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Throughout the first year of the Trump regime, we’ve seen lawyers and courts step up to check the president and preserve what’s left of American norms.
But that worm is starting to turn. Neil Gorsuch is just sitting there, and he was appointed to help Donald Trump, not stop him.
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The stolen Supreme Court hasn’t even gotten around to issuing a lot of opinions, but it’s doing a lot of work to quietly allow Trump to do whatever he wants. On Friday, in a 5-4 decision, the Court decided that it didn’t need any more information about Trump’s decision to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.
A group of states challenging the government’s decision to end DACA had requested additional documents, emails, and memos relating to Trump’s decision to end the program. A federal judge agreed and the Ninth Circuit affirmed the opinion. But those are judges and courts not personally selected by Donald Trump to do his bidding. When the case got up to the Supreme Court, Neil Gorsuch provided the fifth vote to protect his benefactor.
Justice Stephen Breyer issued a firey dissent:
The government “contends that review of its decision terminating DACA must be based exclusively on the documents that the government itself unilaterally selected for submission to the district court,” wrote Justice Stephen G. Breyer. “I am not aware of any precedent supporting the government’s position.”
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Precedent, heh. Poor Stephen Breyer still thinks we’re out here in a world where such things matter.
Neil Gorsuch was put here to make such votes in favor of the administration. He’s making those votes. He’s not here to overturn abortion. I know that’s what Christian hypocrites have been led to believe, but as long as Anthony Kennedy and Ruth Bader Ginsburg draw breath, the right to choose is secured. In the meantime, Gorsuch has been put here to push through Trump’s bigoted agenda.
And he’s doing his job well. Stealing a Supreme Court seat was a brilliant idea. It’s working out just fine.
Supreme Court says administration for now need not turn over more DACA documents [Washington Post]
Elie Mystal is the Executive Editor of Above the Law and the Legal Editor for More Perfect. He can be reached @ElieNYC on Twitter, or at [email protected]. He will resist.