!!! Biden fired four of Trump’s awful appointees to @acusgov, an obscure but important agency with a lot of influence over the federal regulatory process. One of them, Roger Severino—Trump’s anti-LGBTQ warrior at HHS—is suing.

Complaint:
assets.documentcloud.org/documents/2047… h/t @ZoeTillman
These are the four people Biden kicked out of @acusgov. They’re all conservative activists, though Severino is the most notorious. He took radical steps to legalize anti-LGBTQ discrimination in health care at HHS, though the courts blocked his signature anti-LGBTQ rule.
Another Trump-appointed council member whom Biden fired from ACUS, Andrew Kloster, infamously tweeted that Asia Argento is “literally trying to suck the life force from men,” condemning her as the “classic satanic ideal.” (Of course Trump put him in the government.)
Now on the hilarious part.

Roger Severino is an arch-conservative. A Federalist Society stalwart. Yet his lawsuit alleges the Biden lacks the power to remove an official within the executive branch—a total betrayal of the “unitary executive” theory that his movement promotes.
What’s especially pathetic, though, is that federal law doesn’t even protect Roger Severino from removal. He’s an at-will employee! He wants the federal judiciary to go beyond the text of the statute and find, in its penumbra, an implicit protection against removal. It is insane.
Anyway I know this is sort of arcane but (a) it’s really funny and amazing that Biden ousted Trump’s genuinely horrible ACUS holdovers, and (b) it’s even funnier that Roger “Smear the Queer” Severino is betraying his conservative principles in a doomed effort to save his job.
(c) arguably the weirdest part is that Roger Severino’s lawyer is Jonathan Mitchell—the anti-union, anti-LGBTQ activist who is bitter because Trump nominated him to chair ACUS but the Senate never confirmed him. Now he’s trying to get revenge by making Biden look bad, I guess?
Anyway, Biden is systematically removing Trump’s terrible holdovers from the executive branch, agency by agency, at an impressive clip—including the really odious ones Trump tried to burrow in. This👇was just yesterday! The man is on a mission. slate.com/news-and-polit…
PS This is Severino’s substantive argument, which seems to suggest that ACUS is part of no branch of government, but instead sits outside the executive branch on some heavenly plane ... it is bonkers, BONKERS, just eye-melting galaxy-brain-level drivel. assets.documentcloud.org/documents/2047…

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
 

Keep Current with Mark Joseph Stern

Mark Joseph Stern Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @mjs_DC

6 Feb
Kagan:

"I fervently hope that the Court’s intervention will not worsen the Nation’s COVID crisis. But if this decision causes suffering, we will not pay. Our marble halls are now closed to the public, and our life tenure forever insulates us from responsibility for our errors." Image
Kagan, joined by Sotomayor and Breyer, dissented from the Supreme Court's order tonight lifting COVID restrictions on California churches. It is an extraordinary opinion.

"The Court injects uncertainty into an area where uncertainty has human costs."

supremecourt.gov/opinions/20pdf… Image
Gorsuch comes out with another "I know more about COVID than public health officials" opinion, this time castigating California for letting "Hollywood" hold singing competitions while banning indoor church services. Also, COVID restrictions are a tyrannical partisan fraud. Image
Read 12 tweets
5 Feb
Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy (R) appointed Kevin Clarkson (R) as state attorney general. Clarkson resigned due to a sexual misconduct scandal. Dunleavy appointed Ed Sniffen (R) to replace him.

Now Sniffen has resigned due to ... a sexual misconduct scandal. nytimes.com/2021/02/04/us/…
AG Clarkson (R) resigned after sending 558 text messages to a female state employee over 27 days. Many were romantic and sexual. Clarkson is married.

AG Sniffen (R) resigned because he had sex with a 17-year-old student on the mock trial team he coached. nytimes.com/2021/02/04/us/…
Let's review:

•18 Republican state attorneys general asked SCOTUS to overturn the election.
•A Republican state AG group helped organize Trump's Jan. 6 rally.
•Two consecutive Alaska AGs, both Republicans, have resigned within less than six months for sexual misconduct.
Read 4 tweets
3 Feb
Our new median justice, Brett Kavanaugh, casts the fifth vote with Roberts and the liberals in a 5–4 decision about the Railroad Retirement Act of 1974. First time we've seen this split. supremecourt.gov/opinions/20pdf…
Barrett joins the Supreme Court's hard-core conservatives in her first 5–4 split, siding with Thomas, Alito, and Gorsuch to say that the Railroad Retirement Board's refusal to reopen the prior denial of benefits is NOT subject to judicial review. supremecourt.gov/opinions/20pdf…
But Sotomayor—joined by Roberts, Kavanaugh, Breyer, and Kagan—won this round, holding that the Railroad Retirement Board's refusal to reopen the prior denial of benefits IS subject to judicial review. Let's chalk this up to a liberal victory; there won't be many more, maybe ever!
Read 6 tweets
2 Feb
This is disappointing. Anderson’s predecessor at @EPPCdc, Ed Whelan, shot down conspiracy theorists who spread the big lie that Biden stole the election through mass fraud.

Anderson now elevates one of the loudest promoters of the big lie, Joy Pullmann. Deeply irresponsible.
In his first week on the job, the new president of @EPPCdc, Ryan Anderson, promoted a conspiracy theorist who urged Trump to “make war on all fronts possible” against Biden’s effort to claim the presidency.

Trump did “make war.” It led to an insurrection that cost lives.
Yes, this is where we are. Ed Whelan, who defamed an innocent man by falsely accusing him of sexually assaulting Christine Blasey Ford—on the basis of Zillow floor plans—is a voice of reason in comparison to his successor at @EPPCdc, Ryan Anderson.
Read 5 tweets
1 Feb
I am glad Ryan Anderson, the new president of @EPPCdc, is open about his goal of preventing gay people like me from getting married and having children. Frankly, his candor is refreshing. Anti-gay organizations often cower behind euphemisms to conceal their true goals these days.
Everyone deserves to know that when you support @EPPCdc, you are supporting their drive to dissolve my marriage and strip me of the right to have children. This is EPPC's mission: nullifying same-sex couples' marriages and revoking their legal parentage over their children.
Notably, Anderson's debut op-ed as EPPC president—which prompted the exchange I highlighted above—did not mention his goal of nullifying same-sex marriage and parental rights. Presumably, that's because he understands destroying families is unpopular.
wsj.com/articles/relig…
Read 4 tweets
25 Jan
I'd be happy to explain. Trump's trans ban took the form of a memo that directed the military to promulgate regulations prohibiting trans service AND enlistment.

Biden's order repealed the memo, and *explicitly* repealed regulations prohibiting trans service—but not enlistment.
Biden's order, as well as the WH's advance summary, explains at length exactly how the military must repeal various regulations restricting transgender *service.* It does not, however, explain how the military must repeal regulations restricting transgender enlistment.
Simply repealing Trump's memo does not automatically repeal the regulations that were implemented in accordance with the memo. That is presumably why Biden also explicitly repealed regulations regarding transgender service. I do not know why he didn't do the same for enlistment.
Read 8 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Too expensive? Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal Become our Patreon

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us on Twitter!