"The Supreme Court’s decision in the case out of southern Oregon, expected in June, will broadly impact how local governments write homelessness policy in the United States."
The United States is the only major constitutional democracy on Earth that allows lifetime tenure for judges on its highest court.
A bill in Congress, the Supreme Court Tenure Establishment and Retirement Modernization (TERM) Act, would institute term limits of 18 years for Supreme Court justices.
Samuel Alito & Co. parroted Trump and Fox 'news' talking points that a rogue president isn't too worrisome because officials or the military can simply refuse to do their bidding or they will be prosecuted. In reality, except that a POTUS can simply pardon them before leaving office, and of course, those pardons could not be challenged because they are an official act. So all he needs to do is appoint people he knows will go along with the crimes the second time around.
Trump pardoned Michael Flynn & Roger Stone for their crimes just weeks before #January6th, as they organized dangerous extremists for the insurrection.
And there is this: The Trump-Hitler comparison is a stunning warning. Few Germans or Europeans expected what unfolded after Hitler amassed power. Trump is the only president in recent American history to openly despise the ideals, dignity, and equality upon which the contemporary United States is built.
Waiting for the most corrupt #scotus in history on the absurd immunity case. #law#court
1st: SCOTUS had chance to stop pre-hearing civil forfeiture (when cops steal your stuff w/o a hearing to prove you did anything wrong).
They declined (wait for it) 6-3. Sotomayor, Kagan, Jackson dissenting.
2nd-copyright/damages case. So you'll have to talk to somebody who knows/cares about copyright
It's also 6-3, but this time the libs in the majority w Gorsuch, Thomas, and Alito dissenting (Roberts, Kav, and Barrett were in the majority in both cases)
They’ve yet to rule on either Trump’s #immunity claim or the #Jan6 case disputing the use of the #obstruction of an official proceeding by defendant Fischer that could impact #Trump as well as other #J6 defendants.
Ruth Ben-Ghiat: "To normalize extreme ideas, you get them circulating through institutions and the public sphere, aiming for prestigious platforms that offer maximum legitimacy. Enter the Supreme Court, which is making itself the tool of bad actors who want issues that should be settled in a democracy seen as up for discussion–including whether a head of state can order an assassination of a political rival and pay no consequence." #SCOTUS https://lucid.substack.com/p/information-warfare-and-the-supreme
#ProPublica won the prestigious #PublicService#Pulitzer for “groundbreaking & ambitious reporting that pierced the thick wall of secrecy surrounding #SCOTUS to reveal how a small group of politically influential #billionaires wooed justices w/lavish gifts & travel, pushing the Court to adopt its first code of conduct.” The prize is given to the staff of a news organization that performed “meritorious public service.”
"Friends of the Court," ProPublica's investigation into Supreme Court justices' beneficial relationships with billionaire donors, has been awarded the #Pulitzer Prize for Public Service!
Here are the highlights from the reporting (THREAD)
This is very smart. Get educated.. [Slate, Amicus] How Originalism Ate the Law: The Trick
Part one of a series examining the theory of constitutional interpretation that has eaten the law and gobbled up a bunch of your rights with it.
America is pinned under the dead hand of Originalism
FedSoc justices disgraced themselves and their fake pet theories in the oral argument on presidential immunity.
Remember when they were “minimalists”? Oh, but now they embarked on a long policy peregrination so as to make what Gorsuch called a “ruling for the ages.” (He actually said that.) Behind the stunning pomposity, it’s miles from “minimalist.”
Remember when they were “constitutionalists”? The constitution says they’ve got to stick to the “case or controversy” before them, and yet they went on their wild hypothetical wanderings. Some “constitutionalists.”
Remember when they were “originalists”? Follow the text, never mind the outcomes?
All gone, in hand-waving about what various rulings might portend, and what effects they could have.
Remember their recent switch (Dobbs, Bruen) to “history and tradition”? The “history” is that no president but Nixon and Trump committed crimes; none sought immunity.
The “tradition” is presidents for centuries got along just
Remember in Bush v. Gore, the FedSoc justices decided the case that put Bush in the presidency ONE DAY after oral arguments. When the Republican Party needed speed, FedSoc justices delivered to their owners.
On Thursday, the #scotus will be hearing arguments where lawyers for the criminal defendant are arguing that all former presidents are forever immune from criminal prosecution for any official acts done in office.
Failure to respect the election of a new President, is the ultimate crime against the people, who are the basis of government. The President, by constitutional design, should have no role- official or unofficial-in the determination of the people's
vote. Immunity for the crimes here alleged would be most abhorrent to the Framers, because immunity would upset the constitutional scheme and aid a President in overriding the people's power over him.
The Framers would also have been appalled that Trump, despite having left office, seeks permanent immunity. As a Federalist wrote for the Maryland ratifying convention:
It seems, however, that the president may possibly be continued for life. He may so, provided he deserve it.
In the 14th Amendment case, the #scotus Court implicitly acknowledged that 18 U.S.C. 2383 (rebellion and insurrection) COULD APPLY to a former President, and provide adequate grounds for disqualification. So not sure why they are entertaining an argument that criminal laws writ large can't apply for a former #POTUS unless it specifically mentions him. This is off the rails.
The Framers did not put an immunity clause in the #Constitution.They knew how to, and they did not. They did not provide immunity to the president. Wasn't the whole point that the president was not a monarch and the president was not supposed to be above the law.
Report: Pastor testifies on the reason evangelicals support Republicans: We “made a deal with the devil”
"That deal was, we would support everything on the conservative agenda," says Robert Schenck and they would give us Roe. Taking rights away from half the population.
In that meeting that I participated in, the conversation went something like this: 'You guys want Roe v. Wade overturned, we can do that for you, but you take the whole enchilada, you take the whole thing,"' he said. "You take everything else that comes with it. Because if you want Roe gone, you have to work with us."
"From that point on that community that I had served, and still do, made a deal with the devil," he said. "That deal was, we would support everything on the conservative agenda, whether or not we had conscientious conflict with them.
Christian Nationalists Are Trying to Gaslight You.
Christian nationalism is a threat to both democracy and Christianity. The gaslighting is just a strategy designed to advance that threat.
Christian nationalism –in the contemporary American context – is an attempt to merge American identity with Christian identity. It is “less accurate to think of Christian nationalism as a coherent belief system than as a movement; a joint venture between religious and political actors seeking power.” Two corrupt groups join forces to take over American government. The fascist have captured the #scotus corrupt court.
by Joshua Kaplan, Justin Elliott & Alex Mierjeski @ProPublica
#Thomas has attended at least two #Koch donor summits, putting him in the extraordinary position of having helped a #political network that has brought multiple #cases before the #SupremeCourt.
Ken Burns Sets Record Straight Over Photo With Supreme Court Justice #ClarenceThomas
#KenBurns has made a statement after a photo surfaced of the documentary filmmaker w/ #SCOTUS justice Clarence Thomas & billionaire David Koch. While #Koch has funded one of Burns’ documentaries, Burns maintains that he & the Supreme Court Justice have no connections or relationship.
“Around 10 yrs ago, Ken was stopped & asked to take a photograph with a #SCOTUS Justice & David Koch, who was a supporter of public television & would later provide some funding for his film, ‘The Vietnam War.’ So he took the photo, as he has done with many, many others. Other than the taking of that photograph & innocuous pleasantries, that’s the extent of his contact with Justice Thomas,” a spokesperson for #KenBurns said in a statement to Variety.
Please help me understand how Clarence Thomas can rule on Trump's absurd immunity appeal when Thomas' wife Ginni was an insurrectionist directly advising Trump and Meadows to not concede the election. Trumps appeal is seeking immunity for the criminal charges related to their Jan6th crimes.