Bumbling Trump lawyers, Steve Bannon—and ‘Big Balls’
Injustice for all is a weekly series about how the Trump administration is trying to weaponize the justice system and the people who are fighting back.
It was a fun week watching one of President Donald Trump’s latest superstars, Acting U.S. Attorney Lindsey Halligan, act like the dog. who caught the carbut this week gave us a lot more stupid legal stuff.
We have former Trump advisor Steve Bannon running for the Supreme Court, Trump forcing another one of his own US attorneys to choose, and Pete Hegseth’s personal attorney who is also a Navy lawyer who is also a lawyer in private practice! Plus, special return appearances from Brown University and… “Big Balls”?
Steve Bannon wants to know if he has the juice
Trump loyalists and supporters have been watching his hot streak on the Supreme Court, and they want to know if they can get in on that action.
Yes, it’s time for another episode of “Does SCOTUS love me as much as it loves Trump?” » Next, Steve Bannon!
Bannon, always the media’s nightmare, ran through his petition for a writ of certiorari so we could all see it before it was listed on the court’s website. So thoughtful! The Hill published a copy of his petition last Monday, and it appears Bannon would like to have his contempt conviction expunged.
You will remember that Bannon is still sad that there were consequences when he refused to comply with a subpoena from the House committee investigating the January 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol.
In addition to erasing his conviction from the books, Bannon would like the court to make it more difficult to file contempt charges in situations like this.
Has Bannon thought about this question? Does he really want to be the one to make it harder for Trump to go after his enemies?
Plus, Bannon may want to take a look at the court’s lack of interest. conspiracy theorist Alex Jones and his supplications, and adjust his expectations accordingly.
Big balls, no justice
Two of the teenagers who attacked a former member of the so-called Ministry of Government Efficiency get away with it with probation.
Edward Coristine, who went by the name “Big Balls” online, took some time to not do what racist teenagers do when they are no longer employed by DOGE for groan that the other people who beat him were not arrested and to “think of your daughters and your mothers”.
Dude, you don’t even work for the government anymore. Go home. You have already managed to be one of Trump’s excuses for invading the nation’s capital with troopsso you’ve done enough here, thank you very much.
The Many Jobs of Pete Hegseth’s Personal Lawyer
Tim Parlatore has a good deal. He represented Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth following accusations he sexually assaulted a woman in 2017 with a crude slur. threatens to sue his accuserand this earned him a commission in the Navy Reserve.
Thus, Parlatore’s day job is his ostensibly nonpartisan military work as special advisor to Hegseth, the same person he represented in his personal capacity. But Parlatore Also maintained his private law practice, including cases where he is pursue the navy.
The Navy he works for. Where he works for Hegseth.
As an anonymous DOD person told the Washington Post: “This guy is an officer, who also wears a civilian hat, who also represents the secretary, who is also in the secretary’s front office, and who also still has a private law practice.” »
Parlatore’s conflicting roles have been known for some time, but they came to light again this week when it emerged that Parlatore was the one who came up with the idea of trying to force the media to give up their First Amendment rights in order to report at the Pentagon.
When even Fox News, your boss’s former employer, tells you pound sandyou screwed up, Tim. Fortunately, you can count on your active law firm to take the government to court if necessary.
What if we run out of former Trump lawyers?
Daily Kos is closely following the Trump administration’s lack of human resources. morally flexible lawyersbut it turns out Trump may still have to cough up another one of those winners.
While we were focused on Trump expelling Eastern District of Virginia U.S. Attorney Erik Siebert so he could install Lindsey Halligan to make false accusations against Trump’s enemies, chaos reigned in the Western District as well.
There, Todd Gilbert, a longtime Republican that Trump appointedcame out after he refused to punish a career prosecutor who said there simply were no criminal charges stemming from the FBI’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.
It’s unclear which sixth-rank lawyer Trump will find next for the role, but we’re sure they’ll be terrible.
Brown finds a way to say no after being stupid and saying yes
Brown University was one of the first nine schools to offer the opportunity to enter Trump’s “Pact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education,” in which schools essentially agree to end academic freedom and let the administration drive the institution into a very racist grave.
It took a little hesitation, but Brown refused it.
The problem for Brown is that he had already entered into one of these illegal “voluntary” agreements with the administration to restore 50 million dollars in federal funds. And they had to find a way to reject the pact without compromising their previous agreement.
It’s a good result for now, but it also reminds us that there is nothing you can sign, no knee you can bend far enough, that can satisfy the Trump administration.
