I spent 3 years and half a million dollars getting a law degree...and it make me feel good to know that everything I learned there doesn't actually fucking matter. All I needed to learn was that if you are appointed by an authoritarian Cheeto, the law is what you make it.
"The main benefit of controlling a modern bureaucratic state is not the power to persecute the innocent. It is the power to protect the guilty." - David Frum
You pretty much learn this, but then you find your way into camp A that attempts to hold up this system, or Camp B where you attempt to use this system to destroy itself....Camp B is struggling right now.
I was wondering how much this Trump fuckery is going to effect legal precedent since precedent seems to matter quite a lot in the legal system. Or do you think most judges are going to straight up just say Trump gets more legal rights so precedent set by him doesn't matter?
They don't give a shit about precedent. They are fascists appointed by an insurrection leader. They will make decisions that benefit Christian nationalism without regard to anything else.
They're not the only Judges though. If a otherwise normal judge was given an argument in court that brought up the precedent Trump set, laws start to fall apart. I'm worried that many laws will become almost unenforceable no matter who the judge is.
Members of the out group are allowed to argue precedent too, and like I said not every judge is going to be a fascist, so I'm still worried many laws are going to be unenforceable against anyone.
I suggest listening to the podcast Strict Scrutiny. They do a fantastic job of breaking down the way the current Supreme Court has just thrown out nearly every well established precedent. And it pretty much is based upon their own individual ideology and not based on any logical interpretation of the constitution.
I have a friend who had a case before Cannon and told me that she was both one of the stupidest and the meanest judges she's ever dealt with, which is saying something since she practices primarily in Florida. As a representative of the caliber of judges the Federalist Society has to offer, Cannon is pretty damning... and if we get four more years of Trump, the federal bench is going to be stacked with jurists even worse than her.
We are dangerously close to an emperor has no clothes moment in regards to the rule of law. When people digest that the law is whatever it needs to be to suit the needs of the moment, they'll operate as if there is no law and they'll be right. I fear we are already past the point of no return.
When the supreme law of the law, the Constitution, is nullified the Great American Experiment ceases to exist - we are there. The war has already begun.
This is less a "free pass" so much as all things going to plan.
Cannon is a trump appointed croney who has been delaying the trial and doing everything in her power to protect trump. And now the supreme court gave them an out and she instantly took it.
This is literally what republicans have been working toward for decades. Immunity by corrupting the government at every level.
Doesn't it kind of feel as if this has reached some sort of end game here? Previously, it has always felt like - yeah, they play dirty, but they keep their bullshit contained to reasonable levels. But recently, it's just been one absolute blatantly democracy-shattering decision one after another.
There's been a concerted effort to infiltrate and influence politics by conservative Christians for years. I think events like the Brook Brothers riot emboldened dropping the thin veil of the Democratic process as they saw you can literally steal an election and no one will do anything about it. The real test of what the people will tolerate is only beginning, I fear.
Because we played right into their hand, the have been telegraphing this for years. All of their bullshit has been slowly ramping up for years, slowly getting more unreasonable but compared to everything else they've done it's really not that much worse. Now that they were able to completely set the field they can move on the they're end game. And I'm not sure we can stop them now.
If the last and worst act of the whole regime had come immediately after the first and smallest, thousands, yes, millions would have been sufficiently shocked- if, let us say, the gassing of the Jews in '43 had come immediately after the 'German Firm' stickers on the windows of non- Jewish shops in '33. But of course this isn't the way it happens. In between come all the hundreds of little steps, some of them imperceptible, each of them preparing you not to be shocked by the next. Step C is not so much worse than Step B, and, if you did not make a stand at Step B, why should you at Step C?
They Thought They Were Free: The Germans, 1933-45 -by Milton Mayer
Yes, because they are a) at the tipping point where they control enough institutions so the pieces fall together now, and b) someone came along who's actually used all those pieces and everyone could see how absolutely unprepared and completely helpless the system and the political opponent was. They realized they don't need to tiptoe around anymore.
Honestly for a long time I was really hopeful that the fact that he was doing it out in the open and everyone could see that he was abusing the hell out of every little loophole he could find, and creating some new ones, would mean that we'd start closing those loopholes when he was out of office and we might even see an era of reform.
He's been out of office for 4 years and all the courts have managed to do is LEGALIZE HIS MISCONDUCT!
I feel like I'm finally starting to except our collective fate and now there's nothing left to do but watch it burn down around us.
And it's not only that, a few things occurred or are in the midst of happening ( at the worldwide level ), that i was sure wouldn't be possible, because no one would do that shit and/or people would not let it happen.
Oh, suddenly she can move quickly on something when there's political cover to do what she actually wants.
Unbelievable corruption. And the liberal media is going to be tripping over themselves to talk about this like it's some complicated issue, rather than straightforward political corruption.
The "liberal media" is not "tripping over themselves to talk about this like it's some complicated issue".
The Washington Post called bullshit:
U.S. District Judge Aileen M. Cannon’s ruling is a remarkable win for Trump, whose lawyers have thrown longshot argument after longshot argument to dismiss the case. Other courts have rejected similar arguments to the one that he made in Florida about the legality of Smith’s appointment.
...
Cannon’s decision comes as Trump is preparing to be formally nominated as the Republican presidential nominee in this year’s election, with the Republican National Convention beginning in Milwaukee on Monday.
...
The legal theory that Smith was illegally appointed and funded has generally been considered far-fetched. Trump’s legal team didn’t adopt the argument in court until conservative legal groups pushed it.
This is as far as they can go in saying that "this decision is unhinged" while still maintaining their aura of objectivity. They're not going to do it explicitly in the main article, that will come in the opinion pieces that will be released in a few hours, surely
Nowhere do they explicitly connect this to her political ideology. That's exactly my point, they're soft-selling it.
The liberal media (no quotes needed, they're corporate neoliberal) refuses to actually call a spade a spade.
This is not a critical article, this is just them shrugging and being like "Oh, well, it seems like tenuous grounds for dismissal but thems the licks."
Without intent to offend, perhaps neutral reporting isn't for you. They reported all the facts and leave you to come up with your own opinion, which is a mark of high-quality journalism.
They are a news agency. They are not here to tell you what to think of the news. You want your news to tell you what to think. I want my news to tell me what happened and give me the information necessary to form my own opinion.
If they said explicitly or implied that she did this because of her ideology, even if that is likely true, that would not be unbiased.
There is no such thing as neutral, unbiased reporting. Believing that there is is a mark of media illiteracy. Making the choice not to discuss the obvious conflict of interest is a choice, it is a form of bias. Journalists cannot be unbiased, that's not a possibility with the job.
We should not be allowing a dismantling of our democracy because "you have to be fair to bothsides".
This is an important detail often missed when discussing journalism, objectivity, bias, and, unfortunately, integrity. It's a necessary piece of fabric that has been fraying for years. As another lemmy post some month ago put it, with the loss of the Cronkite era folks lost faith in the fourth estate.
The tragedy is that the stratification of news by party and by medium is that anything right of CNN, most of the fringe blogosphere, and nearly all of the AM stations is that they are presenting opinionated hot takes as journalistic facts. Moreover, this tends to galvanize an already consitent voter base. It seems like without an emotional appeal to resisting consrvative ideologues the rhetoric and relative baseline just keep slipping.
She really dismissed it over the appointment of a special prosecutor? Completely insane, but the fake Supreme Court will probably rubber stamp it. America is so fucked.
This. Jack Smith hasn't been able to nail her on any of her antics thus far, as they've been plausibly deniable, but her specious reasoning for the dismissal is a prime target for reversal by the 11th Circuit. She's so bad at her job, she can't even stall properly.
If Smith doesn't go to the 11th Circuit, then he was a terrible choice to begin with, and he was never going to win anything.
The question now might be whether he appeals to the 11th Circuit Court or straight to the Supreme Court. I fear either way may be too slow to get anywhere before November.
I doubt this will run its course before November, but if it can be a drain on his sanity and coffers, I'd say it's still in the public interest to keep it going. As someone who listens to Knowledge Fight often, this kind of stuff gets under their skin and derails their ability to be effective at messaging.
Ultimately, it's in the public interest to keep going, if only because it's still a crime that deserves to be tried on the real possibility that he loses in November.
True, but it will all take so long that the case still won't get anywhere before the election. In a way this might even have been the judge's ultimate delay tactic, capping off the slow-walk that she already perpetrated.
It'll put more pressure on Trump's system so I can't complain. Its obv bullshit but it gets the rubes' hopes up so it all balances out. I don't buy his assassination attempt has changed anything
and she doesn't get to rule on a lot of the key decisions she had been dragging her feet on, so when she is replaced that judge will not have to inherit her bullshit decisions on important aspects of the case.
Washington, D.C. 4 federal felonies January 6th Election Interference
Investigation
Indictment
Arrest <- You Are Here
Trial - The trial, originally scheduled for March 4th, had been placed on hold pending the Supreme Court ruling on Presidential Immunity.
The Supreme Court ruled that the President does enjoy limited immunity for "official acts", it now returns to lower court to determine what, if any, of his acts leading up to 1/6 were "official". https://www.cnn.com/2024/07/01/politics/supreme-court-donald-trump-immunity/index.html
Conviction
Sentencing
Georgia 10 state felonies Election Interference
As of 3/13/24 - Judge McAfee cleared 6 charges, 3 against Trump, saying they were too generic to be enforced.
As of 3/15/24 - The case may proceed, but either Fulton County DA, Fani Willis and her office or Special Prosecutor Nathan Wade must remove themselves due to the appearance of impropriety.
Investigation
Indictment
Arrest <- You Are Here
All 19 defendants have surrendered.
Trial - October 4th, 2024 hearing has been set to determine if Fani Willis can remain on the case.
Three defendants, Kenneth Chesebro, Sidney Powell, and bail bondsman Scott Hall, have all pled guilty and have agreed to testify in other cases.
Conviction
Sentencing
Florida 40 federal felonies Top Secret Documents charges
Investigation
Indictment
Original indictment was for 37 felonies.
3 new felonies were added on July 27, 2023.
Arrest <- You Are Here
Trial - The trial had been set to begin May 20, 2024, but was subsequently delayed indefinitely by the judge, and has now been dismissed outright under the claims that the prosecutor was not Constitutionally appointed. https://www.reuters.com/legal/judge-tosses-trump-documents-case-ruling-prosecutor-unlawfully-appointed-2024-07-15/
The expectation is that this will be appealed and the Judge removed from the case.
Conviction
Sentencing
Other grand juries, such as for the documents at Bedminster, or the Arizona fake electors, have not been announced.
The E. Jean Carroll trial for sexual assault and defamation where Trump was found liable and ordered to pay $5 million before immediately defaming her again resulting in a demand for $10 million is not listed as it's a civil case and not a crimimal one. He was found liable in that case for $83.3 million.
There had been multiple cases in multiple states to remove Trump from the ballot, citing ineligibility under the 14th amendment.
The Supreme Court ruled on March 4th that states do not have the ability to determine eligibility in Federal elections.
District Judge Aileen Cannon said in a 93-page order that she has granted Trump's bid to dismiss the indictment based on the unlawful funding and appointment of special counsel Jack Smith, who brought the charges against the former president.
So this should be easy for appeals court to overturn right?
No, if Trump loses, the Republicans will contest the election, which will end up in front of the Supreme Court, who will rule in favor of the Orange Nutsack. Tadaaaaaaa!
This is a complete denial of the authority of both the executive and legislative branches. It was a congressional law passed that created the department of justice and explicitly gave the attorney general the authority to prosecute for any crimes the United States has a stake in.
Trump Appointed Judge Aileen Cannon just made it LEGAL to share TOP SECRET SCIF DOCUMENTS with LITERALLY anybody in the World including our Enemies! But it's JUDGE MERCHAN'S DAUGHTER we need to worry about!
"IrONiCAllY". dude. if you haven't been paying even the slightest attention, the fix is in for Trump alone, it does not translate to anyone else, for anything else. jfc.
Cannon's ruling is going to be appealed. If it gets appealed all the way to the supreme court, again (and Clarence Thomas has specifically asked for this in one of his prior rulings), and the supreme court holds with them, then any charges brought by a special counsel in any case are gone. Her ruling invalidates special counsels in general. The office that is pressing charges against Hunter Biden will no longer exist.
The scary part about this is it means that if Trump were to win he would have every excuse and cover from the judiciary to hand pick his own justice department attorney hires to go after people with no semblance of independence. After all, special counsels aren't even allowed to be used anymore. So you're of course right, it does fit into a larger fascist plant, and I certainly don't mean to imply that it doesn't or this isn't all for Trump's benefit.
I just wanted to point out that the current move would also be able to get Hunter Biden off the hook on the off chance that it gets anyone blindly supporting Trump immunity to stop and think for a second that maybe this isn't actually a good thing (since a lot of them seem to have some pretty extreme beliefs about Hunter Biden going to jail).
"be able to", no, it won't. nothing that applies to trump, applies to anyone else, in any circumstance, ever, no matter the legal grounds or precedent. haven't you learned anything yet? i mean, at all, about what's been going on.
Arm up, particularly a pistol, apply for CCW. The right will continue their stochastic violence and seemingly random mass shootings, targeting poc and lgbtq. Go vote for gun control absolutely, but your votes not gonna save you when someone storms a mall and starts spraying because they're part of a violent cult. I promise you the right already has their guns, they've been passing them down to their kids too. The most strict gun control even if enacted tomorrow won't dis-arm these would be shooters. You'll have to wait for those effects to happen over a longer period of time.
A vast majority of Democrat representatives live out their lives without getting killed by MAGA crazies. I think most of them though are willing to take that risk for what they believe in. Do you believe in something greater than yourself that would prompt you to take that risk?
If push comes to shove your passport is only the first step. You would need to actually find a country to take you, and countries don't hand out citizenship like candy unless you're rich. Without a second citizenship, you would be very restricted in where you can work.
Your best bet is if your parents or grandparents came from abroad, some countries have blanket policies to have 1st or 2nd generations come back to their ancestral homeland. It very much varies by country, you would have to do your own research. It might be worth doing as a last resort.
I may look into the other genealogical direction. My daughter has skills that are globally in demand and she's probably more upset about America than I ever could be. Maybe there's a bring your parent along program out there somewhere.
I'm fifteen years out from viable retirement. If I can hold on that long, there are several places I could go on my own accord.
WSJ this morning. The last bit is a stunning self own after Cannon flushed the last remaining parts of the justice system down the toilet today.
"Leaders on both sides need to stop describing the stakes of the election in apocalyptic terms. Democracy won't end if one or the other candidate is elected. Fascism is not aborning if Mr. Trump wins, unless you have little faith in American institutions."
People are picking sides. If you believe trump will win, and you're a coward, and you know that he will go on a reign of terror after inauguration then it makes sense to get in line as soon as possible. Last in line are first against the wall after all. And there will be people against the wall. Mark my words.
Pelosi, Obama, Biden and his family, shumer, aoc, and Cohen will be arrested for treason within weeks and executed. I know it sounds crazy but... ::gestures vaguely at everything::
Doesn't even need a reason. He just has to "gesture vaguely," to borrow your turn of phrase, at Official Acts™. He's already got a hitlist, so he just needs the levers of power to cross off names with impunity.
The Democrat party has had an influx of never Trump centrists and even milquetoast conservatives. The dems will be moving right ward to accommodate those new pick ups until the Maga crowd fizzles out and conservatives go back to the GOP.
Or we have a complete realignment and the parties flip. It's happened before.
I envision the higher courts slapping it down a few times, then an eventual appeal up to the supreme court, who then if four justices are willing to go along with it, put the whole case on ice until next Summer while they argue this. Just like they did with the January 6th trial and presidential immunity rulings.
