I donb’t think thee judges will have an attack of conscience, but I think that they do have some notion that the power of the judiciary rests on its image of legitimacy. And there is a small but visible distinction between decisions made entirely to favor a political movement and decisions made to favor one person.
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I won’t hold my breath, but I think it’s entirely possible that many of the judges are actually conservative in a country over party kind of way. IOW, far too business friendly and on the dominionist side of social policy, but against actual and easily identifiable corruption by govt officials, regardless of party. I’m actually wondering if Gorsuch might be one of those guys, too. I don’t hold much hope for Bart or Clarence, but would be happy to be wrong about either of them.
SCOTUS’ image of legitimacy has more holes in it than my grandma’s lace doilies.
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I think the biggest overall conflict we face by far is that our system of government requires officials who will act at least somewhat in good faith because
- we cannot legislate every little thing
- even if we did, so what? These people break laws they don’t like
A lot more officials need to go to prison to discourage getting into positions where they can abuse the system. There are way too many voters whose egos depend on govt not working properly, so they work to install the chaos creators who almost guarantee it.
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Please, Santa, please!
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I fear that a new administration will, as Obama did, argue that tying up DoJ with retrospective, politically-charged investigations would be counterproductive to pursuing a new progressive agenda. That’s a reasonable argument when you’re looking at myriad crimes committed by the dozens of individuals whose bad acts infused the whole administration. More appropriate, I think, would be for a Dem-controlled Congress to establish a Truth and Reconciliation Commission to do the work and refer illegal acts for prosecution as they deem appropriate.
Cue 100 defense fund grifts targeting the rubes that constitute the base.
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I still can’t believe the Democrats aren’t going to wait for courts to rule. If they file a case against all people who have withheld testimony and documents, and press for it to be expedited, SURELY it will get through in a time favorable to the impeachment timeline? I mean, Bush v. Gore got all the way to and through the Supreme Court in a month.
Also, can witnesses who don’t testify in the impeachment be summoned as witnesses in the trial itself? Doesn’t Roberts have the final call on those matters, in near real-time? I mean, I trust Roberts more than I trust McConnell on those matters, although that’s not saying a ton.
Ok fine but what do you intend to DO about it?!? Expressions of dismay, disappointment and outrage in and of themselves accomplish nothing. He has to hold these people in both criminal and inherent contempt. Otherwise, sternly-worded griping.
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Why yes, Congressman Schiff, it is obstruction. Just add it to the bill of impeachment, please.
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He is in sooooo much trouble IMO.
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The Federalist Society has ways of making sure nobody with a conscience ever makes it to the top of their list.
You cannot work tirelessly to bring about naked oligarchy while also respecting any other system of value.
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Seriously. Conscience. I wish I could be as optimistic but I’m not. If it goes to the SC, Thomas has proven over time to be without conscience and am guessing Kavenaugh is itching to prove fealty to dear Rump. Alito, Gorsuch. Probably will twist themselves into knots to swing for Rump. Maybe Roberts is better but no willing to bet on it.
I really want to know if there is any penalty for individuals who ignore a subpoena? I know it cannot be handled in this administration but can it happen in the next one?
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Schiff has no intention of actually doing anything about the no-shows, the contemptuous asswipes who are daring the Dems to do anything about Trump’s crimes and his minions’ complicity. If Schiff had any hair on his ass he’d be announcing the arrest and incarceration of the criminals who are telling Congress to F-off.