Monday, December 07, 2020

Cruz Knows...

The chances of this case being argued to the whole court are "zip" and "none."

The case rises from a complaint that vote by mail in Pennsylvania was done by a legislative vote rather than by an amendment to the PA constitution.  Problem is, questions of state constitutional law (where it doesn't conflict with the U.S. Constitution) are left to the states.  The federal courts have no jurisdiction.

The PA Supreme Court has already rejected this claim, which is why it has been appealed to the Supremes (nowhere else for it to go, except away).  It can't be reviewed for the reasons outlined.  Alito is accepting briefs on the question so it can't be said the appeal was rejected without review.  The Court always reviews a request for writ of certiorari; it just doesn't always grant the request.

Cruz knows this.  He was the "Solicitor General" for Texas, and has argued before the Court several times.  He's not going to be the Senator to support Mo Brooks attempt to undo the electoral college vote under the Electoral Vote Act, so he's going on FoxNews and making an empty gesture.

He's at absolutely no risk of giving away his legal expertise for free, and he knows it.  He also knows this isn't the case to “ensure, within [the] powers [of the Supreme Court], that we are following the law and following the Constitution.”  The only law involved in this case is that of PA, and the U.S. Constitution is not involved at all.  He knows that, too.

He really is the emptiest of suits.  He will be contendedly spending December shooting animals, with no chance of an undue interruption.

2 comments:

  1. On one of her shows making fun of him Samantha Bee had a picture of him in some kind of teen right-wing political geek contest writing out passages from the Constitution on a white board with a bunch of other such geeks. Then he went to Harvard Law. I'd like to see him do it but only if they televised it because most of the people in the country find him repellent. He is crap in a tailored suit and an empty one all at once. If I could conjure gnats he'd be an itchy one.

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  2. There's a reason we send Cruz and Gohmert to D.C.

    Our general contempt for D.C.; and we don't want either of them around here. The state's not big enough.

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