Showing posts with label Court Watch. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Court Watch. Show all posts

Saturday, May 16, 2026

Court Watch Part VII. When the last law was down.

Lawyer, St. Thomas More, who was executed for his adherence to his faith. 

William Roper: So, now you give the Devil the benefit of law!

Sir Thomas More: Yes! What would you do? Cut a great road through the law to get after the Devil?

William Roper: Yes, I'd cut down every law in England to do that!

Sir Thomas More: Oh? And when the last law was down, and the Devil turned 'round on you, where would you hide, Roper, the laws all being flat? This country is planted thick with laws, from coast to coast, Man's laws, not God's! And if you cut them down, and you're just the man to do it, do you really think you could stand upright in the winds that would blow then? Yes, I'd give the Devil benefit of law, for my own safety's sake!

Robert Bolt, A Man for All Seasons: A Play in Two Acts

The Justice Department is going after James Comey for posting a photo of seashells arranged to spell "8647" on a beach somewhere, asserting it was a death threat on President Trump.  Apparently this is due to the old use of the term "86" to do away with and "47" for Donald Trump's completely illegitimate but widely accepted illegal claim to be President.

It wasn't.

This prosecution will go nowhere whatsoever, but it is more evidence that everyone in the Trump Administration is essentially a fascist with no regard for reality or the rule of law right now.  We are in monumentally dangerous territory.  It's 1534 in the United States with Donald Trump our King Henry VIII.

And the spirt of the age has spread:

What Gray did was flat out illegal.  Gray is relying, in essence, on the advice of the Attorney General and when that's a defense, the attorney client privilege is waived.  The AG's office knows that, but it has to defend the privilege  It's being pretty assertive about it.

Gray needs to suffer the penalty of the law here.

Nobody is more opposed to abortion than I am.  I wouldn't allow for the largely bogus "rape and incest" exceptions that many people will.  But this is really beyond the Pale.  Powell should be ashamed of itself for even appoint this guy to its city council.

Elsewhere, in a nation where we brought a modern justice system, it's still functioning.

South Korean court extends prison sentence for wife of ousted president 

May 5, 2026

Headline in the CST:

Judges reject Trump push to obtain state voter rolls

But of course our Secretary of State, Chuck "If you disagree with me you are a radical communist, fascist, monarchist, podiatrist" Gray just handed Wyoming's over.

May 16, 2026

Smith hasn't been confirmed as US Attorney for Wyoming yet.

Last edition:

Ballroom Batshit. A demented president goes full bonkers. The 25th Amendment Watch List Fifteenth Edition and Court Watch Part VI.

Tuesday, April 28, 2026

Ballroom Batshit. A demented president goes full bonkers. The 25th Amendment Watch List Fifteenth Edition and Court Watch Part VI.

This is so insane, it's not clear which category of trailing thread to put this in, so we'll give it its own post of dishonor.

It appears pretty clear that Trump himself penned part of this pleading that's being filed as a motion over the ballroom. The lawyers who signed the pleading should be ashamed.






Trump is nuts. Anyone supporting him, is supporting a madman.

cont:

This is not normal.

Last prior editions:

Republicans. You have reached July 20, 1944. You can either act with the insurgents and save your party (maybe) or go down in the bunker and destroy it for a generation, or more.



Saturday, April 25, 2026

Court Watch, Part V.

 Expect a major hissy fit.


I think we can confidently assume this project is dead, and that some lesser more useful construction will take place after Trump is out of office.

The judge ruled that the plaintiff was likely to prevail as the administration likely lacks the authority they tried to exercise here.

They should refund the money and Trump should pay for this destruction himself.

April 1, 2026

Trump's executive order on mail voting is set to face legal challenges

April 2, 2026

From the CST:


Basically the judge decided the issues in the two matters weren't sufficiently identical for consolidation.

On other matters:
Lex Anteinternet: Courthouses of the West: Donald Trump attends oral...: Courthouses of the West: Donald Trump attends oral arguments in Trump v. Ba... : That's the birthright citizenship case. Trump's goi...
I posted this yesterday.

Courthouses of the West: Donald Trump attends oral arguments in Trump v. Barbara

Courthouses of the West: Donald Trump attends oral arguments in Trump v. Ba...: That's the birthright citizenship case. Trump's going to lose this case, which will be another example of the wheels coming off of h...

Donald Trump attends oral arguments in Trump v. Barbara.

That's the birthright citizenship case.

Trump's going to lose this case, which will be another example of the wheels coming off of his administration.  His presence at the Court will not impress anyone, let alone the Justices. Trump seems to have lost any sense that he's not that impressive to about 70% of Americans.

His attendance is, frankly, appalling.

Cont (April 1, 2026)

JUSTICE NEIL GORSUCH: Do you think Native Americans today are birthright citizens under your test and under your friend's test?

D. JOHN SAUER, U.S. SOLICITOR GENERAL: I think so. I mean, obviously, they've been granted citizenship by statute ...

GORSUCH: Put aside the statute. Do you think they're birthright citizens?

SAUER: No, I think the clear understanding that everybody agrees in the congressional debates is that the children of tribal Indians are not birthright citizens.

GORSUCH: I understand that's what they said. But your test is the domicile of the parents, and that would be the test you'd have us apply today, right?

SAUER: Yes, yes. So, if a tribal Indian, for example, you know, gives up allegiance to ...

GORSUCH: Are tribal members born today birthright citizens?

SAUER: I think so, on our test, if they're lawfully domiciled here. I'm not s—, I have to think that through, but that's my reaction.

GORSUCH: I'll take the yes. That's alright.

Gee Louise, this administration is really something. 

It turns out that Trump left after Justice Jackson pretty much eviscerated the solicitor, D. John Sauer, who was sent to argue this.  Sauer's career really ought to be over for such a lame argument that was so obviously legal deficient.  He's a former Missouri solicitor and, more important, one of the lawyers who was willing to represent Trump in the past.

April 14, 2026

Trump predictably lost his defamation suit against the Washington Post.

And perhaps something will happen on Gray's ignoring Wyoming's voter confidentiality laws.


April 17, 2026

An attempted end run to fund the garden shed was again blocked by the Federal Court.

April 21, 2026

Kash Patel has sued The Atlantic claiming that an article that claims he has an alcohol problem is defamatory.

April 22, 2026

April 25, 2026
This is sad, but not unexpected, news.

The thing that really gets me here is the remarkable photograph of the three principal female figures in this contest on the abortion side.  There they are, sharing a good laugh, while supporting infanticide.

Abortion is flat out murder, there's no two ways about it.  Something about this made me look up the ages of the women in the photograph.

Burkhart was born in 65 or 67. . . apparently people aren't really sure.  Anthony in 66-68.  Lichtenfels, whom I once knew, probably around 61-62.  So they all grew up in the 60s and 70s when abortion was really gaining ground.  It certainly did that.  A huge number of babies are murdered in the Western world, including the U.S., every day.  The seas of blood on that score outstrips anything the Nazis or Soviet Communists did.  It's part of what's corrupted the United States and given us our current era.

What I wondered about generationally doesn't pan out, however.  Support for abortion is pretty strong across generations in this country, although obviously not so strong that the legislature here doesn't keep trying to legislate against it.

What the legislature needs to do is to work to repeal the health care self determination provision of the state constitution that paranoid far righters got inserted into it several years ago.  If they did, we wouldn't be having this argument now.

Last edition:

Court Watch, Part IV.

Wednesday, February 18, 2026

Court Watch, Part IV.

Weston County, Wyoming, courthouse.

The Justice Department has sued California to block new congressional district boundaries approved by California voters last week.

It's leaving the Texas crap districts alone, however.

In Utah, a Court blocked an effort to prevent their new commission designed districts, which features, gasp, a Democratic seat.

Cont:

Trump ordered the Justice Department to investigate links Jeffrey Epstein had to prominent Democrats and institutions including former President Bill Clinton and former treasury secretary, Larry Summers. Read as he bounces off the wall in panic like a grade school dodge ball.  Bondi, of course, a loyal sycophant, appointed a prosecutor.

November 15, 2025

Wyoming Supreme Court Pauses Judge's Order For More School Counselors, Computers


 November 17, 2025


* * *



The judge is clearly signaling that this case is well on the way towards being dismissed.

November 18, 2025

A Federal Court in Texas has blocked the state from using its recently redrawn Congressional District map.

Oops.

This will be appealed, but if the decision is upheld it would mean that the five GOP (probably) seats that the state added won't be, while California, in a recent election, added five.

Oops.

Additionally, early indicators are that Texas Hispanics are following the national tread and are becoming disenchanted with the GOP, so some Texas districts may swing Democratic on their own.

Oops.

All of this could mean that the 2026 election could see the House not only swing Democratic, but perhaps massively so, and that some of the Returning Republicans are no longer big fans of Trump, to which those survivors will be reassessing their loyalty to Trump.

November 21, 2015

Sen. Elissa Slotkin, Sen. Mark Kelly, and Reps. Jason Crow, Chris Deluzio, Maggie Goodlander and Chrissy Houlahan, all veterans, released  a video urging member of the armed forces not to follow illegal orders.  Donald Trump is now threatening them with prosecution for sedition, and the death penalty, which is ironic, as Trump is a seditionist.

A Federal Court ordered the illegal Trump deployment of National Guardsmen to Washington D.C. to come to an end.

November 24, 2025

The North Dakota Supreme Court upheld the state's abortion ban, causing abortion to again become illegal in the state.

cont:

Federal criminal indictments against former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James were dismissed after a finding the prosecutor was not lawfully appointed.

December 3, 2025

Two well known names from the state's Republican politics.

December 4, 2025

Family of Colombian man killed in U.S. strike files human rights challenge

December 5, 2025

Headline in CST:

Court allows Texas maps

A Federal grand jury declined to indict New York Attorney General Letitia James on mortgage fraud.

December 12, 2025

The DOJ failed a second time to indict Letitia James

cont:

The National Trust for Historic Preservation has sued to stop construction of the giant White House ballroom.

December 16, 2025

December 18, 2025

December 29, 20205

Sued For Defamation, Former State Senator Says WyoFile Should Be Sued Too  

December 31, 2025

Deposition testimony of Jack Smith.

From the deposition:

President Trump was by a large measure the most culpable and most responsible person in this conspiracy. These crimes were committed for his benefit. The attack that happened at the Capitol…does not happen without him.

January 6, 2026

The big news, of course, is that an illegitimate foreign head of state has been indicted in the United States brought here in a raid by an illegitimate head of state who has experience with the criminal justice system himself.

Total bogosity.

In other news, and in more bogosity of a sorts, the National Rifle Association is suing the NRA Foundation, a trust that benefits the NRA in what partially can be attributed to an ongoing inter NRA feud.

That things were going wrong at the NRA was pretty evident for quite some time.  Things are still going wrong at the NRA.  The organization was run for decades by Wayne LaPierre who followed in the footsteps of Haron Carter in fundamentally changing the organization.

Carter rose to power in the organization in 1977.  Prior to that date the organization had been agnostic on gun control. Following that it moved to being an ardent opponent.

It was under Wayne LaPierre, however, that the organization became radical, frequently using extreme claims to raise funds.  His personal life a bit of a mystery, but he was undoubtedly successful in building up the NRA which became effectively a fundraising arm of the Republican Party, which it remains in spite of LaPierre's fall in a corruption trial.  While LaPierre is gone, the current NRA maintains the script, even though its numbers are falling dramatically off.  It will, for instance, no longer issue a print edition of the American Rifleman starting this year.

What exactly this trial entials I don't know.  It'll be interesting to watch.  It's already accused the Foundation of being run by the disgruntled.

At any rate, while NRA concerns about gun control were well placed into the 1990s, the supposed threats they posed were really waning by late in that decade and the organization has been crying wolf for years.  Gun owners know that and have been dropping out of it, tired of the message that Stalingrad is right around the corner.  Moderate Republicans who are horrified by Trump have not been impressed with NRA's ongoing drumbeat for him.  The LaPierre tactics that lead to its rise, and fall, foreshadowed the rise and tactics of MAGA to some degree, and like a lot of things touched by Trump, the organization appears to be dying.  In recent years, it's support for Trump have lead to claims of hypocrisy by some on the left.

A sad thing is that the NRA really does do some very important firearms work.  It supports shooting programs, matches and range safety in a major way.  There's nothing to replace it in these areas.

January 8, 2026

Wyoming Attorney General To Ask For One Last Chance To Defend Abortion Bans

January 10, 2026

Weston County clerk subpoena was valid, court filings argue: The Natrona County District Attorney maintains the Wyoming Legislature was acting in its legal authority.

Odd news here:

Casper Man Pleads Guilty To Making Violent Threats Against Jewish Organization

January 13, 2026

Sen. Mark Kelly has filed a lawsuit Monday seeking to reverse Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s letter of censure and effort to potentially demote him.  Kelly will win the suit.

January 17, 2026

I have to wonder if this:

Will influence the United States Supreme Court, which is about to rule on the legality of Trump's tariffs.  A sane ruling would strike them down as illegal.  If they were thinking of supporting them, as of right now they knew that Donald Trump is Bat Shit Crazy and ought to be reined in with a curb bit until he gags.

He's nuts.

Maybe this will influence the Court.

February 18, 2026


Basically, the Trump Administration has been white washing history displays at the parks, part of both a MAGA knee jerk and National Conservative agenda.

Last edition:

Court Watch, Part III.

Labels: 

Monday, November 10, 2025

Court Watch, Part III.



This is the U.S. Federal Building & Courthouse in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.  This building, built in 1960s, is s survivor of the brutal domestic terrorist attack that wrecked the Murrah building that was across from it.  A memorial to the victims of that attack is now located there, across from the courthouse.




Oklahoma City U.S. Federal Building & Courthouse, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.  Bombed by a guy whose views were regarded as extreme at the time, but which would be regarded as solidly MAGA today.

August 27, 2025

The Trump Administration's moronic lawsuit against Maryland's Federal Bench was tossed out.

There's no surprise to this at all.

On a locally controversial matter:

University of Wyoming sorority free to admit who it wants, including transgender students, judge rules: The 2023 federal complaint against Kappa Kappa Gamma for welcoming a transgender woman was dismissed Friday for the second time.

This puts the Wyoming Federal Court basically at odds with the direction of the Trump Administration as well. 

August 30, 2025

Well, there's absolutely no surprise.  Trump's illegal tariffs were affirmed to be illegal.

D'uh.

The Court's decision starts:

The Government appeals a decision of the Court of International Trade setting aside five Executive Orders that imposed tariffs of unlimited duration on nearly all goods from nearly every country in the world, holding that the tariffs were not authorized by the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), 50 U.S.C. § 1701 et seq. Because we agree that IEEPA’s grant of presidential authority to “regulate” imports does not authorize the tariffs imposed by the Executive Orders, we affirm.

Even here, however, the Court granted a stay of thirty days on the implementation of its order, which a private litigant would be unlikely to have received, and the government shouldn't have received here.  The order should have gone into effect immediately absent the government posting a bond to cover the damages, which would be all the tariffs collected while the matter was on appeal, and all that it has already collected, which should need to be fully refunded.

But a refund won't happen and the implementation of the ruling is delayed by 30 days, so the government can appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, which doesn't actually have to take the appeal.

Whether the S.Ct upholds it, or proves to be a pure political arm of the government, is another matter.

There were three dissents in the en banc decision.

September 3, 2025

A Federal Court has ruled Trump's deployment of the National Guard in Los Angeles to be illegal.

September 17, 2025

Wyoming Sorority Members Not Giving Up Legal Case Over Transgender Member

September 26, 2025

In an act that's outrageous, former FBI Director James Comey has been indicted by a grand jury on two out of the three charges the government brought before it.

The Trump administration, and hence the Republican Party, has gone over to outright fascism with acts of this type.   The test now is whether the Courts can withstand the onslaught.  

October 1, 2025

Judge Says Ousted UW Dean Can Keep Suing For ‘Retaliation’ Demotion

October 13, 2025

In addition to Comey, now Letitia James has been indicted.  More such indictments are apparently coming.

Trump's efforts to deploy the National Guard into cities is universally failing in the Courts.

Comey is being prosecuted for lying to Congress, which Pam Bondi just did herself.


October 16, 2025

And now John Bolton has been charged with eight counts of unlawful transmission of national defense information and 10 counts of unlawful retention of national defense information by a grand jury.

The Department of Justice has become a department of persecution for Trump.  It'll take years to undo the damage that has been done.  Moreover, because of the extent of this, it's my prediction that many who are now involved in these Trump efforts will face bar sanctions, and likely some prosecutions, in the future.

October 17, 2025

An Illinois court ordered ICE agents to wear body cameras.

October 25, 2025

Way milder than it could have been, but at least somebody tried to do something:

If the TRO is granted, construction will stop, but I would have asked for the structure to have been returned to the status quo ante.

October 29, 2025
November 10, 2025

The Supreme Court rejected a petition for a writ of certiorari by a court clerk which would have presented an opportunity to overrule Obergefell.

Last edition

Court Watch, Part II.