Courts & Law

The TanMan’s lawsuit: political theater doomed to failure

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The TanMan, Weeper of the House John Boehner, the consensus “Worst. Speaker. Ever.” who has presided over the least productive “Worst. Congress. Ever” in American history, the less-than do-nothing 112th Congress and the less-than-less-than-do nothing 113th Congress, is going forward with his damn fool idea to sue the President to try to appease the rabid right-wing base of the GOP who waste their days listening to hate radio and FAUX News.

looking glassThe Tea-Publicans got together in an undisclosed location and brainstormed what it is they wanted to sue over, and guess what these brainiacs came up with? The party that has voted over 54 times to repeal all or part of “ObamaCare” want to sue over Obama delaying the employer mandate and tax penalties by one year. The House itself voted to delay the employer mandate and the individual mandate on July 17, 2013 around the same time. House Votes to Delay Employer and Individual Mandates by One Year.

As Greg Sargent of the Washington Post wryly observed, “So here’s the bill text on John Boehner’s lawsuit against the president, and shockingly, it does not cite Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals among Obama’s offenses; the main one is the delay of the employer mandate. Perhaps Boehner didn’t want to be suing Obama for not deporting the DREAMers.”

John Boehner is Alice, and he has gone through the looking glass. I am convinced the man has gone quite mad.

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UN, Progressives Urge Refugee Status for Migrant Children, while GOP Wants Speedy Deportation

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UN Report on refugee children fleeing Central America
UN Report on refugee children fleeing Central America

The least productive Congress ever was perfectly content to allow immigration reform to languish until next year, while they focused on getting their sorry asses re-elected. But then reality hit.

Mass migration of unaccompanied children from Central America brought the issue front and center. A little-known. bipartisan bill passed in the waning hours of the Bush Administration to protect children from sex trafficking is standing in the way of speedy deportation of 1000s of children, according to the New York Times.

While they languish in detention centers in Texas, Arizona, and California, more women and children cross the border — fleeing violence in their homeland and looking for family in the US.

Many powerful forces are at work to determine their fate…

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Arizona’s lawless legislature loses in court again on education funding

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Earlier this year I told you about Our lawless legislature lost in court, now it’s fighting a settlement that saves taxpayers money:

The latest example of our lawless legislature pissing away your tax dollars on fruitless litigation comes from Howard Fischer, Public schools seek deal to drop $1.2 billion suit against state:

education_appleThe fight surrounds the 2010 decision by lawmakers to ignore Proposition 301, a 2000 voter-mandated requirement to make annual inflationary increases in state aid to public schools. But last year the Arizona Supreme Court ruled they violated the Voter Protection Act, a constitutional provision prohibiting legislative tinkering with anything approved at the ballot.

That ruling, affirming an appellate court decision, cemented in an additional $82 million in aid for the current school year and put the schools in line for another $80 million for next year.

The high court ruling left unsettled the question of all the aid that was not provided during the court fight.

Arizona public schools have offered to give up their claim to more than $1.2 billion in lost aid if the state will simply agree to adjust the current formula to recognize the fact that lawmakers broke state law.

But state lawmakers are balking.

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Senate Judiciary Committee approves constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United and McCutcheon

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A long-shot effort to amend the U.S. Constitution to curb political spending won the approval of the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday. USA Today reports:

corplogoflag-copyBy a 10-8 vote, the Democratic-controlled Senate Judiciary Committee approved a measure that would give Congress and the states the power to ban corporations from spending money to influence elections. It heads next to the full Senate.

The proposed amendment stands little chance of winning the required support of two-thirds of Congress, but the heated debate at the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday underscores the intensity of the fight over the growing role of unlimited money in elections.

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Tom ‘banned for life by the SEC’ Horne goes the full Hindenburg

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hindenbergIf there was any remaining doubt that the campaign of Tom “banned for life by the SEC” Horne has gone the full Hindenburg, any last doubt should have been removed yesterday.

The Arizona Secretary of State’s office issued a “reasonable cause” letter that Tommy Boy violated campaign finance laws through illegal coordination with an independent expenditure committee, and the matter has been referred to the solicitor general at the Attorney General’s office. The matter must be referred to outside counsel under conflict of interest rules. Tommy Boy is also now under investigation by the Maricopa County Attorney’s office.

The Arizona Republic reports, Secretary of State: Horne probe merited:

Elections officials have concluded it is likely Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne violated campaign-finance laws and say the allegations of wrongdoing by a former employee warrant further investigation.

The Secretary of State’s Office determined Horne failed to report as in-kind campaign contributions the time Attorney General’s Office employees spent working on his reelection campaign.

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