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PaperclipPerfector  1mo ago (text post)   30014 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of March 17, 2025

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A potentially more interesting case is the recent deportation of alleged Venezuelan gang members. A US district court ordered that the deportations not proceed for 14 days while it hears arguments about the legality of the deportations under the Alien Enemies Act, but that order may have been issued after the gang members had already left US soil. I assume they will try to deport more people under the Act and that these cases will go up to the Supreme Court as well.

Courtlistener docket is here. Alien Enemies Act is codified as 50 USC Chapter 3. Trump's Executive order is here.

On the basis of the evidence so far (which I think is just what is in the EO itself) I am skeptical that the actions of Tren de Aragua satisfy the statutory requirement of being an "invasion or predatory incursion" that is "perpetrated" by a "foreign nation or government." There's a hearing scheduled for an hour or so from now and I will be pretty surprised if it does not end in the beginning of contempt proceedings for some officials. Just Security has an article with a pretty detailed timeline.

ETA:

Trump announced in a post last night that he was considering voiding the last minute preemptive Biden pardons of Fauci, members of January 6 House committee, and others, because an "autopen" was used to sign the pardons. Presidential authority to grant pardons is very broad, and apparently autopen has been used by prior presidents; looks like a losing case if it goes before the Supreme Court.

Trying to imagine the logistics of how this plays out. Trump's DOJ presumably charges one or more pardoned individuals with a crime within the scope of the pardon. They move to dismiss (or equivalent) on the basis they were pardoned. DOJ claims the pardons are not valid. Defendants produce whatever constitute the official pardon documents, various presidential announcements of the pardons etc. DOJ's rebuttal is ???. What could possibly go in the blank such that a court would permit the prosecution to move forward? I am confident that a court is not going to permit an investigation into a President's state of mind to try and determine a pardon's validity.

What could possibly go in the blank such that a court would permit the prosecution to move forward? I am confident that a court is not going to permit an investigation into a President's state of mind to try and determine a pardon's validity.

The question is more basic than that- Presidential powers are only valid if they are excercised by the President. The claim at this point is straight up fraud and forgery- someone (the NY Post and a few other outlets claim to know exactly who this "senior staffer" is) in the Biden whitehouse is alleged to have issued Executive Orders, using Biden's autopen signature without any discussion of the matter with Biden exploiting his diminished capacity. So the claim has nothing to do with Biden's state of mind in signing the pardons, its that Biden did not in any legally relevant way actually sign the pardons. Given that a) it is indisputablely an autopen signature on the orders in question, and b) Biden's mental decline was such that he either didnt remember or was completely ignorant of his LNG export EO when discussing it weeks later with the Speaker of the House, there is perhaps more merit to the claim than appears on first glance.

Brilliant! This is just beyond the pale of stupidity.

I even think the described actions are probable and philosophically valid (but having many people assist with execution of the same office is a quite complicated and rather dehumanizes the office until the actual holder seems irrelevant.) There are plenty of historical analogues with idiot kings etc. Anyway, sliding all the way down the slope, unless Trump is flying the plane, deportations until the executive branch are illegal, yah enforcing murder's illegality is impossible because only the very, uh, lightning bolt which broke the stone on the 10 commandants, or the person who wrote e.g. §§ 1111 (calling murder unlawful) is eligible to detain or punish; but this person used a tool, a pen and we don't know whether someone else used this pen and was not... And can we just disregard all laws written by lobbyists?

Can someone steel man this?

  • -12

Anyway, sliding all the way down the slope, unless Trump is flying the plane, deportations until the executive branch are illegal

Under normal circumstances, I would expect this statute to cover it:

Title 3 USC §301. General authorization to delegate functions; publication of delegations. The President of the United States is authorized to designate and empower the head of any department or agency in the executive branch, or any official thereof who is required to be appointed by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, to perform without approval, ratification, or other action by the President (1) any function which is vested in the President by law, or (2) any function which such officer is required or authorized by law to perform only with or subject to the approval, ratification, or other action of the President: Provided, That nothing contained herein shall relieve the President of his responsibility in office for the acts of any such head or other official designated by him to perform such functions. Such designation and authorization shall be in writing, shall be published in the Federal Register, shall be subject to such terms, conditions, and limitations as the President may deem advisable, and shall be revocable at any time by the President in whole or in part.

However if the President isn't compos mentis, there's a question whether he's able to functionally delegate those powers unless he had something previously set up, either via another statutory scheme which explicitly authorizes the devolution of powers to another executive officer, or via regulation and/or EO. And obviously here there's the factual question of whether the "senior staffer" who allegedly hijacked Biden's autopen" fills the relevant criteria of 301.

And obviously here there's the factual question of whether the "senior staffer" who allegedly hijacked Biden's autopen" fills the relevant criteria of 301.

He clearly doesn't because EOP staffers are not Senate-confirmed. Either Biden ordered the pardon or it is illegal.

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