05/20/eastman-trump-role-legal-overturn-election-00034023" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">damning for Trump</a>.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Mr Trump can still look to a tribe of <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2022/07/05/trump-maga-lawyers-00043917" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">MAGA lawyers</a> to carry out dubious initiatives, but a group called the <a href="https://abovethelaw.com/2022/03/with-coming-wave-of-ethics-complaints-trump-attorneys-may-actually-face-consequences-for-their-actions/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">65 Project</a> is pursuing disciplinary actions against those lawyers who have acted unethically. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">The organisation identified <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/10/us/trump-lawyers-legal-exposure.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">110 lawyers</a> in 26 states who "agreed to participate" in plots to overthrow the 2020 election, some involving crimes, e.g, <a href="https://www.azcentral.com/story/opinion/op-ed/ej-montini/2022/07/26/arizona-fake-electors-electoral-college-jack-wilenchik-kelli-ward/10156607002/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">concocting sham slates of presidential electors</a> (more <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/12/us/politics/trump-aides-jan-6-doj.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">here</a>). Some lawyers <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/26/politics/georgia-state-bar-republican-lawyers-fake-elector-plot/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">even served as fake electors</a>.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">For the Mar-a-Lago search response, Trump relied on a crew that included TV host <a href="https://www.emptywheel.net/2022/08/24/christina-bobb-custodian-of-records-and-coup-conspirator/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Christina Bobb</a>, parking garage lawyer <a href="https://abovethelaw.com/2022/08/trump-lawyer-alina-habba-wonders-why-doj-is-harassing-trump-with-mundane-stuff-like-the-espionage-act/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Alina Habba</a> and other <a href="https://www.mediaite.com/trump/trumps-legal-team-includes-a-former-oan-host-a-lawyer-for-a-parking-garage-company-and-kash-patel-selling-tank-tops-and-beanies/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">D-list lawyers</a>, plus two experienced lawyers, <a href="https://www.abajournal.com/news/article/meet-m.-evan-corcoran-a-former-biglaw-partner-who-now-represents-trump?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Evan Corcoran</a> and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/28/us/politics/trump-search-legal-team.html?" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">James Trusty</a>. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Trump's lawyers need to know <a href="https://www.emptywheel.net/2022/09/04/evan-corcoran-keeps-arguing-that-evan-corcoran-didnt-do-a-diligent-search/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">which documents incriminate Trump</a>, so they can assert <a href="http://www.dorfonlaw.org/2022/09/trumps-fourth-amendment-arguments-and.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">4th Amendment claims</a> under <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/rules/frcrmp/rule_41" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>Rule 41</em></a>. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">After forum-shopping Florida for a sympathetic judge, they found the Trump-appointed <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2022/9/15/23355813/trump-judge-aileen-cannon-special-master-order-justice-department" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Aileen Cannon</a>; she obligingly ordered an unheard-of review of the documents (property of the executive branch under the <em>PRA</em>) by a <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/special_master" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">special master</a>.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Trump's initial motion in Cannon's court partly <a href="https://www.vice.com/en/article/v7v7wb/trumps-latest-mar-a-lago-gambit-just-backfired-spectacularly" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">backfired</a> in that Corcoran and Bobb <a href="https://www.salon.com/2022/09/03/and-consequences-after-an-amazing-series-of-unforced-errors-indictment-is-coming/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">came under DOJ scrutiny</a> for <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/08/31/trump-documents-removed-storage-room/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">misleading statements</a>, but following a <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2022/09/02/politics/key-lines-mar-a-lago-special-master-hearing/index.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">hearing</a>, Judge Cannon <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/09/05/trump-special-master-documents/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">granted the motion</a> for a special master to review, for executive privilege, documents DOJ had <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/29/us/politics/trump-documents-doj.html?action=click&algo=bandit-all-surfaces-time-cutoff-30_impression_cut_3_filter_new_arm_5_1&alpha=0.05&block=more_in_recirc&fellback=false&imp_id=396717617&impression_id=e5cb7231-27db-11e" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">already perused</a> for <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/08/29/trumpspecial-master-documents/?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">legal privilege</a>. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">This <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/05/us/trump-special-master-aileen-cannon.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">ruling</a>, described as "<a href="https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2022/09/doj-appeal-judge-cannon-trump-special-master.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">incredibly flawed</a>", put an ex-president with <a href="https://www.abajournal.com/news/article/unclean-hands-and-executive-privilege-scope-debated-after-judge-requires-special-master-in-trump-case?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">unclean hands</a> in a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/05/us/politics/trump-special-master.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">privileged position</a>, and was <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/09/07/special-master-ruling-trump-classified-documents/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">widely criticised</a> (also <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/09/06/trump-judge-mar-a-lago-documents-grim-future/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">here</a>). </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><span class="full-image-block ssNonEditable" style="display: block;"><img alt="" src="https://justinian.com.au/storage/people/new-stories-2018/Cannon_Aileen_Judge_660.png?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1663573097450" style="border: 0px none;" /></span><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">Florida "Trump judge", Aileen Cannon</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">DoJ <a href="https://int.nyt.com/data/documenttools/combined-doj-files/2221c18ea3cf8ae1/full.pdf" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">appealed</a> for a stay; Trump's <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/14/us/politics/trump-presidential-records-act.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">muddled</a> <a href="https://int.nyt.com/data/documenttools/trump-response/e240301c645f4c28/full.pdf" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">response</a> called the matter a "<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/12/us/politics/trump-doj-special-master.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">document storage dispute</a>", and suggested <em>classified</em> documents <a href="https://www.emptywheel.net/2022/09/14/yes-trump-was-taking-notes-on-classified-documents/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">became <em>personal</em></a> with Trump's annotations. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Cannon <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2022/09/15/politics/mar-a-lago-search-special-master/index.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">appointed the special master</a>, and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/15/us/trump-documents-special-master.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">kept the injunction</a> against DoJ using any documents (including the 100 classified ones) for investigative purposes. DoJ <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/16/us/politics/trump-special-master-justice-dept.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">appealed</a> that ruling <a href="https://www.politico.com/f/?id=00000183-48f7-dd78-adb3-6dff488e0000" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">here</a>.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">The ex-president meanwhile continues to obstruct justice, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/sep/01/donald-trump-pardons-january-6-us-capitol-attack" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">promising to pardon everyone</a> who participated in the January 6 insurrection (the Constitution contemplates pardons for insurgents, to quell unrest, not to "<a href="https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2022/09/founders-donald-trump-jan-6-pardon-hamilton.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">support insurrectionists and reward violence</a>").</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><a href="https://www.justsecurity.org/82962/when-where-and-for-what-mar-a-lago-crimes-should-garland-indict-trump/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">If Trump is indicted</a>, what extreme response might result? The <a href="https://newrepublic.com/article/167558/trump-indictment-classified-documents-judge?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>New Republic</em></a><em> </em>worried: </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">"If an indictment is a <em>fait accompli</em>, then we're in for something we've never seen in this country ... a former head of state potentially leading a civil war and/or committing open treason by using state secrets for leverage." </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><strong>≈ ≈ ≈</strong></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Judge Cannon epitomises the partisan disorder Donald Trump brought to the federal judiciary. The <a href="https://newrepublic.com/article/167666/aileen-cannon-special-master-doj?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Trumping of federal courts</a> has been a disaster, but at least federal judges aren't elected. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">In many states, judges <em>are</em> elected (and unelected), and partisan lawyers are groomed for judicial elections where wildly-expensive advertising is funded by special interests, sometimes potential litigants. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><a href="https://apnews.com/article/abortion-2022-midterm-elections-us-supreme-court-raleigh-9233470c6557fff307a24cd97db3453c" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">32 states</a> with elected supreme court judges will be voting on them this November. Many such states are ruled by Republicans striving to ideologically-stack their highest courts. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><span class="full-image-block ssNonEditable" style="display: block;"><img alt="" src="https://justinian.com.au/storage/people/new-stories-2018/Seid_Barre_.jpeg?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1663573330650" style="border: 0px none;" /></span><span style="font-size: 9.6px;">Leonard Leo: Republican court stacker</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">The man behind these efforts is <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federalist_Society" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Federalist Society</a> functionary <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonard_Leo" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Leonard Leo</a>, who, <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/06/30/1108351562/roe-abortion-supreme-court-scotus-law" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">more than anyone else</a>, is responsible for pushing Republican party loyalists and ideologues into every level of the federal judiciary. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Leo's target is now state courts, and his "Freedom Trust" is funded by <a href="https://www.levernews.com/how-a-secretive-billionaire-handed-his-fortune-to-the-architect-of-the-right-wing-takeover-of-the-courts/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">the largest political contribution in American history</a>, <em>$1.6 billion</em> in <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/08/25/dark-money-federalist-society-politics-distortion/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">dark money</a> from an <a href="https://www.salon.com/2022/08/23/secretive-billionaire-handed-his-fortune-to-architect-of-the-right-wing-takeover-of-the-courts_partner/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">until-recently undisclosed</a> donor, <a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/barre-seid-heartland-institute-hillsdale-college-gmu" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Barre Seid</a> (more in <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/political-commentary/tax-reform-disclose-act-barre-seid-opinion-1234583123/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>Rolling Stone</em></a>).</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Is this a great country, or what? </p></div>Candacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08551216220515434004noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2634286779940664473.post-30286113174970052752022-08-19T09:00:00.001-07:002022-08-19T09:00:13.722-07:00From Roger Fitch and our Friends Down Under at Justinian.<p> </p><h2 class="title" style="background-color: #f9f4f1; color: #bf370a; font-family: Brawler, "sans-serif"; font-size: 21px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><a class="journal-entry-navigation-current" href="https://justinian.com.au/columnists/primary-colours.html" style="color: #bf370a; letter-spacing: 0px; line-height: 1em; margin-bottom: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;">Primary colours</a></h2><div class="journal-entry-tag journal-entry-tag-post-title" style="background-color: #f9f4f1; color: #a6a6a6; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 10px; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-top: 10px; text-transform: uppercase;"><span class="posted-in"><span class="tag-element" style="white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://justinian.com.au/columnists/category/roger-fitch-esq" rel="tag" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">ROGER FITCH ESQ</a></span></span> • <span class="posted-on" style="white-space: nowrap;">MONDAY, AUGUST 15, 2022</span></div><div class="body" style="background-color: #f9f4f1; color: #0b0b0b; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 16px; margin: 1em 0px;"><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><strong>Democracy US-style ... November elections where Big Lie candidates abound ... Key states in the grip of Trump-nominated electoral officials ... Hundreds of new state laws to reshape the vote ... GOP plan for permanent minority government, with assistance from the Supreme Court ... Trouble in wait for Republicans' <em>Pravda</em> ... Roger Fitch's reports from our Washington bureau </strong></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><span class="full-image-float-right ssNonEditable" style="float: right; margin: 0px 0px 8px 10px;"><img alt="" src="https://justinian.com.au/storage/lawtoons/toons-other/Washington_Fitch_Whore_250.gif?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1660545471847" style="border: 0px none;" /></span><strong style="font-size: 17.6px;">President Biden</strong> has had a legislative victory, despite Democrats struggling with a small house majority and not-quite-majority senate. The upper house, in nominal Democrat control, has been held hostage by Senators <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Manchin" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Joe Manchin</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyrsten_Sinema" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Kyrsten Sinema</a>. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Republicans had come to rely on the two "Blue Dog" Democrats to obstruct Biden's legislative agenda, and were taken by surprise when the two voted for a reduced remnant of the key Democrat infrastructure bill, the optimistically-renamed <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inflation_Reduction_Act_of_2022" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>Inflation Reduction Act</em></a><em>.</em></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">There were liberal jokes that Manchin had shocked Republicans by <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/07/29/manchin-drug-energy-bill-still-democrat/?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">revealing he's a Democrat</a>, but the conservative <em>Bulwark</em> was all praise for <a href="https://thetriad.thebulwark.com/p/joe-manchin-was-right-about-pretty?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Manchin's manoeuvres</a>. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em; text-align: center;"><strong style="font-size: 20.8px;">≈ ≈ ≈</strong></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">The party pre-selections for this year's November elections are now largely complete in US states, and it's clear the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/08/03/mark-finchem-arizona-gop-fringe-win/?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">paranoid fringe</a> is becoming the party establishment in most Republican-controlled states, where Donald Trump's election-denying supporters have chosen the nuttiest, coup-supporting, election-liars among their party's appalling range of candidates - some of whom received covert Democrat assistance. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">The Democrats' <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2022/08/01/democrats-risky-meddling-gop-primaries-00048962" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">controversial gamble</a> assumes that genuinely crazy "MAGA-loon" candidates will repel independent voters and be easier to defeat in November; Republicans meddle in Democrat primaries <a href="https://www.salon.com/2022/08/08/alarming-quietly-funneled-millions-into-democratic-primaries-to-wipe-out-progressives/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">for opposite reasons</a>, spending to defeat progressive opponents. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">The tactic may be working for Democrats in <a href="https://newrepublic.com/article/167138/maryland-republicans-nominate-dan-cox-michael-peroutka-extremists" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">deep-blue Maryland</a>, where the craziest Republicans standing for governor and AG have won pre-selection, and it may work elsewhere, now that the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/08/12/trump-warrant-release/?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">contents of Donald Trump's safe</a> have been revealed.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Already-tainted Republicans, like Wisconsin's <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ron_Johnson_(Wisconsin_politician)" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Ron Johnson</a>, perhaps the most detested US senator (after Ted Cruz) and an unashamed insurrectionist, could lose to a centre-left Democrat, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandela_Barnes" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Lt Governor Mandela Barnes</a>, although Wisconsin remains <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/08/01/will-wisconsins-republicans-make-voting-meaningless-or-just-difficult" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">emblematic</a> of America's two-party decline. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">There's a danger in newly-minted Republican cranks, e.g, in Pennsylvania, where the TV personality Dr Oz (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mehmet_Oz" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Mehmet Oz</a>) could win a senate seat. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Missouri's senate primary perplexed Trump cultists, as their hero <a href="https://www.salon.com/2022/07/26/trumpworld-splinters-over-senate-primary/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">couldn't decide</a> which of two dreadful Erics to support: the disgraced former governor and wife-beater <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Greitens" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Eric Greitens</a>, or the current AG, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_S._Schmitt" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Eric Schmitt</a>, who joined in frivolous and baseless lawsuits to overthrow the 2020 election - (Schmitt won). </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">A greater worry: the number of overtly partisan candidates for "secretaries of state", i.e, state election administrators. <a href="https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/big-liars-dominated-key-republican-primaries-tuesday" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Big Lie candidates</a> for such offices dominated this year's Republican primaries. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Using the "stolen elections" pretext, candidates for state election administrators obliquely promised to throw the November elections for Republicans, and many of these candidates won party pre-selection.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Alarmingly, Republicans in <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/03/us/politics/gop-election-deniers-trump-arizona-michigan.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Arizona, Michigan, Nevada and Pennsylvania</a> chose Big Lie candidates for offices that regulate or rule on elections, based on the hope they would conduct elections for the benefit of Republicans. These nominees will be well-placed to tamper with the presidential vote in 2024 if they win office this November. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><span class="full-image-block ssNonEditable" style="display: block;"><img alt="" src="https://justinian.com.au/storage/people/new-stories-2018/dr_oz_doug_mastriano_660.png?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1660546553824" style="border: 0px none;" /></span><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">Dr. Oz and Doug Mastriano: the odd couple</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">In Pennsylvania, an actual participant in the January 6 insurgency, the <a href="https://www.salon.com/2022/07/04/hes-on-a-mission-from-god-pennsylvania-candidate-doug-mastrianos-with-the-world/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">bonkers</a> Doug Mastriano, won the Republican nomination for governor, putting him in position to flip his state's electoral votes in 2024 to Trump or his surrogate. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">As governor, Mastriano could appoint an elections "secretary of state" guaranteed to produce the results Republicans want; and as a <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/pittsburgh/news/democrats-say-doug-mastriano-breached-police-lines-jan-6-insurrection/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">January 6 insurrectionist</a>, he ought to be <a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/doug-mastriano-pennsylvania-ballot/?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">barred from office</a> under the 14th Amendment. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kris_Kobach" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Kris Kobach</a> won the Republican nomination for Kansas attorney general. Kobach previously served as a secretary of state, acquiring a reputation as perhaps the most partisan of state election officials. He was in constant strife with the Obama administration for his efforts to purge voters and unlawfully require proof of citizenship; he can be counted on for <a href="https://www.kansascity.com/news/politics-government/election/article264085621.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">political mischief</a> if elected. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Republicans sow distrust in elections themselves: some of their election officials <a href="https://www.salon.com/2022/07/30/officials-refuse-to-certify-primaries-this-is-how-are-planning-to-steal-elections/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">cheat in their own party's primaries</a>, refusing to certify results they find uncongenial, and the Big Lie candidates who lose claim Republican rivals cheated. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">An (indicted) county clerk standing for <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2022/07/28/politics/tina-peters-mesa-county-clerk-recount-loss/index.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Colorado secretary of state</a> paid $250,000 for a recount of a primary election she lost by <em>14 points</em>. She <a href="https://coloradosun.com/2022/08/04/tina-peters-recount-results-colorado/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">picked up 14 votes</a>. So did her winning opponent. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">In total, <a href="https://electionlawblog.org/?p=129914" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">more than 100 Trump-endorsed Big Lie supporters</a> will be Republican candidates for office in the November general elections. Some of them were <a href="https://electionlawblog.org/?p=129145" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Condorcet losers</a> in an awful run-off system where the last one standing wins; the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/04/us/elections/jr-majewski-ohio.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">NYT</a> reported on one such Congressional primary in Ohio. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em; text-align: center;"><strong><span style="font-size: 20.8px;">≈ ≈ ≈</span></strong></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Manufacturing partisan and/or racist gerrymanders is standard practice in Republican legislatures and, surprisingly, ostensibly-independent judicial districting commissions can be hijacked by political parties. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><span class="full-image-block ssNonEditable" style="display: block;"><img alt="" src="https://justinian.com.au/storage/people/new-stories-2018/Bowers_Rusty_660.png?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1660546814904" style="border: 0px none;" /></span><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">Rusty Bowers: scalped</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">In Ohio, a Republican-controlled elections commission abetted substantial <a href="https://www.cleveland.com/news/2022/07/ohio-supreme-court-again-rejects-republican-congressional-map-ordering-redraw-for-2024-elections.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">legislative gerrymanders</a>. The US supreme court is allowing them to be used in this year's elections, despite Ohio's highest court finding the proposed electorates unconstitutional <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/jul/21/ohio-republicans-gerrymandered-maps" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>seven times</em></a>. The Republican-aligned supreme court's abuse of interim orders (the "<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadow_docket" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">shadow docket</a>") is to blame. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">The ruling that the districts are unconstitutional still stands - for future elections. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Georgia, Alabama and Louisiana will <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/08/us/elections/gerrymandering-maps-elections-republicans.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">also be allowed to use</a> unconstitutionally-gerrymandered districts in November's election, leaving appeals to be sorted out in 2023. As election law expert <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_L._Hasen" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Rick Hazen</a> noted, "states are getting one free election before they have to change their rules".</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">It's a supreme court <a href="https://campaignlegal.org/document/supreme-courts-role-degradation-us-democracy" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">degradation of democracy</a> that will only benefit Republicans in this year's elections.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">With the US supreme court having effectively repealed most of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voting_Rights_Act_of_1965" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>Voting Rights Act 1965</em></a>, Republican jurisdictions are introducing a variety of racist voting restrictions, e.g, Georgia eliminated 75% of drop boxes in places where blacks live and attempt to vote.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">In the run-up to November elections, Republican-ruled states have enacted <a href="https://www.newsfromthestates.com/article/criminalizing-vote-gop-led-states-enacted-102-new-election-penalties-after-2020" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">over 100 new laws</a> to penalise and shape voting. Sixty of them are <em>felonies</em>. More <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4177005&dgcid=ejournal_htmlemail_university:of:wisconsin:law:school:legal:studies:research:paper:series_abstractlink" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">here</a>.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">There is one last strand in the Republicans' plot for permanent minority government: the <a href="https://verdict.justia.com/2022/06/02/the-court-seems-poised-to-decide-soon-whether-to-take-up-the-independent-state-legislature-isl-notion-and-hopefully-its-textual-nuances" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">spurious</a> theory of "<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Independent_state_legislature_theory" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">the independent state legislature</a>". The supreme court will consider ISL in an October term case. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">It's the astonishing, newly-invented, notion that a state legislature's electoral decisions take precedence over the state's executive government and its highest court's interpretation of the state constitution.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Some Republican legislative leaders such as house speakers remain honourable, and Donald Trump has accordingly attacked them, in <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/08/06/trump-robin-vos/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Wisconsin</a>, and in <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/rusty-bowers-arizona-election-results-david-farnsworth-january-6/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Arizona</a>, where he has just obtained the scalp of Rusty Bowers, the state's Speaker of the House who testified before the January 6 house committee.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em; text-align: center;"><strong><span style="font-size: 20.8px;">≈ ≈ ≈</span></strong></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><span class="full-image-block ssNonEditable" style="display: block;"><img alt="" src="https://justinian.com.au/storage/photos-general/Fox_News_Pravda.jpeg?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1660547310842" style="border: 0px none;" /></span><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">America's <em>Pravda</em></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">In the wake of a new book on <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/08/04/dana-milbank-republican-destructionists-book-excerpt/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Republican destructionists</a> and the <a href="https://www.salon.com/2022/07/12/so-where-did-all-this-right-wing-religious-nuttery-come-from_partner/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">religious nuttery</a> that fuels it, some media are revisiting the sources of today's malevolent Republicanism: the 1994 <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2022/08/05/tracing-republican-partys-devolution-one-man-newt-gingrich/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">rise of Newt Gingrich</a>, and the 2000 <a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/brooks-brothers-riot/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Brooks-Brothers Riot</a>.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Big-Lie-backing media are beginning to suffer for their loyal Trumpism: the rightwing network <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_America_News_Network" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>One America</em></a> seems <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/26/business/oan-troubles.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">headed for the ditch</a>, more <a href="https://slate.com/business/2022/07/oan-verizon-fios-directv-cable-trump.html?" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">here</a>, and a long-overdue reckoning for the Republican <em>Pravda, Fox News,</em> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/media/2022/jul/04/fox-oan-newsmax-lawsuits-election-fraud-claims" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">may be at hand</a>. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Perhaps too late, Rupert Murdoch has trimmed his sails, ending Trump-promotions on <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/29/business/media/fox-news-donald-trump-rupert-murdoch.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>Fox</em></a><em> </em>and<em> </em>turning both the upmarket <em>Wall Street Journal</em> and seedy <a href="https://nypost.com/2022/07/22/trumps-jan-6-silence-renders-him-unworthy-for-2024-reelection/?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>NY Post</em></a> against Trump's crimes. </p></div>Candacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08551216220515434004noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2634286779940664473.post-52161260024049915132022-07-10T14:40:00.001-07:002022-07-10T14:40:09.889-07:00FROM ROGER FITCH AND OUR FRIENDS DOWN UNDER....<p> </p><h2 class="title" style="background-color: #f9f4f1; color: #bf370a; font-family: Brawler, "sans-serif"; font-size: 21px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">T<a class="journal-entry-navigation-current" href="https://justinian.com.au/columnists/the-revolutionary-tribunal.html" style="color: #bf370a; letter-spacing: 0px; line-height: 1em; margin-bottom: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;">he Revolutionary Tribunal</a></h2><div class="journal-entry-tag journal-entry-tag-post-title" style="background-color: #f9f4f1; color: #a6a6a6; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 10px; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-top: 10px; text-transform: uppercase;"><span class="posted-in"><span class="tag-element" style="white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://justinian.com.au/columnists/category/roger-fitch-esq" rel="tag" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">ROGER FITCH ESQ</a></span></span> • <span class="posted-on" style="white-space: nowrap;">TUESDAY, JULY 5, 2022</span></div><div class="body" style="background-color: #f9f4f1; color: #0b0b0b; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 16px; margin: 1em 0px;"><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><strong>The US Supreme Court has become a Republican law enforcement tribunal ... Abortions, guns, religion, environment ... Cherry-picked legal reasoning ... Historical inaccuracies ... Worse to come ... Same sex marriage in Texas ... Washington correspondent Roger Fitch files </strong></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em; padding-left: 30px;"><em>"[I]n future cases, we should reconsider all of this Court's substantive due process precedents, including Griswold [contraception], Lawrence [same-sex relationships], and Obergefell [gay marriage] ... Because any substantive due process decision is 'demonstrably erroneous' ... we have a duty to 'correct the error' established in those precedents".</em><br /><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/06/24/contraception-supreme-court-clarence-thomas-griswold/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Clarence Thomas</a>, concurrence overruling <em>Roe v Wade.</em> </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em; padding-left: 30px;"><em>"The majority has overruled Roe and Casey for one and only one reason: because it has always despised them, and now it has the votes to discard them. The majority thereby substitutes a rule by judges for the rule of law." </em><br /><a href="https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/a40409802/dobbs-jackson-dissenting-opinion-supreme-court-roe-wade/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>Dobbs</em> dissent</a>. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em; padding-left: 30px;"><em>"They did it because they could. It was as simple as that."</em><br /><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/24/opinion/roe-v-wade-dobbs-decision.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Linda Greenhouse</a>.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><span class="full-image-float-right ssNonEditable" style="float: right; margin: 0px 0px 8px 10px;"><img alt="" src="https://justinian.com.au/storage/lawtoons/toons-other/Fitch_Liberty_finger_update_250.gif?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1657008964238" style="border: 0px none;" /></span><strong style="font-size: 17.6px;">The</strong> supreme court's first full term with three <em>Trumpistes</em> ended with a <a href="http://www.dorfonlaw.org/2022/06/the-week-from-hell.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">week from hell</a>.</p><div></div><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">No longer a court, it's become a <a href="https://www.courthousenews.com/america-gets-first-taste-of-an-originalist-supreme-court/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">revolutionary</a> tribunal, a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Committee_of_Public_Safety" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>Comité de Salut Public</em></a><em> </em>of six instead of twelve. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Six radical justices, led by Alito and Thomas, achieved a trifecta: public funding for religious schools (the First Amendment separation of church and state notwithstanding), unlimited guns on the streets of "blue" states (despite long-standing regulations in those states) and then, the greatest prize of all for dutiful evangelicals and right-wing Catholics, the end of legal abortions in Republican-ruled states, whether regulated, <a href="https://newrepublic.com/article/166926/abortion-bans-health-care-ectopic" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">medically-required</a> or any other reason, including rape and incest.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">The abortion decision, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dobbs_v._Jackson_Women's_Health_Organization" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>Dobbs v Jackson Women's Health</em></a> was the worst; as feared, Justice Sam Alito overruled <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roe_v._Wade" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>Roe v Wade</em></a> (1973), the case establishing abortion rights. For the first time, the court withdrew an established constitutional right. Cruel <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/07/03/abortion-data-privacy-prosecution/?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">persecutions</a> may follow.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">The momentum for overruling <em>Roe </em>was <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/06/25/us/how-roe-ended.html?" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">recent</a>, following the Republican sweep of state legislatures in 2010, yet in 12 years, a <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/23167397/abortion-public-opinion-polls-americans" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">religious minority</a> turned the court.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><em>Dobbs</em>' basis in US history and law was shaky. The <em>Post's </em><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/06/25/roe-guns-supreme-court-radicals-maximum-chaos/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Dana Milbank</a> was struck by the majority's inconsistent embrace of the 13th-century legal treatise by the misogynist <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_de_Bracton" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Henry de Bracton</a> to justify an abortion ban, one day after the same justices rejected, in the gun-carry case, the relevance of the 13th century <a href="https://www.statutesandstories.com/blog_html/the-statute-of-northampton-and-the-second-amendment/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>Statute of Northampton</em></a>, an English law that was actually adopted in American colonies.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">The <a href="https://newrepublic.com/article/166891/thomas-roe-marriage-equality-contraception" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>New Republic</em></a><em> </em>and <a href="https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2022/06/supreme-court-dobbs-roe-wade-obergefell-marriage-equality.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>Slate</em></a><em> </em>predicted dire flow-on consequences. Is this where <a href="https://verdict.justia.com/2022/06/14/justice-alitos-opinion-on-abortion?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Sam Alito</a> and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/25/opinion/clarence-thomas-abortion-supreme-court.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Clarence Thomas</a> are headed, post-<em>Dobbs, </em>an America where <a href="https://verdict.justia.com/2022/06/27/justice-alitos-opinion-on-abortion-not-just-the-end-of-reproductive-rights-but-the-downfall-of-fundamental-civil-liberties-guaranteed-by-the-fourth-amendment-to-all-americans?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">multiple rights</a> outlined in the constitution, and especially <a href="https://theintercept.com/2022/06/24/roe-wade-overturned-supreme-court-14th-amendment/?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">the 14th amendment</a>, are threatened by a partisan judicial philosophy?</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">It's unclear if this determined supreme court clique will green-light the inevitable efforts by abortion-banning states to interfere with the FDA-approved abortion drugs used in half of the abortion treatments in the US. The states may not have the power to ban drugs <a href="https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2022/06/fda-approval-abortion-pill-mifepristone-legal-future-loophole/?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">approved and regulated</a> by the FDA, which can use its regulatory powers to pre-empt state interference ("cover the field").</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Other options include use of <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2022/06/27/biden-democrats-roe-solutions-00042603" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">federal facilities</a> or <a href="https://nativenewsonline.net/currents/supreme-court-overturns-roe-v-wade-indian-country-responds" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">tribal land</a> in restrictive states. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">The same six justices decided the <a href="https://amylhowe.com/2022/06/21/court-strikes-down-maines-ban-on-using-public-funds-at-religious-schools/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">schools case</a> from Maine, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carson_v._Makin" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>Carson v Makin</em></a>, where the Catholic church and its fundamentalist allies finally achieved their long-held goal of forcing state support for religious schools.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">The First Amendment's religious clause is clear: "<em>Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.</em>" </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">In the <a href="http://www.dorfonlaw.org/2022/06/when-will-scotus-hold-that.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">militant</a> <em>Carson </em>decision, however, a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/22/briefing/supreme-court-religion.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">theocratic</a> majority <a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/society/supreme-court-religious-schools/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">turned separation of church and state</a> on its head, <a href="https://verdict.justia.com/2022/06/22/the-supreme-court-further-dismantles-the-establishment-clause-empowers-religious-parents-to-obtain-taxpayer-funds-for-sectarian-schools-and-ignores-the-rights-of-the-children-in-carson-v-makin?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">dismantling</a> the Establishment clause in order to <a href="https://newrepublic.com/article/166858/roberts-carson-makin-religious-schools?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">privilege</a> Free Exercise. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">A prescient Maine anticipated the court's Christian mischief, with <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/23/opinion/supreme-court-guns-religion.html?" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">a cunning plan</a>, apparently successful, to deter the <em>Carson </em>plaintiffs: a recently-enacted state law requires private schools who seek public money to agree to the non-discrimination laws applicable to public schools, as a condition of funding. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Another supreme court <a href="https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2022/06/coach-kennedy-bremerton-prayer-football-public-school.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">religious incursion</a> into education in June, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kennedy_v._Bremerton_School_District" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>Kennedy</em> <em>v Bremerton School District</em></a> (the "praying-coach case"), won't be so easy to fix. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">The day before <em>Dobbs,</em> the same six justices, led by Clarence Thomas, issued an <a href="https://theintercept.com/2022/06/24/supreme-court-gun-second-amendment-bruen/?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">historically-false</a> and <a href="https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2022/06/supreme-court-new-york-concealed-carry-law-gun-control-bruen.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">maximalist</a> gun-use <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2022/06/23/supreme-court-strikes-down-new-york-gun-law-along-ideological-lines-00041691" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">decision</a>, in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_State_Rifle_&_Pistol_Association,_Inc._v._Bruen" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v Bruen</em></a><em>. </em>Legal comment <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/01/opinion/guns-supreme-court.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">criticised</a> the peculiar <a href="https://verdict.justia.com/2022/06/23/the-peculiar-historical-methodology-of-the-scotus-handgun-carry-case" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">historical methodology</a> and <a href="https://www.scotusblog.com/2022/06/cherry-picked-history-and-ideology-driven-outcomes-bruens-originalist-distortions/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">cherry-picked history</a> in the "<a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/06/23/1102995474/supreme-court-opinion-guns" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">handgun-carry</a>" opinion.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">State governments might work around the nihilistic <em>Bruen</em> decision by using Maine's model: take Justice Thomas's statement that guns can be banned in "sensitive places", and expand the list to include <a href="https://www.justsecurity.org/82168/protecting-the-freedom-of-peaceful-assembly-after-bruen-a-roadmap-for-state-lawmakers/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">peaceful assemblies</a>, transport and much more, as <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2022/07/01/new-york-gun-bill-pass-00043760" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">New York just did</a>. Gun-carrying may require prohibitively-expensive liability insurance. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">The court <a href="https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2022/06/sotomayor-border-patrol-civil-rights-lawsuits.html?" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">compromised</a> other rights in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egbert_v._Boule" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>Egbert v Boule</em></a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vega_v._Tekoh" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>Vega v Teko</em></a>; the latter <a href="https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2022/06/miranda-warnings-supreme-court-alito-kagan.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">weakened</a> the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miranda_warning" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>Miranda</em> warning</a>. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><span class="full-image-block ssNonEditable" style="display: block;"><img alt="" src="https://justinian.com.au/storage/people/new-stories-2018/Thomas_Clarence_laugh_660.jpeg?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1657009474059" style="border: 0px none;" /></span><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">Clarence Thomas: having fun</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Landmark tribal rights only recognised in 2020 in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McGirt_v._Oklahoma" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>McGirt v Oklahoma</em></a> were <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/29/us/politics/supreme-court-ruling-oklahoma-tribes.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">clawed back</a> by the newly-constituted court in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oklahoma_v._Castro-Huerta" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>Oklahoma v Castro-Huerta</em></a>. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">The supreme court saved its <a href="https://amylhowe.com/2022/06/30/supreme-court-curtails-epas-authority-to-fight-climate-change/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">most consequential</a> decision for its final day. In 2007, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massachusetts_v._EPA" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>Massachusetts v EPA</em></a> held that the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Environmental_Protection_Agency" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>Environmental Protections Agency</em></a><em> </em>had a congressional mandate to regulate greenhouse gas emissions, under the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clean_Air_Act_(United_States)" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>Clean Air Act 1970</em></a><em> </em>. Now, before the Biden administration even issued regulations, the EPA's powers were <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/06/30/supreme-court-epa-climate-change/?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">decimated</a>, in a rare <a href="http://www.intrepidreport.com/archives/35784" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">and suspect</a> use by the court of the "<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nondelegation_doctrine#Major_questions_doctrine" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">major questions doctrine</a>", i.e, the non-delegation principle.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Virginia_v._EPA" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>West Virginia v EPA's</em></a> fallout will be <a href="https://www.salon.com/2022/06/30/cataclysmic-conservatives-on-rules-against-epas-plan-to-combat-climate-change/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">cataclysmic</a>, <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2022/06/30/supreme-court-handcuffs-biden-on-major-climate-rule-00043423" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">handcuffing</a> Biden's climate efforts; <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/06/30/1103595898/supreme-court-epa-climate-change?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">unobtainable</a> new legislation will be required before the administration can begin implementing ambitious <a href="https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2022/06/west-virginia-v-epa-supreme-court/?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">climate-control policies</a> first proposed in Obama's 2015 <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clean_Power_Plan" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>Clean Power Plan</em></a>. More <a href="https://prospect.org/justice/supreme-court-stages-coup-against-government-regulation/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">here</a> and <a href="https://newrepublic.com/article/166934/west-virginia-epa-supreme-court-case-ruling-carbon-emissions-administrative-state?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">here</a>.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">The court's last opinions included two favouring Democrats: the court <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2022/06/30/supreme-court-rejects-challenge-to-biden-effort-to-end-trumps-remain-in-mexico-program-00043432" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">allowed</a> President Biden to end the Trump policy requiring <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/06/30/supreme-court-remain-in-mexico/?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">asylum seekers</a> to remain in Mexico while their applications were considered, and it also upheld, over religious claims, a New York <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/06/30/supreme-court-vaccine-mandate-religious-exemption/?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">vaccine mandate</a>.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">The court's remaining targets include <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2022/06/27/supreme-court-voting-rights-act-00042478" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">what's left</a> of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voting_Rights_Act_of_1965" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>Voting Rights Act 1965</em></a>. Judging from recent <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadow_docket" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">shadow docket</a> orders, <a href="https://amylhowe.com/2022/06/28/justices-reinstate-louisiana-voting-map-that-is-being-challenged-under-voting-rights-act/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">racist gerrymanders</a> will be permitted. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Little of the <em>VRA </em>survives, <a href="https://www.fairvote.org/this_is_what_nine_years_without_the_voting_rights_act_looks_like" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">nine years</a> after <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shelby_County_v._Holder" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>Shelby County v Holder</em></a> eliminated the core of the near-unanimously re-enacted Act<em>, </em>based on CJ Roberts' claim that racial discrimination in American elections was a thing of the past.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Also on next term's docket: the <a href="https://electionlawblog.org/?p=130322" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">terrifying</a> new <a href="https://verdict.justia.com/2022/06/02/the-court-seems-poised-to-decide-soon-whether-to-take-up-the-independent-state-legislature-isl-notion-and-hopefully-its-textual-nuances" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">"independent state legislature" theory</a>. More <a href="https://www.scotusblog.com/2022/06/justices-will-hear-case-that-tests-power-of-state-legislatures-to-set-rules-for-federal-elections/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">here</a>.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">And so a "<a href="https://newrepublic.com/article/166678/supreme-court-roe-guns-epa?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">June of doom</a>" ended the 2021 court term. Statistically, it was the court's <a href="https://empiricalscotus.com/2022/06/07/least-productive-court/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">least productive</a> term. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Justices well <a href="https://www.courthousenews.com/study-finds-supreme-court-on-far-right-of-american-public/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">to the right</a> of Americans imposed and <a href="https://washingtonmonthly.com/2022/07/01/the-supreme-courts-term-underscores-minority-rule/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">reinforced minority rule</a>. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><a href="https://newrepublic.com/article/156855/republican-party-took-supreme-court?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Republicans</a> now own the court.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em; text-align: center;"><strong style="font-size: 20.8px;">≈ ≈ ≈</strong></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">The 100% Republican Texas Supreme Court <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/02/us/texas-supreme-court-abortion-ban.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">quickly revived</a> the state's defunct <em>1925</em> abortion ban. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Now, inspired by Justice Thomas's suggestion in <em>Dobbs </em>that same-sex relations and marriage be reconsidered, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ken_Paxton" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Ken Paxton</a>, Texas's long-indicted, <a href="https://www.salon.com/2022/05/26/texas-state-bar-sues-to-punish-ag-ken-paxton-over-dishonest-attempt-to-overturn_partner/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">soon-to-be-disbarred</a> AG, the <a href="https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2022/05/the-worst-lawyer-in-texas-just-put-an-end-to-the-bush-dynasty/?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">worst lawyer in Texas</a>, says he's <a href="https://www.chron.com/politics/article/Texas-abortion-ken-paxton-sodomy-law-gay-marriage-17271966.php" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">ready to enforce</a> the dormant state <a href="https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/3541707-texas-ag-says-he-would-back-law-banning-sodomy-if-supreme-court-reconsiders-landmark-case/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">sodomy law</a> that was struck down by the US supreme court in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawrence_v._Texas" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>Lawrence v Texas</em></a>, precursor to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obergefell_v._Hodges" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>Obergefell</em></a><em>. </em></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Paxton is getting worked up about nothing: the earliest-recorded <a href="https://daily.jstor.org/the-long-history-of-same-sex-marriage/?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">same-sex marriages</a> in North America, described by the European <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%81lvar_N%C3%BA%C3%B1ez_Cabeza_de_Vaca" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Cabeze de Vaca</a> in 1542, were among <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/44285272?mag=the-long-history-of-same-sex-marriage&seq=1" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Texas men</a>. </p></div>H. Candace Gormanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15947267626405585323noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2634286779940664473.post-15465522489154615702022-06-01T05:16:00.004-07:002022-06-01T05:16:42.596-07:00From Roger Fitch and our friends down under at Justinian<p> </p><h2 class="title" style="background-color: #f9f4f1; color: #bf370a; font-family: Brawler, "sans-serif"; font-size: 21px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">SC<a class="journal-entry-navigation-current" href="https://justinian.com.au/columnists/scotus-hollows-out-america.html" style="color: #bf370a; letter-spacing: 0px; line-height: 1em; margin-bottom: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;">OTUS hollows out America</a></h2><div class="journal-entry-tag journal-entry-tag-post-title" style="background-color: #f9f4f1; color: #a6a6a6; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 10px; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-top: 10px; text-transform: uppercase;"><span class="posted-in"><span class="tag-element" style="white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://justinian.com.au/columnists/category/roger-fitch-esq" rel="tag" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">ROGER FITCH ESQ</a></span></span> • <span class="posted-on" style="white-space: nowrap;">TUESDAY, MAY 31, 2022</span></div><div class="body" style="background-color: #f9f4f1; color: #0b0b0b; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 16px; margin: 1em 0px;"><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><strong>US Supreme Court ... Overturning <em>Roe v Wade</em> and other travesties ... Using religious beliefs to alter secular law ... Gutting civil rights remedies ... Looser gun regulations ... The malignant Fifth Circuit ... From Our Man in Washington, Roger Fitch </strong></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em; padding-left: 30px;"><em>"…[I]t's time to discuss religion whether we like it or not, because it's no longer knocking on the door: Sam Alito just sent it in the house with a no-knock warrant and stun grenades that threaten to catch the place on fire"</em> - <a href="https://www.salon.com/2022/05/10/why-is-the-using-religious-belief-to-alter-secular-law_partner/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Thom Hartmann</a></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><strong><span class="full-image-float-right ssNonEditable" style="float: right; margin: 0px 0px 8px 10px;"><img alt="" src="https://justinian.com.au/storage/lawtoons/toons-other/Coopes_liberty_finger_230.gif?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1653989410424" style="border: 0px none;" /></span>With</strong> Trump gone, the focus in Republican psychopathology has turned to individual supreme court justices, e.g, the <a href="http://www.dorfonlaw.org/2022/05/justice-thomass-greatest-hits.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">ethically-challenged</a> Clarence Thomas, yet one should never forget his fellow-traveller, Sam Alito, because Justice Alito is <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2022/05/18/samuel-alito-angry-man-00033207" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">one angry man</a>. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">There's been an unprecedented <a href="https://newrepublic.com/article/166282/alito-leak-roe-v-wade?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">leak of Alito's draft majority opinion</a> in the forthcoming abortion decision, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dobbs_v._Jackson_Women's_Health_Organization" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>Dobbs v Jackson Women's Health</em></a>, set to overrule <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roe_v._Wade" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>Roe v Wade</em></a>, and the justice's <a href="https://newrepublic.com/article/166414/alito-roe-english-common-law" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">grasp of history</a> has been faulted: resurrecting <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/04/arts/roe-v-wade-abortion-history.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">ancient common law</a>, he applies a <a href="https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2022/05/alito-opinion-roe-missing-history-abortion/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">legal narrative</a> more consistent with the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/law/2022/may/06/samuel-alito-profile-abortion-supreme-court-justice" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">17th century</a> than a <a href="https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2022/05/alito-dobbs-abortion-14-amendment-supreme-court/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">US history</a> with remedies for "<a href="https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2022-05-05/abortion-draft-opinion-14th-amendment-american-history-quickening" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">quickening</a>". </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Some see an intellectually-dishonest exercise designed to mask Alito's orthodox, powerful, but legally-irrelevant Roman Catholic beliefs: consider his <a href="https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2022/05/the-alarming-implications-of-alitos-domestic-supply-of-infants-footnote.html?" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">alarming footnote</a> on a shortfall in adoptable infants. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">It seems a foot in the door for a faith-based system in the US where <a href="https://newrepublic.com/article/166404/christian-right-roe-alito-abortion?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">religiously-defined morality displaces law</a>, a nation where religious adherents become the <a href="https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2022/04/how-religious-adherents-became-scotus-most-sympathetic-plaintiffs.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">most sympathetic plaintiffs</a> before a court that intends to <a href="https://www.salon.com/2022/05/10/why-is-the-using-religious-belief-to-alter-secular-law_partner/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">use religious belief to alter secular law</a>.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Overturning <em>Roe v Wade</em> is, in this analysis, but <a href="https://verdict.justia.com/2022/05/11/wake-up-good-people-overruling-roe-v-wade-is-just-one-of-the-three-fronts-in-the-religious-war-against-america?utm-" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">one front in a religious war</a> against America, and the draft opinion suggests that the conservative justices <a href="https://www.salon.com/2022/05/03/samuel-alitos-leaked-anti-abortion-decision-doesnt-plan-to-stop-at-roe/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">don't plan to stop with <em>Roe</em></a>. The impression that they don't mind being <a href="https://washingtonmonthly.com/2022/05/05/alitos-arrogance-and-the-end-of-roe/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">an extension of the Republican Party</a> has lawyers wondering <a href="https://verdict.justia.com/2022/05/03/overruling-roe-is-just-the-beginning?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">what's coming next</a>. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><em>Dobbs </em>will have consequences, as <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/05/alito-leaked-roe-opinion-abortion-supreme-court-civil-rights/629748/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">many civil rights will be threatened</a>, e.g, <a href="https://www.abajournal.com/web/article/legal-experts-fear-loss-of-abortion-right-could-usher-in-end-of-same-sex-marriage-other-rights?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">same-sex marriage</a>. The leak itself may <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2022/05/05/politics/supreme-court-second-amendment-guns-religion-climate-immigration/index.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">affect decisions</a> in other cases: <a href="https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2022/05/new-york-shooting-supreme-courts-gun-madness.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">e.g, guns</a> and <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/05/roe-affirmative-action-epa-supreme-court/629894/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">environmental protections</a>..</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Most fundamentally, the <em>Dobbs </em>draft <a href="https://prospect.org/justice/end-of-the-right-to-privacy-roe-v-wade/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">endangers</a> the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Right_to_Privacy_(article)" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">right to privacy</a> first formulated in 1890 by the revered future supreme court justice, Louis Brandeis, and the 1923 decision adopting it. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><span class="full-image-block ssNonEditable" style="display: block;"><img alt="" src="https://justinian.com.au/storage/people/new-stories-2018/Alito_Catholics.jpeg?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1654054670708" style="border: 0px none;" /></span><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">Alito: intellectually dishonest</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">According to law prof <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/10/opinion/supreme-court-abortion-roe.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Melissa Murray</a>: </p><blockquote style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic;"><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">"A decision overruling Roe v. Wade would threaten an entire line of jurisprudence rooted in the 14th Amendment's guarantee of liberty ... [going] back to a 1923 decision guaranteeing parents the right to raise their children free of undue state intervention, and it includes the right to marry, the right to engage in adult sexual relationships and the right to use contraception." </p></blockquote><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Besides <a href="https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2022/05/the-anti-abortion-movements-next-target-birth-control/?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">birth control</a>, medical assistance in pregnancy is in question, even after miscarriages, and creation of life <em>in vitro</em>. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><a href="http://www.dorfonlaw.org/2022/05/in-vitro-fertilization-and-dobbs.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Sherry Colb</a> believes IVF treatment won't be a problem: for Alito: </p><blockquote style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic;"><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">"... women are soil where men can plant their seeds, and soil has no right to uproot the plants that start growing. People who seek IVF, by contrast, do not challenge the role of women in our society. IVF places women in a state of pregnancy, which is where [Alito] wants them."</p></blockquote><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em; text-align: center;"><strong style="font-size: 20.8px;">≈ ≈ ≈</strong></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Even before the "abortion leak", the supreme court began <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2022/05/09/even-before-leaked-opinion-scotus-gutted-key-civil-rights-remedies/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">gutting civil rights remedies</a>: at least five radical decisions are <a href="https://www.salon.com/2022/05/26/5-decisions-from-this-term-that-are-terrifyingly-radical--and-not-about-abortion/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">already out</a>. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">The court upheld Ted Cruz's <a href="https://prospect.org/justice/supreme-court-strikes-candidate-loan-repayment-limits/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">leveraged buyout</a> of his senate seat, where he "loaned" himself the purchase price, and investors repaid him after success, a scheme characterised as "<a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/the-supreme-court-just-streamlined-the-process-for-bribing-senators/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">streamlining the process for bribing senators</a>". </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">It was another case of the court "weaponising" the First Amendment to knock out <a href="https://www.scotusblog.com/2022/05/court-sides-with-ted-cruz-and-strikes-down-campaign-finance-restriction-along-ideological-lines/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">campaign finance restrictions</a>, more <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/05/17/supreme-court-takes-yet-another-whack-campaign-finance-restrictions/?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">here</a>. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><span class="full-image-block ssNonEditable" style="display: block;"><img alt="" src="https://justinian.com.au/storage/people/new-stories-2018/Cruz_Ted.jpeg?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1654054745482" style="border: 0px none;" /></span><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">Cruz: owned by his campaign investors</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><a href="https://newrepublic.com/article/166507/ted-cruz-roberts-campaign-finance?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Money talks</a>, and has a constitutional right to do so, never mind where it comes from or the circumstances in which it's paid. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">While "<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/05/17/supreme-court-ted-cruz-decision-political-corruption/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">green-lighting political corruption"</a>, the court made immigration more difficult. In <a href="https://www.abajournal.com/web/article/gorsuch-dissents-with-liberals-when-supreme-court-bars-immigrants-challenge-to-alleged-factual-error?utm_source=maestro&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=weekly_email" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>Patel v Garland</em></a><em>, </em>a decision by the court (Gorsuch dissenting) made it <a href="https://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/u-s-supreme-court-limits-federal-court-3989475/?origin" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">harder</a> to <a href="https://www.scotusblog.com/2022/05/justices-split-over-question-of-federal-court-review-in-immigration-cases/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">rectify immigration injustices</a>.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Criminal justice also <a href="https://verdict.justia.com/2022/05/31/can-finality-be-more-important-than-justice-even-if-it-means-executing-the-innocent" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">took a hit</a>. In <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shinn_v._Ramirez" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>Shinn v Martinez Ramirez</em></a>, the court effectively decided that death row prisoners "<a href="https://newrepublic.com/article/166588/death-penalty-sixth-amendment-ramirez" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">don't deserve competent lawyers</a>", with the Republican majority further <a href="https://www.scotusblog.com/2022/05/conservative-majority-hollows-out-precedent-on-ineffective-counsel-claims-in-federal-court/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">hollowing-out <em>habeas</em></a><em> </em>precedents, more <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/05/23/supreme-court-ineffective-counsel-postconviction-appeals/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">here</a>. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><a href="http://www.dorfonlaw.org/2022/05/failure-to-extend-precedent-versus.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Michael Dorf</a> and <a href="https://theintercept.com/2022/05/28/barry-jones-supreme-court-arizona-shinn-martinez/?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Liliana Segura</a> commented on the selective treatment of precedents by the court.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Anti-discrimination law was not left undisturbed. In <a href="https://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/scotus-rules-emotional-distress-damages-4087399/?origin" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>Cummings</em></a>, the court struck out liability for emotional distress damages, making it <a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/society/supreme-court-cummings/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">easier for employers to discriminate</a>. However, shortly after the opinion was released, it was discovered that a 2009 amendment to the federal <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rehabilitation_Act_of_1973" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>Rehabilitation Act</em></a><em> </em>at issue <a href="https://www.courthousenews.com/new-petition-undercuts-justices-ruling-denying-emotional-distress-damages/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">provided just such relief</a>. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">All parties involved had been unaware of the mistake. A petition for rehearing has been filed and the court should vacate its decision, but will it?</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">What's next this term?</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Notwithstanding the school shooting in Texas and the <a href="https://newrepublic.com/article/146190/brutal-origins-gun-rights?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">arguably sordid origins</a> of the Second Amendment, the court is almost certain to broadly <a href="https://newrepublic.com/article/166614/supreme-court-second-amendment-guns" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">expand "gun rights"</a> by loosening <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2022/05/25/politics/supreme-court-second-amendment-guns-new-york-bruen-uvalde/index.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">effective arms regulations</a> in those states which (unlike Texas) have effective and long-standing gun laws. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">It's part of the lust for unfettered access to guns for personal use, outside a military or defensive context or demonstrated need, a public mania first sanctified in the appalling <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/District_of_Columbia_v._Heller" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>Heller </em>decision</a> (2008). </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><span class="full-image-block ssNonEditable" style="display: block;"><img alt="" src="https://justinian.com.au/storage/photos-general/Gun_Rights_USA_660.png?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1654054829382" style="border: 0px none;" /></span><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">More guns, less regulation</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">The early cases in this court's judicial activism centred on city and state laws and regulations, but more recently the astonishing <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shelby_County_v._Holder" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>Shelby County v Holder</em></a><em> </em>(disembowelling the near-unanimously re-enacted <em>Voting Rights Act </em>1965) and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizens_United_v._FEC" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>Citizens United v FEC</em></a><em> </em>(striking laws limiting political contributions) presented a new and greater problem: <a href="https://electionlawblog.org/?p=129364" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">judicial nullification of Acts of Congress</a>. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Formerly a rare event, it's been reignited by a supreme court bent on giving more power to autocratic (mostly Republican) states.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Hardened Republicans among the party operatives appointed to the federal bench by Donald Trump are still trying to implement the programs of the disgraced and departed president, especially in the district courts of the fifth circuit where, 18 months after the Trump administration was removed, a court is preventing Mr Biden from altering Trump policies in <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/05/20/title-42-asylum-border/?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">immigration</a>, a field where states have no authority. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">The fifth circuit judges have also betrayed a stunning ignorance of First Amendment jurisprudence in upholding a new Texas <a href="https://slate.com/technology/2022/05/texas-internet-censorship-social-media-first-amendment-fifth-circuit.html?" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">internet censorship law</a> imposed on social media. A <a href="https://www.lawfareblog.com/lawfare-podcast-platforms-versus-texas-supreme-court" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>Lawfare </em>Podcast</a> has more. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">With its 12 Republican appointees (six of them <em>Trumpistes</em>) the fifth remains the most malignant of the circuits. In an unprecedented recent ruling, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jarkesy_v._SEC" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>Jarkesy v SEC</em></a><em>, </em>a divided panel <a href="https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2022/05/5th-circuit-sec-securities-fraud-civil-service.html?" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">rewrote administrative law</a> to require a jury trial for defendants (in this case a hedge-fund trader) in a civil, not criminal, suit by the SEC. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">As <a href="https://www.vox.com/2022/5/19/23130569/jarkesy-fifth-circuit-sec?utm" style="color: #bf370a;">Vox headlined</a>, "A wild new court decision would blow up much of the government's ability to operate". </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Interestingly, the panel's astounding decision was tipped by the inclusion of the Trump-appointed judge Andrew Oldham, a former law clerk for Justice Alito. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Congressional legislation is now needed to fix the supreme court's legislating efforts affecting corporate regulators like the <em>SEC </em>and, even more urgently, the <a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/chamber-commerce-says-bill-strengthen-us-ftc-troubling-2022-05-10/?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>FTC</em></a><em>.</em> </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Meanwhile, Trump's holdover statutory appointees to such commissions continue to obstruct the new government's initiatives, e.g, the Federal Electoral Commission's investigation of Trump regime <a href="https://www.salon.com/2022/05/17/fec-block-action-on-alleged-money-laundering-scheme-despite-fining-hillary/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">money laundering</a>. </p></div>H. Candace Gormanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15947267626405585323noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2634286779940664473.post-35640073591872342842022-05-03T06:06:00.003-07:002022-05-03T06:06:41.763-07:00From Roger Fitch and our friends down under at Justinian.5.3.2022<p> </p><h2 class="title" style="background-color: #f9f4f1; color: #bf370a; font-family: Brawler, "sans-serif"; font-size: 21px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><a class="journal-entry-navigation-current" href="https://justinian.com.au/columnists/trump-judges-rule-the-roost.html" style="color: #bf370a; letter-spacing: 0px; line-height: 1em; margin-bottom: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;">Trump judges rule the roost</a></h2><div class="journal-entry-tag journal-entry-tag-post-title" style="background-color: #f9f4f1; color: #a6a6a6; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 10px; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-top: 10px; text-transform: uppercase;"><span class="posted-in"><span class="tag-element" style="white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://justinian.com.au/columnists/category/roger-fitch-esq" rel="tag" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">ROGER FITCH ESQ</a></span></span> • <span class="posted-on" style="white-space: nowrap;">FRIDAY, APRIL 29, 2022</span></div><div class="body" style="background-color: #f9f4f1; color: #0b0b0b; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 16px; margin: 1em 0px;"><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><strong>Unqualified judicial appointments prop-up Republican agenda ... Gerrymanders tip democracy off its perch ... Tame media recycles the fictions ... CJ Roberts changes sides ... Government torture back on the rack ... America the not-so-beautiful ... Roger Fitch, Our Man in Washington, reports </strong></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><span class="full-image-float-right ssNonEditable" style="float: right; margin: 0px 0px 8px 10px;"><img alt="" src="https://justinian.com.au/storage/lawtoons/toons-other/Coopes_liberty_finger_230.gif?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1651200715030" style="border: 0px none;" /></span><strong style="font-size: 17.6px;">The</strong> apostate Democrats <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Manchin" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Joe Manchin</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyrsten_Sinema" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Kyrsten Sinema</a> joined the full party caucus of 50 senators in confirming <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ketanji_Brown_Jackson" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Ketanji Brown Jackson</a> for the supreme court. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Justice Jackson also received the votes of three Republican senators clinging to shreds of decency while their fellow senators engaged in shameful displays of dog-whistle racism.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">One of the three, former presidential candidate Mitt Romney, now represents Utah. Sadly, the state's other senator, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Lee_(American_politician)" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Mike Lee</a>, is the first Republican to announce the emerging Republican Party consensus that America is <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/08/us/elections/mike-lee-democracy.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">not a democracy</a>, or, <a href="https://newrepublic.com/article/165923/olivier-zunz-tocqueville-book-review-uneasy-vision-american-democracy?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">as Tocqueville inferred</a>, need not be.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><a href="https://www.salon.com/2022/04/21/has-the-mainstream-media-already-made-its-peace-with-fascism-well-soon-find-out/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Republican-fascists</a> (as some call them) are now running rampant, while American media daily <a href="https://www.salon.com/2022/04/21/sorry-new-york-times-arent-concerned-about-democracy--they-want-to-destroy-it/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">validate</a> AJ Liebling's view of the press as "<a href="https://www.quotes.net/quote/8758" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">the weak slat</a> in the bed of democracy". </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">The Republican Party, whose practices are sometimes <a href="https://www.courthousenews.com/a-country-of-snitches/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">compared to those of the Stasi</a>, already controls a supreme court that <a href="https://abovethelaw.com/2022/03/supreme-court-shadow-docket-just-throwing-darts-at-democracy-at-this-point/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">shares its ideology</a>.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Once, the joke was that the only consistent principle found in supreme court decisions was that the government always won. Now, it's the Republican Party. How else to explain the court's selective use or abandonment of precedent and even oral argument?</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">The court has emboldened partisans stuffed on lower federal courts by Trump's rubber-stamp senate, judges that are now President Biden's <a href="https://www.salon.com/2022/02/19/bidens-biggest-enemy/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">biggest impediment</a> to governing, e.g, cleaning up the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/feb/12/trump-judge-biden-climate-metric-greenhouse-gases" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Trumped-down environment</a>. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">One such is a Trump appointee to the 9th circuit, the <a href="https://newrepublic.com/article/165169/lawrence-vandyke-judge-ninth-circuit-appeals-trump-bonkers-opinions?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">rude and bonkers</a> Lawrence VanDyke. VanDyke was a Trump nominee found "not qualified" by the American Bar Association, and at his confirmation by the Senate, the ABA <a href="https://www.americanbar.org/content/dam/aba/administrative/government_affairs_office/10-29-2019-vandyke-rating.pdf?logActivity=true" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">summed him up thus</a>: </p><blockquote style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic;"><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">"Mr. VanDyke is arrogant, lazy, an ideologue, and lacking in knowledge of the day-to-day practice including procedural rules ... the nominee lacks humility, has an 'entitlement' temperament, does not have an open mind, and does not always have a commitment to being candid and truthful ... [he] would not say … he would be fair to any litigant before him, notably members of the LGBTQ community." </p></blockquote><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><span class="full-image-block ssNonEditable" style="display: block;"><img alt="" src="https://justinian.com.au/storage/people/new-stories-2018/VanDyke_Lawrence_.jpg?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1651201146640" style="border: 0px none;" /></span><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">Judge VanDyke: bonkers</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Trump's district courts are also doing their part, issuing astounding orders along Republican Party lines, including <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/transportation/2022/04/18/mask-mandate-transportation-airplanes/?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">this one</a> by another Trump acolyte the ABA found "<a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/cdc-mask-rules-junked-by-judge-kathryn-kimball-mizelle-in-floridatrumps-worst-judge" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">not qualified</a>", Florida district court judge <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kathryn_Kimball_Mizelle" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Kathryn Mizelle</a>, whose <a href="https://washingtonmonthly.com/2022/04/22/why-some-conservative-jurists-wont-follow-the-science/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">anti-science</a> face mask ruling conceals what Michael Dorf calls an ideological <a href="https://verdict.justia.com/2022/04/22/textualism-masks-ideological-opposition-to-the-administrative-state?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">opposition to the administrative state</a>.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">As Dorf noted: </p><blockquote style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic;"><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">"Judge Mizelle's ruling ... reflected the sort of extreme right-wing ideology in which she has been marinating for her admittedly brief career - an ideology that is hostile to government agencies addressing even the most pressing social problems." </p></blockquote><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">The Biden administration <a href="https://newrepublic.com/article/166180/biden-appeals-kimball-mizelle-mask-mandate-ruling?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">appealed the decision</a> to the 11th circuit, where a majority of judges were appointed by Trump. There, as in the 5th circuit, where 12 of the 17 judges are Republican-picked, and in the 6th circuit, where 11 of 16 judges are Republican choices, the administration faces steep odds against success, with many Trump-appointed "movement" judges willing to set-up Party causes, e.g, those involving <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/02/18/trump-judges-neutering-voting-rights-act/?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">state voting rules</a> and <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/federal-judge-in-texas-blocks-bidens-efforts-to-limit-immigration-arrests/2021/08/19/673e43f4-011f-11ec-ba7e-2cf966e88e93_story.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">national immigration policy</a> (more <a href="https://www.justsecurity.org/81249/the-supreme-court-should-stop-individual-states-from-dictating-national-immigration-policy/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">here</a>) for supreme court success.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em; text-align: center;"><strong><span style="font-size: 20.8px;">≈ ≈ ≈</span></strong></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Ohio was once the Republicans' key to stealing presidencies (e.g, George Bush's "re-election" of 2004), but lately it's let the side down, with a state supreme court that <a href="https://ohiocapitaljournal.com/2022/04/15/ohio-supreme-court-rejects-legislative-maps-sets-fifth-redistricting-deadline/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">refuses to go along</a> with party-favoured gerrymanders.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">The solution? An appeal to the 6th circuit, where a panel of three judges - two appointed by Trump - swept aside the decisions of the Ohio supreme court respecting legislative districts and <a href="https://electionlawblog.org/?p=128858" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">pushed back redistricting</a> to the 2024 election cycle. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">It was a blatant ploy to ensure the Republican gerrymanders that followed the 2010 Census will be used in the 2022 elections. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">The future of such circuit decisions on appeal may be surmised from the supreme court's treatment of the <a href="https://www.vox.com/2022/3/23/22993107/supreme-court-wisconsin-race-gerrymander-voting-rights-act-legislature-elections-commission" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Wisconsin districting dispute</a>, with its <a href="https://www.thebulwark.com/us-supreme-court-summarily-smacks-down-wisconsin-electoral-maps-ketanji-brown-jackson/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">contorted ruling</a> on the state's <a href="https://www.rawstory.com/voting-map-wisconsin/?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">court-ordered redistricting</a>. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Wisconsin is one of <a href="https://newrepublic.com/article/165975/six-states-republicans-steal-2024-election" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">six states</a> Republicans rely on to steal the next presidency, and the supreme court seems <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/mar/31/supreme-court-assault-voting-rights-new-low" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">determined</a> to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/04/15/supreme-court-redistricting/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">keep it Republican</a>. On remand, the Republican-controlled state supreme court gave the party <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/15/us/wisconsin-districts-gerrymander-supreme-court.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">all it desired</a>.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Gerrymanders aside, research indicates Trump voters are <a href="https://www.salon.com/2022/03/23/new-research-on-voters-theyre-not-the-sharpest-tools-in-the-box/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">not the sharpest tools in the box</a>, and are highly vulnerable to the continuous lying of Republican Party surrogates like Fox News. It's alleged election fraud and other misinformation from which <a href="https://www.thebulwark.com/how-the-texas-election-law-suppressed-voting/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">new voting obstacles</a> arise - in Texas, Republicans are already <a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2022/03/18/texas-rejected-election-ballots/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">reaping spectacular benefits</a> that this court won't disturb.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em; text-align: center;"><strong><span style="font-size: 20.8px;">≈ ≈ ≈</span></strong></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><span class="full-image-block ssNonEditable" style="display: block;"><img alt="" src="https://justinian.com.au/storage/people/new-stories-2018/Trump_Roberts_660.png?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1651201366218" style="border: 0px none;" /></span><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">Roberts CJ: court derailed</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">There are signs that American lawyers are <a href="https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2022/04/07/should-we-reform-the-court-supreme-court-linda-greenhouse/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">fed up</a> with their country's new right-wing activist supreme court. Even the conservative chief justice seems to be <a href="https://verdict.justia.com/2022/02/15/the-evolution-of-chief-justice-john-roberts" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">distancing himself</a> from the five most feverishly-political judges.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">In recent cases, CJ Roberts has changed sides, joining the liberals in their dissent <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/13/opinion/john-roberts-supreme-court.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">criticising</a> the right-wing majority's misuse of the "<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadow_docket" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">shadow docket</a>", i.e, emergency orders, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/04/06/supreme-court-shadow-docket-clean-water-act/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">made without full briefing</a> and argument. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Apart from court expansion, there are few options for fixing a court that has <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/blog/fixgov/2022/03/23/how-to-rein-in-partisan-supreme-court-justices/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">run off the rails</a>. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em; text-align: center;"><strong><span style="font-size: 20.8px;">≈ ≈ ≈</span></strong></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">When tiring of Trump's unpunished crimes, we can reflect upon those of George Bush, and one of Mr Bush's greatest crimes, official government torture, is back in the news. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">In March, the supreme court decided <a href="https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2022/03/zubaydah-gorsuch-sotomayor-torture-dissent.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>Zubaydah</em></a>, accepting the government's "state secrets" claim which blocked the testimony of CIA contractors accused of torture.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Captured by the FBI and CIA, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abu_Zubaydah" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Abu Zubaydah</a> was the first to endure the CIA's "<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enhanced_interrogation_techniques" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Enhanced Interrogation</a>" (Gestapo<em> "</em><em>verschärfte Vernehmung"</em>), a program for the systematic torture of "war of terror" prisoners. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"> Zubaydah spent four-and-a-half years in CIA torture camps operated at sundry sites including Thailand, Poland and Lithuania (both paid damages), and Guantánamo. He's been held now for 20 years.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">The FBI agents <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kiriakou" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">John Kiriakou</a>, who led the capture of Zubaydah, and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ali_Soufan" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Ali Soufan</a>, who first interviewed him, opposed the takeover of the case by the CIA, who sent Zubaydah to Thailand for "interrogation" by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Elmer_Mitchell" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">James Mitchell</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruce_Jessen" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Bruce Jessen</a>. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Water-boarding began, Zubaydah nearly died, and no productive intelligence was derived. Nevertheless, water-board torture continued under the new camp director, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gina_Haspel" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Gina Haspel</a>. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Later, when Zubaydah was held in Poland, the morbidly-curious CIA agent <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfreda_Frances_Bikowsky" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Alfreda Bikowsky</a> made an unauthorised visit just to see him being tortured. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Where are they all now? John Kiriakou is out of prison (another story) and <a href="https://scheerpost.com/2022/04/24/john-kiriakou-on-abu-zubaydah-and-unethical-cia-practices/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">blogging on Zubaydah</a>. Ali Soufan heads the <a href="https://www.soufangroup.com/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Soufan Group</a> security consultancy, and sponsors Fordham Law's <a href="https://www.centeronnationalsecurity.org/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Center on National Security</a>, and Mitchell and Jessen aren't testifying in Poland's investigation, thanks to the supreme court.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gina_Haspel" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Gina Haspel</a>, since rewarded as Trump's CIA director, <a href="https://news.bloomberglaw.com/business-and-practice/king-spalding-lands-trump-cia-director-gina-haspel" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">advises King & Spalding clients</a> on cybersecurity.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><span class="full-image-block ssNonEditable" style="display: block;"><img alt="" src="https://justinian.com.au/storage/Scheuer_michael_.jpg?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1651201926028" style="border: 0px none;" /></span><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">Scheuer: torture team</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">And <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfreda_Frances_Bikowsky" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Alfreda Bikowsky</a>? Since retiring, the Agency's "<a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/alfreda-scheuer-cia-torture-queen-life-coach-1340433/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Queen of Torture</a>" has been hawking beauty products and life advice for a living. The fabled red-haired member of the Agency's torture team, now married to the equally-odious torture team member <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Scheuer" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Michael Scheuer</a>, recently gave an <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/apr/21/zero-dark-thirty-ex-cia-agent-alfreda-scheuer" style="color: #bf370a;">unrepentant interview</a> to <em>Reuters</em>. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Is this a great country, or what? </p></div>H. Candace Gormanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15947267626405585323noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2634286779940664473.post-66708546096255347822022-04-01T09:54:00.001-07:002022-04-01T09:54:16.475-07:00From Roger Fitch and our friends down under. 4.1.2022<p> </p><h2 class="title" style="background-color: #f9f4f1; color: #bf370a; font-family: Brawler, "sans-serif"; font-size: 21px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><a class="journal-entry-navigation-current" href="https://justinian.com.au/columnists/the-ginni-and-clarence-show.html" style="color: #bf370a; letter-spacing: 0px; line-height: 1em; margin-bottom: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;">The Ginni and Clarence Show</a></h2><div class="journal-entry-tag journal-entry-tag-post-title" style="background-color: #f9f4f1; color: #a6a6a6; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 10px; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-top: 10px; text-transform: uppercase;"><span class="posted-in"><span class="tag-element" style="white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://justinian.com.au/columnists/category/roger-fitch-esq" rel="tag" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">ROGER FITCH ESQ</a></span></span> • <span class="posted-on" style="white-space: nowrap;">THURSDAY, MARCH 31, 2022</span></div><div class="body" style="background-color: #f9f4f1; color: #0b0b0b; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 16px; margin: 1em 0px;"><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><strong>Wife of Supreme Court justice actively involved in political issues before the court ... Mrs Thomas - a conspiracy theorist and extremist who wants to overthrow the 2020 election results ... Clarence Thomas a poor quality court appointment ... The race issue ... Anita Hill ... Conflicts ... Failure to recuse ... Further blight on an already damaged US Supreme Court ... Roger Fitch reports </strong></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em; padding-left: 30px;"><em>"Do not concede. It takes time for the army who is gathering for his back"</em>. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em; padding-left: 30px;"><em>"Biden crime family & ballot fraud co-conspirators (elected officials, bureaucrats, social media censorship mongers, fake stream media reporters,etc) are being arrested & detained for ballot fraud right now & over coming days, & will be living in barges off GITMO to face military tribunals for sedition" </em>- emails of Ginni Thomas (Mrs Clarence), to Mark Meadows, White House Chief of Staff. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><span class="full-image-block ssNonEditable" style="display: block;"><img alt="" src="https://justinian.com.au/storage/people/new-stories-2018/Thomas_Ginni_Clarence.jpg?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1648712119671" style="border: 0px none;" /></span><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">Ginni and Clarence Thomas at Trump's White House dinner for Scott Morrison</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clarence_Thomas" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><strong>Clarence Thomas</strong></a> has a "woman problem", and it's not the first.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">In March, just as the supreme court justice found himself deep in his latest such problem, the US congress was - at last - adopting a federal <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/03/29/biden-signs-bill-lynching-hate-crime/?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Anti-Lynching Law</a>. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">One was immediately reminded of 1991, when the newly-appointed Justice Thomas, an African-American, famously claimed he had received a "high-tech lynching" at the hands of the Senate Judiciary Committee <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clarence_Thomas_Supreme_Court_nomination" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">vetting him for the court</a>.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Thomas survived his senate ordeal, and is the longest-serving member of the present court, but in 1991, credible allegations of sexual harassment nearly prevented his confirmation. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Even before the harassment allegations against Thomas arose, there were many reasons that Democrats and lawyers might have questioned his suitability for the court. He had reactionary legal views, and was inexperienced; more than that, it was an insult to the person he would succeed - <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thurgood_Marshall" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Thurgood Marshall</a>, the great civil rights lawyer, the US's first African-American solicitor-general and supreme court justice. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Of course, appointing justices who are different in judicial philosophy to the justices they replace is not unknown, witness the recent confirmation (but only by Republicans) of the anti-feminist and extreme conservative <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amy_Coney_Barrett" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Amy Coney Barrett</a> for the position of the late feminist icon <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruth_Bader_Ginsburg" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Ruth Bader Ginsburg</a>.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">To many, however, the nomination of the unremarkable Clarence Thomas seemed to reflect a cynical assumption by Republicans that nomination of a mediocre and little-known black lawyer would be enough to assure confirmation by Democrats, who would not wish to be seen opposing a black candidate.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Clarence Thomas had attended Yale Law, and had briefly served on the DC Circuit, but only <em>one</em> of the 12 members of the American Bar's prestigious Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary found him to be "well-qualified", and three found him "unqualified" or abstained; the overall vote was "qualified". It may be the lowest level of support ever given a US Supreme Court nominee by the ABA.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">The Democrats had a majority, 56 of the 100 senators, and need not have confirmed Thomas at all: aside from his lack of qualifications, he had already demonstrated incompetence in the Bush administration, as chairman of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equal_Employment_Opportunity_Commission" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Equal Employment Opportunity Commission</a>, where he employed the lawyer <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anita_Hill" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Anita Hill</a>.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">The Senate Judiciary Committee, chaired by Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware, avoided the competence issue. Instead, the ultimate success of the appointment was to turn on allegations by Anita Hill of sexual harassment during Thomas's tenure as chairman of the EEOC. It proved to be an unwise issue, with the presence on the all-male committee of morally-compromised men, e.g, Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><span class="full-image-block ssNonEditable" style="display: block;"><img alt="" src="https://justinian.com.au/storage/people/new-stories-2018/Biden_Kennedy_Senate_Judiciary_660%20copy.pdf?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1648712558500" style="border: 0px none;" /></span><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">Biden and Kennedy - despite Anita Hill's allegations they put Thomas on the court</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">In the end, the Democrats were successfully wedged on the race issue, and 11 Democrat senators joined 41 Republicans to get Thomas across the line. There were abstentions, and two Republicans voted against him. It remained one of the lowest votes for a justice until 2018 when <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brett_Kavanaugh" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Brett Kavanaugh</a> crept in, 50-48, despite his own, similar, problems.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em; text-align: center;"><strong style="font-size: 20.8px;">≈ ≈ ≈</strong></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">It's fair to say that Justice Thomas has long had another "woman problem": his wife <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ginni_Thomas" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Virginia Lamp Thomas</a>, who's always been known as an active and partisan Republican, from the same extreme conservative Catholic strain as her husband.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">In 2000, as <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2000/12/12/us/contesting-vote-challenging-justice-job-thomas-s-wife-raises-conflict-interest.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">the NY Times noted at the time</a>, Ginni Thomas was working at the right-wing <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Heritage_Foundation" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Heritage Foundation</a>, a Republican Party surrogate, matching CVs of the party's faithful with anticipated positions in a Bush administration, at the very time the election was being determined in the misbegotten <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bush_v._Gore" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>Bush v Gore</em></a><em> </em>then being argued before her husband. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Justice Thomas did not recuse himself, and Gore lost before the court by a 5-4 vote. In fact, there were two other "Bush" justices who should have recused: then-CJ William Rehnquist, and then-Justice Antonin Scalia, whose lawyer children expected high positions in a Bush administration (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Janet_Rehnquist" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Janet Rehnquist</a> became Inspector General for Health & Human Services, and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugene_Scalia" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Eugene Scalia</a> became Labor Department Solicitor).</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">More recently, questions have been raised about the political activism of both Justice Thomas and his wife, who openly admits <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/14/us/politics/ginni-thomas-jan-6-rally.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">attending the January 6 Trump rally</a> that led to the Capitol break-in.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">The <em>New Yorker's </em><a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/01/31/is-ginni-thomas-a-threat-to-the-supreme-court" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Jane Mayer</a> and the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/22/magazine/clarence-thomas-ginni-thomas.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">NY Times</a> have responded with deep dives into Ginni Thomas's political activities and the possible conflicts for her husband arising from them.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">The problem is not that Justice Thomas's wife is a political radical, or even (as is suggested) an insurrectionist, but that the documents disclosing this were contained in the materials provided by Trump's former Chief of Staff Mark Meadows under subpoena to the congressional committee investigating the January 6 Capitol break-in, and the validity of such subpoenas was subject to a supreme court appeal. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">In that appeal, Clarence Thomas was the only dissenter in the court's decision declining to interfere in the disclosure of the Trump documents to the congressional committee. Among those documents were the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/03/24/virginia-thomas-mark-meadows-texts/?utm_campaign=wp_todays_headlines&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&wpisrc=nl_headlines&carta-url=https://s2.washingtonpost.com/car-ln-tr/3667a76/623d92c" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">arguably seditious</a> (if not <a href="https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2022/03/clarence-ginni-thomas-texts-meadows/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">outright crazy</a>) emails sent by Ginni Thomas to Trump's chief of staff <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Meadows" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Mark Meadows</a> following the election.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">The documents urged Meadows to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/24/us/politics/ginni-thomas-trump-mark-meadows.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">overturn the 2020 election</a>. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><span class="full-image-block ssNonEditable" style="display: block;"><img alt="" src="https://justinian.com.au/storage/people/new-stories-2018/Hill_Anita_660.jpg?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1648713144858" style="border: 0px none;" /></span><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">Anita Hill ... the Clarence Thomas scandal has a long history</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">It's an <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/political-commentary/supreme-court-clarence-thomas-ginni-thomas-texts-1327064/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">unprecedented scandal</a>: Ginni Thomas's emails even allude to her views being shared by her "<a href="https://www.nationalmemo.com/ginni-thomas-2657035241" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">best friend</a>", surmised to be her husband. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Leading <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/03/25/clarence-thomas-ginni-thomas/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">legal ethics experts</a> say that Justice Thomas <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/03/30/1089595933/legal-ethics-experts-agree-justice-thomas-must-recuse-in-insurrection-cases?utm_source=npr_newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_content=20220330&utm_term=6503752&utm_campaign=news&utm_id=4184304&orgid=&utm_att1" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">must now recuse</a> himself from any matters arising from the events of January 6th, including "insurrection" cases.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">The liberal <em>New Republic </em>sees venality and "<a href="https://newrepublic.com/article/165866/january-6-ginni-clarence-thomas" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">bottomless corruption</a>" in the couple and speaks of Thomas's <a href="https://newrepublic.com/article/165118/clarence-thomas-impeachment-case-democrats?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">impeachment</a>, but to the conservative <a href="https://thetriad.thebulwark.com/p/what-is-ginni-thomas?s=r" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>Bulwark</em></a>, Ginni Thomas is just a "silly woman with a powerful spouse" who everyone regards as "an idiot". </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Unfortunately, the US judicial code of ethics applies to all federal judges <em>except </em>the supreme court, whose individual justices are the sole arbiters of whether they have conflicts of interest that merit their recusal from consideration of matters before them. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Chief Justice John Roberts seeks to protect the institutional integrity of the country's highest court, and he must be concerned that Thomas's failure to recuse will bring the politically-compromised court into new, ethical disrepute. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Should Justice Thomas recuse himself from cases implicating events in which his wife may have played a part? The Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee certainly <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/600066-judiciary-committee-chair-calls-on-justice-thomas-to-recuse-himself-from-jan?rl=1" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">thinks so</a>. </p></div>H. Candace Gormanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15947267626405585323noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2634286779940664473.post-707856306509553592022-03-23T07:02:00.001-07:002022-03-23T07:02:35.046-07:00From Roger Fitch and our friends down under...3.23.2022<p> </p><h2 class="title" style="background-color: #f9f4f1; color: #bf370a; font-family: Brawler, "sans-serif"; font-size: 21px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Dan<a class="journal-entry-navigation-current" href="https://justinian.com.au/columnists/danger-ahead.html" style="color: #bf370a; letter-spacing: 0px; line-height: 1em; margin-bottom: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;">ger ahead</a></h2><div class="journal-entry-tag journal-entry-tag-post-title" style="background-color: #f9f4f1; color: #a6a6a6; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 10px; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-top: 10px; text-transform: uppercase;"><span class="posted-in"><span class="tag-element" style="white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://justinian.com.au/columnists/category/roger-fitch-esq" rel="tag" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">ROGER FITCH ESQ</a></span></span> • <span class="posted-on" style="white-space: nowrap;">MONDAY, MARCH 21, 2022</span></div><div class="body" style="background-color: #f9f4f1; color: #0b0b0b; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 16px; margin: 1em 0px;"><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><strong>Bad news from SCOTUS ... Vaccines, climate and discrimination ... State secrets privilege applied in torture cases ... Partisan courts ... Forum shopping for flexible federal judges ... Political control of the state courts ... From Roger Fitch in Washington </strong></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><span class="full-image-float-right ssNonEditable" style="float: right; margin: 0px 0px 8px 10px;"><img alt="" src="https://justinian.com.au/storage/lawtoons/toons-other/Coopes_liberty_finger_230.gif?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1647832417455" style="border: 0px none;" /></span><strong style="font-size: 17.6px;">Bad</strong> decisions are flowing from the newly-stacked supreme court: notably, a decision overturning <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occupational_Safety_and_Health_Administration" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Occupational Health and Safety Administration</a> regulations requiring employers to vaccinate employees. These unexceptional workplace regulations were blocked on grounds <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2022/01/14/vaccine-mandates-supreme-court-biden-regulations-527154" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">not found</a> in the OSHA statute. <a href="http://americanprospect.activehosted.com/index.php?action=social&chash=d38901788c533e8286cb6400b40b386d.1289&s=3e63ce701c6eb31cb2486802e89c82c1" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>American Prospect</em></a><em> </em>has more.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">A case implicating <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-01-10/challenge-to-epas-climate-authority-heads-to-supreme-court" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">climate change</a> is now on the court's radar, threatening not only the EPA's authority to regulate, but the ability of Congress to delegate regulatory power to executive agencies. There's now a speculative <a href="https://newrepublic.com/article/165570/supreme-court-phantom-docket-epa?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Phantom Docket</a> that reflexively <a href="https://verdict.justia.com/2022/01/24/the-supreme-courts-stealth-attack-on-expertise-helps-pave-the-way-for-authoritarianism?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">questions administrative expertise</a>. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">While undermining benign health regulations, the court may be contemplating new legal loopholes, e.g, a "<a href="https://verdict.justia.com/2022/03/09/masterpiece-cakeshop-redux-and-the-homophobia-exemption-from-anti-discrimination-law?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">homophobia exemption</a>" from <a href="https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2022/03/supreme-court-303-creative-coordinated-anti-lgbt-legal-strategy.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">anti-discrimination law</a>.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Sadly, the court backed the government in appeals supporting the "<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_secrets_privilege" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">state secrets</a>" privilege: <a href="https://www.scotusblog.com/2022/03/fractured-majority-allows-government-to-withhold-information-on-torture-at-cia-black-sites/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">CIA torture</a> (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abu_Zubaydah" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Zubaydah's</a>) and <a href="https://www.scotusblog.com/2022/03/government-can-invoke-state-secrets-privilege-in-lawsuit-alleging-unlawful-surveillance/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">FBI surveillance</a> (Muslim). </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">An import from English law, the privilege was unknown in US law until 1953, when it was fabricated by the government and accepted by the supreme court. In <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v._Reynolds" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>US v Reynolds</em></a>, the court found state secrets were an implied extension of executive privilege, <a href="https://newrepublic.com/article/164050/executive-privilege-steve-bannon-trump?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">another modern invention</a>.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">The <em>Reynolds </em>privilege afterwards proved to be falsely-claimed to conceal military negligence, yet the precedent remains, an absolute, <a href="https://verdict.justia.com/2022/03/15/the-scope-and-nature-of-the-state-secrets-privilege" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">unqualified rule of evidence</a>. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">In <em>Zubaydah</em>, the government pleaded "state secrets" to block testimony by the psychologists James Mitchell and Bruce Jessen, in the Poles' investigation of the CIA facility in their country. The men were employed by the CIA to devise the torture program used against Zubaydah.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">The CIA's Polish torture camp is no secret, and was described in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Senate_Intelligence_Committee_report_on_CIA_torture" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Senate Torture Report</a>. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Justices Sotomayor and Gorsuch <a href="https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2022/03/zubaydah-gorsuch-sotomayor-torture-dissent.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">vigorously dissented</a>, with Gorsuch rightly characterising the state secret claim as seeking a judicial "rubber stamp" to avoid "<a href="https://consortiumnews.com/2022/03/10/supreme-court-torture-at-cia-black-site-is-state-secret/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">further embarrassment for past misdeeds</a>" of the government. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Poland has already <a href="https://hudoc.echr.coe.int/eng#{%22itemid%22:[%22001-146047%22]}" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">been forced to pay Zubaydah damages</a> for collusion in his CIA detention and torture, (so has <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/jan/10/lithuania-pays-guantanamo-forever-prisoner-abu-zubaydah-100000-cia-torture" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Lithuania</a>) and it's now following up with an investigation ordered by the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Court_of_Human_Rights" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">European Court of Human Rights</a>. The US signed the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hague_Evidence_Convention" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Hague Evidence Convention</a> requiring cooperation.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">President Obama also zealously pursued state secrets claims, even - to the surprise of many, including <a href="http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/02/12/MN8615T51C.DTL" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">federal judges</a> and the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/18/us/politics/18policy.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Times</a> - those of George Bush. Curiously, the one legal proceeding where Obama did <em>not</em> plead state secrets was the one the ACLU brought against the very same psychologists whose evidence is sought by Zubaydah for the Polish inquiry. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Absent a state secrets defence, the ACLU case proceeded to trial and <a href="https://washingtonspectator.org/samuels-aclu/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">was settled by Mitchell and Jessen</a>, who had CIA indemnities. It's the only litigation where the CIA was forced to pay damages (indirectly) to victims.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">The Biden administration has continued some <a href="https://www.salon.com/2022/02/26/biden-tries-to-reverse-impact-on-the-courts--but-continues-to-defend-parts-of-his-agenda/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">distasteful Trump initiatives</a>, e.g, the Assange extradition, the <a href="https://www.scotusblog.com/2022/03/in-6-3-ruling-court-reinstates-death-penalty-for-boston-marathon-bomber/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">federal death penalty</a> in the Boston Marathon case, and the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riduan_Isamuddin" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Hambali</a> military commission - perhaps cynically, to protect government prerogatives. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><span class="full-image-block ssNonEditable" style="display: block;"><img alt="" src="https://justinian.com.au/storage/people/new-stories-2018/assange_masks_660.jpg?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1647832795844" style="border: 0px none;" /></span><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">Assange: extradition still on foot</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em; text-align: center;"><strong style="font-size: 20.8px;">* * *</strong></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Some lower courts now seem overtly partisan. On the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/law/2021/nov/15/fifth-circuit-court-appeals-most-extreme-us" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">fifth circuit</a>, 12 of the 17 judges are Republican appointees (six by Trump), and the fifth contains Texas, where the initial judicial harm is most often inflicted. There, as elsewhere, Trump's trial judges are <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/02/25/1082626791/u-s-judges-are-narrowing-voting-protections-some-fear-lasting-damage" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">white-anting voting protections</a>, and otherwise joining the movement to rewrite American history of the last 90 years - one of social innovation and legal adaptation - to replace it with the contentious narrative of a theocratic, culturally conservative country. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">18th century progress is also suspect. George Washington required troops to be vaccinated, and Thomas Jefferson spent years fighting smallpox anti-vaxxers; even so, after the supreme court overturned OSHA's mandate, a Texas district judge struck out the federal government's right to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/01/21/federal-worker-contractor-vaccine-mandate/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">vaccinate its own employees</a>. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">There's now open <a href="https://newrepublic.com/article/165730/northern-district-texas-judges-block-biden-policies?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">forum-shopping</a> for flexible federal judges, especially in the Northern District of Texas, where Fort Worth's <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reed_O'Connor" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Reed O'Connor</a> has staked a claim as one of the most <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/01/03/navy-seals-vaccine-mandate-lawsuit/?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">shamelessly partisan</a> (more <a href="https://abovethelaw.com/2022/01/judge-creates-new-constitutional-right-for-crybaby-navy-seals/?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">here</a>) Republicans on the federal district court bench. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><span class="full-image-block ssNonEditable" style="display: block;"><img alt="" src="https://justinian.com.au/storage/people/new-stories-2018/Jefferson_Thomas_660.jpg?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1647834639072" style="border: 0px none;" /></span><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">Jefferson: fought the smallpox anti-vaxxers</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em; text-align: center;"><strong style="font-size: 20.8px;">* * *</strong></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">By imposing new burdens on voting while blessing gerrymanders, the supreme court <a href="https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2022/03/supreme-court-radicalism-threatens-democracy.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">endangers democracy</a> itself. Readers will recall that in the 2019 <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rucho_v._Common_Cause" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>Rucho</em></a><em> </em>case, the court ruled that partisan gerrymanders could not be challenged under the federal constitution, although Chief Justice Roberts noted that such gerrymanders could still be challenged in state courts.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">The Democrats proceeded to use state courts, with some success, but now the US supreme court seems poised to handicap the opposition (as the Republican majority perceives Democrats) even further. The answer? The misbegotten <a href="https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2022/03/the-ominous-elections-news-from-democrats-supreme-court-win.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Independent State Legislature theory</a>.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">The issue first came up in the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. In 2020, Pennsylvania's Republican legislature threatened to reverse uncongenial case law and <a href="https://apnews.com/article/election-2020-donald-trump-legislature-primary-elections-constitutions-18d17653d83c903b3b0249ef3a9e2639" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">hobble the independence</a> of the (elected) justices through legislation to create individual judicial districts.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">The theory was that gerrymandered justices would clear the way for gerrymandered congressional and legislative districts.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">When that didn't work, and a <a href="https://denvergazette.com/ap/national/redistricting-put-pennsylvania-s-supreme-court-where-it-doesn-t-want-to-be-the-political/article_85ac7ef8-9bdf-5937-be3e-352c0ef2b8dd.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">reluctant supreme court</a> was forced to rule on contested gerrymanders, the legislature cooked up something else: an "independent state legislature" theory that cites the federal constitution to claim a legislature's supremacy over its highest courts and constitution. Carried to its logical conclusion, legislatures could even overturn popular elections.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">This appalling ploy has a chance of success before today's partisan US supreme court. Law dean Vikram David Amar has <a href="https://verdict.justia.com/2022/03/14/concluding-thoughts-on-the-invocation-of-the-independent-state-legislature-isl-theory-in-the-north-carolina-emergency-relief-application-at-the-supreme-court-part-six-in-a-series?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">written at length</a> on the astonishing independent legislature construct, increasingly advanced by Republican legislatures in states with Democrat governors and/or supreme courts whose decisions - e.g, about the legislature's unlawful gerrymandered districts - are found wanting.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Republicans already control the <a href="https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/redistricting-2022-maps/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">greatest share</a> of the decennial redistricting, but they want more.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">In an appeal to the US supreme court by Republican legislatures of Pennsylvania and <a href="https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2022/02/north-carolina-republicans-scotus-gerrymandeering-assault.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">North Carolina</a>, more <a href="https://verdict.justia.com/2022/03/07/further-evaluation-of-the-arguments-raised-in-the-recent-north-carolina-independent-state-legislature-isl-application-filed-in-the-u-s-supreme-court-part-four-in-a-series?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">here</a>, it's claimed that state supreme courts don't have the power to review a legislature's partisan gerrymanders, even in reliance on the state's own constitution.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">The supreme court provisionally rejected this, in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadow_docket" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">shadow docket</a> orders in <a href="https://www.scotusblog.com/2022/03/justices-decline-to-reinstate-gop-backed-congressional-voting-maps-in-north-carolina-pennsylvania/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">appeals by the Republican legislators</a> in both those states where Republicans lack party-dominated supreme courts. Election law specialists fear it's only a <a href="https://electionlawblog.org/?p=128039" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">temporary reprieve</a>. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><span class="full-image-block ssNonEditable" style="display: block;"><img alt="" src="https://justinian.com.au/storage/photos-general/SCOTUS_Voter_Suppression.jpg?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1647835002121" style="border: 0px none;" /></span><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">Supreme Court: gives its blessing to gerrymanders</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">An appeal by <a href="https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/politics/2022/03/04/wisconsin-republicans-appeal-redistricting-us-supreme-court/9381807002/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Wisconsin's</a> Republican-controlled state legislature is also on its way to the supreme court. In that state, the legislature enjoyed a one-justice majority on the supreme court but a Republican crossed the bench, so to speak, and supported the congressional districts adopted by the Democratic governor.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Outraged Republican members of congress from Wisconsin have now <a href="https://electionlawblog.org/wp-content/uploads/21A490-.pdf" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">joined the fray</a>. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><a href="https://wnyt.com/politics/republicans-eye-state-courts-as-next-political-battlegrounds/6404139/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Ohio's</a> Republican legislators also believed they controlled the state's supreme court, but the Republican CJ <a href="https://electionlawblog.org/?p=128235" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">joined the Democrats</a> in rejecting proposed districts. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">The districts challenged in Ohio and <a href="https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/michigan/2022/03/16/michigan-congressional-map-lawsuit-population-communities-of-interest-redistricting-commission/7067654001/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Michigan</a> were drawn by independent <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redistricting_commission" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Redistricting Commissions</a>, but Ohio's supreme court has <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/17/us/politics/ohio-court-congress-maps.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">repeatedly found</a> that state's commission-drawn districts to be biased. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><a href="https://www.cjonline.com/story/news/state/2022/03/07/kansas-legislators-consider-changing-supreme-court-nominating-process-senate-redistricting/6972565001/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Kansas</a> Republicans are meanwhile proposing constitutional amendments to avoid supreme court independence: abolish the current merit appointments, and require the <a href="https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/judicial-selection-significant-figures" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">disfavoured</a> partisan selection. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">That should work. </p></div>H. Candace Gormanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15947267626405585323noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2634286779940664473.post-9377726191669779072022-02-20T14:51:00.000-08:002022-02-20T14:51:03.800-08:00From Roger Fitch and our friends down under. 2-20.2022<p> </p><h2 class="title" style="background-color: #f9f4f1; color: #bf370a; font-family: Brawler, "sans-serif"; font-size: 21px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><a class="journal-entry-navigation-current" href="https://justinian.com.au/columnists/legitimate-political-discourse.html" style="color: #bf370a; letter-spacing: 0px; line-height: 1em; margin-bottom: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;">Legitimate political discourse</a></h2><div class="journal-entry-tag journal-entry-tag-post-title" style="background-color: #f9f4f1; color: #a6a6a6; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 10px; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-top: 10px; text-transform: uppercase;"><span class="posted-in"><span class="tag-element" style="white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://justinian.com.au/columnists/category/roger-fitch-esq" rel="tag" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">ROGER FITCH ESQ</a></span></span> • <span class="posted-on" style="white-space: nowrap;">FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2022</span></div><div class="body" style="background-color: #f9f4f1; color: #0b0b0b; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 16px; margin: 1em 0px;"><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><strong>Net closing, all too slowly, on Trump ... Deserted by accountants ... Flushing papers ... Destruction and obstruction ... Supreme Court odds-on the uphold racial gerrymanders ... Voting rights for the chopper ... Roger Fitch reports from Washington </strong></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em; padding-left: 30px;"><em>"Republicans always cave to Trump. And so it will be when it comes to the story of whether the riot was bad or good. It's just a matter of time."</em> - <a href="https://www.salon.com/2022/02/03/donald-is-done-pretending-he-is-now-openly-celebrating-the-capitol-riot/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Salon</a> prediction, February 3, 2022. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em; padding-left: 30px;"><em>"WHEREAS, Representatives Cheney and Kinzinger are participating in a Democrat-led persecution of ordinary citizens engaged in legitimate political discourse, and [are]utilizing their past professed political affiliation to mask Democrat abuse of prosecutorial power for partisan purposes, … be it … RESOLVED, That the Republican National Committee … formally censures Representatives Liz Cheney of Wyoming and Adam Kinzinger of Illinois and shall immediately cease any and all support of them as members of the Republican Party ..."</em> - <a href="https://int.nyt.com/data/documenttools/rnc-jan6-resolution/2d6a07e7cf8d8cfb/full.pdf" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Republican National Committee</a>, February 4, 2022 </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><strong style="font-size: 17.6px;"><span class="full-image-float-right ssNonEditable" style="float: right; margin: 0px 0px 8px 10px;"><img alt="" src="https://justinian.com.au/storage/lawtoons/toons-other/Washington_Fitch_Whore_250.gif?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1645150561028" style="border: 0px none;" /></span>In</strong> the same week that Donald Trump <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/02/05/sundaytake-trump-jan6-election/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">proudly admitted</a> his object was to overthrow the election, the RNC described January 6 as "<a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/republicans-jan-6-attack-legitimate-political-discourse-1297210/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">legitimate political discourse</a>", and censured the two Republicans on the house committee investigating it. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">It's seems extraordinary that the ex-president hasn't yet been charged with one or another of the many crimes he committed in office, e.g, those identified in the Mueller Report, <a href="https://www.lawfareblog.com/where-justice-department-trump-obstruction-offenses" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">many of which</a> are approaching <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/02/07/trump-garland-and-the-mueller-report/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">five-year limitations</a>. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">The only thing sparing Trump from immediate federal charges seems to be over-caution at Main Justice, where the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_of_Legal_Counsel" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">OLC</a> and its opinions are yet to be "<a href="https://prospect.org/justice/garland-has-yet-to-detrumpify-his-office-of-legal-counsel/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">detrumpified</a>"; anyone but Trump would already be facing federal charges. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Even so, <a href="https://verdict.justia.com/2022/02/03/in-15-round-fight-with-the-rule-of-law-dont-bet-the-house-on-donald-trump" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Trump is in peril</a>. His bookkeepers have <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/feb/15/donald-trump-mazars-accountants-legal-woes" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">disowned their accounts</a>, and New York State is <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-s-filing-cabinets-post-it-notes-new-york-ag-n1287775" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">closing in</a>. His strategy remains to obstruct investigations until a new Republican house majority, or his own election in 2024, can quash federal hearings and criminal charges - but that won't help him in state courts.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Leaving aside the 14th amendment's exclusion of insurrectionists from federal office, Trump may have forfeited his office and become disqualified in future, under the <a href="https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/news/foia/2022-02-09/president-trump-may-have-violated-laws-protecting-government-property-when-he?" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>Presidential Records Act</em></a><em>, </em>or under <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/2071" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>18USC§2071</em></a> (<a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/glenn-kirschner-trump-law_n_6204c631e4b0323024661f72" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Concealment, Mutilation or Removal of Official Records</a>). DoJ has been <a href="https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/sites/default/files/2022-02/DOJ-letter-Trump-mutilation.docx.pdf" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">asked to investigate</a>. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Unsurprisingly, with a <a href="https://www.vice.com/en/article/z3nqda/trump-denies-flushing-documents-down-his-white-house-toilet?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">classy guy</a> like Trump, allegations include flushing papers down the <a href="https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2022/02/can-trump-be-barred-for-running-for-president-because-he-flushed-papers-down-a-toilet/?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">presidential dunny</a>. Ironically, Nixon's "<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_House_Plumbers" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">White House plumbers</a>" were pursued by the Watergate committee for their role in plugging leaks of classified information, but Trump's White House plumbers are real tradies who cleared drains blocked with such matter, and could be called to testify by the January 6 committee.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">It's all consistent with Trump's <a href="https://newrepublic.com/article/165351/trump-classified-paper-trail-secrets" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">lifetime habit of concealment</a> and his aversion to creating or retaining incriminating documents. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Among the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/02/07/trump-records-mar-a-lago/?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">purloined</a> documents, retrieved from Mar-a-Lago after <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/02/12/trump-15-boxes/?uhm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">six months of negotiations</a>, are some <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/02/10/trump-records-classified/?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">marked classified</a>, and there are serious consequences for removing classified documents from the National Archives, as Bill Clinton's national security adviser, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandy_Berger" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Sandy Berger</a>, learned. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">A National Archives <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/trump-jan-6-documents-national-archives-1250700/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">court filing</a> has revealed which documents <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/t/donald-trump/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Donald Trump</a> wants to hide: diaries, schedules, activity and call logs, draft speeches, and White House staffers' files. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><span class="full-image-block ssNonEditable" style="display: block;"><img alt="" src="https://justinian.com.au/storage/photos-general/WhiteHouse_documents_removal_660.jpg?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1645152240959" style="border: 0px none;" /></span><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">Documents taken from the White House for "safekeeping" at Mar-a-Lago</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Trump's abduction and destruction of documents is also under investigation by the <a href="https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/house-oversight-committee-investigation-trump-handling-white-house-documents?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">House Oversight Committee</a>.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Memos recovered so far have been damning, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/02/us/politics/trump-jan-6-memos.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">according to the <em>NY Times</em></a>, which has finally <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/01/us/politics/trump-election-jan-6-voting-machines.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">begun to acknowledge</a> Trump's seditious behaviour. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Among the most incriminating are those concerning a scheme concocted by Trump's shady lawyers to steal the election with <a href="https://www.nationalmemo.com/trump-2656548829?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">sham electors</a> - what happened to "counselling crime" as grounds for disbarment? </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Trump also had a scheme to <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2022/01/31/politics/trump-executive-orders-seize-voting-machines/index.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">seize and impound</a> voting machines, but couldn't decide which government department to subvert, so purported executive orders were drafted for both Homeland Security and DoD (DoJ was <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/31/us/politics/donald-trump-election-results-fraud-voting-machines.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">also considered</a>). </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Now, these fake executive orders and election slates, some <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2022/01/31/politics/trump-torn-documents/index.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">torn up by Trump and restored by his staff</a>, are finding their way to the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_House_Select_Committee_on_the_January_6_Attack" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">January 6 committee</a>.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Other possible crimes are being uncovered as the January 6 investigation unfolds. It's been revealed that Donald Trump's bagmen <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/trump-gave-1m-meadows-nonprofit-weeks-after-jan-6-panel-n1288334" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">gave $1 million</a> to the piggy bank of his former chief of staff Mark Meadows who conveniently declined to proceed with his January 6 committee deposition. Witness interference?</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Trump has also been <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/feb/07/donald-trump-incendiary-speech-texas-legal-troubles-experts" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">dangling future pardons</a> to those currently being tried for the January 6 break-in, should he succeed in becoming president again. In fact, Trump considered pardoning the Capitol break-in mob <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2022/02/02/trump-considered-blanket-pardons-for-jan-6-rioters-before-he-left-office-00004738" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">before he left office</a>. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Trump's <a href="https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2022/02/24/trumps-unbridled-pardons-jake-bernstein/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">obsession with pardons</a> is well-known. Even so, members of the January 6 committee have indicated that dangling them amounts to <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2022/02/02/politics/pete-aguilar-trump-january-6-pardons-cnntv/index.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">witness tampering</a>.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Believing he might as well be hanged for a sheep as a lamb, Trump has moved on to <a href="https://www.nationalmemo.com/georgia-2656520236?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">incitements to violence</a> against prosecutors, who, he <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/jan/30/trump-pardon-promise-capitol-rioters-dictators-john-dean-nixon?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">complains</a>, are </p><blockquote style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic;"><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">"... trying to put me in jail. The[y] are vicious, horrible people. They're racists and they're very sick…mentally sick. They're going after me without any protection of my rights by the supreme court or most other courts."</p></blockquote><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Why don't the prosecutors just get on with it, convene grand juries and indict him?</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Here's the latest <a href="https://www.justsecurity.org/75032/litigation-tracker-pending-criminal-and-civil-cases-against-donald-trump/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">litigation tracker</a> for all of the crimes and civil actions (some overseas) involving the man and his companies.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em; text-align: center;"><strong style="font-size: 20.8px;">≈ ≈ ≈</strong></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><span class="full-image-block ssNonEditable" style="display: block;"><img alt="" src="https://justinian.com.au/storage/people/new-stories-2018/Jackson_Ketanji_Brown_660.jpg?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1645152507820" style="border: 0px none;" /></span><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">Jackson: Supreme Court frontrunner</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><strong>The</strong> new hard-right supreme court super-majority is settling in for years of political and judicial mischief. The <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2022/02/supreme-court-conservative-rulings/622050/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>Atlantic</em></a> looked at supreme court history and the perils of a new court with an 1890s perspective. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">A court retirement by one of the remnant liberals has been announced; President Biden is about to fill the vacancy on the court created by the planned retirement of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Breyer" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Justice Stephen Breyer</a>, a centrist member of the Democrat-appointed minority. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Biden has already announced the appointee will be one of several well-known African-American women serving on lower courts. The frontrunner is believed to be the highly-qualified <a href="https://www.scotusblog.com/2022/02/profile-of-a-potential-nominee-ketanji-brown-jackson/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Ketanji Brown Jackson</a>, currently serving on the DC circuit.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Headed for the court are the decisions of state and federal judges <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2022/02/04/north-carolina-congressional-map-struck-down-00005974" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">striking down</a>, as racial gerrymanders, the latest congressional redistricting by states. The supreme court responded by <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/07/us/politics/supreme-court-alabama-redistricting-congressional-map.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">reinstating</a> an egregious <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/02/07/supreme-court-alabama-racial-gerrymandering/?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Alabama racial gerrymander</a>.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">In a demonstrably partisan election-year interference, a 5-4 majority of the court used its "<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadow_docket" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">shadow docket</a>" to lift a stay unanimously granted by a special three-judge federal court. Now, challenged districts whose legality is yet to be decided <a href="https://www.vox.com/2022/2/1/22910909/supreme-court-racial-gerrymander-alabama-merrill-singleton-milligan" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">may be implemented</a> in this year's elections. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Chief Justice John Roberts joined the liberals; perhaps he now regrets personally gutting the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voting_Rights_Act_of_1965" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>Voting Rights Act 1965</em></a><em> </em> in the infamous 2013 decision, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shelby_County_v._Holder" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>Shelby County v Holder</em></a>, another Alabama case.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">It's only one lost seat for the Democrats, but five Republican-appointed justices couldn't resist the opportunity to <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/02/the-supreme-court-is-gutting-voting-rights-by-shadow-docket/622034/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">put their thumbs on the scale</a> in an election year . </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Court observer Linda Greenhouse called it the moment the court "<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/09/opinion/supreme-court-voting-rights.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">crossed the Rubicon</a>" of partisan activism; the court is now on track to <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2022/02/08/politics/supreme-court-voting-rights-act-2024-election/index.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">completely hollow out</a> the <em>VRA </em>before the 2024 election. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><span class="full-image-block ssNonEditable" style="display: block;"><img alt="" src="https://justinian.com.au/storage/photos-general/Caesar-crosses-the-rubicon_660.jpg?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1645152858577" style="border: 0px none;" /></span><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">Caesar crosses the Rubicon in 49 BCE</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">As Steve Vladeck points out, Justice Kavanaugh and the more extreme justices can't wait for a full briefing and oral argument before rendering a decision changing the law. They plan to use stay order pretexts and the shadow docket to <a href="https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2022/02/the-supreme-courts-shadow-docket-rulings-keep-getting-worse.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">change it now</a>. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">The <a href="https://www.scotusblog.com/2022/02/in-5-4-vote-justices-reinstate-alabama-voting-map-despite-lower-courts-ruling-that-it-dilutes-black-votes/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">disheartening</a> result is <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merrill_v._Milligan" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>Merrill v Milligan</em></a>.<em> </em> </p></div>H. Candace Gormanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15947267626405585323noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2634286779940664473.post-62802527561185337062022-01-17T08:17:00.001-08:002022-01-17T08:17:22.462-08:001-16-ROGER FITCH<p> </p><h2 class="title" style="background-color: #f9f4f1; color: #bf370a; font-family: Brawler, "sans-serif"; font-size: 21px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><a class="journal-entry-navigation-current" href="https://justinian.com.au/columnists/stealing-the-presidency.html" style="color: #bf370a; letter-spacing: 0px; line-height: 1em; margin-bottom: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;">Stealing the presidency</a></h2><div class="journal-entry-tag journal-entry-tag-post-title" style="background-color: #f9f4f1; color: #a6a6a6; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 10px; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-top: 10px; text-transform: uppercase;"><span class="posted-in"><span class="tag-element" style="white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://justinian.com.au/columnists/category/roger-fitch-esq" rel="tag" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">ROGER FITCH ESQ</a></span></span> • <span class="posted-on" style="white-space: nowrap;">SUNDAY, JANUARY 16, 2022</span></div><div class="body" style="background-color: #f9f4f1; color: #0b0b0b; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 16px; margin: 1em 0px;"><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><strong>Murdoch discovered America's weak point ... The roots of electoral disfigurement ... Rigging the vote long into the future ... Supreme Court's role in political corruption ... Military prosecutions for civilian crimes ... Roger Fitch reports from Washington</strong></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em; padding-left: 30px;"><em>"The trouble with most folks isn't so much their ignorance, as knowing so many things that ain't so"</em> - <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josh_Billings" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Josh Billings</a> </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em; padding-left: 30px;"><em>"[Republicans] think it will be easier to end democracy with paperwork, rather than guns ... The idea is to gut democracy in such a way so that the majority of Americans don't even know it happened ..."</em> - <a href="https://www.salon.com/2022/01/05/a-second-civil-war-one-year-after-violent-insurrection-how-worried-should-we-be/?user_id" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Salon</a></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><strong style="font-size: 17.6px;"><span class="full-image-float-right ssNonEditable" style="float: right; margin: 0px 0px 8px 10px;"><img alt="" src="https://justinian.com.au/storage/lawtoons/toons-other/Flom_Washington_300.gif?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1642314190882" style="border: 0px none;" /></span>Historical</strong> analogies abound for the <a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/trump-hitler-coup/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>Putsch</em></a> of January 6, 2021. Donald Trump, usually likened to the <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/presidents-ranked-worst-best/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">absolute worst</a> president, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Johnson" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Andrew Johnson</a>, is being <a href="https://www.thebulwark.com/the-last-time-we-had-an-insurrectionist-president/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">compared</a> to the 19th-century "insurrectionist president", <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Tyler" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">John Tyler</a>, while Trump's insurrectionists, begging for pardons, remind us of <a href="https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2022/01/confederate-pardon-january-6-trump/?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Confederate soldiers</a>.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">America's shift to one-party autocracy could track the <a href="https://www.theglobalist.com/when-mob-rule-comes-to-the-united-states-of-america/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">second Russian Revolution</a>, with Trump-Bolsheviks. Or democracy could end from within, as under <a href="https://www.salon.com/2022/01/02/mussolini-seized-full-power-97-years-ago-does-donald-long-to-follow-suit/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Mussolini</a>.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">US democracy endured far longer, but became shaky after the arrival of a visionary foreigner who found its weak point: information. <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/03/11/the-making-of-the-fox-news-white-house" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Gifted in propaganda</a>, Rupert Murdoch decided to harness the latent, previously undirected, ignorance of a substantial percentage of Americans. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/aug/07/bill-de-blasio-interview-trump-rupert-murdoch" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Within 25 years, he succeeded</a>: US Republicans can now rely entirely on the dumbed-down, fact-free voters unleashed by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fox_News" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Fox News</a>. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">These voters <a href="https://www.salon.com/2022/01/04/dont-actually-believe-the-big-lie-about-january-6--theyre-in-on-the-con/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">accept</a> Trump's <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stab-in-the-back_myth" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>Dolchstosslegende</em></a>, the <a href="https://www.npr.org/2021/12/23/1065277246/trump-big-lie-jan-6-election" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Election Lie</a>. They doubt he <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/01/01/post-poll-january-6/?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">bears responsibility</a> for January 6, and intend to vote for <a href="https://www.salon.com/2022/01/03/meet-the-scariest-candidates-of-2022-it-wasnt-easy-to-pick-em/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">more of the same</a>.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Republican-controlled states <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2022/01/january-6-insurrection-trump-coup-2024-election/620843/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">ensure these votes are the ones counted</a> by disenfranchising the opposition, e.g. through <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/01/04/1069232219/heres-where-election-deniers-and-doubters-are-running-to-control-voting?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">partisan election administration</a>, where the legislature or party-selected election officials (such as Florida's Secretary of State in 2000, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katherine_Harris" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Katharine Harris</a>) subvert <a href="https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-united-states-elections-electoral-college-election-2020-809215812f4bc6e5907573ba98247c0c?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">election results</a>.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em; text-align: center;"><strong><span style="font-size: 20.8px;">≈ ≈ ≈</span></strong></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><span class="full-image-block ssNonEditable" style="display: block;"><img alt="" src="https://justinian.com.au/storage/photos-general/Trump_Coup_660.png?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1642315027919" style="border: 0px none;" /></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">Planning a coup for 2024</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><strong>The</strong> current woes of American democracy can be traced to state legislative coups that occurred during the 2010 decennial "redistricting", when Republican states established their most brazen gerrymanders, and to the subsequent rulings of the Republican-dominated supreme court: 2013's <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shelby_County_v._Holder" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>Shelby County v Holder</em></a>, gutting the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voting_Rights_Act_of_1965" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>Voting Rights Act 1965</em></a>, and 2019's <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rucho_v._Common_Cause" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>Rucho v Common Cause</em></a>, finding partisan election districts are "non-justiciable". </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">The result has been <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/01/10/no-republicans-arent-hammering-democrats-redistricting-theyre-doing-something-worse/?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">even more outrageous</a> redistricting in the 2020 cycle.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Republicans are now <a href="https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2021/11/republicans-are-rigging-elections-for-the-next-decade/?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">rigging elections</a> for the next decade, planning to steal elections this year, in <a href="https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2022/01/what-will-it-take-to-stop-a-2024-election-coup.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">2024</a>, and <a href="https://statesuniteddemocracy.org/resources/decupdate/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">thereafter</a>. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">In other developments: </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em; padding-left: 30px;">• The Pentagon may have delayed sending in the National Guard on January 6 because it feared what Trump <a href="https://www.justsecurity.org/79623/crisis-of-command-the-pentagon-the-president-and-january-6/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">might do with them</a>.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em; padding-left: 30px;">• Trump's January 6 <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-advisor-peter-navarro-lays-out-how-he-and-steve-bannon-planned-to-overturn-bidens-electoral-win" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">game plan</a> has been revealed by <a href="https://www.emptywheel.net/2021/12/30/why-that-peter-navarro-interview-isnt-enough-to-charge-him-with-sedition/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">one of the conspirators</a>.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em; padding-left: 30px;">• <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/jan6-law-firms-insurrection-campaign-finance-1268962/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Big Law lobbyists</a> and <a href="https://www.citizensforethics.org/reports-investigations/crew-reports/the-corporate-insurrection-how-companies-have-broken-promises-and-funded-seditionists/?link" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">corporations</a> have resumed donations to the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sedition_Caucus" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Sedition Caucus</a>.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em; padding-left: 30px;">• Business is booming for (<a href="https://www.yalelawjournal.org/forum/lawyer-lies-and-political-speech" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">often untruthful</a>) election lawyers.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em; padding-left: 30px;">• Democrats face <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2022/01/01/congress-future-presidential-ballots-trump-challenge-526168" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">obstacles</a> in <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/09/us/politics/presidential-power-trump.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">limiting the power</a> of rogue presidents and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/21/us/politics/trump-democrats.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">reining-in their mischief</a>. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em; padding-left: 30px;">• It's unclear if the DoJ is acting to <a href="https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2021/12/why-isnt-justice-department-investigating-trump-over-2020.html?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">investigate and charge</a> the ex-president. Will the AG <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/23/opinion/trump-capitol-riot-january-6th.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">let Trump off the hook</a>?</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em; padding-left: 30px;">• Republican operatives could <a href="https://newrepublic.com/article/164672/january-6-committee-meadows-pence" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">run out the clock</a> on the apprehension and punishment of Trump, whose <a href="https://www.justsecurity.org/79603/how-stalling-tactics-could-still-constrain-the-january-6-committee/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">stalling tactics</a> might succeed.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em; padding-left: 30px;">• If successful in house elections in 2022, Republicans could <a href="https://newrepublic.com/article/164670/matt-gaetz-trump-speaker-2024?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">make Trump Speaker of the House</a>.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em; padding-left: 30px;">• Unless <a href="https://www.justsecurity.org/75032/litigation-tracker-pending-criminal-and-civil-cases-against-donald-trump/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">convicted of a crime</a> or <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2022/01/04/politics/trump-lawsuits-metro-capitol-police/index.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">forensically disgraced</a>, Trump could probably steal the presidency in 2024.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em; text-align: center;"><strong><span style="font-size: 20.8px;">≈ ≈ ≈</span></strong></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em; padding-left: 30px;"><em>"The Supreme Court, in its infinite majesty, allows rich and poor Americans alike to donate millions of dollars to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_action_committee#Super_PACs" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">super PACs</a>, to <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/10/menendez-mcdonnell-supreme-court/543354/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">shower elected officials</a> with lavish gifts while seeking favours, and to enjoy a <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/11/whats-next-for-federal-corruption-cases-after-bob-menendez/546164/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">stream of benefits</a> from politicians unimpeded by federal prosecutors"</em> - <a href="https://newrepublic.com/article/164006/trump-selling-dc-hotel-emoluments?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">New Republic</a>.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">The supreme court has made political corruption easy in recent years, using a strained personal (and corporate) freedom of speech to strike down virtually all laws limiting, or compelling disclosure of, political contributions in the US. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">The court itself has <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com.au/sheldon-whitehouse-fighting-to-end-dark-money-at-supreme-court-2021-11?r=US&IR=T" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">been accused of donor influence</a>, with <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_money" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">dark money</a> freely flowing in US senate judicial confirmations, e.g. for Trump's nominees to the supreme court.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Trump's appointments have undeniably <a href="https://washingtonmonthly.com/2021/11/17/how-the-trump-era-changed-the-supreme-court/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">changed the supreme court</a>: veteran court observers <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/30/opinion/supreme-court-republican.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Linda Greenhouse</a>, <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2021/12/16/politics/supreme-court-political-moment/index.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Joan Biskupic</a> and <a href="https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2021/11/supreme-court-deregulation-climate-change-new-deal.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Dahlia Lithwick</a> sense a newly-<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/16/opinion/supreme-court-trump.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">weaponised</a> court, where ideologues <a href="http://www.dorfonlaw.org/2021/12/the-courts-2020-2021-term-justice-alito.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">such as Justice Alito</a> feel emboldened. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">President Biden's <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/01/13/1072165393/supreme-court-blocks-bidens-vaccine-or-test-mandate-for-large-private-companies" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">workplace vaccine mandate</a> was one of the first casualties. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">A reactionary supreme court could <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/12/14/supreme-court-roe-conservatives/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">last 30 years</a>, and only those precedents that back <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2021/12/12/supreme-court-precedent-conservatives-524124" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">the conservative cause and narrative</a> are likely to be respected.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Meanwhile, the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/12/21/most-dangerous-conservative-judges-arent-supreme-court" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">often-awful</a> lower court judges Trump appointed are not all a disappointment. The former president's cynical assumption that everything in life is transactional has not worked out quite as he hoped in the judiciary, with Trump-appointed judges ruling against his interests in DC district court (<a href="https://www.lawfareblog.com/government-wins-key-ruling-issue-affecting-hundreds-capitol-riot-cases-0" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">here</a> and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/dec/14/judge-dismisses-trumps-latest-bid-to-hide-tax-returns-from-house-committee" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">here</a>). </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em; text-align: center;"><strong><span style="font-size: 20.8px;">≈ ≈ ≈</span></strong></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><span class="full-image-block ssNonEditable" style="display: block;"><img alt="" src="https://justinian.com.au/storage/photos-general/Guantanamo_court_660.png?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1642315303407" style="border: 0px none;" /></span><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">Courthouse - Guantánamo Bay</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><strong>It</strong> has been <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2021/09/22/why-we-should-still-care-about-guantanamo-513103" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">twenty years</a> since George Bush set up his extraordinary military prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. It's one of America's greatest injustices, and clearly a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/jan/09/guantanamo-bay-20-years-on-detainees" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">political albatross</a>. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">There has been little amelioration of this extralegal blunder, <a href="https://thehill.com/opinion/criminal-justice/584095-four-questions-that-deserve-answers-at-the-guantanamo-oversight" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">including under President Biden</a>. Although <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/13/us/politics/guantanamo-detainees-transfer.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">two more men</a> have been released, bad behaviour by the <a href="https://theintercept.com/2021/11/28/9-11-trial-guantanamo-cia-cables-foia/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">CIA</a>, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/19/us/politics/guantanamo-torture-fbi-cia.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">FBI</a>, Pentagon and prosecution <a href="https://www.lawdragon.com/news-features/2021-11-19-fbi-agents-became-cia-agents-during-crucial-black-site-period-9-11-hearings-reveal" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">still keeps surfacing</a>.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">The Biden administration is building a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/29/us/politics/pentagon-guantanamo-secret-courtroom.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">second military courtroom</a> for its prosecutions, although it appears that, in all the years of these, only one case (the current <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abdul_Hadi_al_Iraqi" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Abdul Hadi</a> case) has involved a validly-charged war crime recognised under international law. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">On his first day in office, Biden acquiesced in the charges brought by an outgoing Trump Pentagon official, against Riduan Isamuddin (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riduan_Isamuddin" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Hambali</a>), the Bali Bomber, for "war crimes" consisting of terror attacks in Southeast Asia, far removed from any armed conflict. The new courtroom is designed for three defendants - it seems intended for <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/1/13/after-16-years-in-guantanamo-will-hambali-get-a-fair-trial" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Hambali</a> and his co-defendants.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">The "9/11" case, (once planned for civil trial in Manhattan, now to be tried by military commission) is in the other Gitmo courtroom. Like Hambali's, the case is emblematic of the grave jurisdictional defects in the trials - it's general knowledge that the Afghan war began in October 2001.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">In both cases, military prosecutions have been contrived for civilian crimes, by fraudulently folding terrorism offences into the armed conflict in Afghanistan. All the cases, other than Abdul Hadi's alleged attacks on civilians, suffer from the same jurisdictional defects, having occurred outside war, or theatres of war, or (as in David Hicks' case) involving unrecognised or retrospective non-war crimes. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri's charges actually include <em>piracy</em> (the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maritime_Jewel" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">MV Limburg</a> bombing); it's <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/14/us/politics/guantanamo-bay-abd-al-rahim-al-nashiri.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Nashiri's case</a> where the Biden administration <a href="https://www.justsecurity.org/79382/the-biden-administrations-moment-of-truth-on-torture-evidence/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">faces scrutiny</a> on the <a href="https://www.miragenews.com/submission-argues-use-of-torture-evidence-in-666853/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">use of torture evidence</a>.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">The prosecutions suffer from jurisdictional defects compounded by torture, but a few convictions have been achieved by guilty pleas that won't be appealed, e.g. the plea just made by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Majid_Khan_(detainee)" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Majid Khan</a>.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">In a Stalinesque court appearance, Khan confessed to numerous crimes unknown to the law of war, but at least his attorneys negotiated the inclusion in his plea of his <a href="https://www.npr.org/2021/10/28/1050317339/guantanamo-sentencing-majid-khan" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">testimony about torture</a>. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">The military jurors <a href="https://www.justsecurity.org/78880/a-torture-survivor-speaks-at-the-guantanamo-military-commissions/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">believed Khan</a>, strongly <a href="https://www.lawdragon.com/news-features/2021-10-30-jurors-recommend-clemency-after-detainee-graphic-account-of-torture" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">condemning his torture</a>, but at best, his evidence will result in a shorter military sentence.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Torture is cause for dismissal in federal court (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahmed_Ghailani" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Ahmed Ghailani</a> excepted) - it's "government misconduct that shocks the conscience".</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/09/us/politics/guantanamo-detainees-due-process.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Due process</a> matters. </p></div>H. Candace Gormanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15947267626405585323noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2634286779940664473.post-78865901043009987582021-11-24T10:57:00.001-08:002021-11-24T11:02:15.897-08:00From Roger Fitch and our friends down under at Justinian<h2 class="title" style="background-color: #f9f4f1; color: #bf370a; font-family: Brawler, "sans-serif"; font-size: 21px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">A<a class="journal-entry-navigation-current" href="https://justinian.com.au/columnists/an-excess-of-venality.html" style="color: #bf370a; letter-spacing: 0px; line-height: 1em; margin-bottom: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;">n excess of venality</a></h2><div class="journal-entry-tag journal-entry-tag-post-title" style="background-color: #f9f4f1; color: #a6a6a6; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 10px; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-top: 10px; text-transform: uppercase;"><span class="posted-in"><span class="tag-element" style="white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://justinian.com.au/columnists/category/roger-fitch-esq" rel="tag" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">ROGER FITCH ESQ</a></span></span> • <span class="posted-on" style="white-space: nowrap;">THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2021</span></div><div class="body" style="background-color: #f9f4f1; color: #0b0b0b; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 16px; margin: 1em 0px;"><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><strong>Guns everywhere for everyone - Supreme Court to decide ... Judiciary stuffed with Trumpists ... Bannon mired in Congressional contempt ... Insurrection of January 6 ... Ex-president consumed by litigation ... From Roger Fitch, Our Man in Washington </strong></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><span class="full-image-float-right ssNonEditable" style="float: right; margin: 0px 0px 8px 10px;"><img alt="" src="https://justinian.com.au/storage/lawtoons/toons-other/Fitch_Liberty_finger_update_250.gif?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1637202343579" style="border: 0px none;" /></span><strong style="font-size: 17.6px;">Trump's</strong> most lasting damage has been to the courts, through the appointment of <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a/how-trump-transformed-the-supreme-court" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">partisan judges</a> with an ideological agenda; the incipient harm has already become apparent in the supreme court's new term.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">In a case already argued, the gun enthusiasts are back, and this time they're claiming a <a href="https://www.scotusblog.com/2021/11/majority-of-court-appears-dubious-of-new-york-gun-control-law-but-justices-mull-narrow-ruling/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">constitutional right to carry weapons</a> everywhere without hindrance. As the <a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/society/supreme-court-gun-rifle/?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>Nation</em></a> headlined,<strong> "</strong>Supreme Court Is Poised to Give a Giant Gift to Gun Nuts"</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">It's a matter left undecided in the court's infamous 2008 case, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/District_of_Columbia_v._Heller" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>DC v Heller</em></a>, but it's of major importance, as right-to-carry laws lead directly to increased violent crime. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">The latest lawsuit seeks to knock out New York State's highly effective, 108-year old gun regulations in order to complete the right-wing reinterpretation of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Second Amendment</a>.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">In <em>Heller </em>(2008), the court discarded 70 years of precedent and discovered a previously-unknown Second Amendment <em>personal</em> right to keep and bear arms without regard to the military exigency referred to in the amendment.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><em>New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v Bruen </em>concerns a purported right to carry arms outside the home, and has attracted over 80 briefs. Interestingly, the court will also be looking at the 1328 <a href="https://press-pubs.uchicago.edu/founders/documents/amendIIs1.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>Statute of Northampton</em></a>. More <a href="https://firearmslaw.duke.edu/2021/09/observations-regarding-the-interpretation-and-legacy-of-the-statute-of-northampton-in-anglo-american-legal-history/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">here</a> on the statute, followed in the UK until 1970. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">The supposed ambiguity in the English statute, <a href="http://claytoncramer.com/peacebonds/Northampton.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">exploited by right-wing law profs</a>, turns on the translation of the English law's Latin: was it carrying arms, or merely wearing armour, that was proscribed? <a href="https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2021/11/the-supreme-court-is-set-to-wipe-out-a-major-gun-control-law.html?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>New York Magazine</em></a> has more. There's a <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-are-medieval-weapons-laws-at-the-center-of-a-us-supreme-court-case-169604" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">further claim</a> by weapon-afficionados that the English <em>Bill of Rights </em>of 1689 protects gun-toting. It's news to the English.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">If grim forecasts are borne out, the supreme court is on the cusp of making the US almost unliveable. Not just for women, e.g, the Texas <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-11-02/texas-abortion-law-before-us-supreme-court/100585174" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">abortion-bounty law</a>, but also in daily life, where safety and health regulations, including those touching on guns, vaccines and the air citizens breathe, are on the line. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">In an <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/29/us/politics/epa-carbon-emissions-supreme-court.html?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">alarming <em>certiorari </em>grant</a>, the new super-conservative majority on the court may be signalling its support for the most deadly attack in decades on the modern <a href="https://newrepublic.com/article/164280/supreme-court-epa-administrative-state?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">administrative state</a>, and, with coal and the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Environmental_Protection_Agency" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">EPA</a> involved, life on the planet itself.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">It's a horrifying redux of the toxic "<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/10/29/supreme-court-just-took-case-epas-authority-its-decision-could-undo-most-major-federal-laws/?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">non-delegation</a>" theory of legislation that could affect 99% of America's regulatory statutes. A (federally) unregulated corporate nirvana could result.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em; text-align: center;"><strong style="font-size: 20.8px;"> * * *</strong></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">A house subcommittee is investigating the government's 2020 coronavirus response and has uncovered the <a href="https://www.nationalmemo.com/house-subcommittee-trump-pandemic" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">depths of Trump's pandemic incompetence</a>. Even so, Texas and other red states have sued to block the Biden Administration's mild <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2021/10/29/politics/texas-10-state-coalition-lawsuits-biden-vaccine-mandate/index.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">vaccination requirements</a> for federal contractors who operate in their states.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">The states lost, but the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2021/11/12/biden-vaccine-mandate-court-ruling/?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Trump-stuffed Fifth Circuit</a> came through for the party's public-health sceptics: an all-Republican panel struck down the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occupational_Safety_and_Health_Administration" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">OSHA</a>-issued employer vaccination mandates. The <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commerce_Clause" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Commerce Clause</a> analysis was described by one constitutional law professor as "<a href="http://www.dorfonlaw.org/2021/11/the-spurious-constitutional-issues-in.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">reactionary and bonkers</a>".</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">By contrast, the appeal of Trump's <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/09/us/politics/trump-january-6-committee.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">claims of executive privilege</a> over <a href="https://www.npr.org/2021/11/10/1054138601/judge-rejects-trumps-bid-to-block-release-of-jan-6-documents" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">National Archives papers</a>, rejected by a DC judge, will be heard by a panel of <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2021/11/09/trump-executive-privilege-court-ruling-kings-520512" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Democrat-appointed</a> judges.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">It remains to be seen which appeals circuit will hear the inevitable "faith-based" challenges to President Biden's <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2021/11/12/contractors-religious-exemption-trump-biden/?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">reversal</a> of Trump administration rules that allowed religious-based anti-gay discrimination.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em; text-align: center;"><strong style="font-size: 20.8px;">* * *</strong></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><span class="full-image-block ssNonEditable" style="display: block;"><img alt="" src="https://justinian.com.au/storage/people/new-stories-2018/Bannon_Steve_660.jpg?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1637210403698" style="border: 0px none;" /></span><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">Bannon: Trump's little mate</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">After dithering for weeks, the Justice Department has <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2021/11/12/steve-bannon-indicted-for-defying-jan-6-committee-investigation-521177" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">indicted</a> Trump's mate <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/steve-bannon-indicted/2021/11/12/eebd4726-43fa-11ec-a3aa-0255edc02eb7_story.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Steve Bannon</a> for contempt of congress. Some had worried that the ever-cautious attorney general, Merrick Garland, would delay charging Bannon, or not charge him at all; after all, in October, Garland let the five-year statute of limitations run against Michael Cohen's unindicted co-conspirator in the Stormy Daniels hush-money payments: "Individual-l", one Donald Trump.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">It was another <a href="https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2021-10-24/why-is-trump-running-for-president-again-to-stay-out-of-jail" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Houdini escape</a> for <em>El Caudillo de Mar-a-Lago</em>. The payments, clear violations of election law, were under investigation by the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Election_Commission" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Federal Election Commission</a> as Trump's term ended, but holdover Republican appointees on the evenly-divided commission <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-57029342" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">engineered a case closure</a> on technical grounds.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">If scandal and disgrace fail to sink Trump or his Republican caucus, there's still a faint prospect that the congressional insurrectionists could be expelled, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/26/opinion/jan-6-congress-republicans.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">as they were in 1866</a>, and <a href="https://electionlawblog.org/?p=125256" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Trump himself could be disqualified</a> (or "<a href="https://www.lawfareblog.com/law-individual-disqualification-democracy" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">lustrated</a>") from office. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">It's essential that Trump be stopped from standing again, as all the indications are that he's <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/nov/14/trump-president-2024-election-coup-republicans?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">planning a coup in 2024</a>; that's why so much depends upon the work of the House Select Committee that is currently investigating the unsuccessful 2020 coup attempt. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Even as the committee was sitting, <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/trump-lawyer-memos-pence-overturn-election-1257693/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">shocking new evidence</a> emerged of Trump's efforts to cling to power, e.g, the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastman_memorandums" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Eastman memos</a>, and now, the <a href="https://www.vice.com/en/article/wxd8vy/mark-meadows-involved-trump-coup-memo?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Ellis</a> and <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/memo-trump-attorney-outlined-pence-overturn-election-book/story?id=81134003" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">McEntee</a> memos. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jenna_Ellis" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Jenna Ellis</a> was a Trump campaign lawyer; <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/11/trump-johnny-mcentee-january-6-betrayal/620646/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Johnny McEntee</a> was the 29-year-old White House personnel director who forced out Defence Secretary Mark Esper for (<a href="https://www.salon.com/2021/11/16/new-chilling-memo-by-loyalist-is-cause-for-considerable-alarm-_partner/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">among other things</a>) resisting Trump's efforts to involve the Pentagon in his <em>Putsch</em>.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Even with the overwhelming evidence of wrongdoing, there's little time left for house Democrats to deal with Trump. The recent <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2021_Virginia_elections" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Virginia state elections</a> exposed the continuing credulity of Republican voters, a softening of Democrat support and most worryingly, 2020 Biden voters with a short memory.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">In November 2022 there will be congressional elections. Inflamed by the ceaseless Stolen-Election lie and powered by <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/gerrymandering-surges-states-redraw-maps-house-seats-81088152" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">gerrymanders</a> that would make <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bjelkemander" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Bjelke-Petersen</a> blush, Trump's <em>Fox</em>-fed <em>Lumpenproletariat</em> will regain control of the House of Reps and put an end to its inquiries into Trump's malefactions. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Yet there's no lack of ongoing litigation (here's the <a href="https://www.justsecurity.org/75032/litigation-tracker-pending-criminal-and-civil-cases-against-donald-trump/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">latest list</a>), with a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/manhattan-da-convenes-new-grand-jury-in-trump-case-to-weigh-potential-charges/2021/11/04/79549fe0-3d8b-11ec-a493-51b0252dea0c_story.html?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">fresh grand jury</a> inquiry into the Trump Organisation. Trump remains in <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/11/11/tough-sentences-jan-6-rioters-should-freak-trump-out/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">personal legal peril</a> with the January 6th jailings: his <a href="https://www.justsecurity.org/78718/the-easiest-case-for-the-prosecution-trumps-aiding-and-abetting-unlawful-occupation-of-the-capitol/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">aiding and abetting</a> the Capitol occupation would be one of the easiest cases for prosecutors to prove. As well, there's the incriminating <a href="https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2021/11/trump-felony-charges-government-hatch-report.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>Hatch Act </em>violations</a> of underlings in which he's implicated.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><span class="full-image-block ssNonEditable" style="display: block;"><img alt="" src="https://justinian.com.au/storage/photos-general/teapot-dome.jpg?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1637210517032" style="border: 0px none;" /></span><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">Teapot Dome Scandal ... plunder of public assets by presidential cronies</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">The <em>Washington Post</em> has produced a three-part report on the January 6th insurrection <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/interactive/2021/warnings-jan-6-insurrection/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">before</a>, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/interactive/2021/what-happened-trump-jan-6-insurrection/?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">during</a> and <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/interactive/2021/fallout-jan-6-insurrection/?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">after</a> the coup attempt.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">The <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/oct/30/trump-2020-election-steal-presidency-coup-inside-story" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>Guardian</em></a><em> </em>also has a report, and <a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/top-trump-fundraiser-boasted-of-raising-3-million-to-support-jan-6-save-america-rally" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>ProPublica</em></a><em> </em>found the <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2021/10/details-of-the-money-behind-jan-6-protests-continue-to-emerge/?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">sources of the riot funding</a>. Now, <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/exclusive-jan-6-organizers-met-congress-white-house-1245289/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">congressional complicity</a> in the Trump coup plot is coming to light; subpoenaed witnesses at the January 6 committee hearings are said to be <a href="https://www.axios.com/some-jan-6-witnesses-spill-for-investigators-ede8afca-e60c-4593-ba18-c1b4cd1330bc.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">singing like canaries</a>. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">If all else fails, there is hope that <a href="https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2021/11/trump-giuliani-ellis-sued-defamation-pennsylvania.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">defamation suits</a> will bring down Trump and his legal hacks, and his mad <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/11/04/smartmatic-sues-newsmax-oan-2020-us-election/?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">media accomplices, too</a>. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">The Trump International Hotel, meanwhile, has been <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2021/11/14/trump-selling-dc-hotel/?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">sold at a spectacular loss</a> to an investment group, after the Trump Organisation lost $70 million on it during the lessee's surprise presidential term. Look for a Waldorf Astoria in Washington's Old Post Office. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">The venality of the Trump administration now <a href="https://www.thebulwark.com/trump-era-corruption-eclipses-even-teapot-dome/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">exceeds any in American history</a>, including the 1921 <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teapot_Dome_scandal" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Teapot Dome Scandal</a>. That involved the private looting of publicly-owned assets, what we now call <em>fossil fuels, </em>by the officials and corporate cronies of a corrupt president. Sound familiar? </p></div>H. Candace Gormanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15947267626405585323noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2634286779940664473.post-56267867900128749812021-10-14T07:28:00.002-07:002021-10-14T07:28:49.133-07:00From Roger Fitch and our Friends Down Under at Justinian<p> </p><h2 class="title" style="background-color: #f9f4f1; color: #bf370a; font-family: Brawler, sans-serif; font-size: 21px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Om<a class="journal-entry-navigation-current" href="https://justinian.com.au/columnists/ominous-agenda-of-scotus-supermajority.html" style="color: #bf370a; letter-spacing: 0px; line-height: 1em; margin-bottom: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;">inous agenda of SCOTUS' supermajority</a></h2><div class="journal-entry-tag journal-entry-tag-post-title" style="background-color: #f9f4f1; color: #a6a6a6; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 10px; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-top: 10px; text-transform: uppercase;"><span class="posted-in"><span class="tag-element" style="white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://justinian.com.au/columnists/category/roger-fitch-esq" rel="tag" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">ROGER FITCH ESQ</a></span></span> • <span class="posted-on" style="white-space: nowrap;">WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 13, 2021</span></div><div class="body" style="background-color: #f9f4f1; color: #0b0b0b; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 1em 0px;"><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><strong>Stonewalling the January 6 investigation ... Obstruction of justice is flavour of the season ... Midterm dangers ... Huge report on attempted subversion of the DoJ ... Supreme Court docket ... "State secrets" ... Legal theory in support of election heist ... From Washington Roger Fitch reports </strong></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em; padding-left: 30px;"><em>"[T]he reprieve that we experienced when Trump did in fact leave office ... will be quite brief. By 2022, or 2024 at the latest, we will see that the American political system has been hopelessly corrupted, with Republicans having successfully ended any serious prospect of honest political competition ... it seems that we are merely waiting for the end ... We were never by any means a perfect constitutional democracy (having only had something roughly resembling widespread voting rights for about the last <a href="https://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=false&doc=100" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">fifty-six years</a>, among other obvious flaws) ..."</em> - <a href="https://verdict.justia.com/2021/08/30/dead-democracy-walking" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Neil Buchanan</a></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><span class="full-image-float-right ssNonEditable" style="float: right; margin: 0px 0px 8px 10px;"><img alt="" src="https://justinian.com.au/storage/lawtoons/toons-other/Flom_Washington_300.gif?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1634114107700" style="border: 0px none;" /></span><strong>The</strong> rising tide of Republican lawlessness has become a Tsunami, and <a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/right-coup-danger/?" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">doomsday predictions</a> of America's future are now common. F</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Briefly, Republicans seem prepared to destroy America in order to save it from Democrats. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">One example: stonewalling house Republicans are <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/11-house-republicans-back-kevin-mccarthys-threat-telecoms-over-1-6-committee-1626092" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">resorting to extortion</a> to prevent disclosure of their telephone records to the house committee investigating the January 6 Capitol invasion, while their former president, fresh from his <a href="https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/trump-campaign-steal-presidency-timeline.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">campaign to steal the 2020 election</a>, openly <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/oct/04/trump-republicans-2024-election" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">backs party candidates</a> he believes will support his <a href="https://www.vice.com/en/article/g5gawj/trump-endorsing-candidates-who-could-help-steal-2024" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">plans to steal the 2024 election</a>. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">The Republican caucus in the House of Representatives is bad enough already: two-thirds of members attempted to prevent the routine confirmation of the 2020 election results, and are resisting both house and senate investigations of some of the serial crimes and personal corruption of the last president.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">One example: abuse of his government lease for Washington's Old Post Office, fitted-out as a luxury Trump hostelry.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">According to <a href="https://oversight.house.gov/sites/democrats.oversight.house.gov/files/Selected%2520Documents%2520Related%2520to%2520GSA%2520Lease%2520for%2520Old%2520Post%2520Office%2520Building%2520Part%25201.pdf" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">documents</a> released by the House Oversight Committee, the Trump International Hotel actually <em>lost</em> $70 million while its eponymous lessee was president: that's despite millions in <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2021/10/08/trump-hotel-millions-foreign-governments/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">foreign government backhanders</a> disguised as bookings. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><span class="full-image-block ssNonEditable" style="display: block;"><img alt="" src="https://justinian.com.au/storage/photos-general/Trump_Hotel_Washington_660.jpg?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1634114345481" style="border: 0px none;" /></span><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">Trump's loss leading hotel</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">The House Judiciary Committee is currently investigating the January 6 insurrection, including the former president's <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/10/08/trump-doj-scheme/?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">brazen plot</a> to steal the election (more <a href="https://www.nationalmemo.com/how-right-wing-media-greased-path-for-trumps-coup-attempt" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">here</a>), and has issued subpoenas for testimony by <a href="https://www.nationalmemo.com/january-6-mark-meadows?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">former Trump associates</a>. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">The <a href="https://www.justsecurity.org/75032/litigation-tracker-pending-criminal-and-civil-cases-against-donald-trump/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">litigation-entangled</a> Trump responded by "ordering" former aides to flout their subpoenas, a textbook obstruction of justice; in any case, President Biden <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/biden-declines-trump-request-withhold-white-house-records-jan-6-n1281120" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">overruled</a> Trumped-up claims of executive privilege. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Yet sadly, <a href="https://www.lawfareblog.com/jan-6-investigation-ramping-will-it-matter" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">time is on Trump's side</a>: Republicans, armed with fresh decennial gerrymanders and reliant on the gullibility of voters, will likely retake the house of reps next year and close down inquiries. What's really needed is a <a href="https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/trump-s-coercion-role-jan-6-warrant-special-prosecutor-n1279595" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">special prosecutor</a>, as proposed in a 1987 Chapel Hill <a href="https://scholarship.law.unc.edu/nclr/vol65/iss5/10/?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">law review article</a> by JR Biden Jr. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">The many <a href="https://washingtonmonthly.com/2021/10/04/are-criminal-investigations-closing-in-on-donald-trump/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">criminal investigations</a> of Trump (including in <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/oct/05/donald-trump-criminal-investigations-georgia-election-interference" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Georgia</a>) are another matter. Prosecutors retain a measure of independence, and there is hope that a successful prosecution of the former president for one or another of his many criminal defalcations and abuses of power will in future modestly deter the Republican Party. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><a href="https://www.justsecurity.org/77994/doj-should-investigate-jeff-clark-and-mark-meadows-for-political-coercion-act-and-hatch-act-violations/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Just Security</a> argued for a Justice Department investigation of Trump's White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, as well as the president's DoJ mole Jeffrey Clark, now the subject of a <a href="https://www.jurist.org/news/2021/10/attorneys-file-ethics-complaint-against-doj-official-over-2020-election" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">DC Bar Association complaint</a>. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><em>Emptywheel's </em>Marcy Wheeler speculated on how the Justice Department might bring charges against Donald Trump himself for his<a href="https://www.emptywheel.net/2021/08/19/how-a-trump-prosecution-for-january-6-would-work/?print=print" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"> participation in January 6th</a>.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/06/us/politics/trump-election-fraud-report.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Meanwhile</a>, there's a 394-page interim Senate Judiciary Committee <a href="https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Interim%20Staff%20Report%20FINAL.pdf" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">report</a> on Trump's efforts to alter the election results through DoJ subversion. <em>Lawfare </em><a href="https://www.lawfareblog.com/senate-report-shows-how-close-american-democracy-came-disaster" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">comments</a>.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em; text-align: center;"><strong style="font-size: 20.8px;">≈ ≈ ≈</strong></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Blowback from the "war on terror" of the early 2000s still affects the supreme court docket: one of the first cases argued in the court's new October term was that of Abu Zubaydah, the long-suffering, much-abused Guantánamo internee<em>. </em></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Zubaydah's detention and mistreatment was one of the earliest emanations of that time when George Bush, aided and abetted by congress, effectively blew up the rule of law, and consequently, federal criminal (and sometimes civil) justice: not just through torture, but in the torture cover-up, repeatedly claiming, in shameless bad faith, the so-called <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_secrets_privilege" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">state secrets privilege</a>. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">The <em>Zubaydah</em> case, now in the supreme court, directly confronts the question, how does the privilege apply when the "state secret" - the fact that Poland assisted CIA torture - is <a href="https://www.lawfareblog.com/when-state-secret-not-secret" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">not a secret at all</a>. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">The Poles themselves have already acknowledged their participation and even <a href="https://news.yahoo.com/european-court-rejects-polish-appeal-cia-jail-case-183203445.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly9lbi53aWtpcGVkaWEub3JnLw&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAANlKUF1tpDHyACkDfR-XopPQciAKo-idLiMqFkyyjp0TdmG2xyGNW-mAfKmwA2j72JRSjxfnKAe4NKF5URl" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">paid damages to Zubaydah</a>, in the European Court of Human Rights; however, they haven't gone so far as to give tours of the former US torture facilities, as the <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/9/22/life-in-bagram-through-the-eyes-of-former-prisoners" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Taliban are doing</a> in Afghanistan.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">An <a href="https://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/blog/2021-10-01/bureau-submits-evidence-to-us-supreme-court-on-cia-torture-sites" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>amicus </em>brief</a> filed by the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bureau_of_Investigative_Journalism" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Bureau of Investigative Journalism</a> demonstrates why the case does not in fact involve state secrets, more <a href="https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a37897057/abu-zubaydah-supreme-court-case-testify/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">here</a>, oral argument <a href="https://www.scotusblog.com/2021/10/argument-over-state-secrets-and-cia-black-sites-takes-unexpected-turn-in-final-few-minutes/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">here</a>. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Although the justices appeared unlikely to rule in Zubaydah's favour on the state secrets issue, they seemed genuinely astonished that the prisoner's <em>habeas</em> petition had not been acted upon <a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/a-guantanamo-detainees-case-has-been-languishing-without-action-since-2008-the-supreme-court-wants-to-know-why" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">since 2008</a>. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">The court will also hear another "state secrets" case this term, <a href="https://www.lawfareblog.com/supreme-court-hear-state-secrets-case-fbi-surveillance" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">involving FBI surveillance</a>.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><a href="https://www.vox.com/22675986/supreme-court-term-roe-wade-gun-rights-anti-discrimination-laws-october-2021" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Nine important cases</a> are already on the supreme court's docket for the October term, including a case in which, surprisingly, public defenders joined the enemy gun camp in opposing New York's <a href="https://newrepublic.com/article/163823/concealed-carry-racism-aclu-guns?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">concealed-gun regulations</a>. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Berkeley law dean Erwin Chemerinsky has a <a href="https://www.abajournal.com/columns/article/chemerinsky-expect-a-truly-extraordinary-year-at-the-supreme-court?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">preview</a> of the supreme court's term, and a new book warning of the right-wing court's <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/24/books/review/erwin-chemerinsky-presumed-guilty.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">ominous agenda</a>; the <em>Nation's</em> <a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/society/supreme-court-2021/?" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Ely Mystal</a>, a Harvard lawyer, also paints a bleak view of the likely regressive direction of the court's new conservative supermajority. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><span class="full-image-block ssNonEditable" style="display: block;"><img alt="" src="https://justinian.com.au/storage/people/new-stories-2018/Chemerinsky_1.jpg?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1634114612231" style="border: 0px none;" /></span><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">Berkeley's Chemerinsky: court's ominous agenda</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">In its recent recess orders overturning Biden administration executive orders, so at variance with the court's <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2021/08/27/politics/supreme-court-biden-trump-eviction-moratorium-immigration/index.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">deferential treatment of Trump's orders</a>, the majority seems to be siding with <a href="http://www.jostonjustice.com/2021/08/court-torpedoes-biden-policies-on.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Republican party policy</a>, issuing transparently <a href="https://verdict.justia.com/2021/08/31/the-courts-partisan-rules-on-executive-power?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">partisan decisions</a>; so far, the court has favoured Trump executive orders 28 times compared to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2021/08/26/shadow-docket-supreme-court-biden-mexico/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">zero for Biden</a>. More <a href="https://thehill.com/opinion/judiciary/569869-why-is-the-supreme-court-rejecting-executive-authority-over-immigration" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">here</a>. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">If these <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadow_docket" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">shadow docket</a> decisions are any indication, Donald Trump's ideological judicial appointments portend a partisan court that will be anti-progressive, anti-regulatory and pro-corporate, a rubber stamp for Republican causes and initiatives that will last for years.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">The court has also weaponised lower court orders of Trump-appointed judges, as in the case of states' meddling in immigration, <a href="https://www.courthousenews.com/federal-judge-blocks-biden-deportation-policies/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">here</a> and <a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2021/08/24/remain-in-mexico-immigration-supreme-court/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">here</a>. The district court judges, both sitting in Texas, ruled in response to red border states who oppose the Biden administration's immigration policies, policies heretofore considered exclusively within the purview of the federal government.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">This latest supreme court mischief has only increased calls for judicial reforms, including <a href="https://www.salon.com/2021/08/30/biden-commission-on-supreme-court-isnt-moving-fast-enough--or-thinking-big-enough/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">additional members for the court</a>.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em; text-align: center;"><strong style="font-size: 20.8px;">≈ ≈ ≈</strong></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><span class="full-image-block ssNonEditable" style="display: block;"><img alt="" src="https://justinian.com.au/storage/people/new-stories-2018/Eastman_John_660.jpg?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1634114890907" style="border: 0px none;" /></span><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">Eastman with troubled comrade Giuliani</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Lawyers may enjoy the improbable saga of the opportunistic hack John Eastman who, courtesy of Fox News, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/02/us/politics/john-eastman-trump-memo.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">rose from legal obscurity</a> to advance legal theories threatening the republic itself.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">The <a href="https://newrepublic.com/article/163764/john-eastman-coup-memo-pence?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>New Republic</em></a><em> </em>reported on ex-law dean Eastman's <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2021/09/21/politics/read-eastman-memo/index.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">seditious</a> (though <a href="https://presswatchers.org/2021/09/at-the-new-york-times-a-new-revelation-about-trumps-attempted-coup-isnt-worth-mentioning/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">initially underreported</a>) memos to Vice-President Pence. The <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/09/five-ways-donald-trump-tried-coup/620157/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>Atlantic</em></a><em> </em>considered the overall scheme. More <a href="http://www.dorfonlaw.org/2021/09/how-essay-by-neil-buchanan-laurence.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">here</a>. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Many lawyers have urged the California Bar Association to <a href="https://abovethelaw.com/2021/10/trumpland-lawyers-face-bar-complaints-after-engaging-in-some-light-coup-ing/?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">take disciplinary action</a> against Eastman, something the bar failed to do with the notorious Berkeley law prof <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Yoo" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">John Yoo</a>.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">At least Eastman's advice - unlike Yoo's public-service torture memos - wasn't cooked-up at taxpayer expense. </p></div>H. Candace Gormanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15947267626405585323noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2634286779940664473.post-90740615509702081992021-09-15T06:56:00.001-07:002021-09-15T06:56:16.257-07:00From Roger Fitch and our friends down under at Justinian<p> </p><h2 class="title" style="background-color: #f9f4f1; color: #bf370a; font-family: Brawler, sans-serif; font-size: 21px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Th<a class="journal-entry-navigation-current" href="https://justinian.com.au/columnists/the-tail-end-of-the-american-century.html" style="color: #bf370a; letter-spacing: 0px; line-height: 1em; margin-bottom: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;">e tail end of the American century</a></h2><div class="journal-entry-tag journal-entry-tag-post-title" style="background-color: #f9f4f1; color: #a6a6a6; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 10px; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-top: 10px; text-transform: uppercase;"><span class="posted-in"><span class="tag-element" style="white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://justinian.com.au/columnists/category/roger-fitch-esq" rel="tag" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">ROGER FITCH ESQ</a></span></span> • <span class="posted-on" style="white-space: nowrap;">TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2021</span></div><div class="body" style="background-color: #f9f4f1; color: #0b0b0b; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 1em 0px;"><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><strong>Decline and fall following 9/11 ... Damage wrought by the "war on terror" ... Democracy looks wobbly ... Brigade of unscrupulous lawyers shredded the law ... Nacht und Nebel ... Guantánamo detainees now in the Taliban government ... Roger Fitch files from Washington </strong></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><span class="full-image-float-right ssNonEditable" style="float: right; margin: 0px 0px 8px 10px;"><img alt="" src="https://justinian.com.au/storage/lawtoons/toons-other/Flom_Washington_300.gif?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1631612101485" style="border: 0px none;" /></span><strong style="font-size: 17.6px;">Much</strong> has been written about the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on their 20th anniversary, mostly about how "9/11 changed the world". In hindsight, it was America's reaction that altered everything. One headline summed that up: <a href="https://theintercept.com/2021/09/10/september-11-america-response/?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">The Most Terrifying Thing About 9/11 Was America's Response</a>.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">2021 also brought an end to the immensely counter-productive war in Afghanistan launched by George Bush and acquiesced in or joined by western nations. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Osama bin Ladin, the ostensible target of the US invasion, left Afghanistan in the first year of the war. He was eventually captured in Pakistan, where summary judgment was rendered: <a href="https://justinian.com.au/archive/bulletin-from-abbottobad.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">quite unnecessary</a>, with an open indictment in Manhattan. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Ironically, it was a good man, Jimmy Carter, who in 1979 began the <a href="https://washingtonmonthly.com/2021/09/01/how-jimmy-carter-started-americas-afghanistan-folly/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">ill-advised</a> Afghan involvement, largely at the urging of his national security adviser, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zbigniew_Brzezinski" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Zbigniew Brzeziński</a> (seen <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9RCFZnWGE0" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">here</a>). "Zbig" wanted to draw the Russians into Afghanistan and hasten the collapse of the Soviet Union. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Many believe that ploy was successfully emulated by bin Laden when he drew the US into Afghanistan: the US suffered great internal stress and loss of its position in the world, and is currently threatened with the collapse of its democracy.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">The failure of the Afghanistan intervention, coinciding with the 9/11 anniversary, caused Americans and foreign observers to stop and reflect on how the US government <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/09/after-911-everything-wrong-war-terror/620008/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">got everything wrong</a> in the 20-year "Global War on Terror" that followed 9/11, beginning with George Bush's <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/2001/10/15/bush-rejects-taliban-offer-on-bin-laden/bc0ec919-082b-40e6-91ca-55e5ca34a70a/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">rejection</a> of Taliban <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-afghanistan-taliban-peace-deal-might-have-been-had-many-years-and-thousands-of-lives-ago" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">peace overtures</a>. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">There's more in <a href="https://theintercept.com/2021/08/26/afghanistan-america-failures/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>The Intercept</em></a><em> </em>and the <a href="https://newrepublic.com/article/163323/afghanistan-war-military-industrial-complex-scam?utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>New Republic</em></a><em> </em>on the Afghan fiasco.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Historians will rightly blame George Bush for many domestic effects that remained, e.g, an armaments industry in overdrive and a security state. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Above all, there is a re-jigged justice system that has sanctioned the prosecution of combatants and militarised civilian crimes, epitomised by the extrajudicial detention at Guantánamo and "trials" in its <a href="https://www.justsecurity.org/77835/nuremberg-prosecutor-says-guantanamo-military-commissions-dont-measure-up/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">kangaroo courts</a>. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Astonishingly, liberal democracies like Australia and Canada (and briefly, Britain and Germany) allowed their citizens to be caught up in proceedings that violated their own laws as well as American and international law. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><span class="full-image-block ssNonEditable" style="display: block;"><img alt="" src="https://justinian.com.au/storage/people/new-stories-2018/Brzezinski_Zbig_660.jpg?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1631612949976" style="border: 0px none;" /></span><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">Zbigniew Brzezinski: father of the Afghan folly</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Opportunistic, malleable, incompetent or merely dishonest, bad lawyers were at the heart of the Bush Administration's derailment of law. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Yoo" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">John Yoo</a>, Jay <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jay_Bybee" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Bybee</a>, Patrick <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_F._Philbin" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Philbin</a>, Robert <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Delahunty" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Delahunty</a>, Timothy <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timothy_Flanigan" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Flanigan</a>, Daniel <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Levin_(attorney)" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Levin</a>, Steven <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven_G._Bradbury" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Bradbury</a>, Jim <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_J._Haynes_II" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Haynes</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alberto_Gonzales" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Alberto Gonzales</a> joined in memos that ignored the Torture and Geneva Conventions, "authorising" practices that first-year law students would recognise as illegal. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">"National Security" brought such things before. Although it's <a href="https://balkin.blogspot.com/2008/05/john-yoo-and-justice-case.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">disputed</a>, the law professor <a href="https://balkin.blogspot.com/2006/10/when-lawyers-are-war-criminals.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Scott Horton</a> believes Bush's lawyers were as culpable as Hitler's <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nacht_und_Nebel" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Night and Fog</a> lawyers, tried at Nuremberg in the <em>Altstoetter </em>case:</p><blockquote style="font-style: italic;"><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">"Justice Department lawyers were ... charged with crimes against humanity and war crimes arising out of the issuance and implementation of the Nacht-und-Nebel [decree]. The United States charged that as lawyers ... they must have recognized that their technical justifications for avoiding the application of the Hague and Geneva Conventions were unavailing, because these conventions were 'recognized by all civilized nations, and were regarded as being declaratory of the laws and customs of war' ... the two principal Justice Department lawyers ... were convicted and sentenced to ten years' imprisonment ...This judgment clearly established the concept of liability of the authors of bureaucratic policies that breach basic rules of the Hague and Geneva Conventions for the consequences that predictably flow therefrom." </p></blockquote><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em; text-align: center;"><strong><span style="font-size: 20.8px;">* * *</span></strong></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">While <a href="https://www.acslaw.org/expertforum/justice-in-america-the-war-on-terrors-damaging-legacy/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Karen Greenberg</a> has lamented the overall damage to America's rule of law caused by the 20-year "War on Terror", others are turning their attention to righting particular terror-war wrongs, e.g, Guantánamo, its inmates and <a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/society/gitmo-detainees-uae/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">former inhabitants</a>, and the treatment of <a href="https://www.spytalk.co/p/the-american-taliban-and-me?r=2hta&utm" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Detainee 001</a>, John Walker Lindt. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Among those <a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/september-11-civil-liberties/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">speaking out</a> have been <a href="https://www.justsecurity.org/77992/what-the-u-s-withdrawal-from-afghanistan-could-mean-for-guantanamo-detainees-and-the-due-process-clause/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">human rights lawyers</a>, prisoner <a href="https://www.eurasiareview.com/03092021-talibans-victory-in-afghanistan-mustnt-prevent-closure-of-guantanamo-oped/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">advocates</a> and <a href="https://bostonreview.net/war-security/joseph-margulies-911-forever" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">members of the Guantanamo Bar</a>. They point out that, following the end of hostilities in Afghanistan, there's little legal basis for military detention of "law of war" prisoners, not charged with war crimes. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Many were non-combatants, seized outside Afghanistan, and <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=885659" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">only five percent</a> were captured by US soldiers on the battlefield. All were presumed by George Bush to be unlawful fighters, fictional "enemy combatants".</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Those who were in fact belligerents were often lawful ones, e.g, the five Taliban (see below) freed by Obama in a prisoner swap in 2014. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">They were fully entitled to the protections of the Geneva Conventions that the Pentagon had scrupulously provided in previous wars, e.g, PoW status hearings required under the Geneva Conventions and the US Code of Military Justice. The Vietcong received these, why not the Taliban? </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Instead, officials trying to follow the law were bullied, sacked or re-assigned (see Fitch <a href="https://justinian.com.au/columnists/fitchs-washington.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">here</a>). </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/9/7/guantanamo-bay-explained-in-maps-and-charts-interactive" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>Al Jazeera</em></a><em> </em>and the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/15/insider/guantanamo-prisoners-database.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>Times</em></a> have more on the sordid history and present state of the Guantánamo project.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em; text-align: center;"><strong style="font-size: 20.8px;">* * *</strong></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"><span class="full-image-block ssNonEditable" style="display: block;"><img alt="" src="https://justinian.com.au/storage/people/new-stories-2018/Gholam_Rehani_AP.jpeg?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1631679763311" style="border: 0px none;" /></span><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">Gholam Ruhani: eight years at Guantánamo (pic: AP)</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Guantánamo grad Gholam Ruhani turned up at the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com.au/taliban-commander-gholam-ruhani-once-threatened-guantanamo-guard-2021-8" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">first Taliban appearance</a> in the presidential palace in Kabul. He was Detainee 003, and like Detainee 002 (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Hicks" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">David Hicks</a>) was released in 2007. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Several Gitmo alumni were in the new Afghan government, e.g, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abdul_Qayyum_Zakir" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Abdul Qayyum Zakir</a>, the <a href="http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/World/2021/Aug-25/522833-taliban-appoint-senior-veterans-to-key-ministerial-posts.ashx" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">acting defence minister</a>. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Zakir was also one of the first Gitmo prisoners (Detainee 008). Though an Afghan military official, he was detained for years while successive US governments denied him a PoW status hearing in flagrant disregard of the Geneva Conventions and the US Code of Military Justice.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Another government minister, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khairullah_Khairkhwa" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Khairullah Khairkhwa</a>, was also a military official in the 2001 Taliban government, and one of those detained at Guantánamo in violation of Geneva; he was released under the Obama administration as part of a prisoner exchange for the captured US soldier <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bowe_Bergdahl" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Bowe Bergdahl</a>. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Both men had been held in conditions violating the Geneva Conventions.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em; text-align: center;"><strong><span style="font-size: 20.8px;">* * *</span></strong></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">At Guantánamo, military commission charges were <a href="https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/7408902/us-aims-to-start-bali-bombings-case/?cs=14264" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">finally approved</a> against <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riduan_Isamuddin" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Riduan Isamuddin</a> (Hambali) for the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2002_Bali_bombings" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Bali bombings</a>. The charges were laid by an outgoing Trump appointee, on Biden's first full day in office. The case was previously refused clearance to proceed, perhaps due to torture, the reason in <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2021/08/05/politics/guantanamo-detainee-qahtani-biden-invs/index.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Mohammed al-Qahtani's</a> case. More <a href="https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3139673/bali-bombers-day-court-brings-new-headache-us-it-tries-put" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">here</a>.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Pending Guantánamo proceedings suggest the US is still failing to recognise its <a href="https://www.justsecurity.org/77697/course-correction-still-needed-on-anti-torture-obligations/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">anti-torture obligations</a>, especially in the <a href="https://www.justsecurity.org/76640/torture-evidence-and-the-guantanamo-military-commissions/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">military commission</a> proceedings, where torture-derived evidence <a href="https://www.justsecurity.org/76985/how-the-biden-administration-should-take-torture-derived-evidence-off-the-table/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">remains on the table</a>.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">One such proceeding is that of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abd_al-Rahim_al-Nashiri" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Abd Al-Rahim al-Nashiri</a>. Torture-derived evidence is the subject of his <a href="https://int.nyt.com/data/documenttools/petition-for-a-writ-of-mandamus-and-prohibition/c4364a7fa545671f/full.pdf" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">mandamus</a> petition in the (cosmetic) <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Court_of_Military_Commission_Review" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Court of Military Commission Review</a>; interestingly, Nashiri's torture was supervised by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gina_Haspel" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Gina Haspel</a>, afterwards Trump's CIA director. The <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/03/us/politics/cia-torture-terror-guantanamo-bay.html?smid=url-share" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">NYT</a> has <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/17/us/politics/guantanamo-cia-torture.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">more</a>. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">Even as al-Nashiri's lawyers argue against the use of evidence gained through torture, the DoJ is <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/09/us/politics/guantanamo-detainees-due-process.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">remaining silent</a> on the right to <a href="https://www.justsecurity.org/77386/what-the-us-government-brief-should-have-said-in-al-hela-on-guantanamo-and-due-process/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">due process</a> in the <em>al-Hela </em>case now before the full DC Circuit. The supreme court is meanwhile <a href="https://www.lawfareblog.com/supreme-court-hear-state-secrets-case-involving-guantanamo-detainee" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">considering</a> the "<a href="https://www.pogo.org/analysis/2021/09/state-secrets-that-arent-secret/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">state secrets</a>" appeal of <a href="https://www.justsecurity.org/76923/state-secrets-and-the-torture-of-abu-zubaydah/" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Abu Zubaydah</a> (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Center_for_Constitutional_Rights" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">CCR</a> has an <a href="https://ccrjustice.org/home/what-we-do/our-cases/united-states-v-abu-zubaydah-amicus" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;"><em>amicus </em>brief</a>). </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;"> Conveniently, the CIA <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/01/world/asia/cia-afghanistan-evacuations-demolitions.html" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">destroyed</a> its most notorious torture facility, the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salt_Pit" style="color: #bf3708; text-decoration-line: none;">Salt Pit</a>, before leaving Afghanistan. </p></div>H. Candace Gormanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15947267626405585323noreply@blogger.com0