Senate Democrats Sue To Block Matt Whitaker From Serving as Attorney General
Source: The Daily Beast
A group of Senate Democrats is suing to block Matt Whitaker from serving as acting attorney general on grounds that his placement in the post was unconstitutional.
The suit, which is being filed by Sens. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), and Mazie K. Hirono (D-HI) in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, is the latest and most aggressive salvo against the Whitaker appointment. Last week, the Department of Justice Office of Legal Counsel defended Whitakers promotion in a memo that drew immediate criticism for its expansive understanding of the presidents power. That view is in hot dispute, including from the state of Maryland, which petitioned a federal judge to stop him from serving on constitutional grounds.
The latest suit, which was brought by the groups Protect Democracy and the Constitutional Accountability Center for the Senators, argues that Whitakers appointment violates the Constitutions Appointments Clause because the U.S. Senate did not confirm him to his prior post. Whitaker was chief of staff to now-former Attorney General Jeff Sessions before President Trump elevated him to his current gig. Trump did so through the Vacancies Reform Act, which allows the staffing of vacant positions for up to 210 days. But many constitutional scholars have argued that the Vacancies Reform Act doesnt let the president appoint people to cabinet-level positions who havent been senate confirmed. The Senate confirmed Whitaker in 2004 as a U.S. Attorney in Iowa, but his opponentsmost prominently George Conway, the husband of White House senior staffer Kellyanne Conway, and former Solicitor General Neal Katyalsay that confirmation has effectively lapsed.
Installing Matthew Whitaker so flagrantly defies constitutional law that any viewer of Schoolhouse Rock would recognize it, Blumenthal said in a statement. President Trump is denying Senators our constitutional obligation and opportunity to do our job: scrutinizing the nomination of our nations top law enforcement official. The reason is simple: Whitaker would never pass the advice and consent test. In selecting a so-called constitutional nobody and thwarting every Senators constitutional duty, Trump leaves us no choice but to seek recourse through the courts.
Read more: https://www.thedailybeast.com/senate-democrats-sue-to-remove-matt-whitaker-from-the-attorney-general-post
Botany
(70,490 posts)Acting U.S. Attorney General Matt Whitaker is facing scrutiny over his involvement in alleged scams at a patent company, including claims of time travel, proof of Bigfoot, and a "masculine toilet" invention.
Mother Jones reports Whitaker was named to the advisory board of World Patent Marketing in Nov. 2014, the same month the Miami Beach-based firm announced the launch of an extra-deep toilet designed to help "well-endowed men" go to the bathroom without their genitalia making contact with the porcelain or water.
"The average male genitalia is between 5 inches and 6 inches," the invention-marketing company said. "However, this invention is designed for those of us who measure longer than that."
snip
World Patent Marketing also said "time travel" could be "possible, perhaps within the next decade" to raise money for a "theoretical time travel commodity tied directly to price of Bitcoin." Time Travel X was branded as "an investment vehicle" that could help users "relive moments from your past" or "visit your future."
https://www.syracuse.com/us-news/index.ssf/2018/11/matt_whitaker_bigfoot_toilet_time_travel.html
BTW World Patent Marketing paid $26 million in fines for their scams too. He'll fit right in w/Donny and his
Trump U. scams.
Thank you for this.
dhill926
(16,337 posts)when ERECT. So I'm confused. Is this masculine toilet for men who sport erections when they take a dump? This boggles the mind...
Botany
(70,490 posts)... Secretariat the basic geometry doesn't work out because when a man is standing over
a regular toilet going #1 as per the man's junk being in the water. And a guy would have
to have a 10"+ penis (flaccid) or elephant balls to be a problem with the water and or porcelain
when he is taking a dump.
But maybe if you are doing time travel to see bigfoots this "big man" toilet makes sense to you.
Achilleaze
(15,543 posts)pazzyanne
(6,547 posts)Thank you Democratic Senators!
gademocrat7
(10,654 posts)mahatmakanejeeves
(57,393 posts)Last edited Mon Nov 19, 2018, 01:16 PM - Edit history (1)
I had started a new thread in LBN. I self-deleted it. I'd like to know why our crackerjack search engine didn't find this one. This is how my post would have gone there:
JUST IN: Sens. Blumenthal, Hirono, and Whitehouse challenge Acting AG Whitaker's appointment. The lawsuit was filed in federal court in DC. https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/5188863/Blumenthal-v-Whitaker-Complaint.pdf
Link to tweet
By Jeremy Herb, CNN
Updated 11:09 AM ET, Mon November 19, 2018
(CNN) -- Three Democratic senators on Monday filed a lawsuit challenging the appointment of acting Attorney General Matt Whitaker, ratcheting up the court effort to declare his placement atop the Justice Department as unconstitutional.
Sens. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island and Mazie Hirono of Hawaii filed the suit in US District Court on Monday, represented by the groups Protect Democracy and the Constitutional Accountability Center.
The lawsuit is only the latest challenge to Whitaker's appointment to replace Jeff Sessions after President Donald Trump fired his attorney general the day after the election.
Whitaker was serving as Sessions' chief of staff, and has not gone through the Senate confirmation process in that role. His appointment leap-frogged Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, which also gave Whitaker control over special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation that had previously been supervised by Rosenstein.
....
FakeNoose
(32,633 posts)... more than once. It's gotten to the point that I don't even try to post anything in LBN any more.
Something tells me, that's what they want!
scipan
(2,341 posts)I like the part about it injuring the Senate (standing).
lagomorph777
(30,613 posts)getagrip_already
(14,708 posts)We have this suit, at least one petition to the courts to determine who the ag actually is, and something being heard at scotus.
Why is this clown still in the ring?
Why hasn't any court made a ruling?
Taraman
(373 posts)Does he already know what Mueller knows? And passed it on to Trump?
Vinca
(50,261 posts)background check. I don't get it. It sounds like he's the subject of an FBI investigation himself.
FakeNoose
(32,633 posts)... let alone Attorney General material. The appointment/promotion of Whitaker is literally scraping the bottom of the barrel and it's an insult to anyone who has devoted his/her professional life to government service.
He couldn't possibly have been vetted or given a routine background check.
It's a travesty - but then, so is Trump himself.
Fatemah2774
(245 posts)Let's show them what that means to Mr. Whitaker and his crony who demeans and insults both law and order daily and is scared of justice by the hour.