Claims And Issues

MEMO TO THE HONORABLE TANYA CHUTKAN.

Six lawyers on the U.S. Supreme Court have given immunity to "official" crimes of a president but not to "unofficial" ones.

          They did not try to say why crimes committed in an official capacity are not crimes.  They won't even say what "official" crimes or "unofficial" crimes there may be.  Rather, they have left it to Trial Judge Tanya Chutkan to do that if she follows their guidelines.

          This is not the first time they have tried to tell a woman what to do.

          Well, the woman in this case is a Trial Judge.  I am a lawyer who has from time to time appeared in court in trials, which differentiates me, I believe, from most or all of the six lawyers who voted to have Judge Chutkan do their dirty work and decide what after all is "immunized" and "what's not."

          Judge, every single thing charged in the indictment is "unofficial" and not immunized.  Leading a gang to overturn the government is never an "official" act.

          So like the jury in the New York case that read out 34 guilty verdicts, one after the other, so read out each alleged crime here, whatever the number of crimes that are alleged in the Grand Jury's indictment.  Read them out one by one.  Read out each and every crime alleged in the indictment and rule that the Special Prosecutor can prosecute it here.  Let a jury decide.

          When your ruling is appealed yet again in what seems to be an endless number of appeals, let the Six on the Supreme Court do some work here after all.  They will go to work on your ruling whatever you may rule.  So give them something to work on, Judge, if it comes to that.

          Do not call BS here, even if it's telling it like it is.  Instead, call truth.

Please read the disclaimer.  ©2024 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.

THEY WANT TO DEFUND THINGS. DEFUND THE SUPREME COURT?

They are always talking about defund this, defund that, whatever it is they don't like today.

          What if we take a leaf from their playbook, and defund the Supreme Court?

          That should slow the Gang of 6 down a little in their hard work of overturning our freedoms.

          It will unfortunately affect the Trio of Truth as well as the Gang of 6, but we have no choice.  I don't think we can selectively defund the Gang of 6, but I'm certainly open to the idea.

Please read the disclaimer.  ©2024 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.

WHAT CAN WE DO ABOUT JUSTICE ALITO'S BEHAVIOR? PLENTY, ACTUALLY.

Justice Alito has unmistakably told us that he is partial to Their Furor.  Take a leaf from the famous Maya Angelou quote, and when somebody tells you who they are, believe them.  Going a step further, we can respond to his behavior in many ways, and all of the responses suggested here are not only legal but pro-American.

Televise, advertise, and recognize.  This first suggestion involves one thing with may permutations:  Demand that Justice Alito recuse himself from the Furor-related cases such as the immunity case pending in the Supreme Court.

          Officials already have the means to summon newspapers and cable media to their press conferences.  They should hold at least one press conference every day and demand recusal until Justice Alito recuses or refuses.

          Groups can and should hold recusal events and advertise them.  One location might be the steps of the Supreme Court or if armed guards make standing on the steps impossible, stand on the sidewalk.

          Press releases for press conferences and coverage of all these events are open to all.

          Follow Their Furor's lead in getting coverage for your events.  Getting coverage is perhaps the one thing they do well.  Follow their lead.  There is something to learn from them in this way.

Freedom of Information Act.  Send FOIA requests for information to the Supreme Court as to Justice Alito's refusal to recuse specifically, and why and when recusal is indicated generally.

Letters to the Editor, Texts, Email  campaigns.  The Sierra Club and Indivisible and Third Act encourage their members to participate in LTE, Texting, and EMail campaigns for purposes like protecting the environment.  I know because I receive their Email invitations.  Add this cause to your campaigns.

Occupy the Internet.  Let Substack newsletters, websites and blogs carry the message of recusal.  Let them add to the overwhelming sound of recusal.

          In the end, you will feel better about yourself.  So will I.  Where do we sign up?

Please read the disclaimer.  ©2024 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.

THREE THINGS I AM THINKING ABOUT ON THE FIRST OF MAY.

I plan to expand on these thoughts, but for now I want to throw them out to you and to me for us to think about.

1. The reaction of people in power to the campus protests over Gaza and Israel has revealed that universities and colleges have shifted their focus.  Universities are now for money not for students.  School presidents are calling the cops because their rich donors want the students to get off their lawns, literally.  In the vast majority of cases, there is no violence until the police arrive on campus.  Students who paid tuition are arrested as trespassers but once arrested, most of them are released because there are no charges against most of them.  Even the New York Police Department says that the protestors they have encountered have been nonviolent and peaceful. 
2. People in charge are willing to use violence if they can get away with it.  It once was unthinkable that people in charge would call the cops on other people who are not injuring anyone or destroying property, just because the people in charge are afraid.   The people in charge who do this will not do it themselves, however; they are only willing to use violence on you if they can use others to commit violence for them.
3. The Washington, D.C. Police stand tall.  They know how to deal with protestors; they are experienced in handling protests.  When the people in charge at George Washington University called the cops to arrest student protestors, the Police said "no."  The police in Washington, D.C. said that they would not arrest people who had done nothing wrong.

Please read the disclaimer.  ©2024 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.

STAND UP TO THEM, "FOR GOD'S SAKE."

"For God's sake."  One of President Joe Biden's favorite phrases.

Enough already with these meshugana lawsuits they file mostly in Texas and Louisiana, so that federal judges in a few jurisdictions in those places can make decisions for the whole nation, while the rest of us are supposed to accept this behavior in silence.   Time to turn around this ridiculous continuing American Apocalypse.  See, e.g, the articles published here on March 23, 2024 and on March 9, 2024.

           File lawsuits proactively in venues of your choice.

          There is a rule of law that is pretty universal among judges.  The case that is filed first is the case that has jurisdiction.  Those are the cases of record, you might say; cases that are filed in the same court on the same issues even get put together with the case that is filed first.

          The other cases filed afterward have to stand in line, wherever they may be; basically, they stop if they are not the case first filed.

          File first.  File actions for declaratory relief.  These are actions when you ask a court to "declare" what your rights or duties are, in other words, to "declare" your "relief."

          For your subject choose what your "intelligence" tells you they are going to challenge. 

          You think you don't have "intelligence?"  Then read the papers, listen to Cable, and watch social media.  You'll find out what they are going to challenge.

          Beat them to the punch once you find out.  File first, and in a court of your own choosing.  Stop playing catch-up.  Get ahead of the game.

          Some good words of advice, Merrick.  Listen good, DOJ.

Please read the disclaimer.  ©2024 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.

THEIR GOD-GIVEN RIGHT TO EXPORT LIQUEFIED NATURAL GAS.

The State of Louisiana, along with other States where the oil and gas industry holds enormous power, has sued the United States Government which has limited or even refused to issue permits to export Liquefied Natural Gas.

          Louisiana and the other liquefied natural gas-producing States have sued to assert their God-given right to export LNG or liquefied natural gas.  Their lawsuit is Louisiana v. Biden (W.D. La. No. 2:24-cv-00406).  The complaint is too long and not important enough to link here.

          A review of the Public Access to (Federal) Courts Electronic Records or "PACER," reveals what the popular press has not yet reported:  The Judge assigned to the case in the Western District of Louisiana is the Hon. James D. Cain Jr.  He was appointed during the American Holocaust in 2019.  Lawsuits like this one are usually filed in one-judge divisions of federal courts in Texas, but this one has been filed in Louisiana.  You see, when a federal lawsuit is filed in a division with one judge in it, the chances are 100% that you know what judge will be assigned to your case.  They get to pick their own judge.

           The interesting and unanswered, so-far-unasked question is how so many judges appointed during the American Holocaust got assignments to one-judge divisions.  Perhaps journalists and the news media in general can ask that question, and perhaps they can get answers.  I will list some below that can perhaps get answers.

           Oh, and a review of the website of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana reveals that only one of its Divisions, the Lake Charles Division as it happens, has only one judge:  Judge Cain.  All the other Divisions have an active sitting judge and a Senior Judge available, except Lake Charles, which has only Judge Cain.  Truly no coincidence, when you want to file a lawsuit to assert your God-given right to export liquefied natural gas but the United States is standing in the way, for now.

           For more on the American Holocaust and how its effects are still with us every day, see UNELECTED TEXAS JUDGES, THE AMERICAN HOLOCAUST, AND MINORITY RULE, published here on March 9, 2024.

          So, no coincidence that Judge James D. Cain Jr. was assigned to this LNG exportation lawsuit.  Moreover, Judge Cain has his own track record of ruling against the United States in similar cases.

I am now going to mention the names of people and outlets who have the capacity to answer these questions if they want to.  If I left a tweet on X-which-used-to-be-Twitter, I guess they might find a tweet but so would the trolls most likely and I do not want that.  I do not know whether these people will pay attention to blogs like this one, but I am going to try.  Maybe they will seek out their names since they are in a business where their name recognition is so important to them.

        I am not completely sure of how to bring this article to their attention, so I am going to mention their names here in the body of this article as well as in the metadata accompanying it.  Our nation turns its lonely eyes to you, Susanne Craig, David Barstow, Russ Buettner, Rachel Maddow, Andrew Weissmann, Will Bunch, Scott Maxwell, Jackie Calmes, LZ Granderson, Karen Tumulty, Julie K. Brown, David Dayen, New York Times, Washington Post, American Prospect, Guardian, Philadelphia Inquirer, Jamie Raskin, Senate Judiciary Committee, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, Talking Points Memo, ProPublica, Miami Herald, Sun-Sentinel, and American Prospect.

          Thank you in advance, one and all.

Please read the disclaimer.  ©2024 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.  

UNELECTED TEXAS JUDGES, THE AMERICAN APOCALYPSE, AND MINORITY RULE.

A judge in Texas ruled that another federal policy must stop.   A rule adopted by the National Labor Relations Board would have treated corporations as "joint employers" when they control workers' pay, scheduling, and supervision, even if the workers are employed at say a franchise of McDonald's.

          The employers with control filed a lawsuit against the rule in Texas.  Not for the first time, a federal judge appointed during the American Apocalypse which began for most Americans on January 20, 2017 and ended on January 20, 2021, ruled in favor of the well-funded employers. 

          I say "not for the first time."  This ruling continues a string of decisions by unelected judges ruling for the minority of wealthy people in the United States who own or operate businesses.  In this case, for example, the rule was reportedly opposed once again by the Chamber of Commerce.  These decisions have been common for the last three years, coming mostly from judges in Texas, and most of them coming from unelected judges who were appointed between January 20, 2017 and January 20, 2021.

          For most Americans, the American Apocalypse began and ended on those dates.  For anyone who has anything to do with the federal courts these days, it is still going on.

Please read the disclaimer.  ©2024 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.

CHURCHILL, CHAMBERLAIN, AND THE STORM GATHERING IN THE U.S. NOW.

Winston Churchill was famously a voice in the wilderness warning about Hitler.

          The newspapers and radios which were the media of his day heaped praise on Neville Chamberlain and not on him.  The newspapers and radios applauded Neville Chamberlain for continuously attempting to compromise with Hitler.  Until it was too late and World War Two came.

          The current situation in the United States is not the same as the situation that faced Winston Churchill.  It is not too late.  It is still possible to affect the outcome.

          That brings me to the decision released on Monday of this week in the Fourteenth Amendment case.  The best legal minds of the day said that the justices would apply the Fourteenth Amendment as it was written.

          The result was unanimous but the "reasoning" on offer was anything but.  Five turned on 4 after the 4 attempted to compromise for a unanimous result of not enforcing the Fourteenth Amendment as it was written.  The 5 outvoted the 4 and wrote their own amendment, still while not enforcing the Fourteenth as it was written.

          It is clear, or it ought to be clear, that this decision was not the product of the best legal minds of the day.  If it was not the result of legal minds, it was the result of political minds and raw power, not reasoning.  5 did not prevail by the strength of their reasoning, which is the only way that the decisions of judges are legitimate in a free society.  5 simply outvoted 4 after the 4 compromised for unanimity.

          The best legal minds of the day are clearly not on the U.S. Supreme Court.

           At this point,  only foolish people expect a different result from them.  To rephrase Ben Franklin, the future is ours, if we can keep it.

Please read the disclaimer.  ©2024 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.

HOW YOU SPEND YOUR TIME TELLS WHO, WHAT YOU ARE.

So now we are supposed to take moral instruction from an Alabama court in 2024. 

          The Alabama supreme court ruled that frozen embryos are people and you can sue for their "wrongful death."  The interesting part of that case is that the judges were interpreting a statute passed by the Alabama state legislature; instead, they apparently interpreted Holy Scripture.  Interesting, too, to see an Alabama state statute as though it came from the mouth of God.  Well, we'll contemplate such things on another day.

          A federal judge in Alabama used to set the standard for morality and constitutional interpretation, too, while he was at it.  The judge was Frank Johnson, the time was from the 1950's through the 1970's, and the issues included racism and statutes written by the Alabama state legislature, not frozen embryos and statutes written by the Alabama state legislature.

          The federal court in Alabama set the standards to follow for moral instruction.  Even George Corley Wallace, he who declared "segregation forever," had to obey them.

          Times have changed, apparently.  One thing is still true, though:  How you choose to spend your time tells us everything we need to know about you.

Please read the disclaimer.  ©2024 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.

GEORGE WASHINGTON'S BIRTHDAY ...

... is no longer celebrated by itself.  It is a part of Presidents' Day of course, and it has been that way for a long time.  But to borrow a phrase from Edna St. Vincent Millay, I am not resigned.

          Nor am I resigned to lumping Abraham Lincoln's Birthday into the self-same Presidents' Day where we unload George Washington's Birthday as well – and for that matter, where we unload every single president including the ones that don't deserve to be celebrated.

          So here's to Old Abe and to the Father of His Country.  Long may their memories and examples live with us – both of them separate and identifiable for their honor, their integrity, and their character.

Please read the disclaimer.  ©2024 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.

CUT TO THE CHASE:  IF SHE STAYS ON THE CASE ....

It is very clear:

"The simplest way to put it is that if Cannon remains assigned to this case, Trump will not be convicted, no matter how damning the evidence."

Mark Joseph Stern,  JURISPRUDENCE / Judge Aileen Cannon Can Absolutely Sink the Federal Prosecution of Trump, SLATE Magazine (online June 9, 2023).

This blog article ©2023 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.  Please read the disclaimer.

WHO ARE YOU KIDDING? RANDOM? I DON'T THINK SO.

The Honorable Aileen Cannon is one of 15 active judges in the Southern District of Florida.  (She is number 15 on the list of 15, in terms of seniority.)  In addition, there are 11 judges on Senior Status in the Southern District of Florida.  That makes 26 judges available for duty in the Southern District of Florida.

          There are those who want you to believe that judges are assigned to cases randomly in the Southern District of Florida.

          What are the odds that 1/26 of the judges available should be assigned to the case of The Grievance Guy?  Yet there she is.

          And there he is.

          And here we are.

          Random?  I don't think so.  Do you think differently?

Please read the disclaimer.  ©2023 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.

TO BE NEITHER SEEN NOR HEARD ... CHANGE IS COMING.

(Photography by Nolan Trowe)

          I did not know that ADAPT members in wheelchairs protested the cruel budget cuts that the House passed, by flooding the office of Kevin McCarthy, the House speaker.  Not until I came across a single article in The New Yorker, here:  E. Tammy Kim, The Debt-Ceiling Fight's Collateral Damage, The New Yorker (May 19, 2023), https://www.newyorker.com/culture/photo-booth/the-debt-ceiling-fights-collateral-damage.

          "Perhaps because G.O.P. budget-slashing is commonplace, and perhaps because righteous demonstrations are, too, the latest ADAPT action got no press."  Kim, The New Yorker May 19, 2023.

          How many times has a person in a wheelchair not been seen or heard?

          How long will attention not be paid?

          Not much longer, now.  Even if this blog and The New Yorker are the only places that this story of the devastating effects of budget cuts on disabled persons is told, there will be many more places telling this story.  Share The New Yorker article with your friends.  Post it on Facebook.   Submit it to your newsletters and newspapers and ask them to print it.  Publish it on your own website.  Spread the word.

          Change is coming.

Please read the disclaimer.  ©2023 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.

FASCISM AND THE EVIL ONE AT WORK TODAY IN NASHVILLE.

The Evil One does his dirtiest work at this time of year, and he is certainly at work in the Tennessee House of Representatives in Nashville today.  The maggot supermajority is right now in the process of expelling three members who dared to speak up when they were deliberately not recognized to speak.  They spoke up anyway.

They spoke up for the children, three of whom died from gunshots this week in their school along with three adults who also died from gunshots at that school.  The children were at the Tennessee Capitol protesting nonexistent gun laws.

Today the children are reportedly protesting fascism at the Tennessee Capitol as three Members are expelled for the crime of speaking for them.

The maggots would like you to think that they have the supermajority and there isn't anything you can do about it.  They are wrong.

There are lots of things that can be done.  One is for the current Majority Leader of the U.S. Senate to strip the two U.S.  Senators from Tennessee of their Committee assignments.  I do not advocate that the Tennessee Senators be expelled; the Majority doesn't have the votes.  But they can certainly try to remove the two from their Committee assignments.  BTW, the two U.S. Senators from Tennessee are the famous MAGA supporter Marsha Blackburn, and an unknown man named Bill Hagerty.  (I had to look them up.)

Another thing that can be done is for aid to Tennessee to suddenly dry up, at least temporarily, in whole or in part.  I cannot support my tax dollars going to bail Tennessee out, not under these circumstances when Tennessee is apparently run by fascists who listen to The Evil One.

Those first two things are up to the U.S. Senate Majority Leader and the President of the United States, respectively.  I would not be surprised if both of those two old men (they are barely older than I am) were not up to the job.

If that turns out to be the case, you and I can act even if they don't.  We can boycott whatever it is that Tennessee provides the rest of the nation.  The only thing I can think of is country music, the famous Nashville Sound.  Today the Nashville Sound sounds an awful lot like a rally at Nuremberg in the 1930's.

Still, if that is all we have got to boycott, then I for one will not buy any more Dolly Parton records.  Sorry, Dolly, but if you don't get with the program of freedom here, you're out with the rest.  I don't have to spend my hard-earned money on this stuff.

That is what America is all about, friends.

Please read the disclaimer.  ©2023 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.

JUSTICE FROM THE D.C. APPELLATE COURT.

Did you hear about the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals removing the stay of Chief District Judge Beryl Howell's Order that one of The Former Guy's attorneys must turn over documents in one of the investigations of TFG?

Did you notice that all 3 judges on the D.C. appellate panel are women?

And that 2 were appointed by President Biden, one by President Obama?

We may not have Biden judges or Obama judges if we listen to John Roberts, but you know what?  We have Justice when we do NOT have TFG judges.

Please read the disclaimer.  ©2023 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.

IT'S THE FIRST DAY OF SUNSHINE WEEK IN FLORIDA!

This is the opening day of Sunshine Week in Florida!  (No, not the Opening Day of Baseball.  Alas, that is a little while off yet.)

This is a celebration of what should be Government in the Sunshine!  So let's begin with a story from Orlando's Channel 6, just click this link or copy it and paste it into your browser:

https://www.clickorlando.com/news/politics/2023/03/12/as-sunshine-week-begins-floridas-attorney-general-silent-about-desantis-public-record-delays/?breaking_news=5517&utm_content=30812683&utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Breaking%20News%20Alert&utm_term=wkmg_breaking

If you have any trouble reading the Channel 6 story, the headline from Channel 6 is As ‘Sunshine Week’ begins, Florida’s attorney general silent about DeSantis public record delays.  Florida's current attorney general is named Ashley Moody.  She said something that she did not have to say.  The Channel 6 story is all about what Ms. Moody did not have to say, but she did say, and she has not done what she said.

According to the Channel 6 news report, Ms. Moody has said that she will safeguard Florida's pioneering Open Record Laws.  However, she hasn't done that, if you read the report.

Ms. Moody, why not?  Unburden yourself and follow the law.  A good place to do that is with the Open Records Act statutes a/k/a the Sunshine Laws.  A good time to start is now.

Thank you.

Please read the disclaimer.  ©2023 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

BOB MUELLER, SDNY, AND THE WAY THINGS REALLY ARE.

(Brennan Linsley / Associated Press)

 

I am reading Elie Honig's book, Untouchable / How Powerful People Get Away With It.  He started off his book with a "behind-the-scenes" story of how the Grievance Boy got off without being charged by what was once known as "the Sovereign District of New York," really "the Southern District of New York" or SDNY.

The story has already been told by Geoffrey Berman, who was the U.S. Attorney supposedly in charge of SDNY at the time.  He was appointed by the Grievance Boy and used to be Rudolph Giuliani's law partner.

Berman went into detail about how the SDNY fought Bill Barr and the Grievance Guy's other minions.  Honig comes more or less straight to the point:  SDNY caved.  The Grievance Guy was never charged.

Actually, Honig points out that SDNY caved twice.  The failure to charge was one.  The other time was when the SDNY filed a sentencing memo for the sentencing of Michael Cohen, who pleaded guilty you will recall to the campaign violations Cohen did for the Grievance Guy.

In the sentencing memo, SDNY had the chance to put in all the details that Barr and the other minions had insisted be taken out of the indictment; SDNY did not ask Barr's permission on the sentencing memo as they did with the indictment.  They just went ahead and filed the sentencing memo without asking permission or running it by the minions in Washington, D.C., according to Honig.

When SDNY filed their sentencing memo, they put in a total of one (1) sentence about the Grievance Boy's involvement and they famously called the Grievance Boy "Individual Number 1."

That was all SDNY did.  Then they closed their case.

Once upon a time, the P.R. story behind SDNY was that it was independent and aggressive in pursuit of crime families and their heads.  That may have been true once, back in the day a long, long time before now.

We thought that Bob Mueller, the ex-Marine, the ex-Director of the FBI,  would protect us and more than that, protect our country.  We also thought that SDNY would prosecute crimes without fear or favor.  We thought they all cared more about our country than they did about their incomes, their job security, their career advancements.

We know better now.

The people who caved when we needed them to stand up and be independent, to be aggressive in the face of mob terror, took all that away.  When the people who work at SDNY caved, they made it the Supine District of New York.

Please read the disclaimer.  ©2023 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.

THE PLEASURE OF YOUR COMPANY: WE'RE BACK!

Volunteering with the Poor People's Campaign textbanking to Get Out The Vote has been a blast.  I am looking forward to future events like this one.

A good friend of mine who joined the textbanking campaign told me that he enjoyed every minute of it.  John DiMugno is a distinguished lawyer and the editor of a prestigious newsletter for lawyers.  Like me, the Replies to texts that he remembers best are the ones that said, "Thank you for reminding me to vote," or just "Thank you."

Older citizens like me have been here before.  Third Act is an organization founded by Bill McKibben that invites older citizens to reach into their experiences and pull out an effort to change things for the better one more time.  After youth (our First Act) and raising families (our Second Act), this will be our Third Act.

John DiMugno said another thing that ties in here.  He told me that his volunteer experience with the Poor People's Campaign reminded him of his own youth, and the energy and enthusiasm of other campaigns.  I felt that too.

The message is pretty clear to me:  As I said, we have been here before.  Now, "WE'RE BACK!"

Please read the disclaimer.  ©2022 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.

TODAY'S ORDER DENYING INJUNCTION AGAINST INTIMIDATION IS ALREADY ON APPEAL.

Today, Friday, October 28, 2002, a federal Court Order denied an injunction against voter intimidation in Maricopa County, Arizona.  Download Arizona Alliance for Retired Americans v. Clean Elections USA et al. Doc. 32 Order filed Oct. 28 2022 (D. Ariz. No. 2.22.cv.01823.MTL).

The Court held that the Ku Klux Klan Act requires intent to intimidate.  Id. at 11.  There is nothing in the Ku Klux Klan Act that requires intent, and no Court has ever said so, until today; the intimidation is the point.

The Order is already on appeal the same day.

Please see the previous articles published here and here.

Please read the disclaimer.  ©2022 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.

P.S. to " MEET THE JUDGES WHO RESTORED THE REPUBLIC FOR NOW."

United States Supreme Court (AP / Jacquelyn Martin)

If (some say when) they ask for an emergency blockade of the Eleventh Circuit's decision to allow the United States to continue to investigate criminal violations involving the confidential documents found under a Court-authorized search warrant to investigate criminal violations, and also that part of the Eleventh Circuit's decision to allow the United States to continue to evaluate the damage done to our national security, then it might be worth knowing who the U.S. Supreme Court Justice is who handles emergency applications for a stay of Eleventh Circuit Orders:

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.

Think they'll ask for an emergency blockade of the Eleventh Circuit's decision?

Please read the disclaimer.  © 2022 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.

By What Right Challenges Their Right to Hold Office. Ever.

(The famous photograph of Abraham Lincoln where the glass broke along the line a bullet would soon travel)

New Mexico and its citizens and its State Courts have all shown the way to challenge the right of insurrectionists to hold -- and run for -- office:  Ask courts to declare by what right those people hold -- or seek -- office under the Fourteenth Amendment, Section 3 of the United States Constitution.  (In courts, to ask "by what right" usually means quo warranto or something similar.)

As you may already know, Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment was written to bar people engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the United States to ever hold office.  Then, it meant former Confederates.

Now, it means office holders (and office seekers) even though they did not engage in violence so long as the proof in court shows that they did engage in insurrection, as in the case of Download State of New Mexico ex rel. White v. Griffin Findings of Fact Conclusions of Law and Judgment filed Sept. 6 2022 (N.M. Dist. Ct. 1st Dist. Santa Fe County No. D-101-CV-2022-00473).

Please read the disclaimer.  ©2022 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved. 

IT IS DIFFICULT TO REASON WITH AN AGENDA.

It has been rightly said, including here, that Justice Samuel Alito of the United States Supreme Court actually says that he doesn't care about what State Constitutions, Governors, and Courts have to say about federal elections.  As we shall no doubt see this Fall when the current majority on the Supreme Court takes up the case of Moore v. Harper, in their view and his there are only two deciding views on electing U.S. representatives and senators:  State "legislatures" and of course the federal Supreme Court on which they all sit right now.

This may not be the entire picture, singling out Justice Alito, that is.  He is prominent because Justice Clarence Thomas, who assigns the "major questions" opinions, assigns them more often than not  to Justice Alito.  The opinion overturning Roe v. Wade, for example, in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization.  Removing a Constitutional right from Americans was short work not only for Alito, but for his followers too.

And that's the point.  So much has been made of the agenda pursued by the previous administration in so many attention-getting areas – making money, overthrowing the Constitution, putting children in cages are examples – that it is often overlooked that the previous administration appointed three Justices to join the Alito-Thomas majority.  I do not mean that this development has not been noticed.  Heaven only knows that the words that have been written about this development probably rival the word count of War And Peace.

No, what I mean to focus on, is the development that the newly empowered majority on the U.S. Supreme Court have an agenda and they will not be moved from it.  Only now, since Dobbs and the stripping of a Constitutional right for the first time in U.S. history, is attention being paid:  They do not listen, and neither do they hear.  They do exactly what they want to do, nothing less.  I would encourage listening to what they say about what they are going to do, except that these same people all said something different in their confirmation hearings when they were asked if they would uphold Roe v. Wade as the law of the land, remember?

"Fool me once, shame on you.  Fool me twice, shame on me."

Please read the disclaimer.  ©2022 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.

THE STRUGGLE IS NOT OVER. IT HAS ONLY JUST BEGUN.

The fight in the next Term of the U.S. Supreme Court will be about whether we, you and I, will be able to vote.  The fight will come in a case called Moore v. Harper.  It will be led by Samuel Alito, an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court.

He has already said that what State Constitutions, Governors, and Courts have to say about it does not matter to him.  He is of the view that State legislatures have the next-to-last word on the time, place and manner of voting for federal representatives and senators.  (I say next-to-last word because Justice Alito reserves the last word  to himself and his colleagues on the federal Supreme Court.)

Lawyers cannot change this by doing what they usually do, what they are used to doing.  Lawyers are trained in legal reasoning when they begin their profession.  This time it will do no good for anyone.

 Lawyers are so  used to legal reasoning that  they can hardly conceive of not doing it.  With people like Justice Alito and his followers that hold the view that your view and your vote does not matter to them, it is difficult to reason.

 When those same people reject precedent so long as they have the votes to make their own view the law, there is no point to legal reasoning.  Parenthetically, the precedent and the reasoning are dead against Justice Alito's views and those of his followers on this one.  See Prescribing Times, Places, Manner Holding Elections Always Subject, Never Absolute, published on Claims and Bad Faith Law Blog on July 27, 2022.  But based on their past decisions such as Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization  clearly the only thing that matters to them is what they want the law to be, not what it is or what is has been until they came along.

We are in a pandemic still.  The disabled and the elderly are especially at risk, not just to the coronavirus but to a whole lot of barriers to everyday living  in general and to voting in particular.  Making our lives and our voting easier, not harder, with drop boxes and mail-in ballots is a good thing for the people, even if it is not so good for the powerful.

When reasoning does not work, the thing to do is not to accept the unreasonable but to resist it.  The Supreme Court famously reads the election returns.  Let them read things like these.

Contact your State representatives and senators.  Tell them your views on voting if they are going to be the next-to-last word on the subject.  Maximize the chances of your being heard so that the next-to-last word comes from you.

Contact also your U.S. representatives and senators.  Let them hear you as well.

 If you say nothing they will never hear you.

Write Letters to the Editor.  Write Op-Ed pieces for your local newspaper, whatever your local newspaper calls them.  The Orlando Sentinel for example calls its Op-Ed pieces written by citizens, "My Word."  Tell them your word.

Write, Lawyers to your own specialized newspapers and journals, places like this one for Florida lawyers:  The Florida Bar News at [email protected].

Support people in their actions to bring about change that will benefit you and me.  For example, Citizens for Constitutional Integrity is trying to compel the U.S. Census Bureau to follow the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.  The Fourteenth Amendment provides in essence that States that construct barriers to voting in federal elections shall have the number of their federal representatives reduced by the same percentage as the percentage of its citizens that have been kept from voting.  The case  is pending in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, No. 1:21-cv-03045-CJN-JRW-FYP.  The EMail address for the Citizens in that case is [email protected].  Send them an EMail that you support them in what they are doing.

Find other people to support who are taking action too.  Support them in some way, even by sending an EMail to let them know that they are not alone in this, and that you support them.

Support, Friends of the Court ("amici") for example in the fight launched by Citizens for Constitutional Integrity with the U.S. Census Bureau.  Citizens is alone in that case so far.  There is a Hearing coming up on Citizens' Motion for Summary Judgment in December.  File your request to appear as amicus curiae in the case and let your voice be heard there.

Above all, organize.  The people in power tend to listen more closely to organizations than to individuals.  The more that voting is accessible, the more people that vote.  The more people that vote, the more they lose and the less they get elected.

We can learn a lesson today from the leaders of the movement that began to take root in the 1950's for Civil Rights in this country.  It took them a long time, but they prevailed for so long that it seemed it would always be that way, yet  right now the struggle seems to have erupted again..  Along the way from then to now, it was routine for them to be told by friends and foes alike that they should wait, that now is not the time, that thoughts and prayers alone were all that was needed.

 "Thankfully, most organizers refused to listen, noting there may never be an 'appropriate' time to make good trouble, nor a time when no risk would be involved.  To never stand for change means change will simply never materialize.  I choose to no longer seethe with anger[.]" Alissa Redmond, NC Bookstore Owner:  Online Trolls Are Trying to Ruin My Business.  I Won't Back Down, CHARLOTTE OBSERVER, July 26, 2022,  https://www.charlotteobserver.com/opinion/article263810128.html.

Please read the disclaimer.  ©2022 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.

#BARR #BULL #DURHAM “HECKUVA TRIAL LAWYER.”

Former U.S. Attorney General Bill Barr says that when the jury acquitted  the criminal defendant that was prosecuted by John “Bull” Durham and his “team” of “trial lawyers,” it was the jury’s fault.

Also, Mr. Barr says that Mr. Durham “really won” anyway, despite losing the jury trial.

Reasoning like that may explain why Mr. Barr is no longer the Attorney General.  We are done with Mr. Barr.  Can we be done with Mr. Durham now too?

Please read the disclaimer.  ©2022 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.

P.S. TO #BULL #DURHAM “HECKUVA JOB, JOHNNY.”

In an earlier article posted on this blog, I wrote:

1. Durham prosecuted a lawyer who fudged in an affidavit for a warrant for the FBI to investigate one person.  That lawyer pled guilty in a plea bargain.  That lawyer got no prison time in his plea bargain.

That is all true.  However, it makes it seem like Mr. Durham may have been the one to find this lawyer, during Mr. Durham’s Multi-Million Dollar investigation.

He did not.

The alleged wrongdoing of a fudged EMail was already unearthed by the Inspector General of the Department of Justice.  Not by Mr. Durham.

Please read the disclaimer.  ©2022 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.

#BULL #DURHAM "HECKUVA JOB, JOHNNY."

In 2019, John Durham was appointed by Bill Barr to prosecute crimes that allegedly took place in the 2016 election.  Not the known crimes, but the crimes Messrs. Barr and Durham just knew took place when people falsely, so they said, linked their boss to the Russian interference.

As of December, Mr. Durham reportedly spent nearly $4 Million of the taxpayers' money to ferret out these supposed crimes.  Mr. Durham has indeed surfaced bull, represented in these three accomplishments in three years time:

1.  Durham prosecuted a lawyer who fudged in an affidavit for a warrant for the FBI to investigate one person.  That lawyer pled guilty in a plea bargain.  That lawyer got no prison time in his plea bargain.

2.  Two more people were indicted before the statutes of limitations ran on trying them.  So far, one has gone to trial,  His alleged crime was lying to the FBI whether he told an FBI official that he was talking to the FBI on behalf of a client, or not.  That one ended with a Not Guilty Verdict.  The foreperson on the jury said afterward that our time and money is better spent on other things.  Heckuva trial lawyer you've got there in Bull Durham, obviously.

3.  The remaining person has been indicted and is up for trial later this year.

That's it.  None of these three accomplishments have anything to do with refuting the involvement, or not, of anyone at all with the Russians in the 2016 election.  These are the three accomplishments of Mr. Durham's three years on the job.  He has shown one thing in all that time:

John Durham is no-one's idea of a trial lawyer.

Give the money back, Johnny.  Give the money back.  Then resign and go away.

Please read the disclaimer.  ©2022 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.

 

GODSPEED, BOB HUNTER

After half a century of distinguished public service including positions as Director of Insurance at the Consumer Federation of America, and as a member of and contributor to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, and as the Texas Insurance Commissioner, Mr. J. Robert "Bob" Hunter is retiring.

          I was not aware of all of his many accomplishments until now, when he is retiring.  Here's a brief look at the highlights of Bob's public service record:

1971:  United States Federal Insurance Administrator.  Bob would lead the Federal Insurance Administration first under President Carter, then under President Ford.

1980:  Bob founds the National Insurance Consumer Organization (NICO) and becomes its head in 1982.

1995:  Bob transitions into a post in which he would serve for the next 27 years:  Director of Insurance, Consumer Federation of America (CFA).

1980 through now:  Bob never asked for compensation over his more than 40 years of work with NICO and CFA.

Along the way, Bob served as Texas Insurance Commissioner.

          That is enough.  That is probably already more than Bob would want to have said about him, being a humble person.  This tribute will be short because he would want it that way.

          His professional career showed his enduring belief in the wisdom of insurer good faith.

          Godspeed, Bob Hunter.

Please read the disclaimer.  ©2022 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.

HERE'S A SOLUTION: SUE THEIR SACKLERS OFF.

In December a federal judge rejected a Purdue Pharma Bankruptcy settlement because the Sacklers, individuals who own Purdue, insisted on immunity from being sued for their alleged liabilities in the Opioid Crisis.

Now the Sacklers have somehow come up with another $1Billion to put into the pot while they still insist on immunity.  It is rare for individual owners of bankrupt companies to be given immunity even as the bankrupt companies are given immunity.  It is the companies that are in bankruptcy, after all; here it is Purdue, not the Sacklers, that are in Bankruptcy.  Yet the Sacklers insist on the Bankruptcy Court giving them immunity.   See Jan Hoffman, Sacklers Raise Their Offer to Settle Opioid Lawsuits by More Than $1 Billion / But they continue to insist on protection from civil liability claims over opioids, an unusual and controversial measure that derailed a previous deal, NEW YORK TIMES, posted online Friday, February 18, 2022.

Cynical rich people.  Buying immunity.  Throw another $1Billion at them, that will make them  give you immunity.

Here's a solution.  The Purdue Bankruptcy litigation has an automatic stay of all lawsuits until March 3.  Let it expire.  Then sue their Sacklers off.

Please read the disclaimer.  ©2022 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.

MERRICK GARLAND, PROFILE IN COURAGE?

Talking heads on cable television are talking about Merrick Garland as a Profile in Courage.  Let's take a quick look at that:  Is Merrick Garland a Profile in Courage?

          One thing to see is the fact that on or about December 14 of last year, Congress referred Mr. Mark Meadows to the Department of Justice for criminal prosecution for his Contempt of Congress.  That's a long time.  Merrick Garland has not given any good reason for his delay, so far as I know.  I would speculate that perhaps it is because Meadows is a former Member of Congress.  There is some unwritten rule, a "norm," about not subpoenaing sitting Members of Congress and perhaps that extends to former Members of Congress as well.

          That could explain why there is still no prosecution in the case of Matt Gaetz, as he is currently a sitting Member of Congress.

          Except that it took 25 days between the time that Congress referred its previous prosecution for Contempt, against Steve Bannon, and the time that Merrick Garland's DOJ actually filed it.  And Steve Bannon, so far as I know, has never been in Congress so that shoots that theory to try to explain the Contemptuous foot-dragging, anyway.

          When DOJ filed the Contempt prosecution against Mr. Bannon, it requested trial in April.  That's 6 months after Congress' Contempt referral.  The judge on the case finally set the trial for July.

          There are so many other things to see, but only one further thing is necessary.  Merrick Garland has signed off on the DOJ's plea deals for light sentences for many of the January 6 perpetrators.  There have not been any prosecutions at all so far, of any of the January 6 planners.

          Merrick Garland may not be able to get the holdovers at the Department of Justice to pursue any of these criminal prosecutions.  Things may not be so merry for Merry Garland at the DOJ.  It is a possibility.

          But so far as we can see today, it is a certainty that Merrick Garland is not a Profile in Courage.

Please read the disclaimer.  ©2022 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.

MERRICK GARLAND IS BOB MUELLER ALL OVER AGAIN.

We were told for years that Bob Mueller and his Special Counsel team would save us.  Then we finally saw Bob Mueller ourselves when he testified on national television.  The Bob Mueller who testified in 2020 was not the Bob Mueller who we were told would save us.  This Bob Mueller did not save us, in any event.

    Now we are being told that Merrick Garland and the Department of Justice will save us.  Merrick Garland is Bob Mueller all over again.

    Both Merrick Garland and Bob Mueller built solid reputations for integrity over the years.

    Both were relentless in the past in their investigations of potential crimes and criminals, regardless of where the investigations led.

    Both grew into old age believing that, in the end, the Department of Justice stood for justice.

    Mueller issued a report that he could not prosecute certain potential criminals.

    Mueller also wrote in his report that even if he could prosecute all the potential criminals, they didn't commit crimes -- except that the facts he laid out in his report reflected that crimes had been committed.

    Garland gave a speech.  I predict that soon Garland will deliver reports as well.

    Garland did not and will not name names, nor give specifics about any potential crimes beyond those we saw for ourselves on TV, but he did give us a flurry of statistics more numerous than the snowflakes that have also paralyzed Washington, D.C. this week.

    Garland gave us lots of statistics about numbers associated with the people who actually did walk down to the Capitol on January 6, 2021.   He did not give us any statistics about numbers associated with the people who sent them there; no statistics about them, zero, zilch, nada.

    Garland and the DOJ are floating a suggestion that the prime movers of this coup did not commit crimes when they acted at any time including when they ultimately sent what some call their "foot soldiers" to the Capitol on 1/6.

    If that suggestion is believed, that makes it easier when the time comes for Garland and the DOJ to declare that they are not prosecuting crimes.  If there are no crimes to prosecute, in other words, that would explain why no criminals are being prosecuted.

    Personally, I intend to look at whether conduct being reported a year after the fact involves potential federal crimes.  I am not a criminal lawyer.  I invite others to look at the conduct that took place at least since the election results in November 2020, through at least January 6,, 2021 and not just at what took place on 1/6.  If we can highlight potential crimes, perhaps it will be more difficult for Garland and the DOJ to pretend that there weren't any crimes committed by people who have dinner and attend parties at the same places they do:  people who worked at the White House, people who worked at DOJ, people who worked at DOJ then and who still work at DOJ now, people in government generally.

    The failure of Garland and DOJ (which includes the U.S. Attorney for D.C. for present purposes) to move on crimes is related to their failure to prosecute contempt of Congress charges, or at least it is related to dragging their feet before time forces them to do something, anything at all.  It may be difficult for people at DOJ now and who worked at DOJ then, to prosecute contempt charges against people who also worked in government then or who they perhaps knew and socialized with at the time.

    In future articles, I intend to take a look at the pretty clear lack of stomach at Merrick Garland's DOJ for all of this.  I invite you to do the same.  Between us, we may be able to see at least some of this more clearly before we are finished.

Please read the disclaimer.  ©2022 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.