Notices by Heidi Li Feldman (heidilifeldman@mastodon.social)

A friend just sent me this. Hard to know whether to laugh or cry.

Tell me your favorite places for a first time visitor to #Belgium. I’m especially interested in towns and cities with good architecture and gardens.

I have very selectively watched some clips from today’s Hegseth hearings and read some coverage of them. Selectively for the sake of mental health. But I did want to see and hear with own eyes and ears just how Hegseth did. He was appalling, worse than I even expected. So ignorant, so smarmy. And so dangerous.

At least I know that my anger and concern about the incoming regime is wholly warranted. Nobody is going to gaslight me about what is coming.

Being in the opposition to a rising fascist government is going to be a long, long haul. Each of us can only do so much: bear witness, help those most immediately harmed to the extent we can, keep condemning the Republican Fascist party. Don’t mince words, especially if you do any sort of public or professional speaking. There is going to be a ton of social pressure to go along. Develop and hone your commitment to honesty and truth.

If Biden wanted to do just one more thing for the good of the country, he would headline a statement by him, Obama, and B.Clinton explaining that these former Presidents cannot condone the election of Donald Trump, an avowed would-be dictator to the office of President, and therefore none of them will attend his inauguration. I know this won’t happen, but it really should.

Today I chatted with some folks who had business at the National Portrait Gallery a a few weeks ago. They told me, sadly, that it was the day they were changing the tags on Trump’s portrait to reflect that he is not just a single term President.

Every university should follow the example of the German universities that have quit X. https://aktuelles.uni-frankfurt.de/english/goethe-university-frankfurt-and-numerous-other-german-universities-withdraw-from-x/

Giuliani held in contempt of court again, this time for repeatedly defaming the Georgia election workers he already owes tens of millions to for defaming them in the first place. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/giuliani-expected-testify-second-contempt-hearing-defamation-case-rcna187117 1/

I will say this once, in light of some confused responses to my remark about sleeping easier last night knowing Trump would be sentenced today: Trump WAS sentenced. He was also given an unconditional discharge, meaning he does not have to serve prison time, probabation, or parole. Nonetheless, he is a convicted, sentenced felon, and that will remain on his record, unless and until that conviction is ever overturned on appellate review.

John Roberts just released another report complaining that people don’t respect the federal judiciary. But he says nothing in the face of a bald-faced lie from an Associate Justice. This is the same Roberts who thinks he fixed the Supreme Court’s pervasive corruption problem by promulgating a toothless code of ethics for the Court. 2/

Apparently, Sam Alito is so unaware of legal proceedings against Donald Trump, Alito just has NO IDEA Trump would be asking the Supreme Court to block his criminal sentencing, scheduled for tomorrow. https://abcnews.go.com/US/trump-speaks-justice-alito-amid-push-halt-criminal/story?id=117386419 (I know, report of Alito’s chat with Trump is from yesterday).

What a ridiculous spectacle the Roberts Court is. 1/

Oligarchs are not interested in public good. They are interested in their own wealth. Remember this and you will never be surprised by their actions.

It is rich to read about Rudy Giuliani, an aggressive prosecutor, ranting about “lawfare,” the newly fashionable right wing term for when their heroes and pals are held legally accountable.

“Jeff Bezos’s Washington Post spiking a cartoon that portrayed Jeff Bezos harshly is not an example of Jeff Bezos obeying Donald Trump in advance. It is an example of Jeff Bezos’s malign rule over the Post. Bezos is the autocrat in this scenario, not the supplicant.” https://www.findinggravity.net/p/no-jeff-bezos-is-not-obeying-in-advance

@Gargron 😻

My friends and colleagues who work in jobs directly concerned with fighting for democracy are absolutely businesslike about doing all they can as the U.S. faces a second Trump presidency. I’m impressed with their fortitude and determination.

The Supreme Court’s unprincipled decisions and its favoritism toward certain powerful people (e.g. Trump) or positions urged by some influential parties (e.g. Heritage Foundation or Federalist Society) remove a background condition for rule of law in any appellate framework: the assumption that appellate courts will not simply disregard the law to achieve particular laws. 4/

Thus, this case, Carroll v. Trump illustrates how a Supreme Court that has abandoned judicial craft undermines the legitimacy of the entire federal court process. If the Supreme Court cannot be trusted to abide by settled law, including the law of civil procedure and evidence, neither lower court judges nor litigants can assume that their proper conduct counts for anything. 3/

Because the current U.S. Supreme Court is demonstrably both corrupt and extremely solicitous of Trump, it cannot be trusted, and especially not in a case Trump lost. No matter how solid the lower appellate court opinion and the trial judge’s rulings, Roberts et al might well invent a new legal principle to get Trump off the hook. 2/

I have just stayed up far too late reading the appellate panel
opinion in Carroll v. Trump (II), which upholds almost every one of trial judge Lewis Kaplan’s evidentiary rulings, and thus affirms the jury’s $5 million damages award to Carroll for Trump defaming her. The 2nd Circuit panel opinion is meticulous and exhaustive, just as Kaplan’s rulings were meticulous and fully explained by him.

But… 1/ #LawFedi