As my friend, astute observer and blog reader Ed Furey pointed out in a comment on the last post, there is a potential Big Problem with the “Loose Cannon Ruling” about a Special Master, one that can lead to years of delay, effectively shutting down the entire investigation, if a solution is not quickly found.
Whew! Discouraging. The corruption of the courts seems now far advanced. Story: When I was in Duke Divinity School the Durham NC, sit-ins and attempts to integrate things were fully underway. One evening some friends (White and Black) tried to integrate a restaurant; they were thrown to the ground and badly treated. In a seminar the next day (before it started) we complained that this was like the Nazis---to which the professor (Hans Hillerbrand, whose father was a pastor in Germany and friend of Martin Niemöller and was put in a camp by the Nazis but got out) smiled his wry smile and replied to the effect: It is not; the courts have not yet been corrupted. I fear that now we are in the era of corrupted courts in this country.
Always another shiny thing in the griff. DOJ (or Intelligence agencies) should rebottle the search request to each of his properties as boxes were rifled and empty and the contents must be found as a national security imperative, not a criminal issue given the present delay. Petition for multiple search warrants; like dozens or a hundred based upon what is known to be missing. Break up the request for item by item warrants. Flood his lawyers with an insurmountable burden. Let them scream harassment. Justice is only served if pursed aggressively. Then win a supermajority of cases with tfg the defendant, appearing in courts daily at his expense. IMHO.
It would appear that moving this case to the DC District Court is the way to go - the problem as you mentioned is how exactly to do that without running afoul of the usual pro-Trump crowd now infesting our court system..... On the other hand, TFG has already admitted he did the crime, and the call for dozens of search warrants for every place he has ever even looked at would be justified to find the missing documents. Every home, every office, every bedroom closet - everything. No other country will trust us to keep secrets after this, so that affects our own security. Edward Snowden had nothing on our TFG.....
it's funny, Tom...when I first saw the "details" of this completely corrupt decision, the first place I went to was exactly this one. except that MY maggot involved the fear that anyone approved by TFF's side would probably be very, very leaky and that this would end up with all kinds of bad shit, including some good people ending up dead. the top secret clearance thing wasn't--for some reason--on my radar. and your worst case scenario (TFF in '24) is exactly the same worst case scenario that's always been there, and of course he would certainly end up looking like the Mussolini whose facial expressions he's been aping since at least 2015 with the difference that Mussolini actually had some smarts to begin with...I think he'd actually read a few books.
I also thought sometime last week that the idea of issuing warrants for those other properties is a very good one, although I also figure that anything incriminating in those places has probably already gone up in smoke, or wherever such things go when the people who don't want them found are done with them.
but I too am waiting for the excellent lawyers here to weigh in....
Since we are all just throwing spitballs here (I’m neither an excellent lawyer nor one practicing in criminal law), here’s my take:
A petition for change of venue is possible under 28 U.S.C. § 1404(a) (for convenience) or 1406 (improper venue), but it’s made to the judge where the matter is currently pending and it’s discretionary. If the judge won’t accept an amicus brief offered by eminent Republicans, she sure ain’t fixing’ to grant a change of venue.
Might the Archivist bring its own original case in the DC court? Probably has to have the DOJ represent it. Not sure of the basis. But what I don’t know is whether consolidation of the two cases is possible under Rule 42 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, that is, whether a DC judge can drag the Florida case up north.
I suppose the DOJ could file a criminal information against Trump in DC based on the records that were previously obtained and not covered by the injunction. Clearly Trump was in possession of presidential records contrary to law. A bit of a Hail Mary pass, but at least they would be in DC and the criminal case can’t be consolidated with a civil case. Whether they could resume the hunt for evidence clear of the injunction is not something I know.
If I wrote what I think they would have reason to put me in jail, I don’t want to go to jail, like most reasonable people, maybe I deserve to be there, but not as much as the insipid imbecile that is the looser of the last presidential election, not by a long shot, see I knew that I’d get around to it 🤷♂️😎
"I have a question about the search for a special master for THE documents.....people have said that there are some 11,000 pieces of paper/documents of various types, some classified and some not classified. I must assume that the vast majority are not classified. Will the special master be required to examine ALL the documents? I can see no requirement even to look at news clippings and other published materials that have been out in the public, because they have already been released - their release is a known factor. If the obviously public material is exempted from the detailed review, their may be only a thousand documents that have to be analyzed. That would make the process a lot faster and more efficient....."
Heavy learning again! "As with all things Trump, things are more difficult than they seem at first glance." Thanks for digging in to it TC, however jaw dropping.
There were some learned people commenting on Cannon yesterday; hope they have something to come up with in front of this mess, other than shooting the messenger.
Whew! Discouraging. The corruption of the courts seems now far advanced. Story: When I was in Duke Divinity School the Durham NC, sit-ins and attempts to integrate things were fully underway. One evening some friends (White and Black) tried to integrate a restaurant; they were thrown to the ground and badly treated. In a seminar the next day (before it started) we complained that this was like the Nazis---to which the professor (Hans Hillerbrand, whose father was a pastor in Germany and friend of Martin Niemöller and was put in a camp by the Nazis but got out) smiled his wry smile and replied to the effect: It is not; the courts have not yet been corrupted. I fear that now we are in the era of corrupted courts in this country.
Always another shiny thing in the griff. DOJ (or Intelligence agencies) should rebottle the search request to each of his properties as boxes were rifled and empty and the contents must be found as a national security imperative, not a criminal issue given the present delay. Petition for multiple search warrants; like dozens or a hundred based upon what is known to be missing. Break up the request for item by item warrants. Flood his lawyers with an insurmountable burden. Let them scream harassment. Justice is only served if pursed aggressively. Then win a supermajority of cases with tfg the defendant, appearing in courts daily at his expense. IMHO.
It would appear that moving this case to the DC District Court is the way to go - the problem as you mentioned is how exactly to do that without running afoul of the usual pro-Trump crowd now infesting our court system..... On the other hand, TFG has already admitted he did the crime, and the call for dozens of search warrants for every place he has ever even looked at would be justified to find the missing documents. Every home, every office, every bedroom closet - everything. No other country will trust us to keep secrets after this, so that affects our own security. Edward Snowden had nothing on our TFG.....
it's funny, Tom...when I first saw the "details" of this completely corrupt decision, the first place I went to was exactly this one. except that MY maggot involved the fear that anyone approved by TFF's side would probably be very, very leaky and that this would end up with all kinds of bad shit, including some good people ending up dead. the top secret clearance thing wasn't--for some reason--on my radar. and your worst case scenario (TFF in '24) is exactly the same worst case scenario that's always been there, and of course he would certainly end up looking like the Mussolini whose facial expressions he's been aping since at least 2015 with the difference that Mussolini actually had some smarts to begin with...I think he'd actually read a few books.
I also thought sometime last week that the idea of issuing warrants for those other properties is a very good one, although I also figure that anything incriminating in those places has probably already gone up in smoke, or wherever such things go when the people who don't want them found are done with them.
but I too am waiting for the excellent lawyers here to weigh in....
Since we are all just throwing spitballs here (I’m neither an excellent lawyer nor one practicing in criminal law), here’s my take:
A petition for change of venue is possible under 28 U.S.C. § 1404(a) (for convenience) or 1406 (improper venue), but it’s made to the judge where the matter is currently pending and it’s discretionary. If the judge won’t accept an amicus brief offered by eminent Republicans, she sure ain’t fixing’ to grant a change of venue.
Might the Archivist bring its own original case in the DC court? Probably has to have the DOJ represent it. Not sure of the basis. But what I don’t know is whether consolidation of the two cases is possible under Rule 42 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, that is, whether a DC judge can drag the Florida case up north.
I suppose the DOJ could file a criminal information against Trump in DC based on the records that were previously obtained and not covered by the injunction. Clearly Trump was in possession of presidential records contrary to law. A bit of a Hail Mary pass, but at least they would be in DC and the criminal case can’t be consolidated with a civil case. Whether they could resume the hunt for evidence clear of the injunction is not something I know.
If I wrote what I think they would have reason to put me in jail, I don’t want to go to jail, like most reasonable people, maybe I deserve to be there, but not as much as the insipid imbecile that is the looser of the last presidential election, not by a long shot, see I knew that I’d get around to it 🤷♂️😎
Just musing ... where in the Constitution does it say that the president or his cabinet is required to obey judicial rulings from lower courts?
Something else comes to mind -
"I have a question about the search for a special master for THE documents.....people have said that there are some 11,000 pieces of paper/documents of various types, some classified and some not classified. I must assume that the vast majority are not classified. Will the special master be required to examine ALL the documents? I can see no requirement even to look at news clippings and other published materials that have been out in the public, because they have already been released - their release is a known factor. If the obviously public material is exempted from the detailed review, their may be only a thousand documents that have to be analyzed. That would make the process a lot faster and more efficient....."
Heavy learning again! "As with all things Trump, things are more difficult than they seem at first glance." Thanks for digging in to it TC, however jaw dropping.
There were some learned people commenting on Cannon yesterday; hope they have something to come up with in front of this mess, other than shooting the messenger.
Damn. Double damn.
I'd Like this, Tom, except I don't.
:-(
I'll be following!