236

LA Times Column: How Jack Smith just called out Judge Aileen Cannon in the Trump classified records case (www.latimes.com)

submitted 7 months ago by lettruthout@lemmy.world to c/politics@lemmy.world

20 comments fedilink hide all child comments

The Smith team then made its most important and aggressive move by noting that when judges have issued clearly erroneous jury instructions that doom prosecutions, “courts have permitted the government to obtain writs of mandamus.”

Even buried in a parenthetical as it is, the word “mandamus” jumps off the page as a threat to seek an extraordinary intervention by the appellate court. Smith has laid down the gauntlet, telling Cannon in no uncertain terms that if she doesn’t move to resolve Trump’s frivolous arguments well ahead of trial, he will bring a writ of mandamus to the 11th Circuit along with a motion to recuse her from the case. Providing this road map of his intentions puts Smith on firm footing to challenge the judge if she continues to dither.

top 20 comments

sorted by: hot top controversial new old

[-] bobburger@fedia.io 47 points 7 months ago

Writ of mandamus from Wikipedia

A writ of mandamus (/mænˈdeɪməs/; lit. ''we command'') is a judicial remedy in the English and American common law system consisting of a court order that commands a government official or entity to perform an act it is legally required to perform as part of its official duties, or to refrain from performing an act the law forbids it from doing. Writs of mandamus are usually used in situations where a government official has failed to act as legally required or has taken a legally prohibited action.[1] They cannot be issued to compel an authority to do something against the law. For example, it cannot be used to force a lower court to take a specific action on applications that have been made, but if the court refuses to rule one way or the other then a mandamus can be used to order the court to rule on the applications.

[-] Entropywins@kbin.social 36 points 7 months ago

Appreciate the info...it's funny they have a special way to officially say "nah, fuck you, do your job."

[-] pennomi@lemmy.world 9 points 7 months ago

Until AI is smart enough to preside over our courtrooms in a purely unbiased fashion (ha!), we’ll be stuck with shitty humans running our shitty legal systems.

[-] Dagwood222@lemm.ee 11 points 7 months ago

Garbage In, Garbage Out.

Even if humans build a computer smarter than we are, the machines will still be a product of human minds.

[-] notfromhere@lemmy.ml 1 points 7 months ago

Of course but the next generation will be of the computer’s minds. Evolution will continue long into the machine age.

[-] Dagwood222@lemm.ee 2 points 7 months ago

Intelligent and moral are too separate things. Henry Kissinger was objectively intelligent He spoke several languages and conducted high level negotiations with world leaders. He also made the decision to bomb civilians in Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam.

[-] notfromhere@lemmy.ml 2 points 7 months ago

I thought we were talking about AI judges. They should be impartial and consider the facts, what has morals got to do with it?

[-] Feathercrown@lemmy.world 2 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

That question is exactly why we shouldn't try this

[-] Dagwood222@lemm.ee 1 points 7 months ago

You should read some of Kissinger's writings. He didn't kill all those people because he wanted to be a monster; he had a rational belief that killing millions in Asia would lead to long term peace. He was impartial and considered the facts.

[-] notfromhere@lemmy.ml 1 points 7 months ago

Judges have to interpret the law and apply it. AI executive branch / military would apply to what you’re saying however.

[-] jonne@infosec.pub 2 points 7 months ago

AI would work along the parameters that are set by the biased humans that programmed it, so it would just be another layer of abstraction continuing the same systemic issues.

[-] pennomi@lemmy.world 6 points 7 months ago

Yes obviously, which is why I laughed immediately after saying it.

[-] Fredselfish@lemmy.world 2 points 7 months ago

She probably won't know what means and to stupid to look it up. Or she will ignore it.

[-] jettrscga@lemmy.world 23 points 7 months ago

I DECLARE MANDAMUS ON ALL OF CONGRESS. EXPECTO MANDAMUS.

[-] jaemo@sh.itjust.works 7 points 7 months ago

Apropos, since presiding judge seems to be invoking Writ of Douchebaggery

[-] TWeaK@lemm.ee 40 points 7 months ago

See now this is a good article about these legal proceedings. It actually explains the detail that isn't apparent to non-lawyers and gives an overview of the potential outcomes, rather than a retired lawyer just speculating and jerking themselves off over what might happen.

[-] lettruthout@lemmy.world 11 points 7 months ago

Yeah, the LA Times has some pretty good writers. They consistently impress me with the thoroughness and (real) fairness of their pieces.

[-] ChowJeeBai@lemmy.world 14 points 7 months ago

Mandamus: A writ issued by a superior court and directed to some inferior tribunal, or to some corporation or person exercising authority, commanding the performance of some specified duty.

Noice.

[-] danc4498@lemmy.world 2 points 7 months ago

I wonder how much switching judges would delay the trial.

[-] ChowJeeBai@lemmy.world 1 points 7 months ago

Won't she just pull the trump strategy of delay delay delay until the election comes around?

this post was submitted on 04 Apr 2024

236 points (98.8% liked)

politics

19138 readers

3328 users here now

Welcome to the discussion of US Politics!

Rules:

Post only links to articles, Title must fairly describe link contents. If your title differs from the site’s, it should only be to add context or be more descriptive. Do not post entire articles in the body or in the comments.

Links must be to the original source, not an aggregator like Google Amp, MSN, or Yahoo.

Example:

Articles must be relevant to politics. Links must be to quality and original content. Articles should be worth reading. Clickbait, stub articles, and rehosted or stolen content are not allowed. Check your source for Reliability and Bias here.
Be civil, No violations of TOS. It’s OK to say the subject of an article is behaving like a (pejorative, pejorative). It’s NOT OK to say another USER is (pejorative). Strong language is fine, just not directed at other members. Engage in good-faith and with respect! This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban.
No memes, trolling, or low-effort comments. Reposts, misinformation, off-topic, trolling, or offensive. Similarly, if you see posts along these lines, do not engage. Report them, block them, and live a happier life than they do. We see too many slapfights that boil down to "Mom! He's bugging me!" and "I'm not touching you!" Going forward, slapfights will result in removed comments and temp bans to cool off.
Vote based on comment quality, not agreement. This community aims to foster discussion; please reward people for putting effort into articulating their viewpoint, even if you disagree with it.
No hate speech, slurs, celebrating death, advocating violence, or abusive language. This will result in a ban. Usernames containing racist, or inappropriate slurs will be banned without warning

We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.

All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.

That's all the rules!

Civic Links

• Register To Vote

• Citizenship Resource Center

• Congressional Awards Program

• Federal Government Agencies

• Library of Congress Legislative Resources

• The White House

• U.S. House of Representatives

• U.S. Senate

Partnered Communities:

• News