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Lawless National Organization For Marriage Demands Kansas Break Marriage Law

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The National Organization For Marriage has repeatedly labeled judges and lawmakers “lawless” for supporting same-sex marriage. Now, NOM  is demanding the Governor of Kansas break the law and deny same-sex couples their legal right to marry.

“The lawlessness of this administration has reached epic proportions…attempting to force same-sex marriage on the country despite federal law and the Supreme Court ruling that marriage is the purview of the states.” — Brian Brown, President of NOM: February 26, 2014

“The Supreme Court has repeatedly warned of the lawless manipulation of the judicial process that might result from such collusive suits, yet that is what we are left with in the wake of the ruling in the Proposition 8 case…And our nation ignores this new lawlessness at its peril…” – National Organization For Marriage, July 8, 2013

“By providing funding, messaging expertise, and coordination of local groups, we are working to defend marriage in states where it is presently under attack, by lawless elected officials, out-of-control legislatures, and activist courts.” – National Organization For Marriage, September 5, 2013

“And the legal battles to stop the lawlessness that has broken out across our country in the name of homosexual-‘marriage’ demand time and financial commitment that we cannot meet without your gracious support.” – National Organization For Marriage,  August 19, 2013

“Professor John Eastman, Chairman of NOM’s Board of Directors and a highly-regarded constitutional law expert called [VA AG] Herring’s decision ‘lawless.'” – National Organization For Marriage, January 23, 2014

“And while Governor Brown and Attorney General Harris, with several County Clerks, continue their lawless decree that Prop 8 no longer applies…” – Brian Brown, President of NOM, August 1, 2013

“The decision by a single federal judge to redefine marriage in Utah is lawless, and we are pleased that the Supreme Court has put this decision on hold to allow the state to appeal it in an orderly fashion.” – Brian Brown, President of NOM, January 6, 2014

These are just a few of the dozens of times Brian Brown and NOM, the National Organization For Marriage, have labeled as “lawless” decisions by duly appointed judges and duly elected officials whose job it is to decide and execute matters of law.

At no time have any of these officials been fired, impeached, reprimanded, censured, demoted, or otherwise deemed as having done anything but carry out their job.

Now, Brown, the NOM president, is demanding the Governor of Kansas, Sam Brownback, break the law by not allowing same-sex couples marry in his state. The U.S. Supreme Court has refused to stay a federal judge’s decision that struck down as unconstitutional the Kansas ban on same-sex marriage.

Yet Brown is now demanding lawlessness.

In a NOM petition, Brown tells Gov. Sam Brownback to “refuse to accept illegitimate rulings” from a federal court, and to “use the full authority of your office to order County Clerks and other State officers to continue to refuse to issue marriage licenses that violate state law,” knowing full well that law has been struck down. “I would urge you and Attorney General Schmidt to continue to uphold and defend the law as the people of Kansas have determined it, and refuse to give way to a tyrannical and out-of-control judiciary in a matter so important,” Brown adds.

And in the latest fundraiser from NOM, Brown claims that the “Governor and other state officers throughout Kansas, such as county clerks, should continue to stand by the definition of marriage passed through the fair democratic process by an overwhelming majority of Kansans just a few years ago, rather than giving in to the whim of an activist judge dictating law from the bench.”

Will he be there if federal marshals come to lock them up for breaking the law? Will he pay their bills if they get fired for not doing their jobs?

It easy to advocate for other people to jump on your bandwagon, but demanding or instructing people break the law, is the very definition of lawlessness.

 

Image via Flickr

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Trump Lawyers in Classified Docs Case Quit Hours After Indictment: Report

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Attorneys representing Donald Trump in the U.S. Dept. of Justice’s prosecution of the former president on what reportedly are seven categories of federal felonies have resigned from representing him, just hours after a grand jury indicted their client.

“Two lawyers who represented Donald Trump in the months before he was indicted on federal charges over his handling of classified documents quit working for him Friday morning,” CNBC reports.

“This morning we tendered our resignations as counsel to President Trump, and we will no longer represent him on either the indicted case or the January 6 investigation,” Trump attorneys Jim Trusty (photo) and John Rowley said in a joint statement, according to CNN’s Alayna Treene.

“The attorneys,” CNBC also reported, “did not explain in detail why they had resigned, other than to say that ‘this is a logical moment’ to do given his indictment Thursday in U.S. District Court in Miami.”

READ MORE: ‘Disgraced’ Trump-Appointed Florida Judge Initially Assigned to Oversee Ex-President’s Criminal Case: Report

The Guardian’s Hugo Lowell reports, “Trump announces on Truth Social that Todd Blanche will be his criminal defense attorney in the Mar-a-Lago docs case with another firm yet to be named. Jim Trusty and John Rowley are out.”

This is far from the first time Trump’s lawyers have quit.

Less than one month ago, as Alternet reported, “Timothy Parlatore, an attorney for Donald Trump, made a major announcement on Wednesday, May 17: He is leaving the former president’s legal team.”

Trusty appeared on CNN just Thursday night, to defend Trump.

Watch video below or at this link.

This is a breaking news and developing story. Details may change. 

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‘Disgraced’ Trump-Appointed Florida Judge Initially Assigned to Oversee Ex-President’s Criminal Case: Report

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A federal judge whose highly-controversial rulings favoring Donald Trump were derided by legal experts and judges on a higher court, has been initially assigned to the U.S. Dept. of Justice’s criminal case against the ex-president, who appointed her to the bench three years ago.

Judge Aileen Cannon, known for agreeing to Trump’s request by assigning a special master to review the entirety of federal government documents the FBI retrieved from Mar-a-Lago last summer during the execution of a search and seizure warrant will, at least for now, oversee the government’s case allegedly charging Donald Trump with seven different felony categories in its classified documents probe, according to ABC News.

“The summons sent to former President Donald Trump and his legal team late Thursday indicates that U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon will be assigned to oversee his case, at least initially, according to sources briefed on the matter,” ABC News reports.

READ MORE: Trump Lawyers Blindsided by Existence of Bombshell Recording – ‘They Don’t Know How to Defend This’: Maggie Haberman

“Cannon’s apparent assignment would add yet another unprecedented wrinkle to a case involving the first federal charges against a former president: Trump appointed Cannon to the federal bench in 2019, meaning that, if Trump is ultimately convicted, she would be responsible for determining the sentence – which may include prison time – for the man who elevated her to the role.”

Cannon, agreeing to Trump’s request to appoint a special master last September, also halted the Dept. of Justice’s use of those materials, which included at least one hundred classified documents, in its criminal investigation into Trump.

Harvard University professor emeritus of constitutional law, Laurence Tribe, called Judge Cannon’s special master decision “utterly lawless,” and said: “She has disgraced her position as an Article III judge.”

ABC News notes that “Legal experts [had] accused Cannon of handing Trump a series of head-scratching victories over the course of those proceedings,” and added, “Cannon’s order was ultimately thrown out in its entirety by an 11th Circuit Court of appeals panel, which found she overstepped in exercising her jurisdiction in the probe.”

The 11th Circuit issued a scathing rebuke of Judge’ Cannon’s decision to appoint the special master. One week later, without explanation or reasoning, she overruled the special master’s decision and extended deadlines – decisions which favored Donald Trump.

RELATED: ‘Pure Essence of Judicial Corruption’: Morning Joe Panelists ‘Stunned’ by Cannon’s Ruling on Classified Docs

Cannon is not the only judge whose name appears on the summons.

“In addition to Cannon, Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart’s name also appeared on the summons sent to Trump on Thursday, the sources said,” ABC adds. “Reinhart, who was sworn in as a magistrate judge in 2018, is also familiar with the proceedings against Trump: he signed off on the initial search warrant of Mar-a-Lago last year and later ruled to unseal the search affidavit – decisions that made him the target of antisemitic jabs on the internet.”

The New York Times in August of last year reported, “in a segment on Fox News, a host showed a manipulated photo that appeared to show Judge Reinhart seated on a plane with Ghislaine Maxwell, Mr. [Jeffrey] Epstein’s companion who had been convicted last year of aiding Mr. Epstein in sexually abusing minors.”

Brian Kilmeade, the Fox News host, the following day tweeted: “Last night while subbing for Tucker Carlson, we showed you an image of Judge Bruce Reinhart w/ Ghislaine Maxwell that was sourced on screen to a meme pulled from Twitter & wasn’t real. This depiction never took place & we wanted to make clear that we were showing a meme in jest.”

READ MORE: SCOTUS ‘Surprise’ Voting Rights Decision Could – and Did – Have Big Implications for Democrats, Legal Experts Say

The Times noted “the scrutiny of Judge Reinhart has also prompted the local authorities to step up security. His synagogue canceled a Friday night Shabbat service last week in response to multiple antisemitic threats, and the police in his neighborhood said officers had intensified patrols near his house.”

Professor of Law Joyce Vance, an NBC News/MSNBC contributor and former U.S. Attorney responded to the news of Cannon’s assignment. Pointing to an earlier case as precedent, Vance says: “This is persuasive authority that Judge Cannon must step aside if the case falls to her as a permanent assignment. Her court & certainly the 11th [Circuit] won’t tolerate the damage it would do to their credibility if she failed to voluntarily recuse.”

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Trump Lawyers Blindsided by Existence of Bombshell Recording – ‘They Don’t Know How to Defend This’: Maggie Haberman

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CNN on Friday morning obtained a bombshell transcript of a recording in which former President Donald Trump boasts of retaining “secret” military information that he never declassified while he was president.

Appearing on CNN shortly after this news broke, New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman revealed that the former president’s team was essentially blindsided by this recording’s existence.

“I don’t think they quite know how to defend this… from what we have heard,” she said. “They were… startled by the existence of this tape. This tape was something that they learned existed when this aide to Trump testified. The prosecutors were already in possession of this tape. They didn’t get it from the aide, although it appears the aide had a copy when it was subpoenaed later, but this is has been described to us by multiple sources… as a really problematic piece of evidence for Trump.”

Haberman predicted that the recording’s existence would not change the Trump legal team’s overall defense strategy, however.

READ MORE: ‘He’s just not that smart’: Trump buried by Morning Joe for handing investigators all they need

“I think they are going to stick that their line: ‘He says things, he didn’t mean it a certain way,'” she said. “I am sure they can come up with all kinds of explanations for why he used the language he used. But it’s on tape.”

Trump is due in court in Miami next week to face seven felony counts related to his handling of top-secret government documents.

Watch the video below or at this link.

 

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