Thinking Citizen Blog — “Should One Judge Set National Policy?” (New York Times)
Thinking Citizen Blog — Saturday is Justice, Freedom, Law, and Values Day
Today’s Topic — “Should One Judge Set National Policy?” (New York Times)
“Any of more than 600 federal trial judges can use an emergency ruling to stop the White House in its tracks.” (NYT)
Does this make sense?
First, a little re-cap.
BACKGROUND — Big Picture — three categories of posts
For those new to the blog: daily blog posts tend to fit into one of three categories: 1.) a collection of excerpts from an article I read recently related to the theme of the day, 2.) a synthesis of a half-century or more of thinking related to the theme of the day, 3.) something in between. Whichever category, I try to combine a balance of words, images, and numbers. In general each post has three parts which is why I call them “Triptychs.”
BACKGROUND — Recap of last few weeks of topics — remember “thematic continuity is key to depth of thought.”
Last week (3/8) we investigated the astonishing fact of the relative unhappiness of liberal versus conservative women. The week before (3/1) we examined the relationship between justice and peace comparing the cases of the Ukraine today under Trump with that of Afghanistan under Biden, of Gaza under Netanyahu, and the issue of unconditional surrender in 1945. Three weeks ago (2/22) we explored three analogies as they pertain to the role of gratitude in the moral universe — Occam’s Razor, Alexander’s Sword, and hydrogen’s composition in the physical universe. Four weeks ago (2/15), a detailed plan to fix the world, began with a 12 minute experiment. Five weeks ago (2/8) I made the argument that equal opportunity is a three-front war (home, community, school) harnessing the “upstream/downstream” parable to make the point of the primacy of the home front.
Now, let’s return to the topic of the day — the nationwide injunction.
Experts — please chime in. Correct, elaborate, elucidate.
LAST WEEK, THREE FEDERAL JUDGES ACTED TO CONSTRAIN TRUMP — who were they? has anyone seen an updated version of this table? If so, please share.
1. Obama-nominated Maryland judge, James Bedar. “Bedar stopped Trump’s sacking of probationary employees at 18 federal agencies, including the Departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Education, Energy, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, Labor, State, Transportation, and Treasury.”
2. Clinton-nominated US Distsrict Judge William Alsup of San Francisco also denounced the firing of federal employees during their probationary period and rejected the claim that the firings were performance based.
3. Trump-appointed Judge Dabney Friedrich who questioned the breadth of the January 6 pardons.
REMEMBER, THE SHOE WAS ON THE OTHER FOOT NOT LONG AGO WHEN A FEDERAL JUDGE IN AMARILLO TEXAS, MATTHEW J. KACSMARYK BLOCKED THE SALE OF THE ABORTION PILL MIFEPRISTONE
1. In response, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez denounced the “egregious overreaches by members of the judiciary appointed by members of the right-wing Republican Party.”
2. The injunction was eventually over-ruled by the US Supreme Court.
3. However, are such injunctions fundamentally insane or are they “an essential remedy to keep up with sweeping executive orders” (Amanda Frost, professor at University of Virginia Law School)
JUDGE AMIR ALI (below), OF THE FEDERAL DISTRICT COURT OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA “BARRED THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION FROM UNLAWFULLY IMPOUNDING CONGRESSIONALLY APPROPRIATED FOREIGN AID FUNDS” AND FORCED THE ADMINISTRATION TO PAY FOR WORK COMPLETED BY FEB 13TH
1. “Last week, the Supreme Court declined to release the agencies from Judge Ali’s previous order, directing them to pay out nearlly $2 billion. It asked Judge Ali to “clarify what obligations the government must fulfill” noting that the Feb. 26 deadline he had previously set for the government to unfreeze the payments had passed.”
2. “The court voted 5 to 4, and is customary in such emergency applications, the majority offered no reasoning. But a dissent by Justice Samuel A. Alito, Jr. may have offered a preview of coming legal fights in other cases where groups have sued the Trump administration, accusing it of withholding funds authorized by Congress.”
3. “Justice Alito, joined by Justices Clarence Thomas, Neil. M. Gorsuch, and Brett M. Kavanaugh, wrote that the government was likely to prevail in the case because of federal sovereign immunity, which prevents groups from suing to force payments from the treasury.”
NB: “The government must apparently pay the $2 billion posthaste — not because the law requires it, but simply because a district judge has so ordered. As the nation’s highest court, we have a duty to ensure that the power entrusted to federal judges by the Constitution is not abused. Today, the court fails to carry out that responsibility.”
CONCLUSION — The more checks the better? Or not?
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/12/us/trump-judges.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/10/us/politics/usaid-foreign-aid-freeze-release-deadline.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amir_Ali_(judge)
QUOTE OF THE MONTH
“Make your own Bible. Select and collect all the words and sentences that in all your readings have been to you like the blast of a trumpet.”
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
My spin — then periodically review, re-rank, and exchange your list with those you love. I call this the “Orion Exchange” because seven is about as many as any human can digest at a time. Game?
For the last four years of posts organized by theme:
PDF with headlines — Google Drive
Four special attachments below:
#1 A graphic guide to justice (9 metaphors on one page).
#2 “39 Songs, Prayers, and Poems: the Keys to the Hearts of Seven Billion People” — Adams House Senior Common Room Presentation, (11/17/20)
#4 Palestine Orion (Decision) — let’s exchange Orions, let’s find Rumi’s field (“Beyond all ideas of right and wrong, there is a field. Meet me there” Rumi, 13 century Persian Sufi mystic)
YOUR TURN
Please share the coolest thing you learned in the last week related to justice, freedom, the law or basic values.
Or the coolest, most important thing you learned in your life related to justice, freedom, the law, or basic values.
Or just some random justice-related fact that blew you away.
This is your chance to make someone’s day. Or to cement in your mind something that you might otherwise forget. Or to think more deeply about something dear to your heart.
