Under persistent questioning from Judge Cannon, prosecutors declined to divulge details & seemed caught off-guard by the inquiries. At one point, Smith dpy James Pearce said he was “not authorized” to discuss the level of communication.
#Trump publicly claims, w/o evidence, that #JackSmith is essentially a pawn of President Joe #Biden. But in court his lawyers are making a contrary argument: that Smith’s #independence means he’s operating beyond what #DOJ employees are permitted to do. Trump’s lawyers claim that under the #Constitution only an officer appointed by POTUS & confirmed by the Senate can wield the level of power that Smith has. For decades, special counsels have not been presidentially appointed or Senate-confirmed.
The #SupremeCourt will return to the bench starting at 10 a.m. Friday to release its next round of 2024 decisions, with about a dozen major rulings expected over the next week or so. The justices do not say in advance which opinions will be released
The #5thCircuit rejected the historical comparisons that the government offered to justify the #law barring those w/a #RestrainingOrder from possessing #guns.
Louisiana now requires classrooms to display the 10 Commandments by law
In 1980, in Stone v Graham, The Supreme Court ruled that Kentucky violated the establishment clause of the 1st Amendment by requiring the 10 Commandments be displayed in classrooms
This was long before a rogue, irreparably corrupt Supreme Court would legislate from the bench…
@Nonilex
How about displaying the #Bill_of_Rights? Also ten things, and it's part of that thing that everybody swears to protect... what is it called? Oh, yeah...
The #CONSTITUTION
Today in Labor History June 18, 1872: The Rochester, New York police arrested Susan B. Anthony for attempting to vote, in violation of laws allowing only men to vote. She was convicted, but refused to pay the fine. In 1878, she and Elizabeth Cady Stanton arranged for Congress to introduce a constitutional amendment that would extend voting rights to women. In 1920, it was ratified as the 19th amendment to the constitution.
The decision turned on #standing, a doctrine grounded in the #Constitution’s req that fed courts decide only concrete claims.
The standing req can leave a gap. It means, Justice Kavanaugh wrote,”that the federal courts may never need to decide some contested #legal questions.”
Justice #Kavanaugh relies on #ConscienceProtections in fed #law, saying #doctors “shall not be required to provide treatment or assistance that would violate the doctors’ religious beliefs or moral convictions.”
"It was unnecessary for anyone to adopt a fake identity and secretly tape conversations with Supreme Court justices to find out what they really think. 'By their fruits ye shall know them'. …
Even before the news of this week, it was plain that Alito is closer to Thomas’ wife than Thomas, in terms of his view of law, society and government."
"He is lawless, in fact, in the sense that he will rule in whatever way he needs to in pursuit of his real agenda, which is the establishment of a conservative theocracy and the permanent disempowerment of modern liberalism."
"Justice Samuel Alito spoke candidly about the ideological battle between the left and the right — discussing the difficulty of living 'peacefully' with ideological opponents in the face of 'fundamental' differences that 'can’t be compromised.' He endorsed what his interlocutor described as a necessary fight to 'return our country to a place of godliness.'"
"And Alito offered a blunt assessment of how America’s polarization will ultimately be resolved: 'One side or the other is going to win.'
Alito made these remarks in conversation at the Supreme Court Historical Society’s annual dinner on June 3, a function that is known to right-wing activists as an opportunity to buttonhole Supreme Court justices."
"If Justice Alito is making comments like this to a random person at a public dinner, what is he saying to his close confidants? What is he doing on the bench? How can he possibly deliver impartial justice when he so casually expresses these views? Judges are supposed to conduct themselves in a manner that ensures questions like these are never asked about them."
"Many people will find [Lauren Windsor's] tactics questionable. This was the justification Windsor offered: 'Because the Supreme Court is shrouded in secrecy, and they’re refusing to submit to any accountability in the face of overwhelming evidence of serious ethics breaches, I think that it’s justified to take these types of measures.'”
"In those brief comments, Alito eviscerated the disingenuous reasoning of Dobbs and made clear that the reactionary majority was exercising brute force in imposing their religious views on all Americans--i.e., 'returning our country to a place of (their view) of godliness.' The opinion in Dobbs was a sham."
"Alito’s remarks are notable because ... he is now, as the cliché goes, saying the quiet part out loud. Martha-Ann might be the half of the Alito couple who likes to make statements using actual flags, but Strip Search Sammy is also showing his true colors."
"For me, what stood about the exchange was how similar Alito’s remarks were to comments other members of the radical Catholic cabal have recently made. This business of 'one side or the other is going to win' suggests a Manichean view of social issues, especially abortion and LGBT rights."
"According to the radical Catholics, there is a great battle going on between the forces of good (i.e., Catholic extremism) and evil (i.e., anyone who believes in abortion rights and acknowledges that gay people exist). …
What Strip Search Sammy told Windsor is nothing new. He merely confirmed what we already know, which is this:"
"There is a powerful cabal of radical Catholic extremists who seek to strip away our civil rights in the name of God. This cabal has captured the Supreme Court, which will continue to issue reactionary rulings that put the lives of millions of Americans in jeopardy, to make the country hew to their retrograde religious beliefs."
"Justice Alito has confirmed his utter abandonment of the principle of separation of church and state. Again, looking at his oath, it was to the 'Constitution and the laws of the United States,' and not to any church or religious text. And yet, he agreed with Windsor when she said that the nation had to 'return to a place of godliness.'”
"Mrs. Alito’s unhinged rant continued with a threat to 'get even' with the media. Mrs. Alito responded to Windsor’s sympathy about bad news coverage by saying: 'It’s OK. It’s OK, because if they come back to me, I’ll get them. I’m gonna be liberated, and I’m gonna get them.'”
“'Look at me, look at me. I’m German,' Martha-Ann said. 'I’m from Germany. My heritage is German. You come after me, I’m gonna give it back to you. And there will be a way, it doesn’t have to be now, but there will be a way they will know. Don’t worry about it.”'
"Simply put, Alito and his cadre of Right Wing radical judges, are representations of a larger movement that is dedicated and obsessed with restructuring America into an overtly authoritarian society. Their religious beliefs, their ideologies, their worldviews, and even their legal training and philosophies, have been shaped explicitly for this purpose."