Our ethically lax Supreme Court managed to get another one right and ruled against the dangerous Independent State Legislature theory. Disturbingly, three justices dissented.
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There’s speculation that they’re wanting to get the public off their backs, either because of Roe v Wade and all the financial scandals, or because a ruling people won’t like us coming down the wire. Either way, they may be handing out candy to avoid backlash.
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Meanwhile:
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So a bit of a “fun” fact : before the whole “coup-but-psyche” affair in Russia five days agp, I was actually going to make a post about the latest happening in Mali, where Wagner also is.
So Mali just had a referendum, and a change in their constitution.
The constitution is now much more presidential, so the amendments have the following :
- the president will “determine the policies of the Nation,” currently a role if the government
- the president will have the right to hire and fire the prime minister and cabinet members
- the government will be answerable to the president, it is currently to the parliament
- amnesty to those behind prior coups
- reform oversight of public finances and force MPs and senators to declare their wealth, as anti-corruption (as a reminder : corruption case are great for purging political enemies)
So it is suspected that is made to facilitate the continuation of the military junta rule, by having one of its leader taking the presidency (presumably col Goita).
As for the current power, they say the change are necessary as the previous constitution created a too weak centralized state, that was not adequate to create infrastructure, respond to security crises, and other needs.
As a reminder, the junta has promised to restore civilian rule by March 2024 .
They also called on the UN Security Council to pull out the 15,000-man MINUSMA force immediately, saying the mission had failed in its task of providing security. MINUSMA’s mandate expires tomorrow on June 30.
In addition to that, about Wagner and Africa, here is a chart of their corporate structures :
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And universities are no longer allowed to consider race in their admissions process.
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It’s the final day of Supreme Court rulings and they’ve started with this bullshit, ruling that Colorado’s anti-discrimination law violates the first amendment rights of bigots.
And in the other major case of the day, they’ve struck down Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan.
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In other news young people will never vote GOP in America again but on the downside SCOTUS has revealed they are more than willing to use false testimony and forged evidence to make decisions that impact minorities.
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I don’t know exactly how it is in the US, but isn’t the principle of a Supreme Court that they don’t really look at the case itself, but at the constitutionality/consilience of the law and of the decisions ?
All under a purposely narrow, targeted, and singular question and opinion demand.
Making this fact irrelevant to the Supreme Court procedure itself (if glaringly corrupt to a lot more, especially since it looks like the case was tailored made to go to the USSC to influence US politics)
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I mean it is still relevant as a part of that process is accepting cases that are submitted before them, they literally took on a case and during their deliberation it came to light that the original case presented might not be legitimate as it hinges on evidence that might be falsified yet they still established a precedent based on that case because they saw an opportunity to get what they want. To say nothing of the special interest groups and Christian lobbies that backed the case, possibly the only reason why this case even made it to the Supreme Court at all.
The submission of cases and passing of the bar might not be as flashy or seemingly notable as the review of the case, deliberation of facts and publishing of opinion but it is still a part of the process nonetheless and that part of the process is liable to be gamed by organisations and people with special interests and ulterior motives so it needs as much scrutiny as the verdicts passed after that fact. Also justices still hear oral arguments and are allowed to review cases so they can make a sound judgement.
That being said being said you are right that the USSC is supposed to be an appellate court taking cases that can’t be resolved in local, state or federal courts and resolving them or reviewing the prior decisions in addition to reviewing presidential vetoes and executive orders for constitutionality just as you said it does while also having judicial review even if that particular power was given to them by the USSC themselves and not in the third article itself. (Ironic isn’t it? Six of the current bench are Originalist who believe in the word of the Constitution)
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Thanks for the details. I know how it is in France (and our CC), and was uncertain as the exact nature of it in the US. Devil’s in the detail in those situations.
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In news that doesn’t suck, the ESA launched the Euclid telescope, which will meticulously chart a 3D map of a large portion of the observable universe, a process which scientists hope will allow them to infer some of the properties of dark matter and dark energy.
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Ha ha Law Student time.
The theoretical main goal of the Supreme Court is actually to keep the courts in check by provided an avenue of appeal should a court based in a state/district make a ruling that can be reasonably argued against.
As they operate in the Common Law system, when they make this ruling it actually becomes law that binds all courts beneath them (ie all courts), and it can be as simple as how to interpret a word or phrase in a piece of legislation to as complicated as decided which constitutional doctrines apply, and with what priority.
This also includes reviews on whether the government or a part of the government has the authority to do a thing or make a particular decision.
They most commonly make the news when they make big decisions with broad implications, like deciding that you can discriminate on the basis of sexuality, or overturning Roe v Wade but they generally also make a lot of decisions that have much narrow consequences - such as the definition of a word in a tax loophole, overturning an individual criminal conviction based on its individual facts, etc.
Theoretically the powers of the Supreme Court extend into making new law - they can decide that there should be a tort for not flushing after using a public bathroom, etc, but they require the case to be brought forward to them - and since they only hear a small number of cases it has to be something very important.
That’s the theory.
France operates under the Civil Code, which means that no court can create law - it can only interpret law put into statutes, and justify those interpretations based on policy, expert testimony, etc.
The flip side is, judges in the Civil Code have a much more inquisitive and guiding role - they do not need to wait for anything to be bought before them, they can move to investigate or rule on it.
So compared to them, the Supreme Court has a somewhat narrower ability to begin action - but much wider powers once presented with a decision.
This is why the Reactionary Rich have been bankrolling particular cases to go before the Supreme Court, so that they can effectively bypass regular lobbying and have law created via a ruling rather than a statute.
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I can picture Cougar gangsters Mason and Landon from Absolution saying “Nice try, adshole!” to AdBlock users.
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The thing is, it is kinda feasible to create a Twitter clone. There are some. But having a YT clone is so much more demanding we might got past the days that was possible. 
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It took google for them to become what they currently are. It’s not impossible for another tech giant to create an alternative, but YouTube is so deeply connected to everything and everyone that it is going to be pricey.
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Ariane 5 had its last launch today, from Kourou, French Guyana.
27 years of service, 117 launches.
Iconic.
Ariane 5 was the rocket for a long time, until spacex became too competitive cost wise.
Ariane 6, 40-50 percent cheaper, should have its first flight at the end of the year. Even though it currently is 3 years out of schedule.
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There’s a general news section? I litterally do political crap for a living. In my free time I do tons of reading on global news. I will have plenty to post here. 
On June 25th Greece held it’s general election to elect a new parliament. Whichever is the governing political party either through a majority or coalition will have the position of Prime Minister. Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and his New Democracy (center-right) party won a outright majority with 158 seats out of 300 with 40.6% of the vote. Meanwhile there main rival the Coalition of the Radical Left or Syriza (left winged populism) for short got 17.83% of the vote and won 47 seats.
I in particular love to watch election results so whenever I post about news here it will probably be election related.
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