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You are here: Home / Civil Rights / Racial Justice / Post-racial America / They Play The Long Game and They Tell You Their Every Move

They Play The Long Game and They Tell You Their Every Move

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Many of you have heard about Clarence Thomas making the news:

ustice Clarence Thomas on Tuesday called for the Supreme Court to reconsider New York Times v. Sullivan, the landmark 1964 ruling interpreting the First Amendment to make it hard for public officials to prevail in libel suits.

He said the decision had no basis in the Constitution as it was understood by the people who drafted and ratified it.

“New York Times and the court’s decisions extending it were policy-driven decisions masquerading as constitutional law,” Justice Thomas wrote.

This is, of course, completely unrelated, I am sure, to conservative animus to a free press calling out right-wing perfidy. It also has nothing to do with Donald Trump’s longstanding war with the media and, notably, Jeff Bezos and the Washington Post. This is also completely unrelated:

Lawyers for 16-year-old Nicholas Sandmann, the Covington Catholic High School junior who faced off with Omaha Nation elder Nathan Phillips on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial last month, have filed a $250 million lawsuit against The Washington Post, one of many newspapers to report on viral video of the incident.

“This is only the beginning,” said the attorneys, Lin Wood and Todd McMurtry, on their firm’s website, noting that it was the “first lawsuit” on Sandmann’s behalf.

This is also unrelated to the Covington boys hiring a right wing PR firm hired by Scott Jennings, a protege of Mitch McConnell. Why, I’d even wonder what roads some of the attorneys at Hemmer, DeFrank, and Wessels traveled. Who clerked with who, who went to law school with who, etc.

Or maybe I am just being paranoid and conspiratorial. But I have no doubt that the free speech zealots on the right at the court will suddenly drop that position if it helps their side. They’re all hacks and frauds.

Reader Interactions

49Comments

  3. 3.

    kindness

    Suing the WaPo because you appeared in a story. Whoda thunk? I can’t really see the case going farther than 1 day. The day it took the judge to tell them to take a hike. But I’m a liberal so……

  4. 4.

    Yarrow

    Why, I’d even wonder what roads some of the attorneys at Hemmer, DeFrank, and Wessels traveled

    I read that as “Hemmer, DeFrank and Weasels.” Seemed fitting. No offense to actual weasels.

  5. 5.

    Millard Filmore

    He said the decision had no basis in the Constitution as it was understood by the people who drafted and ratified it.

    Will they reconsider the decision that corporations are people? Of course not. Socalism must be STRICTLY reserved for the rich.

  6. 6.

    But her emails!!!

    I for one look forward to all right wing media being jointly owned by minorities and Hillary Clinton.

  8. 8.

    Steeplejack (sky-high wi-fi)

    Steep aloft, about 145 miles out of Minneapolis on my return home to D.C. Altitude 30,000 feet, tail wind 142 mph, ground speed 658 mph. Outside temp –65°F. Delta has a cool flight tracker display.

    I’ve got a short connection time in MSP, but if I clear that hurdle I should be home free.

  11. 11.

    rikyrah

    Will say it again…
    Obama care was the first expansion of the American Social Safety Net that DID NOT HAVE- in its design- the exclusion of swaths of the American populace.

    It took the John Roberts Court to do that.??

    Tell it, Monie??

    ReclaimingMyTime (@MonieTalks_1) Tweeted:
    There can never be a truthful conversation about social programs like SS, Medicare, etc without tackling the racism that surrounded them during their initial passage (SS), or activism aimed at defeating segregation that helped galvanize its passage (Medicare).

    https://t.co/kxFXGkegZa https://twitter.com/MonieTalks_1/status/1097977171140923393?s=17

  12. 12.

    Jager

    Maybe Loving v Virginia could be revisited and Clarence’s marriage could be declared null and void. I sure the framers had no intention of legalizing interracial marriage.

  15. 15.

    Ohio Mom

    I want to know who is paying for that lawsuit. That’s a big expense with a very uncertain payoff, especially for a family about to have to start paying for college.

    I’m guessing the Sandmann family is getting some help. That might be something, I dunno, a newspaper might want to look into.

  16. 16.

    sdhays

    @Millard Filmore: I also immediately thought of this when I read Thomas’ asinine statement about “as understood by the people who drafted and ratified [the Constitution]”. I eagerly await Clarence Thomas holding forth on bringing down the entire corporate legal infrastructure because Thomas Jefferson would be dumbfounded by what we call a corporation today.

  19. 19.

    TriassicSands

    @Baud:

    Probably not. The losers would just appeal the verdict until it made it to the SCOTUS. They’d rule in favor to the wing-nuts and tell HRC to pay lawyer’s fees and court costs. Thomas doesn’t mean that liberals should be able to sue. He’s thinking more along the lines of his “high tech lynching” and all the money he could and should have collected. Not to mention when someone is mean and points out what a colossal POS his wife is.

    If the wingers are ever in a position to pass a constitutional amendment on this issue, they could call it the POS Get Rich Quick Amendment.

  20. 20.

    hilts

    Scott Jennings, a protege of Mitch McConnell.

    Jennings is also one of CNN’s worthless dishonest pundits.

    Speaking of CNN

    On Tuesday, a CNN spokesperson confirmed to The Daily Beast that the network has hired Republican political advisor Sarah Isgur as the politics editor helming CNN’s 2020 coverage… Throughout her decade-long career in Republican politics, Isgur has served as an advisor to Ted Cruz and Mitt Romney, and was Carly Fiorina’s deputy campaign manager for the 2016 Republican primary. Until last year, Isgur was a top spokesperson for former Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ Department of Justice.

    h/t https://www.thedailybeast.com/cnn-staffers-demoralized-by-hiring-of-gop-operative-sarah-isgur-to-oversee-2020-coverage

  21. 21.

    Aleta

    Some highlights (edited from the whole) from the law firm website, (which is happy to publicize the full name of the secondary school child whose parents are suing because of “permanent damage to his life and reputation.”)

    The Post engaged in a modern-day form of McCarthyism by competing with CNN and NBC, among others, to claim leadership of a mainstream and social media mob of bullies which attacked, vilified, and threatened an innocent secondary school child.
    The Post’s campaign to target Nicholas in furtherance of its political agenda … effectively provided a worldwide megaphone to Phillips and other anti-Trump individuals and entities to smear a young boy who was in its view an acceptable casualty in their war against the President.
    This lawsuit is brought against the Post to seek legal redress for its negligent, reckless, and malicious attacks on Nicholas which caused permanent damage to his life and reputation.
    The Post bullied an innocent child with an absolute disregard for the pain and destruction its attacks would cause to his life.
    The Post wanted to lead the charge against this child because he was a pawn in its political war against its political adversary – a war so disconnected and beyond the comprehension of Nicholas that it might as well have been science fiction.
    The Post must be dealt with the same way every bully is dealt with and that is hold the bully fully accountable for its wrongdoing in a manner which effectively deters the bully from again bullying other children.

    Meanwhile other children are being held by bullies on Trump’s orders, to punish their parents and send a political message.

    Stunning.

  22. 22.

    Mnemosyne

    IIRC, newspaper publishers being imprisoned by the British government for printing news that was unflattering to the powers that be is the EXACT REASON the 1st Amendment exists.

    But I’m just a history buff, not a law-talkin’ dude like Clarence Thomas.

  23. 23.

    The Very Reverend Crimson Fire of Compassion

    Is it just me, or is this whole thing hanging on a thread at this point? Believe me, I want to think I’m being paranoid.

  24. 24.

    Ithink

    Unfucking-believable. Clarence Thomas is concurrently the most reactionary of the SCOTUS so I won’t even acknowledge the “gobbledygook” (to quote his recently deceased wingnut BFF in Scalia) in trying to liberalize the libel laws as written unnecessarily. His negligence in correcting or caring about the all out assault on democratic institutions, particularly the judiciary, by the Trump/Pence administration is duly noted. He couldn’t be anymore of an Uncle Tom if he was nominated and won an Academy Award for movie acting the role.

    And $250 million for a viral video that went stratospheric LONG before the WaPo picked up and put it into ANY context!?!? To quote brother Charles Pierce over @ Esquire, crack-ah please! There are black and brown people being shot down and jailed the nation over for breathing crooked and these privileged mofos want restitution for being public assholes and then being humiliated properly about it, whether or not you interpret their actions as racist (they of course absolutely were)….sorry to all the Caucasian commenters here but there are simply NO other words I can conjure about this foolishness right now.

  25. 25.

    schrodingers_cat

    @Mnemosyne: India too has such laws, that we inherited from mummy, where you can be charged with sedition if the government deems your speech to be dangerous to public safety. This has been grossly abused during the British Raj and in independent India, including under the current government.

  26. 26.

    Jeffro

    Ugh.

    The traitors and betrayers miss no opportunity to try and gin up nonsense against the institutions of democracy. The Founders were smart to make the first amendment the First Amendment.

  27. 27.

    Kathleen

    @Ohio Mom: I trust the Cincinnati Enquirer will investigate and report. (On how these poor young boys were victimized and traumatized for life).

  28. 28.

    Chyron HR

    @Aleta:

    a war so disconnected and beyond the comprehension of Nicholas that it might as well have been science fiction.

    “This anti-abortion protester wearing Trump campaign gear has no comprehension of American politics,” is an interesting interpretation of the facts at hand.

  29. 29.

    The Midnight Lurker

    Do NOT do a comedy sketch making fun of Donald Trump!
    Do NOT report on an already viral video that might suggest Nick Sandmann is a racist.
    And do NOT call Howard Shultz a billionaire!

    Conspiracy? Ahhh… I just can’t see a common thread…

  30. 30.

    Ohio Mom

    @Aleta: It’s hard for me to imagine ever feeling sorry for young Nicholas Sandmann, that arrogant twerp, but boy, is he being used.

    It’s sad in its own way, even as it epitomizes the phrase, First World Problem.

  32. 32.

    Steeplejack (sky-high wi-fi)

    @Another Scott:

    Don’t care! I should be home by 12:30-1:00, and the snow doesn’t start until about 5:00, right?

    Just got seated on my flight to DCA after legging it a long way through the MSP airport. Don’t think I would have made it if the LAS flight wasn’t early.

  33. 33.

    Ohio Mom

    @Kathleen: Yes, The Cincinnati Enquirer was thrilled to have a national story in their backyard, and they certainly knew which way to play it for the majority of their readers. Some days all they ran was stories about those poor boys. It was getting tiresome.

    Disclaimer: I only read the headlines, scan the Things to Do This Weekend listings and the obituaries, and do some of the puzzles. My feeling about The Enquirer is that you’re less informed after you read it than you were before you started, so best not to give it too much attention. It’s probably most consistently useful when it comes to road closings.

  35. 35.

    wonkie

    But wouldn’t the ruling Thomas wants leave Faux and the entire rightwing propaganda media complex open to getting sued constantly?

  36. 36.

    Steve in the ATL

    Lin Wood is back? Christ, what an asshole.

    And Clarence Thomas thinks he can sue me for that, right?

  40. 40.

    Darkrose

    Clarence needs to take a good long look in the mirror, because I can tell you right the fuck now that the white men who drafted and ratified the Constitution never intended for someone like him to have his black ass on the Supreme Court.

  41. 41.

    Ruckus

    @rikyrah:
    I just did my part for this about 10 minutes ago. Used appropriate language and everything. Not sure that will be appreciated by the staff that might have to read it, their take on appropriate language may differ from mine. Oh well, at least he has the option of knowing how much I appreciate his running. Just in case it’s not clear, my level of appreciation in this matter is in a very negative place and falling rapidly.

  43. 43.

    Steeplejack (sky-high wi-fi)

    Just passed over Milwaukee and now crossing Lake Michigan. Altitude 33,000 feet. Tail wind 168 mph, ground speed 621 mph. This Airbus is dogging it! Outside temp –56°F. Time to DCA 1:16.

  44. 44.

    Ruckus

    @Ithink:
    I certainly can not speak for all the white people, nor do I want to speak for the bigoted ones in any event, but really there is no need to apologize for anything you said. You are actually speaking far more mild than I do and I’m a very white old fart.

  45. 45.

    HinTN

    They’re all hacks and frauds.

    Yeah, but they’ve got influential positions and a shit ton of money behind them.

  46. 46.

    Ithink

    @Ruckus:
    Question for you and any of the other regular crazy cats around here…do you think Clarence F’ing Thomas has any chance of doing this? Or these Covington douches winning this lawsuit…? I’m just feeling so ultra depressed lately I just wouldn’t put it past terrible fate for both of these matters going wrong for progressives as stacked as Drumpf has the courts with reactionary ideologues!?!? I can’t stand the thought of such. Makes me SO ill…

  47. 47.

    moonbat

    @Ithink: Thomas needs four other justices to agree that the case should be revisited and no one is signing on for this at this point. As for the poor bigoted child who faced the harsh reality of getting called out on his ugly behavior, who knows? He was in a public venue doing things that he and his group intended to be public — protesting abortion — so the old journalist in me says, ‘Sorry, bub. Recording you and publishing that recording and talking about that recording after it is made public is absolutely legal.” Just because his parents now want to recoup the money they spent hiring that PR firm to change the narrative shouldn’t mean squat.

  48. 48.

    john fremont

    @sdhays: Thomas Jefferson and James Madison would also be dumbfounded by the size of the federal mmigration enforcement apparatus today. Both held that only naturalisation and not immigration was an enumerated federal power.

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