I moved to Mastodon.social
Someone asked me what I think is going on with Trump's lawyers attacking the clerk.
Yesterday I said this:
"It's hard to tell what is going on with that. My best guess is that Trump's lawyers are fatigued, know they are losing, and are getting weird and paranoid."
Judge Engoron, who sees it all up close, said there is misogyny.
I just saw a picture of the clerk and I have revised my opinion.
The judge may be right . . .
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I moved to Mastodon.social
Women in Trump World are supposed to look like plastic mannequins. It's okay for them to be smart and professional as long as they bat their eyelashes an in subtle ways defer to men.
Ivanka is the picture of this. She is allowed some independence as long as she remembers that Daddy is the boss, and as long as she looks the way a woman is supposed to look.
What they are reading as "eye rolls" and "scowls" may simply be expressions tolerated in men but not women.
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I moved to Mastodon.social
I am trying to find a few 2018 pieces written by @virginiaheffernan all about Ivanka and the women in Trump world.
They were brilliant. I'll try to find them.
The clerk is smart. Serious. No-nonsense. She is paying close attention. She doesn't defer to the men. Her attitude is probably "I am as smart as the judge." She watches the courtroom with sharp eyes and takes it all in.
They assume, therefore, that she hates them.
That is my latest theory.
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I moved to Mastodon.social
Someone asked: "I've read suspicions that they are trying to provoke the judge and get some grounds for a later mistrial. What's your thought on that?"
That won't work. I spent 12 years writing appeals for people who lost their trials, so I can speak with confidence when I say provoking a judge doesn't get you a mistrial.
Provoking a judge makes you look bad in front of appellate judges, most of whom were trial judges and are generally in sympathy with the judge.
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I moved to Mastodon.social
Sometimes the most direct and obvious answer is the correct one. Trying to provoke a judge is one of the stupidest things a litigator can do.
After seeing what the cleck looks like on the bench, the simplest explanation is that the judge's sense was probably correct.
I only saw a few pictures of how she looks on the bench, but from the pictures, I'll say this: If she were a man, they'd take her seriously.
Trump world can use women (and like to have women around them!). That's different.
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I moved to Mastodon.social
Someone asked if a clerk has a law degree.
Yes. Not only that, but they are extremely difficult jobs to get and generally go to the stop students from the top law schools.
There are career clerks (that's their permanent job) and clerks who cycle though out of law school for a few years. Getting one of those clerkships means you were a top student.
People fresh out of law school are the best at legal research because they just did lots of it.
I don't know this clerk's employment status.
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Calishat
@Teri_Kanefield They're just not used to looking at un-Botoxed women?
𝐿𝒶𝓃𝒶 :verifiedtrans:
@Npars01 this. 💯.
They aren't trying to win in the court. They want the court to look weak. The point is to degrade and weaken public institutions.
Nicole Parsons
https://www.advocate.com/politics/mike-johnson-opposed-gay-adoption
https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/24/politics/texas-far-right-politics-invs/index.html
https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2023/10/26/mike-johnson-podcast-speakership-00123821
Speaker Michael Johnson is being paid to return "women are property" status.
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2023/10/speaker-mike-johnson-divorce-covenant-marriage/
Nicole Parsons
https://washingtonspectator.org/hard-right-billionaires-spending-lavishly-to-reshape-courts/
Nate Silver was paid to model a democracy where women can't vote.
https://www.salon.com/2016/10/12/repealthe19th-donald-trump-supporters-tweet-new-anthem-after-nate-silvers-poll-shows-hed-win-if-only-men-voted/
#KochNetwork spent 50 years thwarting the ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment for a reason.
https://msmagazine.com/2023/04/11/anti-abortion-groups-era-equal-rights-amendment/
https://prospect.org/power/2023-10-04-alec-50-years-right-wing-law-factory/
Speaker Michael Johnson is owned by billionaires like Tim Dunn & Farris Wilks who belong to evangelical cults that believe women have no role in public life.
https://newrepublic.com/post/176473/speaker-mike-johnson-cant-remember-past-homophobia-fox
Nicole Parsons
Misogynistic Republican billionaire donors are the audience for the attacks on the judge's law clerk.
Barre Seid paid $1.6 billion to Leonard Leo to overturn Roe vs Wade.
https://msmagazine.com/2023/06/23/dark-money-abortion-leonard-leo-federalist-society/
Jeff Yass & Peterffy paid $40 million to Glenn Youngkin to subvert Virginia elections & get a national abortion ban.
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/tiktok-billionaire-yass-gop-donor-abortion-1234859270/
It will be turned into a felony disenfranchisement scheme for women, especially for educated young women
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tienle47
@Teri_Kanefield This makes a lot of sense. TFG *hates* strong women and has gone out of his way throughout his lifetime to denigrate, humiliate and sexually dominate (assault) them at every turn. These attacks are personal and meant to intimidate the clerk *because* she is a strong woman.
Molly Cranberries-Kraig 🦃
@Teri_Kanefield in Trump world, women are extensions/reflections of a man’s power. They have no agency. Women are ornamental & serve to buttress/reinforce their husband’s rank & position. She is also the “good woman” who mitigates/ameliorates his worse impulses. See also the Angel/whore dynamic. Women are either put on a pedestal or slatterns to be used for seed-sowing practice by men to prove their virility.
I moved to Mastodon.social
From:
@dsurkin
Law clerks in NY Supreme Court (for non-New Yorkers, that's the major trial court, not an appellate court) are lawyers characterized by their excellent credentials.
Unlike in federal court where clerks get their jobs right out of school and serve a few years, the NY law clerks serve as long as the judge, or longer if a successor judge is pleased with the work.
Usually attorneys trying to contact a judge contact the law clerk first.
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