This is Blatant and Unrepentant Theft of U.S. taxpayers money by Trump
The IRS is paying Trump $1.8 billion to "settle" a frivolous $10 billion lawsuit by Trump against the IRS. NYT writes "The arrangement was denounced by critics..." but at least they carried the story. Unsurprisingly, no mention by WSJ on its home page at 6 pm Pacific. This is open and blatant theft. EDITED: @muellershewrote reveals that there was actually NO SETTLEMENT. Just a straight payment to Trump by the IRS.
Illustrations provided by Urban Myth Slayer
Reforming the Supreme Court
The Supreme Court’s dismantling of the Voting Rights Act demands reformation of the Supreme Court. The Court has repeatedly shown an absolute disregard for the Constitution as well as the intent of Congress. In gutting the VRA, the Court ignored express Congressional instructions on how to interpret the Voting Rights Act. Congress said violations of the VRA can be shown through a disparate impact on an affected group. The Court said no, we’re going to ignore what Congress said and say that the law actually means the only way you can show the VRA was violated is if someone actually said or wrote that the intent of a voting-related law (such as gerrymandering) is to be racially discriminatory. Of course, people making rules or regulations that have a racially discriminatory impact rarely admit this is what they’re doing. This article on how the VRA expanded Black voter representation provides some context for why the VRA is needed and why Congress specified the disparate impact standard. By the way, it was Ronald Reagan who signed the VRA Congressional intent clarifier in 1982, and he was not exactly a paragon of civil rights. It was that important.
This is not a one-off for the Court. The Court has repeatedly substituted its own made-up rules for the outcomes it wants. It invented immunity out of thin air for the President, where none exists in the Constitution. It invented a new doctrine (“Major Questions Doctrine”) that says when Congress delegates broad authority to an agency, such as the E.P.A., that agency cannot create a regulation for a major economic or political question unless it is expressly outlined by the congressional statute. Who gets to decide whether a question is major? You guessed it, the Court. It invented another doctrine that says laws must have a “history and tradition” of being viewed as legitimate within the Constitution. The Court proceeds to then dismiss history and tradition by discarding the first part of the Second Amendment as meaningless - the part that says “A well-regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State….” You don’t get much more historical in U.S. law than the original Bill of Rights. Bonus points: the Court used this doctrine to strike down a New York handgun law from 1911. Not enough history, I guess.
So how does one go about reforming the Supreme Court? The Brennan Center has six good ideas:
18-year term limits for Supreme Court justices through Congress’s power to regulate the Supreme Court under Article 3, Section 2. The proposed structure would elevate a Justice to “senior status” after 18 years and create a system in which 2 Justices would be appointed for each presidential term. Critics will argue that this requires a Constitutional amendment, but the Brennan Center argues that Congress can do this without an amendment: “Congress has the authority to enact this reform by statute, consistent with the Constitution’s requirement that justices ‘shall hold their Offices during good Behaviour,’ as senior status allows justices to continue their tenure with modified duties.”
Impose a mandatory and enforceable code of conduct and ethics. Currently, the Supreme Court operates on a voluntary code of ethics.
Curb abuses of the “shadow docket,” where the Court issues significant rulings and policy decisions without public hearings, briefings, or written opinions.
Mechanism for Congress to respond to and/or reverse a Court decision that puts a regulatory framework around judicial review.
Improve the confirmation process and require a full vote on a nominee within a set number of days.
Allow cameras in the courtroom.
Finally, to get these reforms passed, Congress needs to abolish the filibuster, which isn’t in the Constitution; it is merely a Senate rule.
Accountability for ICE, DHS and the White House for the killings in Minneapolis
I don’t think I can overstate how horrific the execution of Alex Pretti by ICE agents is. DHS, the White House, and the entire top of the federal government is blaming Mr. Pretti as “attacking” ICE with a loaded weapon. There are multiple videos documenting this is not the case.
I am sharing a link to a video that clearly shows Mr. Pretti protecting a woman who was being assaulted by ICE, and ICE pepper sprayed him, wrestled him down, grabbed his legally purchased and concealed and not-brandished gun, THEN shot him ELEVEN times AFTER they grabbed the gun out of his waistband. WARNING it is graphic, and the link is here. This is after ICE killed Renee Good in cold blood.
We’re being asked by DHS and the White House to not believe our eyes and ears, and that accountability for these killings lies with Mr. Pretti, Ms. Good, Mayor Frey, Governor Walz, and the people of Minnesota.
Let’s be clear: ICE is responsible for these killings, and enabled by DHS and the White House for not holding these agents accountable for their actions outside the law.
I support law enforcement upholding the law protecting the public. ICE is not doing either, implementing warrantless searches and seizures, inhumane practices, detaining and killing U.S. citizens, and all the while Trump is blaming people of Somali descent for ICE’s presence in the state.
It is time for DHS and ICE to be dismantled. DHS was created in the aftermath of 9/11 ostensibly to try to prevent another terrorist attack. Instead DHS has turned its eyes and guns inward against the United States. We have a Customs and Border Patrol, we have an FBI, we have a DEA and an ATF, as well as the CIA and military intelligence branches. We don’t need an omnibus paramilitary force terrorizing our republic.