Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

I desperately hope that, yet again, i am wrong.

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires Republicans to act in good faith.

Historically it was a little unusual for the president to be an incoherent babbling moron.

Republicans choose power over democracy, every day.

Let’s show the world that autocracy can be defeated.

President Biden is doing good where he can, and getting it done.

He seems like a smart guy, but JFC, what a dick!

You cannot shame the shameless.

We cannot abandon the truth and remain a free nation.

Accountability, motherfuckers.

I’m starting to think Jesus may have made a mistake saving people with no questions asked.

There are consequences to being an arrogant, sullen prick.

Republicans do not pay their debts.

Within six months Twitter will be fully self-driving.

Republicans don’t want a speaker to lead them; they want a hostage.

The willow is too close to the house.

Let’s not be the monsters we hate.

Reality always lies in wait for … Democrats.

That’s my take and I am available for criticism at this time.

DeSantis transforming Florida into 1930s Germany with gators and theme parks.

Boeing: repeatedly making the case for high speed rail.

He really is that stupid.

Can we lighten up on the doomsday scenarios?

Lick the third rail, it tastes like chocolate!

You are here: Home / Politics / Activist Judges! / The President’s remarks were fully consistent with the principles described herein.

The President’s remarks were fully consistent with the principles described herein.

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Complying with the letter mandate:

As promised, Attorney General Eric Holder today filed a 3-page, single-spaced letter with the Fifth Circuit outlining the department’s views on the concept of judicial review. Actually, the letter is two and a half pages, but let’s hope Judge Jerry Smith rounds up.

During arguments in a health-care case on Tuesday, Judge Smith demanded the Justice Department produce the letter, in light of President Barack Obama’s commenting that the Supreme Court would be taking an “unprecedented, extraordinary step” if it struck down the Affordable Care Act.

It’s basically a short summary of the broadest argument to uphold the law, so they used the demand as an opportunity to get it out there again.

Reader Interactions

113Comments

  2. 2.

    Dork

    Theres zero chance this is the end of the story. The judge will either demand the lawyer read it out loud, or ask the DOJ for foot rubs, elst the case in his courtroom suffer a sudden defeat. I smell a publicity stunt.

  3. 3.

    kindness

    Maybe tarring and feathering isn’t such a bad thing when applied to conservative fuck-wits Federal judges.

  5. 5.

    PeakVT

    During arguments in a health-care case on Tuesday, Judge Smith demanded the Justice Department produce the letter,

    There’s no chance the ABA or anyone will reprimand Smith for his childish behavior, is there?

  6. 6.

    Steve

    Solid response, nothing remotely controversial in there. Addressing the President’s remarks via a single sentence at the end of the letter is a bit of a thumb in the judge’s eye, but hey.

  7. 7.

    Jay C

    I’m sure it’s a good response, but unfortunately, whatever AG Holder’s letter might say, it won’t have the punchy simplicity of “Obama threatens judges!“, so it probably won’t get mentioned – outside of the usual-suspect blogs, that is….

  8. 8.

    Jennifer Harris

    lol, even left-wing Politifact rated Obama’s comments as FALSE. I think people are going to get the sneaking suspicion that his law degree is a bit of a forgery, or at least unearned. Hopefully President Transparency will release his academic transcripts before the Fifth Circuit demands to see them.

  9. 9.

    JGabriel

    __
    __
    Mitch McConnell attacks the president on his remarks regarding SCOTUS:

    “Respectfully, I would suggest the president back off,” McConnell will say. … “The president crossed a dangerous line this week,” read McConnell’s prepared remarks. “And anyone who cares about liberty needs to call him out on it. The independence of the court must be defended.”

    __
    Hmm, I wonder … {tap tap tap on keyboard} Google “Mitch McConnell” “activist judges”:

    About 44,900 results (0.11 seconds)

    __
    Huh.

    So I guess it’s okay for a Republican to attack “activist judges”, but it’s not okay if you’re … what?

    A Democrat? A black man?

    I don’t know.

    But for some reason, it really ticks Mitch off for someone else to call SCOTUS “activist judges”, even though Mitch has done it enough to rack up 45,000 hits on Google.

    .

  10. 10.

    Kay

    @Jay C:

    That’s been such a long-standing media and GOP attempt, though, “Obama, threatening…”

    I think the fact of Obama, the reality of that person (as most people perceive him) conflicts with the attempt to portray him as scary and threatening. They never seem to quit with it, though. They are madly in love with “threatening”.

    Obama just isn’t out of control. Ever. He’s been around a while. I think people would know it by now, gut-level.

  11. 11.

    Sebastian Dangerfield

    I especially like Holder’s emphasis on the fact that the government had made no argument with respect to the lawfulness of judicial review and that the court’s question had nothing to do with any argument made by any party.

    Also, too, the lack of any lengthy comment on the President’s statements(or, as Smith peevishly demanded “stating specifically and in detail in reference to those statements what the authority is of the federal courts in this regard in terms of judicial review”). “The President’s remarks were fully consistent with the principles stated herein.” Nice.

    It was not exactly the response I would have counseled for (a photocopy of Eric Holder’s ass), but it’s pretty close.

  12. 12.

    burnspbesq

    Well played by DOJ. I especially like the reference to Seven-Sky, the D.C. Circuit case in which conservative icon Judge Silberman emphatically upheld the constitutionality of the individual mandate. And I don’t doubt that the reference to Raich was intended to remind Fat Tony of his concurring opinion in that case.

  13. 13.

    Jennifer Harris

    Nah, I think people see him as “threatening” only in the way a bumbling, drunk bus driver is threatening. Sort of hapless and clueless, but capable of doing a lot of harm. Think: Jimmy Carter.

  14. 14.

    Groucho48

    I think they are trolling the good judge by only doing 2 and a half pages. Its really more like two pages if you leave off the big header and end signature.

    Bet they are hoping this triggers him into doing something even more stupid.

  15. 15.

    Mike Goetz

    This was exactly the thing to do with this letter, knowing it would be released to the public and commented on.

    Very good.

  18. 18.

    Jennifer Harris

    Holder’s reference to Obama’s comments was pretty unclever, actually. By failing to quote them, he conceded that an analysis of the actual language used couldn’t be seen as “consistent.” A competent lawyer would have at least made a stab at justifying the comments by reference to their actual language. Just a sloppy, lazy, unprofessional job which makes the other side’s case.

  19. 19.

    Jennifer Harris

    Citizen Alan, lolol!!! Guess you can’t defend the Obama’s ignorance any better than the DOJ. Oh, link me to some of “President Harvard’s” published constitutional scholarship when you get a chance. Shortest book in the world, no?

  22. 22.

    Scott

    Ineffective troll is ineffective.

    And not actually a woman, folks, so don’t give him what he wants with a lot of anti-woman insults, a’ight?

  25. 25.

    jibeaux

    lol, even left-wing Politifact rated Obama’s comments as FALSE

    Would it be wrong to suggest that Veritas be allowed to create a tag? Maybe just the “lol even left-wing Politifact”? If so, that’s fine, but let’s just get it into parlance along with the TNR.

  26. 26.

    gbear

    Do you realize that our troll’s name can be used to spell Ninja Heifer Sr. with only one r left over?

  27. 27.

    Hoodie

    The letter had a good “I heard you say something crazy, whatever on earth were you talking about?” quality. Obama takes advantage by saying “boo!” in the republican echo chamber once again. I suspect that Obama will keep talking about activist judges as long as they continue such reactions to it. It’s a replay of the contraception issue. The Republicans initially assumed that one was a winner, too, but failed to understand that a big chunk of the independent voter population doesn’t give a shit about the ideological battle involved and just likes having access to contraceptives so they can take care of their health without a big hassle or simply have fun without worrying about having another child to take care of. Similarly, many independent voters have no particular love of judges who stick their noses into other folks’ business, and don’t necessarily differentiate “good” judges from “bad” judges based on idealogical affiliation. They sure as hell don’t fixate on the finer points of the concept of judicial review. This judge comes across as exactly the kind of asshole that a lot of non-ideological people wouldn’t particularly care for simply because he made the Attorney General submit a meaningless brief because he was mad at the President for saying typical politician stuff. Some wingnuts will think it’s a big win, standing up to that baddass Obama, but a lot of folks will be thinking WTF?

  29. 29.

    Arm The Homeless

    So we spend half a day, yesterday, taking a stroll through some of DougJ’s greatest hits, and all of a sudden we get a brand-spankin new ‘jurizproodence’ troll?

    I call shenanigans!

    I think we can all safely assume that Mistermix has been the calming influence in their relationship.

  30. 30.

    maryQ

    I just tried to imagine Ashcroft or Gonzales crafting such a thing of beauty in response to such a juvenile temper tantrum, and I damaged several neurons in my brain. I do hope that the damage is not permanent. I will never attempt such a thing again.

  31. 31.

    Belafon (formerly anonevent)

    The judge should feel proud: They wouldn’t even bother with Orly Taitz.

  32. 32.

    LanceThruster

    To make it a full 3 pages, Holder should have used the trick we did in grade school where certain sentences were padded with very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very many additions of the word “very.”

    What a bunch of constipated ass clowns.

  36. 36.

    the fugitive uterus

    @JGabriel: oh just F*CK them, i am so sick of their whining. why don’t Democrats call them out for being the spoiled little WATB’s they are. i am glad the President is starting to kick some butt, it’s about damn time. i loved the “marvelous” moment in his speech. he is really hitting his stride and so are the Dems, in no small part because of pissed-off women, and they are scared shitless. McConnell always looks petrified in his photos. the hysteria and hyperbole of their language these days suggests they are piss-pants terrified.

  37. 37.

    Some Loser

    @Arm The Homeless:

    Is it bad that most people are ignoring DougJ?

    It seems the real trolls have him beat. Whenever they make a comment, the entire thread centers on them.

  38. 38.

    Jennifer Harris

    Thanks for conceding by your silence:

    (1) Obama lacks any published legal scholarship.

    (2) The “Pulitzer Prize-winning” fact-checking outfit that liberals love to quote rated Obama’s statements about the history of judicial review “false.”

    (3) Holder’s response failed to quote the very language the court directed him to discuss, thus conceding the impossibility of reconciling it with the law.

    Troll, moron, nitwit — my, you guys are so clev-ah and original. And substantive! Tell me — do you write for The Daily Show? You’re THAT good!

  39. 39.

    biff diggerence

    Indeed. Piss-pants terrified of another 4 years of the Nigra President.

    May their stomach linings grow holes from the excess acid.

  40. 40.

    Arm The Homeless

    @jibeaux: This is why I required my students to submit their assignments in a .txt document.

    I didn’t need to know if they can use a computer, only that they absorbed the information.

    Also, too. Triple-spaced section-headers? They think no one will notice…

  41. 41.

    Tony J

    @Kay:

    And they’ll continue to say it, over and over again, because they’ve got nothing else. Policies? Alternatives? fresh new approaches to problems? Nope, just resentment, fear and a small army of people who lack a moral compass but can track the spore of easy money across a thousand miles of tundra.

    I rubbed my glassy ball and it says that, while you fractious colonials are in for a truly horrible eight months of slime and grime from the Republican Message-Machine, the actual Election will be a referendum on the public’s distaste for the music they’re playing.

    GOP Unplugged: R-Money Goes Acoustic, it just will not sell.

  42. 42.

    Arm The Homeless

    @Some Loser: I just work from the assumption that they are ALL DougJ. Even if you’re wrong it pisses em off more if you insist they are double-sekret sockpuppets.

    Pie Filter is my BFF

  43. 43.

    Jennifer Harris

    Oooh Biff — the race card! I know you must have so many clean and articulate black friends. Pat yourself on the head for being so kind to them.

  44. 44.

    TooManyJens

    Oh, look, some right-wing asshole thinks it’s his God-given right to order a black guy around. Must be a day of the week ending in a y.

  47. 47.

    TooManyJens

    @Scott:

    Ineffective troll is ineffective.
    __
    And not actually a woman, folks, so don’t give him what he wants with a lot of anti-woman insults, a’ight?

    Amusingly, this implies that if the troll were a woman, anti-woman insults would be just fine. I don’t think that’s what you were going for.

  48. 48.

    LanceThruster

    @jibeaux:

    LOL. So very true. I’m hip to (as those darn kids say) the margin and font manipulation as it’s not cheating at all, just creating a more artistic motif.

  49. 49.

    the fugitive uterus

    oh just F*CK them, i am so sick of their whining. why don’t Democrats call them out for being the spoiled little WATB’s they are. i am glad the President is starting to kick some butt, it’s about damn time. i loved the “marvelous” moment in his speech. he is really hitting his stride and so are the Dems, in no small part because of pissed-off women, and they are scared shitless. McConnell always looks like a petrified old-fart in his photos. the hysteria and hyperbole of their language these days suggests they are piss-pants terrified.

  50. 50.

    Hill Dweller

    You have to be ignorant(willful or otherwise) to believe Obama, a guy who taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago for 12 years, is completely unfamiliar with judicial review and/or Marbury v. Madison.

    Yet this is implicit in the right wing’s feigned outrage and media’s questions.

  53. 53.

    Arm The Homeless

    @Yutsano:

    Bottom-crust-only pies may be known as tarts or tartlets.

    I imagine this being read by Sir Sean Connery. It makes me smile

  54. 54.

    The prophet Nostradumbass

    @Hill Dweller: Well, there’s the underlying assumption that because he’s African-American, he didn’t get anywhere on the merits.

  55. 55.

    Mark S.

    @Jennifer Harris:

    (2) The “Pulitzer Prize-winning” fact-checking outfit that liberals love to quote rated Obama’s statements about the history of judicial review “false.”

    Liberals just looooooooooove Politifact!

  56. 56.

    Jamie

    @Jennifer Harris:

    Bullshit.

    This is an extremely strange demand. The court is asking for justification of ex parte speech, with an obvious political goal.

    Please point to other appellates that demand justification of third-party speech, especially in such a weird way.

  57. 57.

    Kay

    @Tony J:

    I think I saw the start of a coordinated message yesterday, to paint Obama as a liar. Romney has huge credibility problems, huge authenticity problems, so Romney and Ryan come out with a perfectly joined message that Obama is a liar. Wholly predictable.

    I’m bored. I demand more originality and creativity from Republicans :)

  58. 58.

    Quaker in a Basement

    Shorter Obama: “Yeah, I said it! What about it?”

    I just love it when Dems use the GOP’s tactics against ’em.

  61. 61.

    Ivan Ivanovich Renko

    OT, but the 27% strike again!

    The poll also showed that 72% of blacks think racial bias was a major factor in Trayvon’s shooting.
    __
    White Americans were split on the question of racial bias, 30% said it was a major factor, 26% said it was a minor factor, and 27% said it was not a factor.

    [edited to fixed jacked up linky]

  62. 62.

    Foggy F Follansbye

    @Hill Dweller: Conservatives making this argument fail the Turing test. If Obama said “sure as the sun comes up in the morning” they would be jumping on him for his ignorance of astronomy. They are pretending not to comprehend basic habits of interpersonal communication. Because they are evil robots.

  64. 64.

    ThatLeftTurnInABQ

    @Ivan Ivanovich Renko:

    OT, but the 27% strike again!

     
    Are we sure that the pollsters are even calling people anymore? They could be sitting in a bar making up the numbers, and as long as they remember to throw in the magic number 27, how would we know the difference? 27 percent is like the magic I-dont-have-to-go-to-work-today formula.

  66. 66.

    Tony J

    @Kay:

    I’m bored. I demand more originality and creativity from Republicans :)

    I believe that possibility is strictly forbidden under the terms of the Nahgannapen Protocol. Specifically the parts covered by the Wamewokfohalivun-Fookaf Amendment so beloved by the GOP’s New Traditionalists.

    They’re – very – conservative about some things.

  67. 67.

    stratplayer

    It seems pretty clear to me that this entire exercise was calculated to bait the wingnuts into what they are doing right now, which is to fall all over themselves making vigorous public proclamations of their unshakable commitment to the power of judicial review and the “liberal” exercise thereof. Good luck campaigning against “judicial activism” now, righties. Forget about all your court-stripping schemes. He’s done it to you again.

  68. 68.

    Kay

    @eemom:

    Thanks. I didn’t see it, and it’s wonderful. I have never heard of the child labor law they struck down.

    I’ll put it up here if I can keep it to 500 words w/out ruining it.

  69. 69.

    g

    @Jennifer Harris:

    and what would make a courtroom demand to see someone – ANYONE’S – college transcripts?

    You are familiar with FERPA, are you not?

    What on earth do you expect to see there and why would it matter? Of all the stupid right-wing memes this is one of the stupidest.

  71. 71.

    Jennifer Harris

    “This is an extremely strange demand. The court is asking for justification of ex parte speech, with an obvious political goal.”

    Yeah, and Obama’s statement was extremely strange, with an obvious political goal. Only the executive branch gets to play games? Half the comments here are applauding the witless game Holder was trying to play.

  72. 72.

    Jennifer Harris

    Obama’s transcripts would certainly counter the libtard meme that he was any kind of scholar. I remember you guys running off at mouth about how much smarter Kerry was than Bush until it turned out that Bush’s college GPA was higher.

    Oh, btw, Obama got a fake social security number like most of his relatives who are here mooching off welfare.

  75. 75.

    Felanius Kootea

    @Jennifer Harris:

    Man, get out of my face with that shit. The motherfucker who said that never had to pick up itty bitty pieces of pie on account of your dumb ass.

    @Jennifer Harris:

    Give me your apple, your rhubarb, your dark and sticky pecan, yearning to be eaten.

    Man, you must really like pie!

    I loved, loved, loved the DOJ letter. Wonder whether Holder left it at 2.5 pages deliberately. And whether judge smith will pull a whiny “I said three pages dammit!” snitfit.

  76. 76.

    Arm The Homeless

    @Felanius Kootea: The fact it was an obvious troll at 2 1/2 pages, even with the header and footer taking up large chunks, should be obvious to anyone with a functioning brain and the ability to remember a story they heard two days ago.

    The WH and DOJ are laughing at this rube, and I have no doubt they would love if he did his best Foghorn Leghorn impression in response to such a disrespect of his judicial authority.

  77. 77.

    Kib

    The Murdoch Block extension in Chrome blocked the link to WSJ. Is there anywhere else to see the letter?

  80. 80.

    Jennifer Harris

    Just two and a half pages — and it’s still two and a half pages longer than anything our supposed scholar president has ever written about constitutional law!

  81. 81.

    Chyron HR

    I bet if you use a big enough font, you can make “Don’t Re-Nig” into a 3-page essay.

  82. 82.

    Jennifer Harris

    “Wonder whether Holder left it at 2.5 pages deliberately”

    He just can’t count that high. No one ever said that Steadman was all that bright.

  86. 86.

    ThatLeftTurnInABQ

    @Arm The Homeless:
     
    Meanwhile, in the next thread up (which apparently has been declared a humor-free zone, so I ain’t going there), DougJ is openly advocating for public Masters-baiting. I thought that sort of thing was still against the law in Georgia. Maybe somebody could ask Newt Gingrich.

  89. 89.

    feebog

    As someone who reads legal briefs on a recurring basis, I think this was a brilliant response. I don’t ever recall a brief filed as a single spaced document. The Judge was obviously trying to make a political point, and Holder shoved it right back at him. Love the fact that they have multilple citations. And yes, the two and half pages was a big FU.

  91. 91.

    Arm The Homeless

    @ThatLeftTurnInABQ: Newton is too much of gentleman to engage in such boorish behavior. He had enough respect for us all to at least do it in the back of a Lincoln.

    As a side note, what, exactly, is the Church’s position on BJs? Besides young, and “Yes! Please!”

  92. 92.

    Bex

    @Jennifer Harris: @8: Thanks for clearing up the “fact” that the president didn’t attend Columbia. It was Harvard Law that he never went to, right? So hard to keep all the emails from crazy relatives straight these days…

  95. 95.

    Arm The Homeless

    @burnspbesq:

    Barely Shorter: “Why doesn’t the unconstitutional usurper understand his unconstitutional Obamacare is totally unconstitutional? Did I mention it’s totally uncool to talk back to judges, especially ones who are so concerned with how unconstitutional this obviously unconstitutional Obamanation (Heh!) is!?”

  96. 96.

    Jesse

    Oh, btw, Obama got a fake social security number like most of his relatives who are here mooching off welfare.

    I think this wins the tread.

  99. 99.

    kay

    @Jesse:

    SS is a variant, a sect, of birtherism.

    Conservatives relied on a paranoid, deranged immigrant to explain the US birth records and SS # system to them, she turned two boring, mundane state records processes into a Russian novel full of intrigue and malice and mystery, and they’ve been running around in circles ever since.

    I cannot imagine how they function in the world.

  103. 103.

    TenguPhule

    I have said repeatedly that veritas is a woman.

    Or a castrated Catholic Choir Boy that got cut early.

  104. 104.

    AxelFoley

    @Jennifer Harris:

    lol, even left-wing Politifact rated Obama’s comments as FALSE. I think people are going to get the sneaking suspicion that his law degree is a bit of a forgery, or at least unearned. Hopefully President Transparency will release his academic transcripts before the Fifth Circuit demands to see them.

    LOL, who the fuck is this broad? And do trolls come in female now?

  106. 106.

    AxelFoley

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    @AxelFoley: Why shouldn’t they?

    Yeah, I guess they gotta reproduce somehow. I just never seen a female troll before. Kinda like a female Ferengi on Deep Space Nine–they exist, but are rarely seen.

  108. 108.

    Some Loser

    @AxelFoley:

    Probably more female trolls than you know. A lot of women on the Internet pretend to be men because the rabid sexism. I don’t know if female trolls do this.

  110. 110.

    John M. Burt

    @John M. Burt:

    Sorry, the “” was supposed to contain { /GOP talking points}, only with the sharp-cornered brackets that apparently must always always disappear what is inside them — didn’t know that.

  111. 111.

    priscianusjr

    I don’t know that anyone has ever said “fuck you” with greater civility and learning.

  112. 112.

    priscianusjr

    @LanceThruster: To make it a full 3 pages, Holder should have used the trick we did in grade school where certain sentences were padded with very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very many additions of the word “very.”

    All he really needed to do is use a larger font.

  113. 113.

    priscianusjr

    @The prophet Nostradumbass: Well, there’s the underlying assumption that because he’s African-American, he didn’t get anywhere on the merits.

    To paraphrase Congressman Rangel: guys like Jerry Smith “shatter the myth of white supremacy once and for all.”
    (Charlie Rangel was actually referring to George “W.” Bush.)

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