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gallykaren.bsky.social
chessie girl
@gallykaren.bsky.social
450 followers 440 following 300 posts
Attorney, dog-lover, DC to SD
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Reposted by chessie girl
reichlinmelnick.bsky.social
As Justice Kagan begins her dissent by pointing out, what is even the point of trial, of fact-finding, of clear error, of standards of review, when the Supreme Court simply ignores every single part of that and decides everything purely on the papers without any real consideration of the facts?
USTICE KAGAN, with whom J USTICE SOTOMAYOR and J USTICE J ACKSON join, dissenting from the grant of the ap- plication for stay. Over the course of three months, a three-judge District Court in Texas undertook to resolve the factual dispute at issue in this application: In enacting an electoral map slanted toward Republicans, did Texas predominantly use race to draw its new district lines? Or said otherwise, did Texas accomplish its partisan objectives by means of a ra- cial gerrymander? The District Court conducted a nine-day hearing, involving the testimony of nearly two dozen wit- nesses and the introduction of thousands of exhibits. It sifted through the resulting factual record, spanning some 3,000 pages. It assessed the credibility of each of the wit- nesses it had seen and heard in the courtroom. And after considering all the evidence, it held that the answer was clear. Texas largely divided its citizens along racial lines to create its new pro-Republican House map, in violation of the Constitution’s Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments. The court issued a 160-page opinion recounting in detail its factual findings. Yet this Court reverses that judgment based on its pe- rusal, over a holiday weekend, of a cold paper record. We are a higher court than the District Court, but we are not a better one when it comes to making such a fact-based deci- sion. That is why we are supposed to use a clear-error standard of review—why we are supposed to uphold the District Court’s decision that race-based line-drawing oc- curred (even if we would have ruled differently) so long as it is plausible. Without so much as a word about that stand- ard, this Court today announces that Texas may run next year’s elections with a map the District Court found to have violated all our oft-repeated strictures about the use of race in districting. Today’s order disrespects the work of a Dis- trict Court that did everything one could ask to carry out its charge—that put aside every consideration except get- ting the issue before it right. And today’s order disserves the millions of Texans whom the District Court found were assigned to their new districts based on their race. Because this Court’s precedents and our Constitution demand bet- ter, I respectfully dissent.
December 4, 2025 at 11:08 PM
gallykaren.bsky.social
Interesting that DOGE ousted George Moose from USIP and now "Trump USIP" is making its debut for DRC/Rwanda "peace agreement" signing.
December 3, 2025 at 9:18 PM
Reposted by chessie girl
sanho.bsky.social
Rand Paul just posted this letter from the Coast Guard confirming that 1/4 of the boats they stop carry no contraband. The likelihood that Hegseth & Bradley ordered the murder of innocent civilians is very high.
U.S. Department of Homeland Security United States Coast Guard Commandant United States Coast Guard 2703 Martin Luther King Jr Ave SE Washington, DC 20593-7000 Staff Symbol: CCG Phone: (202) 372-4411 5730 31 ост 2025 The Honorable Rand H. Paul United States Senate Washington, DC 20510 Dear Senator Paul: In response to your letter dated October 6, 2025, regarding the Coast Guard's efforts to interdict illicit drugs headed towards the United States since September 1, 2024, I offer the following: 1. From September 1, 2024, to October 7, 2025, Coast Guard surface assets, operating under Coast Guard law enforcement authority, interdicted 212 suspected drug-smuggling vessels at sea headed toward the United States. Of the 212 interdictions, 41 vessels had no illicit contraband on board when interdicted; 24 of those 41 vessels without contraband did not appear to commit any federal criminal offense. 2. Of the 212 total vessels interdicted during this period, 69 vessels were interdicted in the Caribbean Sea by Coast Guard surface assets, operating under Coast Guard law enforcement authority. Of these 69 interdictions, 14 had no illicit contraband on board when interdicted; 11 of those 14 vessels without contraband did not appear to commit any federal criminal offense. Of the 69 Caribbean interdictions, 14 vessels were interdicted off the coast of Venezuela. Three of the 14 vessels interdicted near Venezuela had no illicit contraband on board when interdicted, but one of the three violated other U.S. federal criminal statutes. 3. The Coast Guard did not use lethal force against any of the 212 vessels interdicted at sea during this period. The Coast Guard used non-lethal force to warn and/or disable non-compliant vessels suspected of smuggling on 105 occasions during this period. 4. Of the 212 interdictions conducted by the Coast Guard from September 1, 2024, to October 7, 2025, 208 were interdicted in international waters. 5. Of the 212 interdictions conducted by the Coast Gu…
December 2, 2025 at 10:49 PM
gallykaren.bsky.social
wait..
December 2, 2025 at 4:27 AM