Read on Twitter
THREAD:
Rogue Judges and Trump
Between the filing of Sidney Powell's Kranken lawsuits and the judge in PA who issued the restraining order Wednesday, I've seen an uptick in people's concern about rogue judges. It's understandable. I'd like to see if I can offer some reassurance.
Rogue Judges and Trump
Between the filing of Sidney Powell's Kranken lawsuits and the judge in PA who issued the restraining order Wednesday, I've seen an uptick in people's concern about rogue judges. It's understandable. I'd like to see if I can offer some reassurance.
There are a lot of lawsuits flying around. I can't promise that there won't be a rogue judge. I can say, based on the cases that have been filed, that it would have to be a very rogue judge indeed. But it could happen.
It won't, in the grand scheme, matter if it does.
It won't, in the grand scheme, matter if it does.
First, the odds are probably lower than you think. If you want to be a judge, you want a job that almost always pays less than private practice and has hours that aren't any better - and are often even worse. It's a stressful, difficult job even by law's standards.
The people who look for this job tend to be committed to the law not just as a profession, but as a social force. And tend to not be terribly happy when people try to abuse it. The kind of judges who could go rogue in the way needed are uncommon, regardless of ideology.
Second, for these cases a judge would have to go very very rogue indeed. These are not - and haven't been - close cases AT ALL. They're not cases like Bush v Gore, where there was a single case the whole election rode on with a small number of critical legal questions.
These are cases where the plaintiffs - like Trump in Pennsylvania, Lin Wood in Georgia, and so on - have been losing on every single legal issue of significant importance. (And most of the ones of little importance.)
Third, we have appeals courts because judges are imperfect - and every appellate panel that hears a case has multiple judges, not just one. And, yes, it's possible to get to an appeals court very very fast when necessary.
(I was once talking about how we make appeals judges travel in packs because sometimes it takes all three to figure out how to tie a pair of shoes when one of the Associate Justices of the State Supreme Court wandered up right behind me, but that's a story for another time.)
So at this point, even just threatening Biden's win in even one state would take multiple judges - 4 or more - all of whom are willing to go very rogue and rule in an inexplicable basis in a case that lacks even BASIC legal merit.
To threaten Biden's win nationally, you'd need that to happen three or four times.
And, yes, that's true even if they manage to get 5 on the Supreme Court to go rogue. These are state-by-state cases, alleging state-specific facts. They'd need more than one.
And, yes, that's true even if they manage to get 5 on the Supreme Court to go rogue. These are state-by-state cases, alleging state-specific facts. They'd need more than one.
So I get the fear. Sometimes it still happens to me, too. But go ahead and breathe a little on this one.
Just make sure you do it through a mask if you're shopping today is all I ask.
/fin
Just make sure you do it through a mask if you're shopping today is all I ask.
/fin
