DL Open Thread: Friday, September 3, 2021

Delaware Rethugs Have An AG Candidate.  Chuck Welch, a retired Common Pleas Court judge in Kent County and, before that, for six years, a state representative.  He’s focusing his campaign on the poor underappreciated police who have not been sufficiently loosed upon the citizenry:

Law enforcement officers in the state are also need to feel more supported, Welch said.

“For our men and women in blue, whether you’re a police officer, probation officer, corrections officer, or bailiff, Delaware’s Attorney General will once again be supporting you will have your back.”

He said, in speaking with officers, he’s been told they do not feel supported currently, and Welch said he feels like law enforcement is being targeted.

“I see a number of things that are going on I don’t support, including the attack on law abiding citizens involving gun rights, the magazine limit bill, the permit the purchase bill,” Welch said. “As far as the police is concerned, I think there’s been an attack on them…The Use of Force standard has been changed. I don’t agree with that. And also the law enforcement Bill of Rights is being attacked.”

The irony is that he may not be the worst the Rethugs have to offer for this race.  Julianne Murray, yes, that Julianne Murray, has been rumored as a candidate and, well, see for yourself.

How Supreme Court’s ‘Shadow Docket’ Turned Into Backdoor Conservative Bludgeon:

With increasing frequency, the court is taking up weighty matters in a rushed way, considering emergency petitions that often yield late-night decisions issued with minimal or no written opinions. Such orders have reshaped the legal landscape in recent years on high-profile matters like changes to immigration enforcement, disputes over election rules, and public-health orders barring religious gatherings and evictions during the pandemic.

The latest and perhaps most powerful example came just before midnight on Wednesday, when the court ruled 5 to 4 to leave in place a novel Texas law that bars most abortions in the state — a momentous development in the decades-long judicial battle over abortion rights.

The court spent less than three days dealing with the case. There were no oral arguments before the justices. The majority opinion was unsigned and one paragraph long. In a dissent, Justice Elena Kagan said the case illustrated “just how far the court’s ‘shadow-docket’ decisions may depart” from the usual judicial process and said use of the shadow docket “every day becomes more unreasoned, inconsistent and impossible to defend.”

One way of measuring the Supreme Court’s use of its shadow docket to issue major decisions is how often it has used that power to summarily disrupt the status quo — such as by granting or vacating an injunction when a lower court had ruled a different way.

According to data compiled by Stephen I. Vladeck, a University of Texas at Austin law professor who has written critically about the rise of the shadow docket, cases in which the Supreme Court disrupted the status quo numbered in the single digits each year from 2005 to 2013, but have been rising since, reaching 19 in its last term and 19 again so far this term.

Gee, I wonder what changed…

Could Texas Anti-Abortion Bill Backfire On Rethugs?  I think it will.  It will motivate an electorate that has heretofore seemed disengaged for 2022.  Not to mention, the vigilantism at the core of this bill will inevitably lead to some bizarre and unintended consequences.  Meaning, of course Florida MAGAt’s are prepared to follow the same course.

BTW, is it just me, or is Texas Governor Greg Abbott dumber than Dubya?  Yeah, that plan works–unless the businesses he cites want to sell their wares outside of Texas.

Sewer Vs. Septic.  Gotta say, I’m glad I don’t live in the MOT area.  Unfettered expansion causes all sorts of environmental issues, with no clear-cut answers.  But–jobs.

What do you want to talk about?