Discussion: DOJ Asks SCOTUS To Delay Next Week's Census Citizenship Trial

In order to cut down on Bureaucracy and paperwork, the DOJ should no longer have to submit an appeal on behalf of Trump.

All positions should be just assumed to get a 5-4 majority in favor of whatever Trump tweeted, we can skip the hearings, paperwork and time for all involved.

After all, we all know that it’s going to end up that way anyway.

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I mean really, SCOTUS, how many court proceedings should an administration have to put up with? There was a vote in 2016, so let’s just let that do until Jan 2021.

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According to Ms Sneed (TPM) earlier Prime post, the DOJ is throwing everything at the wall to see what sticks. They even asked for an appellate court decision BEFORE the primary court decision was out.

Let’s hope the Supremes don’t screw this one up as they did by blocking the Ross discovery deposition, … but not holding my breath.
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/prime-beta/behold-how-frustrated-a-judge-is-with-the-dojs-shenanigans-in-the-big-census-case

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That sounds a bit like hoping the sun will never set.

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I wouldn’t trust this SCOTUS to keep its nose out of traffic court.

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You sort of jest, but you’re right. It’s astonishing how regularly and speedily the Trump administration zooms off to the Trump-Roberts “Court” for an instant overturning of any lower court decision it doesn’t like. I haven’t seen any studies of this, but my impression is that an unprecedented or at least extraordinary volume of appeals have been brought in this manner.

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Given how furiously and desperately DOJ is trying to prevent Ross from being deposed, you could be forgiven for thinking that they must have something to hide. Something large. Something damaging. But I’m sure that’s not it, at all.

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The Supreme Court shouldn’t be micromanaging discovery and trial procedure. Those powers are firmly within the discretion of the district court, and even an interlocutory appeal to a court of appeal is obnoxious and unusual. Yet, the Supreme Court has been micromanaging such things with regards to the Ross deposition and the Oregon climate change trial, so here we are. I guess if a liberal public interest lawsuit is gaining traction then it’s not crazy anymore to get the Supreme Court to meddle in discovery and case management affairs.

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Yes - they could just Tweet their decree. Would save so much time and money.

“We agree with Trump”.

Simple

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Nor should the Supreme Court be substituting its own judgement as to the apparent bad faith of Ross for that of trial judge. But this is the Trump-Roberts Court. Calling it the Supreme Court is falsely legitimizing it. The whole SCOTUS nomenclature should be abandoned.

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When you’re the owner/manager of the business you can do that — and get results!

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OK guys can someone go back to the beginning of this argument and explain to me why having the citizenship question would be enforcing the Voting Right’s Act? Isn’t this the fig leaf DoJ is trying to hide behind, or is it Ross trying to hide behind it?
And how many decennial censuses have there been since the Voting Right’s Act was enacted that didn’t have this question?

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All of them, Katy.

The last time the Census Bureau asked all U.S. households a question about U.S. citizenship was in 1950. That form asked where each person was born and in a follow-up question asked, “If foreign born — Is he naturalized?”

In 1960, there was no such question about citizenship, only about place of birth.
[source: https://www.npr.org/2018/03/27/597436512/fact-check-has-citizenship-been-a-standard-census-question]

Fun Fact: “This is a question that’s been included in every census since 1965,” Battle-ax SHS said, “with the exception of 2010, when it was removed.” The funniest thing about the question being removed in 1965 is that there was no census taken in 1965.

Hey, remember when facts mattered? Me too.

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Yeah, the GOP needs to cheat so it can steal more elections, Judge and Justice positions, etc.

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Shorter DOJ: In order to decide if the Trump administration acted in bad faith the only information you are entitled to is whatever excuses we chose to put in the administrative record!

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Kudos to Josh for highlighting the weird-looking dyed hair guy interviewing Chris Farrell.

Well done.

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From the court:

Defendants now seek a stay of the trial and related pre-trial submissions (most of which are due today and therefore presumably done already)

Thinking back to when I was teaching full time … nnnnno, that’s not what I generally “presumed” when a student asked for an extension the day the assignment was due.

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Sadly, I don’t. I can just read the tea leaves very well, and for the foreseeable future, the Supreme Court is going to be a blank check for a Republican President.

Then they’ll tie themselves into knots justifying why their earlier precedents weren’'t ‘really’ precedents when a Democrat takes office.

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There’s that “sincerely held belief” standard again. Let’s see them test their sincerely held belief that gravity doesn’t exist by stepping off the top of Half Dome at Yosemite.

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