Litigation Nation

 It seems sometimes that the real work of governing happens in the courtrooms, those weird little theaters with the (frankly unconstitutional) religious motto on the wall.  Even when judges are democratically elected, a procedure I believe unique to the US, you never know how they'll decide to do their jobs.  Sometimes we get lucky.

Last week we saw that a petition signed by 753,759 legal residents of Michigan to place a referendum on the ballot attaching freedom of choice to the state constitution was rejected by the state Board of Canvassers because the Republicans didn't like the spacing or something.  (This was not the real reason but they decided not to use the words "We hate women" in their statement.)  Now the Chief Justice of the Michigan Supreme Court, whose name is Bridget M. McCormack, wrote in the majority opinion that this was "a game of gotcha gone very bad" and an attempt to "disenfranchise millions of Michiganders" up with which she will not put.  The Republican candidate for governor, Tudor Dixon, who appears to be a woman, is on a course to let Trump down badly like so many others and this won't help.  Her strategist is relying on something called "pro-choice lean-conservative" voters to ignore the right's overall war on women and help her "clean up" Gretchen Whitmer's "mess."  It's not looking good.  

In Florida, federal judge Donald M. Middlebrooks tossed out Trump's "malicious conspiracy" lawsuit against Hillary Clinton and others for pointing out Russia's obvious efforts to install him in the presidency in 2016.  The judge called it "a two hundred-page political manifesto outlining his grievances" and implying that Ministry of Truth Social is a more appropriate forum than his court for whinging complaints.  He "won," didn't he?  Judge Middlebrooks also slapped down Trump's lawyers for failing to supply "factual support for the conclusions reached" and basically wasting his time.  If the self-styled "very rich person" was counting on $24 million to eke out the fifty-dollar tributes he gets from the MAGAts, he's going to be disappointed again.  But I'll save Dolt 45 some trouble and point out that the ruling is "very very corrupt and Unfair" because Judge Middlebrooks was appointed by Hillary Clinton's husband. 

"Neither politically opposing Plaintiff, disliking Plaintiff, nor engaging in political speech about Plaintiff that casts him in a negative light is illegal," Judge Middlebrooks wrote.  He should not have had to, but a significant minority of Americans seemingly want a country where The Leader is above all criticism, or else.

Aileen Cannon, now there's a great judge.  Drawing on her two years' experience on the bench she ignored all amicus briefs and gave Uncle Don -- sorry, Mr. Trump -- his "special master" to sort out the top-secret documents from the menus and scratch cards confiscated by the FBI.  She describes herself as an "originalist," one of those Scalia-clones who pretend it's 1789 when interpreting the Constitution, presumably by candlelight.  A Daniel come to judgment, fer sure.

Believe it or not the US Supreme Court is still obsessed with identifying the leaker of the Dobbs opinion.  They've scoured phone records, questioned clerks, deployed polygraphs, jumped out at people shouting "WAS IT YOU?" and I don't know what-all.  They seem to think this is very important and will prove something.  Meanwhile Ginni Thomas's strenuous efforts to overthrow the legitimate government are politely ignored like a tell-tale smell in a crowded elevator.

"This is what happens in the last days of a dying regime.  They will never shut me up, they'll have to kill me first.  I have not yet begun to fight."  Thus Steve Bannon, multiply be-shirted and hobo-bearded, as he entered a New York courtroom to be indicted for fraud, money laundering and conspiracy in the case of Build the Wall, the grift he concocted with Brian Kolfage in 2018.  It turned out to be more like Buy the Yacht, and Trump's inevitable pardon could not save him from state charges.  Gotta love the federalism, sometimes.  He posted bail and departed, still spewing cliches.

"There is no such thing as bad publicity," said P.T. Barnum (according to Google), and Dr. Uju Anya will now get to find out if he was right.  The Carnegie-Mellon professor decided to achieve fame by tweeting, "I heard the chief monarch of a thieving raping genocidal empire is finally dying.  May her pain be excruciating."  Twitter deleted the post but not her account, and the university condemned it but has not fired her.  I don't believe bad taste and meanness call for disciplinary action, especially if they enrage the Daily Mail.  I sort of enjoyed her insult to Jeff Bezos, who decided to involve himself for some reason.  "Otoro gba gbue gi" is approximately Igbo for "May a trolley car grow in your stomach."  Anyway, Dr. Anya is unquestionably famous for now.  See how easy it is?

Of course Tucker Carlson had to add his tupenny-ha'penny's worth.  Along with praising English literature and Magna Carta as blessings of the Empire he said, "The British Empire spread Protestant Christianity to the entire world."  Not ironically, but like William McKinley justifying the Spanish-American War as a chance to "Christianize" the Philippines, which had been Catholic for three hundred years.  Tucker, otoro gba gbue gi.  And the horse you rode in on.

Portland, Oregon, goes out of its way to accommodate everyone and that has created a dilemma.  It's being sued by an advocacy group for people with disabilities because homeless encampments make it difficult or impossible to negotiate the sidewalks.  Tents spring up overnight, a particular problem for blind people because they weren't there the day before.  Those in wheelchairs are blocked by sleeping bags and packing cases.  Sort this out, there's probably an Abbottbus of asylum seekers on the way.

Asked what she would say to Melania, Hillary Clinton cracked, "How's your summer going?"  

Well, how is it?