The Supreme Court discussion thread

The Supreme Court discussion thread

7 States have passed bills this year which place new restrictions on abortion. Alabama's new law, in particular, is a ne

16 May 2019 at 02:13 PM
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Earlier posts are available on our legacy forum HERE

by PointlessWords

thats about what he gets in bribes every year already right?

It's not a bribe if he would have decided the same anyway


by Luciom

It's not a bribe if he would have decided the same anyway

That’s not the definition of a bribe but good try

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by Bobo Fett

This past Sunday's Last Week Tonight with John Oliver was great; all about the SC.

27 days left for Clarence Thomas to take John's million dollar a year (plus a 2 million+ dollar coach) offer!

Great pension fund.

On the Chevron piece though. The court, even RBG and other liberal justices, was growing uneasy over how much Chevron expanded regulatory authority. It was clearly not intended for the deference to be as strong as it is today.


I did watch some of the right wing commentators claim what Oliver did was illegal but none of them went into great detail. Laughably, three of them said Trump should prosecute him when he wins.

Let’s hope the bait works.


by metsandfinsfan

Trump was acquitted on charges of insurrection in February 2021 by the senate

But obviously he can still be convicted in an actual court of law.


by ecriture d'adulte

But obviously he can still be convicted in an actual court of law.

It wasn't obvious but for now that's what the court of appeal says, waiting for SCOTUS to confirm that in full or change it in some ways.

If it was so obvious and clear SCOTUS would have refused to hear the case wouldn't it?


It's not obvious at all

It may turn out to be true if decided that way but lol at obvious


It’s obvious. There really isn’t anyone serious that thinks acquittal in the Senate prevents a trial/conviction in the courts.


by Luciom

It wasn't obvious but for now that's what the court of appeal says, waiting for SCOTUS to confirm that in full or change it in some ways.

If it was so obvious and clear SCOTUS would have refused to hear the case wouldn't it?

Sometimes the SCOTUS hears cases because the country needs an urgent resolution and a definitive statement from the highest court.


by Rococo

Sometimes the SCOTUS hears cases because the country needs an urgent resolution and a definitive statement from the highest court.

they didn't expedite it (yet?) though afaik


by Luciom

It wasn't obvious but for now that's what the court of appeal says, waiting for SCOTUS to confirm that in full or change it in some ways.

If it was so obvious and clear SCOTUS would have refused to hear the case wouldn't it?

It’s obvious.

by metsandfinsfan

It's not obvious at all

It may turn out to be true if decided that way but lol at obvious

Lol what do you teach your students if you don’t understand how the judicial system works

What part of the judicial system is the senate?

by grizy

It’s obvious. There really isn’t anyone serious that thinks acquittal in the Senate prevents a trial/conviction in the courts.

Of course


by metsandfinsfan

It's not obvious at all

It may turn out to be true if decided that way but lol at obvious

We don't even know if the SCOTUS will decide to hear the case. If it does, there is some chance that the SCOTUS will somehow narrow the DC Circuit's reasoning. But there is virtually no chance that the SCOTUS will hold that Trump is protected from prosecution on grounds of double jeopardy or presidential immunity.

The best case scenario for Trump is that he loses 7-2, and a 9-0 opinion against him is infinitely more likely than the Court ruling in his favor. I honestly think that Trump's chances in that case are no better than 1 in 100. The arguments in favor of his position are risible in the extreme.


by grizy

It’s obvious. There really isn’t anyone serious that thinks acquittal in the Senate prevents a trial/conviction in the courts.

grizy is 100% correct. I am not aware of any serious person who believes that Trump has the better side of this argument. Trump's position is truly ludicrous.


I used to think it couldn’t be too bad to serve as an adjunct professor at any law school.

2p2 disabused me of that notion. I could end up committing manslaughter because a student couldn’t understand the objective standard or couldnt understand congressional impeachment proceedings are not judicial/criminal proceedings.

Or one that doesn’t understand SCOTUS finds its own precedents binding on principle/tradition, not some kind of rule it’s legally/constitutionally bound to uphold.

I just don’t have the patience. And I would go insane if said student keeps wasting class time insisting he/she is right.


by metsandfinsfan

It's not obvious at all

It may turn out to be true if decided that way but lol at obvious

Of course it's obvious. Look for anybody making that argument in the 200 years pre Trump. It's the same as the VP having a huge roll in elections and you don't even have to be a lawyer to convince yourself it's nonsense. People only started making the crazy arguments after Trump hacks needed them to be true.


by ecriture d'adulte

Of course it's obvious. Look for anybody making that argument in the 200 years pre Trump. It's the same as the VP having a huge roll in elections and you don't even have to be a lawyer to convince yourself it's nonsense. People only started making the crazy arguments after Trump hacks needed them to be true.

+ 1,000,000

A then version of GOP/Maga would have lost their crap if during the disputed presidential election of 2000 between Al Gore and G.W. Bush, if then vice president Al Gore (he was the incumbent vice president at the time) had stood before Congress and read any elector names he wanted and declared himself the next president. But somehow in 2020 Pence magically now had those powers.


by metsandfinsfan

Trump was acquitted on charges of insurrection in February 2021 by the senate.

Metsandfinsfan, on February 13, 2021, a 2/3 vote was required to uphold the House of Representatives article of impeachment against the former president Donald Trump for high crimes and misdemeanors. The U.S. Senate's vote count was 57 for guilty, and 43 for not guilty.
Refer to U.S. Senate: U.S. Senate Roll Call Votes 117th Congress - 1st Session .

Trump will again be judged by juries within the criminal court of Georgia and again in a District of Columbia federal court. Similar to the U.S. Senate, criminal court juries should consider all the evidence as presented to them and come to an objective decision. Unlike the U.S. Senate vote, criminal courts require unanimous agreement among all of the members of the jury for a guilty verdict to be upheld.
But to Trump's disadvantage, (unlike the U.S. Senate), those juries are not elected officials substantially dependent on their political affiliations. It's been my experience and opinion; U.S. citizens do strive to uphold the oaths they swear to as members of a jury.
Respectfully, Supposn


by jjjou812

Are you sure you listened to the oral arguments from the Trump v. Anderson case?

so hm given that now even the 3 liberal judges said the same i did, are you satisfied? 9-0 that applying the insurrection clause is strictly a federal matter, states have no role in that.


by metsandfinsfan

Could be 9-0. Jackson seemed to painfully agree with kagan

good call


by Luciom

so hm given that now even the 3 liberal judges said the same i did, are you satisfied? 9-0 that applying the insurrection clause is strictly a federal matter, states have no role in that.

The left want courts to legislate and ignore the constitution when it doesn't fit "what is best" so i doubt he is satisfied


by metsandfinsfan

The left want courts to legislate and ignore the constitution when it doesn't fit "what is best" so i doubt he is satisfied

well i meant, satisfied about the fact that it was abudantly clear the application of the insurrection clause is a strictly federal issue.

Now the 3 liberals might have an actual point of law when they claim federal courts as well as congress could apply that clause. But given the application has nationwide effects i think it should be SCOTUS in case.

Anyway aside from that, it's 100% clear now to, i hope, everyone, that disqualification from candidacy because of previous engagement in insurrection is something states have no saying about.

Which btw was a strong doubt of many democrat leaders in many states, as i reported before California did the right thing waiting this out. Many others did the same as well.


by Luciom

so hm given that now even the 3 liberal judges said the same i did, are you satisfied? 9-0 that applying the insurrection clause is strictly a federal matter, states have no role in that.

Actually, you are wrong. The Court held that the states have a role in determining insurrection for state level offices but not federal level offices. So your summary is incorrect. But obviously, in reference to Trump, they held Colorado was unable to keep him from the ballot in the upcoming federal election.


by metsandfinsfan

The left want courts to legislate and ignore the constitution when it doesn't fit "what is best" so i doubt he is satisfied

i'd argue the right leaning judges and justices legislate from the bench more than the left these days. "originalism" and "textualism" don't exist anymore. they are just things people on the right try and think about themselves while creating legal rulings out of thin air.


by Slighted

i'd argue the right leaning judges and justices legislate from the bench more than the left these days. "originalism" and "textualism" don't exist anymore. they are just things people on the right try and think about themselves while creating legal rulings out of thin air.

lol this is grotesque.

which decisions of the current scotus, or the previous one, would be legislation from the bench?


by Luciom

lol this is grotesque.

which decisions of the current scotus, or the previous one, would be legislation from the bench?

my comment wasn't only towards scotus. but at scotus the lack of any concept of originalism is my point. they just made a very obvious textually self executing section of an amendment non-self executing because they didn't like the idea of the result. i don't even think the outcome was wrong in terms of real world effect, but it's very obvious that: "No person shall.... But Congress may..." is self executing text.

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