"This ‘tip line’ appears to have operated more like a garbage chute"
March 17, 2021 4:00 PM Subscribe
Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) asks Attorney General Merrick Garland to look into matters which precede Garland's tenure "but have evaded oversight" -- including Justice Brett Kavanaugh
Attorney General Merrick Garland Addresses the 115,000 Employees of the Department of Justice on His First Day, Washington, DC, Thursday, March 11, 2021
On the same day, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) sent a 10-page letter to AG Garland: I write to bring to your attention to four episodes that occurred before your tenure at the Department of Justice (Department), but have evaded oversight; and to ask that you facilitate proper oversight by the Senate of these incidents. I also raise separate concerns about an office of the Department—the Office of Legal Counsel—whose conduct has brought discredit on the organization. [...] The second matter of concern is what appears to have been a politically-constrained and perhaps fake FBI investigation into alleged misconduct by now-Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, rather than what Director Wray promised: a background investigation “consistent with [the FBI’s] long-standing policies, practices, and procedures.”
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Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) has asked the Justice Department, now overseen by Attorney General Merrick Garland, to look into the unusual circumstances through which Brett Kavanaugh’s large debts disappeared before his nomination to the Supreme Court. [...] Last May, Whitehouse, along with Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) and Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY), released a report titled “Captured Courts: The GOP’s Big Money Assault On The Constitution, Our Independent Judiciary, And The Rule of Law.” It outlined how the “Conservative Legal Movement has rewritten federal law to favor the rich and powerful,” how the Federalist Society and special-interest money control our courts, and how the system benefits the big-money donors behind the Republicans. On March 10, Whitehouse began hearings to investigate the role of big money in Supreme Court nominations and decisions. Aside from Chief Justice John Roberts, every Supreme Court justice named by a Republican president has ties to the Federalist Society, a group that advocates an originalist interpretation of the Constitution, which prohibits the use of the courts to regulate business or to defend civil rights. - Letters from An American, March 16, 2021
Among the concerns listed in Whitehouse’s letter to Garland are allegations that some witnesses who wanted to share their accounts with the FBI could not find anyone at the bureau who would accept their testimony and that it had not assigned any individual to accept or gather evidence. “This was unique behavior in my experience, as the Bureau is usually amenable to information and evidence; but in this matter the shutters were closed, the drawbridge drawn up, and there was no point of entry by which members of the public or Congress could provide information to the FBI,” Whitehouse said. -- via Sheldon Whitehouse Is Following the Money Around Brett Kavanaugh, Esquire, March 16, 2021
Senate Judiciary holds hearing on “dark money” and Supreme Court (SCOTUSblog, March 11, 2021)
Conservative Group Behind Kavanaugh Confirmation Has Spent Years Reshaping State and Federal Benches (The Brennan Center, Sept. 18, 2018) The Judicial Crisis Network spent $10 million to back Gorsuch’s nomination and over $3 million to support Kavanaugh’s nomination. Yet JCN refuses to reveal its donors and what its goals are.
The Conservative Pipeline to the Supreme Court, The New Yorker, April 10, 2017
Concerns in the senator's letter: 1. Civil Fraud Investigation of the Fossil Fuel Industry under Tobacco Case Precedent; 2. The FBI’s Background Investigation into Allegations Against Brett Kavanaugh; 3. The Antitrust Investigation into California’s Fuel-Emission Agreements; 4. Department Policy Regarding IRS Referrals for False Statement Cases; and 5. The Office of Legal Counsel. Whitehouse served as a United States Attorney and as Rhode Island's Attorney General; in the letter, he writes that he is "keenly aware of the cautions that arise when legislators make requests or recommendations to law enforcement officials. The matters I raise below I think fall well within proper bounds for oversight inquiry, but I wanted you to know I am well aware of the cautions."
Yesterday was the 5-year anniversary of President Obama's doomed Merrick Garland Supreme Court nomination: On March 16, 2016, President Barack Obama nominated Merrick Garland for Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States to succeed Antonin Scalia, who had died one month earlier. At the time of his nomination, Garland was the Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. [...] The 11 members of the Senate Judiciary Committee's Republican majority refused to conduct the hearings necessary to advance the vote to the Senate at large, and Garland's nomination expired on January 3, 2017, with the end of the 114th Congress, 293 days after it had been submitted to the Senate.[This marked the first time since the Civil War that a nominee whose nomination had not been withdrawn had failed to receive consideration for an open seat on the Court. Obama's successor, Donald Trump (a Republican), nominated Judge Neil Gorsuch to fill the vacancy on January 31, 2017, soon after taking office. Sen. Mitch McConnell's stance then, and last year.
B. Kavanaugh previously on MetaFilter.
Attorney General Merrick Garland Addresses the 115,000 Employees of the Department of Justice on His First Day, Washington, DC, Thursday, March 11, 2021
On the same day, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) sent a 10-page letter to AG Garland: I write to bring to your attention to four episodes that occurred before your tenure at the Department of Justice (Department), but have evaded oversight; and to ask that you facilitate proper oversight by the Senate of these incidents. I also raise separate concerns about an office of the Department—the Office of Legal Counsel—whose conduct has brought discredit on the organization. [...] The second matter of concern is what appears to have been a politically-constrained and perhaps fake FBI investigation into alleged misconduct by now-Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, rather than what Director Wray promised: a background investigation “consistent with [the FBI’s] long-standing policies, practices, and procedures.”
--
Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) has asked the Justice Department, now overseen by Attorney General Merrick Garland, to look into the unusual circumstances through which Brett Kavanaugh’s large debts disappeared before his nomination to the Supreme Court. [...] Last May, Whitehouse, along with Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) and Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY), released a report titled “Captured Courts: The GOP’s Big Money Assault On The Constitution, Our Independent Judiciary, And The Rule of Law.” It outlined how the “Conservative Legal Movement has rewritten federal law to favor the rich and powerful,” how the Federalist Society and special-interest money control our courts, and how the system benefits the big-money donors behind the Republicans. On March 10, Whitehouse began hearings to investigate the role of big money in Supreme Court nominations and decisions. Aside from Chief Justice John Roberts, every Supreme Court justice named by a Republican president has ties to the Federalist Society, a group that advocates an originalist interpretation of the Constitution, which prohibits the use of the courts to regulate business or to defend civil rights. - Letters from An American, March 16, 2021
Among the concerns listed in Whitehouse’s letter to Garland are allegations that some witnesses who wanted to share their accounts with the FBI could not find anyone at the bureau who would accept their testimony and that it had not assigned any individual to accept or gather evidence. “This was unique behavior in my experience, as the Bureau is usually amenable to information and evidence; but in this matter the shutters were closed, the drawbridge drawn up, and there was no point of entry by which members of the public or Congress could provide information to the FBI,” Whitehouse said. -- via Sheldon Whitehouse Is Following the Money Around Brett Kavanaugh, Esquire, March 16, 2021
Senate Judiciary holds hearing on “dark money” and Supreme Court (SCOTUSblog, March 11, 2021)
Conservative Group Behind Kavanaugh Confirmation Has Spent Years Reshaping State and Federal Benches (The Brennan Center, Sept. 18, 2018) The Judicial Crisis Network spent $10 million to back Gorsuch’s nomination and over $3 million to support Kavanaugh’s nomination. Yet JCN refuses to reveal its donors and what its goals are.
The Conservative Pipeline to the Supreme Court, The New Yorker, April 10, 2017
Concerns in the senator's letter: 1. Civil Fraud Investigation of the Fossil Fuel Industry under Tobacco Case Precedent; 2. The FBI’s Background Investigation into Allegations Against Brett Kavanaugh; 3. The Antitrust Investigation into California’s Fuel-Emission Agreements; 4. Department Policy Regarding IRS Referrals for False Statement Cases; and 5. The Office of Legal Counsel. Whitehouse served as a United States Attorney and as Rhode Island's Attorney General; in the letter, he writes that he is "keenly aware of the cautions that arise when legislators make requests or recommendations to law enforcement officials. The matters I raise below I think fall well within proper bounds for oversight inquiry, but I wanted you to know I am well aware of the cautions."
Yesterday was the 5-year anniversary of President Obama's doomed Merrick Garland Supreme Court nomination: On March 16, 2016, President Barack Obama nominated Merrick Garland for Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States to succeed Antonin Scalia, who had died one month earlier. At the time of his nomination, Garland was the Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. [...] The 11 members of the Senate Judiciary Committee's Republican majority refused to conduct the hearings necessary to advance the vote to the Senate at large, and Garland's nomination expired on January 3, 2017, with the end of the 114th Congress, 293 days after it had been submitted to the Senate.[This marked the first time since the Civil War that a nominee whose nomination had not been withdrawn had failed to receive consideration for an open seat on the Court. Obama's successor, Donald Trump (a Republican), nominated Judge Neil Gorsuch to fill the vacancy on January 31, 2017, soon after taking office. Sen. Mitch McConnell's stance then, and last year.
B. Kavanaugh previously on MetaFilter.
I, too, would like to know how Kavanaugh's debts were suddenly repaid.
posted by They sucked his brains out! at 4:07 PM on March 17, 2021 [84 favorites]
posted by They sucked his brains out! at 4:07 PM on March 17, 2021 [84 favorites]
I've believed since law school that membership in the Federalist Society should be absolutely disqualifying for the federal bench, since its sole purpose is to undermine the constitution.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 4:13 PM on March 17, 2021 [98 favorites]
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 4:13 PM on March 17, 2021 [98 favorites]
The debts are so blatantly... weird. I hope we find out what happened.
posted by The corpse in the library at 4:17 PM on March 17, 2021 [7 favorites]
posted by The corpse in the library at 4:17 PM on March 17, 2021 [7 favorites]
A bit of real justice weighed down against those undeserving of power would taste sweet. But sometimes Karma moves slowly. Until it doesn't.
posted by ovvl at 4:22 PM on March 17, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by ovvl at 4:22 PM on March 17, 2021 [1 favorite]
A decade or so ago, I thought of Whitehouse as a lightweight. Compared to Jack Reed, our other senator, he really was. But he has come into his own the last few years, and with his two bugbears -- dark money and clinal change -- he is really doing important work.
posted by wenestvedt at 4:32 PM on March 17, 2021 [15 favorites]
posted by wenestvedt at 4:32 PM on March 17, 2021 [15 favorites]
I wasn't happy when McConnell sandbagged Garland's SCOTUS nomination, and wasn't happy when Gorsuch took the seat that should have gone to him. I was definitely extremely unhappy when Amy Barrett, aspirant to the Republic of Gilead got rammed in on eight days' notice.
But Boofin' Brett? He straight up committed perjury during his hearings and needs to be impeached yesterday.
posted by tclark at 4:44 PM on March 17, 2021 [59 favorites]
But Boofin' Brett? He straight up committed perjury during his hearings and needs to be impeached yesterday.
posted by tclark at 4:44 PM on March 17, 2021 [59 favorites]
No one ever came forward about going to a baseball game, either.
posted by fluttering hellfire at 5:02 PM on March 17, 2021 [5 favorites]
posted by fluttering hellfire at 5:02 PM on March 17, 2021 [5 favorites]
This is so damn delicious. Garland has got to be rubbing his hands together and chortling. I know I am.
Garland and Kavanaugh are former colleagues and personal friends, for what it's worth.
I can't help but wish that we had an Attorney General who would be more inclined to be aggressive on matters like this. Here's hoping he can meet the moment.
posted by Gadarene at 5:14 PM on March 17, 2021 [14 favorites]
Garland and Kavanaugh are former colleagues and personal friends, for what it's worth.
I can't help but wish that we had an Attorney General who would be more inclined to be aggressive on matters like this. Here's hoping he can meet the moment.
posted by Gadarene at 5:14 PM on March 17, 2021 [14 favorites]
fwiw Chelsea and Ivanka were good friends before trump declared his candicacy
posted by brujita at 5:25 PM on March 17, 2021 [3 favorites]
posted by brujita at 5:25 PM on March 17, 2021 [3 favorites]
FWIW, Garland closed his address with: [...] For all of you and for me, public service is more than a job. It is a calling. All of you have chosen the Department of Justice over other places where you might have used your skills and where you might have earned a higher salary. I am grateful beyond words for your service to this country. All of us are united by our commitment to the rule of law and to seeking equal justice under law. We are united by our commitment to protecting our country as our oath says, “from all enemies foreign and domestic,” and by our commitment to enforcing our country's laws and to ensuring the civil rights and the civil liberties of our people. The only way we can succeed and retain the trust of the American people is to adhere to the norms that have become part of the DNA of every Justice Department employee since Edward Levy’s stint as the first post-Watergate Attorney General.
As I said at the announcement of my nomination, those norms require that like cases be treated alike. That there not be one rule for Democrats and another for Republicans; One rule for friends and another for foes; One rule for the powerful and another for the powerless; One rule for the rich and another for the poor; Or different rules depending upon one's race or ethnicity. At his swearing in, Attorney General Levy said: “If we are to have a government of laws and not of men, then it takes dedicated men and women to accomplish this through their zeal and determination, and also through fairness and impartiality. And I know that this Department always has had such dedicated men and women.” I, too, know that this Department has and always has had such dedicated people. I am honored to work with you once again. Together, we will show the American people by word and deed that the Department of Justice pursues equal justice and adheres to the rule of law.
Thank you.
posted by Iris Gambol at 5:26 PM on March 17, 2021 [12 favorites]
As I said at the announcement of my nomination, those norms require that like cases be treated alike. That there not be one rule for Democrats and another for Republicans; One rule for friends and another for foes; One rule for the powerful and another for the powerless; One rule for the rich and another for the poor; Or different rules depending upon one's race or ethnicity. At his swearing in, Attorney General Levy said: “If we are to have a government of laws and not of men, then it takes dedicated men and women to accomplish this through their zeal and determination, and also through fairness and impartiality. And I know that this Department always has had such dedicated men and women.” I, too, know that this Department has and always has had such dedicated people. I am honored to work with you once again. Together, we will show the American people by word and deed that the Department of Justice pursues equal justice and adheres to the rule of law.
Thank you.
posted by Iris Gambol at 5:26 PM on March 17, 2021 [12 favorites]
This is a great post, Iris Gambol. I saw the Whitehouse letter mentioned in Letters from an American and thought about posting this myself; I'm glad you beat me to it. You did a much better job than I would have.
(And may I just say again how much I love the modern internet, which lets any of us download and read the senator's letter, and the Captured Courts report, at the click of a mouse?)
I did not know about the sham FBI investigation; I sure would like to know what was in the report they made, and I am looking forward to a full investigation of that work. Your pullquote from the Esquire piece - "there was no point of entry by which members of the public or Congress could provide information to the FBI,” Whitehouse said. - makes me wonder which members of Congress tried to provide information, and what, exactly, happened when they tried.
Personally, I'd like to see a requirement that all members of the federal judiciary make all their financial data completely public. It's essential that there be not even the appearance of bias. We need to know what financial matters may affect the deliberations of judges.
Thanks so much for posting this!
posted by kristi at 5:36 PM on March 17, 2021 [15 favorites]
(And may I just say again how much I love the modern internet, which lets any of us download and read the senator's letter, and the Captured Courts report, at the click of a mouse?)
I did not know about the sham FBI investigation; I sure would like to know what was in the report they made, and I am looking forward to a full investigation of that work. Your pullquote from the Esquire piece - "there was no point of entry by which members of the public or Congress could provide information to the FBI,” Whitehouse said. - makes me wonder which members of Congress tried to provide information, and what, exactly, happened when they tried.
Personally, I'd like to see a requirement that all members of the federal judiciary make all their financial data completely public. It's essential that there be not even the appearance of bias. We need to know what financial matters may affect the deliberations of judges.
Thanks so much for posting this!
posted by kristi at 5:36 PM on March 17, 2021 [15 favorites]
Personally, I'd like to see a requirement that all members of the federal judiciary make all their financial data completely public.
s/judiciary/government
posted by rifflesby at 5:52 PM on March 17, 2021 [3 favorites]
s/judiciary/government
posted by rifflesby at 5:52 PM on March 17, 2021 [3 favorites]
This is tangential, but I would really like to know what Donald Trump said to then Justice Kennedy, who is involved in all of this and likely tied to Kavanaugh.
posted by zardoz at 6:08 PM on March 17, 2021 [30 favorites]
posted by zardoz at 6:08 PM on March 17, 2021 [30 favorites]
Super, super glad to see this. As a native New Englander ... wicked good.
posted by Dashy at 6:46 PM on March 17, 2021 [2 favorites]
posted by Dashy at 6:46 PM on March 17, 2021 [2 favorites]
Oh boy: this is going to be Fitzmas and Muellerween or whatever we called it all rolled into one! This time for sure!
posted by Lentrohamsanin at 7:08 PM on March 17, 2021 [12 favorites]
posted by Lentrohamsanin at 7:08 PM on March 17, 2021 [12 favorites]
Yeah, I don't know how effective this will be. It's important that the truth come out, of course, but what can they do? Impeach him? Unless he can be arrested and physically imprisoned, which seems unlikely, he'll stay. Even if he wanted to resign and hide, there are probably Trumpists who would shoot him for it, with or without being asked.
posted by Countess Elena at 7:55 PM on March 17, 2021 [3 favorites]
posted by Countess Elena at 7:55 PM on March 17, 2021 [3 favorites]
Nothing will come of this. Yeah, it would be nice to know what is the deal with the weird "baseball ticket" debt, but I also feel a little icky about the reporting. It has this vague aura of poverty shaming, as if debt should be a disqualifier for holding office. Not that Kavanaugh is poor (he's not), and not that anyone on this thread is giving that impression (they're not), but... I kinda just think it's enough to despise Kavanaugh because he's a transparent conservative puppet of evil and (alleged) would-be rapist who lied under oath.
I don't have the attention span for yet another "surely we'll get them on this technicality" MSNBC circle-jerk. It's Lucy with the football.
posted by qxntpqbbbqxl at 7:56 PM on March 17, 2021 [10 favorites]
I don't have the attention span for yet another "surely we'll get them on this technicality" MSNBC circle-jerk. It's Lucy with the football.
posted by qxntpqbbbqxl at 7:56 PM on March 17, 2021 [10 favorites]
It's not his going into debt, I'm more interested in who acquired the monetary leverage over Kavanaugh.
The FBI blackholing the investigation needs to be investigated, too.
Countess Elena - yeah, reminds me the phrase 'riding the tiger.'
posted by porpoise at 8:28 PM on March 17, 2021 [13 favorites]
The FBI blackholing the investigation needs to be investigated, too.
Countess Elena - yeah, reminds me the phrase 'riding the tiger.'
posted by porpoise at 8:28 PM on March 17, 2021 [13 favorites]
It has this vague aura of poverty shaming, as if debt should be a disqualifier for holding office
Debt, no! Having that debt mysteriously and unaccountably vanish, though? Yes.
posted by mhoye at 8:48 PM on March 17, 2021 [53 favorites]
Debt, no! Having that debt mysteriously and unaccountably vanish, though? Yes.
posted by mhoye at 8:48 PM on March 17, 2021 [53 favorites]
Yeah, it would be nice to know what is the deal with the weird "baseball ticket" debt, but I also feel a little icky about the reporting. It has this vague aura of poverty shaming, as if debt should be a disqualifier for holding office.
Aside from the between $60k and $200k in credit-card debt he racked up (apparently) buying season tickets to the Nationals and doing home repairs, there's also the question of where the downpayment for his $1.225 million-dollar house (which apparently still needed a bunch of repairs) came from, since on paper, per his own financial disclosures, he has never had enough cash-on-hand to come up with even a 10% downpayment, let alone a 20% downpayment. There's also his membership in a swanky private club which reportedly has an initiation fee of $92,000 and $9,000 in annual member dues, which also seems a bit outside of his price range if his financial disclosures are to be believed. Whitehouse has been asking for answers about all of these things and getting evasions and partial answers from Kavanaugh since the confirmation hearing.
And there's no poverty-shaming involved, since I don't think anyone would bat an eye at this stuff if all these debts still existed - the suspicion is not over the fact that he had to go into debt to get this stuff (let's be real, going into debt to buy baseball tickets is possibly the Most American Thing You Can Possibly Do) but the fact that, again, per his own financial disclosures, his only debt at the time he was confirmed was an $815,000 mortgage on his house.
posted by mstokes650 at 8:59 PM on March 17, 2021 [43 favorites]
Aside from the between $60k and $200k in credit-card debt he racked up (apparently) buying season tickets to the Nationals and doing home repairs, there's also the question of where the downpayment for his $1.225 million-dollar house (which apparently still needed a bunch of repairs) came from, since on paper, per his own financial disclosures, he has never had enough cash-on-hand to come up with even a 10% downpayment, let alone a 20% downpayment. There's also his membership in a swanky private club which reportedly has an initiation fee of $92,000 and $9,000 in annual member dues, which also seems a bit outside of his price range if his financial disclosures are to be believed. Whitehouse has been asking for answers about all of these things and getting evasions and partial answers from Kavanaugh since the confirmation hearing.
And there's no poverty-shaming involved, since I don't think anyone would bat an eye at this stuff if all these debts still existed - the suspicion is not over the fact that he had to go into debt to get this stuff (let's be real, going into debt to buy baseball tickets is possibly the Most American Thing You Can Possibly Do) but the fact that, again, per his own financial disclosures, his only debt at the time he was confirmed was an $815,000 mortgage on his house.
posted by mstokes650 at 8:59 PM on March 17, 2021 [43 favorites]
Nothing will come of this. Kavanaugh's wife, Ashley Estes Kavanaugh, worked for W Bush since college. She was his private secretary when he was governor of Texas. They met thru the Bushes and George and Laura were at their wedding. Connection to the traditional Republican power base comes thru Ashley. Maybe money, too. The Texas oil people take care of their own...and I guess expect to be taken care of down the road.
posted by readery at 10:04 PM on March 17, 2021 [2 favorites]
posted by readery at 10:04 PM on March 17, 2021 [2 favorites]
I want to believe this will become something. Please oh please oh please oh please be real. Don't become another sad democratic fake. "Well we wanted to do something but big money interests said no. What can you do?"
posted by evilDoug at 10:15 PM on March 17, 2021 [11 favorites]
posted by evilDoug at 10:15 PM on March 17, 2021 [11 favorites]
This whole thing is one step away from QAnon. A random video of Trump and Kennedy talking? The fantasy that Brett Kavanaugh will be anything other than SCOTUS justice for the next four decades? It's done. Over. This is not a world built for justice. Don't expect it.
posted by lewedswiver at 10:29 PM on March 17, 2021 [15 favorites]
posted by lewedswiver at 10:29 PM on March 17, 2021 [15 favorites]
This is not a world built for justice. Don't expect it.
But you've gotta at least try to work for it.
posted by trig at 1:47 AM on March 18, 2021 [34 favorites]
But you've gotta at least try to work for it.
posted by trig at 1:47 AM on March 18, 2021 [34 favorites]
Giving up unrealistic hope ≠ giving up. Even if evil is poised to triumph, selling your life dearly to fight it could slow it down by a few seconds, in which a few victims could escape. The difference is not expecting a big Ewok party against a backdrop of a burning Death Star.
People resisted totalitarian regimes on less hope than that.
posted by acb at 2:36 AM on March 18, 2021 [14 favorites]
People resisted totalitarian regimes on less hope than that.
posted by acb at 2:36 AM on March 18, 2021 [14 favorites]
This is one of these things I just don't get about the American system: a justice at the Supreme Court lied at his confirmation hearing, received mystery debt relief, and the FBI didn't follow norms during his background check.
In other democracies that would at the very least lead to the justice resigning, or being fired. I'm thinking of countries here in Europe where something similar could even happen, and landing on perhaps Malta or Hungary, maybe not even Hungary. Even some countries with legacies of corruption seem to have orderly judicial systems. How can this even be up for debate in the US?
posted by mumimor at 4:06 AM on March 18, 2021 [15 favorites]
In other democracies that would at the very least lead to the justice resigning, or being fired. I'm thinking of countries here in Europe where something similar could even happen, and landing on perhaps Malta or Hungary, maybe not even Hungary. Even some countries with legacies of corruption seem to have orderly judicial systems. How can this even be up for debate in the US?
posted by mumimor at 4:06 AM on March 18, 2021 [15 favorites]
Even some countries with legacies of corruption seem to have orderly judicial systems. How can this even be up for debate in the US?Oh don't worry, it will come to all.
They're just the first to encounter those who have realised you don't have to bother hiding it any more.
posted by fullerine at 4:24 AM on March 18, 2021 [1 favorite]
Actually, I think we are heading towards some major spring cleaning here, but I may be too optimistic. And again, that cleaning is about corrupt politicians, I have no reason at all to think any judges are corrupt. That is really a red line in my opinion.
posted by mumimor at 4:48 AM on March 18, 2021
posted by mumimor at 4:48 AM on March 18, 2021
Incontrovertible evidence of barely-concealed corruption, not to mention perjury during his confirmation hearings, will not make Kavanaugh subject to removal; as we've seen, Republicans being overrepresented in the Senate makes the impeachment process inherently broken.
But the furtherance of the outrage their appointments already generated could be the impetus to breaking the conservatives' power in SCOTUS by expanding the number of justices so Kavanaugh's (and Coney Barret's) vote becomes meaningless.
posted by Gelatin at 5:12 AM on March 18, 2021 [5 favorites]
But the furtherance of the outrage their appointments already generated could be the impetus to breaking the conservatives' power in SCOTUS by expanding the number of justices so Kavanaugh's (and Coney Barret's) vote becomes meaningless.
posted by Gelatin at 5:12 AM on March 18, 2021 [5 favorites]
I want justice for Christine Blasey Ford.
posted by all about eevee at 5:17 AM on March 18, 2021 [37 favorites]
posted by all about eevee at 5:17 AM on March 18, 2021 [37 favorites]
But the furtherance of the outrage their appointments already generated could be the impetus to breaking the conservatives' power in SCOTUS by expanding the number of justices so Kavanaugh's (and Coney Barret's) vote becomes meaningless.
I'm actually kind of wondering if the GOP might come to the conclusion that it'd be better to sacrifice Kavanaugh than to give Democrats such a gift-wrapped reason to permanently expand the Court.
But for that to happen the findings from these investigations would have to be explosive enough to make Republicans to come to the conclusion that they won't be able to successfully impose their own alternative narrative via Fox News et al. -- so pretty damn explosive.
posted by trig at 5:28 AM on March 18, 2021 [5 favorites]
I'm actually kind of wondering if the GOP might come to the conclusion that it'd be better to sacrifice Kavanaugh than to give Democrats such a gift-wrapped reason to permanently expand the Court.
But for that to happen the findings from these investigations would have to be explosive enough to make Republicans to come to the conclusion that they won't be able to successfully impose their own alternative narrative via Fox News et al. -- so pretty damn explosive.
posted by trig at 5:28 AM on March 18, 2021 [5 favorites]
It's tough to convince a group of people that a particular tactic is too explosive for them to use when their explicit motto is "win by any means necessary." These are the same people who thought having terrorists storm the Capital while they were in it was no big deal. So I'm uncertain, you know, just how many teraSieverts of radiation will be just too dang much for these cockroaches. The GOP will need to be defeated forcefully. There's no other path forward.
posted by seanmpuckett at 5:36 AM on March 18, 2021 [12 favorites]
posted by seanmpuckett at 5:36 AM on March 18, 2021 [12 favorites]
In other democracies that would at the very least lead to the justice resigning, or being fired.
Demonstrably this person has no shame, or else he would never have been such an utter and complete shitshow at his hearings. people with no shame don't resign.
The people with the power to fire him love him and think he's doing a GREAT JOB. People don't fire someone they think is doing their bidding in a way that exceeds expectations.
This country is trash on fire; it's not meaningfully a democracy at all.
posted by We put our faith in Blast Hardcheese at 6:41 AM on March 18, 2021 [12 favorites]
Demonstrably this person has no shame, or else he would never have been such an utter and complete shitshow at his hearings. people with no shame don't resign.
The people with the power to fire him love him and think he's doing a GREAT JOB. People don't fire someone they think is doing their bidding in a way that exceeds expectations.
This country is trash on fire; it's not meaningfully a democracy at all.
posted by We put our faith in Blast Hardcheese at 6:41 AM on March 18, 2021 [12 favorites]
He's put me off beer and I'm really PO about that.
I hope he's run out of town on a rail, but not before apologizing to Christine Blasey Ford and any other woman (or men!) he's abused.
posted by james33 at 7:19 AM on March 18, 2021 [1 favorite]
I hope he's run out of town on a rail, but not before apologizing to Christine Blasey Ford and any other woman (or men!) he's abused.
posted by james33 at 7:19 AM on March 18, 2021 [1 favorite]
In other democracies that would at the very least lead to the justice resigning, or being fired.What you’re seeing is an overcorrection against corruption. It is deliberately very hard to remove someone from a prominent federal office because of a justified fear that the power would be abused for political ends. You can see the attempt to do so, hard as it is, every time Republicans start clutching their pearls about “moral authority to lead” over a “scandal” of their own invention whenever a Democratic president is in office, but then don’t have any problem with starting a war on fraudulent pretense, colluding with foreign adversaries for political gain, using the office for naked self-enrichment or literally fomenting an attempted violent coup when a Republican is in office.
The Supreme Court is especially insulated. Their lifetime appointments are intended to lift them above political influence, even from those responsible for their appointments. There have been many examples in American history where this has worked out exactly that way, with Justices appointed as partisan darlings who develop more tempered, nuanced, or even opposing views over the course of their tenures. Roberts is arguably a minor example, as he has not turned out to be the thorough partisan hack Bush thought he was getting. Not having your job on the line with every decision can have the effect of enabling integrity.
The result, though, is that we have erred in the other direction, and relied too much on a belief in individual integrity. The authors of our government did not anticipate politics becoming a public sporting event, with followers entertained by seeing their team’s players win by playing dirty. The framers anticipated that corruption would not be tolerated by colleagues, by other branches of government, or by the public. The subversion of all of these checks has been a decades-long project for the Republican Party in a “boil the frog” coup attempt. In such an exercise, integrity is weakness and shamelessness is strength.
Kavanaugh presents the appearance of being perhaps a new beast, however. He is no more beholden to the political establishment that installed him than any other Justice, but instead might be beholden to anonymous benefactors who have funded his lavish lifestyle while carefully building him from a useless buffoon into one of the most influential people in the nation. The same structure that protects a person of conscience from devious political attack will also protect a shamelessly corrupt puppet from his just deserts.
posted by gelfin at 7:28 AM on March 18, 2021 [18 favorites]
I want justice for Christine Blasey Ford.
Read this as "Justice Christine Blasey Ford" and was like "yeah, fair."
posted by solotoro at 8:07 AM on March 18, 2021 [8 favorites]
Read this as "Justice Christine Blasey Ford" and was like "yeah, fair."
posted by solotoro at 8:07 AM on March 18, 2021 [8 favorites]
Their lifetime appointments are intended to lift them above political influence, even from those responsible for their appointments. There have been many examples in American history where this has worked out exactly that way
This is the (longstanding) rhetoric about SCOTUS, but isn't it just another radically conservative approach to justice? Isn't it, with only a few historical exceptions, old white men who have been dragged kicking and screaming into whatever current cultural norm they find themselves in, if at all?
Feature, not bug.
posted by Reasonably Everything Happens at 8:07 AM on March 18, 2021 [3 favorites]
This is the (longstanding) rhetoric about SCOTUS, but isn't it just another radically conservative approach to justice? Isn't it, with only a few historical exceptions, old white men who have been dragged kicking and screaming into whatever current cultural norm they find themselves in, if at all?
Feature, not bug.
posted by Reasonably Everything Happens at 8:07 AM on March 18, 2021 [3 favorites]
but isn't it just another radically conservative approach to justice?You make a fair point, and I do have feelings on the subject, but it’s a bit of a tangent to where I was going, and I don’t quite feel prepared this morning to develop a series of hot takes into something I can express well and stand by. Catch me sometime after the bars reopen.
posted by gelfin at 8:35 AM on March 18, 2021 [2 favorites]
This whole thing is one step away from QAnon.
The political strategy purpose of republicans amplifyig QAnon is to provide cover for actual conspiracies. So yeah it is just one step away from QAnon.
posted by srboisvert at 8:52 AM on March 18, 2021 [7 favorites]
The political strategy purpose of republicans amplifyig QAnon is to provide cover for actual conspiracies. So yeah it is just one step away from QAnon.
posted by srboisvert at 8:52 AM on March 18, 2021 [7 favorites]
I also feel a little icky about the reporting. It has this vague aura of poverty shaming, as if debt should be a disqualifier for holding office.
It's already a factor for security clearance. I'm struggling to think of a reason why we don't hold Justices and other political appointees to the same standard.
posted by pwnguin at 9:51 AM on March 18, 2021 [9 favorites]
It's already a factor for security clearance. I'm struggling to think of a reason why we don't hold Justices and other political appointees to the same standard.
posted by pwnguin at 9:51 AM on March 18, 2021 [9 favorites]
This topic still hurts me so much. I remember ordering a "I Believe Christine Blasey Ford" button and making a donation during the confirmation hearings. By the time I received it, Kavanaugh had been sworn in as a Supreme Court Justice. That button is still sitting in the envelope it came in on my breakfast bar. I am just too sad and too hurt to open it. I need something to happen that rights this wrong.
posted by all about eevee at 10:15 AM on March 18, 2021 [15 favorites]
posted by all about eevee at 10:15 AM on March 18, 2021 [15 favorites]
as if debt should be a disqualifier for holding office
The qualifier is not solvency, but rather the disqualifier is being in hock to parties who will use your insolvency as a means to guide your actions, once seated, either as repayment-in-kind or by coercion or blackmail. As with Trump, I don't particularly care that he is corrupt and owes $450M to the Russian mob, but what I do care about is that a corrupt person was given incredible powers in office, whilst owing $450M to the Russian mob.
posted by They sucked his brains out! at 10:49 AM on March 18, 2021 [6 favorites]
The qualifier is not solvency, but rather the disqualifier is being in hock to parties who will use your insolvency as a means to guide your actions, once seated, either as repayment-in-kind or by coercion or blackmail. As with Trump, I don't particularly care that he is corrupt and owes $450M to the Russian mob, but what I do care about is that a corrupt person was given incredible powers in office, whilst owing $450M to the Russian mob.
posted by They sucked his brains out! at 10:49 AM on March 18, 2021 [6 favorites]
Today the House of Representatives approved awarding Congressional Gold Medals to members of the Capitol Police for their defense of the Capitol on January 6. Four hundred and thirteen members voted in favor, and 12 Republicans opposed the measure. A number of party members took offense at the language in the bill, which referred to the Capitol as “the temple of our American Democracy” and called the rioters “a mob of insurrectionists.” Part of their objection comes from their eagerness to downplay what happened on January 6 and to redefine it as a much less important event than it was.
Last week, six top Republican senators expressed dismay to the acting chief of the Capitol Police, Yogananda Pittman, over the continued presence of nearly 2300 National Guardsmen and a fence topped with razor wire around the Capitol. [Letter to Pittman at bottom of this press release, "signed by Sens. James Inhofe (Okla.), Richard Shelby (Ala.), Marco Rubio (Fla.), Rob Portman (Ohio) and Roy Blunt (Mo.), the top Republicans on the Armed Services, Appropriations, Intelligence, Homeland Security and Rules committees, respectively."] The fencing reminds Americans of what happened on January 6 and the Republicans’ complicity in that attack, refusing, as they did, to hold Trump accountable for inciting the insurrection. Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI) did not sign the letter to Pittman, but he told a right-wing talk radio host that he was not frightened by the rioters on January 6 because they were “people that love this country, that truly respect law enforcement, would never do anything to break the law.” In contrast, though, he said he would have been worried if the rioters were “Black Lives Matter and Antifa protesters.” The events of January 6 left several people, including three police officers, dead, and more than 100 law enforcement officers wounded. Hundreds of people have been charged with crimes. -- Letters from an American, March 17, 2021
Sen. Ron Johnson Committee Assignments:
Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs / Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations (Ranking Member)
posted by Iris Gambol at 10:54 AM on March 18, 2021 [4 favorites]
Last week, six top Republican senators expressed dismay to the acting chief of the Capitol Police, Yogananda Pittman, over the continued presence of nearly 2300 National Guardsmen and a fence topped with razor wire around the Capitol. [Letter to Pittman at bottom of this press release, "signed by Sens. James Inhofe (Okla.), Richard Shelby (Ala.), Marco Rubio (Fla.), Rob Portman (Ohio) and Roy Blunt (Mo.), the top Republicans on the Armed Services, Appropriations, Intelligence, Homeland Security and Rules committees, respectively."] The fencing reminds Americans of what happened on January 6 and the Republicans’ complicity in that attack, refusing, as they did, to hold Trump accountable for inciting the insurrection. Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI) did not sign the letter to Pittman, but he told a right-wing talk radio host that he was not frightened by the rioters on January 6 because they were “people that love this country, that truly respect law enforcement, would never do anything to break the law.” In contrast, though, he said he would have been worried if the rioters were “Black Lives Matter and Antifa protesters.” The events of January 6 left several people, including three police officers, dead, and more than 100 law enforcement officers wounded. Hundreds of people have been charged with crimes. -- Letters from an American, March 17, 2021
Sen. Ron Johnson Committee Assignments:
Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs / Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations (Ranking Member)
posted by Iris Gambol at 10:54 AM on March 18, 2021 [4 favorites]
This whole thing is one step away from QAnon. A random video of Trump and Kennedy talking? The fantasy that Brett Kavanaugh will be anything other than SCOTUS justice for the next four decades? It's done. Over. This is not a world built for justice. Don't expect it.
That's funny, because I think willful ignorance about the misdeeds of the people at the top of our government and a blind confidence that those people will remain at the top of our government forever no matter what actually happens are both hallmarks of QAnon.
Justice isn't a naturally occurring phenomenon - that we have ever had anything resembling justice anywhere, ever, is only because people actually worked for it. It is imperfect and imperfectly applied, because the people who created it and apply it are imperfect, but that is no reason to stop trying.
Moreoever, let's be clear: much as I too would like to see justice for Dr. Ford, Whitehouse's aim with his ongoing campaign against dark money influence on the courts is not to stop specific rulings or remove specific judges/justices, but to preserve the institution of the Court itself and the rule of law as a whole. There's a long game here, in which Kavanaugh is just one pawn, and letting Kavanaugh get appointed with absolute impunity and no questions asked is to concede defeat and basically give the Federalist Society carte blanche to unmake the United States government through blatant, open corruption. Part of the purpose of enforcing laws is not just to punish the guilty but to deter future crimes.
And Whitehouse was a US Attorney in the 90s and the RI Attorney General in the late 90s-early-2000s, and while a US Attorney, was the guy who started the Operation Plunder Dome investigation that ultimately took down Providence's crooked-but-incredibly-popular mayor, Buddy Cianci. He knows a thing or two about unwinding criminal conspiracies. I don't think it'll play out this way, but I am sure that if he could, Whitehouse would gladly "flip" Kavanaugh to turn against his shadowy benefactors in exchange for a deal. His ultimate target is not Kavanaugh but the people with the money; in terms of criminal investigations, this is more akin to looking into how a mafia enforcer pays his bills. The enforcer's just a guy there getting paid to do a job - as is Kavanaugh, here - the real target is the people at the top.
posted by mstokes650 at 11:14 AM on March 18, 2021 [19 favorites]
That's funny, because I think willful ignorance about the misdeeds of the people at the top of our government and a blind confidence that those people will remain at the top of our government forever no matter what actually happens are both hallmarks of QAnon.
Justice isn't a naturally occurring phenomenon - that we have ever had anything resembling justice anywhere, ever, is only because people actually worked for it. It is imperfect and imperfectly applied, because the people who created it and apply it are imperfect, but that is no reason to stop trying.
Moreoever, let's be clear: much as I too would like to see justice for Dr. Ford, Whitehouse's aim with his ongoing campaign against dark money influence on the courts is not to stop specific rulings or remove specific judges/justices, but to preserve the institution of the Court itself and the rule of law as a whole. There's a long game here, in which Kavanaugh is just one pawn, and letting Kavanaugh get appointed with absolute impunity and no questions asked is to concede defeat and basically give the Federalist Society carte blanche to unmake the United States government through blatant, open corruption. Part of the purpose of enforcing laws is not just to punish the guilty but to deter future crimes.
And Whitehouse was a US Attorney in the 90s and the RI Attorney General in the late 90s-early-2000s, and while a US Attorney, was the guy who started the Operation Plunder Dome investigation that ultimately took down Providence's crooked-but-incredibly-popular mayor, Buddy Cianci. He knows a thing or two about unwinding criminal conspiracies. I don't think it'll play out this way, but I am sure that if he could, Whitehouse would gladly "flip" Kavanaugh to turn against his shadowy benefactors in exchange for a deal. His ultimate target is not Kavanaugh but the people with the money; in terms of criminal investigations, this is more akin to looking into how a mafia enforcer pays his bills. The enforcer's just a guy there getting paid to do a job - as is Kavanaugh, here - the real target is the people at the top.
posted by mstokes650 at 11:14 AM on March 18, 2021 [19 favorites]
Although in this case, if flipping Kavanaugh meant that he'd still stay on the bench, I'm not sure that would be worth any deal.
posted by trig at 12:33 PM on March 18, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by trig at 12:33 PM on March 18, 2021 [1 favorite]
> I am sure that if he could, Whitehouse would gladly "flip" Kavanaugh to turn against his shadowy benefactors in exchange for a deal. His ultimate target is not Kavanaugh but the people with the money; in terms of criminal investigations, this is more akin to looking into how a mafia enforcer pays his bills.
This is what I mean by "one step away from QAnon."
There's this whole fantasy on the #Resistance left that Brett Kavanaugh is some sort of mob enforcer or something. That Kavanaugh having loans and then not having them means that he was bribed. That some random video of Trump and Kennedy talking is a smoking gun of some absurd sort. That Kennedy's son having worked at the same massive company as where Trump banked means that some illict payoff was happening.
Above all... there's this fantasy that reason the world seems insensibly broken is because *there's a secret sense to it all -- an underlying corrupt deal would explain everything if it was every exposed*.
This is conspiratorial thinking at its core. No, the world looks broken because it is broken.
What actually happened is that a fifty-year Republican effort to decrease corporate regulation and ban abortion found a very wealthy, privileged, and ambitious man who has spent decades trying to become a Supreme Court Justice, and they made him a Supreme Court Justice. It's not secret - it's all out in the open.
I'm not opposed to investigating Kavanaugh. I think he lied under oath about sexual assault, but I think none of his lies were even remotely close to provable as perjury. I think his debts were probably only the low side of the range to begin with, and he used his assets to decrease them below reporting thresholds. Maybe a family member pitched in, with gifts below the gift threshhold or reported to IRS using some sleight of hand that delay when those gifts become public. Or something. The rules were set up by people who benefit from the rules. There's nothing secret here, nothing illegal. Just normality.
More than Kavanaugh, I'm interested in investigating people like Erik Prince, Donald Trump, Jared Kushner - literal war criminals or allies of war criminals.
And more than either, I'm interested in reforming the core structures of American society that underpin plutocracy and white supremacy. The filibuster. The tax code. The 9-member limit of the Supreme Court.
But if we get hung up on thinking that there's some secret conspiracy going on, that some sort of investigation will uncover everything, that *the rules will save us*, then we will fail.
Just look at the Mueller investigation, to begin with.
posted by lewedswiver at 1:22 PM on March 18, 2021 [8 favorites]
This is what I mean by "one step away from QAnon."
There's this whole fantasy on the #Resistance left that Brett Kavanaugh is some sort of mob enforcer or something. That Kavanaugh having loans and then not having them means that he was bribed. That some random video of Trump and Kennedy talking is a smoking gun of some absurd sort. That Kennedy's son having worked at the same massive company as where Trump banked means that some illict payoff was happening.
Above all... there's this fantasy that reason the world seems insensibly broken is because *there's a secret sense to it all -- an underlying corrupt deal would explain everything if it was every exposed*.
This is conspiratorial thinking at its core. No, the world looks broken because it is broken.
What actually happened is that a fifty-year Republican effort to decrease corporate regulation and ban abortion found a very wealthy, privileged, and ambitious man who has spent decades trying to become a Supreme Court Justice, and they made him a Supreme Court Justice. It's not secret - it's all out in the open.
I'm not opposed to investigating Kavanaugh. I think he lied under oath about sexual assault, but I think none of his lies were even remotely close to provable as perjury. I think his debts were probably only the low side of the range to begin with, and he used his assets to decrease them below reporting thresholds. Maybe a family member pitched in, with gifts below the gift threshhold or reported to IRS using some sleight of hand that delay when those gifts become public. Or something. The rules were set up by people who benefit from the rules. There's nothing secret here, nothing illegal. Just normality.
More than Kavanaugh, I'm interested in investigating people like Erik Prince, Donald Trump, Jared Kushner - literal war criminals or allies of war criminals.
And more than either, I'm interested in reforming the core structures of American society that underpin plutocracy and white supremacy. The filibuster. The tax code. The 9-member limit of the Supreme Court.
But if we get hung up on thinking that there's some secret conspiracy going on, that some sort of investigation will uncover everything, that *the rules will save us*, then we will fail.
Just look at the Mueller investigation, to begin with.
posted by lewedswiver at 1:22 PM on March 18, 2021 [8 favorites]
I would reopen the Mueller investigation, this time without Barr to run interference.
posted by hypnogogue at 2:11 PM on March 18, 2021 [4 favorites]
posted by hypnogogue at 2:11 PM on March 18, 2021 [4 favorites]
I just lost The Game where I don't think about how all the Federal courts are packed with Trump judges now
posted by thelonius at 2:57 PM on March 18, 2021 [3 favorites]
posted by thelonius at 2:57 PM on March 18, 2021 [3 favorites]
There's this whole fantasy on the #Resistance left that Brett Kavanaugh is some sort of mob enforcer or something. That Kavanaugh having loans and then not having them means that he was bribed. That some random video of Trump and Kennedy talking is a smoking gun of some absurd sort. That Kennedy's son having worked at the same massive company as where Trump banked means that some illict payoff was happening.
I feel like we're talking past each other here. You're talking about some all-encompassing theory of This Conspiracy Which Ties Everything Together And Will Bring Down All The Bad Guys. I'm talking about the concerted efforts to specifically undermine the judiciary to secure specific court victories that Sen. Whitehouse laid out in detail at the Amy Coney Barrett hearings. That's not some wild, far-fetched fantasy; that is "here are the bad things being perpetrated by these bad actors, right now, because of loopholes in our system of rules". My "mob enforcer" thing was not literal, but an analogy to where I think Kavanaugh's position is in this particular very real conspiracy, which is somewhere near the bottom.
Do I think Kavanaugh was blatantly bribed, that some shadowy cigar-smoking dude in the Federalist Society wrote him a check for $250k and said "Here, go buy yourself a nice house, kid, but remember when the day comes, who bought it for you."? No. Life isn't a movie. Do I think that he had help with his debts from "friends" who have specific political agendas, and do I think he, being human, is naturally predisposed to think well of those friends who helped him out? I sure do! Do I think we, as members of the public, ought to be entitled to know who those generous friends of his are, especially if there are potential conflicts of interest where he might ought to recuse himself from certain cases? I sure do! Do I think that, should it turn out those "generous friends" have demonstrated a pattern of being very generous to a specific subset of people, and then also spending still more money (unasked!) to get those same certain people appointed to the judiciary positions, and then still more money to accelerate certain cases through the legal system so they will get tried in certain courts (watch this video too) that we should know about that, and try to find a way to stop those people from continuing to do that? Well guess what: I do! Do I think any of this will link back to Justice Kennedy, or Trump? I do not, and would in fact be very surprised if it does! (Especially Trump, who I would be surprised to find out knows that the Federalist Society is not something from "Hamilton".) I also do not own a tin foil hat.
This is conspiratorial thinking at its core. No, the world looks broken because it is broken.
Ah yes, that passive voice construction. The world, it just happens to be broken, who knows how it got that way? Maybe it just came like that right out of the box. No. There are two distinct reasons the system (not the "world") is currently broken: one, because in some respects it was designed that way from the ground up, and two, because some people actively sought out ways to game the system and exploited them to break it. This is a case of the latter happening. It is still ongoing. Yes, some of the ways those bad actors are exploiting the system to break it are only possible because those bad actors are rich white men which means they can take advantage of some of the original baked-in flaws in the system, but that does not mean we have to or should roll over and allow their further efforts to break the system go unchecked. I do not think there is some secret corrupt deal that would expose everything and fix it all if exposed: I believe there is a specific crime in progress right now. And I am fortunate enough to have a Senator representing me who shares my concerns, and brings receipts.
posted by mstokes650 at 3:43 PM on March 18, 2021 [20 favorites]
I feel like we're talking past each other here. You're talking about some all-encompassing theory of This Conspiracy Which Ties Everything Together And Will Bring Down All The Bad Guys. I'm talking about the concerted efforts to specifically undermine the judiciary to secure specific court victories that Sen. Whitehouse laid out in detail at the Amy Coney Barrett hearings. That's not some wild, far-fetched fantasy; that is "here are the bad things being perpetrated by these bad actors, right now, because of loopholes in our system of rules". My "mob enforcer" thing was not literal, but an analogy to where I think Kavanaugh's position is in this particular very real conspiracy, which is somewhere near the bottom.
Do I think Kavanaugh was blatantly bribed, that some shadowy cigar-smoking dude in the Federalist Society wrote him a check for $250k and said "Here, go buy yourself a nice house, kid, but remember when the day comes, who bought it for you."? No. Life isn't a movie. Do I think that he had help with his debts from "friends" who have specific political agendas, and do I think he, being human, is naturally predisposed to think well of those friends who helped him out? I sure do! Do I think we, as members of the public, ought to be entitled to know who those generous friends of his are, especially if there are potential conflicts of interest where he might ought to recuse himself from certain cases? I sure do! Do I think that, should it turn out those "generous friends" have demonstrated a pattern of being very generous to a specific subset of people, and then also spending still more money (unasked!) to get those same certain people appointed to the judiciary positions, and then still more money to accelerate certain cases through the legal system so they will get tried in certain courts (watch this video too) that we should know about that, and try to find a way to stop those people from continuing to do that? Well guess what: I do! Do I think any of this will link back to Justice Kennedy, or Trump? I do not, and would in fact be very surprised if it does! (Especially Trump, who I would be surprised to find out knows that the Federalist Society is not something from "Hamilton".) I also do not own a tin foil hat.
This is conspiratorial thinking at its core. No, the world looks broken because it is broken.
Ah yes, that passive voice construction. The world, it just happens to be broken, who knows how it got that way? Maybe it just came like that right out of the box. No. There are two distinct reasons the system (not the "world") is currently broken: one, because in some respects it was designed that way from the ground up, and two, because some people actively sought out ways to game the system and exploited them to break it. This is a case of the latter happening. It is still ongoing. Yes, some of the ways those bad actors are exploiting the system to break it are only possible because those bad actors are rich white men which means they can take advantage of some of the original baked-in flaws in the system, but that does not mean we have to or should roll over and allow their further efforts to break the system go unchecked. I do not think there is some secret corrupt deal that would expose everything and fix it all if exposed: I believe there is a specific crime in progress right now. And I am fortunate enough to have a Senator representing me who shares my concerns, and brings receipts.
posted by mstokes650 at 3:43 PM on March 18, 2021 [20 favorites]
Last week, six top Republican senators expressed dismay to the acting chief of the Capitol Police, Yogananda Pittman, over the continued presence of nearly 2300 National Guardsmen and a fence topped with razor wire around the Capitol.
And just today they arrested a man with an AR-15 style rifle, over 100 rounds and multiple magazines right outside the VP residence in D.C.
posted by srboisvert at 4:52 PM on March 18, 2021 [11 favorites]
And just today they arrested a man with an AR-15 style rifle, over 100 rounds and multiple magazines right outside the VP residence in D.C.
posted by srboisvert at 4:52 PM on March 18, 2021 [11 favorites]
It's not clear if VP Harris & and her family were in residence; there were renovations underway a couple of months back, and as of Jan. 21 they were staying at Blair House (aka the President's Guest House). Texas man arrested outside vice president’s residence told police he was ‘looking for help’ (Washington Post) A Texas man arrested outside the vice president’s residence on Wednesday told an officer “he was looking for help” and “wanted to talk to the president” before leading police to his vehicle, which contained a rifle and 113 rounds of ammunition, according to court documents. Police had been searching for 31-year-old Paul Murray since Tuesday, when authorities in College Station, Tex., distributed an intelligence bulletin warning he thought he was being targeted by the government and had texted his mother that he was in the District “to take care of his problem.” [...]
Court documents say that on March 12, authorities in Brazos County, Tex., obtained a “mental health warrant” allowing for Murray’s “emergency detention.” The warrant states, according to the court documents, that Murray “thinks he is going to be murdered” by someone in the government. The bulletin distributed by College Station police four days later says Murray told officers he had been attacked by a group called “3 Stones” while he was in the military overseas and that “he would hurt someone ‘if it was justified.’ ” It says Murray complained to police in Texas he was not getting enough support, had stopped taking his medication and had been drugged or poisoned on a recent trip to Japan. The Texas police bulletin also advises that Murray told police he had been medically discharged from the Army, where he had worked as a remote drone operator at a base within the United States. An Army spokesman said Murray had a rank of specialist and had been assigned as an unmanned aerial vehicle operator from March 2010 through April 2014. He had no deployments.
The article notes: There is no indication Murray, from San Antonio, made any direct threats, but his arrest came amid heightened security alerts following the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol and recent attacks targeting Asian Americans. Vice President Harris is Black and Asian.
posted by Iris Gambol at 6:59 PM on March 18, 2021 [4 favorites]
Court documents say that on March 12, authorities in Brazos County, Tex., obtained a “mental health warrant” allowing for Murray’s “emergency detention.” The warrant states, according to the court documents, that Murray “thinks he is going to be murdered” by someone in the government. The bulletin distributed by College Station police four days later says Murray told officers he had been attacked by a group called “3 Stones” while he was in the military overseas and that “he would hurt someone ‘if it was justified.’ ” It says Murray complained to police in Texas he was not getting enough support, had stopped taking his medication and had been drugged or poisoned on a recent trip to Japan. The Texas police bulletin also advises that Murray told police he had been medically discharged from the Army, where he had worked as a remote drone operator at a base within the United States. An Army spokesman said Murray had a rank of specialist and had been assigned as an unmanned aerial vehicle operator from March 2010 through April 2014. He had no deployments.
The article notes: There is no indication Murray, from San Antonio, made any direct threats, but his arrest came amid heightened security alerts following the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol and recent attacks targeting Asian Americans. Vice President Harris is Black and Asian.
posted by Iris Gambol at 6:59 PM on March 18, 2021 [4 favorites]
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posted by seanmpuckett at 4:05 PM on March 17, 2021 [15 favorites]