Special Counsel Jack Smith just issued the first criminal indictment of alleged disinformation in my view. If you take a red pen to all of the material presumptively protected by the First Amendment, you can reduce much of the indictment to haiku...
...I felt that the Mar-a-Lago indictment was strong. This is the inverse. This is closer to the case against former Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell where Smith was overturned by an unanimous Supreme Court...
...The press conference held by Smith only deepened the unease for some of us. Smith railed against the January 6th riot and made it sound like he was indicting Trump on incitement. He didn't. The disconnect was glaring and concerning.
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We are at the ten minute window. Immunity may come after two other cases, particularly if Chief Justice Roberts is the author. We still have Corner Post (a technical case on when a claim under the Administrative Procedure Act "first accrues") and Moody (content moderation standard for social media)...
I expect that Smith will push for a trial on the remaining counts rather than seek a superseding indictment. The court might allow it. Yet, there still remains the immunity decision for Monday. If the immunity decision is sent back, he may have ample time to seek an superseding indictment given the need for further proceedings...
...Smith has made a trial before the election an overriding priority. The court has pushed to achieve that result. However, they are fast running out of runway and this decision rips the wings off the plane for Smith in my view...
...As for the other cases, the DOJ relied heavily on obstruction but also charged trespass in many cases. That could produce problems on sentencing. Many J6 defendants were not charged with obstruction and will not be impacted...
We are within minutes of the release of the new opinions. The Supreme Court has reduced the docket to a roux of huge cases touching on the authority of federal agencies (Loper) to the 2024 election (Trump) to the J6 defendants (Fischer) to the right to be homeless (City of Grants Pass)...
...As I mentioned yesterday, we still do not have certainty that all of the decisions will be released today. If they are, Roberts has decided to hold the World Series, the World Cup. and the Super Bowl on the same day...
There is a great deal of discussion about the 25th amendment after the chilling moments in last night's debate with President Biden. As I have previously written, the amendment was written primarily with physical disabilities in mind. It is far more difficult with mental decline.
...The 25th Amendment effectively requires the Vice President and cabinet to defy a president. Last night's debate confirms that the White House has been shielding evidence of the president's decline from the public...jonathanturley.org/2024/02/12/can…
...While there are provisions for congressional action, the 25th Amendment make removal effectively a non-entity if the cabinet is running interference for a president who lacks capacity. Moreover, Democratic members have been attacking Special Counsel Hur for suggesting that Biden has diminished mental capabilities...
President Biden just refused to say that there are any restrictions and it is put to the doctor. He also said that he believes in the three trimester system under Roe. However, that approach has not been the law such Casey in 1992...
...Biden also said that the question of an abortion in the final months is left up to the doctors. It is left to the mother if there are no restrictions...
...Trump also said that all experts always wanted abortion returned to the states. That is not accurate given the many professors who supported Roe...
There are only two boxes today. We are less than five minutes away on the release of new opinions from the Supreme Court...
...Two minutes. Buckle up....
...We have our first opinion. It is Ohio v. EPA on the EPA "good neighbor" policy case. It is a 5-4 decision where Barrett joins Sotomayor, Kagan, and Jackson in dissent. supremecourt.gov/opinions/23pdf…