#federal judiciary

[deadpresidents]

I just hope these next 4 years go by fast

This election isn't just about the next four years. With Trump in the White House and a Republican Senate at his side, the MAGA movement can pick up where they left off when it comes to packing the federal judiciary with right-wing judges who will control the Supreme Court and appellate courts throughout the country potentially for the rest of the lives of everyone reading this right now. It's the perfect recipe for them to continue stripping reproductive rights away from women nationwide and gives them the opportunity to turn their attention to the other issues that they have been dying to attack, from voting rights to gay marriage and every other extension of personal freedom that has been won by minorities and marginalized people in hard-fought battles over the past 60 years. This is the nightmare scenario that people have been warning folks about for the past few elections. It's here. And there isn't going to be a way to put the toothpaste back in the tube.

The consequences of this election will have a direct, negative impact on your life -- possibly on the entire remainder of your life. This country just re-elected a President with authoritarian tendencies who is the willing puppet of a dangerous Christian nationalist movement that figured out exactly how to manipulate him (through flattery) for their aims. They have created the perfect vehicle for a genuine cult of personality that they can use to achieve the goals they have been very clear about striving for over the past few years. And you can't blame anybody other than the American voters because they not only elected Trump, but they gave him a fucking mandate, with a Republican Senate and potentially a Republican House. They already have a right-wing dominated Supreme Court for the next few decades, and now they are going to ensure that the entire federal judiciary is in their control for years to come. And don't forget the fact that a few months ago, the Supreme Court handed down a decision that gave Presidents sweeping immunity for a broad (and conveniently undefined) range of "official" acts, so Trump is going to go into this second term knowing that not only does he not have to deal with the "guardrails" of responsible adults he had around him in his first term (Mattis, Tillerson, Kelly, General Milley, etc), but he knows he can get away with virtually anything and everything that he wants to do this time around. If you thought that Trump's first term was bad, just understand that they are prepared this time and now he's surrounded himself with people who will do his bidding -- people who are perfectly willing to let Trump be Donald Trump.

I wish there was a reason to cry foul, lodge protests, and challenge the election's results. But this wasn't a rigged election. There isn't any confusion about what the voters really wanted. The American people did this. People you know and care about and who say they care about you are the people who did this. We need to recognize that these elections aren't outliers anymore. Trump's supporters aren't simply chaos agents who got lucky on a bad day for the Democrats. That's the country we live in now and we have to find a way to resist it that actually makes a difference because now they have the keys to all the doors and all of the alarm codes. This country has normalized the conspiracy theories and nativism and racism that has powered the MAGA movement since the moment Trump came down the elevator at Trump Tower in 2015. He's given those people permission to be open with their hatred towards people who aren't like them, and it's actually become surprising to see how many Americans have been eager to take advantage of that. I didn't think I had any misconceptions about this country before Donald Trump because I recognized this nation's history, but I clearly had some misconceptions about people I thought I knew until I saw them wearing a red MAGA hat or noticed they had a gigantic flag with Trump's name hanging where their U.S. flag used to hang. Once that happened, it was like a switch went off with them and they started saying things in ways that I'd never heard them speak. I feel like that's happened to the entire country. It breaks my heart and it pisses me off.

For the past few years, I've been warning everybody about how elections have consequences. I imagine that there are hundreds of posts on this blog with that phrase in all caps listed with the tags. Now the elections have happened, and we have to live with real fucking consequences. And we're going to pass these consequences on to other generations because this is the one that you can't get a do-over on. When you give a movement like this the power and the mandate that this country just gave them, there is no easily rolling back the things that they end up doing. They are going to fundamentally change the lives of people in this nation and especially change the way the younger generations of Americans live and love and learn for years to come. And you have people in your life who made that happen. It's another disgusting day in America -- a prelude to another reprehensible four years (at the very least) -- and I'm ashamed of tens of millions of my fellow Americans because this one is on them. They know exactly who the man is that they voted for, and now we know exactly who they are, too.

[tomorrowusa]

Special Counsel Jack Smith has had it with Trump-appointed Federal Judge Aileen Cannon. Judge Cannon has been indulging every questionable whim used by Trump's lawyers in the classified documents case in order to stall it. Her decisions have been blatantly partisan; perhaps Trump promised her a seat on the US Supreme Court – not that he's famous for following through on loyalty.

Jack Smith filed a motion asking Cannon to get moving with the case – with the implied threat that he will appeal to the US Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit to have her overruled or even removed from the case. The 11th Circuit had already, in a unanimous decision, vacated a previous order of hers which would have delayed the proceedings.

Time To Fire The Cannon?

Putting Trump back in office would allow him to appoint more dubious judges like Aileen Cannon. Defeating Trump would not just protect democracy but would prevent the federal judiciary from becoming a corrupt Trump tool.

[ivygorgon]

AN OPEN LETTER to THE U.S. SENATE

The Senate must prioritize confirming progressive judges ASAP!

170 so far! Help us get to 250 signers!

I’m writing because our federal judiciary matters to me and the time is now to make our courts work for all of us.

The end of the last Supreme Court term was filled with devastating decisions that will have lasting effects on our lives. Gun safety, separation of church and state, the government’s ability to fight climate change, and of course abortion rights were all significantly weakened by the radical decisions of the Trump Court. We need a path forward, and one critical way is to ensure our lower courts are filled with diverse judges committed to equal justice.

There are a number of nominees waiting for the Senate to act. Please prioritize confirming all nominees who are or will be awaiting full Senate action by the end of the 117th Congress. We need judges who protect the rights of all of us, not just the wealthy and powerful. Thanks.

▶ Created on November 15, 2022 by Jess Craven

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[rickyg1967]

Blog Post to further sow how corrupt our federal judiciary is.

Read on:

https://rbgconglomeration.wordpress.com/2024/09/29/feds-stealing-again/

[jkanelis]

Courts have become political

Our nation’s founders, the men who crafted a federal judiciary they intended to remain “above politics,” surely are doing somersaults in their graves. The nation’s federal judiciary has become a third political branch of government, not a branch intended only to determine the constitutionality of laws enacted by Congress and signed by the president. Democratic senators have signed a petition…

[davidaugust]

The supreme court is leading to its own destruction. Texas is already ignoring their decisions. The rest of the country can too, and scotus seems intent on encouraging just that.

As much of a monster as Andrew Jackson was, he (likely apocryphally) said after scotus decided on Worcester v. Georgia in 1832: "John Marshall has made his decision, now let him enforce it." Both Jackson and the state of Georgia simply refused to follow scotus’ decision.

So there is precedent of scotus learning the hard way that they can be, themselves, wildly disempowered.

Not sure we want the federal judiciary destroyed by scotus, but so far that seems to be scotus’ chosen path.

Without a federal judiciary, without a functional-ish highest court, there are no obvious peaceful means of resolution of any disagreement, and violence becomes the remaining bad option.

As John Locke put it: “For where the injured Party may be relieved, and his damages repaired by Appeal to the Law, there can be no pretence for Force, which is only to be used, where a Man is intercepted from appealing to the Law. For nothing is to be accounted Hostile Force, but where it leaves not the remedy of such an Appeal. And 'tis such Force alone, that puts him that uses it into a state of War, and makes it lawful to resist him.” (Second Treatise on Civil Government, Chapter 3: Of the State of War)

[rpbp]

At present, there are nearly 100 judicial vacancies for lifetime federal appointments—and President Biden has yet to name a nominee for 60 of those, including two appellate seats. The legislative branch must likewise revisit its obligations to the judiciary.

It’s not enough to confirm nominees to the seats that exist; we need to expand the courts.

[calicojack1718]

The Threat to Our Democracy isn't Just Trump, it is the Republican Party

The threat to our democracy isn't just from Trump or MAGA, it is from the entire GOP. The only way to defeat their anti-democratic ways is by voting for Democrats up and down the ballot.

SUMMARY: We lament the focus on the horse-race political journalism instead of addressing the serious consequences of a Trump or GOP victory in the 2024 elections. We highlight the damage caused by the Republican Party and their influence on the federal judiciary, particularly through their judges and gerrymandering tactics. The post examines the Jarkesy v SEC case that demonstrates the party’s…

[todaysdocument]

An Act to Establish the Federal Courts of the United States

Record Group 11: General Records of the United States GovernmentSeries: Enrolled Acts and Resolutions of CongressFile Unit: Public Law, 1st Congress, 1st Session, Part 1: United States Judicial Courts. September 24, 1789

In the Judiciary Act of 1789, Congress established with great particularity a limited jurisdiction for the district and circuit courts, gave the Supreme Court the original jurisdiction provided for in the Constitution, and granted the Court appellate jurisdiction in cases from the Federal circuit courts and from the state courts where those courts' rulings had rejected Federal claims. The decision to grant Federal courts a jurisdiction more restrictive than that allowed by the Constitution represented a recognition by the Congress that the people of the United States would not find a full-blown Federal court system palatable at that time. For nearly all of the next century the judicial system remained essentially as established by the Judiciary Act of 1789.

Congress of the United States,

begun and held at the City of New York on

Wednesday the fourth of March one thousand seven hundred and eighty nine.

[centered heading/title:] An Act to establish the Judicial Courts of the United States.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

That the Supreme Court of the United States shall consist of a Chief Justice and five associate justices, any four of whom shall be a quorum, and shall hold annually at the seat of government two sessions, the one commencing the first Monday of February, and the other the first Monday of August. That the associate Justices shall have precedence according to the date of their Commissions, or when the Commissions of two or more of them bear date on the same day, according to their respective ages.

And be it further enacted, That the United States shall be, and they hereby are divided into thirteen districts, to be limited and called as follows, to wit: One to consist of that part of the State of Massachusetts which lies easterly of the State of New Hampshire, and to be called Main [sic] district; One to consist of the State of New Hampshire, and to be called New Hampshire district; One to consist of the remaining part of the State of Massachusetts, and to be called Massachusetts district; One to consist of the State of Connecticut, and to be called Connecticut district; One to consist of the State of New York, and to be called New York district; One to consist of the State of New Jersey, and to be called New Jersey district; One to consist of the State of Pennsylvania, and to be called Pennsylvania district; One to consist of the State of Delaware, and to be called Delaware district; One to consist of the State of Maryland, and to be called Maryland district; One to consist of the State of Virginia, except that part called the district of Kentucky, and to be called Virginia district; One to consist of the remaining part of the State of Virginia, and to be called Kentucky district; One to consist of the State of South Carolina, and to be called South Carolina district; and one to consist of the State of Georgia, and to be called Georgia district.

 [complete document and transcription at link]

[deadpresidents]

I'll co-sign this and add it to the list of recommended Supreme Court books. I've read Supreme Conflict: The Inside Story of the Struggle for Control of the United States Supreme Court by Jan Crawford Greenburg (BOOK | KINDLE) and it's excellent and frighteningly prescient about what would happen ten years later under the successful Trump/McConnell push to finally reshape the Court and the federal judiciary, possibly for decades to come. And look at what that conservative-dominated Supreme Court has done in just the past three years.

[hyperlexichypatia]

I am begging people giving U.S. politics commentary to have, just, a basic, basic, 6th grade citizenship class level of understanding of the relationship between the branches of government. Please. You will not get icky electoralism cooties if you learn that "Whoever is the president right now is responsible for decisions the supreme court hands down right now" is nonsense.

[tomorrowusa]

From a legal standpoint, having states attempt to individually decide on eligibility for federal office under the US Constitution was bound to end up before the US Supreme Court. That's not a surprise.

Probably the best outcome we can hope for is that SCOTUS will say that a conviction for insurrection would be needed to make Trump ineligible.

But we should not rely on the courts to save us from doom. We need to start right now talking up democracy, getting every moderate to liberal eligible voter to register and vote, and be more visible about supporting Team Blue. Preaching to the choir may feel good but we need to go forth and do some political missionary work.

Relevant to the cartoon: Actively remind people that it's the president who nominates US Supreme Court justices and it's US senators who vote to confirm them. Useless "protest votes" for impotent third parties can have a catastrophic effect on the federal judiciary for decades.

[jangillman]

https://rumble.com/v2s5rpm-russian-media-exposing-hunter-biden-taking-cocaine-and-abusing-under-age-gi.html

You don't have to speak Russian to know that Joe and his son are nothing more than human garbage!

[gwydionmisha]

Federal Courts: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver