Citizenschallenge: Frank Walton's plea for a Merrick Garland recess appointment

There was another recent article worth sharing, written by Frank Vyan Walton for the DailyKos. It’s an excellent compliment to Dr. Wang’s ‘Constitutional Hardball.’ Walton is advocating for an Obama recess appointment, I like the idea of the Daily Kos petition for Democratic Senators to actually vote Judge Garland onto the Supreme Court Jan 3rd. See the item following Walton’s piece. Still either one would be better than neither.

“Enough is enough. It’s time the Democrats stop bringing a butter-knife to the gun fight. It’s time to fight back, to finally get up when the bullies push you down and punch him right in the nose.”

Seems like a good bookend to be the last of my emergency 'window of opportunity' bootlegs. Don't get me wrong, I’m not going to stop writing or posting, or hoping, that never works for me either and I'll continue sharing the work of others, simply that I'm returning to not making exceptions conventional restraints,... after allowing Frank Walton's article to speak for how I'm feeling. A healthy democracy demands an informed and engaged citizenry - we need you now.

I follow Frank's article with the DailyKos petition, which is followed by recent articles related to what a gross national security threat Trump, his behavior and his business entanglements are, then finishing with a list of Democratic Senator addresses.

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All I want for Christmas is a Merrick Garland recess appointment.

By Frank Vyan Walton

Sunday, Dec 25, 2016

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2016/12/25/1614308/-All-I-want-for-Christmas-is-a-Merrick-Garland-recess-appointment

On his way out the Oval Office door there is one thing President Obama can do to give the do-less-than-nothing Congress a big stiff middle finger. Recess appoint Merrick Garland to the U.S. Supreme Court so sayeth the New Republic .

Come January, President Barack Obama will be consigned to the sidelines as Donald Trump occupies the Oval Office and begins the work of dismantling his legacy. But there is one action that Obama could take on January 3, 2017 that could hold off some of the worst potential abuses of a Trump administration for up to a year. Obama can appoint his nominee Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court on that date, in between the two sessions of Congress.

Here’s how it would work. Article II, Section 2 of the Constitution states, “The President shall have Power to fill up all Vacancies that may happen during the Recess of the Senate.” This has been used for Supreme Court vacancies before—William Brennan began his Court tenure with a recess appointment in 1956. Any appointments made in this fashion expire at the end of the next Senate session. So a Garland appointment on January 3 would last until December 2017, the end of the first session of the 115th Congress.

Wouldn’t that be awesome?

Obama would have to do it on the January 3rd, because the last time he did a recess appointment it was during a period that the Senate was holding pro-forma sessions, where they would be gaveled in, and then immediately out again by just one Senator every three days, specifically to block the President from making recess appointments. ...
Which is pretty dickish.

He made a recess appointment to the National Labor Relations Board anyway and the Senate sued, sending it all the way to the Supreme Court in National Labor Relations Board v. Noel Canning where they decided 9-0 that the appointment was unconstitutional. Therefore he would have to do it during the inter-session recess when the Senate completely finished their current year of congress and the next. And no, that’ isn’t new Theodore Roosevelt used the same break to make hundreds of appointments.

In fact, it’s so not new there are some in congress who are already anticipating exactly this move.

This is a highly aggressive and probably doomed strategy, without question. But we know that Congress understands the potential for inter-session recess appointments because Representative Chris Collins (a member of the Trump transition team) filed a constitutional amendment this year to end them. Collins specifically cited the Garland issue as his justification: “It’s been 111 days since President Obama nominated Merrick Garland for the bench and, while the Senate has continued to hold their ground on proceeding, we need to ensure the president cannot fill this slot—in the form of a recess appointment.”

So it’s not unprecedented, or even unthinkable, it’s perfectly within the powers of the President and it would — for a year at least — put down a major back-stop against the agenda of incoming President-Elect Pepe. Also it would really piss off the GOP Congress, and if anyone deserves to be pissed off, and pissed on, it’s the GOP Congress.

And what’s even more delicious is that if they sue again, and the case again goes to the SCOTUS, it will be a court that will include Merrick Garland on the bench. So he's going to vote to remove himself? Not likely. And the media would lose it’s collective mind because they’d actually have something to talk about besides Trump’s latest, brainless nuclear tipped Tweet!

The Republicans have been stealing the Democrats lunch money with gerrymandering, voter suppressing and blatant obstruction with them hardly complaining about it for far too long. During his time 79 of Obama’s nominees have been blocked or filibustered, contrasted with 68 for all other previous presidents combined.

Enough is enough.

It’s time the Democrats stop bringing a butter-knife to the gun fight. It’s time to fight back, to finally get up when the bullies push you down and punch him right in the nose. Recess appointing Garland to the Supreme Court would be a great big fat well deserved and long needed punch in the nose.

Hit back, Mr. President — what are they gonna do, Impeach you? Make up stories about you? Lie about you? Insult you?

I mean, more than they already have.

Do it!

Updates:

Sunday, Dec 25, 2016 · 5:34:42 PM PST · Frank Vyan Walton

Garland has cases lined up for next session as noted in the comments so this is of course very unlikely to happen. Practically impossible. But then it doesn’t have to be Garland, it could be any of the nearly 80 nominees of Obama’s that were blocked or for that matter all of them. One last big kick up the jacksy is all I want — well besides the Israeli settlement abstention — just one more.

Monday, Dec 26, 2016 · 7:33:39 PM MST · Frank Vyan Walton

As also noted in the comments Chief Justice Earl Warren was a recess appointment by President Eisenhower, he was confirmed unanimously 6 months later by voice vote.

By Frank Vyan Walton

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http://blog.constitutioncenter.org/2016/11/a-late-attempt-to-save-judge-garlands-nomination/

…A late attempt to save Judge Garland’s nomination?

November 11, 2016 by Lyle Denniston

Republicans retained control of the Senate in Tuesday’s elections, so GOP leaders will be able to schedule only short recesses between that day and the inauguration.

That makes it appear that the only chance for a vote on Judge Garland would be in the “lame-duck” session, but GOP leaders have said repeatedly that they would not schedule such a vote. The effort by Senator Merkley and his colleagues thus appears to be an attempt to build public pressure on the GOP leadership.

Lyle Denniston is Constitution Daily’s Supreme Court correspondent. Denniston has written for us as a contributor since June 2011 and he has covered the Supreme Court since 1958. His work also appears on lyldenlawnews.com.

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Sign the petition to Joe Biden and Senate Democrats: Confirm Merrick Garland to Supreme Court on January 3

https://www.dailykos.com/campaigns/petitions/sign-the-petition-to-joe-biden-and-senate-democrats-confirm-merrick-garland-to-supreme-court-on-january-3rd?source=20161207sp3

Senate Republicans refused to give President Obama’s pick to replace Supreme Court Justice Scalia even the courtesy of a hearing. It was disrespectful, and historically unprecedented. But there is still something we can do to get Merrick Garland confirmed before Obama leaves office.

At 12:00 noon on January 3, 2017 (according to the Constitution), the terms of 34 U.S. Senators will expire. At that point, the Senate will briefly consist of 66 sitting senators—until Vice President Joe Biden, in his capacity as Senate president, begins swearing in the senators-elect.

Before Biden begins the proceedings, he has a chance to preside over a Senate that consists of 34 Democrats, 2 independents who caucus with Democrats and 30 Republicans—as the remaining Senators are in limbo of being newly sworn in. At this point, Democrats could ask to finish Senate business as it pertains to President Obama’s nomination of Judge Merrick Garland.

For the past year, Republicans have claimed that the "American people" should decide the fate of that Supreme Court seat. Hillary Clinton got 2.7 million more votes than Donald Trump, and more Americans voted Democratic in the U.S. Senate races. Democrats are entirely justified to make this move, and it's the only way to guarantee that Garland will be confirmed.

Senate Democrats pulling off this move must be willing to proceed over the very loud, but still out-of-order objections from Republicans. That’s to say nothing of the Republican sore feelings that would come from Democrats winning the right to fill the SCOTUS seat the entire nation knew belonged to President Obama. But it's the right thing to do.

Now is the time. Sign the petition to Vice President Joe Biden and Senate Democrats: confirm Judge Merrick Garland on January 3rd.

PETITIONING

Vice President Biden and Senate Democrats

SPONSORED BY

Daily Kos

Our Message to Vice President Biden and Senate Democrats :

Senate Republicans pulled a historically unprecedented stunt to simply deny Merrick Garland a hearing for the past year. On January 3rd, while the Senate is temporarily in Democratic hands, please vote to confirm Garland to the U.S. Supreme Court.

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But wait, there's so much more.

Former spy reports Kremlin cultivated Trump as an asset for 5 years

By Frank Vyan Walton

Tuesday Dec 27, 2016

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2016/12/27/1614920/-Former-spy-reports-Kremlin-cultivated-Trump-as-an-asset-for-5-years\\

Well, this makes more than a few things makes much more sense. Via David Corn at Mother Jones.

In June, the former Western intelligence officer—who spent almost two decades on Russian intelligence matters and who now works with a US firm that gathers information on Russia for corporate clients—was assigned the task of researching Trump's dealings in Russia and elsewhere, according to the former spy and his associates in this American firm. This was for an opposition research project originally financed by a Republican client critical of the celebrity mogul. (Before the former spy was retained, the project's financing switched to a client allied with Democrats.) "It started off as a fairly general inquiry," says the former spook, who asks not to be identified. But when he dug into Trump, he notes, he came across troubling information indicating connections between Trump and the Russian government. According to his sources, he says, "there was an established exchange of information between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin of mutual benefit."

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Trump's willful ignorance could cripple CIA officers and assets

By Frank Vyan Walton - Dec 22, 2016

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2016/12/22/1613613/-Trump-s-willful-ignorance-could-cripple-CIA-officers-and-assets

Former Undercover CIA operative J.C. Carleson has a message for America about the impact of Donald Trump repeatedly kneecapping the CIA and ignoring the security briefings he’s been receiving over Russia’s hacking of U.S. email accounts during the election. …

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Is it possible Trump doesn't divest because he can't afford it?

By Frank Vyan Walton - Dec 21, 2016

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2016/12/21/1613345/-Is-it-possible-Trump-doesn-t-divest-because-he-can-t-afford-it

Josh Marshall from Talking Points Memo has an interesting proposition. Perhaps the reasons Trump refuses to release his tax returns and is so intractable about fully and completely divesting himself from his various business interests is because he actually can’t without the entire house of cards crashing down around him. …

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My interview with the man who connected the dots on the FBI conspiracy to screw Hillary

By Christian Dem in NC - Dec 17, 2016

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2016/12/18/1612231/-My-interview-with-the-man-who-connected-the-dots-on-the-FBI-conspiracy-to-screw-Hillary

There had been talk for some time that the events leading up to the Comey letter involved unethical, and potentially criminal, behavior on the part of the FBI. It seemed hard to believe at first.

That is, until HuffPo columnist, professor, and practicing attorney Seth Abramson connected the dots from earlier coverage and concluded that they pointed to rogue agents engaging in a deliberate effort to throw the election to Donald Trump.

Incredibly, no mainstream media outlet has seen fit to pick up Abramson’s explosive story. The only journalist who has really taken a dive into this is yours truly. On Thursday, I conducted what is, to date, the only interview of any sort with Abramson. Read the results at Liberal America. …

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Did FBI agents deliberately cheat Hillary out of the presidency?

By Christian Dem in NC - Dec 15, 2016

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2016/12/15/1611511/-Did-FBI-agents-deliberately-cheat-Hillary-out-of-the-presidency

We already know that the events that led up to FBI director James Comey’s infamous letter to Congress were tinged with gross incompetence at best. After all, the agents who got their hands on the emails that supposedly triggered that letter knew about them in early October, and yet waited 24 days to tell Comey they needed a warrant.

But a former public defender and HuffPo columnist thinks it was far more than incompetence. Based on the timeline, he suspects that an anti-Hillary element in the FBI engaged in a criminal conspiracy to wreck Hillary’s campaign in the final weeks of the election.

Seth Abramson, an English professor at the University of New Hampshire, is also a practicing attorney—he was a public defender in both New Hampshire and Massachusetts before going into academia. So naturally, he got suspicious when he learned about the 24-day delay between the time the agents learned about the emails and when they alerted Comey. …

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GOP House Rule Would Ban Video Of Protests As They Gut Medicare and Social Security On House Floor

By Dartagnan - Dec 27, 2016

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2016/12/27/1614830/-GOP-House-Rule-Would-Ban-Video-Of-Protests-As-They-Gut-Medicare-and-Social-Security-On-House-Floor

As the Republican Congress prepares to vote on repealing the Affordable Care Act, gutting Social Security benefits for seniors and the disabled, and other measures to please their billionaire donor base, they are apparently deathly afraid of the American public seeing them do it, and even more afraid of allowing the public to see the Democrats’ response:

House members could be fined and referred to the Ethics Committee if they break rules governing electronic video and pictures in the House chamber under a new rule proposed by House Republicans …

In addition, the new Republican rule would ban anyone from seeing organized protests by the opposition, because sit-ins in the House well will be banned as well: …

…

It is understandable why the House would want to block the public from seeing protests by their representatives. Among the various initiatives the Republicans plan to pass in the new session is pending legislation to cut Social Security benefits by 17-28%, raise the retirement age to 69, replace Medicare with a “coupon system,” and, of course, eliminate health insurance for 22 million Americans.

None of these actions is likely to be especially “camera-friendly," and all are likely to elicit a concerted Democratic response.

Citizenschallenge

Cc's Elevator Pitch

Wednesday, December 28, 2016

Frank Walton's plea for a Merrick Garland recess appointment

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