Today’s DC Federal Court of Appeals arguments were interesting and somewhat predictable. Here’s a quick rundown: the first case involved McGahn’s claim of “absolute immunity” - basically saying he is completely beyond the reach of congressional subpoena. Of course ...
Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson ruled against McGhan and today’s argument was his appeal of that ruling. Cutting right to the chase, if I’m reading the judges right, McGahn very likely will lose again. It was a cloudy and stormy day in DC and the dark clouds seemed to ...
follow McGahn’s attorney into the courtroom and hover over the entirety of his argument. He tried to convince the judge that the courts do not have the authority to decide this issue both because the House doesn’t have standing (a legally cognizable dog in the fight) and/or ...
because it’s a political question. The most ridiculous argument McGahn’s lawyer made was that the are political remedies Congress can use to put pressure on the administration to force McGahn to testify - remedies like withholding appropriations, passing punitive legislation or,
get ready for it . . . refusing to vote on judicial nominations!!! Please! This argument presupposes that the Republicans in Congress have some minimal separation from the administration . . . or some minimal integrity. Judge Rogers quickly dismissed that argument saying ...
to McGahn’s lawyer, you’re listing remedies that require cooperation between parties AND between houses of Congress. She highlighted the frivolity of McGahn’s “political remedies” argument by saying, “it takes two” for those to be viable remedies. In short,
McGahn’s argument ignored context and was divorced from reality. The House lawyer, Megan Barbero, did an excellent job laying out why McGahn’s testimony is relevant as to the two articles of impeachment already passed (to show a pattern of
Trump’s misconduct) and to possible additional articles of impeachment. On a disheartening note, when the judges pressed McGahn’s attorney on what McGahn would do if both the DC Circuit Court of Appeals AND the Supreme Court ruled that he has no absolute immunity & must testify
the attorney said McGahn would go to the Congressional hearing and start asserting other privileges, like executive privilege or attorney-client privilege. Even though these migh be as frivolous as his absolute immunity claim, everyone would again be off to court to continue
running on the seemingly endless legal treadmill Trump is using to run out the clock. This is no way to run a government. This executive branch is determined to win the war of attrition in an effort to preserve its ability to act criminally and corruptly. More to follow...
