TRUMP, DONALD J., ET AL. V. MAZARS USA, LLP, ET AL.

The application for stay of the mandate presented to The Chief Justice and by him referred to the Court is granted. The issuance of the mandate of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, case No. 19-5142, is stayed Pending the filing and disposition of a petition for a writ of certiorari, if such petition is filed on or before December 5, 2019, by noon. Should the petition for a writ of certiorari be denied, this stay shall terminate automatically. In the event the petition for a writ of certiorari is granted, the stay shall terminate upon the issuance of the judgment of this Court. If no petition for a writ of certiorari is filed on or before December 5, 2019, by noon, the stay shall terminate.

[As] far as the duty to appear is concerned, this Court holds that Executive branch officials are not absolutely immune from compulsory congressional process—no matter how many times the Executive branch has asserted as much over the years—even if the President expressly directs such officials’ non-compliance. Today, this Court adds that this conclusion is inescapable precisely because compulsory appearance by dint of a subpoena is a legal construct, not a political one, and per the Constitution, no one is above the law. That is to say, however busy or essential a presidential aide might be, and whatever their proximity to sensitive domestic and national-security projects, the President does not have the power to excuse him or her from taking an action that the law requires. Fifty years of say so within the Executive branch does not change that fundamental truth.

Nor is the power of the Executive unfairly or improperly diminished when the Judiciary mandates adherence to the law and thus refuses to recognize a veto-like discretionary power of the President to cancel his subordinates’ legal obligations. To the contrary, when a duly authorized committee of Congress issues a valid subpoena to a current or former Executive branch official, and thereafter, a federal court determines that the subpoenaed official does, as a matter of law, have a duty to respond notwithstanding any contrary order of the President, the venerated constitutional principles that animate the structure of our government and undergird our most vital democratic institutions are preserved.

At the Novemeber 20th Democratic debate, Pete Buttigieg touted his “outsider” status as the secret weapon that would help the Democratic Party defeat Donald Trump. He argued that although he doesn’t have the “Washington experience” of his opponents, he has other experience that qualifies him to be president.

The fact that Mayor Pete can stand up on Oprah Winfery’s Sound Stage at Tyler Perry’s studio and say that he doesn’t meet or even need what many people would consider to be the basic qualifications for holding the highest office in the land ain’t nothing but white privilege.

Society appreciates white men who are “outsiders” to a system coming in to “shake things up” but balks at the idea of black women and other people of color doing the same. White men are allowed to be “innovative” and “creative” while everyone else must color inside the lines, lest we be told that we don’t know how to do our jobs. People are okay with new ideas and a new ways of thinking as long as it is a white man pushing it. Everybody else is patted on the head and sent away until a white man comes around saying the very same thing.

What kills me super dead is that white folks–especially white men–get the privilege of showing up wherever they want with little experience and lots of loud opinions and people will make time to listen for them. I cannot tell you how many times in my career that I have had to convince people that I know what I’m talking about concerning somthing that I was being paid to know or had dedicated years of study to be able to have an informed opinion about only to be over talked by a white man who was loud and wrong. Not to mention all the times that I have had to fight to be given a title or perks concominant with the level of work that I was doing because people questioned my level of knowledge or experience.

https://thearmchaircommentary.com/2019/11/21/pete-buttigieg-donald-trump-and-the-privilege-of-inexperience/

Amazon’s formal challenge to massive Pentagon award uses videos that mark potential influence exerted by Trump

Amazon on Friday cited comments by President Trump at a rally and to journalists as it pursues its challenge to the Pentagon’s surprise decision to award a lucrative contract to rival Microsoft last month.

For the first time, Amazon directly linked comments by the president to the award of the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure (JEDI) contract to Microsoft last month. Though Amazon filed its protest under seal, it also notified the Court of Federal Claims that it intends to use four videos as exhibits, including one of Trump at a February 2016 campaign rally, as well as a Fox News host urging him to prevent the Pentagon from awarding the contract to the online retail giant.

The e-commerce giant formally filed a protest with the Court of Federal Claims to protest the award of the cloud-computing contract, following through on a threat it made last week. It did so under seal to protect trade secrets.

In a statement, the e-commerce giant repeated its claims that “unmistakable bias” and “political influence” tainted the decision-making process. Trump has repeatedly criticized Amazon, whose chief executive, Jeff Bezos, owns The Washington Post.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2019/11/22/amazon-files-protest-pentagons-billion-jedi-award-under-seal/