Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Let us savor the impending downfall of lawless scoundrels who richly deserve the trouble barreling their way.

A sufficient plurality of insane, greedy people can tank any democratic system ever devised, apparently.

Putin must be throwing ketchup at the walls.

A last alliance of elves and men. also pet photos.

Jesus, Mary, & Joseph how is that election even close?

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

The worst democrat is better than the best republican.

When someone says they “love freedom”, rest assured they don’t mean yours.

Not all heroes wear capes.

The words do not have to be perfect.

If you’re pissed about Biden’s speech, he was talking about you.

A thin legal pretext to veneer over their personal religious and political desires

The republican caucus is already covering themselves with something, and it’s not glory.

Some judge needs to shut this circus down soon.

Roe isn’t about choice, it’s about freedom.

The next time the wall street journal editorial board speaks the truth will be the first.

Is it irresponsible to speculate? It is irresponsible not to.

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

We still have time to mess this up!

A Senator Walker would also be an insult to reason, rationality, and decency.

But frankly mr. cole, I’ll be happier when you get back to telling us to go fuck ourselves.

No one could have predicted…

Let’s delete this post and never speak of this again.

rich, arrogant assholes who equate luck with genius

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Trump Had A Week To Act, And He Didn’t Do It

Trump Had A Week To Act, And He Didn’t Do It

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This post is in: 

I read earlier today that “sources” said that Trump didn’t plan to appeal to the so-called Supreme Court, so I figured that because they always lie, that could mean that he would appeal at the last minute.

But apparently the week has come and gone, and the 11th Circuit formalized their ruling this afternoon.  Oh, to have been a fly on that wall as his attorneys beat him into submission, as they surely must have had to do.

So if I understand this correctly, the whole special master debacle has officially gotten the kibosh, for real.  Ding dong, at least that is dead.  No one is probably happier than Judge Dearie.  I hope no one is sadder than the corrupt hack judge who managed to delay things for months.

Open thread.

Reader Interactions

91Comments

  2. 2.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @PaulWartenberg:

    This is odd. trump would want to do everything he can to delay delay delay.

    Agreed. It’s as though they took all the air out of his balloon, all at once. Thoroughly deflated. A sodden, wrinkled mess.

  3. 3.

    WaterGirl

    @PaulWartenberg: I think the lawyers must have all said they would have anything to do with an appeal.  They must have been united in saying no fucking way.

    How much do we think each and every attorney on his legal team is regretting their most regrettable choice to represent that piece of shit?

  4. 4.

    Ken

    I think it’s one of those weird legal kiboshes, where it never happened in the first place. But I hope Trump still has to pay the special master fees. And I’m pretty sure the ruling itself, with it’s legalese version of “Judge Cannon really messed up bigly,” still legally exists.

  7. 7.

    Captain C

    @WaterGirl:

    I think the lawyers must have all said they would have anything to do with an appeal.  They must have been united in saying no fucking way.

    It would be hilarious to see TFG try and do pro se representation before SCOTUS.

    How much do we think each and every attorney on his legal team is regretting their most regrettable choice to represent that piece of shit?

    It depends on whether they got paid in advance, and how close they are to retirement.

  8. 8.

    Scout211

    I hope Judge Cannon’s dismissal is posted by her soon and then reported all over the media with the proper amount of scorn.

  10. 10.

    geg6

    Don’t know how true any of the rumors…reporting, yes that’s it…from unnamed sources I’ve seen may be that Cheetolini has been holed up in his bedroom at MAL.  The walls have to be completely ketchup red.  Maybe the ceiling, too.
    More seriously, could he be ill?  Has he been spotted in the wild lately?

  12. 12.

    Scout211

    @WaterGirl:

    I think those decisions need to be posted but IANAL.

    In any case, I will be looking forward to Liz Dye’s commentary at Above the Law.

  14. 14.

    eclare

    @geg6:   He had his picture taken with some Pizzagate promoter at MAL sometime recently, maybe last week?

    ETA>  Googled, it was this past Tuesday night, Election Night!  No wonder he still had a smile…it was before the race was called.

  15. 15.

    geg6

    @WaterGirl:

    Can’t remember where but I know it was from some unnamed “aide” and it may have been a tweet by Maggie Haberman.  I’m pretty sure I saw it yesterday posted on some website.  Maybe TPM or NYMag or LG&M or GOS.

  16. 16.

    TS

    @WaterGirl:

    How much do we think each and every attorney on his legal team is regretting their most regrettable choice to represent that piece of shit?

    Someone else has probably said it but perhaps they wanted to be paid before doing any more work for trump.

  18. 18.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @geg6: I think that was a campaign aide speaking metaphorically about the lack of any real activity as a campaign since he announced which he only did because he thought announcing would box Garland in

    Robert Costa m@costareports Dec 6
    “So far, he has gone down from his bedroom, made an announcement, gone back up to his bedroom and hasn’t been seen since except to have dinner with a White supremacist,” said a 2020 Trump campaign adviser.

  19. 19.

    Mike in NC

    Oh my God. I just read that TIME magazine’s Person of the Year in 2021 was none other than Elon Musk. Nooooo!!!

  20. 20.

    Scout211

    Andy Borowitz has an update of the newly discovered documents

    They just keep finding more government documents.  :)

    WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)—Donald J. Trump’s legal team struggled to explain how the original Declaration of Independence made its way to a storage unit leased by the former President in Queens, New York.

    The lawyers informed the Justice Department that they had discovered the eighteenth-century document under a stack of hastily packed items, including several pairs of socks and the Oval Office’s television remote.

    “Mr. Trump will, of course, return the Declaration of Independence to the National Archives as soon as possible,” Harland Dorrinson, one of the attorneys, said. “This seems to have been some kind of honest mistake.”

    That version of events differs from one provided by a source close to the former President, who indicated that Trump had intentionally taken the Declaration of Independence in the hopes that it had a treasure map on the back.

  21. 21.

    WaterGirl

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    “So far, he has gone down from his bedroom, made an announcement, gone back up to his bedroom and hasn’t been seen since except to have dinner with a White supremacist,” said a 2020 Trump campaign adviser.

    For some reason, that reminded me of a Mad Lib.

  22. 22.

    geg6

    @eclare:

    Gawd, was the election just this week?  Seems like a week ago at least.

    My timeline seems to be wonky.  Too much going on, especially at work.

  23. 23.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    he’s wowing the (captive?) crowds at Mar-A-Lardo. Here he is claiming old people in Phoenix turned away from ten-hour lines to vote because they couldn’t take the 85 degree heat and they had to take their kids to their little league games, which I guess happens in late autumn in Arizona.

    @patriottakes Dec 7

    Trump claimed that people trying to vote for Kari Lake in Arizona were waiting in lines up to “5 miles long” for “10 hours” on Election Day.

  27. 27.

    Ken

    @geg6: To think some people mock Haberman. Without her inside connections, how would we know anything about Trump? She plays the same valuable role that Pravda and Tass did in the heyday of Kremlinology.

  28. 28.

    Gvg

    Didn’t the GOP say they would stop paying his legal bills if he announced his candidacy? Maybe he can’t afford anymore frivolous lawsuits?

  30. 30.

    West of the Cascades

    @Scout211: I hope Judge Cannon’s dismissal is posted by her soon and then reported all over the media with the proper amount of scorn.

    Once Judge Cannon receives the mandate from the 11th Circuit, which arrived electronically to her today, she has to issue a short (one sentence) order dismissing Trump’s case. Normally a district court judge would do it the next business day after the appellate court mandate arrives – so look for it in the late Friday afternoon news dump tomorrow.

  34. 34.

    Geminid

    @PaulWartenberg: This is a perplexing development. Like you say, Trump typically tries to delay when he can. I wonder if this was a deliberate decision, or inaction resulting from dysfunction.

  36. 36.

    geg6

    @Ken:

    I have never twittered.  My IRL timeline is wonky.  Probably because I worked remotely twice this week.  That always throws me off.  Plus, I’m swamped at work.

  37. 37.

    zhena gogolia

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: I haven’t tried it yet. I keep forgetting. It’s Alfred Molina. We recently watched an earlier film that was made of one of them, with Nathaniel Parker. We thought it was pretty good, but I guess it didn’t become a series.

  49. 49.

    Fake Irishman

     

    @WaterGirl:

    One of plots revolves around a murder at a pickup curling match. It’s extremely Canadian. My mom got me the first three books for Xmas a few years back then my wife and I read the entire series out loud to our baby for bedtime until she got old enough to have opinions about bedtime stories.

  50. 50.

    ian

    @WaterGirl:

    He has gone down from ___Golden escalator_____, made a(n) __enormous doukie on floor_______, gone back up to ___shred documents in the toilet_______, and hasn’t been seen since, except to __match wits______ with a ____Sicilian_____, said __Mistress Goebbeldegook________.

  54. 54.

    West of the Cascades

    @WaterGirl: LOL! Sadly, it will look more like this:

    USCA MANDATE as to [58] Notice of Appeal filed by UNITED STATES OF AMERICA that the decision of the District Court is VACATED and REMANDED. This action is hereby DISMISSED.

    Pretty boring stuff.

  59. 59.

    WaterGirl

    @ian: Well done!  I figured that taking a dump would have to be in there somewhere… and I would have guessed golden toilet before golden escalator, but I guess when you are into gold paint, it can go anywhere.  Or maybe golden showers.  I should have put golden in the Mad Lib!

  61. 61.

    WaterGirl

    @West of the Cascades: I hope she chokes on every word as she types it out.

    So… something like this? :-)

    USCA MANDATE as to [58] Notice of Appeal filed by UNITED STATES OF AMERICA that the decision of the District Court is VACATED and REMANDED because those fucking bastards on the 11th Circuit Court are making me do this, and I am so fucking mad that I could just scream! I should have gotten my way, but this action is hereby DISMISSED.  I hope those fuckers on the 11th Circuit die in a fucking fire.

  64. 64.

    Fake Irishman

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: we’d always read her a short children’s book or two first, sing her a song, then one would hold her and the other would read Louise Penny until she went to sleep. Usually took about a chapter or two.

  67. 67.

    Cmorenc

    @Sparkedcat:

    judge canon made what seemed to her a smart gamble that even if her special master + injunction move eventually got overruled, trump or some hard-core RWer would defeat biden in 2024 and the gop would retake the senate.  She would then be rewarded with an appellate promotion for her service smothering the momentum of the justice dept’s investigation, also smothering the wave of bad publicity trump and the gop were getting from it.…. iIt might have proved ito work out as she hoped over time, had the red gop materialized in 2022 and most of the.election denting magas not lost suddenly making many gop officeholders suddenly  allergic to him

  68. 68.

    Fake Irishman

    @WaterGirl:

    oddly enough if that happened, Dems would appoint three more judges to the 11th circuit, flipping the majority of the court to Dem appointees and likely ensuring Cannon gets overruled a lot more.

  69. 69.

    WaterGirl

    @Omnes Omnibus: That link was to Julie Andrews and the Muppets.  I don’t know if that’s what you intended (because I don’t get the connection to GSD) but that was outstanding.  So well done!

    It must have been a hoot to do those Muppet shows as a guest star.

  70. 70.

    Jackie

    @WaterGirl: It might be true after watching this exchange on MSNBC’s Chris Hayes tonight! Read the entire exchange 😂

    “Hayes started off by recounting new reporting indicating that the United States Department of Justice has moved to hold Trump’s office in contempt for repeatedly providing false assurances that all classified documents requested by the government had been turned over.

    Former U.S. Attorney Harry Litman told Hayes he was particularly struck by the fact that none of Trump’s attorneys has been willing to become his official custodian of records, as they apparently do not trust him enough to be truthful.”

    “This is so indicative of who Trump is as a person and a client,” he said. “Everybody has a custodian of records. Crime bosses have a custodian of records!”

    https://www.rawstory.com/trumps-lawyers-2658903552/

  72. 72.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @WaterGirl: German goatherd, German shepherd.  W’evs.  The point being they have to say dog to make sure you don’t think of a dude in lederhosen.

  75. 75.

    Burnspbesq

    @West of the Cascades:

    issuance of the mandate also starts a 90-day clock to petition for cert. Stays of mandate for that 90-day period are fairly commonly granted, but Trump has yet to ask for one.

  76. 76.

    kalakal

    Frankly I’m loving this. Trump has been pulling this sort of shit and getting away with it all his life. Suddenly not only is it not working, it’s making it worse. What passes for his mind must be running in ever decreasing circles and his inner voice nothing but a scream. Every moment of every day he’s feeling the ( dripping red, tomato smelling) walls closing in.

  77. 77.

    West of the Cascades

    @WaterGirl: That would be SO AWESOME! I’ve seen judges in district court be petulant about being reversed by a court of appeals, but they – sadly – don’t usually have the guts to write it down.

  78. 78.

    West of the Cascades

    @Burnspbesq: The issuance of the decision, which is the same as the entry of judgment (not the issuance of the mandate) starts the 90 day cert clock running. Supreme Court Rule 13.3:

    3. The time to file a petition for a writ of certiorari runs
    from the date of entry of the judgment or order sought to be
    reviewed, and not from the issuance date of the mandate (or
    its equivalent under local practice).

    But your point that Trump still has 83 days to petition for cert (or seek a stay of the mandate under FRAP 41(d)) is accurate.

  80. 80.

    columbusqueen

    @Geminid: Or his lawyers telling Trump they’d be damned if they’d risk sanctions for a frivolous appeal just to cover his fat ass some more.

  81. 81.

    columbusqueen

    @WaterGirl: Asking for a writ (also known in lawyerspeak as granting cert) is how you get the Supremes to take a case for review. It’s the way most cases land on their docket, since there’s only  very limited types of cases that can be directly appealed up to them. Normally, there needs to be a compelling constitutional question and/or a conflict between circuit courts’ decisions for a writ to be granted.

  82. 82.

    West of the Cascades

    @WaterGirl: Sorry! An appeal to the US Supreme Court is technically termed a “petition for a writ or certiorari.” There are very few appeals that can be made to the US Supreme Court “as of right” – I vaguely recall that states have a right to appeal cases that involve disputes with other states. But almost all cases reach the Supreme Court by an appellant — now deemed a “petitioner” — asking the Supreme Court to grant a “writ of certiorari” to the Court of Appeals (or, more rarely, to a district court or state highest court). The Supreme Court has discretion whether or not to hear the appeal – it “grants cert” for only about 2% of the petitions it receives (one of the reasons we need at least four more Justices, the slackers!).

    “Certiorari” or “cert” is the order from the Supreme Court that it has decided to hear the appeal.

    So cutting through all the nasty appellate rules, Trump has 90 days from the 11th Circuit’s decision last week to ask the Supreme Court to grant a writ of certiorari and review the 11th Circuit’s decision.

    He could do a few things to delay things, like asking the 11th Circuit to stay its mandate to the district court ordering the case dismissed — but the standard for seeking a stay of the mandate is that he “must show that the petition would present a substantial question and that there is good cause for a stay.” I bet his lawyers look at that standard, and the 11th Circuit’s decision, and said “nuh uh, I want to keep my license, I saw what happened to Giuliani.”

  83. 83.

    WaterGirl

    @columbusqueen: Okay.  But the 11th Circuit gave him a week to ask for a stay before they would put their ruling into effect.

    Trump didn’t do that, but he can still stake it to the SC?  But all the documents will immediately go back into the hands of the DOJ, right?

    So if T**** was going to do something, it seems like he should have done it this week.  Right?

  84. 84.

    Ken

    @WaterGirl: I suppose we can’t hope for,

    USCA MANDATE as to [58] Notice of Appeal filed by UNITED STATES OF AMERICA that the decision of the District Court is VACATED and REMANDED. This action is hereby DISMISSED.  I hereby RESIGN my position effective IMMEDIATELY as PENANCE for FAILING my LIEGE LORD.

  85. 85.

    SFAW

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: ​
     

    [Murder] Mysteries set in a small Quebec town. The detective is Inspector Gamache of the Surete

    Where, coincidentally, there is a B&B operated by one Jessica Fletcher.

  86. 86.

    columbusqueen

    @WaterGirl: Probably, but regardless of timing, I think his lawyers told him the jig was up on this one. Like I said, filing a frivolous appeal could get his attorneys sanctioned themselves, particularly in a criminal matter with national security issues in play. None of them will risk that.

  88. 88.

    Another Scott

    @Omnes Omnibus: Does she have clerks who did most of the grunt work on the decision, or is clerking reserved for higher courts?  She may have life tenure, but her clerks (if any) must be mortified.

    What are they going to put on their resume’s now??

    I worked like a dog on that decision, and it was slapped down as if it were written by a 2nd grader from Alpha Centauri!!  My golden ticket for a GQP judgeship in 20 years has turned to dust!!1

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  89. 89.

    JaySinWA

    @Ken: I was thinking resigning in protest might be in play, but I like your version better.

    OTOH resigning in protest might be a decent ticket to wingnut welfare. Probably a better bet than hanging on and waiting for the red wedding tide to elevate her boat

    ETA the lack of enthusiasm from his legal team to try and keep this in play may be due to the sanctions that appear to be happening to his other legal patsies.

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