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Steve Vladeck

@steve_vladeck

17 Feb

The craziest part of this ongoing Texas crisis (as we enter the *third* night of freezing temperatures and millions without power) is that there's been minimal progress on power *restoration.* If anything, we appear to be going backwards—with more folks losing power than gaining.

Outages happen, especially during crazy weather events like what we had Sunday. But not a drop of precipitation has fallen since early Monday (although we expect some later tonight), and *no* explanation has been provided for why sources that went offline haven't come back on.

@JesseJenkins

This @JesseJenkins thread is remarkably helpful in explaining how we got here. But it also makes clear that "frozen natural gas pipelines" isn't a full explanation for why we haven't been able to make up the deficit:

https://twitter.com/JesseJenkins/status/1361691683222654980?s=20

Read 4 tweets

Steve Vladeck

@steve_vladeck

19 Jan

1. In honor of Trump’s last full day in office, and what may end up being the big story of the day, here’s a quick #thread on the President’s pardon power — and answers to some of the questions about it that may come up today:

2. Article II, § 2 of the Constitution gives the President the power to “grant reprieves and pardons for offenses against the United States, except in cases of impeachment.”

The idea was to provide the executive with a check on (perceived) excesses by the courts.

3. That’s why the pardon power is absolute; it wouldn’t be much of a check on the courts if they had the power to review every pardon. Instead, the remedy for abuses of the power, as Chief Justice — and former President — Taft wrote for #SCOTUS in 1925, is ... impeachment.

Read 14 tweets

Steve Vladeck

@steve_vladeck

15 Jan

1. Thanks to MyPillow guy (sigh), here's, hopefully for the last forking time, one more #thread on the Insurrection Act — and why there's neither a legal nor practical pathway by which Trump could use it to somehow stay in power and/or prevent Biden's inauguration next Wednesday:

2. Let's start at the beginning. The "Insurrection Act" is actually shorthand for a *series* of statutes dating back to 1792 that authorize the President to use the military for domestic law enforcement.

You'll find them today at 10 U.S.C. §§ 251–55:

law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/10…

3. Critically, invoking the Insurrection Act is *not* tantamount to invoking "martial law." Almost every invocation of the statute throughout its history has been to *supplement* civilian law enforcement, not to *supplant* it — most recently during the Rodney King riots in LA.

Read 9 tweets

Steve Vladeck

@steve_vladeck

15 Jan

Listen—if you’re going to stage a coup, secretly invoke the Insurrection Act, and declare martial law, who *better* to conspire with than the MyPillow guy?!?

And just for the record, no—none of this could actually work. Under the absolute terms of Section 1 of the Twentieth Amendment, Trump’s term is over at noon (EST) on Wednesday, no matter how much nonsense he — or his “advisers” — tries to pull between now and then.

As for the Insurrection Act, one more reminder that invoking it is *not* tantamount to invoking “martial law.”

The military under that statute is tasked with enforcing the same laws as civilian law enforcement — *supplementing* civilian law enforcement, not *supplanting* it.

Read 4 tweets

Steve Vladeck

@steve_vladeck

9 Jan

@RonanFarrow

1. In light of this @RonanFarrow story about Larry Rendall Brock, Jr., an Air Force veteran, here's a quick #thread about the complicated, confusing, and evolving state of the law regarding when the military can (and cannot) court-martial retired servicemembers.

https://twitter.com/RonanFarrow/status/1347763766830780416

2. First, an important distinction: The military can *recall* most retirees to active duty. But that's not the same thing as whether they can be tried by court-martial for offenses committed *while* retired (and before being recalled).

That's where things get complicated.

3. The Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) authorizes courts-martial for *any* offense committed by those who have retired from a "regular component" and are receiving pay, along with members of the Fleet Reserve and Fleet Marine Corps Reserve (who are effectively retirees).

Read 9 tweets

Steve Vladeck

@steve_vladeck

30 Dec 20

1. Everyone needs to take a deep breath.

Yes, the President and far too many Republicans are *continuing* to engage in dangerous, anti-democratic behavior—despite having utterly failed to substantiate *any* of the claimed electoral improprieties. But it's just not going to work.

2. First, even if a Senator like Hawley joins a House member's challenge to a particular state's electors, there's nowhere near a majority in *either* chamber (let alone both) to sustain the challenge. All that will happen from these challenges is the process getting slowed down.

3. Second, no, that doesn't mean that Republicans can "run out the clock." Even if McConnell somehow allowed this nonsense to drag on for *two weeks,* we'd end up with Acting President Pelosi at noon on 1/20, not President Trump. And the Twelfth Amendment isn't to the contrary.

Read 6 tweets

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