…#Biden’s proposal is worthwhile. Not because there is a good chance of it becoming #law —important constitutional questions aside, there is almost no chance that #Democrats could elect the overwhelming congressional majorities needed to pass the package into law—but because it represents something almost novel in contemporary American #politics: a willingness to challenge #SCOTUS as a #political entity & to offer, in response, an alternative constitutional vision.

#ActivistCourt#PartisanCourt

#Biden’s proposal is a declaration that #SCOTUS is wrong about the #Constitution, that it has abused its power & influence & that it needs to be checked & balanced. He is, of course, far from the first president to do this — Abraham Lincoln & Franklin Roosevelt come to mind — but he is the first modern #Democratic president to recognize that the court as constituted is a major obstacle to the party’s ability to #govern in accordance w/its popular mandate.

#law#ActivistCourt#CourtReform

“There’s no point in haste now, because there’s no way to do the #trial now before the #election,” fmr federal prosecutor & George Washington University #law professor Randall Eliason said. If #Trump wins in Nov & returns to the White House in Jan, his #DOJ would be expected to drop the case, & he could not be prosecuted while in office anyway.
“If he loses, there will be plenty of time to do a trial next year & get all the issues right,” Eliason said.

#criminal#ElectionInterference#Jan6

However, a trial will not be possible before his November #election matchup against MVP #Harris …because whatever the judge decides is expected to wind up back before #SCOTUS next year.

#Legal analysts noted that nearly 5 weeks after the #SupremeCourt issued its landmark decision in Trump v. United States, some of the urgency that once drove the #ElectionInterference case has dissipated.

#law #criminal#ElectionInterference #conspiracy#TrumpTrial#Jan6#Insurrection#NationalSecurity

#SCOTUS on July 1 ruled 6-3 along ideological lines that #Trump & other presidents are absolutely #immune from #prosecution when carrying out their core constitutional powers, but can face #trial for private conduct or for official acts under narrow exceptions to be hammered out by lower courts. Judge #Chutkan now must decide which if any of Trump’s efforts to overturn the #2020election while president may be prosecutable.
#law #criminal#ElectionInterference #conspiracy#Jan6#Insurrection

US prosecutors & lawyers for #Trump will return to federal court on Aug 16 to decide how his #2020election #obstruction case can proceed after #SCOTUS ruled last month that presidents have broad #immunity from prosecution.

US District Judge Tanya #Chutkan set the hearing in Washington after the #SupremeCourt returned the case to her control on Friday.

#law #legal #criminal #conspiracy#ElectionInterference#TrumpTrial#Extremism#DomesticTerrorism#MAGA#Insurrection#Jan6#NationalSecurity

#Trump’s #ElectionSubversion case set for Aug 16 hearing in DC
Deciding which parts of Trump’s case will survive may not happen before November’s election after #SCOTUS’ [absurd] presidential #immunity ruling.

#law #legal #criminal #conspiracy#SpecialCounsel#JackSmith#Chutkan#ElectionInterference#TrumpTrial#Extremism#DomesticTerrorism#MAGA#Insurrection#Jan6#NationalSecurity
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2024/08/02/trump-election-subversion-immunity/

The #Constitution means whatever the #JohnRoberts court says it means, even when that meaning conflicts w/the basic principles of American #democracy.

It is against this backdrop of institutional #dysfunction & #judicial arrogance that President #Biden, fresh from his decision to leave the campaign trail in favor of his vice president, introduced his three-point package of #SupremeCourt reforms.

#law#SCOTUS#PartisanCourt#ActivistCourt#ExtremistCourt#CorruptCourt#DarkMoney#CourtReform

In just the last term, the Roberts court has rewritten the #14thAmendment to keep Donald #Trump on the presidential ballot as well as radically expanded presidential #power in direct contravention of the history, text & structure of the #Constitution.

We have, in other words, a #corrupt & #lawless court that, led by its #conservative majority, has put itself above the constitutional system as the exclusive arbiter of constitutional meaning.

#law#SCOTUS#ActivistCourt#CourtReform

It is a testament to #JohnRoberts’s skill as a #politician that he is often viewed as a modest & moderate #judicial institutionalist when, in fact, he has used his position on the court to spearhead a remarkable campaign of #judicial activism. In cases like #ShelbyCountyVHolder in 2013 & the more recent #WestVirginiaVEPA, Roberts all but deployed novel constitutional doctrines (“equal state sovereignty” & the “major questions doctrine”) to achieve his preferred results.

#law#SCOTUS

Joe #Biden Issues a Stinging Dissent

by @jbouie

#SCOTUS is caught in a crisis of its own making.

There is the gross #corruption of Justice #ClarenceThomas & Justice Samuel #Alito, who have received millions… in gifts & benefits from various billionaire benefactors.

There is the court’s open assault on the basic #rights of tens of millions of Americans,

1/
#law#ActivistCourt
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/02/opinion/biden-supreme-court-reform-constitution.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare&sgrp=c-cb

exemplified in its decision to overturn the constitutional right to #abortion on the basis of a vague & inconsistent standard of “text, history & tradition.”

& there is the hubris of ChiefJustice #JohnRoberts, who, the #legal scholar EricJSegall writes, has “led the court to coerce both state & federal govts to abide by his personal preferences, whether or not positive legal sources supported those decisions & at times even when prior #law …clearly did not justify the chief’s opinions & votes.”

Rather, #DevinNunes was a close #Trump ally who had received bipartisan criticism for his efforts to undermine the #FBI’s investigation into #Russia’s 2016 #ElectionInterference as well as widespread mockery for his tendency to sue his detractors for #defamation. His legal targets included Esquire, CNN, the McClatchy newspaper chain, an anonymous Twitter user who pretended to be his mother, & another poster who pretended to be the congressman’s cow.
#criminal #law#FEC#SEC
#VoteBlue#Harris2024

That’s one of the most obvious guidelines set by the government. SPACs can’t approach a target until after they’ve raised their capital.

Very little about #Trump Media signaled to investors that Truth Social would be a well-run business, & that included its new CEO. The board selected #DevinNunes, a right-wing California congressman who resigned his seat to take the job in December 2021. Nunes had never led a #technology or #media company.

#criminal #law#FEC#SEC
#VoteBlue#Harris2024

…In simplified form, the process involves 2 basic parties. One is a private company that wants to go public. The other is a #ShellCompany that is already trading on the #StockMarket but has no operations — just a pile of cash that it can use to acquire a business. #SPAC shells are often called “#BlankCheck” companies because their investors have given them a certain amount of money but have no idea yet who the check will be made out to.

#criminal#Trump #law#FEC#SEC
#VoteBlue#Harris2024

Celebrities & athletes were looking to join the frenzy, from Shaquille O’Neal to Martha Stewart. Even if their business plans were fundamentally stupid, even if mom-&-pop investors would later lose nearly all their money, the people who got in on a #SPAC at the beginning could make a pile.

#Fraud, acc/to the #SEC, began almost immediately.

#criminal#Trump #law#FEC
#VoteBlue#Harris2024

Taking #Trump public may not have been possible w/o the rise of an obscure financial instrument, the special-purpose-acquisition company [#SPAC]. In 2020, the pandemic stock market was surging, & the perception among entrepreneurs was that SPACs let private companies get in on the action quicker & w/less #oversight than the traditional way of going public, the #IPO.

#criminal #law#FEC#SEC
#VoteBlue#Harris2024

The… ticker symbol #DJT, last price $31.45 — is something unprecedented in financial or political history. It represents a company, #Trump Media & Technology Group, that has a single product,…Truth Social. The business operates at a staggering loss & is widely considered worthless. But the stock, DJT, has a market capitalization of roughly $6B.…Its value is purely a proxy for Trump’s political power.

#criminal #law #corruption#FEC
#VoteBlue#Harris2024
https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/donald-trump-truth-social-djt-stock-corruption.html