Elijah
@elijahemery.bsky.social
43 followers 150 following 110 posts
Aspiring Space Cowboy, Only Living Boy in New York. Formerly reading Lasch, now Columbia Law
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elijahemery.bsky.social
Ok—my legal analysis is that if there was an inexorable clash between Leahy et al. and a recent appropriation that couldn’t be fixed by the waivers or discretionary enforcement already on the books, Leahy et al. should be struck down insofar as they conflict with the more recent statute. There isn’t
elijahemery.bsky.social
FTR, I am not saying that the bill repealed Leahy impliedly. I’m just providing game theory of how a court might address the issue
elijahemery.bsky.social
I think it would probably be adjudicated on a case-by-case basis. If a recent bill appeared to inexorably make the CRA impossible to follow, it might be impliedly repealed. I think that is extremely unlikely to happen
elijahemery.bsky.social
Yeah I think that they should have issues waivers where legally required (assuming they were going to do what they wanted to do anyway)
elijahemery.bsky.social
Yeah I don’t think he was concerned with the constitutional issues. I do think that a particular contemporary appropriation passed without the laws we were talking about as a rider would suggest they don’t apply to that bill if there seems to be an intractable clash. But I recognize that’s pedantic
elijahemery.bsky.social
Oh 100%. But at the end of the day within the executive branch only one guy’s view matters (to simplify things dramatically)
elijahemery.bsky.social
Yeah, but the president as commander in chief determines national security policy. It might be foolish national security policy, but it easily fits into the waiver
elijahemery.bsky.social
I think that Biden was probably constitutionally bound to spend some amount of money on whatever congress particularized. I also think if he was interested in pressuring Israel he probably could have used the laws we’re talking about to slow down spending that money and use that money as leverage
elijahemery.bsky.social
Yeah but there’s a completely at the discretion of the president waiver
elijahemery.bsky.social
In this case following the letter of the law and Biden’s own goals were the same—give large amounts of money and guns to Israel
elijahemery.bsky.social
Yes I think it’s likely that if they wanted to follow the spirit of the law they would have had an exceedingly difficult time finding proper units to do so
elijahemery.bsky.social
I also don’t remember whether the funds were appropriated through state or DoD. DoD has a waiver function if you want to follow the letter of the law while funding human rights abuses
elijahemery.bsky.social
Leahy law doesn’t apply to militaries writ large, it applies to particular units. Just on this point; I’m still catching up with the discussion
elijahemery.bsky.social
I believe that the interplay between these two statutes would (for a president intent on following the constitution) be that military aid be given to Israel (more recent statute supersedes older one if clash) but that if avoidance is possible it should be taken—I.e., not to particular units
elijahemery.bsky.social
I assume that classes where kids aren’t afraid of ostracization are far more correlated to the kindness and openness of professors than those professors’ political views
elijahemery.bsky.social
I think a large amount of this is fear of failure in expressing oneself as a young person. Many people look for excuses as to why they won’t speak up, and a popular one today is fear “cancellation” as a proxy for fear of embarrassment in public speaking. I was lucky to have taken speech in HS
elijahemery.bsky.social
Yes, of course. If I remember correctly they chose to express their position by reviewing assigned conservative readings (like I, pencil) favorably in their reaction papers—a perfectly appropriate way to express one’s views in a course premised on digesting and responding to a variety of texts
elijahemery.bsky.social
From experience in your class, I sat next to a few conservative friends of mine—and they never felt that they had to align with your views! I’m sure they did well, though I don’t remember any of our grades.
elijahemery.bsky.social
Also a virulent antisemite
elijahemery.bsky.social
If you don’t like it here (country buttressed by and sustained by immigrants who should be treated fairly and well) maybe you should leave!
elijahemery.bsky.social
"Real communism only existed on the og Kibbutzim"