I spent 3 years and half a million dollars getting a law degree...and it make me feel good to know that everything I learned there doesn't actually fucking matter. All I needed to learn was that if you are appointed by an authoritarian Cheeto, the law is what you make it.
"The main benefit of controlling a modern bureaucratic state is not the power to persecute the innocent. It is the power to protect the guilty." - David Frum
I have a friend who had a case before Cannon and told me that she was both one of the stupidest and the meanest judges she's ever dealt with, which is saying something since she practices primarily in Florida. As a representative of the caliber of judges the Federalist Society has to offer, Cannon is pretty damning... and if we get four more years of Trump, the federal bench is going to be stacked with jurists even worse than her.
2016-2020 - how far can I go placing terrible judges that'll do my bidding
2024 - damnit, I could have gone even further the first time.
We are dangerously close to an emperor has no clothes moment in regards to the rule of law. When people digest that the law is whatever it needs to be to suit the needs of the moment, they'll operate as if there is no law and they'll be right. I fear we are already past the point of no return.
All for Donald fucking Trump.
I've never seen someone get so many free passes for the stuff he does.
This is less a "free pass" so much as all things going to plan.
Cannon is a trump appointed croney who has been delaying the trial and doing everything in her power to protect trump. And now the supreme court gave them an out and she instantly took it.
This is literally what republicans have been working toward for decades. Immunity by corrupting the government at every level.
Doesn't it kind of feel as if this has reached some sort of end game here? Previously, it has always felt like - yeah, they play dirty, but they keep their bullshit contained to reasonable levels. But recently, it's just been one absolute blatantly democracy-shattering decision one after another.
America is fucked, because nobody rises up.
There's been a concerted effort to infiltrate and influence politics by conservative Christians for years. I think events like the Brook Brothers riot emboldened dropping the thin veil of the Democratic process as they saw you can literally steal an election and no one will do anything about it. The real test of what the people will tolerate is only beginning, I fear.
Because we played right into their hand, the have been telegraphing this for years. All of their bullshit has been slowly ramping up for years, slowly getting more unreasonable but compared to everything else they've done it's really not that much worse. Now that they were able to completely set the field they can move on the they're end game. And I'm not sure we can stop them now.
Honestly for a long time I was really hopeful that the fact that he was doing it out in the open and everyone could see that he was abusing the hell out of every little loophole he could find, and creating some new ones, would mean that we'd start closing those loopholes when he was out of office and we might even see an era of reform.
He's been out of office for 4 years and all the courts have managed to do is LEGALIZE HIS MISCONDUCT!
I feel like I'm finally starting to except our collective fate and now there's nothing left to do but watch it burn down around us.
Oh, suddenly she can move quickly on something when there's political cover to do what she actually wants.
Unbelievable corruption. And the liberal media is going to be tripping over themselves to talk about this like it's some complicated issue, rather than straightforward political corruption.
The "liberal media" is not "tripping over themselves to talk about this like it's some complicated issue".
The Washington Post called bullshit:
U.S. District Judge Aileen M. Cannon’s ruling is a remarkable win for Trump, whose lawyers have thrown longshot argument after longshot argument to dismiss the case. Other courts have rejected similar arguments to the one that he made in Florida about the legality of Smith’s appointment.
...
Cannon’s decision comes as Trump is preparing to be formally nominated as the Republican presidential nominee in this year’s election, with the Republican National Convention beginning in Milwaukee on Monday.
...
The legal theory that Smith was illegally appointed and funded has generally been considered far-fetched. Trump’s legal team didn’t adopt the argument in court until conservative legal groups pushed it.
This is as far as they can go in saying that "this decision is unhinged" while still maintaining their aura of objectivity. They're not going to do it explicitly in the main article, that will come in the opinion pieces that will be released in a few hours, surely
Nowhere do they explicitly connect this to her political ideology. That's exactly my point, they're soft-selling it.
The liberal media (no quotes needed, they're corporate neoliberal) refuses to actually call a spade a spade.
This is not a critical article, this is just them shrugging and being like "Oh, well, it seems like tenuous grounds for dismissal but thems the licks."
Without intent to offend, perhaps neutral reporting isn't for you. They reported all the facts and leave you to come up with your own opinion, which is a mark of high-quality journalism.
They are a news agency. They are not here to tell you what to think of the news. You want your news to tell you what to think. I want my news to tell me what happened and give me the information necessary to form my own opinion.
If they said explicitly or implied that she did this because of her ideology, even if that is likely true, that would not be unbiased.
She really dismissed it over the appointment of a special prosecutor? Completely insane, but the fake Supreme Court will probably rubber stamp it. America is so fucked.
Its all good, now they can have her removed from the case
This. Jack Smith hasn't been able to nail her on any of her antics thus far, as they've been plausibly deniable, but her specious reasoning for the dismissal is a prime target for reversal by the 11th Circuit. She's so bad at her job, she can't even stall properly.
If Smith doesn't go to the 11th Circuit, then he was a terrible choice to begin with, and he was never going to win anything.
Pinning this one and removing the others as it was first and has the most engagement.
If you're trying to keep track of where we're at in the Trump prosecutions:
Updated 07/15/2024
New York
34 state felonies
Stormy Daniels Payoff
Investigation
Indictment
Arrest
Trial
Conviction <- You Are Here Guilty, all 34 counts.
Sentencing - Originally scheduled for July 11, 2024, now delayed until September 18th following the Supreme Court's ruling on Presidential immunity.
https://www.cnn.com/2024/07/02/politics/trump-sentencing-date-delay-proposal/index.html
Washington, D.C.
4 federal felonies
January 6th Election Interference
Investigation
Indictment
Arrest <- You Are Here
Trial - The trial, originally scheduled for March 4th, had been placed on hold pending the Supreme Court ruling on Presidential Immunity.
The Supreme Court ruled that the President does enjoy limited immunity for "official acts", it now returns to lower court to determine what, if any, of his acts leading up to 1/6 were "official".
https://www.cnn.com/2024/07/01/politics/supreme-court-donald-trump-immunity/index.html
Conviction
Sentencing
Georgia
10 state felonies
Election Interference
As of 3/13/24 - Judge McAfee cleared 6 charges, 3 against Trump, saying they were too generic to be enforced.
As of 3/15/24 - The case may proceed, but either Fulton County DA, Fani Willis and her office or Special Prosecutor Nathan Wade must remove themselves due to the appearance of impropriety.
Investigation
Indictment
Arrest <- You Are Here
All 19 defendants have surrendered.
Trial - October 4th, 2024 hearing has been set to determine if Fani Willis can remain on the case.
Three defendants, Kenneth Chesebro, Sidney Powell, and bail bondsman Scott Hall, have all pled guilty and have agreed to testify in other cases.
Conviction
Sentencing
Florida
40 federal felonies
Top Secret Documents charges
Investigation
Indictment
Original indictment was for 37 felonies.
3 new felonies were added on July 27, 2023.
Arrest <- You Are Here
Trial - The trial had been set to begin May 20, 2024, but was subsequently delayed indefinitely by the judge, and has now been dismissed outright under the claims that the prosecutor was not Constitutionally appointed.
https://www.reuters.com/legal/judge-tosses-trump-documents-case-ruling-prosecutor-unlawfully-appointed-2024-07-15/
The expectation is that this will be appealed and the Judge removed from the case.
Conviction
Sentencing
Other grand juries, such as for the documents at Bedminster, or the Arizona fake electors, have not been announced.
The E. Jean Carroll trial for sexual assault and defamation where Trump was found liable and ordered to pay $5 million before immediately defaming her again resulting in a demand for $10 million is not listed as it's a civil case and not a crimimal one. He was found liable in that case for $83.3 million.
There had been multiple cases in multiple states to remove Trump from the ballot, citing ineligibility under the 14th amendment.
The Supreme Court ruled on March 4th that states do not have the ability to determine eligibility in Federal elections.
This is a complete denial of the authority of both the executive and legislative branches. It was a congressional law passed that created the department of justice and explicitly gave the attorney general the authority to prosecute for any crimes the United States has a stake in.
That was so Republicans could go after Democrats. It's totally different now that Daddy Trump is being held accountable for his crimes.
Why is it even OK for any case involving a former president to be tried before any judge that he appointed?
District Judge Aileen Cannon said in a 93-page order that she has granted Trump's bid to dismiss the indictment based on the unlawful funding and appointment of special counsel Jack Smith, who brought the charges against the former president.
So this should be easy for appeals court to overturn right?
Trump Appointed Judge Aileen Cannon just made it LEGAL to share TOP SECRET SCIF DOCUMENTS with LITERALLY anybody in the World including our Enemies! But it's JUDGE MERCHAN'S DAUGHTER we need to worry about!
Nope. She just said it was ok for trump. Rules for thee.
And he slides out of another one.... Fucker is so slippery that even bullets don't stick.
This gave Jack Smith the ability to take this and appeal it, which he previously could not do because she refused to publish actual orders ever since Smith appealed a previous bad decision by her and won.
There is simply no way Smith loses this appeal, it will end up in the Supreme Court and that is where the final nail will fall for this case.
Furthermore, she had a FUCK TON of things to make a decision on that were key to the case, thus when she is removed those decisions can still be made instead of the next judge inheriting her bullshit. There is still hope, which is pathetic that we need any but it is what it is.
Ironically this would also invalidate any of the cases against Hunter Biden if the supreme court agrees with her.
What in the actual fuck is this cunty shit?! God fucking dammit.
The autocratic dictatorship is imminent and I don't have a current passport. Not sure what the future holds.
We really live in the worst timeline.
I'm sure that in all the other parallel universes where Trump exists, he's a used car salesman.
Fucking traitor cunt. No wonder that kid in PA took matters into his own hands. This is unbelievable.
WSJ this morning. The last bit is a stunning self own after Cannon flushed the last remaining parts of the justice system down the toilet today.
"Leaders on both sides need to stop describing the stakes of the election in apocalyptic terms. Democracy won't end if one or the other candidate is elected. Fascism is not aborning if Mr. Trump wins, unless you have little faith in American institutions."
People are picking sides. If you believe trump will win, and you're a coward, and you know that he will go on a reign of terror after inauguration then it makes sense to get in line as soon as possible. Last in line are first against the wall after all. And there will be people against the wall. Mark my words.
Pelosi, Obama, Biden and his family, shumer, aoc, and Cohen will be arrested for treason within weeks and executed. I know it sounds crazy but... ::gestures vaguely at everything::
That should be reversed in about a week.
Supreme Court will get around to this right away I'm sure. Like, next June. Super fast.
And you wonder why people are taking shots at him now. The system has failed us.
The fascist in chief is having the best week he could for his 2024 run. I'm glad I won't be seeing any of my maga relatives any time soon, they must be insufferable right now.
Wow, is there anything this guy can’t dodge?
Hopefully he can't dodge two attemps. Attempts to be held resposible of course. No other meaning.
So we aren't going to remove him after impeaching him twice.
We aren't going to try him after indicting and arresting him.
We aren't going to sentence him after convicting him.
I guess we have to look to the Founding Fathers for what to do, looks like Ben Franklin has our backs.
NSFW language:
I hate to say it, and I know it's going to sound fatalistic, but her decision is very likely going to stand.
Clarence Thomas literally handed her this argument on a silver platter. And say what you will about him, the legal system still considers him one of nine justices of the highest court in the land, and his words still carry that legal weight.
If Jack Smith appeals, there's (IMO), a 50/50 chance he wins on appeal. I could see the appeals court using things like logic and rational thought, kicking Cannon off the case and reinstating the charges against Trump (Or however that would work in the legal sense). But I could also see them saying that since she was merely following what Clarence Thomas told her to do, her decision is on sound legal footing, would most likely survive Supreme Court scrutiny, her decision was proper based on the SC ruling, and the decision stands. And from a strictly legal standpoint, they'd be right in doing so.
And if this case were to make it all the way up to the SC......since Cannon was literally following their blueprint, there's 0% chance that they'll suddenly rule against her. Nothing good can come out of appealing to the Supreme Court, and in fact it may be exactly what this supreme court wants and why Clarence Thomas added that little tidbit into the decision, so the SC can rule that all special counsels are illegal and the entire J6 investigation was unconstitutional as a result.
(Of course, Hunter Biden's conviction will still stand, because reasons.....)
This case is dead. The other three are on life support, and the doctor has already called for the chaplain to deliver last rites.
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