December 8, 2022
Afternoon Update:
Basta! Spencer Hsu, et al., of the Washington Post: "Prosecutors have urged a federal judge [-- Beryl Howell --] to hold Donald Trump's office in contempt of court for failing to fully comply with a May subpoena to return all classified documents in his possession, according to people familiar with the matter -- a sign of how contentious the private talks have become over whether the former president still holds any secret papers.... One of the key areas of disagreement centers on the Trump legal team's repeated refusal to designate a custodian of records to sign a document attesting that all classified materials have been returned to the federal government.... If the judge were to agree [to hold Trump's team in comtempt], the most likely scenario would be a daily fine until the demands of the contempt motion are met." ~~~
~~~ Stephen Ryan, a defense lawyer, told the WashPo that a normal business has a records custodian, but Trump doesn't have one: "The department is in effect asking for something that doesn't exist," Ryan said. Marie: But really, would you agree to be Trump's "custodian of records"? What if somebody found, say, top-secret designs for the stealth bomber down at the West Palm Beach U-Stor after the "custodian of records" had signed a sworn affidavit that all classified materials had been returned to the DOJ? A perfectly plausible scenario, frankly. Maybe Trump thought the pictures were cool. Maybe he wanted to share him with one of his children or some Saudi friends. Seems to me the custodian could be charged with a crime or fined and if a custodian were a lawyer, she would lose her law license.
Annie Karni of the New York Times: "The House on Thursday gave final approval to legislation to mandate federal recognition for same-sex marriages, with a bipartisan coalition of lawmakers voting in favor of the measure in the waning days of the Democratic-led Congress. With a vote of 258-169, the landmark legislation cleared Congress, sending it to President Biden to be signed into law and capping an improbable path for a measure that only months ago appeared to have little chance at enactment. Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced the tally triumphantly, banging the gavel repeatedly as if to applaud as members of the House cheered." An NBC News report is here.
Dan Lamothe, et al., of the Washington Post: "The Biden administration fumed Wednesday at the near-certainty that Congress will strip away the Defense Department's requirement that all military personnel be vaccinated against the coronavirus, upending a politically divisive policy that has led to the dismissal of nearly 8,500 service members and numerous lawsuits disputing its fairness. The agreement, brokered as part of the Pentagon's next spending bill, was celebrated by Republicans as a victory for individual choice. It comes despite opposition from President Biden and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, who characterized the vaccine mandate as a way of protecting troops from covid-19 and preventing sprawling outbreaks that sideline entire units, undermine the military's readiness and endanger national security.... One senior defense official said that when service members 'inevitability get sick, and if they should die, it will be on the Republicans who insisted upon this.'"
Sheryl Stolberg of the New York Times: "A new examination by Senate Democrats of how the federal government bungled its early response to the coronavirus pandemic faults ... Donald J. Trump and his administration for numerous missteps while also laying blame on 'multiple systemic problems' that long predated his time in office. The 241-page report, released on Thursday, was produced by the Democratic staff of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.... The report cited inadequate funding, supply chain vulnerabilities, overlapping government roles and other problems that it said 'have been flagged by experts and oversight agencies for years, yet have been largely overlooked by all branches of the federal government.'"
Oliver Darcy of CNN: "A 24-hour strike at The New York Times, a historic demonstration in which more than 1,100 employees are expected to participate, began Thursday at midnight, after management and the union representing staffers failed to reach an agreement for a new contract after more than a year and a half of negotiating.... The NewsGuild of New York, which represents journalists and other staffers at The Times, said in a statement that the walkout was 'due to the company's failure to bargain in good faith, reach a fair contract agreement with the workers, and meet their demands.' The act of protest, which has not been staged by employees at the newspaper of record in decades, will leave many of its major desks depleted of their staff, creating a challenge for the news organization that millions of readers rely on."
~~~~~~~~~~
Eric Tucker, et al., of the AP: "President Joe Biden says WNBA star Brittney Griner is safe in American custody and on her way home after being released from Russia in an extraordinary prisoner swap. Biden said in an address from the White House on Thursday that these 'past few months have been hell for Brittney' but that she was in good spirits. Griner was freed in an exchange in which the United States released convicted Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout.... Even so, the fact that the deal was a one-for-one swap was a surprise given that U.S. officials had for months expressed their their determination to bring home both Griner and Paul Whelan, a Michigan corporate security executive jailed in Russia since December 2018 on espionage charges that his family and the U.S. government has said are baseless." ~~~
~~~ Earlier: CNN is reporting on-air that Brittney Griner is free & has been swapped with that Russian arms dealer. No word about Paul Whelan. I'll get up a print report when something becomes available. Update: President Biden is scheduled to speak at 8:30 am ET. Griner is on a plane which has landed in Abu Dhabi.
One Would Think a Screw-up-a-Day -- or More -- Would Rid Us of This Meddlesome Beast:
** Why, Lookie Here. Jacqueline Alemany, et al., of the Washington Post: "Lawyers for ... Donald Trump found at least two items marked classified after an outside team hired by Trump searched a storage unit in West Palm Beach, Fla., used by the former president, according to people familiar with the matter. Those items were immediately turned over to the FBI, according to those people.... A person familiar with the matter said the storage unit had a mix of boxes, gifts, suits and clothes, among other things.... There was no cataloguing of what was put in the storage unit, Trump advisers said...." (Also linked yesterday afternoon. Related stories also were linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ "Incredible" & "Unbelievable": Hobnobbing with the Crazy. Olivia Rubin, et al., of ABC News: "A prominent adherent of the QAnon and 'Pizzagate' conspiracy theories posed for photos with ... Donald Trump at his Mar-a-Lago resort Tuesday night after speaking at an event hosted at the club, according to photos and videos posted to social media.... Videos and photos posted to social media appear to show Liz Crokin, a prominent promoter of QAnon and pro-Trump conspiracy theories, speaking at an event at Mar-a-Lago and later posing for photos with Trump. In one photo, the duo make a 'thumbs up' sign together.... The event was billed as a fundraiser in support of a 'documentary' on sex trafficking -- one of the pillars of the QAnon conspiracy theory.... The film ... includes multiple falsehoods and claims of mass sex-trafficking in Hollywood.... 'You are incredible people, you are doing unbelievable work, and we just appreciate you being here and we hope you're going to be back,' Trump said in remarks to the crowd, according to a video of his speech." ~~~
~~~ Maggie Haberman & Michael Bender of the New York Times: "Donald J. Trump's unusually early announcement of a third presidential campaign ... [has] highlight[ed] his vulnerabilities and giv[en] considerable ammunition to those in the G.O.P. arguing to turn the page on him. Since emerging from the November election with a string of humiliating losses to show for his pretensions to be a midterm kingmaker, Mr. Trump has entertained a leading white supremacist and a celebrity antisemite at his South Florida mansion. He has suggested terminating the Constitution -- the one that a president swears to preserve, protect and defend -- in furtherance of his long-running lie that the 2020 election was stolen from him. His business was just convicted on all 17 counts in a tax-fraud case in New York City. And his handpicked candidate for the Senate in Georgia -- Herschel Walker, the football star Mr. Trump employed in a brief stint as a pro football team owner in the 1980s -- went down to defeat Tuesday night after a campaign that will be remembered as a string of scandals and self-inflicted wounds." ~~~
~~ Jonathan Weisman & Maya King of the New York Times: "The Democrats' capstone re-election victory of Senator Raphael Warnock ... quickly had Republican fingers pointing every which way: at Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader accused by detractors of abandoning or belittling embattled Republican Senate candidates; at Senator Rick Scott of Florida, the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, who many feel badly mismanaged the Senate Republicans' campaign arm; and at [GOP challenger Herschel] Walker himself, for hiding and lying about his past.... For a handful of Republicans, newly emboldened by re-election or retirement to say so aloud, the biggest culprit was [Donald] Trump. In increasingly biting terms, they slammed him for promoting flawed candidates, including Mr. Walker, dividing his party and turning many swing voters against the G.O.P. for the third election cycle in a row. 'I think he's less relevant all the time,' Senator John Cornyn, a Republican of Texas, said of the former president...."
Michael Kranish of the Washington Post: "Democrats on a pair of congressional committees have launched an aggressive new effort to obtain information about whether Jared Kushner's actions on U.S. policy in the Persian Gulf region as a senior White House adviser were influenced by the bailout of a property owned by his family business. Citing previously undisclosed emails and other documents related to ... Donald Trump's son-in-law, the committees on Monday night sent letters to the State and Defense departments requesting material that they say could shed new light on whether 'Kushner's financial conflict of interest may have led him to improperly influence U.S. tax, trade and national security policies for his own financial gain.' The letters ... focus on efforts by Kushner and his father, Charles Kushner, to bail out a troubled 41-story Fifth Avenue office building in New York City. The Kushner company in 2018 made a deal with a Canadian company, Brookfield Asset Management, which invested $1.2 billion for a 99-year lease. As a result, the Kushner family company avoided defaulting on a loan that was due the following year. Democrats have long raised questionsabout the deal because the Qatar Investment Authority, a sovereign wealth fund, had a stake in one of Brookfield's investment arms." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
** Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court seemed splintered on Wednesday about whether to adopt a legal theory that would radically reshape how federal elections are conducted, giving state legislatures largely unchecked power to set all sorts of election rules and draw congressional maps warped by partisan gerrymandering. The justices' questioning over three hours of arguments suggested that they were roughly divided into three camps. The three most conservative justices appeared prepared to embrace an expansive version of the theory, while the three liberal justices were adamant that it should be rejected. The remaining members of the court -- Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and Justices Brett M. Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett -- seemed to be searching for a compromise under which state supreme courts would generally have the last word on disputes over state laws governing federal elections but be subject to oversight from federal courts in rare cases. The case concerned the 'independent state legislature' theory, which is based on a reading of the Constitution's Elections Clause, which says, 'The times, places and manner of holding elections for senators and representatives, shall be prescribed in each state by the legislature thereof.'" (This is a major update of a story also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Politico's analysis, by Zach Montellaro & Josh Gerstein, is here. ~~~
~~~ Marie: By hook or by crook, if we're to save this semi-democracy & preserve or reinstate its democratic values, we have to neuter the right-wing hegemony of this Supreme Court. They have shattered all the glass of the Overton window & have jumped to the Far Side now. ~~~
~~~ Michael Wines of the New York Times has more on the "independent state legislature theory" & the facts behind the case before the Court. "Both legal scholars and respected political figures, including prominent conservative legal figures who have warned against adopting the theory, are calling the case the most important debate over federalism in decades, if not in the nation's history."
Zolan Kanno-Youngs of the New York Times: "Sitting alongside leaders of the Jewish community on Wednesday, Doug Emhoff, the husband of Vice President Kamala Harris, described the rising tide of antisemitism in the United States as an 'epidemic of hate.' Mr. Emhoff, the first Jewish spouse of a vice president or president, has in recent weeks become one of the federal government's more forceful voices against violence and hate speech directed at Jews. 'Words matter,' Mr. Emhoff said at a round table of government officials, rabbis and leaders of advocacy groups to discuss the extremist acts. 'People are no longer saying the quiet parts out loud. They are literally screaming them.' The event took place in an atmosphere of heightened alarm about antisemitism, two weeks after ... Donald J. Trump's dinner with the white supremacist Nick Fuentes and the rapper formerly known as Kanye West, who has recently heaped praise on Adolf Hitler."
Shayna Greene of Politico: "The Biden administration is appealing a judge's ruling against the Title 42 border expulsion policy, which the Trump administration instituted during the coronavirus pandemic and the Biden administration continued on a more limited basis over the past nearly two years.... The administration's strategy is to ask the D.C. Circuit Court to pause the appeal until the New Orleans-based 5th Circuit in Louisiana has decided on a separate case involving Title 42 - a process that could take months and perhaps more than a year. The Trump administration used provisions in Title 42 of the U.S. Code to rapidly expel migrants at the border on the grounds of health concerns when the pandemic first began, although critics said the public health benefits were dubious."
Glenn Thrush & Serge Kovaleski of the New York Times:"A remarkable succession of administrative errors, gross incompetence and health system failures inside the federal prison system led to the bludgeoning death of James (Whitey) Bulger hours after he was transferred to a West Virginia prison in 2018, the inspector general of the Justice Department has found. The inspector general determined that officials in the federal Bureau of Prisons approved the downgrading of Mr. Bulger's medical condition -- even though they had determined he suffered from a life-threatening cardiac condition -- for the sole purpose of moving him out of a secure unit in a Florida prison to the Hazelton federal penitentiary after he threatened a nurse. They took minimal security precautions even though Mr. Bulger, 89, was widely known to have been a federal informant, which put him at heightened risk; they subsequently allowed word of his arrival to spread to hundreds of prison staff and eventually to the inmates who have been charged with beating him to death with a heavy padlock as he sat defenseless in his wheelchair, the report found. Mr. Bulger's death was preventable..., the Justice Department's inspector general, Michael E. Horowitz, concluded in the damning 65-page report." (Also linked yesterday.)
U.S. Border Patrol's "Rising Star" Is a Serial Killer. Edgar Sandoval of the New York Times: "A jury in San Antonio convicted a former Border Patrol agent on Wednesday in the shooting deaths of four women he had encountered in the city of Laredo. The jury returned its verdict after five hours of deliberations, finding Juan David Ortiz, 39, a former supervisory intelligence officer with the U.S. Border Patrol, guilty of capital murder after a nearly two-week trial. Mr. Ortiz faces life in prison. Prosecutors told jurors that Mr. Ortiz had picked up prostitutes over the course of 12 days in the fall of 2018 and had taken them to a remote area. The prosecutors said he used his service weapon to kill them. The killings rattled the border city of Laredo and led to an intense manhunt. Investigators caught a break in the case after a woman who worked as a prostitute told the police that a client had threatened her with a gun and that she narrowly escaped with her life. The woman, Erika Peña, identified her attacker as Mr. Ortiz.... Mr. Ortiz had been a rising star in the Border Patrol...."
Peter Hermann, et al., of the Washington Post: "An off-duty FBI agent fatally shot a man Wednesday evening during an altercation on a Red Line train platform at the Metro Center station, D.C. police said. The incident occurred about 6:30 p.m..., prompting delays and brief panic. Passengers in the station ducked or hit the ground after hearing gunshots, and they said that a train sped through, apparently to avoid danger. D.C. Executive Assistant Chief of Police Ashan M. Benedict said the person who was shot assaulted the agent, and the two got into an altercation. He said one grabbed the other, and they tumbled over a wall that runs along the edge of the platform, away from the tracks. They fell about eight feet, he said. Benedict said the agent fired his gun at some point during the struggle."
Mary Jalonick of the AP: "The House is set to give final approval Thursday to legislation protecting same-sex marriages in federal law, a monumental step in a decadeslong battle for nationwide recognition of such unions that reflects a stunning turnaround in societal attitudes. A law requiring all states to recognize same-sex marriages would come as a relief for hundreds of thousands of couples who have married since the Supreme Court's 2015 decision that legalized those marriages nationwide. The bipartisan legislation would also protect interracial unions by requiring states to recognize legal marriages regardless of 'sex, race, ethnicity, or national origin.' President Joe Biden backs the bill and said he will 'promptly and proudly' sign it into law." ~~~
~~~ Speaker Nancy Pelosi in a Washington Post op-ed: "Since the landmark Supreme Court ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges seven years ago, same-sex couples have enjoyed the same marriage protections as other couples. But right now, that fundamental freedom is under real, direct and urgent threat. In June..., Justice Clarence Thomas took explicit aim at marriage equality: urging the court to reconsider Obergefell and upend the lives of countless families across the country. While his legal reasoning is twisted and unsound, we must take Justice Thomas -- and the extremist movement behind him -- at their word. Our Respect for Marriage Act combats this threat by requiring states to recognize same-sex marriages, as long as they are valid in the state where they were performed. It also finally repeals the discriminatory Defense of Marriage Act, so that no future MAGA majority in Congress or president in the White House can wield this policy as a weapon of bigotry.... There remains more work ahead."
Sky Palma of the Raw Story: "The House Ethics Committee said it's investigating Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) in a statement this Wednesday, Forbes reports.... 'Wednesday's statement, attributed to acting Chair Susan Wild (D-Penns.) and Ranking Member Michael Guest (R-Miss.), says the disclosure of the investigation "does not itself indicate that any violation has occurred, or reflect any judgment on behalf of the committee."'"
Kalley Huang of the New York Times: "Ramesh Balwani, the former chief operating officer of the failed blood testing start-up Theranos, was sentenced on Wednesday to nearly 13 years in prison for defrauding investors and patients about the company's business and technology. Mr. Balwani, 58, and his convicted co-conspirator, Elizabeth Holmes, 38, the founder of Theranos, had promised that the start-up would revolutionize health care with machines and tests that could detect some illnesses using just a few drops of blood. But those claims were false, and Theranos became a tale of Silicon Valley's ambition and hype run amok. Mr. Balwani, also known as Sunny, was convicted in July of 10 counts of wire fraud and two counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud."
Annals of "Journalism," Ha Ha Ha. Candice Ortiz of Mediaite: "Barstool Sports star Francis Ellis has appeared multiple times on Fox News, particularly on the 7 p.m. show hosted by Jesse Watters. But his true feelings about the top-rated cable news network were revealed on an apparent hot mic, where Ellis blasted the network's top hosts as hateful. During an episode of Barstool Rundown published Tuesday, an editing error captured Ellis dishing on the network he said is 'just trafficking in hate.'" MB: Gosh, I guess Ellis has ended his brilliant career at Fox.
Beyond the Beltway
Florida. Patricia Mazzei of the New York Times: "A Republican state lawmaker from Florida who sponsored a law that critics have nicknamed 'Don't Say Gay' was indicted for defrauding a federal loan program designed to help small businesses during the coronavirus pandemic, federal officials said on Wednesday. State Representative Joe Harding of Ocala, Fla., illegally obtained or tried to obtain more than $150,000 in pandemic loans from the Small Business Administration for two corporate entities that had been dormant until he applied for the funds, according to a six-count federal indictment. He was charged with two counts of wire fraud, two counts of making false statements and two counts of money laundering." Politico's story is here. MB: Funny how the fake morality squad is so (allegedly) corrupt.
New York. Jeffery Mays, et al., of the New York Times: "... Sofia Quintanar, a former aide to [New York State Attorney General Letitia] James, said in an interview that she decided to come forward [with her sexual harassment claim] because she believed that the attorney general was protecting her longtime chief of staff, Ibrahim Khan, and withholding any public finding of wrongdoing rather than aggressively pursuing the investigation.... She said ... she believed that Ms. James's office took more care to protect Mr. Khan than the women who accused him of abuse, allowing him to quietly submit his resignation in November with his reputation intact.... Ms. Quintanar, who served as a deputy press secretary in the attorney general's office, said she believed that its approach to her complaint had been far less aggressive than its treatment of harassment allegations against former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo." Politico's story is here.
Way Beyond
Germany. Aristocrat at the Gates. Christopher Schuetze of the New York Times: "Prince Heinrich XIII of Reuss, a descendant of a 700-year-old noble family that once reigned over a tiny state in eastern Germany, was a relatively obscure figure -- until Wednesday, when he was named as one of the leaders of a group accused of plotting to overthrow the German government.... He was arrested in Frankfurt, where he has both an apartment and offices in the exclusive West End neighborhood.... The House of Reuss reigned until 1918 in a principality around Gera, in present-day Thuringia, that was incorporated into the German Empire. In modern Germany, hereditary nobles have no special legal standing; their titles carry no formal weight.... A Russian citizen identified as Vitalia B., who according to German news outlets was the prince's life partner, and another co-conspirator identified as Norbert G., were arrested closer to the ancestral home of the prince in the vicinity of Bad Lobenstein, in Thuringia. Police officers also raided his castle there, where conspirators occasionally met, MDR [-- a local public broadcaster --] reported. The prince is said to have funded some of the group's activities, according to media reports."
Peru. A Presidential Coup Attempt Goes Awry. Mitra Taj of the New York Times: "It was a day on which much of Peru was focused on Congress, where an impeachment vote was planned against the president on corruption charges. But shortly before noon, the Peruvian leader addressed the country in a surprise televised address. He announced the dissolution of Congress and the installation of an emergency government, stunning political leaders across the spectrum, including his own allies, by effectively trying to carry out what was widely condemned as an attempted coup to cling to power. Government officials resigned en masse. The top court declared the move unconstitutional. And the country's armed forces and the national police issued a joint statement suggesting they would not support him. By day's end, Pedro Castillo, 53, was ousted from power and under arrest. His vice president was sworn in as president and became the first woman to lead Peru." CNN's report is here.
Ukraine, et al.
The New York Times' live updates of developments Thursday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here. The Guardian's live updates are here. The Guardian's summary report is here. ~~~
~~~ The Washington Post's live briefings for Thursday are here: "Russia's invasion of Ukraine was a 'brutal wake-up' for Europe, which lacks the capabilities needed to defend itself from 'higher level threats,' European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said Thursday at the annual conference of the European Defense Agency.... The Biden administration will meet with oil and gas executives on Thursday to discuss U.S. support for Ukrainian energy infrastructure, ahead of winter and following devastating missile attacks on civilian infrastructure.... A U.N. report found that Russian forces extrajudicially killed at least 441 civilians outside Kyiv during the first weeks of the invasion, in what probably amounts to war crimes. The actual number of civilians summarily killed is likely to be 'considerably higher,' the report found.... Four Ukrainian policemen were killed and four more seriously injured in the Kherson region after a Russian land mine detonated near their patrol, law enforcement officials said Wednesday.... Russian shelling killed 10 people in the city of Kurakhove in the eastern Donetsk region, [President] Zelensky said Wednesday."
Andrew Roth of the Guardian: "Vladimir Putin has admitted Russia's war in Ukraine could turn into a 'long-term process' as he sought to defend an invasion in which Russian troops have been forced to retreat and even airbases deep inside Russia have come under attack. Speaking to members of his personal human rights council on Wednesday, Putin claimed that Russia would not use nuclear weapons first in any conflict, denied that Russian troops were deserting en masse from the field of battle, and claimed he would not need to mobilise more troops, a process that has caused considerable upheaval in Russia. But mainly the Russian president defended the 'special military operation' -- his preferred term for what he openly admitted was a Russian war of conquest that he compared with the territorial ambitions of former Russian tsars." ~~~
~~~ Marie: Putin certainly didn't mention that, as reported in the Guardian's Ukraine liveblog for today, "More than 93,000 Russian personnel have been killed since 24 February, a post on Facebook by [Ukraine's] general staff of the armed forces said.... Russia's published statistics show much lower numbers of losses."
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Reader Comments (15)
Peru can do it but we can’t?
Christ.
@Akhilleus: My thought exactly. Evidently, there is no Lindsey Graham, no Kevin McCarthy in Peru.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/12/07/georgia-senate-runoff-walker-warnock/
How many elections have been followed by this same headline?
Like clockwork, more Republican hand-wringing, questions about what went wrong and promises to reform.
Of course they don't reform. The can't because they don't want to.
They don't dare.
If the R's were to abandon their coalition of the resentful, cowering and hateful, those who along with great infusions of cash fuel the party's power plant, the party would disappear.
The R's are mired in a quicksand of their own making. They can't change because of who they are.
Kinda reminds me of Otis, the genial drunk on The Andy Griffith Show. He won't stop drinking. He drinks because he likes it...
Unlike the R's tho'. Otis is a nice guy, and in the show's context, a figure of fun.
The R's aren't funny.
Hopefully, Vlad will save some space for the Trump crime family.
https://news.yahoo.com/putin-preparing-flee-russia-implodes-
162403585.html
According to former Putin aide, top officials are buying up land in
Venezuela and nearby countries just in case their country turns on them.
What's wrong with Texas? Could be no extradition laws in Venezuela,
don't know for sure.
The Get Out of Democracy Free Card
The Supreme Court has rejected this whack job “independent state legislature theory” several times already, but now I read that it’s being seriously considered. Why the switch?
It’s a perfect domino for the traitors on the Court to knock over, since this perverted version of the SCOTUS is in the business of American jurisprudence domino toppling.
In short, this bullshit theory is a Get Out of Democracy Free card. You know those little cards in Monopoly with the top hat guy? This Get Out of Democracy card will probably have Trump’s fat puss on it since he has become the right’s patron saint of pissing on democracy.
Former Chief Justice William Rehnquist floated a version of this stupid, stupid, stupid idea after the winger Supremes stopped a presidential election and installed their guy (and didn’t that turn out well?). Don’t forget, Rehnquist took an active—very active—role in trying to stop blacks and Hispanics from voting in Arizona through personal confrontation and intimidation at the polls. Not exactly an avatar of free and fair elections, but then what influential Republican is?
I’m wondering if the opportunistic “originalists” on the court who fetishize “founder wishes” will bother to consider that none of that sainted cohort trusted state legislatures not to be corrupt and self-dealing.
A Brennan Center examination of this stupid, stupid, stupid idea pinpoints their reservations on this score: “This mistrust comes through in the Elections Clause, which reserves to Congress the power to override the abuses of power that Madison and his colleagues expected. Given the low regard in which the framers held state legislatures, it’s difficult to imagine they would want to free those lawmaking bodies from the existing constraints of the gubernatorial veto, the state constitution, and judicial review.”
Will Alito or Thomas be channeling those actual originalist sentiments?
Not on your life.
And can anyone, with a quick glance at the gerrymandering fury of so many red state legislatures, find reason to challenge Madison’s “low regard” for such corrupt bodies?
Taking this “theory” to its illogical conclusion, red state legislatures, in addition to throwing out the winner(s) of democratic elections and installing their guy(s), could even outlaw secret ballots. They could pass a law allowing them to see who you voted for. Think this would get the Founders Seal of Approval?
In fact, freeing these bodies from any and all oversight and protecting their most egregious actions from judicial review, which is the heart of the independent legislature theory, opens the door to all kinds of outrageous finagling. I mean, why even bother with elections? What they propose is the sort of “democracy” they have in China or Russia or North Korea where the “winner” miraculously gets 99.9 percent of the vote. The other .01 percent is beheaded or gulagged for life. Trump would love that.
The other day I heard an interview with a former US Appeals Court judge, J. Michael Luttig, appointed by Poppy Bush and a self described hard core conservative. Judge Luttig describes this current scheme now being “seriously considered” by the traitors on the Court to be the Republicans’ blueprint to steal the 2024 presidential election. Here’s what he says:
“Trump and the Republicans can only be stopped from stealing the 2024 election at this point if the Supreme Court rejects the independent state legislature doctrine (thus allowing state court enforcement of state constitutional limitations on legislatively enacted election rules and elector appointments) and Congress amends the Electoral Count Act to constrain Congress’ own power to reject state electoral votes and decide the presidency.”
Did you get that? This scheme can “only be stopped…if the Supreme Court rejects” this dangerous and, at its core, profoundly authoritarian idea.
But if they want their Get Out of Democracy Free card, all they have to do is not reject this scheme.
Will you bet me your house that they’ll stand up for democracy. Because I wouldn’t.
I can see Alito grinning from here.
https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/independent-state-legislature-theory-explained
https://www.cnn.com/2022/04/27/opinions/gop-blueprint-to-steal-the-2024-election-luttig/index.html
Two more thoughts about the Moore case.
Take a trip in the way back machine to our nascent country when pre-Constitution they were governed by those Articles of Confederation hurriedly cobbled together to get us through the war of independence.
And think about how poorly they functioned, with every state going its own way, some choosing to pay for the war, some not, each state thinking only of itself, that the arrangement was the primary impetus for devising the Constitution originalists now so revere that they appear now on second thought to have concluded those Articles were much better.
On the Originalists themselves: Though they have been brought up on Federalist Society Kool Aid and then carried to the SCOTUS by virtue of the Federalist Society's recommendation, they are not federalists at all. They are states rights advocates, the judicial equivalent of Bush II's Healthy Forests Act, which was anything but.
And as such these so-called Federalists are the handmaidens first of corporate power that would much prefer a weaker federal government, which in their view would open the door to less regulation and more profit. It's the Federalist Society's sole reason for being.
At this point, one would think the conservative justices would hesitate after seeing the furor their states rights approach to abortion has done. How much more of a cluster-fuck would they create by letting state legislatures go their own way sans oversight on all election issues?
But that concern, I guess, would apply only to those who think.
@Ken Winkes: You are assuming that confederate voters and confederate state legislators are capable of thinking logically, of acknowledging facts, of understanding cause-and-effect, & so forth. That's generous of you.
The intelligence of the American people notwithstanding, I do think it's likely that voters will go batshit once they have a concrete example or two of their own legislature usurping their fundamental rights. As Winston would have said, "This is something up with which they will not put." If the legislature overrides a majority vote, the majority will be at the statehouse with pitchforks. And they'll use those pitchforks on the nearest representative of the people.
BTW, one thing no one has mentioned about the Alito Plan is it's guarantee of corruption. While there is some room for corruption in our current system, when you have only a few greedy legislators to pay off to move the presidency from a Democrat to a Republican, Elon & his pals definitely will be ready with handouts. Under the Constitution according to Sam & Clarence, the government will necessarily run on corruption.
@Marie
Hadn't thought of the corruption angle.
Can't say the conservative justices haven't tho'. Per some of their past decisions, they've taken care of that. They said it didn't exist.
Yeah, well, but it wouldn't be quid pro quo corruption, so, meh!
---- Tony Kennedy
Wait…Vladimir Putin has a “human rights council”?
Yeah, okay. I can see it now. They meet with Putin to review rights they might possibly support.
“This one?”
“Nope”
“How ‘bout that one?”
“Nope.”
What about this?”
“Nope”
“Oh c’mon!”
“Gulag!”
“This one?”
(Icy stare)
“Okay. Meeting adjourned”
And if a little perspective is needed on just how catastrophic Putin’s war of aggression has gone, he’s lost 93,000 troops so far. That’s 93,000 dead. In less than a year. During the Afghan War in the 80’s, a war lasting ten years, the USSR lost 15,000 guys. So even if the 93,000 figure was off by 20%, Putin would still have lost five times more guys in a matter of months than the country lost in ten years in Afghanistan.
No wonder confederates worship him. He’s an incompetent loser and blowhard.
Marie,
The Alito Plan’s guarantee of corruption is exactly what guys like Madison predicted. Which is why none of the traitors on the court will mention the single biggest concern of the Founders about the kind of plan they’re considering.
And not for nothin’, if as you suggest, red state legislators freed from the horrors of democracy and free and fair elections jettison a winning candidate in favor of some Herschel Walker bobble head, voters may very well revolt. Even better, such a fiasco could be the perfect impetus for establishing term limits for SCOTUS judges. At which point I’d suggest time served for all traitor “justices”.
An excerpt from today's WaPo op-ed by Speaker Pelosi:
"... While his legal reasoning is twisted and unsound, we must take Justice Thomas — and the extremist movement behind him — at their word. ..."
Wow. in one sentence she writes that:
-- Clarence Thomas is the problem, or at least a large part of it
-- he doesn't know his business ("reasoning ... twisted ...")
-- he lacks intelligence a/o ethics ("... unsound ...")
-- he is supported by extremists, a movement even
-- his intentions are dangerous.
Such language from one branch about another would be unseemly and unthinkable a decade ago. Maybe she's trying to draw a foul - if Thomas responds he will be engaging in prior comment and judgment, and might have to recuse himself if an Obergefell case gets on the docket.
But then, he has no shame and the SCOTUS has no ethics rule, so don't hold your breath.
Can't see any deeper into Clarence's dark heart than I can into the Pretender's, but have already taken this leap:
From his perch on the High Court he's simply taking a swipe at all those liberals he thinks offended him during his confirmation.
His anger and hate lashing out.
Of course he's not thinking. He's just reacting to what he sees as slights; he's a pretend justice in a robe.
I think we've seen the syndrome before.
To hint at my next sermon, we've seen it long ago on the playground and more recently in the presidency.
The corruption never stops for the GQP. From Jane Mayer, "Lawmakers have just added a provision to the National Defense Authorization Act protecting Supreme Court spouses from having to reveal any outside employer, in the name of security. If it passes, Ginni Thomas’s professional entanglements would effectively be state secrets."
Brittney Griner is coming home, and guess who HATES it?
(Hint: homophobic, racist, democracy hating white supremacists, aka the entire Republican Party.)
Waaaah! Biden helps out a BLACK dyke addict, but leaves Paul Whelan, a wonderful WHITE Marine, to rot!!! Impeach!!!
Lies across the board, as usual. First, It was never him or her, with Biden choosing an undeserving, criminal black lesbian over the wonderful white hero. The Russians are treating Whelan’s case as espionage. And they offered ONLY Griner. There was no him or her, but confederate droolers will never hear that on Faux.
And Whelan’s family (something else Foxbots will never hear) is very happy for and supportive of Griner.
Junior describes Griner as an “awful America hating WNBA player” (ie, black woman—what could be worse in Trump World?). So wait, Junior’s fat fuck traitor daddy who demands that the Constitution be terminated and he, the loser, be made president*, doesn’t deserve THE number one America hating position?
Some other rusty traitor douche clamp describes this as the worst foreign policy decision in US history. The event that will collapse an empire!!!
Really, asshole?
Worse than attacking a country that had nothing to do with 9/11, triggering a world wide tsunami of terrorism? Worse than a president* of the United States handing over state secrets to our sworn enemies? Worse than allowing foreign spies into the home of a sitting president*?
These are the dickheads who scream that crossing the street at 2am when there are no cars in sight (jay walking) is far worse than serial killers murdering dozens of patrons of a gay bar.
As for Paul Whelan, I have no doubt that Biden is continuing to work for his release. You take what you can get, and then you pull for more. If this had been Trump, the linchpin would have been “What’s in it for Fat Donald?”
That is, and never will be, the biggest concern of Joe Biden.
I could go on, but why bother?