Scotus Tells Trump NO

Late [yesterday] afternoon, the Supreme Court told Trump no. There is no opinion, so we don’t know what the Court’s reasoning was. We don’t know whether the decision was unanimous or split, and if it was split, who voted which way. 

But we do know that the Supreme Court declined to let Trump interfere in the election in California at this late date. It rejected DOJ’s request, which would have forced the state to deal with the junk list of voters the administration thinks might not be citizens.

In its emergency request to the Court, DOJ told the people on the list “appear to be registered to vote in California based on publicly available information at the time the information was received,” but that they “in the United States’ view, are likely not U.S. Citizens.”

Adam Klasfeld tweeted: “Count the number of weasel words packed into a single sentence in the Trump DOJ’s emergency request for SCOTUS to bless attempted election interference.” It was hardly the kind of definitive statement you would expect the Justice Department to make before trying to interfere with votes while an election is already underway. “Likely not.” “In the United States’ view.” “Appear to be registered.”

The Yiddish word “shanda” comes to mind. It means a shame, a disgrace, a scandal, and an embarrassment—all rolled into one. Scandalously bad behavior. Shanda aptly captures Donald Trump’s efforts to interfere with the election, and I’m relieved that the Supreme Court didn’t let Trump get away with the stunt he tried to pull in California.

District Judge David Carter’s decision last week, which we discussed in detail here, explains why this was the right result. I’ll sleep better knowing the Supreme Court let his decision stand.

And one more thing before we call it a night. If you’ve been reading Civil Discourse without subscribing, this is a good time to join us. We have an election tomorrow. Courts are making consequential decisions, sometimes in the dead of night. We have a Justice Department whose arguments deserve close scrutiny. There is a lot of work ahead of us, whatever happens at the polls.

Democracy isn’t a spectator sport. Neither is Civil Discourse. I’m grateful for the company of people who refuse to give up on democracy. We’re the cavalry—the ones we’ve been waiting for. Tomorrow will come soon enough. For tonight, get some rest

We’re in this together,

Joyce Vance