Y’all, I wish I could have seen this because it must have been glorious! Solicitor General D. John Sauer revealed an unnerving sign of the country’s slide towards authoritarianism. I guess we can now say it’s official for what tRump is trying to do. From MSNBC:
During an exchange between Sauer and Justice Amy Coney Barrett — Trump’s latest nominee to the court and, in most cases, a reliable conservative — the justice confronted him about the administration’s approach to compliance with court orders issued by courts other than the Supreme Court (aka, federal, district and appeals courts).
Sauer told Barrett that it is “general practice” for the government to “respect those precedents,” but added that “there are circumstances when it is not a categorical practice.”
Barrett then asked Sauer whether he believes that has been the “general practice” of only the Trump administration or the Justice Department historically.
“As I understand it, [it is the] long-standing policy of the Department of Justice,” he replied. “As it was phrased to me, [we] generally respect circuit precedent but not necessarily in every case. Some examples might be a situation where we’re litigating to try and get that circuit precedent overruled, and so forth.”
Whaaaaaaat? So the federal government doesn’t have to abide by what courts say? That’s not a small problem, it’s a BIG ONE. What are the points of having courts if the DOJ thinks they don’t have to listen to them??!!??!! Good gods and all the seven levels of hell!
“That’s not what I’m talking about,” Barrett continued. “I’m talking about this week, the Second Circuit holds that the executive order is unconstitutional, and then what do you do the next day or the next week?”
Sauer responded again that “generally,” the administration would follow that order.
“So you’re still saying ‘generally’? And you still think that it’s generally the policy — long-standing policy — of the federal government to take that approach?” Barrett pressed.
“That is my understanding,” Sauer confirmed.
This makes my skin crawl. All anyone needs to do is have a DOJ lawyer on a case, and they will ignore court decisions until maybe it gets to the Supreme Court? Will they even listen to the SC? Seems to me that the DOJ thinks they don’t have to abide by any court decision if they don’t like it. Oops, but wait! There’s more to quote. I was jumping the gun – I hope. From the same MSNBC article by Lisa Rubin:
Here’s what that means in plain English: The Trump administration, through its top lawyer, is telling the Supreme Court that it doesn’t believe it has to comply with lower court orders in all circumstances. And contrary to Sauer’s assertion, that finds no support in long-standing DOJ policy, much less department norms.
It’s one thing to hear political actors — whether that’s the White House press secretary or even Vice President JD Vance — assert that the administration should not be bound by federal court orders it considers lawless. But it’s another thing entirely to hear the administration’s top appeals lawyer say as much in front of the Supreme Court of the United States.
Oooooofffffff. And a YOWZA. He said the quiet part out loud and didn’t care that he did. I think that’s even more nerve-racking. He just said it, very matter-of-factly, it seems, as if he was fully confident he was in the right. To the SUPREME COURT. There’s another issue going on with Judge Xinis and the Kilmar Abrego Garcia case. I’ll pass that fun along to you in the next day or so. I most certainly have NOT forgotten about him. Have you?
The DOJ lawyers certainly seem to have gotten really arrogant these days, even when they’re very much wrong. They don’t care. They just don’t care. And trying to yank around ANY sort of judge is a Very Bad Idea. It’s one thing to appeal a case. It’s another to ignore the decision. Authoritarianism? Oh h*ll YES.
I don’t want to end up with a leader who thinks he’s invulnerable and can do anything he wants and *have it be obeyed*. None of us citizens of the US will be able to have a lawyer for needed representation on an issue. We’ll just have to put up and shut up. First, the DOJ will become invulnerable. Then the police. And then it keeps going downhill from there. I’m not just a little but a LOT worried, maybe even scared. Ouch. Thanks for sticking with me!
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