Experts can testify to their opinion based on their assessment of the FACTS.
Trump wanted to call a lawyer to give his opinion about the LAW. That’s not allowed.
The judge is the only expert able to testify about the law.
Since we now know Alito was flying his flag upside down at the time, let’s review one of the plans the coup plotters had involving him.
This interview by criminal defendant Powell is interesting. It suggests that the purpose of the insurrection was to DELAY the electoral college certification to give #Alito time to intervene on this legal challenge. But, Powell says they didn’t anticipate Pelosi reconvening Congress that day.
Crimal defendant Powell is interesting. It suggests that the purpose of the insurrection was to DELAY the electoral college certification to give #scotus#Alito time to intervene on this legal challenge. But, Powell says they didn’t anticipate Speaker Pelosi reconvening Congress.
Remember when John Eastman admitted his proposals to nullify the 2020 election would lose at #SCOTUS 7-2?
The two Eastman was counting on for the insurrection were Thomas (atop the 11th circuit where they filed a lawsuit in Georgia) and Alito (atop the 5th circuit where they filed a lawsuit in Texas). That’s according to under-oath testimony from Pence’s lawyer. 2/
At the Alito's beach house, the "Appeal to Heaven" flag: "now a symbol of support for insurrectionist Donald Trump, for a religious strand of the “Stop the Steal” campaign and for a push to remake American government in Christian terms."
Provocative Flag Flown at Another #Alito Home. The justice’s house displayed an “Appeal to Heaven” flag, a symbol carried on #Jan6 associated with #christofascist. #traitor#insurrectionist flew the “Appeal to Heaven” flag outside the Alitos’ #NewJersey vacation home last summer.
On the one hand, the Supreme Court has not been favorable, overall, to Trump's reelection. In 2020, they threw out a case brought by Republicans to have four Democratic states ejected from the election, for example.
But on the other hand, now with two justices' wives taking public actions to support Trump's reelection, it's really hard to take the idea of impartiality seriously. If you're the spouse of a justice, and if you took SCOTUS's work seriously, you'd sit it out. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/16/us/justice-alito-upside-down-flag.html
The spouse of one Supreme Court justice was actively conspiring with Mark Meadows to overturn the results of the 2020 election, while another Supreme Court justice was flying the American flag upside down to show his solidarity with the Big Lie.
Now they're sitting on the DC Felony Trial to buy Trump and his acolytes more time to steal the next election.
America is at a crossroads.
We either turn a blind eye to #scotus reign of corruption, or we take this country back at the ballot box and restore rule of law.
...of the #MagnaCarta 2), which only applied to barrons and the clergy, the #US despite #Reconstruction and all the Amendments was never able to really overcome systemic racism and plutocratic discrimination. In fact, ever since #CitizensUnitedVsFEC, the pendulum has been swinging in the opposite direction, so far culminating in the overturning of #RoeVsWade.
...#Orwellian#dystopias simultaneously: #1984 and, more pertinent in this context, #AnimalFarm. Seen from this novel's perspective, aspiring to be the One Animal [that] Is more equal Than Others makes perfect sense. It even strongly appeals to the lowest human instincts.
I have long thought that #DefundThePolice doesn’t have any merit, except for anarchists waiting for the breakdown of civil society to loot shops, etc.
...recently begun to think that given the slaver and colonial origins of the police force in the US, it might become necessary to rebuild everything from the ground up. How? I wouldn't know.
Looking at the causes auf #BLM and the current police brutalities against students exercising their #1A on public grounds (sometimes private--different story,) the system might be beyond repair indeed.
...#RomanRepublic, elected officials of one of the 3 branches of government, deserves immunity while in office. Once their term ends, they must be accountable to the fullest extent of the law.
This is what really differentiates a democracy from (absolute) monarchy or Putinesque authoritarianism/tyranny.
Therefore, if there is serous cause that members of the government committed crimes, their immunity must be lifted by their...
...their peers or another branch of government. (Impeachment is clearly not working for the Presidential office, the chief reason being the undemocratic #filibuster.)
So, any any special Law Enforcement Officers' Bill of Rights (#LEBOR, #LEOBR, or #LEOBoR) for the police is undemocratic and should be ruled unconstitutional, including contractual means to circumvent this fact.
It's a manifestation of #AnimalFarm.
Yesterday morning, on the first day of #LegalUp, I gave my latest MCLE presentation "Discovering How to Get the Most Out of the Most Hated Part of Litigation: Discovery 101”. There were over 200 attendees and judging, at least by the chat, I managed to make a usually very boring topic kind of fun and interesting.
Indigenous leaders want to protect whales by granting them legal personhood
"What we're trying to achieve here is to provide whales with certain rights," Takoko told Morning Edition. "Those rights include the right to freedom of movement, natural behavior, development, cultural expression – which includes language – to a healthy environment, healthy oceans, and indeed the restoration of their populations."
since Apartheidboi rebranded #Xitter, and seems hell bent on destroying anything related to Twitter; is it an abandoned trademark? even if not, can tweet be transformed into a generic term for microblogging?
I was able to attend part of an AWI webinar today re “Are We Effective Human Lie Detectors?” and the answer is no. Even so called experts (police officers, detectives, psychologists, lawyers, etc.) have only a 50/50 chance of correctly determining if someone is lying or not. And some people are better liars and appear more credible than nervous truth tellers. A good reminder why outside corroboration or contemporaneous documentation is so important in all investigations.
The Florida Supreme Court did allow a proposed amendment to protect abortion to go on the Florida ballot.
But the decision was very close: 4-3.
And three of those four went out of their way to condemn abortion
But at least they realized that it would be too obviously political to reject the amendment on the grounds the summary was misleading or the text was ambiguous
I am about the read the Florida Supreme Court's decision eliminating abortion rights under the Florida Constitution, which has an explicit right to privacy and has until today been read to reach the right to abortion.
I suspect I will become very, very angry at this blatantly outcome driven decision
The Florida Supreme Court's decision eliminating the right to abortion under the Florida Const is as unprincipled as the Supreme Court's decision eliminating it under the US Const.
Perhaps more, because the Florida Const has an EXPLICIT RIGHT TO PRIVACY
Once again, conservatives jettison precedent and manipulate "original public meaning" to get exactly the answer they want.
Trump told Bob Woodward he knew in February that COVID-19 was 'deadly stuff' but wanted to 'play it down'
“You just breathe the air and that’s how it’s passed, and so that’s a very tricky one. It’s also more deadly than even your strenuous flu.” -dt
dt told reporters at the White House on Feb. 27: "This is a flu. This is like a flu."
Arguably “Negligent Homicide” is a legal term irt the unlawful killing of another person through gross negligence or without malice.
The response to the COVID-19 pandemic by criminal defendant Donald’s administration has been a topic of significant outrage. The administration’s response was deceptive, slow, inadequate, citing issues such as testing availability, communication of risk, and coordination with states.
The whitewashing of what Donald Trump did during the pandemic is stunning.
In fact, 400,000 Americans were confirmed dead of COVID-19 during the Trump administration—with the estimated undercount at that point being an additional 75,000.
The next 200,000 to die died because of negligent practices Trump pushed while in office and before President Biden could do anything about it.
Trump rhetoric continued to spur deaths thereafter. Negligent homicide.
US District Judge #AileenCannon’s ultimatum Mon night came as a surprise twist in what could have been a simple order; one merely asking federal prosecutors & Trump’s lawyers for proposed #JuryInstructions at the upcoming #trial.
“Under the statutory scheme established by the Presidential Records Act, the decision to segregate personal materials from Presidential records is made by the President during the President’s term, and in the President’s sole discretion.”
Judge Amy Berman Jackson, Judicial Watch v. National Archives, 2012
@johnefrancis No man, It's a rip off of the old Hockey Night In Canada legal warning at the end of the show, lolz. I put it out there to #fedilaw but haven't heard anything yet. I thought something up is better than nothing.