I honestly don’t think Rubio actually wants this, because I don’t think Rubio actually wants anything except to stay in office. His base wants this, and he is a greasy gladhander with a spine like a warm Twizzler, so he pours into the political trough the slop his voters want to be fed. It’s not like he himself or those around him would ever suffer the ill effects of such a ban. It’s all just cynical showmanship, consequences be damned.
I wasn’t quite sure where else to put this…a reproductive rights group filed a federal class-action lawsuit last month to head off possible prosecution from Texas officials for helping Texans gain access to legal abortions in other states. Today, Ken Paxton was supposed to be served a subpoena in a hearing in federal court tomorrow.
He fled his home in a truck, driven by his wife, to avoid being served.
Cancun Cruz’s sudden desire for a vacay is apparently contagious.
From the story linked:
On Twitter, the attorney general said his sudden departure was motivated by concerns for his family’s safety.
– he was so concerned for his family’s safety that he sent his wife outside to sit in a truck with doors open waiting for him to stick his own neck out there?
Ain’t that the stand-your-ground-and-give-your-life spirit that made Texas great?
Remember the Alamo!! - whee, apparently, Colonel Travis and Jim Bowie got stuck in the doorframe as they tried to hightail it from Santa Anna’s troops, and the rest of the defenders ran out of the fort to the tune to “Yackety Sax.”
Nothing scarier to a proud Texas man then someone who knocks on his door, and then politely waits outside for an hour while he is on the phone. I guess him being on the phone is what made it impossible for the top law enforcement official in the state to call the police and report a potential threat to his family.
Ages ago I read an alternate history where the Alamo defenders said, “Screw this!” and did exactly that. Surveying the empty fort Santa Ana used, “Remember the Alamo,” as a rallying cry for his flagging troops.
Those documents contained in the subpoena could have given his wife and kids some nasty paper cuts!
An anti-abortion activist turned whistleblower has come forward with new information that he feels is relevant regarding the leak of the Supreme Court decision.
This faith leader alleges that in 2014, a donor who had recently dined with Alito and his wife tipped him off about the Hobby Lobby decision. This leader, the Rev. Rob Schenk, tipped off Hobby Lobby in advance of the decision.
Gift link
I always assumed that sort of thing happened regularly.
~Max
You assumed that Supreme Court justices leaked opinions?
Anyway, whatever happened to that investigation? I assume it was Ginni Thomas and the court didn’t want to embarrass a sitting Justice with that information.
It’s difficult to phrase exactly what I mean because the word “opinion” is ambiguous (the typewritten opinion of a court versus a person’s opinion). I assume Supreme Court Justices (& spouses) regularly meet with close friends and it’s not unheard of to hint who they think should / will win current cases. Actually leaking the drafted decision, however, is what I understood to be unprecedented with Dobbs.
~Max
I would be shocked to find out that Justices leaked any information about where discussions and deliberations are going. That’s pretty secret stuff. In any case, was that minister a close friend of Alito’s? If so, Alito should have recused himself, since his close friend was leading an effort to influence him.
No, he was a third party. From the letter,
Dear Chief Justice Roberts,
There is no reason you would remember our brief encounters over the years , but we have met
and exchanged pleasantries on several occasions over your tenure at the Court. I write to inform
you of a series of events that may impinge on the investigation you and your delegates are
undertaking in connection with the leak of a draft opinion.Back in June 2014, when so many awaited the Court’s opinion in Burwell V. Hobby Lobby, was
informed by a donor to the Capitol Hill-based non-profit organization I led that she and her
husband would be dining at the home of Justice and Mrs. Alito. She suggested that in their table
conversation, she might be able to learn the status of the case, something she knew had an
interest in knowing. I received a follow-up message from her notifying me she had indeed
obtained the information during that visit. We spoke on the phone, and she detailed the
revelation. As recall, we talked about […]
~Max
But the “close friends” were political activists that sought the information in order to leverage their advance knowledge of the decision for political gain.
Considering that Alito’s been running around screaming that the court isn’t at all political, and the bad liberals are trying to destroy its credibility by claiming the conservative justices are playing politics, it doesn’t look good when he gets caught playing politics.
You’re the one who said you assumed that SCOTUS Justices would tell spouses and close friends what’s up.
There was such a friend involved, but it wasn’t the minister. It was a donor to the minister’s organization.
ETA: (Identified as Mrs. Gayle Wright by the NYT piece.) The Alitos allegedly told the Wrights how the case was going, the Wrights told the minister, and the minister told Hobby Lobby.
~Max
Hmm, I guess he wasn’t as close of a friend as Alito thought.
Anyway, I remained surprised that SCOTUS Justices are telling anyone that info.
Apparently it was a lot more common in the 1800s than today, and usually involved cases of interest only to immediate parties. See pp. 226-227 (“Precedents”)
https://scholarship.law.wm.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3046&context=wmlr
~Max
I think you’re conceding that it was unusual, at least in modern times?
Yes. It’s also definitely unethical in modern times.
~Max