riversedge
riversedge's JournalJohn Roberts interpreted Elena Kagan's dissent as, in his words, a "personal" affront.
John Roberts interpreted Elena Kagan’s dissent as, in his words, a “personal” affront.
https://twitter.com/moonbreeze2/status/1675185920314671104?s=20
https://twitter.com/moonbreeze2/status/1675182202106134528?s=20
John Roberts Is Already Frustrated With the Response to SCOTUS Killing Student Debt Relief
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2023/06/john-roberts-supreme-court-kills-student-debt-relief.html?utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=traffic&utm_source=article&utm_content=twitter_share
By Mark Joseph Stern
June 30, 202312:00 PM
A pile of money with a circle with a line over it.
The decision boils down to the chief justice’s obvious disdain for student debt relief. Photo illustration by Slate. Photos by Getty Images Plus
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This is part of Opinionpalooza, Slate’s coverage of the major decisions from the Supreme Court this June. We consider this piece so essential that we’re making it free for all readers. Sign up for the pop-up newsletter to receive our latest updates, and support our groundbreaking work when you join Slate Plus.
The Supreme Court struck down Joe Biden’s student debt relief plan in a 6–3 decision on Friday that rewrites federal law to create a bespoke, extra-textual prohibition on the large-scale cancellation of student debt. Chief Justice John Roberts’ decision in Biden v. Nebraska blazed past a clearly insurmountable standing problem to scold the president for even trying to use the law according to its own plain terms in order to offer mass debt relief in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. He also chastised Justice Elena Kagan for her “disturbing” suggestion, in dissent, that the majority had gone “beyond the proper role of the judiciary.” The decision boils down to the chief justice’s obvious disdain for student debt relief—which is perhaps why he interpreted Kagan’s criticism as, in his words, a “personal” affront.
Biden’s now-dead plan would have canceled $20,000 in debt for Pell Grant recipients and $10,000 in debt for other students, so long as their income is below $125,000. .............
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The biggest question in the case was whether anyone could establish standing to challenge the program in the first place. After all, the federal government itself holds this debt, and no one is obviously “injured” by the government helping somebody else by erasing their debt. (In a separate case decided on Friday, the court unanimously held that two people who oppose the plan had no standing to sue.) Missouri tried to get around this problem by fixating on MOHELA, a corporation created by the state that services student loans. The Missouri attorney general asserted that MOHELA would suffer financially because of Biden’s plan—which turns out to be false—and that the state itself could represent its interests in court. A key flaw in this reasoning is that MOHELA is an independent entity from Missouri that could have sued to defend its own interests, but refused to do so, and even refused to help Missouri “represent” it in court. (State officials had to file public records requests to obtain key information because MOHELA did not want to participate in this case at all.)
Trump Ambassador Gordon Sondland Named in Illegal Donations Scheme
Source: daily beast
Trump Ambassador Gordon Sondland Named in Illegal Donations Scheme
OUT OF HIS GOURD Roger Sollenberger
Published Jun. 30, 2023 8:20PM EDT
The Federal Election Commission slapped a $28,000 fine on the hotel company belonging to Trump’s former ambassador to the European Union, Gordon Sondland.
The Federal Election Commission slapped a $28,000 fine on the hotel company belonging to Trump’s former ambassador to the European Union, Gordon Sondland, for illegal corporate reimbursements totaling more than $100,000, according to documents released Friday. In sworn testimony, the president of Provenance Hotels said he was “acting under the directions” of Sondland personally, according to the FEC general counsel’s report, a claim the former ambassador disputed in his own affidavit. The scheme, which was brought to the FEC’s attention by the company itself, took place from 2018-2019. One employee reimbursement check came in October 2019, according to the FEC, in the thick of the Ukraine impeachment scandal heavily featuring Sondland, who testified before Congress. About $21,000 of the illicit donations went to Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC), who downplayed the scandal and later asked President Donald Trump not to remove Sondland from his post, The New York Times previously reported; Trump fired him anyway.
Read more: https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-amb-gordon-sondland-named-in-illegal-donations-scheme
Judge smacks down House Republicans' lawsuit over mask policy fines: report
Source: raw story
June 30, 2023, 4:18 PM ET Judge smacks down House Republicans’ lawsuit over mask policy fines: report
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia has ruled against three GOP House members' lawsuit alleging a now-defunct congressional mask mandate defied "their First Amendment right to free speech and their Twenty-Seventh Amendment entitlement to their salary," The Washington Post reports.
Per the Post, former President Donald Trump appointed Judge Naomi Rao rejected the lawmakers' argument, writing, "We cannot consider the merits of the Representatives' constitutional arguments because their suit concerns legislative acts protected by the Speech or Debate Clause."
The House members — U.S. Reps. Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Georgia), Thomas Massie (R-Kentucky) and Ralph Norman (R-South Carolina) — were also attempting to contest the fines they received when the mask policy was still enforced.
The House passed a resolution in January 2021 authorizing fines of $500 for a first failure to comply with masking rules in the chamber and $2,500 for subsequent offenses, deducted from their $174,000 annual pay. In late 2021, a spokesman for Greene said she had incurred $48,000 in fines. She and the other lawmakers argued the rules were inconsistently applied and that their decision to go maskless on the House floor was a form of protest.
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Read more: https://www.rawstory.com/judge-smacks-down-house-republicans-lawsuit-over-mask-policy-fines-report/
tsk tsk. Happy 4th Marge!!
https://twitter.com/moonbreeze2/status/1674944153988259841?s=20
@USAmbUN · 24m Our 🌈 lights are still going strong as we close out #PrideMonth!
Lovely
https://twitter.com/USAmbUN/status/1674930937052659713?s=20
Sonia Sotomayor Pens Withering Dissent in Gay Discrimination Case
Source: daily beast
‘PROFOUNDLY WRONG’
Chris Hippensteel Published Jun. 30, 2023 3:05PM EDT
Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote a strongly worded dissent to the court's ruling on a same-sex wedding website case
Erin Schaff/Reuters
In a scathing dissent on Friday, liberal Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor tore into the court’s conservative majority for what she called a “heartbreaking” ruling on discrimination and free speech. The case centered on the evangelical owner of a website design business—303 Creative LLC—who argued that Colorado’s anti-discrimination laws would violate her free speech rights by compelling her to make websites for gay couples. The court ruled 6-3 in favor of the business owner. “Today, the Court, for the first time in its history, grants a business open to the public a constitutional right to refuse to serve members of a protected class,” Sotomayor, who was joined by Justices Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson, wrote. “That is wrong. Profoundly wrong.” Sotomayor also implied that the ruling was part of a trend of “reactionary exclusion” toward marginalized groups. “The act of discrimination has never constituted protected expression under the First Amendment,” she wrote.
Read it at NPR
Read more: https://www.thedailybeast.com/sonia-sotomayor-pens-withering-dissent-in-gay-discrimination-case?source=twitter&via=desktop
She will fight for us. I hope her health says good.
https://twitter.com/AymannJames/status/1674877970589310977?s=20
https://twitter.com/ReallyAmerican1/status/1674794996392919043?s=20
https://twitter.com/moonbreeze2/status/1674872594770669572?s=20
Marge Posts Photo Of Her With High Capacity Rifle At The Capitol
Marge Posts Photo Of Her With High Capacity Rifle At The Capitol
This spork-footed violent troll doll should not have been elected, but here we are.
https://crooksandliars.com/2023/06/marge-posts-photo-her-high-capacity-rifle
Marge Posts Photo Of Her With High Capacity Rifle At The Capitol Credit: Patriot Takes/Twitter
By Conover Kennard — June 30, 2023
Even though controversial Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene was previously stripped of her committee assignments after supporting violence against Democrats, she somehow decided that promoting her podcast with violent imagery was a good idea. The spork-footed troll doll thought it was a good idea to promote her podcast with a picture of herself pulling up to the Capitol with a high-capacity gun. Sigh.
https://twitter.com/moonbreeze2/status/1674904429424791552?s=20
Sen Tammy Baldwin My statement on the SCOTUS decision that green-lights discrimination against LGBTQ
@SenatorBaldwin
·
35m
My statement on the SCOTUS decision that green-lights discrimination against LGBTQ+ Americans:
https://twitter.com/SenatorBaldwin/status/1674806995512094721?s=20
Federal Judge denies Trump's attempt to toss E. Jean Carroll **Second defamation suit
ah. too bad!! [NOT]!!
Judge denies Trump's attempt to toss E. Jean Carroll defamation suit
The case, which is set to go to trial in January, is separate from the defamation and sexual assault suit from Carroll that went to trial earlier this year.
https://twitter.com/moonbreeze2/status/1674770811301814275?s=20
Judge denies Trump’s attempt to toss E. Jean Carroll defamation suit
https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/4074640-judge-denies-trumps-attempt-to-toss-e-jean-carroll-defamation-suit/
by Julia Shapero - 06/29/23 5:28 PM ET
A federal judge Thursday denied former President Trump’s attempt to toss out an initial defamation suit brought by author E. Jean Carroll.
...........Trump has continued to deny the allegations against him. Just one day after the jury verdict came down last month, the former president claimed at a CNN town hall that he doesn’t know “who this woman is.”
“I have no idea who the hell she is. She’s a whack job,” he added.
Carroll later updated her complaint in the defamation suit to include the former president’s latest remarks.
U.S. Supreme Court to rule on student loans, LGBTQ+ protections at 10 am ET Friday
Supreme Court to rule on student loans, LGBTQ+ protections in final day of opinions
The justices will issue decisions at 10 a.m. ET to finish its term.
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/supreme-court-rule-student-loans-lgbtq-protections-final/story?id=100503616
ByAlexandra Hutzler
June 30, 2023, 4:15 AM
.
The Supreme Court on Friday will hand down its final opinions of the term, including highly-anticipated decisions on student loan forgiveness and free speech and LGBTQ+ protections.
The justices will issue decisions at 10 a.m. ET to finish the term it began back in October. Three cases remain out of the 59 argued.
Their rulings will decide the fate of tens of millions of Americans with federal student loans and have an impact on free speech rights and LGBTQ+ protections.
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Here's a closer look at the three remaining cases:
Student loan forgiveness
The Supreme Court will rule on two challenges to President Joe Biden's student debt forgiveness plan, one brought by six Republican-led states and the other by two individual borrowers.
The cases are Biden v. Nebraska and Department of Education v. Brown.
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Challengers contend the administration exceeded its authority while also unfairly excluding Americans who don't qualify and costing loan servicers revenue.
The court appeared wary of the administration's assertion the Department of Education had the power to unilaterally waive $400 billion in debt......................
@State RepHong: "11 individuals who make more than $75 million will get more than $1.8 million back
@StateRepHong
Today, the Wisconsin State Assembly debated the 2023-2025 biennial budget.
Representative Hong released the following statement:
“This session, the Joint Finance Committee reached every corner of our state to talk to Wisconsinites about their budget priorities. Time and time again, they heard that our communities wanted our legislature to prioritize investments into childcare, public education, mental health funding, postpartum medicaid expansion, and hundreds of other initiatives.
Unfortunately, Legislative Republicans chose to disregard the will of the people by striking more than 500 items from Governor Tony Evers' proposal and passing a budget that falls detrimentally short of our needs. Instead, they chose to line the pockets of multimillionaires and billionaires while working class families in Wisconsin struggle to make ends meet.
11 individuals who make more than $75 million will get more than $1.8 million back every year under the Republican tax plan while working families are left behind. Every Wisconsinite should be enraged that a once-in-a-lifetime budget surplus has been spent on the 1%.
This is Republican misprioritization at its best.”
https://twitter.com/StateRepHong/status/1674597462630080517?s=20
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