Across the country, a new defense is being heard in state and federal courtrooms. From Democratic members of Congress to judges to city council members, officials claim that their official duties include obstructing the official functions of the federal government. It is a type of liberal license that excuses most any crime in the name of combating what Minn. Gov. Tim Walz called the “modern-day Gestapo” of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
The latest claimant of this license is Rep. LaMonica McIver (D-NJ), who was charged with assaulting, resisting, and impeding law enforcement officers during a protest at Delaney Hall ICE detention facility in Newark, New Jersey. McIver is shown on video forcing her way into an ICE facility and striking and shoving agents in her path.
This was not a major incursion, but these state and federal officials joined a mob in briefly overwhelming security and breaching the fence barrier after a bus was allowed through the entrance. Federal officials were able to quickly force back the incursion.
McIver and House Democrats insisted that McIver’s forcing her way into the facility might be trespass and assault for other citizens, but she was merely exercising “legislative oversight.” Rep. Alexandria Ocacio-Cortez (D., N.Y.) declared “You lay a finger on someone – on Bonnie Watson Coleman or any of the representatives that were there – you lay a finger on them, we’re going to have a problem.”
Rep. Eric Swallwell (D., Cal.) promised more such actions: “I promise you there’s gonna be more un-noticed visits by my colleagues where they show up and they better be let in.”
Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D., N.Y.) even ominously warned the federal government that Democrats would bring down the house if it tried to charge McIver: “It’s a red line. They know better than to go down that road.”
Well, the red line was crossed in a big way after Acting U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey Alina Habba charged McIver with a felony under Title 18, United States Code, Section 111(a)(1).
The ACLU called the charge “authoritarianism” and insisted that these state and federal politicians “have every right to exercise their legally authorized oversight responsibilities for expanded immigration detention in New Jersey.”
The problem with the oversight claim is that McIver’s status as a member of Congress does not allow her access into closed federal facilities. Congress can subpoena the Executive Branch or secure court orders for access. However, members do not have immunity from criminal laws in unilaterally forcing their way into any federal office or agency.
If that were the case, Rep. Alexandria Ocacio-Cortez would not have posted images of herself crying at the fence of an immigrant facility, she could have climbed over the fence in the name of oversight.
Conversely, Republicans in the Biden Administration could have simply pushed their way into the Justice Department to seek the files on the influence-peddling scandal.
Yet, the point of the claim is less of a real criminal defense and more of a political excuse.
It is the same claim being heard this week from Worcester City Councilor Etel Haxhiaj who was shown in a video shoving and obstructing ICE officers attempting to arrest a woman on immigration charges. Two other individuals (including a Democratic candidate for a school board) were arrested, but not Haxhiaj who claimed that she was merely protecting “a constituent.” After the melee, the city manager issued an order preventing city police from assisting in any way in the carrying out of such civil immigration enforcement efforts by the federal government.
Even judges are claiming the same license. In Wisconsin, Judge Hannah Dugan has been charged with obstructing a federal arrest of an illegal immigrant who appeared in her courtroom. Dugan heard about agents waiting outside in the hallway to arrest the man and went outside to confront the agents. She told them to speak to the Chief Judge and that they needed a different warrant.
The agents complied and the Chief Judge confirmed that they could conduct the arrest. In the interim, however, Dugan led the man out a non-public door and facilitated his escape (he was arrested after a chase down a public street).
Judge Duggan also claimed that she was carrying out her duties even though her hearing was over, the charges were not part of state matter, and the arrest was being carried out outside of her courtroom. She was declared “a hero” by Democratic politicians and pundits.
As Democratic leaders like Walz engage in rage rhetoric and paint Republicans (and federal law enforcement) as Nazis, political violence is on the rise across the country. Many of the people burning Teslas and engaging in such crimes claim the same type of license that the ends justify the means. That includes affluent professionals who are now shoplifting from Whole Foods as a “protest” against Jeff Bezos meeting with Trump.
When the Administration sought to investigate those burning Teslas and dealerships, Rep. Dan Goldman (D., N.Y.) denounced it as a “political weaponization” of the legal system. The comments suggest that such arson is somehow a form of political expression on the left.
House Minority Leader Jeffries was correct that a “red line” was crossed but not the one that he was thinking of in threatening consequences for any charges. The red line is the one separating political expression and criminal conduct.
Border Czar stressed repeatedly to political leaders that they can protest and refuse to help but “you can‘t cross the line” into obstruction and interference with their operations.
If oversight means that members can force their way into any federal facilities, we would have 535 roaming inspectors general who could wander at will through the executive branch.
Rep. McIver would be better to claim a different type of oversight, in allowing her passion to briefly overwhelm her judgment in rushing into the facility.
In the end, however, McIver and Duggan may have a license of a different kind.
Both have the advantage of being charged in liberal districts where they would appear before sympathetic jurors. They need to just convince a single jury to engage in “jury nullification,” to vote based on the cause, not the crime, in the case.
Jonathan Turley is the Shapiro professor of public interest law at George Washington University and the author of “The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage.”
A shorter version of this column appeared in the New York Post.
Ill be damned if they somehow allow that BS line of a defense stand in court. Is high time we label blue states enemy combatants! They sure as heck are acting like they are. Smh
OT, in 1992 the entire size of the federal budget was $1.4 trillion. The fact it was approaching 1.5 trillion was considered scandalous to conservatives. The debt-to-GDP ratio was 51%.
FF to 2025, now, we are approaching $1.5 trillion in interest per year on the national debt. The debt-to-GDP ratio is 124%.
Herb Stein’s law says: If something can’t go on forever, eventually it will stop. That is true of our borrowing. The stop will be painful, I’m afraid.
OldManFromKS,
And here we finally have people trying to do something about it, and Democrats are doing everything they can to stop them. Yes, the stop will be painful. But we all know it will be the Democrats who will be to blame. We see it in their words and actions. History will not be kind to them.
The commonly used red line is 130% beyond which there is no return for a country.
Kinda like the MSM. They crossed the red line up and back. Jon Stewart nails Jake Tapper for whοrιng himself to sell a book on content the MSM should have revealed a year ago. Gotta love watching the DNC/ MSM “86” themselves with or without seashells
😉
“The news is selling you a book about news they should have told you a year ago for free.”
– Jon Stewart
Estovir,
Thank you for posting that!! It was very good! I am so glad I do NOT watch MSM. Just those few clips were nauseating. And the point he makes about how it was not a very good cover up, if we all knew about it as far back as 2020.
You are right. I would say 86 MSM, but they look like to be doing it all on their own with no need of any additional help.
Point of no return. Fail-safe
The dollars were different. Gas was $.25 per gallon in ~1965. Ciegarettes were $.25 per pack. Homes were: AI Overview — The original price of a Levittown house in 1947 was $6,990. The first federal minimum wage in the US was established by the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) of 1938 at $0.25 per hour.
Jonathan: Fascism comes in many forms. The fascists of the 1930s, Hitler, Mussolini and Franco, were not consumed with building up their personal wealth. That’s how DJT is different. He is using every opportunity in his second term to make money–lot’s of it. And his corruption is out in the open. Other than that DJT is following the fascist playbook.
DJT is using the powers of the state to arrest and prosecute members of the legislative opposition and judges. This is what Hitler did almost immediately after gaining absolute power. The arrests and prosecutions of Judge Dugan and Rep. McIver follow that pattern. The purpose is clear. To send a chilling message to judges and legislators: Do not oppose the regime. In no other previous administration would a judge or legislator be arrested and charged with a crime–not under the circumstances presented. In the case of Judge Dugan you falsely claim she “led the man out a non-public door and facilitated his escape…”. That’s factually incorrect. Judge Dugan allowed the person being sought and his attorney to leave her courtroom through the jury door that led into a public hallway where ICE agents were stationed. In fact, at least one ICE agent accompanied the man and his attorney down the public elevator to the main entrance. Out side the suspect tried to run away but was apprehended. In no sense did Judge Dugan help to “facilitate” the man’s escape. Eventually, the Dugan case will be dismissed because there never was any basis to charge her.
Gov. Tim Walz is saying out loud what everyone can see with their own eyes. DJT is using ICE as his “modern-day Gestapo”. How else to describe the rounding up of hundreds of Venezuelans and flying them to a gulag in El Salvador and depriving them of their due process rights? How else to describe the kidnapping of a Tuft’s graduate student, here on a valid student visa, handcuffing her by masked agents and packed into an unmarked SUV and shipped off to a detention center in Louisiana without the right to consult with an attorney and know the charges against her. And all because she wrote an opinion piece in the school newspaper.
Then, of course, is the case of Abrego Garcia who was among those sent to El Salvador. A number of courts, including the SC, have found AG’s kidnapping illegal and he must be returned to the US. Yet the DJT continues to defy court orders. And now Steven Miller, DJT’s equivalent of Joseph Goebbels, says the regime is actively considering suspending the writ of habeas corpus to make it easier to round up citizens and non-citizens alike and deport them to foreign concentration camps. All these moves are sure signs of creeping fascism and why Gov. Walz is calling a spade a spade. Too bad you also don’t see how the DJT regime has now crossed “the red line” between the rule of law and fascism.
“DJT, DJT,DJT……..”
Comparing Hitler’s actions and history to today’s ICE action on illegal aliens, criminals and immigrants is a blatant logical fallacy.
Sit and ponder on Fact #1) they’re illegals! (or guests on visas).
You have a strange defense for lawless Democrats. Fascism is a trendy word, as is Hitler, but it doesn’t hold up under scrutiny.
Wrong- McIver and Judge Dugan broke the law and should be prosecuted for this,
VERY funny, Dennis. A most basic and necessary ingredient of fascism (authoritarianism, thus full control of a population) is the centralization of wealth. If you think Hitler (and his kind, Stalin, Mussolini, Franco,) did not have selfish interests in personal wealth, palaces, servants, transpiration/vehicles, any and ALL economic means at their control, you are living in the democrat parallel universe of illogical and cheating contradictions. And Your TDS is giving you a sever case of diaper rash.
Of course, DJT is using the powers of the state, as allowed by EO’s, existing laws, and voter mandate. Were it not for your extreme-leftist-Empire’s demand to be the only “party” in power, there would be bipartisanship and cooperation (as there once was), but the strategically media-managed-plandemic of TDS that you suffer from absolutely wont allow anymore civility of government.
This sterling example of crossing “the red line between the rule of law and fascism,” was set by the rogue and illegal Biden DOJ that arrested and gulaged J-6 protesters without any due process, where they hunted down and rounded up many citizens, regardless of how benign their incursion; these natural born citizens/tax-payers were denied bail, denied basic pre-trial rights, denied speedy trials, put in solitary confinement, and treated as badly as any Mexican Jail would have—AND you want to accuse about fascism?! The fact that you TDS-Extreme-Leftists excused and applauded all the J-6 illegalities is proof that fascism ACTS BLUE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
“Fascism comes in many forms.”
No Dennis it does not.
Musolini defined Fascism as
Everything in the state,
nothing outside the state
nothing against the state.
That was musolini’s italy.
That was Hitler’s germany.
That was Franco’s spain.
That was Peron’s argentina.
That is Xi’s China today.
That is fascism.
Not whatever idiocy you choose to shill today.
It is actually important that words have meaning.
That Fascism is not both Hitler’s germany and The US with Trump as president.
It is important because When you conflate two radically different things – you distort the truth.
Worse still you warp peoples thinking.
This word mangling of yours is preeminent in every dystopia ever written – though none featured it more than Orwell’s penultimate 1984.
While dystopia’s are fiction – Orwell and Huxley and Rand grasped that statist governments – of which fascism is a subset, can not survive truth.
“If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie.“
Joseph Goebells.
It is important that we do NOT spread the fallacy of false associations by claiming that something evil like fascism comes in many quite different forms.
Fascism is an especially virulent form of socialism.
Musolini said fascism is a form of socialism.
Hitler said fascism was a form of socialism.
Franco, Peron, …
Fascism is NOT whatever you chose to call fascism today.
“He is using every opportunity in his second term to make money–lot’s of it.”
Neither true nor fascism.
“And his corruption is out in the open.”
Which would be one of the key indicators that it is NOT corruption.
Corrupt people HIDE what they are doing.
“Other than that DJT is following the fascist playbook.”
Fascists do not reduce govenrment, They do not reduce government regulation,
They do not reduce govenrment power, They do not reduce government spending.
“DJT is using the powers of the state to arrest and prosecute members of the legislative opposition and judges.”
Those who break the law.
YOU went after people who did NOT break the law. You spied on them and imprisoned them.
YOU went after minor infractions and turned them into Capitol offenses.
YOU sent SWAT teams after your political oponents.
Judge Dugan will likely be convicted – or plead.
She will resign, she will have her law license suspended.
It is unlikely that she will go to jail.
It is likely that her conviction will result in expungement after a few years if she keeps her nose clean.
Ivers will likely accept a deal that puts the decision regarding her discipline in the hands of the House.
NONE of these people will face the consequences that Navarro did, that Bannon did, that Carter Page did, that Papadoulis did, that J6ers did. People who did absolutely nothing even the tiniest bit violent were put in jail pending trial, blackmailed for pleas, and jailed for offenses TINY compared to Ivers.
Ivers and Dugan will get well deserved slaps on the wrist. Nothing more.
Habba BTW said that she tried to avoid prosecuting Ivers, but Ivers refused to take the slightest responsibility.
“This is what Hitler did almost immediately after gaining absolute power. ”
For the most part Hitler murdered political rivals – even in his own party.
“The arrests and prosecutions of Judge Dugan and Rep. McIver follow that pattern. ”
Nope they broke actual laws – not left wing nut made up laws.
“The purpose is clear. To send a chilling message to judges and legislators: ”
And others and the message is clear – DO NOT BREAK THE LAW.
Homan has been ABSOLUTELY clear.
Protest, Rant and rave. This is america, you need not agree with the govenrment.
You can oppose the administrations efforts to enforce the law.
But you can not ACT to prevent law enforcement from enforcing the law.
“Do not oppose the regime.”
There are people all over who oppose this administration – you as an example.
Your not in jail. There are myriads of judges and legislators who oppose ICE enforcing the law.
They are not in jail. DOJ did not charge the other legislator part of the lawless mob at the NJ ICE facility. Why ? B for all her ranting and raving – she did NOT violate the law.
“In no other previous administration would a judge or legislator be arrested and charged with a crime”
George Santos was prosecuted and removed from congress for acts that most democrats do all the time.
“not under the circumstances presented.”
You arrested thousands of ordinary people for offenses less serious.
You arrested and jailed Navaro and Bannon for less serious offenses.
People get shot and killed for laying hands on law enforcement in chaotic circumstances of their own creation.
“In the case of Judge Dugan you falsely claim she “led the man out a non-public door and facilitated his escape…”. That’s factually incorrect. ”
It is perfectly correct.
“Judge Dugan allowed the person being sought and his attorney to leave her courtroom through the jury door that led into a public hallway where ICE agents were stationed. In fact, at least one ICE agent accompanied the man and his attorney down the public elevator to the main entrance. ”
Your version is actually inaccurate – and STILL would be a crime.
All you have to do is attempt to aide someone being sought by law enforcement in evading them. You do not have to be successful to commit a crime.
As to your errors. There was only ONE DEA agent and he was in front of the court room.
And Judge Dugan did NOT KNOW that he was there.
She intentionally tried to aide Ruis in evading arrest.
” In no sense did Judge Dugan help to “facilitate” the man’s escape.”
Of course she did. She also failed. You are a criminal even if you FAIL in your attempt to commit a crime.
“Eventually, the Dugan case will be dismissed because there never was any basis to charge her.”
There will be a plea deal and she will get a slap on the wrist.
But YES the administration is trying to send a message – Homan says it loud and clear EVERYTIME he is on the news.
Protest, excercise your first amendment rights. But do not ACTIVELY interfere with Law Enforcement.
You can change the law if you do not like it. You protest.
If you choose to engage in civil disobedience – you go to jail.
You do so because going to jail MIGHT change public opinion if the law is actually unjust.
Gov. Tim Walz is saying out loud what NO ONE is seeing.
“DJT is using ICE as his “modern-day Gestapo”. ”
If you are legally in the US you have no reason to fear ICE.
If you are a law abiding citizen you have no reason to fear Trump’s FBI.
Biden’s on the other hand – actually went after political enemies.
“How else to describe the rounding up of hundreds of Venezuelans and flying them to a gulag in El Salvador and depriving them of their due process rights?”
They got their due process rights. Due process for deportation is trivial.
Are you hear legally ? No ? Then you get deported.
“How else to describe the kidnapping of a Tuft’s graduate student, here on a valid student visa”
Nope – her visa was revoked.
“handcuffing her by masked agents and packed into an unmarked SUV and shipped off to a detention center in Louisiana without the right to consult with an attorney and know the charges against her.”
There are no charges against her – her visa was revoked and she is being deported.
“And all because she wrote an opinion piece in the school newspaper.”
You claim we do not know the charges against her, and then you tell us you do.
Make up your mind.
“Then, of course, is the case of Abrego Garcia who was among those sent to El Salvador.”
The gang banger, wife beater, human trafficker.
“A number of courts, including the SC, have found AG’s kidnapping illegal and he must be returned to the US.”
False. The ONLY courts that have actually had hearings and come to final rulings are two IF courts and they found him to be an MS13 member and deportable.
And SCOTUS just 8-1 ruled that Trump can revoke TPS status, and Garcias was revoked.
“Yet the DJT continues to defy court orders.”
What order has he defied ?
An order from an idiot judge who SCOTUS found did not have jurisdiction and tried to order planes in international airspace back to the US ?
An order from another idiot judge who though she could direct the foreign policy of the US ?
“And now Steven Miller, DJT’s equivalent of Joseph Goebbels, says the regime is actively considering suspending the writ of habeas corpus to make it easier to round up citizens and non-citizens alike and deport them to foreign concentration camps.”
They are very successfully trolling you.
How much do you want to bet that Habeaus does not get suspended ?
What have you been right about ?
“All these moves are sure signs of creeping fascism”
How so ?
Fascism is about govenrment going outside the law to take greater power.
Not staying within the law.
It is not about reducing the size of government,
It is not about cutting regulations and spending.
What you are calling fascism is Trump undoing all the lawless and actually fascist things that YOU did under Biden.
BTW Trump’s poll numbers are pretty steady in the law 50’s.
The democratic party is down in the high 20’s.
“Everyone” is coming to conclusions. But not about Trump.
About you.
John Say, Fascism does come in many forms. You cite only one that is no longer a dominant ideology. Musollini’s fascism is the first, Classical Fascism.
Hitler’s was different, His was Neo-Fascism.
The third is the one currently propagating in the U.S. Post- Modern Facism.
Your style of rebuttal is in fact what fasism is. Blaming others for lying and ignoring the lying of others. Weirdly enough Trump is not a facist, but those around him are and since he’s too stupid to come up with the kinds of policies and ideas that have come to be part of his administration it becomes obvious that the far-right’s fascists are doing exactly what Mussolini, Hitler, and the Christian far-right have stated as their goals. Nationalism, denigration of minorities, intellectuals, the left, media, and of course, democracy. You are what one could call an unaware enabler of fascism or just too ignorant to recognize it. That’s how Mussolini and Hitler gained power. Thru the gullible and ignorant masses. Perhaps this would explain it better for you.
https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1000&context=econ_workingpapers
Three kinds of fascism??? You sound as though a popular-X-Kendi kind of professor has taught you well. But John Say is right, and his rebuttal is not fascistic [wrong word for it], it is well demonstrated with plenty of elucidation—a skill real fascists hate because it threatens their power.
Fascism defines ONE thing, one main feature, the authoritarian advocacy of hierarchical government, which extreme-leftist-democrats endorse and worship. Proof? Witness their meltdowns when the loss of their monopolization of government agencies was/is threatened.
It is not protest or resistance. It is lawlessness. They are not fighting fascism. They are fighting against law and order.
Flores-Ruiz, whom Dugan aided and abetted to escape from federal agents,
“This criminal illegal alien has a laundry list of violent criminal charges, including strangulation and suffocation, battery, and domestic abuse,” said Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin. “Ruiz illegally entered the U.S. twice.”
And just a few of the fine men at the NJ ICE detention facility, Lopez-Reyes (charged in Mexico with child rape), Dominican Maximo Nunez (arrested for assault with a deadly weapon, with intent to kill), and Brazilian fugitive Ramos Marin (wanted there for homicide.)
How about Abrego-Garcia? From his own wife,
“I have pictures of the evidence, like all the bruises, because even on Wednesday, he hit me like, around like 3:00 in the morning,” Vasquez Sura told investigators. “He would just wake up and like, hit me. And then last Saturday, for my daughter’s birthday party, before I went to my daughter’s birthday party, he slapped me three times. And then last week, I did call the police. My sister called the police because he hit me in front of my sister.”
AG Pam Bondi summed up on X,
The evidence shows Kilmar Abrego Garcia has repeatedly been identified as a member of MS-13 by:
⁃ A Maryland county police gang unit
⁃ A reliable confidential informant
⁃ ICE officers
⁃ An immigration judge agreed
⁃ An appellate board agreed
https://x.com/AGPamBondi/status/1912682960156795369
You Lefties throw accusations around like candy from a piñata. Your insults are meaningless, toothless. You can’t even understand the simplest if lessons, to whit – the boy who cried wolf.
Pam Bondi, the best defense is a good offense.
Appoint a Special Prosecutor for the Incitement to Assassinate case of James Comey.
James Comey is officially Agent 86. You can just say Max now.
There is no case for incitement. Incitement is defined as speech that is (1) subjectively intended AND (2) objectively likely, to cause its audience to (3) imminently commit a crime. Anything else is mere advocacy, and therefore protected speech. If Comey wanted to advocate the president’s assassination he wouldn’t have to arrange shells on a beach; he could address a rally on the Mall and say someone ought to kill the president. The police could not touch him for it. It’s black-letter law that that’s protected speech.
Tampon Tim and the others are insurrectionists. They break the law, they pay the price. Who would ever take him seriously, unless it is to overthrow the government.
Hakeem Jeffries Parrots the daily talking points, nothing more.
Jeffries is a double talker. When he says, you don’t want to go down that road, you hear a threat. What he means is YOU don’t want…WE are ready to rumble. It’s all double talk bs like what’s a woman I’m not a biologist.
Trump is downsizing feds to gain fewer avenues for graft and grift as he pushes States rights. The future is separate States and interstate wars.
It’s quite hopeless. Hard core criminals and they’ll FUUP. Cute kneecapping…swell peep.
E.M.
Sad part for the Democrat party is Tampon Tim, Word Salad Harris, “I fly first class and private air planes to protest oligarchs!” AOC, who’s district violence rate has gone up 70% since she took office, are the best the DNC can come up with. For a blip, David Hogg looked like to be a future possibility but then he went and shot himself in the foot.
They think if you’re stupid enough to believe them you deserve what you get.
As the Democrat loved to intone when the Trump shoe was on the other foot, “Nobody is above the law”. Even Democrat Philosopher Kings. Imagine that ☺️
It’s, like, Karma, man.
aka getting foisted on your own petard.
IDIOM:
“Get away with murder” is a common English idiom that means to escape punishment or blame for something, especially something that is wrong or serious. It can be used literally to mean that someone has committed murder and escaped detection and prosecution, but it is most often used figuratively.
Literal Meaning:
n its literal sense, “get away with murder” means that someone who has committed murder has escaped capture and punishment. Like the perpetraiors of Seth Rich’s murder.
Figurative Meaning:
More commonly, it’s used to describe someone who is allowed to do something wrong or undesirable without facing any negative consequences or criticism. Like Democrat Party members.
They are often seen as getting away with it because they are charming, manipulative, or otherwise able to avoid accountability. Like the DNC.
Examples:
“Comey’s so charming that he really does get away with murder.”
“The Democratis Party had been getting away with murder for years before the scandal broke.”
“I hate to see HRC let her children get away with murder.”
Speaking of illicit and illegitimate, communism is unconstitutional.
“From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs,” illegal regulation, and the nullification of the right to private property are textbook communism per Karl Marx and completely unconstitutional.
And yet communism is everywhere and without any legal basis in the Constitution.
To wit,
Admissions affirmative action, grade-inflation affirmative action, employment affirmative action, quotas, welfare, food stamps, minimum wage, rent control, social services, forced busing, public housing, utility subsidies, CRT, DEI, WIC, SNAP, TANF, HAMP, HARP, TARP, PBS, NPR, Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development, Environmental Protection Agency, Agriculture, Education, Labor, Energy, Obamacare, Social Security, Social Security Disability, Social Security Supplemental Income, Medicare, Medicaid, “Fair Housing” laws, “Non-Discrimination” laws, etc.
And it all started when liberals claimed that secession was unconstitutional.
The Constitution was thrown out, never to be seen again.
Of course, secession was not only constitutional; it was included in the constitutional ratification documents of many states.
LaMonica gets points for creativity: besides fists and elbows, she also used her belly to perpetrate the assault and battery.
OldManFromKS,
Right!
She looks like an “aggravated” offensive tackle aggressively making a play in the NFL.
The Democrat Party deliberately violated immigration law by allowing millions of illegal immigrants to cross into the U.S. and lied about it every inch of the way to 70% of voters who demanded a strong border.
This was done by no less than Joe Biden, who was supposed to be the moderate alternative to Bernie Sanders. THERE IS NO MODERATE ALTERNATIVE TO ANYTHING IN THE DEMOCRAT PARTY ANYMORE.
I don’t know how one sustains democracy in a situation where these many voters are criminally insane. So far, the courts have no good answer to redress four years of vast and destabilizing political criminality.
President Trump had his proposal to clean up this crime wave, Mr. Chief Justice. What the hell is yours?? You were quite creative in sidestepping Obamacare, but you can’t sidestep this mess Joe Biden created. You can’t ignore 10 MILLION ILLEGAL ALIENS. Trump is just forcing you to FINALLY confront the problem.
I think that’s correct. Mayorkas clearly sabotaged the immigration system to purposefully break it. It’s criminal sabotage by a concerted Democrat strategy. There’s no doubt.
It’s precisely what PT points out. Nullification of laws by mobs.
Jeffries or McIver have lived in places like Newark, central ward in abject poverty forever. Half of the people are unemployed. They want the money and will take it any way they can and as Jeffries points out you don’t want to go down that road.
Place us dead but let’s think about 100 years from now and what it’ll be? It’s a 3rd world now but what will it be? A hole of crime not much else.
Wish there were good news but none on the horizon.
Congrats to the Trump/Vance DOJ — it charged the BIG red jacket that crossed Hakim’s “red line.”
Don’t forget Cortez, if you lay a finger on blah blah we are going to have a problem.
GENTLEMEN, are you shaking in your boots?
Dear Mr. Turley,
Lying awake last night I thought of a simile for what is going on in the legal fight against deporting illegal aliens. It’s like if someone stole your car but you needed a court order to get it back. These aliens have stolen the right to occupy our country but those intent on destroying our country are intent on creating legal obstacles to our recovery of that stolen right.
Well said, Ed
Well said, JT
Ed, I love your analogy, but an even more apt one is something that actually happens these days in blue states. In Blue states (mainly) a squatter, even an illegal immigrant squatter, can take over your home while you are away, for say an extended vacation, and the homeowner will be charged with trespassing if he enters the property HE OWNS!! The homeowner needs to go to court, just like Trump is being forced to do with deporting illegals, and then fight for months to regain his own property.
Kamala said, don’t come, don’t come.
They were lured here. That ,too, is a crime.
Lamonica wants her day in court. All she had to do was make an appt. Instead she wastes the courts time and your money. Smart girl. Keep it going for a long time. Another grift…move venue.
And that, my friends, is the real danger of “mobs” and “mob control.”
Under the misleading and frankly false banner of protecting “Democracy,” all forms of conduct and word suddenly become warranted, -even virtuous- in their eyes.
A Mob rewrites the First Amendment’s “…or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances” and turns it into a self-satisfying, “…or the right of the people to take things into their own hands if they don’t like following the law.”
And that, my friends, is why our founding fathers refuted and rejected the concept of a pure “democracy,” and why members of Congress can be held to the same standard{s} as their constituents.
“and why members of Congress can be held to the same standard{s} as their constituents.”
but..they are not. That goes for Republicans and Democrats. They are not accountable for certain things and they are immune from lawsuits.
but…there are no exemptions for members of Congress under 18 USC 111.
there is one, under the speech and debate clause.
Not. Wholly separate. What you are saying is that if some congressman were violating 18 U.S.C. 111, he would only be exempt if he were discussing some prior congressional speech or debate of his while standing outside of the Delaney Hall ICE facility!
No, there is no exemption. Assaulting someone is neither a speech nor a debate.
there are no exemptions for members of Congress under 18 USC 111.
Lin, note section b of 18 USC 111:
(b)Enhanced Penalty.—
Whoever, in the commission of any acts described in subsection (a), uses a deadly or dangerous weapon (including a weapon intended to cause death or danger but that fails to do so by reason of a defective component) or inflicts bodily injury, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 20 years, or both.
https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/111
Since she used her bodyslam technique, one wonders if her attorneys will argue that she be granted the option to “super size” her prison meals
You are immune to intelligence, reason and deliberate thought. You are contaminated with stupidity, circle jerk behavior and sub-par trolling
And that my friends is what happens when trolls clog the comments section of a website
Article I, Section 6, Clause 1:
The Senators and Representatives shall receive a Compensation for their Services, to be ascertained by Law, and paid out of the Treasury of the United States. They shall in all Cases, except Treason, Felony and Breach of the Peace, be privileged from Arrest during their Attendance at the Session of their respective Houses, and in going to and returning from the same; and for any Speech or Debate in either House, they shall not be questioned in any other Place.
https://constitution.congress.gov/browse/essay/artI-S6-C1-2/ALDE_00013354/
How is that relevant? Assaulting someone is neither speech nor debate.
It is a felony and a breach of the peace, so even if she were on her way to or from the House she would not be immune from arrest.
Simply put, adherents of the Left are above the law while right-wingers are ripe targets for incarceration and penalties. Thus the privileged mindset of the Left – we leftists can do whatever we want (BLM. Antifa … riot, burn, etc.) and we’ll either not get arrested in the first place or a person like V.P. Harris will post on social media to raise money for our bail. Right wingers go to jail, meanwhile, and await trial for trespassing at the Capitol on January 7 – in some instances, for years. So to get it all straight in my mind – leftists behave criminally and there is no penalty while those on the right act out and they go in the slammer. And we’re loaded with judges (appointed by Clinton, Obama and Biden) at all levels who believe this is the way justice should be in America. Just so we’re clear.
That is why I call today’s America Doublestandardstan. It is sickening!
Judge Dugan has claimed immunity for her actions. Thwarting ICE.
Reviewing her charges – I think that she may be correct for a FEW charges.
Her telling those before her court that they could schedule a hearing via zoom if they were concerned about ICE is a basis for her to be impeached if the legislature is included to do so.
It is not and should not be a crime. Scheduling is within the judges official duties.
The same is true of her efforts to divert the ICE/DEA/FBI agents to the chief judge.
HOWEVER while no criminal charges should be failed resting on these two behaviors, BOTH can be used as evidence of intent regarding other charges.
Judge Dugan directing Ruis out throught the Jury room is NOT part of her official duties.
He was not a jury member, and this had no consequential ties to her duties as a judge.
Ultimately I expect that Dugan will get a slap on the wrist. However she should and likely will lose her position as judge and her law license should be suspended for a reasonable time.
With respect to the congressmen at Newark – While DOJ has a basis for these charges, I beleive that the conduct in these events is sufficiently deminimus that disipline should be refered to the House
and they should determine the consequences.
Jeffries and other democrats should be given every possible opportunity to defend this conduct.
I would like as many soundbites from AOC as possible drawing lines justifying lawless conduct.
John Say,
“HOWEVER while no criminal charges should be failed resting on these two behaviors, BOTH can be used as evidence of intent regarding other charges.”
No, they can’t use those charges. Remember SCOTUS pointed out that even immune actions cannot be used to press charges. Just as testimony of staff or evidence gained through staff cannot be used.
“Judge Dugan directing Ruis out throught the Jury room is NOT part of her official duties.
He was not a jury member, and this had no consequential ties to her duties as a judge.”
How so? She has complete control over what happens in her courtroom. That is part of her official duties and responsibilities. Directing Ruiz to take the exit through the jury room is within her authority. Ruiz does not have to be a juror to use that exit. If a judge allows anyone to leave thru that exit for whatever reason it’s her prerogative as it is her courtroom. As long as Ruiz is IN her courtroom she can direct him to take whatever exit she wants him to take. Everything that is within her courtroom is within her power to command. She can tell people to leave, stay, how to dress, and even to stand up or sit down, or…leave thru a jury room.
“Ultimately I expect that Dugan will get a slap on the wrist. However she should and likely will lose her position as judge and her law license should be suspended for a reasonable time.”
More likely she will get a reprimand and the charges dismissed. Why would she lose her position as a judge? Because she exercised her authority over what happens inside her courtroom? She did nothing wrong and Turley knows it. He insinuates that the judge will avoid charges because her case will be tried in a liberal district. That was a cop-out over the fact that she is immune from the charges and she was within the authority to tell Ruiz to leave through a jury room exit. Nothing says only jurors may use that exit and the judge has no say over it.
George with his favorite line…
“Nuh-uhhh”
John, was it deminimus (sic) when granny walked through the Capital and was chased down for a year, charged and imprisoned?
How about the fact the the illegal’s VICTIMS of assault and battery were in the courthouse and they had to watch as their attacker was sneaked out the side door to a destination unknown to them.
Scheduling is within the judges official duties.
The same is true of her efforts to divert the ICE/DEA/FBI agents to the chief judge.
WTF are you talking about??
A judge has no duty in the hallway of a courthouse. NONE
This is only tangentially related to Professor Turley’s article in that it relates to the Democrats’ lawlessness.
A friend said: what about the requirement for Biden to understand what he was signing?
With respect to my friend’s comment, it seems that the Hur tapes at least put a clear marker on the timeline though many think Biden’s decline substantially predates that interview. To me the problem is that the issue of Biden’s mental state makes any legal argument about the validity of bills and EOs debatable and difficult.
In a discussion about the autopen controversy one commenter said that unless someone can show which law makes the use of the autopen illegal it doesn’t matter.
——–
Article 1
Section 7: Legislative Process
Every Bill which shall have passed the House of Representatives and the Senate, shall, before it become a Law, be presented to the President of the United States; If he approve he shall sign it…
——–
The act of the President personally signing a bill as required by the US Constitution demonstrates the intent of the elected executive to approve a bill or to direct subordinates to perform actions. There need be no law banning the use of the autopen for signing documents since the Constitution requires an actual signature.
This executive power and signing requirement is fundamental to our Constitutional system and cannot be delegated to a subordinate. As disturbing as the implications of subordinates getting signatures from an incompetent executive may be, the issue of the executive’s mental state does not enter into the duscussion.
Anything signed by autopen during Biden’s administration should be found invalid and unwound from our laws and our budget actions as quickly as possible. National embarassment, credibility, and feelings are irrelevant.
The constitutional actual presidential signature requirement only applies to legislation.
For EO’s and pardon;s the real question is Did Biden KNOW much less direct there official actions occur.
There is ample evidence – from public statements where Biden denied having signed things that were definited signed, to question whether everything – or even anything signed by autopen was done at Biden’s direction.
The problem is NOT the autopen itself it is the lack of clear evidence the president directed these.
This BTW is a similar issue as with Trump’s classified documents case.
Smith made clear in court that there was NO CRIME in these documents arriving at MAL.
Smith was doing so because he wanted to preclude evidence that Trump directed their removal to MAL, because any evidence that Trump Knowingly removed or directed the removal or classified documents WHILE President means they are Trump’s property and per the PRA it is irrelevant whether they are classified or not – he can have them.
Smith’s “theory” – the ONLY theory that results in a crime is that the documents were unintentionally transfered to MAL without Trump’s knowledge or direction and that Trump violated the law by failing to return them.
It is a critical question – whether the issue is the Biden pardon’s or EO’s or the Trump classified documents what evidence exists of presidential direction.
The entirety of those cases changes radically based on the knowledge and direction of the president.
The use of the autopen is completely legal and constitutional. It is firmly established law that any time a person is required to sign something he may do so by proxy. That includes the president signing legislation.
HOWEVER the general rule is that the person authorizing the signature must be physically present in the room where the signing is taking place. And of course he must actually authorize it, in the full knowledge and understanding of what is being signed.
These people are all making big mistakes.
My suggestion is to let them continue to do so.
Those on the left are making it clear where they stand.
We should take them at their word.
I would also note this represents an oportunity for Republicans.
I think DOJ should announce an “oversight policy” for congressmen.
I would offer that it should be as broad as is reasonably possible.
They should establish a reasonable and BROAD policy because – Republican congressmen can use it too, And because Republicans will not be in power forever.
DOJ should make the policy public.
The policy should dictate notice required – again I would argue for MINIMAL notice – because it is NOT always going to be democrats who want access.
The requirements are not going to be the same for each agency – access to places where prisoners are held should be different from office buildings.
The policy should specify who can accompany congressmen.
It should specify what notes and pictures can be taken.
It should specify access to materials. As an example access to classified materials should require that the congressmen have the appropriate clearance.
Access should also be limited to members of the committee with oversite responsibilities for that agency.
Regardless, my point is that Trump/DOJ should establish an access policy – one that is made public, that grants reasonable and broad access to congressmen under circumstances that are NOT the circus atmosphere at the Newark detention center.
They should do this as a show they have nothing to hide.
They should do this to establish the same access for Republicans, both now and in the future.
AS an example if Trump dictates that members of the budget committee can schedule oportunities to review the financial records of any agency along with some limited members of their staff,
you have just effectively created a congressional version of DOGE. And we should want that.
Further the more reasonable the policy is, the less reasonable that democrats behavior is.
Forgotten in the Melee at the ICE Newark facility is that several congressmen showed up unannounced in violation of existing accepted policies and after coordination with DHS and DOJ were allowed access.
This mini riot did not occur because ICE said no, It occurred because ICE said – give us some time to check our superiors and to make it safe for you to tour the fascility.
John Say, you sound quite vindictive with your “suggestions”.
“I think DOJ should announce an “oversight policy” for congressmen.
I would offer that it should be as broad as is reasonably possible.
They should establish a reasonable and BROAD policy because – Republican congressmen can use it too, And because Republicans will not be in power forever.”
The DOJ does not have oversight power over Congress. It never will. Congress makes the law not the DOJ. I’m sure you understand the separation of powers doctrine, right?
There is already a law allowing congressmen to inspect ICE facilities with no announcment or requirement of a 24hr notice. Congress has the right of oversight. Not the DOJ.
“ Forgotten in the Melee at the ICE Newark facility is that several congressmen showed up unannounced in violation of existing accepted policies and after coordination with DHS and DOJ were allowed access.”
Showing up unnanounced is not a violation of policy. Existing policies allow for unnanounced visits by Congressment or their staff.
Per ICE policy;
“(a) None of the funds appropriated or otherwise made available to the Department of
Homeland Security by this Act may be used to prevent any of the following persons from
entering, for the purpose of conducting oversight, any facility operated by or for the
Department of Homeland Security used to detain or otherwise house aliens, or to make any
temporary modification at any such facility that in any way alters what is observed by a
visiting member of Congress or such designated employee, compared to what would be
observed in the absence of such modification:
(1) A Member of Congress.
(2) An employee of the United States House of Representatives or the United States
Senate designated by such a Member for the purposes of this section.
(b) Nothing in this section may be construed to require a Member of Congress to provide
prior notice of the intent to enter a facility described in subsection (a) for the purpose of
conducting oversight.
(c) With respect to individuals described in subsection (a)(2), the Department of Homeland
Security may require that a request be made at least 24 hours in advance of an intent to enter
a facility described in subsection (a)”
https://www.ice.gov/doclib/detention/iceFacilityVisitationCongressional.pdf
What you descrive as a “mini-riot” was nothing more than a scuffle with members of congress and their staff. ICE was being overly agressive and instigated the confrontation making it easy to claim the democrats were “trying to force their way in.” That was a complete lie. They were being allowed in except the mayor who was told to leave and he was in the process of leaving when ICE decided to drag him back into the gates and arrest him. That was an unlawful arrest and it’s why Habba was forced to dropp the charges against the mayor.
What you quote is true but you failed to explain that the visiting congressman must still abide by established protocols such as going through a medical detector, surrendering phones and other recording equipment, etc. So rushing and pushing your way thru a vehicle gate when opened is not fulfilling oversite by the law. Even if they had to wait two hours for ICE to arrange for the visit to be accomplished safely, their actions were not justified.
Plea deal
There’s no mention of accompanied by mob? By George, I, a senator or rep, will come and get the mob in? They must let me in!
It’s really specific as to designee isn’t it?
“Regardless, my point is that Trump/DOJ should establish an access policy – one that is made public, that grants reasonable and broad access to congressmen under circumstances that are NOT the circus atmosphere at the Newark detention center.”
That policy already exists.
https://www.ice.gov/doclib/detention/iceFacilityVisitationCongressional.pdf
Republican congressmen have the same access as Democratic congressmen.
John, the thing is that federal law provides explicitly that congressmen may not be denied access to any ICE facility used for detaining people, and that they need not give any notice. All they have to say is “oversight” and they must be admitted, on no notice, at any time of day or night.
Staffers do require 24 hours’ notice. And outsiders, such as local mayors, have no right of access at all. And of course they have no right to hit anyone.