pdxjenni:

biglawbear:

Lawblr side of Tumblr, here. I don’t think anybody even understands how terrifying this is. If the Executive can ignore the Judiciary, then we have a full-on Constitutional Crisis on our hands. Our country immediately falls apart. The only options for enforcement of judicial orders are 1) U.S. Marshals (which are ordered around by the Judiciary but ultimately still a part of the Executive as part of the Department of Justice), in which case we have an ACTUAL ARMED CONFLICT BETWEEN TWO BRANCHES OF GOVERNMENT, or if the Marshals refuse to comply, 2) the Governor of the state, say Virginia, sends in the National Guard of the state, which leads to AN ARMED CONFLICT BETWEEN A STATE MILITIA AND THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

In case you weren’t getting the picture, let me be blunt and dramatic: this is literally Civil War-level shit right here.

And Trump has been in office a week.

This is fucking terrifying.

I spent the day at SeaTac (Seattle-Tacoma International Airport). We got very little done because CBP refused to talk to us at all. When one of the attorneys with us annoyed them so much that they finally answered their office door (she literally knocked on it for 10 minutes straight), they directed her to the press release on their website (side note: I don’t know if there even is a press release on the CBP website). They told her they don’t care how many attorneys show up, they don’t take orders from attorneys or judges. Senator Patty Murray showed up just after 4:00 & CBP refused to talk to her, too. I will repeat that: Customs and Border Patrol refused to talk to a sitting United States Senator. They refused other senators at other airports, too, according to a WaPo article I read earlier.

I had to return to Portland tonight because I have work tomorrow. ACLU & International Refugee Assistance Project attorneys will be back at SeaTac tomorrow at 5:30 a.m. (including my law school bestie, I am so proud).

There were 13 people detained at SeaTac yesterday who were secretly transferred to a detention facility in Tacoma, so the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project is working with attorneys to straighten that right out.

Basically: Shit is going down, y’all. The women I went up with today? Both were Arabs. One was from Pakistan, the other was from Lebanon (a Christian, a Muslim and a Jew walk into an airport…). When I asked them if I was overreacting by feeling like this was a coup-in-progress, they said no. That’s precisely what this is.

I thought we had a coup-proof system. I was mistaken.

Keep fighting the good fight, lawyers. And if you’re in Portland, I’ll see you at Perkins-Coie tomorrow at 5:30 for the L4GG meeting.

At Dulles, CBP has been stonewalling four members of the US House of Representatives, the governer and attorney general of Virginia, and Senators Cory Booker (NJ) and Mark Warner (VA)–the latter of whom chewed out the head of CBP in person. No dice. Not even with a federal court order telling CBP at Dulles, only them, and them in particular to give detainees access to lawyers.

And they’re pulling an old trick from the national-security handbook that’s been used to evade the courts on issues like domestic surveillance: “Lawyers and advocates still didn’t know how many people were being held in the secondary inspection area at Dulles or what their immigration status was, which led to a catch-22: Attorneys couldn’t file for contempt of court without having proof that legal residents were being detained and not being given access to lawyers, but they couldn’t get proof without getting access.” (x)

At least two VA reps have found out (via friends and family) about constituents being detained at Dulles, at which point CBP released them in order to dodge the access-to-lawyers issue. The representative for my district is on the warpath–and also on the House Oversight Committee. Here’s hoping these fuckers get slapped with contempt of court so hard their ears ring, then get hauled in front of a committee hearing to see if they want to try their chances with contempt of Congress.

All of which doesn’t even get into the Monday Night Massacre clusterfuck inside the executive branch, when the acting attorney general of the United States refused to make the DoJ defend the lawfulness of the immigration order in court. And was summarily fired and replaced with someone more compliant. So here’s also hoping the Senate puts Jeff Sessions through absolute hell on his role in all this before they vote to confirm him as AG.

It’s like the civics lesson from hell.

katofthekitvariety:

holy-cacao:

kvotheunkvothe:

jumpyangst:

robin-goodfellow:

Guys please pay attention to H.R 586, a bill introduced that would declare human life begins at fertilization.

Don’t let this bill slip by. Call your reps. Spread the word.

Here’s the link.

Getting real tired.

This has 23 co-sponsors from GA, AR, SC, TX, AZ, WI, OH, MO, TN, OK, VA, and IN. If you live in one of these states, these are your representatives. Link.

I called both of Ohio’s representatives offices and the admins immediately hung up on me from both offices as soon as they heard what I was calling in regards to. Wow

why am i not surprised that my state’s already approved it

xproskeith:

The realest picture I’ve ever seen

jakobrosenfeld:

Rachel Stark on the goals of anti-fascism.

kai-the-kat:

Guys, I’m just kind of… Imagining History lessons in the future… Imagine the kids as the teacher tells them about Trump. About the Women’s March, about the Wall, about friggin’ Rogue NASA, about the Muslim ban and the lawyers at the airports. And then the teacher says “oh, and that was just like the first ten days”. Just imagine it

Sen. Tim Kaine Called The White House Statement “Holocaust Denial”, Confirms That Congress Is Hearing Our Calls

crooksandliars:

Virginia Senator Tim Kaine joined Chuck Todd this morning on Meet The Press to discuss the chaos going on in the White House. One of the biggest points was when Kaine actually said that his office and others are getting slammed with phone calls imploring them to resist Trump’s nominees. Clearly, they are listening, they are getting our calls and are taking our concerns seriously.

Please keep calling your senators. Here is a link to the entire list of Senate members: http://ift.tt/2ixwh0g

Please keep calling, no matter what their political party. Many Republicans are feeling the heat from their more moderate constituents against some of the blatantly unqualified Trump nominees. In some cases, we only need 3 GOP to switch sides to prevent dangerous cabinet members from being approved (like DeVos).

Another huge moment was when Kaine and Todd talked about the omission of the word “Jew” from the Holocaust Remembrance Statement. Kaine actually went there, calling them “Holocaust deniers”, which was a ‘drop-the-mic’ moment. Note, Todd didn’t say a word to defend the White House. Considering the views of many in the White House (Bannon, Flynn, etc) it is a fairly reasonable expectation that they are anti-Semitic Holocaust deniers. But to SAY it openly, that’s bold.

read more

bob-belcher:

Video: President Obama Demonstrates 5 Things That Are Harder Than Registering to Vote

trustmeimageographer:

Can I just say like… I’m not American so I can’t really know what it’s like out there right now, but I am really proud of you guys. Like, Trump – a man known to have sexually assaulted multiple women – is elected, so the women of your country not only turn out in their millions but they inspire women around the world to do the same in solidarity. He preaches anti-intellectualism, so your scientists host database hacking and saving days to preserve data. He bans government agencies from speaking the truth, so they create rogue social media accounts that spread facts even at the risk of their jobs. He brings in racist immigration bans, causing chaos in airports and huge uncertainties in the lives of real, innocent people, so protesters swarm to the airports, lawyers work pro bono round the clock to get people into the country, and people mobilise to destroy him in the high court in a day.
I know this is awful and it sucks and it’s only been one freaking week, but you guys are doing amazing right now and I am so moved and so proud. It’s gonna be tough and everyone will have to pick their battles and just keep fighting and pushing, and this isn’t how it should be but at least we know there are people with the guts and the gumption to do what they can.
You guys are the sand in the gears.