On July 1, a federal appeals court lifted an order that had blocked Florida from imposing a poll tax on people convicted of felonies. The U.S. Supreme Court then declined to step in. If two judges appointed by President Donald Trump had complied with the judicial Code of Conduct, Florida’s discriminatory and unworkable poll tax might well have remained blocked through Election Day. And Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee are now demanding that these judges explain their justification for flouting their ethical duties.
Expect their demands to go nowhere, and expect more of the same in any/all other states where Trump appointees have the opportunity to pull this shit.
Forget sending federal thugs into liberal cities; this is where the rubber meets the road this election cycle. If Trump’s robed toadies can repeat this in a few more swing states, he will be re-elected. And that is scary, not merely because we can’t survive another Trump administration, but because the kind of protests going on in Portland now will go on in every blue state metropolis, amplified by ten. It will break this country apart.
I read Justice Sotomayor’s dissent and the Slate article linked in the OP. The third link is generically to the Judicial Code of Conduct.
Nothing is said in Justice Sotomayor’s dissent nor in the Slate article about what the “two judges appointed by President Donald Trump” allegedly did that violated the judicial Code of Conduct. Does the OP have any insight?
Justice Sotomayor does criticize the 11th Circuit panel for failing to provide reasoning when vacating the lower court stay. But that panel did set a trial date for the appeal hearing so it is not clear that this is what was being referred to as a breach of the Code of Conduct.
Do these fines and court fees need to be paid in full, or can they be “in process”, like on a payment plan? Like if someone owed a thousand and had $200 taken from each current paycheck to pay for it?
I’m guessing “no, the current payments don’t count” on the second part of that.
Didn’t they already do this to the Indians? Pass something that disqualified voters who lack an address and have only a PO Box, I think it was. Totally disenfranchised entire reservations of people from voting. Maybe it was just one state, but it still sounds pretty egregious to me.
I don’t see how the guy can lose, he’s just getting started at rigging things, lots of time for more to come, it looks like.
They’ve been rigging things for years and years. It’s been worse at some times than at others, but I don’t think it’s ever stopped.
And the way he can lose is for enough people who oppose him, and who aren’t prevented from voting, to show up and do so. The only way to reduce this sort of crap is for those who can vote to vote against it. (Yes, they already did, in Florida. They, and the rest of us, need to keep doing so; on multiple levels on our ballots.)
The 2020 Presidential election will be the most corrupt, cheat-filled election since the nineteenth century, and 99% of the cheating will be by Republicans. Trump and his goons will do anything.
And if the recent past is anything to go by, they’ll do this cheating openly and proudly. Trump has made it clear that anyone who does ANYthing to help him get elected will get an automatic pardon.
According to this opinion piece, the Orange Peril is setting the stage for potential violence following the election. I think it’s pretty clear that he is. November and its aftermath is going to be interesting to say the least.
I donated to this fund, to help Florida felons who have served their sentences pay back all fines and have their voting eligibility restored. It’s the right thing to do, and I think it might be the most important contribution I can make to defeat Trump this fall (although I have certainly also contributed to Biden/Harris and to various Senate and House races). Florida counts all absentee ballots as they come in, and they close polls relatively early, so they will be done counting sometime on the night of Nov. 3, much earlier than other states (days or weeks earlier in some cases).
If Trump loses Florida, he is completely checkmated and cannot use the so-called “blue shift” (an appearance Trump is ahead on Nov. 3, which changes over the next few days as other states count mail-in ballots). So even beyond the electoral votes themselves, a Biden win here is hugely important for the narrative.