Whoever, with intent to avoid, evade, prevent, or obstruct compliance, in whole or in part, with any civil investigative demand duly and properly made under the Antitrust Civil Process Act, willfully withholds, misrepresents, removes from any place, conceals, covers up, destroys, mutilates, alters, or by other means falsifies any documentary material, answers to written interrogatories, or oral testimony, which is the subject of such demand; or attempts to do so or solicits another to do so; or
Whoever corruptly, or by threats or force, or by any threatening letter or communication influences, obstructs, or impedes or endeavors to influence, obstruct, or impede the due and proper administration of the law under which any pending proceeding is being had before any department or agency of the United States, or the due and proper exercise of the power of inquiry under which any inquiry or investigation is being had by either House, or any committee of either House or any joint committee of the Congress—
Shall be fined under this title, imprisoned not more than 5 years or, if the offense involves international or domestic terrorism (as defined in section 2331), imprisoned not more than 8 years, or both.
The President…shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, Judges of the supreme Court, and all other Officers of the United States, whose Appointments are not herein otherwise provided for, and which shall be established by Law….
Article II, Section 2, Clause 2
Scope:
When Mitch McConnell and Charles Grassley refused to give the Senate’s Advice -a Constitutionally Mandated Duty- on the twice elected President Obama’s nomination of Merrick Garland- the Chief Judge of the DC Court of Appeals -( essentially the position most like Supreme Court Seat without being a Supreme Court Seat, as boring and uncontroversial a pick as can be imagined ) to the Supreme Court it was unprecedented event in the history of the United States– holding up the business of the United States of America for a group that did not exist at the time of the writing of the Constitution- the interests of the Republican Party. Further it was part of a clear pattern- more judges blocked- 79 during Obama’s tenure then have been blocked by the Senate in the history of the Senate (59)
Mitch McConnell refused to give Constitutionally Mandated Duty Presidential Appointment Advice and did so without a legitimate reason.
The actual reason was clear; do not allow the Constitutionally Elected President to Appoint Supreme Court Justices as he should Choose, unless he is a Republican President. This is not speculation but demonstrated by the statements of the Senate of time. The Intent was corrupt, naked power grab, as part of a deliberate, and public strategy to refuse to acknowledge the Power and Authority of the elected President. They did so, because the power of the Supreme Court had helped to keep their Party in Power for decades.
The reason for not stating a reason is also clear; naming that intent is what would be used in a trial for treason.
He held off for a year, and then rammed through the next President’s pick of Gorsuch, repealing the filibuster in order restoring the deciding vote to the conservative or Federalists on the Supreme Court.
In the previous 200+ years of precedent- the pattern is the same, Supreme Court vacancy, hearing, position filled in under 120 days, only with great cause*-is a nomination like Bork’s very normally with a vote that’s 60-40 or something, trends but doesn’t follow the party lines- no filibuster, a regular vote, a rare thing since Kentucky Senate Majority Leader McConnell has held the reigns of Senate power.
He Refused the Senate’s Constitutional responsibility to give Advice to the President on his Supreme Court pick, and far worse, cannot identify a legitimate reason to have done something so extreme to Obama but nothing to George W Bush or Donald J Trump- President Barack Obama relatively scandal free two Term President to seat a Supreme Court Justice, something which has never before happened, no vote at all, shut down the President. Far from perfect, but nothing that could be said for him that could not be said for the Republican Presidents of the Era. Total breach of authority and violation of separation of powers that are clearly delineated by text and by famous precedent.. Not even during the “Civil War” did something so blatantly unconstitutional happen
The President shall- by and with the Senate- Shall means it is a command, not a discretionary duty. While the letter of the law does not impose limits on the time frame- precedent does. Precedents and traditions, as a matter of law should not be overturned for transient causes, no cause given, or worst- a corrupt cause. The President had a right to Promote the Chief Judge of the DC Circuit to the Supreme Court, and the Senate’s got to have a reason, and has to have a vote. If Mitch McConnell conspired to refuse a Constitutionally mandated duty – process from occurring to maintain control of a branch- holding the operations of Justice to his will alone- delaying many cases by months and years so he gets his preferred Judicial nominees, either for himself or for the Republican Parties decision tree, this is coup d’etat. Affecting as it did a swing vote, which was used in several decision this past year to overturn precedents, and to squash legitimate functions of government that manage the election of other branches. This sort of behavior is the elements of treason.
Extreme examples of the principles
The letter of the law in the Constitution says all certificates shall be opened, but does not specifically state that ALL electoral votes are to be counted for all parties in the election. This does not qualify as a loophole that Joe Biden could have literally thrown away the electoral votes for the opposing party.
The precedent by not acknowledging this extreme deviation for no discernible value to the American people as a whole, for the bidding of his Party, is a prelude to lawlessness; get into office and do as thou wilt shall be the whole of the law, while using resources created by law.
Congress has continued the practice to this day. The Supreme Court has held that Congress may not provide itself with the power to make appointments, Buckley v. Valeo(1976), but it is unclear how far Congress may go in setting qualifications for principal officers without contravening the Framers’ interest in assuring the President’s accountability for the initial choice. President James Monroe declared that Congress had no right to intrude upon the President’s appointing power. In Myers v. United States(1926), Chief Justice Taft declared that the qualifications set by Congress may not “so limit selection and so trench upon executive choice as to be in effect legislative designation.” In Public Citizen v. U.S. Department of Justice (1989), Justice Anthony Kennedy, concurring, opined that the President’s appointing power was exclusive, and that only the Incompatibility Clause (Article I, Section 6, Clause 2) limits the range of his choice. The Court, however, has yet to make a definitive statement on the issue.
And there is no more corrupt intent. Public statements demonstrate that Mitch McConnell deliberately held up the operation of the Federal Court Systems from sea to shining sea, a form of obstruction of Justice, because governments operation is the operation of Justice, such as it is or it isn’t. To have US Senator do that for the strength of his party’s position.. “strategically playing the game”, holding up people’s lives, costing taxpayer dollars, longer sentences, longer pre trial detention. So McConnell could maintain a Republican hold on the Supreme Court.
This so called conservative has been in Congressional power and set the record for filibusters, judicial filibusters, the largest increases in deficits in American history under Republican President
Path Forward
We believe to establish Justice in this country there must be a hearing on the matter, and that we need testimony from Obama, McConnell and the entire Senate Judiciary at the time. Supporting testimony from the Attorney General’s. It would be good to have a firmly established analysis of the judicial nomination patterns in context of 200 years of history in opinions from DC District Court.
In the future all such questions of Constitutionally Mandated Duty,should get on the record opinions from the Executive and Justice branches. Petitions from the public of tangible Constitutional theory
Any and all Judicial nominations that were denied or confirmed from 2009 till present must be examined and whether individually or as a class is a decision yet to be decided upon.
Footnote*
*- like Bork, a lawyer who despite great intellectual capacity- fired a special prosecutor, who investigated when a President ordered a burglary into the DNC headquarters. The person of any stripe, who thinks their duty is to aid in the obstruction of Justice has no business being called a Justice. Further he broke into DNC headquarters, then you expect Democrats to vote for him? Height of a hubristic pick.
Kavanaugh isn’t the problem, Mitch McConnell’s usurpation of Presidential Appointment powers is- and what to do about it.
By Darrell Prince
The conversations about how to stop Kavanaugh, seem misguided, like arguing over colors of sweaters you will pack for the post apocalypse; perhaps time best spent attempting to prevent the apocalypse. Yes, Kavanaugh has a terribly troubling record, and like certain other Justices it seems like certain things- things which get Republicans elected- shaving off votes, deleting registered voters, tampering with vote values via apportionment and gerrymandering seem to be decided before they hear a case. They also all seem to be pretty obvious forms of altering the government structure and it’s resources to suit a favored minority, the opposite of any form of democracy, including the American republican form of democracy.
But the real story for the Supreme Court, the concept of Justice and the future of the United States, is the balance of power shift that was interrupted by a crime. The balance of power- swung to the liberal end of the court, was rudely, and illegally interrupted, and shifted, making every single case out of the Supreme Court in the last year suspect in the extreme. And, similar to how prior cases by police who are found to be planting evidence, have to be thrown out, so too, do most of the precedent overturning 5-4 decisions involving Gorsuch. The entire credibility of the system of Justice- frankly, already with some very real issues, is nearly entirely dissolved by not only the action, but the failure to examine a highly questionable action involving the make up one of the three branches of government
A crime was committed, when Mitch McConnell decided to block President Obama’s appointment of Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court of the United States of America, and unlike most crimes, it arises direct and you could apply many criminal statutes 18 USC 241, conspiracy to deny rights, obstruction of justice, to this behavior and actions. It was a violation of separation of powers, as it is clearly meant by both the Constitutional text, and tradition that the President picks Supreme Court nominees. This is a terrible precedent, allowed to continue, it means that any political party controlling the Senate, has the Appointment power, effectively a transfer of Constitutional Authority.
That the action was unusual is not difficult to measure; it’s never happened before in 200 years. The issue was neither President Obama’s qualifications as President, nor his legal status, nor Judge Garlands qualifications, all were impeccable, far more so than Mr. Trump’s. After Mr. Trump started nominating judges, all of a sudden the rate of confirmation went from slowest to fastest in the history of judicial nominations, filling in seats, previously held open by the Republican party of the United States of America, slowing down an entire branch of government, with far more pressing day to day responsibilities than either of the other two branches.
The intent was that no non Republican judge would be seated on the Supreme Court. Several members went so far as to say that, were Hillary Clinton elected President they would continue Nor was there some sort of unusual circumstanc
Both President Obama himself, as well as Senate Judiciary especially and the Senate in general have strong standing to bring suit in this matter. However, it is pretty clear, as this is clearly a process arising under the Constitution, and involves the make up of sovereign power in the United States, the process of Appointment must be unquestionable and entirely free of the possibility of taint.
The relief? As Obama’s civil rights were violated by the refusal to allow him to pick a Supreme Court Justice- at a minimum, relief is reverting the pick back to President Obama, and removing any, and all of the 5-4 decisions which overturned precedent.
To anyone honest, who is familiar with and directly involved in process- from legal to scientific to business, holding up the whole show from a position of lesser responsibility for selection of team members is an obvious no no. I do not believe 60% of even Republican appointed justices would approve of this action as it is truly repugnant to the law, democratic republic, and the very concept of process itself.
Should this case go to the Supreme Court, Gorsuch would be forced to recuse himself; to end on a 5-4 decision with a person deciding a case on their own job; would be to publicly announce from the Supreme Court that Justice was no longer a thing in America, and it seems unlikely that anyone, no matter their stripe or bend would risk what could very well mark the beginning of full implosion of the United States of America.
Gill v Whitford- a Case study in the paralyzed legal system of the United State
The Supreme Court- in a unanimous decision, to hit snooze on what they acknowledge is a dire threat to American Republic, growing progressively worse.
Partisan gerry mandering is “incompatible with democratic principles.” Arizona State Legislature v. Arizona Independent Redistricting Comm’n, 576 U. S. ___, ___ (2015) (slip op., at 1) (quoting Vieth v. Jubelirer, 541 U. S. 267, 292 (2004) (plurality opinion); alterations omitted). More effectively every day,that practice enables politicians to entrench themselves inpower against the people’s will. And only the courts can do anything to remedy the problem, because gerrymanders benefit those who control the political branches.
41 pages to explain why they are not sure that the Wisconsin residents were the right people to address the issues
In a surprisingly even handed manner- rather than a dismissal- they remanded the case- sent it to the local, federal district court to adjust the case- and they seemed to genuinely want to hear more. The facts of the case seem to necessitate further and quick action , and I frankly fail to see how there would be much debate on the issue, even from the just the next two paragraphs, long before we get to laws which govern this.
“In 2010, Wisconsin Republicans won fortuitous majorities in the fall elections. They then used that control to create a map for state assembly elections that would guarantee them large legislative majorities even with a minority of the statewide vote, and, crucially, deny their Democratic opponents the same opportunity. They did this intentionally. And they succeeded. Consultants and legislative aides – supervised by the leaders of the state’s Republican caucus – worked away in an off-site “map room” to engineer maps with the aid of sophisticated social-science techniques. Legislative Democrats were entirely excluded from the mapping process. Even rank-and-file Republicans were largely left in the dark, shown only information relating to their specific districts and only after signing nondisclosure agreements. The maps were then rapidly pushed through both houses of the legislature and signed into law by the state’s Republican governor.”
(Whitford opinions)
In 2012, Republicans won 60 Assembly seats with 48.6% of the two-party statewide vote for Assembly candidates. In 2014, Republicans won 63 Assembly seats with 52% of the statewide vote.
218 F. Supp. 3d 837, 853 (WD Wis. 2016). *
What is an election
The popular answer, one which it is likely neither judge nor politician will dispute is a “test of the people’s will” which is done by tallying the people’s votes for representatives
The map is the way of representing the will of large groups of people, with the idea of maintaining local areas of interest, and giving them a representative voice .
This process is governed, primarily by the 14th Amendment-though unfortunately requiring several additional ones- to get every person the right to vote. No person shall be deprived of equal protection under the laws– and we generally take equal protection to mean equal privileges of. Also, Baker v Carr, Wesberry v Sanders established a ‘one person, one vote’ principle- which means that the number of people in each district should be approximately equivalent. So if it is impermissible to create districts so certain people have more power and influence
Is there a valid case- does the system for electing representatives accurately(accurate- hits the bulls eye) and precisely( precise- hits the same place on the dartboard, over and over, regardless of where) reflect the will of the people?
Together with the fact that Wisconsin has 99 seats in the Assembly you have all the facts necessary to determine the adequacy or lack there of Wisconsin’s districting system.
In 2012, Republicans won 60 Assembly seats with 48.6% of the two-party statewide vote for Assembly candidates. In 2014, Republicans won 63 Assembly seats with 52% of the statewide vote.
218 F. Supp. 3d 837, 853 (WD Wis. 2016). *
Republicans won 61% of State Assembly voting power with 49% of the two party vote in 2012, and 64% with 52% of the vote in 2014.
They won a strong majority, while being slightly in the minority- effectively pushing out of power a group with more votes. It may seem like this can vary year to year, or depending on issue, national sentiment, third parties but these things affect the numbers of votes collected- those have already been taken in to consideration, and there is this huge distortion.
A couple of seats here or there difference because of blow outs- 48% of the vote producing 52% of the seats- may be possible. But a 12% swing, in consecutive elections is statistically impossible without map distortion.
In a two party system elections are a zero sum game, making this very simple- presumably, a strong showing by a third party hewing to either in multiple districts would change the over all picture. In this case however- the brilliance in using only the two party vote tally in this comparison, is it doesn’t matter.
What gerrymandering actually is.
Gerrymandering is a practice intended to establish a political advantage for a particular party or group by manipulating district boundaries- Wikipedia
In regards to state legislatures, state officials adjust the commons- take an official act- changing the shape of the state government itself- for the good of themselves, and the good of their external association on taxpayer time and dime.
If you are familiar with Baker V Carr, Reynolds, etc, what those cases were was really saying it is impermissible to rig the system to give certain people more say in the state legislatures than others.
18 USC 201
(B)
being a public official, former public official, or person selected to be a public official, otherwise than as provided by law for the proper discharge of official duty, directly or indirectly demands, seeks, receives, accepts, or agrees to receive or accept anything of value personally for or because of any official act performed or to be performed by such official or person; shall be fined under this title or imprisoned for not more than two years, or both.
Is job security, at a set monetary value, something of value? Is the ability to craft legislation, that directly affects business regulated by the legislation, have value? But this is federal charges.
From the Wisconsin statutes.
230.40 Political activities; public office.
No person holding any position in the classified civil service may during the hours when on duty engage in any form of political activity calculated to favor or improve the chances of any political party or any person seeking or attempting to hold partisan political office, nor engage in any political activity when not on duty to such an extent that the person’s efficiency during working hours will be impaired or that he or she will be tardy or absent from work. Any violation of this section is adequate grounds for dismissal.
While I have not researched whether or not the same standards apply to the elected officials themselves, I’d be willing to bet every dollar I don’t have- quite a tidy sum, that it applies to any contractor hired by the state government. Nor is accepting outside paid for maps a possibility- this would directly be bribery. So unless these state legislators literally drew the maps themselves.. there is no way they could draw partisan maps legally- and even that is a stretch.
Can these people bring the case forward- standus locii or standing
General objection to court policy on this.
It is the practice of the US Courts, to, particularly when they don’t want to be bothered or the question is difficult, to say that the person has no Article III standing to sue. It is a strict Constitutionally mandated duty which must be adhered to above anything else, and requires that the Courts only act to help people who can show that they have been personally harmed in a significant way that doesn’t affect anyone else. Of course, you may have a difficult time finding it, since it is not mentioned in Article III nor in any legal document anywhere from 1776-1918ish when Justice Brandeis and company decided that it was a clear Constitutional duty.
Aquaman certainly doesn’t have any business in court contesting BLM (Bureau of Land Management)Oklahoma cattle grazing regulations, (unless he owns shares in the cattle companies) and those sorts of clear hey you have no dog in this fight should be thrown out. *But it seems highly unlikely that the founders intended that large swaths of the Constitution would be unusable- and very clear, and very likely violations of said Constitution would continue until the political branches had a change of heart or the right person saying the exact right thing stepped forward. That a government’s adherence to it’s written contracts with it’s
people, is We the people’s business, in country ostensibly of the people for the people and by the people is something that should but apparently does not go without saying.
Restriction to their district for standing-
That gerry mandering only affects the people in the specific district fails to take into account the actual purpose of voting. The right to vote is not the right to go in a booth, nor to choose a person who gets paid to go back and forth from the capital of their state. The purpose is to take part in selecting a representative who the voter believes will best advance and represent that voters’s interest,( and hopefully the community at large) making real and concrete an agenda the voter supports. The ability to have a non voting, or voting with a substantial minority party in a binary system in practice, nearly the same thing as, nothing whatsoever. Ask Puerto Ricans- Ame Ricans in numbers that in the mid west or New England would get them 6 Senators, and 5ish Reps without a voting rep in Congress.
Nor is the ability to elect an honest man to have equal say and vote, with 7 members of the same corporation who are unconvicted felons, whose credentials are faked. (Not that this is necessarily the case nor necessarily not the case, here- it is to say that )
You are always voting for representation in a system; one in this case that only has effect as a whole. Your vote for mayor of your city will not give you standing to sue for malfeasance in the elections of a different city.
But if you are voting for members of a board that depends on state wide elections for the representatives who vote on laws that have state wide effect, The taxes collected, whether right turn on red is legal, and whether schools are funded properly are all decisions that are made
When I vote for representation, I am voting for a person who will represent my interests, and my values. This person is not going to “go it alone” since the branches are co-equal at all levels, in theory. When it is a person on the legislature, my vote goes to a person to represent me and my interests, and values. So my vote for a person in my district is partially for the person but mostly because they associate themselves with ideas and an idealogy I back- or at least most voters do this, most of the time.
In this context their interests and my interests are one and the same- which means that if they/we are elected, but have no coalition, because the other seats have all been gerrymandered, there is effectively no vote.
The Court argues here, that a remedy would only be the fixing of their district, that only individuals denied representation By this logic, the remedy for a government throwing away the votes of the opposite party would be to apply additional tally marks in the opposing column for the plaintiffs, and only the plaintiffs who stepped forward.
Any time you vote, you vote as part of an association, a paradigm, a mindset which best suits what you think you want at the time in government. As an individual, your right to vote, is in fact worthless. One vote can make a difference- ennh- rarely enough that it does not bear merit of additional text.
In 2016 Sen Mitch McConnell and Sen Chuck Grassley did the unthinkable and committed serious crimes. For first time in United States history, the majority leader and the majority refused to have an up or down vote on a U.S. Supreme Court nominee of a sitting United State President. The Senate majority Republicans deprived the Senate minority Democrats of their absolutely guaranteed Constitutional right and constitutional duty to vote on a U.S. Supreme Court nominee, who in this case was Judge Merrick Garland, nominated by President Obama. Senator McConnell and Senator Grassley, two career criminals in U.S. Senate went much further than that, for first time in 230 , they declared that they would not hold confirmation hearings or an up or down vote on any nominee nominated by President Obama in his remaining 10 months. McConnell , Grassley and the other 9 Republicans on U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee each committed 47 felony counts of violations of civil rights of Obama and the 46 Senators who wished to have hearings and vote on the Merrick Garland nomonation plus 1 count of obstruction of justice. Among the criminals on Judiciary who agreed to commit these crimes , under crime tutor Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, the current attorney general of U.S. Jefferson Sessions, plus Sen. John Cornyn TX., Sen. Mike Lee UT., Sen Orrin Hatch UT., Sen. David Vitter LA., Sen Lindsay Graham S.C., Sen. Jeff Flake AZ, and Sen Thom Tills N.C.
These criminal arrogant Senators, in violation of U.S. Constitution decided that they would pick who the next U.S. Supreme Court nominee would be, not President Obama, the sitting elected president.
On December 8th, 2010, at the Heritage foundation, then Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said his #1 priority was to make President Obama a one term president. An admission of intent to use his powers as Senate Minority leader to obstruct the works of the United States Government.
True to at least these words, since he has been Senate Majority leader, he has helped to set the records for lowest productivity Congresses, most filibusters, usurped the powers of the Presidency to appoint the Judiciary, obstruction of government activities purely for political gain, a form of bribery, engaged in theft of honest government services,conspiracy to defraud the United States,and may have taken actual monetary bribes for his devotion to illegal action, or perhaps inaction is more accurate. His role as full on Obstructionist is the greatest in living memory and probably of all time- only Newt Gingrich may deserve more credit, and as we see later, the Newt Congresses were the only rivals for futility of Congress- hardly the most functional of bodies before these two infamous individuals.
The only point of principle, worthy of mention, is he doesn’t take the Congressional Obamacare fee waiver.
McConnell’s Money
McConnell’s average wealth of $22.8 million puts him well above the Senate average. Oddly, however, before 2008 McConnell was well below the Senate average. In 2004, his average net worth was $3.1 million, compared to a Senate average of $14.5 million.
That’s almost a seven fold increase in 10 years. McConnell has quadrupled his net worth since 2007, when it was $7.8 million.
So what happened in 2008? His financial disclosure form tells the story—suddenly there appeared a tax-exempt money market fund, valued at between $5 million and $25 million, listed as a “gift from a filer’s relative.” (Look at Line 2 and then Line 3.)
What is happening here- 50 sounds like too many filibusters. 307 is civil war without the pistols. The asterisk shows that 307 does not include Obama’s final 3 years in office, meaning it is not a full picture- though the Democrats lost the Senate in year 4.
Judiciary Nominees
68 individual nominees blocked in the history of the Senate
79 individual court nominees blocked under Obama
According to Politifact 68 individual nominees blocked prior to Obama taking office and 79 (so far) during Obama’s term, for a total of 147.”
This does not to my knowledge include the Blue Slip process, officially, but should be.
Garland Nomination and the Obstruction of Governmental Processes for Political Advantage
The shall language in Article II Section 2 Paragraph 2 is very important
The pronoun “he” refers to the any current serving president at the time that a vacancy occurs on the US Supreme Court.
He shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, Judges of the Supreme Court,”
makes the job of advising and consenting to Judges of the Supreme Court mandatory when a vacancy occurs under a sitting president. The US Senate is not given and does not have the right to refuse hearings and refuse an up or down vote of a quorum of the Senate on whether the sitting president’s choice of a nominee, in this case President Obama’s choice of Merrick Garland, can be obstructed by refusing to have hearings and an up or down vote of a quorum of Senators.
The “shall nominate” and “shall appoint” language make at least a floor vote on the nominee Merrick Garland mandatory as a duty all Senators when a quorum of Senators can be convened.
The shall nominate means the president must nominate a judge or judges to fill any vacancy on the supreme court when such vacancy occurs during the president’s term in office.
The shall appoint language modifies the “by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate” phrase and is a prepositional phrase that is an adverbial clause. This adverbial clause modifies the “shall appoint” language and makes the work of the Senate mandatory to advise and consent to any nominee for supreme Court judge. If the Senate were allowed to deny hearings and or deny an up or down vote on Presidential nominees to the Supreme Court, the term “by and with the advice and consent” would be prefaced with the helper verb “may”, that is the Senate may advice and consent. In that case however the advice and consent of the Senate to give advice and consent to the president’s chosen appointment Merrick Garland, would not even be necessary. That is then with the verb “may” added “may give advice and consent” the confirmation hearings and the up or down floor vote would not be needed for the president to make the appointment.
The argument has been used that the Constitution does not contain time constraints. While this is silly on it’s face- it does not matter- shall implies must do, and if there was a delay, and then a vote, this would be a little less egregious, see next paragraph. Instead, the Senate refused to do a Constitutionally mandated duty, exposing themselves to several criminal charges from civil rights deprivation 18 USC 241 and 242, Theft of Honest Government Services, Bribery, and Obstruction of Justice.
The appropriate measure then, would be to look at the previous history of judicial nominations and their times to confirmations, and in this case, the time from nomination to confirmation for Neil Gorsuch. If there is a significant difference- it is fairly clear that they altered normal time frames for their own political gain.
Thus the Senate failed to do it’s Constitutional duty in order to get a Supreme Court pick it did not have in order to keep it. Gorsuch must be removed and the Supreme Court pick reverts back to Obama, because of the illegal actions of the Senators.
The Garland thing was the tip of the iceberg, as McConnell filibustered 300 times in less than 4 years, including 69 judges(approx) more than in the entire previous 230 years forcing Reid to use the Nuclear Option.
69 judges? They held up the workings of the system, so they could get their people in, for years. Everyone working harder, less justice, because there were less justices, to do the job.
Mitch McConnell’s record low productivity, only approached by one other- Newt Gingrich
After 300 filibusters, and a year without Judiciary hearings, McConnell nukes the filibuster and says getting judges on is of the first priority.In a Country that’s bloodiest war was called Civil, this sort of underhanded
unConstitutional grinding the gears of the machine because you didn’t win was just too unthinkable until this McConnell “leadership” of Senate.
If two or more persons conspire to injure, oppress, threaten, or intimidate any person in any State, Territory, Commonwealth, Possession, or District in the free exercise or enjoyment of any right or privilege secured to him by the Constitution or laws of the United States, or because of his having so exercised the same; or
If two or more persons go in disguise on the highway, or on the premises of another, with intent to prevent or hinder his free exercise or enjoyment of any right or privilege so secured—
They shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both; and if death results from the acts committed in violation of this section or if such acts include kidnapping or an attempt to kidnap, aggravated sexual abuse or an attempt to commit aggravated sexual abuse, or an attempt to kill, they shall be fined under this title or imprisoned for any term of years or for life, or both, or may be sentenced to death.
18 U.S. Code § 1346 – Definition of “scheme or artifice to defraud”
ribery is the act of giving money, goods or other forms of recompense to a recipient in exchange for an alteration of their behavior (to the benefit/interest of the giver) that the recipient would otherwise not alter. Bribery is defined by Black’s Law Dictionary as the offering, giving, receiving, or soliciting of any item of value to influence the actions of an official or other person in charge of a public or legalduty.[1]Alcohol money case is a real-life example of bribery.
Gifts of money or other items of value which are otherwise available to everyone on an equivalent basis, and not for dishonest purposes, is not bribery. Offering a discount or a refund to all purchasers is a legal rebate and is not bribery. For example, it is legal for an employee of a Public Utilities Commission involved in electric rate regulation to accept a rebate on electric service that reduces their cost for electricity, when the rebate is available to other residential electric customers. Giving the rebate to influence them to look favorably on the electric utility’s rate increase applications, however, would be considered bribery.
The bribe is the gift bestowed to influence the recipient’s conduct. It may be money, goods, rights in action, property, preferment, privilege, emolument, objects of value, advantage, or merely a promise to induce or influence the action, vote, or influence of a person in an official or public capacity.[2]
In economics, the bribe has been described as rent. Bribery in bureaucracy has been viewed as a reason for the higher cost of production of goods and services.
923. 18 U.S.C. § 371—Conspiracy to Defraud the United States
The general conspiracy statute, 18 U.S.C. § 371, creates an offense “[i]f two or more persons conspire either to commit any offense against the United States, or to defraud the United States, or any agency thereof in any manner or for any purpose. (emphasis added). See Project, Tenth Annual Survey of White Collar Crime, 32 Am. Crim. L. Rev. 137, 379-406 (1995)(generally discussing § 371).
The operative language is the so-called “defraud clause,” that prohibits conspiracies to defraud the United States. This clause creates a separate offense from the “offense clause” in Section 371. Both offenses require the traditional elements of Section 371 conspiracy, including an illegal agreement, criminal intent, and proof of an overt act.
Although this language is very broad, cases rely heavily on the definition of “defraud” provided by the Supreme Court in two early cases, Hass v. Henkel, 216 U.S. 462 (1910), and Hammerschmidt v. United States, 265 U.S. 182 (1924). In Hass the Court stated:
The statute is broad enough in its terms to include any conspiracy for the purpose of impairing, obstructing or defeating the lawful function of any department of government . . . (A)ny conspiracy which is calculated to obstruct or impair its efficiency and destroy the value of its operation and reports as fair, impartial and reasonably accurate, would be to defraud the United States by depriving it of its lawful right and duty of promulgating or diffusing the information so officially acquired in the way and at the time required by law or departmental regulation.
Hass, 216 U.S. at 479-480. In Hammerschmidt, Chief Justice Taft, defined “defraud” as follows:
To conspire to defraud the United States means primarily to cheat the Government out of property or money, but it also means to interfere with or obstruct one of its lawful governmental functions by deceit, craft or trickery, or at least by means that are dishonest. It is not necessary that the Government shall be subjected to property or pecuniary loss by the fraud, but only that its legitimate official action and purpose shall be defeated by misrepresentation, chicane or the overreaching of those charged with carrying out the governmental intention.
18 U.S. Code § 1505 – Obstruction of proceedings before departments, agencies, and committees
Whoever corruptly, or by threats or force, or by any threatening letter or communication influences, obstructs, or impedes or endeavors to influence, obstruct, or impede the due and proper administration of the law under which any pending proceeding is being had before any department or agency of the United States, or the due and proper exercise of the power of inquiry under which any inquiry or investigation is being had by either House, or any committee of either House or any joint committee of the Congress—
Shall be fined under this title, imprisoned not more than 5 years or, if the offense involves international or domestic terrorism (as defined in section 2331), imprisoned not more than 8 years, or both.
