McCullen v. Coakley, 573 U.S. 464 (2014), is a United States Supreme Court case involving a First Amendment challenge to the validity of a Massachusetts law establishing 35-foot (11 m) fixed buffer zones around facilities where abortions were performed.
The law – part of the Reproductive Health Care Facilities Act – barred non-exempt individuals from entering or remaining “on a public way or sidewalk adjacent to a reproductive health care facility within a radius of 35 feet”. The Court unanimously held that the law violated the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, as applied to Massachusetts through the Fourteenth Amendment.
Something to keep in mind:
Attorney General Merrick Garland has ordered the U.S. Marshals Service to ensure the safety of Supreme Court justices amid protests sparked by a leaked draft opinion that would overturn Roe vs. Wade.
“The Attorney General directed the U.S. Marshals Service to help ensure the Justices’ safety by providing additional support to the Marshal of the Supreme Court and Supreme Court Police,” the Justice Department said in a press release Wednesday.
The statement did not add further details about the security measures, noting that Garland “continues to be briefed on security matters related to the Supreme Court and Supreme Court Justices.”
Fuck these people.
brantl
Let’s give them the same courtesy that they’ve given us, OK? KARMA, bitches!
Baud
This is not something I can get exercised about.
Formerly disgruntled in Oregon
I want the SC judges protected, so that “our” judges will be protected. I also want abortion providers to be protected.
I object to the hypocrisy, but two wrongs don’t make a right.
Cacti
Merrick Garland has been an objectively terrible AG to date.
He’s all in on protecting members of his class from any sort of accountability, while the foundation cracks in the republic grow.
Wilson Heath
I will donate money to any org suing for an injunction against the fences using this precedent. Doesn’t matter whether or not it’s deductible to me.
brantl
@Formerly disgruntled in Oregon: I have no objection to them being protected, I have many objections to them being swaddled in some “Cone of Silence” where they don’t have to hear the people that they have righteously pissed off. Feedback is a wonderful thing. It’s time they came down from their ivory towers and walk in the mud that they, themselves, are making.
brantl
@Cacti: Horseshit, and I thought I had you pied.
Baud
@brantl:
The article doesn’t mention fences. Is that being reported elsewhere?
Cacti
@brantl: Well, I guess that settles it then.
Nope. He sucks.
Shalimar
@Baud: I don’t have a link handy, but I read over the weekend that fences were put up around the Supreme Court building.
Edit: It was before I read about the protest outside Kavanaugh’s house.
Robin Goodfellow
There is a law on the books that states that you can’t intimidate judges into deliberating a certain way. Garland is merely upholding the law.
I don’t like it but I recognize the need for it. Yes even corrupt partisan henchmen and henchwoman can live in peace while they toil away at destroying our democracy. Sucks.
Elizabelle
Because having a Supreme Court justice assassinated or wounded would add so much to the stability of our nation.
Yeah. Double standards, for sure, but Merrick Garland is being the adult in the room here.
And a sad bit of irony. He is stepping up to protect members of a court which he was not allowed to join, although nominated. Never even allowed a hearing.
May I close with: Fuck Mitch McConnell. May karma hit him hard, and soon. For all of our sakes.
Baud
@Shalimar:
Ok, thanks.
Cacti
@Robin Goodfellow:
Robin Goodfellow in 1859: “The law on the books says that you have to assist in helping to capture fugitive slaves. Someone has to be the adult against those underground railroad scofflaws.”
Kay
Yikes. Maybe the NYTimes will start covering it. I don’t think they say it’s the 2nd most important issue because they are worried about the leaker.
And we all know who she is anyway
Feathers
I wish the DC Dems would see that all these calls for “protection” are just Republicans looking for these demonstrations to become violent. Our grassroots demonstrations are peaceful and self regulating. Leaders on the ground have gotten much better about recognizing and getting rid of attention seeking agitators quickly. It’s bringing in the SWAT clad goons that not only creates the violence by attacking peaceful protesters, but creates the optics of violence through their attire and combat posture. This then gives the white supremacy nuts the sense that they have permission to “fight back.”
Terrible all around.
Old School
@Baud:
Fences were put up after the draft opinion was leaked. No idea if they are still there, but my guess is probably.
schrodingers_cat
@Baud: Agreed. Constant poutrage is exhausting.
Kay
@Old School:
The fences were in response to the climate change protestor, I think. But I agree they’re sort of ridiculous. Not a real confident, CREDIBLE look IMO.
MisterForkbeard
@Kay: And that number is only going up once the ban hits, too.
Maybe then we’ll actually start talking about the women.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
Sheesh, what’s all the drama for? This is just American citizens exercising their Second Amendment Rights.
Why does Justice Alito hate freedom?
MisterForkbeard
@Kay: My understanding was that the fences went up at or just before the leak (though I don’t remember for sure). I’m actually curious who asked for and authorized it.
Because if a conservative judge asked for a fence and then WHOOPS an incredibly ridiculous and offensive ruling ‘leaked’ the same day, I’d be suspicious.
Kay
@MisterForkbeard:
I make no predictions. No idea what these knuckleheads think. It’s heartening though, because obviously I think it’s profound and important, even beyond strictly abortion. Maybe mostly beyond strictly abortion.
It’s a big thing to tell people they don’t own their own bodies. That ripples in all kinds of ways, none of them good for girls and women.
WaterGirl
@brantl: Pie-ing is device specific If you pie on a computer, you have to pie on your phone, etc.
Kay
@MisterForkbeard:
Would they “ask” though? That isn’t how it works in ordinary courthouses. They ask for specific additionals- an extra sheriff’s deputy in the courtroom- but the “threat level” for the whole building is determined by law enforcement/security.
Cacti
Frankly, there is way too much pompous nonsense surround the Supreme Court, which has been abetted by the fancy lawyer clique of the legal profession.
Contrary to their own beliefs, SCOTUS is not the Oracle of Delphi, whose holy proceedings are too sacred for us mere mortals to even witness with our eyes.
They’re 9 fallible human beings, who get paid a public salary and work for us. The fact that they’re not accountable to the ballot box means that protest is literally the only way for the public to directly register their displeasure with its members.
Cacti
@Kay: With the polling you cited, I think one thing that’s important for our side to do is to frame reproductive freedom as not being a separate issue from economics.
Few decisions will ever affect your finances more than having children. Being forced to carry an unwanted pregnancy to term could be financially ruinous to millions of women.
Wapiti
@Robin Goodfellow: None of the conservatives on the Supreme Court are going to be swayed by protestors. They’re long-term Republican operatives, willing to dissemble under oath to be where they are now. Lying for the Lord, as it were.
The protests can only affect elected representatives, and show women that other decent people have their backs. Having the protests at the homes of the justices sends the message to our representatives that our privacy matters too, as much as their privacy.
Kay
@Cacti:
I agree and also with the part about fancy lawyers promoting this. I think of it as a kind of “correction”, like an overvalued stock that had to come down. It’ll tank for a while and then settle at real value.
The bottom falling out is interesting though- it was pre This Latest Outrage. It coincides with Barrett. I guess the Trump power grab and campaign ad roll out that came with it was a SMIDGE too much for the unwashed masses to swallow.
Dee Lurker
@Robin Goodfellow: Do you agree that these protests are intended to intimidate judges into changing their decisions? If so, why? I find it hard to believe that these protests have that intention. I think it is to make visible the victims of their judgments.
The correlation between protest and intimidation has been weakening the right to assembly for about a hundred and twenty years. Often, it is the police or private security forces that perform the intimidation, not the protestors
Edited addition: do you think that “marches on Washington” are also intended to intimidate? If so, why? I would think that the same logic would apply to the executive and legislative branches as they do the judicial. What makes protest that targets the judiciary branch less legal than other branches?
Kay
@Cacti:
There’s really a wealth of ways to approach it and they’re all potentially persuasive to one or another group. That, IMO, shows the import of it. For me, as a girl and then a women, you cannot announce by decree that girls and women do not have basic bodily autonomy and think that won’t ripple culturally and in society. It will. Anti-abortion people know this. They know culture informs laws and also follows them. It’s why they basically blew up the country to get here. They aren’t looking just to ban abortion. They want a different, narrower, restricted role for women. They call it a culture war because it is one. They don’t like the one we have. They seek a different one.
schrodingers_cat
Populist left wants their own Barr and Trump. They are bored with the hard work it takes to legislate and put policies into action. Heh even voting is too big an ask for many in this contingent.
That’s why their Congressional heroes are finger wagging independents, Instagram influencers and angry Tweeters and representatives who use props.
Bill Arnold
@Cacti:
The partisan hacks in the SCOTUS seem to be pretty twitchy about being called partisan hacks, even in print.
Distributed protest might work too, where e.g. organizers arrange it so that everyone in their residential community who is opposed to them calls them partisan hacks to their faces, or obviously shuns them, or something that they perceive as disrespect.
Omnes Omnibus
The protesters aren’t going intimidate anyone into changing a vote. But an attempted or successful assassination of a Justice (right or left) would upend a lot of apple carts.*
*No, I am not saying that the protesters at the Court in front of Kavanaugh’s house are going to try anything like that.
MisterForkbeard
@schrodingers_cat: I do agree completely here.
But I also think Garland just hasn’t been the right person for this. He makes occasional assurances to the contrary, but there really hasn’t been much in the way of indication that anyone that matters is ever going to get indicted or held accountable. Or that they’re even trying.
They’re ignoring contempt of congress referrals for plain violations of the law, for example.
prostratedragon
Joan Humphrey Lefkow, judge in the Northern District of Illinois (senior status)
Dangerman
@Elizabelle: Agree with every word.
Martin
@Kay: I’m leaning back into the camp that the leaker was on the liberal side of the court, but for a different reason.
The conservative side of the court has been leaking for a while and did to the WSJ oped a few days before this big leak. But the conservative leaks are to very favorable outlets, and are done with the intent of hiding context. This leak was to Politico (odd choice) and was solely about exposing context.
Had the ruling been to support MS in the case, that would have given the *appearance* of preserving Roe but shifting the cutoffs for state regulation, and that’s what the previous leaks were insinuating would happen (it’s still overturning Roe, but at first blush doesn’t look quite so bad), but this leak shows that the majority of the court believes that abortion should *never* be legal, and open the doors to a bunch of other things. This directly undermines the strategy that the conservative side of the court has been employing all along of leaks to build support for the appearance of a moderate policy shift when the reality was that it was a radical policy shift.
But the GOP didn’t want abortion to be overshadowing the economy, because inflation/gas prices was their winning message going into November, and suddenly the Dems have an effective counter and frankly, there’s a better chance that the economic picture will improve in the next 6 months than the civil rights picture will improve.
schrodingers_cat
@MisterForkbeard: Define anyone that matters.
Cacti
This.
Mai Naem mobile
Personally I am not sure that the abortion issue will drive Dem voter turnout because I just don’t see how you enforce Plan B and chemical abortions. Legislating is easy but enforcing is a whole other ballgame. I was surprised last week when I had this male acquaintance(I barely know the guy) randomly starting talking positively about Roe v Wade and negatively about the conservative judges. I estimate he’s in his early 60s and my guess is he’s had a personal experience with abortion – either partner or family member. I just wasn’t expecting this kind of conversation from a older white guy!
Martin
So, Garland is doing the right thing. As are the protesters. Garland is protecting the institution, and the protestors are attacking the current manifestation of the institution. The protestors don’t think the Supreme Court shouldn’t be a sacred institution, they just think the justices should share in that view, and are going after the ones that clearly don’t.
Baud
@Omnes Omnibus:
I could see a false flag attempt.
Repatriated
They kinda were. Back in the Before Times, you needed to get 60 votes to move the nomination forward, which helped weed out the extremists.
Those days are gone.
Martin
Yeah, that’s going to be tough, but this is why the narrative is shifting to issues like ectopic pregnancies which generally aren’t diagnosed early enough to be treated by chemical abortion. They are typically emergency room diagnoses and emergency surgery and as such will have a very high fatality rate if the hospital is unwilling to falsify the ICD-10 code.
It’s also why conservatives have shifted so aggressively to banning birth control and are now talking about federal legislation or rule-making that would ban delivering it via USPS.
That would cut off the ability of states like CA filling that gap, but wouldn’t be able to cut off European pharmacies from filling the gap.
MisterForkbeard
@schrodingers_cat: Trump was always going to be a hard reach, I get it. The organizers who pushed for a lot of the Jan 6th work mostly haven’t been touched at all, especially on the Administration side. There hasn’t been any public notice from the DOJ about the numerous attempts to literally remove votes with no evidence by administration officials, and so on. Not all (or even most of it) is prosecutable, but there’s no indication that it’s being evaluated.
But what’s up with ignoring the contempt of congress referrals? These are simple and obvious violations of the law and congress’ subpoena power. These people aren’t even bothering to show up and assert 4th amendment rights – they’re just giving Congress the finger.
sab
Thanks for the citation, John. Every protest should have at least one protestor with that citation on a sign.
MisterForkbeard
@Martin: I think giving the Justices the same protection standards as MOCs and similar officials is a good idea. No idea why that wasn’t the case, previously.
These protestors aren’t dangerous at all. And it’s massively hypocritical for the justices to act this way, given their own history on the subject. But that’s not on Garland.
Old School
@Martin:
Not saying the leak couldn’t have been from the liberal side, but yesterday’s leak to Politico seemed to be from the right.
Why couldn’t the draft have been leaked by this same attorney? Josh Gerstein and Alexander Ward were authors of both pieces.
MisterDancer
Which I would contest the vast majority of Americans have little to no idea about. To them, Abortions are still Clinic-based procedures, stirrups and all. The loss of that capability — which is still sorely needed! — is what’s generating that 25% ranking in the poll mentioned, above.
Bupalos
@Kay: Very well put and I hope we can all keep our eye on that ball. They aren’t trying to “save babies,” they are trying to “go back…” to a past that never existed.
We also need to keep our eye on the ball regarding how this effort in the abortion sphere dovetails with the rest of the “go back” agenda which is basically a rejection of universalism, ethics, and civil society generally.
We also need to recognize how seductive the language of “going back” is these days, where it gets it’s power, how many otherwise innocent people fall victim to its abuse and become abusers themselves, and how we can fight this cycle
So…you know….a long list for us.
sab
@MisterDancer: If your chemical abortion runs into problems then you still have to go to the ER for help. And if you are afraid to do that?
Skippy-san
Son of a bitch acts quickly when one of their own gets uncomfortable, but can’t lift a damn finger to arrest Trump and the legions of other traitors.
eddie blake
oath keepers have pleaded guilty to seditious conspiracy. one was roger stone’s driver. two steps to tang the conqueror. the DOJ is working its way up the goddamn food chain. the cases have to be AIRTIGHT, or the inner cabal will walk.
trollhattan
Ukrainian women in Poland are running into their harsh abortion and contraception laws.
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2022/may/10/ukrainian-women-face-harsh-reality-poland-abortion-laws?position=3
trollhattan
@sab:
My concern especially with an underground distribution network for RU-486 is it will be subject to the same counterfeiting as any black market prescription drug. And to your point, use without medical monitoring of some kind can be dangerous, doubly so if the patient is technically committing a felony in their state’s eyes and hesitant to seek help.
Plan B should not be as controversial to distribute but will certainly be targeted along with everything else the nuts are trying to ban.
Elizabelle
I think protesters should be able to protest outside the “justices'” homes, though. With, perhaps, restrictions on hours and noise — not so late as to keep the neighbors up; not a lot of lights.
Make your points, and exercise your first amendment rights, show your numbers; but do not make the neighbors’ lives collateral damage as well.
Edmund Dantes
@Kay: it was Mitch finally going one step too many for even the elite liberal law to pass off as just normal stuff.
even kids recognize when you are blatantly hypocritical to the extent of the Garland/Barrett standard. The both siders really struggled coming up with an explanation that could fit “sure that’s okay” beyond “cause fuck you I say so”. And people will accept a lot of stuff if you give them something that has a scintilla of an excuse, but if you literally go “fuck you cause I say so”. They tend to notice.
and the Barrett nomination process was a huge “fuck you cause I say so” moment that no fig leaf could cover.
pajaro
@Robin Goodfellow:
Demonstrating peaceably is not intimidation, period, full stop. Criticizing a likely Supreme Court decision before it happens is not a crime. (There have been massive rallies on the mall opposing Roe for a generation.) Letting the Justices know that they are planning on wrecking the lives of real people, and that some of those people are going to be upset by the decision, is not intimidation either.
It is legal to demonstrate on the public sidewalks. (subject to things like noise ordinances). What’s not legal is killing doctors who perform abortions, posting the addresses of doctors with threats attached or shooting a bullet into someone’s apartment (which, IIRC, happened to Justice Blackmun years after he authored Roe.)
Hilbertsubspace
Compare the govt. action on liberal* protests to the lack of response to large numbers of credible calls for violence in the build up to Jan 6. They’ve been biased like this for decades.
My personal favorite example is the early 2001 FBI report naming environmental terrorism as the greatest threat facing America and the world in the coming years, calling out the Earth Liberation Front by name. Have any of you even heard** of that group doing…. Anything? Then the FBI wasted tens of thousands of work-hours spying on pacifist groups like the Quakers for being against the Iraq war.
To quote the kids these days: The stupid, it burns.
*Based on political self-identification and the popularity of Roe, Moderates are also protesting and even some Conservatives support the protesters not the upcoming ruling.
**They burned some cars at a dealership once.
trollhattan
@pajaro: I’m still flabbergasted scores of assholes can march into the Michigan capitol and brandish assault rifles. In what sane nation is this legal? Susan Collins gets her sidewalk chalked, politely? The horror.
Edmund Dantes
@MisterDancer: you enforce it by criminalizing miscarriages. You get someone with an agenda to rat out a miscarriage and now needs to be investigated.
I mean Texas has already laid out how they would do this with the 10K bounty system.
this is going to be hell on people in bad relationships cause their partner/ex now have the threat of making life a hell if they get the right people to notice and go after someone.
this is going to be selective prosecution/policing. It’ll be similar to the offense of driving while black. Except it’ll be living while having a uterus.
And all those workarounds won’t be available to everyone. Or there will be paper trails of them trying to find the information on getting the pills etc.
the point is not the enforcement really. It’s the erecting barriers making it harder and dissuading some from even trying from fear
Robin Goodfellow
@Wapiti:
We protest with sidewalk chalk, they don’t. It’s a slippery slope one that they turn to their advantage. We’ve already seen armed protestors storm the Michigan capitol.
Imagine them doing that to a judge they don’t like.
Elizabelle
@trollhattan: Yeah. No guns or rifles in statehouses, government buildings, on campuses. Except those held by law enforcement.
The Michigan statehouse protests were terrifying.
trollhattan
Ta-daa!
WaterGirl
@trollhattan: Why can’t we get one of those fake civil war missives, only lamenting the horror of the sidewalk chalk incident?
I’ve been good, is this too much to ask?
MomSense
Buzzfeed spoke to the woman who chalked a message on the sidewalk in front of Susan Collins’ house.
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/amphtml/juliareinstein/susan-collins-sidewalk-chalker-interview
Stephen King lives on the same street. Maine is a weird place.
Cacti
@Repatriated: Not really. That was a 20th century creation spearheaded by former POTUS turned Chief Justice William H. Taft.
Prior to his push for them to get their own building, large professional staffs, etc., SCOTUS met in the basement of the Capitol FFS.
Soprano2
@Kay: There’s already been an article in our local paper saying that if Roe is overturned MO law won’t prohibit IUD’s or Plan B contraceptives. No mention of their intention to come after those things, though. My reaction if I were a “normie” would be something like “Why would you think it would prohibit those things?” Nothing in the article about that, either.
Cacti
Not everyone agrees with that assessment.
WaterGirl
@trollhattan: Really happy to see the committee do this.
If the Rs get control you know they’ll do worse than anything we could come up with, even if we tried, so that shouldn’t stop us for doing whatever it takes to get the facts about a fucking insurrection.
Baud
@MomSense:
Thug life.
Betty Cracker
On the “Garland: wartime consigliere or nah?” question, I’m speculating, same as everyone else, but Eric Holder of all people added an ingot to the pessimism side of the scale last week with this statement on Face the Nation:
OMFG, can the concern be any more misplaced than that? My concern is that letting these fuckers get away with trying to overthrow the government once will ensure that they succeed next time.
My impression is Garland is even more of an institutionalist than Holder. We’ll have to wait and see, obviously, but these institutionalists might be the death of the institutions they’re trying to protect. What do they think they are protecting it for?
WereBear
@Edmund Dantes: And the deaths. Recent Twitter thread from a woman who miscarried and didn’t know she was pregnant, it was that early.
But she was grilled by the police and said if she’d known her doctor would turn her in she wouldn’t have sought medical help.
Elizabelle
@trollhattan:
(1) Benghazi, goldfish memory Politico reporters?
(2). stop with the constant “if, as expected,” they win. I want to see a lot of conventional wisdom purveyors with egg or worse on their face after the midterms.
I am sick of the “as expected” stuff. You don’t see it in climate change reporting, or sports reporting, or other forms of reporting. If so, at least not to this extent.
schrodingers_cat
@MisterForkbeard: IANAL I will let Balloon Juice lawyers answer that question.
Kay
@Bupalos:
I think liberal cultural norms are broadly popular and they know they can’t take a bottom up approach- the country becomes more culturally conservative so demands legal restrictions and “out groups” – so they are simply going the other way. Make the laws more conservative and the culture will inevitably follow. You see it with their state law speech codes. If they erase black history and gay people in schools they’ll have a more culturally conservative group of people coming up. I don’t think it will work- it never seems to- but they don’t have another route to take. It’s gotta come from the top.
WaterGirl
@Baud: Oh my god, she actually called 911. Not just called the police but called 911? She should be prosecuted for using an emergency line for that bullshit.
I bet there is some rule or statute that allows them to take action against someone who abuses 911.
Eunicecycle
@Elizabelle: I visited the Texas statehouse about 10 years ago, and they allowed guns. There was a separate line for those with guns, but it looked to me like they were allowed to keep them. But then again, Texas.
ian
@Repatriated:
‘Those days’ with the 60 vote threshold produced Rehnquist, Thomas, and Scalia.
Cacti
@Betty Cracker:
The Ford pardon of Nixon created the poisonous idea that certain office holders should be above the law in the name of “unity”.
It’s done nothing but harm the country ever since.
Baud
@WaterGirl: I think most places are pretty generous when it comes to 911. They don’t want to discourage people calling in over fear that something might not be considered an emergency.
Kay
@Betty Cracker:
It just baffles me that they don’t understand that is political. It is AS political not to prosecute for political reasons as it is to prosecute for political reasons. I want to yell at them- “hey- back in bounds!”
They’ve made a rigidly rule bound process so complicated. The whole point of the thing is we gave them 50,000 rules to point to for cover. Garland doesn’t to agonize over how it “appears”. He points to the rule.
It’s Comey disease. There doesn’t seem to be a cure. Also? It’s ego. They are not responsible for the political ramifications of prosecutions. They are not in charge of that. That is wholly up to the public. Who told them they had bring the case, game out every possible public reaction to the case, add in whatever “ideas” they have about institutional legitimacy and stir that up into a big handwringing stew of inaction and dithering? It’s much, much simpler than that but it’s like they cannot accept their limited role in the process- they have to expand it.
Comey had no responsibility for the Republicans perception of his actions. He does not control that. It’s not his to control. Have none of these people ever heard “let the chips fall”? They have to do that. They have to peel their own death grip off this process and let it proceed like the big impersonal machine it is and was intended to be.
pajaro
@Robin Goodfellow:
Robin, they HAVE done this for judges they don’t like. There were demonstrations that followed Blackmun around. He needed US marshall protection. There’s no slippery slope, as they obliterated the hill a long time ago.
Mike in NC
@trollhattan: These traitors must be expelled from Congress. Enough of their stupid games.
Doug R
@Cacti:
If you’d paid attention you’d have noticed it took over a year to crack a proud boys’ phone, he’s been charged with seditious conspiracy and he and the oath keepers leader are cooperating.
JoyceH
DOJ has empaneled a grand jury for Trump’s handling of classified material.
Baud
@JoyceH:
Garland reads Balloon Juice!
RSA
It seems to me an overreaching law, but IANAL. Here’s the text (my emphasis):
It seems obvious that protestors are trying to influence judges. But there’s nothing dangerous or undemocratic about what the protestors are doing; it shouldn’t be illegal.
Baud
@RSA:
Intent is not so obvious, otherwise all protests at the Supreme Court would be illegal.
RSA
@Baud: Good point. These subtleties make me a bit wary of interpreting the law, even when it seems obvious, because it’s so easy for me to get it wrong.
Cacti
@Doug R: If you’d paid attention, you’d notice that Garland’s DOJ hasn’t even taken up contempt of Congress charges that have been referred to them by the House.
Is that also part of his secret master plan to bring the principals to justice?
Kent
In the case of Kavanaugh, it was actually the neighbors doing the protesting.
MisterForkbeard
@Betty Cracker: I mean, I kind of get it. If we got into a situation where in 2024 there’s huge Republican fraud (yeah) and that results in a technical Trump win, I’d certainly hope Biden calls it fraud and tries to get it overturned (peacefully).
The problem is that we can’t criminalize questioning election results. So it has to be predicated on something else that they did, and it probably can’t be things like discussing how to overturn the election. So you have instead things like fomenting violence or fraudulently pushing election lies, and you have to prove both of those were knowing. It’s hard.
But if they have proof that Trump and co straight up committed crimes, then they need to prosecute the fuck out of them.
JWR
@Elizabelle:
Somewhat surprisingly, there’s none of that in CNN’s story on these latest J6 subpoena’s.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
It’s also going to be how an abusive parent can try to control their estranged adult children. Just constantly accuse the child or the child’s friends of abortion.
Betty Cracker
@JoyceH: Miracles do happen, and this is the second I’ve heard today. Earlier, I found out the Democratic Party of Florida announced a new and unprecedented initiative in which they are hiring dozens of local organizers all over the state, coordinating outreach, etc., BEFORE the primaries (which take place in August) and that this approach would continue after the upcoming election.
Martin
@MisterDancer: That’s not the case any longer. It might be how *voters* think about abortions, but not how *people seeking abortions* think about abortions. That latter group skews much younger than the former group.
There’s a whole slew of startups in CA just focused on telemedicine appts for chemical abortion delivered by mail. They’re leaning into CAs laws and startup funding ecosystem to try and meet roughly ⅔ of the nations abortion demand. It doesn’t necessarily help the remaining ⅓ that can’t be served by chemical abortion and which is the part of abortion services that deals with maternal mortality. Super important, but at least for the other ⅔ they seek to make this extremely cheap and easy.
This infrastructure is also being built up by other CA mandates such as the UC/CSU abortion services through student health effective end of this year. The mandate isn’t that they provide surgical abortions on-campus, but that chemical abortions be available, and the campus cover the cost of either a chemical or surgical abortion. This also leans into reinforcing those surgical services at the UC run hospitals, which are usually the only public hospitals in the counties where they reside. They all provide those services now, but we’re stacking economic support to keep these as first tier services.
I agree that the surgical abortions are driving the political interest because as noted above, that’s the part of abortion that involves women who *want* a child, but something has gone wrong and there is no viable fetus and her life is in danger.
All of the ‘convenience abortions’ will be fine – USPS and either CA telemedicine or European/Mexican/Canadian telemedicine will fill the gap. It’s the life-saving ones that go away.
Bobby Thomson
I think the law is constitutional as applied to trial courts and otherwise Frisbie is wrongly decided.
The fence went up right after the climate change protester self immolated on the steps.
Garland could surprise me, but I think in the end only the people who actually invaded the Capitol will do any time or even face indictment, other than a sacrificial Roger Stone or two. No members of Congress, none of their staff, no one at the Cabinet level or higher in the executive branch, for that matter – no one requiring Senate confirmation, no Supreme Court justices, no billionaire funders, and no direct family of any of the above.
Bobby Thomson
@Betty Cracker: legitimately good news.
Baud
@Betty Cracker:
?
Kelly
After the violent police response to the Portland OR George Floyd protests Multnomah County elected Mike Schmidt, a progressive, to the DA’s office. Police and DA’s all over Oregon are a bit freaked out. A deep pocketed progressive is funding progressive DA challengers in Washington and Marion counties. Multnomah and Washington are the #1 and #2 most populous Oregon counties and home to Portland. Marion County is where the state capitol Salem reside. I’m in Marion county and got an appalling flyer in the mail from our incumbent DA. Defense attorneys are enemies of law and order, Mr. Progressive deep pockets wants to decriminalize sex work and GOOD GOD Marion County will be burned to the ground just like Portland was. I emailed the incumbent DA’s campaign site to let her know her flyer completely disqualifies her from holding office. It’ll probably get her enough votes from the permanently fearful angry folks to keep her office
https://www.opb.org/article/2022/05/03/oregon-election-2022-primary-elections-donors-washington-marion-county-district-attorney-races-funding/
debbie
@Baud:
Or, Garland’s been doing his job all along…
Betty Cracker
@MisterForkbeard: I’m not a lawyer, but I’ve seen lawyers on TV say that stuff like Trump’s phone call to GA election officials, Eastman’s memos, fake elector submissions, etc., are all crimes. Maybe they’re wrong, I don’t know.
Baud
@debbie:
No, it’s us.
Elizabelle
@Kent: Yes. Loved that. Carry on, neighbors.
Hilbertsubspace
@WaterGirl: Dearest Clementine:
The War has taken a turn for the worse, and I fear for what we may face in the days ahead.
Sixteen men in our regiment alone have been taken. But the most recent one will leave me scarred forever.
A small band of us had been sent in to town to see if the General Store could supply us with brushes and water buckets. It was early morning, and foggy. We didn’t see anyone else, but Jackson said to stay sharp, just the same. As we came round the last corner, Archibald stopped moving and just stood there looking down. At first we didn’t realize anything was wrong. Jackson put his hand on Archibald’s shoulder and started to tell him to keep moving.
Then Jackson screamed, like a fox caught by a hound. That was when I saw the white and pink powder for the first time. The message was only as long as a man, but it filled my vision, and hurt just to look at. Jackson tossed his open canteen down and tried to drag Archibald clear. It was lucky that I and one of the others had brought the long brushes, and we got to clearing away the devil scrawl. ‘Bout half way done, Archibald started crying and begging to go home. I have never seen a man so broken in all my life. Jackson then ordered us back. Not wanting to risk another chalk message about “voting” I reckon.
I pray to God this new evil is stopped, so we can continue a proper “Civil” War.
Yours in Faithfulness,
Hilbert
Baud
@Hilbertsubspace:
Perfection.
Omnes Omnibus
@Betty Cracker: Ask three lawyer a question and you are likely to get five answers. And that’s because at least one will say they don’t have enough info to answer the question because it is far more complex than a lay person could understand.
debbie
@MisterForkbeard:
Trump went well beyond “questioning.”
Kelly
I don’t know if it’ll be 2024 and Trump or somebody else a few elections from now. A Republican state government is going to lie about Republicans winning their state, send fraudulent electors and all hell better break loose when it happens. Brooks Brothers riot and Bush v Gore will be nothing compared to this.
Baud
@Omnes Omnibus:
Plus more answers = more billables.
Elizabelle
@Hilbertsubspace:
LOL. The extent of the injuries. Well done.
Cacti
Fairfax County, VA Board of Supervisors Chair respectfully tells Glenn Youngkin to pound sand on his request for security perimeters around the neighborhoods of Thomas, Alito, and Barrett.
Elizabelle
Satire from Andy Borowitz of The New Yorker
zhena gogolia
@debbie: Heresy!
WaterGirl
@Hilbertsubspace: That was so great. I can’t thank you enough for that.
Dangerman
@JoyceH: Good. Goose/Gander. In my first life, I had a Top Secret with an EBI (EBI is the really hard one to get) and I would have been first fired, then flogged, followed by an all expenses paid trip to Lompoc (Christopher Boyce Suite).
It’s about time that MFer learned what happens when you fuck around.
Elizabelle
@Cacti: Yeah. Our new governor is superb for being on the wrong side on an issue. Just about any issue.
Although he did sign “the beagle bills” a few weeks back. Which every single member of the legislature signed onto. Republicans and Democrats. Cats and dogs living together, etc.
Geminid
@Betty Cracker: My Atlanta friend hates Trump, and was a pretty sharp civil attorney. Warren looked carefully at the transcripts of Trump’s calls to Georgia officials, and expressed skepticism that the calls would support an indictment. He thought Trump had skated within the line of criminality.
That would not surprise me because Trump is a career criminal who learned long ago how to crime and not get caught. The Fulton County DA may still get the grand jury to find otherwise, and to indict Trump. But it may not be the slam dunk people believe it should be.
eachother
@Elizabelle: “(2). stop with the constant “if, as expected,” they win. I want to see a lot of conventional wisdom purveyors with egg or worse on their face after the midterms.“
I have been noticing this also. Quick as you may feel positive about the fall election outcome, you get smacked with the ‘inevitably’ dampener.
Also, I am adding sidewalk chalk to my Women’s March kit.
Starfish
@Formerly disgruntled in Oregon: This is the protection of the wealthy and powerful and no one else. Protection of the justices does not get anyone else protected. They and Susan Collins are snowflakes who defend speech until people speak out against them. Then speech is violence.
Kay
Joe Rogan is just middle aged man ranting. I love how they can just go to the “woke well” over and over and over. A bottomless pit of grievance.
debbie
@Geminid:
There were plenty of implied threats. That’s less serious than fucking sidewalk chalk?
trollhattan
@Hilbertsubspace:
Hah! Excellent.
Subaru Diane, you have company.
Baud
@Kay:
Who is telling kids they will go to hell if they are straight?
Geminid
@Elizabelle: The hapless Youngkin had to withdrw his nominee to head the Department of Motor Vehicles. Newspapers in Indianapolis, where the nominee worked before, reported the man was being investigated for some questionable remarks at meetings when he appeared to be intoxicated.
Youngkin caught a lot of shit over the weekend from right wingers because he did not use the State Police to suppress the demonstrations. I think he’s just posturing now. Youngkin wants to get through his term without too much controversy so that he can build a Presidential campaign around being all things to all people.
Baud
@Geminid:
Another round of “This Republican is different!”
sab
@Kay: In that example I don’t know what the “other way” would even be. Not going to burn in hell? Straight kids burn in hell? It’s nonsensical.
Jay
@Mai Naem mobile:
I’m an old, in his 60’s, white male dude, who has that “scary” look, ( bald, goatee, baseball cap, carharts, boots),
but I loved my Mother, love my sister, love my wife, love all the women in my life, and ever since I was a small child, they were all “people” to me, their rights matter to me.
Yeah, right now I am pissed off like many others.
And it’s not always because we had/have someone in our life, affected by this,
It’s because we have women in our lives we love and value.
Elizabelle
@Geminid: I hope all the culture war stuff blows up in Youngkin’s face.
Virginia is not Florida.
Kay
@Baud:
No one. As I said- middle aged man ranting. He says “fucking teacher” rather than “teacher” though so he’s cool and sorta “working class”.
They will mine and bring up nuggets from this wokeness well until it stops being profitable. Because what does he have without it? MMA, Glenn Greenwald and Megyn Kelly and that’s just Fox + MMA.
I don’t mind that it’s boilerplate, standard Right wing on a different platform. I just wish they would stop pretending it’s something else.
Geminid
@debbie: Well, I’m not comparing Trump’s actions to chalking a sidewalk. They were wrong and subversive; my friend thought they were not criminal, although close to it.
I wonder if the threats you speak of are in a different matter, the one where Kanye West’s publicist threatened a local election official with criminal charges. West was acting on behalf of Trump, but I doubt he’d been instructed to have this done.
However- there seems to have been a lot of improvisation in Trump’s effort to steal the Presidency. I would not be surprised if Trump got sloppy and enlisted more people directly to further his scheme than he would normally. Prosecutors may not have to flip a Roger Stone to get the goods on his boss.
West of the Cascades
I clerked for a couple of federal judges, and the Marshall’s service takes protecting them very seriously – so I have no problem with Garland’s directive (I also personally believe that a 35-foot exclusion area protecting people going into clinics doesn’t meaningfully restrict speech when balanced against someone exercising a then-constitutional right to health care, but evidently the Supreme Court disagreed).
Regarding judges, though, I don’t know if anyone has mentioned this yet, but last year a guy in New Jersey was charged with threatening to kill a federal district court judge – so DOJ rightly takes seriously the possibility. From the DOJ press release (https://www.justice.gov/usao-nj/pr/man-charged-threatening-assault-and-kill-federal-judge):
Williams called the judge’s chambers a second time and spoke to one of the judge’s law clerks. While discussing issues related to his case, he stated: “Before the snow starts falling on my head, I’m gonna put a bullet in the Judge’s brain . . . he’s a scumbag.”
On Nov. 1, 2021, Williams again contacted the judge’s chambers phone number. Members of the U.S. Marshals Service were present when this call was made and overheard Williams’s conversation with an employee who works in the judge’s chambers. Williams directed sexually-explicit, profane, and racially-disparaging remarks at that employee. Williams then stated: “You’ll see! You’ll lose your job when I kill your boss.” Williams then repeated the threat a second time before the call ended.
Steve in the ATL
@Baud: Big Gay
sab
I wonder what percent of jackals are not lawyers?
Geminid
@Baud: I think ambitious Republicans would envy Youngkin’s position. He heads a prosperous, well run state, and he can’t lose his reelection because he’s not allowed to run for a second term. The Democratic majority in the state senate will keep him from signing any radical, toxic abortion or gun rights legislation. So he can spread his money around the country to foster a political network, while he talks tough but doesn’t have to do anything.
Omnes Omnibus
@sab: 42.
Mallard Filmore
@Mai Naem mobile:
I assume you mean enforce against Plan B. It would be easy. Outlaw the manufacture, distribution, or possession of these materials … at the federal level. Like marijuana.
Starfish
@Geminid: Why are Eastman and John Wu still people who are allowed to practice law? If you can’t disbar these people undermining our system of government, what is this process good for?
Steve in the ATL
@sab: @Omnes Omnibus: 27
Geminid
@Starfish: I’m not very knowledgeable in this area. But I’m guessing you are asking a rhetorical question.
Kay
@Baud:
Upcoming guest:
Also Glenn Greenwald and Megyn Kelly, but that goes without saying. Honestly, just in the interest of fairness they should invite one “fucking teacher” to defend their three million colleagues.
“Why are you telling them they’ll go to hell if they’re straight?” Well, I don’t think I have but thank you for having me. Joe, Glenn and Megyn.
I have a close friend who is a third grade teacher and I always think of her- “that just DOES NOT SOUND like Mary Lou”
Maybe that’s what she’s like on Tic Tok. Her social media influencer brand.
jefft452
@Wapiti: well said
Baud
@Kay:
Why aren’t we telling them they’ll go to hell if they’re straight?
Fight fire with fire (and brimstone).
Kay
@Baud:
Because they will TATTLE. Obviously. Because many of them are tattle tales. You can’t trust them.
Matt McIrvin
@schrodingers_cat:
It seems the right has been making this literally impossible, regardless of anyone’s hard work. So I can understand the frustration.
Baud
@Kay:
Little shits.
Omnes Omnibus
@Baud: Good, old fashioned, real Calvinists would say that most people are going to hell. None of this worldly success showing you are part of the elect shit either.
the pollyanna from hell
@Martin:
All the convenience abortions for people with money and access and skills and experience, will be okay? I have much privilege, but if I were faced with that test I would fail at least on the first couple of tries.
Omnes Omnibus
@Matt McIrvin: Burning everything the fuck down helps how?
Mai Naem mobile
@Hilbertsubspace: this is tbogg worthy.
@Mallard Filmore: i get what you’re saying but in the age of easy rapid package delivery and the internet its going to be another drug war. It will move underground. The meds will be smuggled from Mexico and Canada. And we haven’t even gone into the legal challenges. On top of this I think Mitch McConnell, if he becomes majority leader, is counting on the Dems blocking this nationally. Let’s not forget Biden’s veto. The Senate is not going to be 60/40 in the foreseeable future in either direction. Whoever said it above is right – its the life saving abortions that will be the problem.
RaflW
Most all of the SCOTUS justices give talks at both public and private venues. It’s how we know what hacks some of them are.
If they wan’t a ‘cone of silence’ for their work, but also get to give speeches and speak at meetings of clubs and associations, fuck ’em.
They’re public figures using non-privileged communications. So they need to hear such, too.
MisterForkbeard
@Kelly: That’s what I’m getting at. We don’t want to create a situation where Republicans will put our candidate in jail for reasonably questioning the actual fraud that Republicans are committing.
MisterForkbeard
@Kay: Who’s telling straight white kids they’re going to hell because they’re straight white kids?
It doesn’t work the other way because that doesn’t happen. Christ, these MFers.
prostratedragon
@Hilbertsubspace: Brilliant!
Birdie
@schrodingers_cat: Institutions cannot fail, they can only be failed, right?
FWIW I agree that most of the electorate is uninformed and fairly childish in their expectations, and they are egged on by politicians.
However, that statement applies to all politicians, not just the “populist left” whoever they are. Point me to a politician who doesn’t have an unrealistic policy platform and I’ll show you someone who didn’t win. (And before you respond, please go check out Hillary’s and Joe B’s campaign websites to fact check yourself).
And furthermore, the absolutist position that Institutions, when controlled by Democrats, can do no wrong, is a strong claim which requires strong evidence. I don’t see it, and I definitely don’t think it’s true when they are circling the wagons to protect themselves from peaceful protest.
debbie
Today, the Ohio Supreme Court asked the GOP leaders why they shouldn’t be held in contempt for not following their orders about redistricting maps. Their response: They are immune. ??♀️
antonius
I think SCOTUS justice security should include a 35′ radius ring fence that has to be carried around by their security team as they move from place to place.
Elizabelle
No Triple Crown this year. Rich Strike’s people are keeping him out of the Preakness; letting him rest up. He might run in the Belmont Stakes.
I respect that.
WaterGirl
@debbie: What the hell does “immune” mean in this context?
They are going to be held in contempt, yes? They have flipped off the judiciary at every turn.
StringOnAStick
@Martin: I just wrote my two bright blue senators (Oregon) about hammering the abortion rights issue for this campaign season, and made specific mention of how having an ectopic pregnancy will be a death sentence once all abortion care is outlawed. I don’t think many people realize what a federal ban means, but legally requiring death to all who find themselves with an ectopic pregnancy should scare the shit out of everyone with a uterus* and those that love them. Hammer on that, that they are putting politicians in charge of medical decisions.
Edmund Dantes
@Mai Naem mobile: it’s weird that people keep going to this well of “it’ll be fine since we have all the chemical abortions”. Ignoring in a world where they haven’t been outlawed in any state we already have people having problems with getting/using them (getting ratted out if they need medical intervention), and a myriad other problems.
yep somehow in the future when layers of bans and differing states doing different things “telemedicine and the usps will make this not a big deal”.
truly bizarre and whistling past the graveyard
artem1s
@Edmund Dantes:
the point is also to build a list of women who will forever be banned or shunned from holding public office just for having a miscarriage or taking a pro-choice stance.
Everyone who has ever publicly stated they had an abortion or stated they helped someone get an abortion should be concerned about the states’ effort to criminalizing abortion. There is no statute of limitations on murder. It will be the DeFarge woman knitting at public executions if the Scalia’s and Alito’s of the world get their way.
debbie
@WaterGirl:
No idea. I heard it on the local NPR news. Nothing on Twitter yet, but I see Squirrel Boy has blocked the aid package for Ukraine. ?
Geminid
@WaterGirl: It sounds like Ohio Republicans have an “ought-to immune” disease.
JR in WV
I’m fine with Justices of the Supreme Court receiving protection against potential attackers — I just believe reproductive health care providers deserve the same level of protection.
After all, clinics have been bombed and burned, while doctors have been murdered, while no Justice of the Court has been so much as actually threatened so far.
All the demonstrations regarding Justices have been models of constitutionally approved peaceful assemblies!!
WaterGirl
@debbie: Who is squirrel boy and why would he do that?
Mike in NC
@WaterGirl: Sounds like Rand Paul…
oldgold
I hosted a speech given by Justice Harry Blackmun years ago. And, let me tell you, the venue before and during the event was buzzing with Federal Marshalls and the security was extremely tight.
debbie
@WaterGirl:
https://twitter.com/therecount/status/1524839627131080735?s=21&t=RUWgB6E4VGN8pSCyY82F2Q
JR in WV
@Mai Naem mobile:
It is actually pretty easy. You subpoena major online providers for any searches with the words involved, names of the actual drugs involved in Plan B and chemical abortions, and require them to provide the IP addresses and other personally identifying information of those searchers
Then you look closely at the on-line history of those people using more subpoenas to Google, Apple, and major online providers. Then you issue search warrants for their home and office, especially all their computer devices, their credit card data, payment information to ID any payment to a drug store.
Busted!!
If there’s no right to privacy, which is not specifically mentioned in the Constitution, then they barely need warrants at all. And fuck that pesky 9th Amendment in the Bill of Rights!!!
Chief Oshkosh
@Betty Cracker:
I’m sad to say (really!) that I don’t think they have thought that through very much. Some of that lack of foresight is that they’ve risen to the top of their profession, so don’t really comprehend the stakes. They’re “soft” as it were.
Kay
You dont dare hope with these people but maybe the blaring siren “they’re coming for your rights!” got through. Independents, as usual, are dragging down the number on “basic awareness of events around them” :)
Kent
Yes, some of that. But having these sorts of laws on the books lets racist asshole DAs selectively enforce the law against young poor women of color of whom they disapprove and throw the book at them. So, for example, drug users, prostitutes, or just lefty activists who they hate. No need to enforce the law against all rich white Christian folks. I
It is a feature not a bug to have a law that you can selectively enforce against the people you want to. Drug laws work the same exact way.
Baud
@Kay:
The thing that keeps Republicans up at night is the fear that people will actually vote based on their values.
Geminid
@Baud: Republicans will lean hard into the “Democrats are radical woke socialists!!” appeal this year. At this point, negative partisanship is their best argument, maybe their only effective one.
Baud
@Geminid:
Now I’m second guessing the Dem’s decision to make “We are radical woke socialists” the theme of our campaign.
Spanky
@Hilbertsubspace: I had to reread that with “Ashokan Farewell” playing in the background.
Geminid
@Baud: Actually, I think Republicans will call Democrats “Leftists,” not “Socialists.” I think they focus-grouped “Socialist” and found that it wasn’t as dirty a word as they thought.
Spanky
@Mike in NC: It’s slander against squirrels, who have much nicer pelts than Rand Paul. And I hate squirrels.
Kay
There was a baby formula whistleblower:
Kay
OMG
Dan B
@Baud: A friend’s teenaged daughter proclaimed to me thatshe was. “Coming out as straight!” It was intended as solidarity with LGBTQ people but came across as clueless. Would a person with kinky hair “come out as white”? This kid may have felt awkward for a moment but there wasn’t the fear of being shunned and worse that trapped people in the closet for years.
Dan B
@Steve in the ATL: Nah. We just bring hurricanes on Florida from our Big Gay Weather Machine in an undisclosed location hidden in a big hair factory!
schrodingers_cat
@Birdie: Long live the cult of Magic Grandpa, the Maple Syrup Messiah who gave us the Orange T.