"Immigration is the sincerest form of flattery."

 

Trump is anti-legal immigrant, even if "illegals" is the favorite go-to. My grandparents were immigrants. On the other side, they were once denounced as unfit to be American. Pig is right.

Giants QB Campaigns For Trump

I discuss the controversy arising from the Giants' QB introducing Trump at a campaign event. Trump is bad, the Giants don't need the drama, and they already had Epstein drama. No handwaving. The criticism of DART is appropriate. Meanwhile, Mets suck again.

SCOTUS Order List

The weekly Order List had some interesting bits.

The justices decided the appeals court wrongly decided on procedural grounds a lawsuit involving the free speech rights of immigration judges (not Art. III judges). Thomas (with Barrett) also disagreed on the merits. Free speech fails, for now. 

[The backstory is that the administrative process was broken because of Trump's obstructionism. Helped b by the court conservatives. The lower court tried a workaround and was called out.] 

The justices, following standard practices since at least the 1970s, rejected even accepting a "bill of complaint" involving a dispute among states. 

Thomas (with Alito) took their usual stance (reasonable) that they should at least examine the merits. They also added some right-wing comments on the merits of a dispute involving undocumented people having driver's licenses. 

Kavanaugh would have taken a dispute involving arbitration (New York Football Giants v. Brian Flores). He didn't comment on why. 

Alito and Thomas would have summarily reversed a lower court opinion involving excessive force and the Fourth Amendment. They cited a lower court opinion they "essentially" agreed with. 

Alito (no comment), Kagan, and Jackson (referencing ethical guidelines) did not take part in deciding three cases.  I continue to prefer the latter approach. 

Finally, in a "to be continued" sort of way, a lower court continued to reject a redistricting map, holding it is racially discriminatory. The Supreme Court, with the liberals dissenting, sent it back. 

It is likely to come back.  

==

Meanwhile, this is an interesting discussion of the Supreme Court's relation with social media, including suggestions on how it can dip its toes in.

Pope v. AI

The Catholic Church, in various ways, is just plain a problem (understand if some will just say "no!"), but the last two popes were admirable in various ways. The latest from the pope shows why. 

Memorial Day Weekend

A Military Times article had a headline: "13 US troops killed, more than 380 wounded in Operation Epic Fury." 

Congress in the 1990s passed a law "recommending" that presidents ask people to pray for potential peace. I think, along with remembering the dead, working for peace (not just praying) is the best way to celebrate the holiday.

Goodbye, Stephen Colbert

It's over. Yesterday was Stephen Colbert's last night. 

It was also the last show of the CBS late-night show overall. There won't be repeats. They will immediately shift to a non-political comic show. 

Multiple celebrities had cameos. There was some gimmick that supposedly six bananas were a retirement gift. 

The final guest (who also sang "Hello Goodbye) was Paul McCarthy, who had that famous appearance over sixty years ago in the theater where Colbert had his show. Quite fitting, though he seemed a bit uncomfortable as the solo guest in a long-form way.

I DVR-ed it, and for whatever reason, it did not record the whole thing. It was about twenty minutes longer, and the DVR cut off at the normal end of the show. I saw what I missed online on YouTube. 

The show was a tad indulgent, overdoing a metaphor of some wormhole who sucked that everything into it. They probably could have handled it with a normal length, especially since they included a "meanwhile" segment with at least one story that wasn't too topical. 

Still, if it amused him, more power to him. I wish him well. I probably will check out Jimmy Kimmel a bit.

They had that short-lived comedy game show-like program after Stephen Colbert with a young woman comedian, who wanted to continue her stand-up full-time instead of continuing. It must have taken a lot of effort. They will now just have comedian stuff.

There are still two talk shows at 11:30 and one at 12:30, both with middle-aged white guys. Why can't they have some variety? John Oliver has a good show, but again, enough guys! 

I'm sure you can find a lot of women in various contexts. But, unfortunately, none of these talk shows entrusted a woman for any length of time (Joan Rivers once had a short-lived show). The late-night talk show might be on the way out, but this is still a problem. 

(We did have a black host once upon a time.) 

I enjoyed Stephen Colbert, though I think he didn't take enough risks. The show was a bit bland. Also, watching was often a matter of liking the guests. 

Basically, he seems like a nice guy with good values, with a wickedly funny side. We saw that more on his old show, but it showed up here, too.  

He will have a small voice role on a Star Trek television show. He's co-writing a Lord of the Rings screenplay with his son. He will find something else to do, maybe after taking time off.  

One possibility is a longer form conversation format like Conan O'Brien and others do. He can show his musical theater side. He might do some drama. 

I think he will be fine. The overall annoying thing is that the network didn't find a way to end things on a nicer note. Colbert might still be angry because he didn't trust their reasons. But it seems gratuitous. 

==

Their Finest tells the story of a British Ministry of Information film team making a morale-boosting film about the Dunkirk evacuation during the Battle of Britain and the London Blitz. It's based on a book.

Gemma Arterton is the lead, and she's great. I rewatched the DVD and enjoyed it. I will eventually see if I like re-reading the book.  

I also rewatched Walking on Sunshine, which uses 1980s songs to tell a story. Arterton's sister plays one of the leads. Fun film. 

Great songs, well choreographed. 

Executions

There were three executions scheduled this week:

May 20 AZ Leroy McGill

May 21 TN Tony Carruthers

May 21 FL Richard Knight

Tony Carruthers is most troubling. 

But in the decade that followed the trial, as post-conviction litigation played out in the courts, testimony from other forensic experts cast serious doubt on those supposed facts. Now, with the state set to execute Carruthers on May 21, his attorneys are arguing not only that forensic testing might prove his innocence, but that his death sentence was based on an inflammatory falsehood. 

Other than the three-decade wait, which yet again is a problem, this execution has a bunch of issues. We had a serious innocence claim, mental health issues, self-representation, and more. 

He was released in late 2015. Before his release, how­ever, in 2010 and 2011, he met with members of a fed­er­al defense team and affirmed what Mr. Carruthers had long main­tained: Mr. Carruthers was not involved in the crime. Instead, he point­ed to an alter­nate sus­pect who was killed in 2002 but whose fin­ger­prints and DNA sam­ple are on file with the med­ical examiner’s office. 

I understand that liberals feel they should pick their spots. But this is a case that deserved at least a statement. Instead, we had multiple "no comment" orders rejected various claims. 

It also deserved a commutation. The co-defendant is out of prison. Instead ... he wasn't executed.

Why? They botched it. See you in 2027?

==

McGill flagged procedural problems and didn't have a final appeal. Horrible crime, which happened about twenty-five years ago. Again, that's too long ago. (Breyer, dissenting.)

Florida has executed some long-in-tooth cases. This one was "only" about twenty years ago. Domestic crime where the person also murdered a child. 

The challenges repeated stuff that was rejected before. Understandably, no justice commented. 

Both were executed. 

==

The first case is particularly arbitrary. 

The other two are more standard "death penalty as a whole is a bad policy" cases. 

PUNT

The Supreme Court handed down three opinions today. Jackson wrote a quickie on ERISA, Kagan had a solo dissent in a second, and they punted.

(More next Thursday.) 

Hamm v. Smith involved the rules in determining when someone is intellectually disabled enough to avoid execution. Some worried that it would result in a significant shift rightward, perhaps on much more than the specific subject matter.  

The justices decided to "DIG" it as improvidently granted. You can hear Alito grumbling. 

Kagan, Barrett, and Kavanaugh didn't provide any thoughts. Sotomayor (with Jackson) explained why they thought it a bad vehicle and responded to Alito's dissent (with Thomas joined in full, Roberts and Gorsuch mostly). A lot of writing for a DIG. 

Thomas, on his own, also strongly dissented, wanting to toss Atkins v. Virginia (intellectually disabled cannot be executed) entirely. 

Net result: The Supreme Court, on a 5-4 vote, lets stand lower court decisions tossing out Joseph Clifton Smith's death sentence in Alabama because the court found he is intellectually disabled.

Tina Peters Commutation + $1.776B Trump Slush

I cover both here.