You may remember the case long ago, where 2 planes full of “criminals” flew to the evil prison known as SECOT. And everything coming out of that place shows how badly they were treated. But the lawyers were playing fast and loose. They disregarded a direct verbal statement from the judge on the spurious grounds that it wasn’t official until it was written down. YeaNo. It doesn’t work that way. That turned into a mess. And the Supreme Court threw it out. Let’s have a drink of not a surprise.
But BadA$$ Judge Boasberg is back, and he had something quite sensitive to handle this time. The DOJ is trying everything and anything to strip 20,000 voters from California. Except the executive branch has nothing to do with elections. It’s Congress and the states. So even if the DOJ tries to pull a fast one, they have nothing to do with elections, so they’re going to have quite the battle on their hands, because they got the wrong judge to try and hoodwink. Let’s have as few quotes, with appreciation for Raw Story:
Chief Judge James E. Boasberg, who has frequently found himself litigating politically charged actions of the Trump administration, granted in part and denied in part a request for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction brought by the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA) and a naturalized citizen, Pedro Trujillo. He wrote that the executive “has intervened in California’s ongoing election with a bid to change the rules for counting mail-in ballots,” and that “the lists are flawed.”
On the merits, he said states and Congress, not the executive, control election procedures, and that 18 U.S.C. § 611(a), a criminal law on noncitizen voting, doesn’t regulate the manner of elections or override state procedures. He called DOJ’s aiding-and-abetting theory a “red herring” and said the government is attempting to “arrogate to the Executive a power that the Elections Clause commits elsewhere.” The order bars the DOJ from issuing demands to California election officials to segregate ballots or otherwise depart from state procedures based on voters’ inclusion on the lists.
Yep. That’s Judge BadA$$ Boasberg!! He doesn’t play around. He has no patience for nonsense and spurious claims. (He was the one who generated the BadA$$ judges list, and it’s *long*.) In other words, he hammered the DOJ and told them to stop with this childish nonsense. Okay, maybe not those exact words, but still, the DOJ cannot make any demands (and threats) of election officials.
Considering Election Day is about 7 hours away, this is a big gulp of good news. It absolutely is what’s needed to stomp on the DOJ and their ridiculous “request”. It might extend to other states if they can read between the lines and use this. Either way, California is protected for now. It should be interesting to see what happens with California, considering they have about a gazillion voters. And Texas has a couple of close races. And, and, and… Overall, there will be stress in our house tomorrow. Please, let the good guys win.
Friends, I know everybody begs you for money. I promise you that, of all the outlets bugging you for spare change, we are the smallest and the hardest-working. We’re a bunch of old, disabled people, except for one writer in his mid-50s. But the rest of us are in our sixties and seventies, and this is a labor of love. All we’re asking is the ability to keep telling the truth about Trump and help ensure democracy survives. If you can help, please do. Thank you. Ursula
