Matthew Stiegler
@MatthewStiegler
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Senior counsel in Philadelphia DA’s Office, president-elect of Third Circuit Bar Assoc, fellow of American Academy of Appellate Lawyers. Views here: just mine.
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Joined April 2014
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Starting today, I’m building and leading a team in Larry Krasner’s Philadelphia DA’s office to target serious 2024 election-interference crimes.
We’re seeking to hire people for an elite team. If you’re interested, contact me.
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Conservative twitter is erupting w these Obama-judge takes, but it's all delusional. Judge Brann was a Federalist Society member who served on the Pa. GOP State Comm, on his county Republican committee for 18 years. He reportedly was picked by Toomey.
The decision of Judge Brann, appointed by former President Obama, is part of what has to happen. This is how you get to the Supreme Court.
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When your reporter caught a Supreme Court justice in a public lie, but your headline writer doesn’t feel like telling anyone.
Just published: Mrs. Alito's conflict with her neighbors in Virginia escalated so much that the neighbors called the police. But that final incident, which Justice Alito said helped spur his wife to raise the upside-down flag, happened a month after the flag was up.
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A horror.
Now-retired Philadelphia police officer pleads guilty to sexually assaulting 48 women and girls over 17 years. He’d film himself doing it, in uniform, in the back of his police car.
1/x
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Our darkest time has been his finest hour.
The Chief Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, D. Brooks Smith, is one of the heroes of this horrible year. That is both deeply ironic and squarely in character.
(A very, very long thread.) 1/
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@Popehat
@Phil_Lewis_
The "I'm not a magician" phase of the attorney press event is always the best phase of the attorney press event.
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The horror that my
@FedSoc
friends are feeling today should help them to finally begin to understand the rage so many us have felt at each of them for the past 4 years.
We knew they were risking this, precisely this, all for your goddamn judgeships.
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The game is changing. What's unfolding right now in the Texas v. Pa. case in the Supreme Court, in my view, is significantly different than what came before.
Republican politicians have launched a sneak attack on democracy. It's alarming.
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This by
@adamjohnsonNYC
cogently expresses what I’ve come to view as a key insight about US criminal justice policy.
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The blue line is infections in federal prison. The orange line is infections in the US.
Simply staggering.
Graph is from the NY federal defenders website, link in next.
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So any child of privilege making fun of the idea that people who flip burgers would make $15/hr can get bent. /end
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Judge Brann's nomination questionnaire: "I currently serve as the Republican State Committeeman for Bradford County, Chairman of the Northeast Caucus of the Republican Party of Pennsylvania, and as a member of the Leadership Committee of the Republican Party of Pennsylvania."
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So, "Obama puppet judge" my ass.
Obama Puppet Judge BRANN that hears Real Estate cases! Really America , Over our dead bodies is America going down without a fight🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸✝️✝️✝️Since when does a Judge go to work on a Saturday unless it is illegal litigation for obama!!!!!!!
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Important point Trump’s lawyer is missing: they haven’t filed a cert petition.
🚨IMPORTANT POINT REPORTERS ARE MISSING IN PA SUIT:
The Supreme Court only denied emergency injunctive relief. In the order, it did NOT deny cert.
@MikeKellyPA
’s suit is still pending before the U.S. Supreme Court.
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"Counsel, I wanted to ask you about a case I didn't see cited in the briefs."
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Here is a story about the power of Philly's police union today.
In yesterday's primary, there were 8 local judge seats open.
16 people ran for those 8 seats.
The FOP endorsed 3 of them.
The 3 people the local FOP endorsed finished:
13th
15th, and
dead last.
The end.
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It’s still strange that our president is a piece of shit.
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Today, right now, the VP and a cabinet majority could replace Trump with Pence by transmitting a written declaration that Trump is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office. 25th Amendment, section 4.
"Immediately."
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Any time you see an established lawyer describing bar exams as basic competency testing, remember that the percentage of established lawyers who could sit down today and pass a bar exam is in the neighborhood of zero.
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Today is my mother
@SandyStiegler
’s birthday. She has cancer, and this is likely to be her last birthday. She has 3 followers here. Imagine how astonished she’d be if this tweet wishing her a happy birthday got a few likes.
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A lawyer just filed a Supreme Court brief on behalf of the "State of New California and New Nevada State," supporting Trump and Texas.
Inspired by Ed Whelan, I did a Zillow search of the address listed online as his office. The results were pretty much what you'd expect.
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I remember having a modest lunch once with a federal judge many years ago, where I brainlessly offered to pay and the judge looked at me as if I had 3 heads.
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We've arrived at a point in history that places unfair demands on us. We've labored for years to build sterling professional reputations; now we have to spend down that reputational capital. We don't get to sail above the fray now, so evenhanded, so serious.
Time to pay a price.
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"Just flipping burgers."
I started flipping burgers at Roy Rogers in the mall the summer after 10th grade. I'd applied for some cooler jobs but hadn't heard back yet, and one morning my father told me if I didn't have a job when he got home to not be there. So, Roy Rogers. /1
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Opinion Just issued the CA3 Trump case. Bibas with Smith and Chagares.
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When Trump nominated James Ho to the 5th Circuit, a remarkable thing happened. To simplify only a little, all the civil rights groups expressed deep concerns, while all the lawyers said he'd be a splendid judge.
If we don't learn anything from that, heaven help us.
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Now, 30 years later, I'm a lawyer. I have a cool appellate practice that lots of other lawyers are jealous of. People value my work, and I work hard on my cases.
Know this: Lawyer hard work isn't anything like burger flipping. 7/
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I have news. I'm joining
@DA_LarryKrasner
's
@philadao
as the supervisor of federal litigation. After over a decade in solo practice, it will be a big change.
I'm tremendously excited to be joining such a committed, talented team.
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This looks to me like a coordinated ambush strategy. What looked like an offensive-but-harmless clown show a couple days ago is starting to look a carefully orchestrated sneak attack marshaling a significant chunk of national- and state-level GOP power.
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“Yes, he incited a deadly mob invasion of the capitol to intimidate Congress as it certified his loss, but impeaching him would be too divisive” is an exceptionally strange argument.
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Back in 2002, who would have predicted that the judge that liberals had just fought so furiously to block would now be the judge who, as much as any other, held the line against Trump and Trumpism?
Who?
Anyone who knew him, that’s who.
/end
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The opening paragraph:
"Free, fair elections are the lifeblood of our democracy. Charges of unfairness are serious. But calling an election unfair does not make it so. Charges require specific allegations and then proof. We have neither here."
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Dangit, I meant to include a photo up above. Oh well, here's one.
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Note that all 3 judges on the panel are conservatives who were nominated by Republican presidents. Bibas, the author, was nominated by Trump.
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I’ve never seen a federal judge comport himself at an event even remotely like this.
If you think about it, Kyle Duncan’s “thanks to the Federalist Society for inviting me, as far as the rest of you people, whatever” speech at Stanford Law could actually work as a motto for the entire conservative legal movement
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IMPEACH HIM TODAY MOTHERFUCKERS
TODAY
TODAY
TODAY
TODAY
TODAY
TODAY
TODAY
TODAY
not the middle of next week
TODAY
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Does it have any hope of succeeding? I don't have the Scotus expertise to say, frankly. But I'm uneasy again. Litigation that looks like last-gasp flailings of a handful of dead-enders is one thing, litigation with the weight of the GOP rallied behind it is another.
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Every lawyer who signed a brief urging the courts to wipe out our votes so that Trump could stay in power should be stained by their choice the rest of their careers.
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Second, the hardest part of flipping burgers wasn't the heat of the grill, idiot customers, or even the shitty pay. For me the hard part was the smell. That grease. Your uniform shirt, your pants, even your hair. No amount of washing got that flipping-burgers stink out. 5/
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Circuit judges wield real power, but they do so almost entirely out of the public eye. They’re not on TV shouting over the host, or even on twitter hurling zingers. 2/
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Even as recently as a day or two ago, most informed observers viewed the Texas case as a bad joke, evil but harmless. Texas's initial filing was so embarrassing their own solicitor general didn't sign it. Trump's motion to intervene by John Eastman may have been even lamer.
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Smith’s bedrock commitment to judicial independence and the rule of law puts him—the once-controversial Bush-II-nominated conservative though he is—irreconcilably at odds with Trumpism. 31/
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Today, Danny Gwynn, my client on death row from 2007-2021, will be released from prison. The judge just granted the prosecution motion to withdraw all charges. Last year the federal court granted of habeas relief on Brady grounds.
I’m so very happy for Danny. Free, at long last.
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If no one stops Alito from giving partisan speeches by July then Roberts must resign. I don’t reach this conclusion lightly.
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Senator Toomey tonight: "Judge Matthew Brann, a longtime conservative Republican"
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The question isn't whether he should be disbarred, it's whether the responsible folks who haven't disbarred him by now should be disbarred.
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They speak to the public through dense written opinions deciding individual legal disputes, no different than judges a century ago. 3/
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1. Some legal-writing advice meant esp for first-gen law students.
College taught me that the key to good writing was originality. 1L-year exams taught me that sounding like a lawyer was about spotting every issue.
To become a good legal writer, I had to unlearn both lessons.
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Most circuit judges toil in obscurity, and that’s certainly true of Smith. Outside of the Third Circuit he’s largely unknown, even among my fellow federal-appeals lawyers. To the public at large, he’s anonymous, as free to walk down the street unrecognized as you or me. 4/
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Not surprised we got to "poor Ilya is the real victim here." But gotta admit I'm dazzled at how fast we got there.
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My daughter and I built a free little library. I’m awfully proud of it.
People often take a book without leaving a book. Which is not an occasion for contacting the police.
The dude with the limitless supply of copies of his self-published poetry book? Closer call.
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The first hint of danger came on Wednesday when a gang of 17 conservative AGs led by Missouri's AG Eric Schmitt filed a brief backing Texas.
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No excuse? We all make mistakes. Your 6/1/20 motion for leave in the DC Circuit in Flynn had an error—on the cover, in the title—amicus instead of amici. You can find errors in my filings, too.
You're dead wrong to defend yelling at associates over that sort of thing.
@reeveslawstl
@RMFifthCircuit
There’s still no excuse for formatting errors or not to have a partner’s name completely correct on a pleading. Law is attention to detail. If the pleading is sloppy, why am I trusting the legal analysis? Carbs are another story.
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... that his predecessor, Judge Theodore McKee, widely regarded as the court’s most liberal judge, stepped down early as Chief Judge specifically so that Smith could become chief. Extraordinary. 13/
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And today Trump files amended motion to expedite that says, "to be clear, Plaintiffs do not intend to waive any claim that any part of the District Court's decision may have been wrongly decided." h/t
@j_remy_green
What a shabby clown show this is.
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If a Biden admin gets a Dem Senate majority and pisses away its golden judicial-nominations opportunity the way Obama did his 1st 2 years, glacial and timid, I'm setting myself on fire on the tip of the Washington Monument.
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On September 11, 2001, federal courthouses nationwide closed due to concern about follow-up attacks targeting judges. But Smith remained in chambers, on duty. He told his clerks, “I’ll be damned if I am going to let some terrorist run me out of my own courthouse.” 21/
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First, flipping burgers can be a rush. All these years later, I remember clearly the adrenaline jolt of shorthanded lunch rushes. Flip 5, drop 5, toast, top, wrap, flip 5, drop 5. Getting through lunch on back line alone felt bad ass. 4/
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How did a uniformed serial sexual assailant get away with it for 17 years? 2/x
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One is collegiality. Smith—like most federal judges, but more so—has a conscious commitment to treating all of his fellow judges with respect. More than that, collegiality for Smith means building warm, human relationships with the other judges. 17/
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It’s mostly forgotten now, but Smith was in the spotlight once. In 2002, he was a federal district judge, the chief judge of the Western District of Pa. Just-elected President George W. Bush nominated him for a seat on the Third Circuit.
All hell broke loose. 5/
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Yesterday, more disturbing developments.
A group of over 100 GOP members of Congress jumped in to support TX and Trump.
Then a group of Pa. state legislators did too. They were followed by a group of Pa. state senators, represented by noted conservative lawyer Jason Torchinsky.
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Instead, the fact that the blow was delivered by a judge nominated by Trump makes it a knockout punch.
This, I feel sure, was not mere happenstance. 50/
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I've got it. We divide the Fifth Circuit into two circuits, the Fifth and the Twelfth. The new Twelfth Circuit will be a specialty court with nationwide jurisdiction limited to cases arising under the 3rd and 18th amendments. The current Fifth Circuit judges? They go there.
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"Democrats risk running out of time before filling all current or expected federal appeals court vacancies with their grip on the Senate in doubt, legal scholars who follow judicial nominations say."
@madialder
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But Smith is not defined by ideology.
In my view, Smith is defined by his deep commitment to an idealized, even old-fashioned, conception of what it means to be a judge.
That commitment manifests in a few different ways. 16/
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I'm honored to have been elected to the American Academy of Appellate Lawyers.
I know I should play it cool, but fact is I'm pretty amped about it.
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A competent, average-prepared lawyer showing for today’s hearing in flip flops and a Metallica shirt with a Coors in each hand would have been far less disrespectful.
Rudy’s buffoonery got plenty of laughs, but don’t forget what a two-fisted fuck you to the courts that was.
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The prevailing initial reaction was to view the AG brief as reinforcing the picture of the weakness of Texas's and Trump's position by refusing to endorse their outlandish arguments.
But this was mistaken, because they did endorse them.
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The GOP speaker of Pa.'s state house and senate majority leader jumped in to back Texas and Trump too.
Then another group of GOP politicians from 3 other states.
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Pause a moment to imagine what a searing experience that must have been.
Consider how other judges have allowed experiences like that to shape their subsequent judicial careers. 10/
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Reported COVID-19 positives for federal inmates nearly doubled in a day.
Yesterday 29. Today, 57.
Oh my god oh my god oh my god.
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Smith was a moderate conservative with an independent streak, same as he is today. But—disastrously misreading the man—national liberal groups led by a group called Community Rights Counsel mobilized against his nomination. 6/
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Here's a link to the brief, which I believe ought to get the fellow disbarred.
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He retweeted his pro hac admission, and for this one moment I feel sorry the guy.
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Imagine a world where lawyers and law professors were as willing to speak up critically about the official and public acts of powerful judges as they are to speak up about law students doing something or other.
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A thread.
My former client Danny Gwynn was freed yesterday, 28 years after he was wrongfully convicted and sentenced to death.
I believe it’s important to be clear-eyed about how Danny finally was exonerated.
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I came out of law school thinking of legal cases as basically a contest of legal positions, stronger one wins. But there are practice areas where you can spend your entire career mostly having stronger legal positions and mostly getting your butt handed to you over and over.
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Now fast-forward to 2020. Smith is now the Third Circuit’s Chief Judge. One accurate reflection of how widely respected he is on the court is ... 12/
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People.
Ohio state prisons are mass testing. And because they tested everyone at Marion Correctional, they found out that 71% are positive.
71%
AT A PRISON WITH ZERO COVID DEATHS.
AT LEAST SIX FED PRISONS HAVE COVID DEATHS.
***UPDATE. 71% of the
#prison
population at
#Marion
(
#Ohio
) (1,828 cases/population size of 2,564) + 109 staff are now positive for
#COVID19
.
@PrisonPolicy
@DataPrison
@acluohio
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The Third Circuit decided the appeal yesterday, of course. (Without oral argument.) It was a shattering defeat for Trump, and a resounding victory for the rule of law. 47/
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With feeling in his voice, Smith said his belief in nurturing the court’s collegiality was one he held with “almost religious intensity.” 19/
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Another important conviction for ADA Lyandra Retacco and the Philly DA’s office Special Investigation Unit she leads. Fighting for accountability, not impunity.
@philadao
@philadao_siu
@DA_LarryKrasner
. 3/3
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The Supreme Court is worse than you probably think.
The lower federal courts are better than you probably think.
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This, above all else, is the thing about Smith that my fellow progressives failed so completely to see two decades ago.
(I think about this a lot. Sometimes the well-intentioned consensus is dead wrong, even when it comes to judicial nominees.) 30/
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People are going to so dang amazed when they find out how broad criminal conspiracy liability is.
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That commitment may be old-school and hopeful, but it is NOT soft. The federal judiciary will be degraded or tarnished over Smith’s dead body. 29/
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No no no no. Don't do this. Good golly no.
So the elite Kraken team tried to file four cases at the Supreme Court and seems to have managed to mess up two of them and is blaming the clerk.
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Another aspect of Smith’s commitment to this idealized conception of judging is the value he places on judging as public service. 20/
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Former Republican judge of the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court and Pennsylvania Court of Judicial Discipline.
Current patriotic person.
The conspiracy to nullify the election and keep trump in office, including all its sub-conspiracies like replacing the Acting Attorney General and the insurrection at the Capitol, are the most serious crimes that can be committed against our nation.
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Smith’s conception of the role and duty of a federal judge has at its heart, unless I’m very mistaken, an unshakeable commitment to judicial independence and the rule of law. 28/
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History will judge harshly those who saw all this and kept right on cheering about his judicial nominations.
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“The United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit is open for business and will fulfill its constitutional and statutory obligations and responsibilities.” 23/
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