8 thoughts on “Friday Open Thread”

1. King John: Remembering the Magna Carta. EmptyWheel.

   Note the third paragraph, that begins “If we, our chief justice, . . .” In that paragraph, King John, by the grace of God King of England etc., is agreeing that he and his administration are not immune from accountability.

   John and the barons agreed on a process for adjudicating disputes. They agreed on a panel that could both bring charges and judge them.  They agreed on how the panel should be chosen, and how the panel should select new members at the death of old ones. They agreed on how many members of the panel needed to agree in order for a judgment to be final. They agreed on a time frame for restitution. Most importantly, should John be found to have violated the terms of this document and yet refuse restitution, John, by the grace of God King of England etc., agreed that his castles and lands could be seized under order of the panel to make restitution for what he had done, or his officials had done on his behalf.

   To be fair, the Magna Carta was changed and altered in the years and centuries that followed. But the original text of the original version makes it clear that even the King of England, Lord of Ireland, Duke of Normandy and Aquitaine, and Count of Anjou does not enjoy absolute immunity.

   Trump may wish to be a monarch with absolute immunity and not a president.

   Alito may wish to treat him as a monarch with absolute immunity and not a president.

   But in a meadow at Runnymede, between Windsor and Staines, John, by the grace of God King of England, Lord of Ireland, Duke of Normandy and Aquitaine, and Count of Anjou, said no. That’s not how even a divinely appointed monarch is to be treated.

   Log in to Reply

2. Since we're at Mt. Rushmore this morning, this is what now constitutes 'auditioning' for the VP: Pick me! Pick me!  I kill puppies!  Stefanik and Empty G are going to have to step up their game. There is an encyclopedia of subtle messages here. 
    

   Trump VP contender Kristi Noem writes of killing dog – and goat – in new book

   “I hated that dog,” Noem writes, adding that Cricket had proved herself “untrainable”, “dangerous to anyone she came in contact with” and “less than worthless … as a hunting dog”.

   “At that moment,” Noem says, “I realised I had to put her down.”

   Noem, who also represented her state in Congress for eight years, got her gun, then led Cricket to a gravel pit.

   Log in to Reply

3. The "downside" to designing a country to be tied closely to a religion is that it's difficult for people to criticize that government without being seen as criticizing the religion (Looking at you, Isreal and almost every other country in the middle east!)

   I put "downside" in quotes cuz I can see some folks thinking of this as a feature, not a bug.

   Log in to Reply

4. SCOTUS’ handling of Trump’s absurd immunity claims appear to reinforce the growing perception that it is guided not by constitutional principles, but by objectively partisan outcomes.

   How to Know If the Supreme Court Is in the Tank for Trump

   The court’s conservative majority has earned the public’s distrust and disdain the honest way — by issuing transparently political rulings that are clearly aligned with the political priorities of the Republican Party. Now would be a good time for them to start climbing out of the hole that they dug for themselves.

   The public is clearly paying attention to the Trump case — and rightly so. If the conservatives further meddle with Trump’s trial or indulge Trump’s nonsensical claims, there’s no telling how much lower their public approval and political standing in the country could drop. A crisis of credibility can always get worse.

   Log in to Reply

   1. You dance with the one who brought you. And that they certainly do.

      Expect for Kavanaugh who doesn't just adhere to a sense of fealty to the GOP but in addition to loyalty has a burning hatred towards those who – in his eyes – wronged him during his confirmation process.

      If Biden wins in November and any vacancies occur during the next two years, they will remain vacant unless the Dems gets a Senate majority in 2027. 

      If Trump wins in November, expect Clarence Thomas and Sam Alito to step down and let him replace them with 40-ish RWNJs who will be confirmed by the GOP-led Senate next year.

      Log in to Reply

5. Conservatism: It was all a lie. The Bulwark

   1. Conservatism

   A few years ago my buddy Stuart Stevens wrote a book called It Was All a Lie.

   His thesis was that the dogma conservatives had professed for 60 years—the love of small government and free trade; the desire for robust foreign policy; the belief that character and accountability mattered—turned out not to be values, but rationalizations.

   In Stuart’s view, conservatives had a bunch of groups they disfavored and then worked backwards to concoct an ideological framework to support these prejudices. No, not all conservatives. And maybe not on every single issue. But enough so that the generalization was generally fair.

   When Stuart first published his book I thought it was an interesting idea. The preponderance of evidence which has emerged since 2020 has buttressed his case.

   Yesterday the Supreme Court hinted that maybe conservative legal theory was always a lie, too.

   Log in to Reply

   1. Continues…

      I want to be very clear about what Justice Alito is saying here:

      • Donald Trump attempted a coup, and failed.

      • The criminal justice system is attempting to hold him accountable for this clear violation of the law.

      • But doing so might lead to some other president to attempt a coup.

      • So if someone attempts a coup they must not be prosecuted.

      • Because if you prosecute them, they might attempt another coup.

      Log in to Reply

   2. Yup! Anything to move the window to the right.

      Log in to Reply