Trump throws a $20 billion tantrum, and meet more dodgy judicial nominees
Injustice for All is a weekly series about how the Trump administration is trying to weaponize the justice system—and the people who are fighting back.
Trump is a snowflake, and his sad feelings are worth $20 billion
In what is now apparently a trend, Paramount has offered Donald Trump millions of dollars to settle a lawsuit that has no merit. But Paramount’s proposed bribe of $15 million to a sitting president just wasn’t enough for Trump, who wants $25 million and an apology from CBS for the imagined slights he suffered
Here’s the thing: At the very best, all Trump can point to is that “60 Minutes” may have engaged in some light editing of an interview with Kamala Harris, which, last time we looked, was neither a crime nor worth $25 million. But media companies have learned that they have to bribe Trump or they’ll face harassing investigations by the Federal Communications Commission or see their mergers blocked. And Paramount just happens to have a merger pending that requires approval.
While Paramount is trying to come up with a number big enough to satisfy Trump, the lawsuit is proceeding. Part of Trump’s argument in opposition to Paramount’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit is that he suffered “mental anguish” and his role as a “content creator” was damaged. Oh, and that’s worth $20 billion.
Yes, the big tough president, king of the “Fuck your feelings” crowd, essentially brought a participation trophy lawsuit. He wants money from Paramount because CBS made him sad. It’s exactly the type of lawsuit conservatives pretend to abhor. But when it comes to Trump, no amount of tenderness—or cash—is enough.
DOJ’s Civil Rights Division will make sure racist Christian nationalists can thrive
Well, at least we know which civil rights the administration is interested in fighting for.
At the request of dedicated Christian nationalist Matt Meyer, the federal government has sued the city of Troy, Idaho, in order to force the city to let Meyer open a church in its downtown business district, even though Troy’s ordinance prohibits all churches in that district, not just Meyer’s Christ Church. Nonetheless, the administration’s lawsuit alleges Troy violated the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000 by not waiving its zoning requirements for the church.
Related | Rubio tells his staff to snitch on ‘anti-Christian’ colleagues
So, what type of church is Christ Church? Regrettably, just the kind this administration would adore. It’s led by Doug Wilson, who loves Christian nationalism and has outright said that Moscow, Idaho, is a good place for a biblical takeover because “We should want America to be a Christian nation.” Wilson is pretty adamant he’s neither racist nor sexist, a claim that is undercut by his actions. He wrote a book defending slavery and he speaks at Confederate “heritage” conferences. He thinks women need to surrender to men and be “led with a firm hand.”
Dunno, buddy. That sounds a lot like racism and sexism.
The administration’s suit against Troy makes no mention of the church’s beliefs but does have a long section of quotes from random people who said mean things about the church. Totally normal filing, yesiree.
Get to know a low-profile scumbag: Judd Stone
Well, you actually probably do know who Judd Stone is now, though probably not for the reasons he wishes.
News broke earlier this week that in 2023, Stone had had resigned his gig as solicitor general of Texas after multiple sexual harassment complaints from colleagues because Stone would not stop talking about his fantasy of … an asteroid raping his colleague?
We learned about this only because one of the women he allegedly harassed filed a lawsuit with all the details you wish you never knew about Stone’s extremely odd and highly specific brand of sexual harassment. It also alleges that Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton let Stone resign after he learned of the misconduct allegations, as did Sen. Ted Cruz over similar allegations when Stone worked in Cruz’s office.
Stone’s name might not have rung a bell before this, but he was the Lone Star State’s top appellate lawyer. He’s argued before the Supreme Court eight times, including defending the state’s abortion ban that allows private citizens to sue over someone else’s abortion. Stone’s argument? That just being aware of someone else’s abortion could cause them “psychological harm” from their “extreme outrage” over abortion.
You know what actually causes psychological harm? Graphically describing your anal rape fantasies to your subordinates at work.
Stone has been in private practice now for a couple of years, where he has chosen to represent exactly the type of person you think he would: He’s the lawyer for X in Elon Musk’s vendetta against Media Matters.
In a normal world, the allegations against Stone would mean his high-flying legal career was over. In the Trump era, he’ll probably get a judgeship instead.
Speaking of judges
Trump’s first slate of judicial nominees is out and, as per usual, he’s picked some real winners.
We already knew that Trump was nominating Emil Bove, his former criminal defense attorney and current high-level bully at the DOJ, for a seat on the Third Circuit Court of Appeals. But what about some of the lesser lights Trump wants to put on the bench? Here are a couple.
You might not have heard of Joshua Divine, the current solicitor general for Missouri, but given his views, you’re probably going to hear a lot from him if he gets a lifetime seat on the federal court in the Show Me State. In 2010, Divine wrote a college op-ed arguing that people should be required to pass literacy tests before they could vote.
You do not need to be a legal scholar or a Trump judicial nominee to see that this is straight-up racist Jim Crow stuff. It’s the reason we have a Voting Rights Act!
One of Divine’s colleagues, Maria Lanahan, has also been nominated for a seat on the Missouri federal bench. As the principal deputy solicitor general in the Missouri Attorney General’s Office, Lanahan co-authored Missouri’s unhinged complaint that is part of an overall conservative strategy to get the abortion pill, mifepristone, banned entirely.
Some of Lanahan and Divine’s top-notch and totally true arguments? That the abortion pill “starves the baby in the womb” and that access to abortion creates “diminishment of political representation,” which can lead to “loss of federal funds.”
In case you don’t speak fluent anti-choice, here’s a translation: Their argument is that the state is harmed by not forcing more people to have children, because the state wants a higher population to increase its political might and federal funding.
Can’t wait to see great arguments like this in judicial opinions.
Trump’s Office of Special Counsel appointee has no idea what that office is, but will be terrible regardless
The Office of Special Counsel is one of those tiny federal agencies that is very important, but one you likely have never heard of unless you’re a federal employee or a whistleblower. However, we now live in a world where Trump and fellow megalomaniac Elon Musk let untamed children run amok through the federal government, so we’re all now deeply aware of these sorts of things.
The OSC protects federal employees from reprisal, particularly for whistleblowing, and serves as a secure channel for federal whistleblowers to report wrongdoing. Trump illegally pushed out the previous head, Hampton Dellinger, without cause, but the courts didn’t stop him, so here we are.
Let’s take a quick detour here to talk about why Dellinger got that job. Before being appointed head of the OSC, Dellinger represented whistleblowers, served as deputy attorney general in North Carolina, and was chief legal counsel to the North Carolina governor, where he investigated Medicaid fraud and political corruption.
Now, let’s talk about the credentials of Trump’s pick Paul Ingrassia, who seems to think his new job in the OSC is about “eliminating waste, fraud, and abuse in the federal workforce and revitalize the Rule of Law and Fairness in Hatch Act enforcement.”
It’s not surprising Ingrassia wouldn’t know anything about the job he’s getting, because his previous legal work includes representing notorious professional misogynist Andrew Tate, with kind of an oopsie where he said he was an attorney more than a year before he was admitted to the bar. This might tip you off that Ingrassia has not exactly had a long legal career, having graduated law school in 2022.
In his role as White House liaison official for the Department of Justice, he was instrumental in getting the travel ban against Tate and his brother, Tristan, lifted. He’s also a big fan of professional racist Nick Fuentes.
Ingrassia’s other work includes writing for the Gateway Pundit and hosting a far-right podcast, which are definitely things that qualify you to run a federal agency specializing in whistleblowing and the protection of federal employees.
Trump described him as a “highly respected attorney, writer, and Constitutional Scholar,” but he is objectively none of those things. Even if you think Trump is great and Ingrassia is terrific, nothing about his meager experience adds up to “highly respected attorney” or “Constitutional Scholar.” But hey! At least the “writer” part is correct—if you count stanning for Trump on the worst blog imaginable.