The courts have gotten too much slack and too much credit for ‘holding the line’ against Trump’s criminal activity over the past five years. I am nowhere near as optimistic about the courts as savior as many other Trump opponents.
The courts completely caved on the Emoluments Clause of our constitution in the face of sickening money corruption by Trump, including with foreign powers; they caved repeatedly by allowing themselves to be used as hapless pawns to Trump’s strategy of endless delay, making themselves a mockery of the rule of law, when there is absolutely no reason they could not have expedited the litigation schedule.
The ultimate question we face: can this democracy defend itself against a wannabe dictator and movement of violent threats and thuggery?
I’m less convinced than ever that it can.
Today, the DC Circuit (federal court of appeals just below the Supreme Court) just granted Trump another 20 days of impunity. Yes, this will be on an expedited schedule. Yet a month granted to a transparently absurd legal argument is just that. Tempus fugit.
Tick-tock.
Note: All three members of the randomly-selected panel from amongst the broader appellate circuit were appointed by Democratic presidents.
While it’s possible – even likely – that the DC Circuit is ensuring the best possible record for the inevitable Supreme Court review, it is almost eerie at this point how unsuited the present judiciary is to combat the asymmetric threat on the other side.
One wonders whether they have studied closely what happens to judicial branches of government when democracies collapse.
Who thinks that the four conservative justices won’t grant cert on this one and bring the calendar to a crashing halt anyway?
Hope I’m wrong. Really do.
The inability or unwillingness of the courts to do ANYTHING about the flagrant contempt of the law shown by virtually every one of today’s GOP officials leaves me wondering whether something much more ominous is lurking in the shadows.
A sitting member of Congress has published DEATH THREATS against another member of Congress and against the sitting President. A week later, and all that’s being reported is yet another round of tut-tutting from Ms. Pelosi and House Democrats.
I am ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN that if any one of us did this, there would be Secret Service officials at our door within hours. We would be immediately incarcerated while various investigators examined everything about us and our background.
I don’t understand why arrest and incarceration by the Secret Service isn’t the very first consequence of behavior like this.
Our court system is BROKEN. Our Congress is broken. Steve Bannon should be in jail for contempt right now. The records from Donald Trump should be in the hands of Congress right now.
Even more importantly, the DoJ should be in the middle of an active investigation into the apparent crimes committed by Donald Trump and his co-conspirators.
I felt this way in January, watching the January 6 sacking of the U.S. Capitol unfold. It was obvious to me and everyone else who has spent serious time near Washington DC that security — National Guard, DC Police, and others — had been ordered to stand down. That was NOT mere “miscommunication”. I will always believe that the agencies charged with protecting the U.S. Capitol were ordered to be somewhere else.
Now I feel the same way about the entire insurrection. There is overwhelming evidence that Russian money was pouring into the GOP through multiple channels — yet there is ZERO evidence of any interest by DoJ.
What is going on here?
I believe just now there are judicial proceedings pursuant to what happened in Charlottesville in 2017. Justice, especially if you want to get it right, often requires patience. Anything pursued by the DOJ has to be more airtight than ever or risk allegations of victors justice.
I’m happy about that, and that’s an irrelevant matter.
I know of no allegations or evidence that elected officials coordinated, led, or planned the crimes in Charlottesville.
The issue at hand here is DoJ treatment of elected officials who flagrantly and brazenly violate the law.
I made the comparison because Charlottesville happened in the summer of 2017, more than four years ago now, just as an example of the pace at which the wheels of justice sometimes grind.
The attack in Charlottesville happened on August 12, 2017.
Two days later, on August 14, 2017, the DoJ announced a civil rights investigation (https://www.npr.org/2017/08/14/543477425/justice-department-launches-civil-rights-investigation-into-charlottesville-atta). Even Jeff Sessions made it clear that the perpetrator(s) of the attack would not go unpunished (https://www.reuters.com/article/us-otc-charlottesville/the-justice-departments-mission-in-charlottesville-idUSKCN1AU2EM).
From the second piece (emphasis mine):
The Donald Trump administration’s DoJ, under AG Jeff Sessions, went on the record announcing several investigations within HOURS of the attack. Virginia authorities began a murder investigation IMMEDIATELY.
I invite you to cite similar announcements from Merrick Garland’s DoJ about any of the crimes apparently perpetrated by today’s GOP insurrectionists.
I am not aware of any investigations by MD, VA, or DC into who organized, funded, and coordinated the insurrection.
I have seen NO statements from Merrick Garland or the DoJ about any of this.
I am not the only one asking this question. The several talking-heads on CNN and MSNBC — including, I’m sure, Lawrence Tribe, Neal Katyal, and others — have been asking the same question on-air for months now.
Why has the current DoJ made NO announcements about any of this?
Late this afternoon a federal grand jury indicted Steve Bannon for contempt of Congress. I would not automatically assume that the lack of announcements means lack of action. Garland strikes me as the type who does his job without a lot of fanfare. Here is the DoJ update as of last weekend.
I’m glad that Mr. Bannon was indicted. It isn’t clear, of course, whether that has impact on his immediate behavior.
The DoJ update of last weekend epitomizes my concern. Lots and lots of activity against lots and lots of weak and powerless rioters. Should they be prosecuted? Of course.
I see no evidence that the DoJ is making any effort whatsoever to investigate and prosecute the GOP officials who are leading this insurrection.
If you were looking for big name perp walks I think your expectations are unrealistic. I’m not an expert on the law, but I get the sense that such people did largely manage to stay just this side of the legal line. For example, as I recall nobody who spoke from the podium at the rally that preceded the events at the Capitol directed attendees to forcibly invade the building or hunt down any elected officials. As obnoxious as it was politically, it was certainly no crime to object to the various slates of electors (though I would recommend some procedural tweaks to streamline that in the future). Ali Velshi (subbing for Rachel Maddow) had a good segment on this tonight in which Justice’s M. O. was discussed.
I’ve written here repeatedly of what I’m looking for from an investigation.
There is a real, active, and substantive insurrection happening. There is strong evidence that this insurrection is receiving substantial funding from Russia.
The year-long GOP sabotage of all of America is bearing fruit with the inflation reports. The GOP manufactures a crisis by spreading lies about election, lies about vaccines, lies about masks, and so on. The GOP lies cause the pandemic to explode well beyond what would have happened in the absence of those lies. That exploding pandemic in turn creates the supply-chain crisis. The GOP incurs record deficits in a gigantic tax giveaway to the wealthy and ultrawealthy during the prior administration and then loudly blames Joe Biden and Democrats for inflation.
If this insurrection isn’t stopped, representative democracy in America is dead. The American experiment is over. If the GOP is allowed to takeover the House in 2022, all the efforts of the Biden administration are for naught.
The very existence of America as we know it is under siege by GOP vandals, saboteurs, and insurrectionists.
If their crimes — some committed more than year ago — aren’t able to be prosecuted in our current legal system then our current legal system has failed.
Arguing that “such people did largely manage to stay just this side of the legal line” is completely irrelevant after “such people” have retaken power and started doing what they’ve promised to do for months now.
What will will you say when Nancy Pelosi, Adam Schiff, and others ARE perp-walked into jail on trumped-up charges?
This insurrection is real, it is violent, and it is unfolding right now. Pretending otherwise is dangerously unwise.
You’re hyperventilating again! I have even less expectation that Pelosi and Schiff will be perp walked than I do Trump and his cohort. It’s been under the radar, but I’m pretty sure Justice IS in the process of building cases on your three bullet points. You won’t hear much until they are absolutely ready to pounce. Given the published House witness list I suspect that by Christmas we will be a lot further along on point #2. Lev Parnas was in fact convicted of campaign finance charges. Steve Bannon’s situation this week may be the sign of things to come on point #3.
Did you have any expectation that a sitting President would brazenly strong-arm a friendly foreign leader in order to manufacture dirt about a political opponent of that President? Did you expect an armed and organized mob acting on the orders of the sitting President to invade the US Capitol?
Do you see any evidence that Donald Trump is more restrained or less crazy than he was while in office?
It appears to me that NOTHING will persuade you that this threat is real until the things I’m talking about start to happen.
You do understand that the elected officials leading the current GOP have, in fact, called for Ms. Pelosi and Mr. Schiff to be jailed. They have promised their followers that they will do exactly that if returned to power.
I believe them. You, apparently, think they’re just posturing.
I’m not aware of any DoJ interest in his Russian handlers. Rachel Maddow and MSNBC reported thick network of connections between Mr. Parnas, Dymytro Firtash (a Ukranian puppet of Vladimir Putin), Mr. Giulliani, and an assortment of GOP officials and staff (and of course Mr. Trump and his family).
None of that is even hinted at in the indictment.
I predict that Steve Bannon will successfully run out the clock. His trial is unlikely to even start before the 2022 mid-terms. A new Congress will be sworn in in January of 2023, the House Select Committee will be disbanded, and these subpoenas will all be rendered moot. Mr. Bannon will walk free and unpunished, as will all the other co-conspirators.
Our system of justice has failed to even identify, never mind investigate and prosecute, those who are leading the insurrection.
This will all be over by 2023. Merrick Garland will do nothing. Neither Donald Trump nor any other GOP insurrectionist will face any consequences for any of their flagrant crimes.
The GOP will regain control of the House in 2022 and of the Oval Office in 2024.
The criminal behavior that we’ve seen from the GOP will be the new normal.
Rather than me “hyperventilating”, it appears to me that you are paralyzed in a stupor of denial.
If you or I posted a video on the web depicting us assassinating a member of Congress and physically assaulting a sitting president, how long do you think it would take for Secret Service agents to haul us away? Why is nothing done when a prominent GOP Representative does the same?
This is happening right now. The Democrats hold the House, the Senate, and the White House right now.
We are doing NOTHING substantive to address widespread criminal behavior of the GOP and its leaders.
You apparently want Merrick Garland to be another Ken Starr, constantly announcing what he is doing as he takes the trash to the curb. I understand there has been a lot of TALK, but that is the way with bullies. Bannon’s situation is now squarely in the legal rather than political realm – charges do not disappear at that stage because Congress changes hands. I do think the impeachment process is broken when a party stands by its man no matter what and I’m not saying there aren’t things that shouldn’t be fixed, like allowing the indictment of a sitting President. However, for me January 6th is evidence the system can ultimately work. Congress reconvened later that night to finish its work and Joe Biden WAS sworn in on schedule. I’m not saying we aren’t going through a dark period. I am saying that if we survived the 1860s we can survive this. Unfortunately, the smart money is on the House majority changing in the next election, but that IS still a year away and lots can happen in both the DoJ and the Select Committee during that time.
I thought of a couple more things. We’ve heard “lock her up” chants since 2016 directed at Hillary Clinton. Yet not only does she remain a free woman, no action has ever actually been taken against her which could culminate in her imprisonment. Watergate conspirators, OTOH, did eventually get tried and convicted for their roles, but not overnight. Congressional investigations proceeded for two years from the burglary itself before Nixon resigned. My strongest admonition here is have patience. My problem is not with your concern about what we have witnessed, which I share, but rather the sense I get that you’ve given up and that there is no way to turn around what has happened.
The reason why Hillary Clinton was not locked up is that enough vestiges of the rule of law were still in place from 2016 to 2020 that even Jeff Sessions wouldn’t attempt it.
Donald Trump was furious about that. Do you think a DoJ under Donald Trump in 2024 would have any reservations about locking up Ms. Clinton (if she is still alive)? Do you think a Supreme Court with at least three justices appointed by Mr. Trump would block such an effort?
It isn’t that I’ve “given up”. It is that I see clearly what the GOP insurrectionists plan. They’ve made their plans crystal-clear.
You behave as if there is some external system at work that will prevent them from carrying out those plans if they regain power.
There is no such external system. Of all the learnings since 2016, and especially since 2020, SURELY the learnings that ALL of us must take away include:
The system is not external, but very much internal, and I for one still have faith in it. I actually do think I’ve seen enough evidence that there are people willing and able to pump the brakes on the worst nightmares, yes including Justice and the Supreme Court. Trump’s appointees to the latter have NOT consistently carried his water the way he had hoped. I do not share all of your takeaways, at least not to the extreme that you seem to.
I hope that you are correct and fear that you are not.
I wish DoJ would be more aggressive at stopping the most egregious crimes.
I really cannot believe that Mr. Gosar is not under arrest for making violent threats.
You or I would have been jailed within hours for making such threats.