re: #315 ericblair

Regarding inherent contempt: I’m not sure what the issue really is, but I have my theories. The last time Congress has used this vehicle was 1935. Nobody in living memory has seen one of these. So, honest questions: who delivers these? The Capitol Police? The US Marshalls, who report to the DOJ? And when the recipient, or more likely a government guard or other official, gets this funny piece of paper and says get lost, what is going to happen? Is there an enforcement mechanism coded into law to take them into custody wherever they are?

I don’t think these are insoluble problems, but if it requires new funding or new litigation, it’s never going to get past the Senate.

And if you’re asking me whether our federal system is broken and not fit for purpose, the answer is hell yes.

It looks like we’re in a place where the Executive Branch has more power than the other two branches can deal with (or want to deal with). If enforcement relies heavily on the DOJ and the AG is complicit with the violations than we seem to be in the place where the President can say to Congress (or the courts) “and what do you plan to do about it?”

And this behavior is not helped by half of the Legislative Branch and a good chunk of the Judicial Branch being quite willing to play along. At some point Roberts might well decide that his conservative principles outweigh any thought regarding ethics, legacy, or the rule of law. And then we descend further into hell.*

* - Being a very arbitrary place where the poor and minorities get it first. And then the never-ending spiral of new “enemies” being declared and robbed, exploited, etc. since authoritarians never see any reason to stop.