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Breaking News.
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Justice David Souter has passed. He was a model of independent jurisprudence, defying Republicans who had hoped he would deliver consistently conservative rulings. As a justice, he became a rare convert to liberal and progressive causes, and he stood by his beliefs through it all. Rest in power.
— George Takei (@georgetakei.bsky.social) May 9, 2025 at 6:21 AM
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See. It's not that hard.
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When will his cultists admit he's an idiot? The crickets from the rethugs are deafening.
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No, President Trump: Less traffic at our ports means less work for the men and women who run them, like the thousands of Marylanders who power the Port of Baltimore.
That's not a good thing. These tariffs will tear apart our economy and hurt our communities — and it's entirely Trump-inflicted.
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— Senator Chris Van Hollen (@vanhollen.senate.gov) May 8, 2025 at 5:23 PM
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Nah, he still thinks his face is safe.
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Meanwhile, WT Actual F?
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Meanwhile,
Um, Rep. Donalds....
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Rümeysa Öztürk has been released!
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Here's Judge Sessions's written order for Rümeysa Öztürk's release.
We haven't yet seen confirmation that she's been released—I'll certainly update you as soon as it appears! storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
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— Joshua J. Friedman (@joshuajfriedman.com) May 9, 2025 at 2:19 PM
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This is also breaking and the fallout is ongoing. "Baraka" is Ras Baraka, the MAYOR of Newark, NJ.
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“The controversial 1,000-bed facility is owned by the private prison company GEO Group, which entered into a 15-year, $1 billion contract with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in February.”
$1 BILLION dollars lining the pockets of a private prison company.
www.insidernj.com/baraka-arres...
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— Katie Phang (@katiephang.bsky.social) May 9, 2025 at 1:02 PM
Newark mayor arrested at ICE detention facility in New Jersey for alleged trespassing. www.nbcnews.com/…
Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, a gubernatorial candidate in New Jersey, was arrested Friday at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facility on trespassing charges.
Alina Habba, the interim U.S. attorney for the District of New Jersey, said in a post on X that Baraka trespassed and “ignored multiple warnings from Homeland Security” officials to “remove himself from the ICE detention center in Newark, New Jersey this afternoon.”
“He has willingly chosen to disregard the law. That will not stand in this state,” Habba added.
Images provided by Baraka’s office show the mayor being escorted by law enforcement with his hands behind his back.
Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman, D-N.J., who was with Baraka when he was arrested, spoke to reporters outside the Homeland Security Investigations office, which is also where Baraka is being held, according to his campaign and WNBC. The lawmaker said she has been in touch with Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy and Democratic Sens. Cory Booker and Andy Kim regarding the incident.
“We have informed them — the governor and Cory — that we need an emergency bail hearing because they’re gonna try to keep the mayor overnight, and that is unnecessary,” Watson Coleman said.
Habba’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Friday.
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Meanwhile:
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Stephen Miller says they are “actively looking at” suspending the writ of habeas corpus, which is only allowed when the US has been invaded or during an insurrection, which would not allow people to challenge their incarceration in court if they are arrested and detained.
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— Ron Filipkowski (@ronfilipkowski.bsky.social) May 9, 2025 at 12:05 PM
From Steve Vladeck. Suspending Habeas Corpus. In response to adverse rulings in numerous immigration cases, Stephen Miller is raising the specter of suspending habeas. His argument is factually and legally nuts, but it's worth explaining *why.* www.stevevladeck.com/…
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I was going to wait until Monday’s regular issue to note the sad news out of the Supreme Court on Friday (that retired Justice David Souter passed away Thursday at the age of 85). But then Stephen Miller went on television Friday afternoon and made some of the most remarkable (and remarkably scary) comments about federal courts that I think we’ve ever heard from a senior White House official. Reacting to a series of high-profile losses in immigration cases this week, Miller raised the specter of President Trump suspending habeas corpus:
Well, the Constitution is clear. And that, of course, is the supreme law of the land, that the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus can be suspended in a time of invasion. So … that's an option we're actively looking at. Look, a lot of it depends on whether the courts do the right thing or not. At the end of the day, Congress passed a body of law known as the Immigration Nationality Act which stripped Article III courts, that’s the judicial branch, of jurisdiction over immigration cases. So Congress actually passed what’s called jurisdiction stripping legislation. It passed a number of laws that say that the Article III courts aren't even allowed to be involved in immigration cases.
I know there’s a lot going on, and that Miller says lots of incendiary (and blatantly false) stuff. But this strikes me as raising the temperature to a whole new level—and thus meriting a brief explanation of all of the ways in which this statement is both (1) wrong; and (2) profoundly dangerous. Specifically, it seems worth making five basic points:
Please click the link to read the rest.
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Elsewhere:
In case you'd forgotten, this happend in the waning minutes days of FIDJT'S first term. Trump issues last-second pardon to Fox News host Jeanine Pirro’s tax cheat ex-husband Al. www.cnbc.com/... (posted 1/20/21)
He’s a tax evader and a flashy New York businessman who cheated on his wife, and Donald Trump just gave him a last-minute pardon.
Trump on Wednesday morning issued a full pardon to Al Pirro Jr., the ex-husband of one of Trump’s most slavishly loyal supporters in the media, Jeanine Pirro, host of Fox News’ “Justice with Judge Jeanine.”
The pardon, announced less than 45 minutes before Joe Biden was sworn in as president, appeared to be the last gasp of executive clemency by Trump, who in the past two months eagerly rewarded friends, sycophants and run-of-the-mill people who fell afoul of the law.
Bolding mine. And now we know her "qualifications" for the job.
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Click the Flutter to read the whole thread:
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I know some of you may do this anyway, but I nonetheless urge you NOT to send items like these to the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, 601 D St. NW, Washington, DC 20530. Please do NOT do that. Thank you.
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— George Conway 👊🇺🇸🔥 (@gtconway.bsky.social) May 8, 2025 at 5:21 PM
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Brings a whole new meaning to "Trampling on the Constitution."
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Not just trampling - last time he wanted his Pyongyang parade he was blocked cause the war machines would chew the pavement off the roads and cost until damages - nothing’s changed except that he just raided cancer research for kids funding etc to pay for his own pageant of shittiness.
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— Philip Gourevitch (@pgourevitch.bsky.social) May 9, 2025 at 5:36 AM
Betting ghost's ten dollars that the route was chosen on purpose.
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I could access the story, but in case you can't, I've included some of it below.
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Justice Sonia Sotomayor on Thursday night urged the legal profession to toughen up. "If you’re not used to fighting, and losing battles, then don’t become a lawyer," she said. Her remarks came against the backdrop of immense stress on lawyers from the Trump administration.
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— The New York Times (@nytimes.com) May 9, 2025 at 5:28 AM
Justice Sonia Sotomayor, speaking to hundreds of lawyers at an American Bar Association event on Thursday night, urged the legal profession to toughen up.
“If you’re not used to fighting, and losing battles, then don’t become a lawyer,” she said. “Our job is to stand up for people who can’t do it themselves.”
“Right now,” she added, “we can’t lose the battles we are facing.”
Justice Sotomayor spoke in general terms, but her remarks came against the backdrop of immense stress on lawyers and the legal system from the Trump administration. That tension included a string of executive orders from President Trump retaliating against prominent law firms, stripping their lawyers of security clearances, barring them from entering federal buildings and discouraging federal officials from interacting with the firms.
She was once a summer associate at one of those firms, Paul Weiss, which led the way in striking a deal with the administration, prompting criticism that it had sacrificed its principles to protect its bottom line. Many other leading firms followed suit.
Justice Sotomayor indicated that she had a different conception of what lawyers ought to do.
“We need trained and passionate and committed lawyers to fight this fight,” she said. “For me, being here with you is an act of solidarity.” www.nytimes.com/...
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I really admire Marc Elias - his tireless work to defend Democracy and his desire to get us all involved. Here's his latest, We Have More Power Than Trump Wants Us To Believe — Here’s What You Can Do. www.democracydocket.com/…
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Trump wants us to believe he is all-powerful. He wants us to believe that opposing him is futile or worse. He wants you to accept that there’s nothing you can do to limit his ability to harm our country and our democracy. But that simply isn’t true.
In truth, Trump is quite weak and afraid.
His greatest weakness is elections. He fears their outcome. That’s why he issued an illegal and unconstitutional executive order to try to seize control of them.
There are things every one of us can do in our daily lives to help ensure free and fair elections — and, in doing so, limit Trump’s power. Some actions are small — so small that you might dismiss them as unimportant. Don’t. Every important journey begins with a single step, and the first is no less important than the last.
It’s also true that some actions are much bigger — so big you might doubt your ability to achieve them. Don’t give up before you start. Have faith that you can accomplish great things if you set your mind to it.
I don’t pretend to have all the answers or a comprehensive list of every way we can defend our elections or our democracy. Like you, I’m just one person doing my best to navigate a dangerous time in our country’s history. Yes, I’m a lawyer, but right now, my most important role is that of an active citizen.
So, here is a list I recently sent to premium members of what each of us can do to stand up for democracy and defend our elections. Democracy Docket is dropping the paywall and publishing it because we must all feel the power we have to stand up to Trump and protect our democracy.
Click the link to read the rest.
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New from me: Everything feels overwhelming. But here is a tangible thing you can do: write a comment to oppose Trump's plan to convert 50,000 career civil servants into political appointees. Deadline is May 23. Please share!
donmoynihan.substack.com/p/here-is-a-...
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— Don Moynihan (@donmoyn.bsky.social) May 9, 2025 at 5:33 AM
From the article and why it matters:
Trump’s maximalist strategy of firing off one executive action after another seeks to overwhelm us. Finding some tangible way to respond sometimes feels impossible. So, here is something that you can do:
Take the time you would have spent complaining about politics online, and use it to write a comment opposing the proposed Office of Personnel Management rule to politicize public services. You can do it in 5 minutes. Deadline is May 23rd!
Why should you do this?
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The proposed rule seeks to reinstate Schedule F, Trump’s never implemented plan to institutionalize political control and loyalty tests for the career bureaucracy by turning 50,000 or more career civil servants into political appointees.
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Federal comments really do matter. By law, they must be read by the administration, and substantive comments require a response. Failure to do so can see the rule tossed out by courts.
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It’s easy: Enter a comment here. No log in. Just click on the “submit a public comment” button. You can enter text, or upload a document.
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The volume of opposing comments matters, so writing something short and sweet is great. You don’t need to read the rule in depth or be an expert. The proposed rule is bad and protecting nonpartisan civil servants is good. See more details below or take a look at the comments people have already posted.
Like Nike says, "Just Do It!"
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Evening Shade Seekers! Happy National Lost Sock Memorial Day!
Happy National Refrigerator Magnet Day! (It's supposed to be Alphabet magnets, but critters can't spell...or so they say)
Happy National Sleepover Day (Night?)
Happy Homefront Heroes Day and Happy Military Spouse Appreciation Day! These help celebrate those who support out service men and women who defend us.
Happy National MosCATo Day!
AND Happy National Butterscotch Brownie Day! I'm sorry, this one I just had to share.
Tomorrow is National Washington Day and National Shrimp Day.
