National Guard Cases
SCOTUS has no scheduled arguments this week, but that
doesn’t mean there won’t be activity there. With the Chicago National Guard
case already before the Court, on Friday, the administration appealed the
Oregon decision that permanently enjoined the president from deploying National
Guard troops to Portland. And on Monday, all parties in the Chicago case
will file their final briefs.
The Supreme Court has not yet scheduled the Chicago case
itself for oral argument. The emergency appeal, an effort by the administration
to end the lower court stay that prevents Trump from deploying troops while the
litigation is underway, could be decided this week, after the briefs are in.
The underpinning of the White House’s argument in both
Chicago and Portland is that the troops were being sent to “protect federal
assets and personnel,” pursuant to Title 10 of the U.S. Code, which allows the
president to federalize troops under certain designated circumstances. The
White House argues that the courts may not review the president’s decision to
deploy. Reporting last week suggested that only 2.6% of 614
people arrested during “Operation Midway Blitz” in Chicago had criminal
histories, per DOJ records. If statistics like that are reflected in the record
when the Court considers the case, it would undercut Trump’s argument that
federal property had to be protected from attack by dangerous criminals.
The Epstein Files
In a dramatic Sunday night reversal,
Trump wrote on Truth Social that Republicans in Congress
“should vote to release the Epstein files, because we have nothing to hide.”
Of course, if that were true, he wouldn’t have been
fighting the release for months. Which leads us to wonder, what changed? Was
Trump’s dramatic Twitter breakup with Marjorie Taylor Greene, whom he
alternately dubbed Marjorie Treason Green and Marjorie Taylor Brown, all for
nothing?
Perhaps Trump is just caving into the inevitable.
It seems likely that a big tranche of Republicans is set
to vote for the release measure, whether he wants them to or not. Or perhaps
it’s the knowledge that with DOJ having opened a new investigation, albeit only
into Democrats, there is reason to withhold at least some portion of the
documents. It was only two days ago that Trump called on the Justice Department to investigate the
connection between prominent Democrats named in Epstein’s text messages and the
convicted sex offender, as well as the role of financial institutions. DOJ
routinely delays release of evidence involved in a criminal investigation until
it is complete. Trump could have the best of both worlds—supporting release
while knowing his lawyers would object.
We’ll have to watch to see how it all plays out this
week.
Pardons
On the opposite end of the spectrum from the revenge
prosecutions, like those against Jim Comey and Letitia James that the DOJ has
launched, the rewards Trump is handing out—pardons for those he favors. That’s
what happened last week in the case of Dan Wilson, who received a second pardon
from Trump. Wilson, a militia member who participated in the January 6 insurrection,
had been previously pardoned for that offense. But he also stood convicted of
illegal firearm possession in Kentucky. Trump, the man who is so outraged by
what he claims is crime driven by “illegal aliens,” used his pardon power to
erase the gun charge for Wilson, too.
The message couldn’t be more clear. Trump is reminding the MAGA-faithful about the value of loyalty to the cult leader. He doesn’t care about people who put our communities at risk of violence, the rationale he’s trotted out in Portland and Chicago. It’s a disgraceful exercise of the power the Founders entrusted to presidents so that they could do justice. There could be more this week.
Book Tour Note
If you’re in Birmingham, Alabama, I’ll be signing books at the Barnes and Noble at The Summit from 6:00 PM -8:00 PM. I’d love to get to see you!
We’re in this together,
-Joyce Vance
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