Congress continues to fail at providing the checks & balances the Constitution intends on the executive branch, but Senate Democrats are working hard to try and get it there. open.substack.com/pub/joycevan....

What happens when prosecutions become political theater? @PreetBharara and I discuss reports that Trump’s DOJ planned a “perp walk” for former FBI Director Jim Comey on a new episode of @cafedotcom Insider: cafe.visitlink.me/HETzAj

A Thing You Can Do Right Now To Help Protect The Right To Vote open.substack.com/pub/joycevan...

New (& important) from @dahlialithwick .bsky.social @mimirocah1 .bsky.social Rachel Foster & me

Happy first Monday in October to all who celebrate. The Supreme Court is back in session. Here’s what you need to know about key cases this term. joycevance.substack.com/p/the-week-a...

The new term of Court starts today. Here’s what I am paying attention to. open.substack.com/pub/joycevan...

Political violence is always wrong. Doesn’t matter who is involved. If that’s what this turns out to be (the Judge was reportedly receiving death threats) it should be condemned by everyone. Party should be irrelevant.

Seems like doing this violates Judge Immergut’s order from last night. We’re back to the administration violating a court order while maintaining some ridiculous excuse for doing it like, her order only covered the Oregon Guard.

It’s the Sunday Morning Wrap-Up. Read any of the Civil Discourse columns you may have missed last week, with links all in one place for convenience. open.substack.com/pub/joycevan...

The federal judge in this case is a Trump appointee. She reviews the facts, which do not support this characterization of violence in Portland, in her opinion. It’s linked in my thread; read it & decide for yourself. The gov’t can & has appealed. No insurrection here, legal, or otherwise.

1/ Judge Immergut just granted a restraining order that prevents Trump's mobilization of the Oregon National Guard in Portland.

“During the arrest petitioner sustained severe leg injuries” is quite the use of the passive voice. And, in the current environment, it’s hard to avoid the suspicion that he was kept in protective custody to prevent the story of his criminally violent arrest from surfacing.

Wait until he hears about what happened at the Capitol on January 6!

Trump’s efforts to militarize ICE & send federalized Nat'l Guard troops onto American streets, firing government employees during the shutdown, it's all part of Project 2025, which he disavowed all knowledge of during the campaign because it was so unpopular. joycevance.substack.com/p/project-20...

1/ Judge Immergut just granted a restraining order that prevents Trump's mobilization of the Oregon National Guard in Portland.

7/ The 9th Circuit held, & Judge Immergut reiterates, she can review to make sure the President's reason for calling up the Guard is within a "range of honest judgment."

👇🏼👇🏼👇🏼

I'm not an expert on shutdowns, but I don't understand how the president can federalize National Guard troops during one, forcing them into unpaid status for the duration, especially when the state doesn't need or want help with day-to-day law enforcement.

👇👇👇

Partisan gerrymanders may be legal, but only because SCOTUS said so. They are anti-democratic measures used by a party that fears losing power to hold onto control, a mechanism that lets parties choose their voters instead of letting voters choose who will represent them.

They’re not subtle. What do all of these states have in common…

Not how it works. Only Congress can pass the laws that create crimes + this is 1st Amendment protected speech.

This is how a democracy dies.

1/ It’s VERY rare for a vindictive prosecution to get to this stage. But this is a classic case. The gov’t indicted Abrego Garcia in retaliation for his lawsuit challenging his deportation, in other words, for exercising his legal rights.

2/ If evidence establishes this, the case gets dismissed. But will the Trump administration be willing to follow thru with discovery? There could be more contempt of court coming if they refuse to comply or perhaps they’ll dismiss voluntarily to avoid discovery.

Good question

"We"? She's not funding this. Trump's not funding this. These are our taxpayer dollars, allocated by our elected representatives in Congress. A dictator would do something like this, not an American president. At least they're acknowledging out loud what this is.

If you appreciate insight like this into DOJ, please consider subscribing to my newsletter (you can do that for free) where I do more of this & am trying to reinvigorate civics education so we can all be a part of it! joycevance.substack.com

No, projects have been “put on hold” to try & teach Democrats a lesson, in violation of the Constitution, which gives the spending power to Congress.

Your taxpayer dollars at work (the Obama administration prohibited spending on these items)

Never forget that the Speaker sent the House home, instead of having them work on a budget compromise, in order to avoid calls for release of the Epstein files.

You’d love to think they’re taking this case with an eye toward protecting Americans as well as gun rights…

As a sitting US Atty, I would have had an investigation open on this in a couple of minutes (far more basis for opening than on Comey or Brennan). Where is the courage? Or have local leaders at FBI & US Attys given in to the bullies? Some principles are worth being fired for.

As if irony isn’t already dead, the Hatch Act violation on the DOJ website, which blames Democrats for the shutdown, appears on the page advising DOJ employees they are subject to the Hatch Act. joycevance.substack.com/p/a-note-abo...

Halligan may have obtained the indictment the president wanted, but it...one thing to get a grand jury to indict. Getting a conviction is an entirely different matter. New from me for @brennancenter.org. A discussion of the flawed Comey indictment.