Thread by @EricLondonSEP

A 🧵on a vastly underreported element of the #January6th coup attempt involving #Alito. Last week, evidence emerged that #GinniThomas advocated for Mark Meadows bring Sidney Powell into a more prominent role in the preparations for the coup.

This is important because... 1/

On January 6, Powell filed what is called an “emergency application” to the Supreme Court on behalf of Texas Republican and Trump ally Louie Gohmert and a number of far-right state politicians. The emergency application argued that Pence was violating the constitution...

2/

...by invoking the “dispute-resolution process” in the Electoral Count Act, which states that if there are challenges to electoral slates, the vice president has the constitutional authority to resolve the dispute by determining which slate is correct.

3/

Because of the procedural rules associated with such “emergency applications,” one justice, Republican Samuel Alito, had the power to grant/deny w/o bringing the matter before the full court. In other words, the Trump plan was to stop the electoral college w/ just 1 justice.

4/

The emergency app was filed sometime from the late morning to the mid-afternoon, when the mob was ransacking Congress. It was officially docketed by SCOUTS at 3:51 PM, during the 199 minutes in which the Pentagon had delayed the deployment of the Nat'l Guard to clear the mob. 5/

Alito did not immediately reject the emergency application, even though it was a flagrantly unconstitutional request to overturn the results of the 2020 election. Nor did Alito report the filing to the media, and it passed without being brought to the attention of the public. 6/

Instead, Alito kept the emergency application in his pocket, pending the outcome of the events on capitol hill. 7/

The Democratic Pty was well aware of the filing & made no effort to inform the public that one right-wing justice was on the verge of providing a pseudo-legal fig leaf for the coup. It was bc of the emergency application that Pelosi was forced to reconvene congress at 8 PM. 8/

It was necessary in order to certify the results before Alito could grant the application. It was not until 1 PM on Jan 7 that Alito issued an unsigned order rejecting Powell’s filing, at which point the application had been rendered moot by the previous night’s certification. 9/

Powell later called this case the "silver bullet" & wrote it had support of GOP leadership:

"McCarthy & Scalise supported Ghomert & the application of the 12th amendment. Republican Leadership’s opposition prevented Pelosi from being able to join as a party to the lawsuit." 10/

Powell: "The next morning, with no comment, SCOTUS denied the injunction w/o prejudice — a rapid response as Pelosi had already beaten the Court to it. Had Pelosi not rushed, the outcome of the case could have been different, & the President as well." 11/

defendingtherepublic.org/january6/

WSWS wrote about this critical element of the plot here. All the major institutions of capitalist rule are complicit in the plot that only failed because of the inexperience of the plotters. Thx to Dems, they remain free, planning their next moves. 12/12

wsws.org/en/articles/20…