26 Comments
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David J. Sharp's avatar

Shades of the DoJ response to the proposal of Jeffrey Clark to head it during Trump 1.0. Heartening to know some working lawyers still honor the law.

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Joe From the Bronx's avatar

Thursday Night Massacre!

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Joe From the Bronx's avatar

"afternoon" might be more accurate but doesn't have the same cachet ... I'm with those who say it's time for Gov. Hochul to remove Eric Adams. I didn't think so before but it's time.

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MissNumbersNinja's avatar

I agree, he's compromised. Before he was just a garden variety corrupt politician, but now he's being led around on a leash by the Trump Administration through their weaponization of the DOJ.

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Karen Gold's avatar

Sassoon wrote an 8 page letter! Wow, thank you for reading all of it and explaining it to us non-legal types.

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Ryan Emnett's avatar

explain to me why people resigning is good rather than them staying and making admin fire them but delaying the orders until then? I don't get why them resigning is a big deal when news doesn't really cover it, I'd think I'd rather they be in position then get out of the way for some toadie to do the job. not being facetious or a jerk, I just don't understand what it accomplishes but I'm not a lawyer

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Chris Geidner's avatar

I know you're not trying to be a jerk, but the answer is in why we're discussing it. If they didn't quit, they'd probably just have been reassigned to immigration enforcement like they have tried to do to others.

Instead, we have multiple major stories about the very people *they* picked to run sections quitting rather than doing these things. This is aggressive action that lets people know how wrong what they're doing is.

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Moya Murphy's avatar

Yes I think these resignations are a strong signal to the public that there are people that will not be bought or made to compromise their values for Trump. I’m so very proud of these people for taking a stand .,I hope they get the public’s support that they deserve.

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Danielle B's avatar

This!! 💯

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Ubikwitas6's avatar

💯

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Wick's avatar

In addition to the point Chris makes, if you wait to be fired, they are free to publicly slime you so much that the force of your protest is drowned in the mire.

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Ryan Emnett's avatar

That makes sense. I thought there would be more outrage if they fired them but making them disappear in new roles is more likely tactic Bondi would use. Has anyone from House or Senate judiciary committee commented on this yet apart from being "very concerned"

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Lisa S.'s avatar

Any lawyer who knowingly does anything illegal (even if explicitly ordered to) risks being accused of unethical conduct, become disbarred, and losing the right to practise law for the REST of their LIFE! - Now, do you understand?

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Ubikwitas6's avatar

Excellent point

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Karen Scofield's avatar

What a Mess, Chris, Thanks for explaining it for Us, and will reStack ASAP 🙏💯👍🇺🇸

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MissNumbersNinja's avatar

"Hurson ordered the Justice Department to file both a notice with all of the affected agencies about the effect of Thursday’s order …"

From the order - "the written notice shall instruct the agencies that they may not take any steps to implement......"

I think this is very interesting! This tactic can't prevent the Trump Admin from going full Andrew Jackson with regard to ignoring court orders, but hopefully it will have a chilling affect on shenanigans which I suspect is the greater risk right now. If the DOJ lawyers essentially orders the agencies to comply with the court order, it seems like it would take a very direct and overt high level act to overrule them, which they might not want to do at least at this point, and create organizational chaos in the process.

And presumably the judge has a lot more leverage with the DOJ lawyers because they are officers of the court, being held in contempt can't look good with the bar associations, and since they are physically present in the court room, a judge could use the bailiff to jail the lawyers for contempt in an extreme circumstance.

What do you think Chris?

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GeorgeC's avatar

Rachel Maddow’s show this evening covered this and Louisiana’s attempt to extradite a NY doc. Good show.

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Joeff's avatar

As bad as all this has been, I shudder to contemplate the next phase—siccing the criminal apparatus on their perceived enemies. My solace is that so many judges have affinity with the old DOJ.

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MissNumbersNinja's avatar

Yeah. This reminds me - we're not even 1 month in.

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The Veil's avatar

Great except for the part where they resigned. MAKE THEM FIRE YOU.

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bobbie cottrill's avatar

Resignation was the right thing to do, I am so proud of these people...they are showing us and the cheeto that they can't be bought or threatened....

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Marla's avatar

How can Sassoon be investigated for 'unprofessional conduct' when she is no longer employed by DOJ as an AUSA? Assuming they found her guilty (or whatever the verdict would be), what would the penalty be? Dismissal? She's already taken care of that by resigning.

Seems to me that Bove is having a hissy fit and looking around for someone to blame for this giant cuck up. Shades of the Saturday Night Massacre.

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Robert Freno's avatar

Can Emil Bove III lose his law license over this clearly unethical behavior?

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EuphmanKB's avatar

What happens when the attorneys with integrity are no longer in DOJ? A kangaroo court justice system? And when the people lose faith in the justice system, what happens then? Anarchy, or worse?

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