Friday Potpourri: 24 January 2025
I have promised you good news. And believe it or not, there IS good news. People have started the pushback against the exploits of the fascist regime.
We’ll start with lawsuits.
Yesterday, the fifth lawsuit filed to continue birthright citizenship was heard by U.S. District Judge John Coughenour, a Reagan appointee, in the Western District of Washington. It took him less than half an hour to issue a 14-day nationwide temporary restraining order.
"This is blatantly unconstitutional order," the judge told a lawyer with the U.S. Justice Department defending Trump's order.
Following is the list, in order, of the birthright citizenship lawsuits. I included links to the actual filings. PLEASE consider at least skimming through them. Why? Because it’s important to know the salient facts: the more you know, the easier it is to explain to the people you know who don’t know.
The first lawsuit was filed at 12:01 pm on 20 January by Democracy Forward, on behalf of American Public Health Association, American Federation of Teachers, Minority Veterans of America, VoteVets Action Fund, The Center for Auto Safety and Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, against DOGE, accusing it of being a "shadow operation led by unelected billionaires" that flouts federal transparency rules.
They lay out a detailed case of the laws being broken by DOGE and have eight requests. Here’s my favourite:
[T]hrough the named Defendants, enjoin DOGE and any of its subdivisions from meeting, advising federal agencies, and otherwise conducting committee or subcommittee business until it becomes compliant with FACA
A note about Democracy Forward. I’ve written about them before, they are a group of lawyers committed to standing up for Democracy and America the way it should be. If you’re looking for a good place to donate, they should certainly be on the list.
Soon after the same day, similar cases were filed by National Security Counselors (lawsuit link) and Public Citizen (lawsuit link).
A number of states and cities have filed a complaint for declarative and injunctive relief related to the EO endeavoring to dismantle birthright citizenship. You can read that full complaint here, and you should, so that you can see how solid the legal standing is for the requested relief. After establishing standing, and then detailing four causes of action, the Attorneys General request:
a. Declare that the Order is contrary to the Constitution and laws of the United States;
b. Declare that actions taken by Defendant agencies to implement or enforce the Order violate the Administrative Procedure Act;
c. Preliminarily and permanently enjoin Defendants from implementing or enforcing the Order;
d. Vacate any actions taken by Defendant agencies to implement or enforce the Order;
and
e. Preliminarily and permanently enjoin Defendants from implementing or enforcing Vacate any actions taken by Defendant agencies to implement or enforce the Order; Award such additional relief as the interests of justice may require.
Additional lawsuits related to birthright citizenship were filed by the ACLU (lawsuit link), “O. Doe”, Worker Center, Inc., and La Colaborativa (lawsuit link) and a separate suit from four additional state Attorneys General (lawsuit link). The first state lawsuit was filed by New Jersey (on behalf of itself and the other states) in Massachusetts, while the second was filed in the Western District of Washington. The second complaint also specifically calls for an immediate temporary restraining order, and a hearing within 14 days, and this is the one that was heard yesterday.
Filing in multiple jurisdictions is important, and while all the lawsuits seek the same end, there are slight differences due to the type of standing the filers have, and some of their cited legal arguments.
Then, there’s the Schedule F lawsuit filed by the National Treasury Employees Union which represents employees in 37 departments and agencies. You remember Schedule F - the attempt of the fascist regime to oust civil servants and replace them with political lackies. UNION STRONG! I told you months ago that if the fascists tried this, the union would strike back immediately (they filed on 20 January, they were ready) and they even asked for lawyers’ fees. Nice touch.
More EOs? Expect more lawsuits. It likely won’t dissuade the Convicted Felon, but the suits will certainly slow down any implementation.
And then there’s the Senate. On Wednesday, the entirety of the Democratic caucus, along with the Independents who caucus with us, developed an actual spine, stood together, and precluded cloture. GO TEAM!!!
A bill the Rethuglicans called “S.6 - Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act”, defined by them as:
A bill to amend title 18, United States Code, to prohibit a health care practitioner from failing to exercise the proper degree of care in the case of a child who survives an abortion or attempted abortion.
“This proposed law plays on misinformation and misunderstanding,” Sen. Tina Smith (D-Minn.) said at a press conference prior to the vote. “But like all anti-abortion bills, it is designed to take away the rights of patients and doctors.”
Congratulations to all 47 Democrats and Independents for standing firm. Keep it up.
While the Orange Menace is undertaking withdrawal from the Paris accords, the biggest impact of that action would be to deny needed funding to the UN climate body, of which the US funds about 21%.
Mike Bloomberg, UN Climate Envoy, has stepped up:
"Bloomberg Philanthropies and other U.S. climate funders will ensure the United States meets its global climate obligations," the organization said in a statement, adding this included covering the amount the U.S. owes each year to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).”
I hope this blows all the wind out of the Orange Menace’s sails. Because it means that the US WILL fulfill its obligation to the Paris accords, and work can continue unabated.
HUGE shout out to Mike Bloomberg for using his billions for good instead of evil.
It turns out there is some blowback against the Jan 6th pardons. This happily surprises me, since there was no blowback initially. Senators Murkowski and Cassidy were first out of the gate. Followed by Senators Moran, Collins, and Tillis. Still wobbly, but kinda-sorta-not-such-a-great idea comments from Senators McConnell and Cramer. Source. Scuttlebutt says that the Convicted Felon was set to only pardon non-violent convicted felons, but ended up saying, “F**k it, release ‘em all.” That’s a quote.
And then there’s viewership:
Doesn’t that just make you happy? It does me.
In other “I told you so” news, there is anecdotal evidence that some people are coming around to the idea that the guy and his toadies for whom they voted are going to do them harm. I’m the last person I know who still lurks on Twitter, and I’m starting to see people with few followers, but who are all MAGA-adjacent in their profiles, professing that they had NO IDEA Von Shitzenpants would NOT lower grocery prices on Day 1. They are opposed to taking away birthright citizenship. They are facing the deportation of people IN THEIR HOUSEHOLDS, who they were sure ahead of the election, would be safe because they are not criminals. Schadenfreude.
On Monday, Moscow Mike Johnson wanted the flags that were at half-staff in remembrance of President Jimmy Carter, raised for the inauguration. Big shout out to Mother Nature: the ropes were frozen, and the flags could not be raised. KARMA!
In other karma-related news, the first arrest for a person pardoned by the Convicted Felon on Monday, occurred on Tuesday. And this certainly won’t be the last re-arrest. Daniel Ball was pardoned for his Jan 6th actions, but hot damn, there was that little outstanding gun charge. Dan was already a convicted felon, for domestic violence battery by strangulation in June 2017 and battering and resisting law enforcement with violence in October 2021, and thus he cannot have a gun. No convicted felon can. So Dan’s back in jail where he belongs.
Here’s hoping all of the above made you smile. A lot of people have told me that they are discouraged by all the bad that’s happened this week. I’m no Pollyanna, but there ARE fighters, and there ARE pushbacks. And the resistance will grow!
I leave you with this informative graphic. They DID miss “Von Shitzenpants” but there are ones I hadn’t known.
Thank you for my first smile of the day.
This was great, thank you! Sharing when I get back on social media tomorrow.
A name I heard somewhere (and love ) is IQ 45. Personally, in texts I just use 🟠 🤡 💩 .