Open Thread June 24, 2023 SCOTUS and Standing
If you have not noticed it, SCOTUS has been pushing back on states filing frivolous suits to which no harm has been done to them. They file these for whatever reasons they dream up, shop for district judges for approval, and then file to SCOTUS. Much of which is political. It could be to block another state, groups of people, or a person seeking redress.
SCOTUS takes a limited number of cases per year (eighty-something and down from 120-something). It is an over-paid and under-utilized entity by their own choice. Pages of these cases, some of which should be addressed, are addressed late in the year as rejected. There is harm done to these other entities seeking redress because of SCOTUS and also due to SCOTUS addressing corrupt states.
Open Thread June 17, 2023, Students Loans, Angry Bear, angry bear blog
Re-posting…
Harvard Scholar Who Studies Honesty Is Accused of Fabricating Findings
NY Times – June 24
Over the past two decades, dozens of behavioral scientists have risen to prominence pointing out the power of small interventions to improve well-being.
The scientists said they had found that automatically enrolling people in organ donor programs would lead to higher rates of donation, and that moving healthy foods like fruit closer to the front of a buffet line would result in healthier eating.
Many of these findings have attracted skepticism as other scholars showed that their effects were smaller than initially claimed, or that they had little impact at all. But in recent days, the field may have sustained its most serious blow yet: accusations that a prominent behavioral scientist fabricated results in multiple studies, including at least one purporting to show how to elicit honest behavior.
The scholar, Francesca Gino of Harvard Business School, has been a co-author of dozens of papers in peer-reviewed journals on such topics as how rituals like silently counting to 10 before deciding what to eat can increase the likelihood of choosing healthier food, and how networking can make professionals feel dirty.
Maurice Schweitzer, a behavioral scientist at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, said the accusations were having large “reverberations in the academic community” because Dr. Gino is someone who has “so many collaborators, so many articles, who is really a leading scholar in the field.” …
Paramilitary Chief Abruptly Ends Standoff in Russia
NY Times – June 24
Yevgeny Prigozhin, the leader of the Wagner mercenary group, halted his march on Moscow and withdrew his forces from a southern Russia military hub. Russia dropped charges against Mr. Prigozhin and said he would go to Belarus.
The outlines of a deal that appeared to defuse a rapidly evolving Russian security crisis began to come into focus late Saturday, as the Kremlin announced that a Russian mercenary leader, who for nearly 24 hours led an armed uprising against the country’s military leadership, would flee to Belarus and his fighters would escape repercussions.
The announcement capped one of the most tumultuous days in President Vladimir V. Putin’s more than 23-year rule in Russia and followed an apparent intervention by the leader of neighboring Belarus, who stepped in to negotiate a solution to the crisis directly with the head of the Wagner private military company, Yevgeny V. Prigozhin, who was leading the revolt. …
US spies learned in mid-June Prigozhin was plotting Russia uprising
Washington Post – June 24
U.S. spy agencies picked up intelligence in mid-June indicating Wagner mercenary chief Yevgeniy Prigozhin was planning armed action against the Russian defense establishment – which he has long accused of bungling the war in Ukraine – and urgently informed the White House and other government agencies so they were not caught off-guard, several U.S. officials said Saturday.
The exact nature and timing of Prigozhin’s plans were not clear until shortly before his stunning takeover of a military command and tank run toward Moscow on Friday and Saturday, officials said. But “there were enough signals to be able to tell the leadership . . . that something was up,” said one official, who like others spoke on the condition of anonymity citing the matter’s sensitivity. “So I think they were ready for it.”
Over the last two weeks there was “high concern” about what might transpire – whether Russian President Vladimir Putin would remain in power and what any instability might mean for control of Russia’s nuclear arsenal, the official said. “There were lots of questions along those lines,” this person said.
The instability that might result from a Russian “civil war” was the key fear, officials said. In addition to the White House, senior officials at the Pentagon, State Department and in Congress were briefed within the last two weeks on the intelligence, officials said.
A key trigger for Prigozhin, officials said, was a June 10 Russian Defense Ministry order that all volunteer detachments would have to sign contracts with the government. Though the order did not mention Wagner by name, the implication was clear: a takeover of Prigozhin’s mercenary troops, who have proved essential to Russia’s military campaign in Ukraine and have helped secure some of its most notable tactical victories.
Ukrainian military officials also were watching Prigozhin after the June 10 announcement and increasingly believed that he might mobilize his forces against Moscow, said a senior Ukrainian official. Prigozhin had publicly protested the defense ministry’s order, and Ukrainian officials took seriously the possibility that he might move against Russian positions, this person said. …
Belarus deal to take in leader of Russian rebellion puts him in an even more repressive nation
AP – just in
… “It is not yet clear what Lukashenko is going to do with Prigozhin. I think they don’t have an understanding themselves.” exiled Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya told The Associated Press.
“Lukashenko once again has made Belarus a hostage to other people’s games and wars. He is by no means a peacemaker.”
“Prigozhin leaving for Belarus does not mean that Prigozhin will stay there. There’s nothing for him to do in Belarus — arrive, exhale, use the corridor and move on,” said Artem Shraibman, a Belarusian political analyst now in exile in Poland.
What’s next for Wagner?
The Belarus deal removes Prigozhin’s control of Wagner, but it’s unclear whether any of his fighters would follow him to Belarus, either out of a sense of loyalty or due to dismay with being absorbed into the Russian military as contract soldiers.
“These personnel could potentially sign contracts with the MoD on an individual basis, demobilize in Russia … (or) travel to Belarus in some capacity,” the Institute for the Study of War think tank said in its report on the failed rebellion.
If in Belarus, there would be concerns about whether they could get access to the Russian battlefield nuclear weapons. Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy head of Russia’s security council, was worried about them gaining control of Russian weapons as the uprising roiled on Saturday.
“The world will be put on the brink of destruction,” if Wagnerites obtain nuclear weapons, Medvedev warned.
As Legal Fees Mount, Trump Steers Donations Into PAC That Has Covered Them
NY Times – June 25
A previously unnoticed change in Donald Trump’s online fund-raising appeals allows him to divert a sizable chunk of his 2024 contributions to a group that has spent millions to cover his legal fees. …
… When Mr. Trump kicked off his 2024 campaign in November, for every dollar raised online, 99 cents went to his campaign, and a penny went to Save America.
But internet archival records show that sometime in February or March, he adjusted that split. Now his campaign’s share has been reduced to 90 percent of donations, and 10 percent goes to Save America.
The effect of that change is potentially substantial: Based on fund-raising figures announced by his campaign, the fine-print maneuver may already have diverted at least $1.5 million to Save America.
And the existence of the group has allowed Mr. Trump to have his small donors pay for his legal expenses, rather than paying for them himself.
Steven Cheung, a spokesman for Mr. Trump, did not answer detailed questions about why the Trump operation has changed how the funds he is raising are being split. Save America technically owns the list of email addresses and phone numbers of his supporters — one of the former president’s most valuable assets — and the campaign is effectively paying the PAC for access to that list, he explained.
“Because the campaign wants to ensure every dollar donated to President Trump is spent in the most cost-effective manner, a fair-market analysis was conducted to determine email list rentals would be more efficient by amending the fund-raising split between the two entities,” Mr. Cheung said in a written statement. …
AB Readers
There is a lot going on in healthcare hence my concentration of posts on the topic. Don’t mean to bore you.
Anybody watching the developments in Russia? A lot of theater going on there. As XMilitary myself, I find this to be strange.
Abandon the front line to move on Moscow and Russia. And then decide not to do it. If you have only a few hundred men, it would be insanity. If you have a few thousand, is it enough? What happens to them who followed fearless leader?
Then fearless Wagner leader goes, allowed to go to Belarus in exile. Everyone goes back to work
attackingdefending against Ukraine attacks. All in one week?Prigozhin Revolt Raises Searing Question: Did It Harm Putin’s Staying Power?
NY Times – June 25
Russians with ties to the Kremlin expressed relief that Wagner’s mutiny did not spark a civil war. But they agreed that Vladimir Putin had come off looking weak in a way that could be lasting.
… This weekend, Russian stability was nowhere to be found, and neither was Mr. Putin, who after making a brief statement on Saturday morning vanished from sight during the most dramatic challenge to his authority in his 23-year reign.
In his absence, he left stunned Russians wondering how the leader of a paramilitary group, Yevgeny V. Prigozhin, could stage an armed mutiny on Saturday that threatened to reach Moscow. And it raised uncomfortable questions about the Russian president’s future: What did his failure to prevent the revolt mean for their security — and his staying power?
Russians with ties to the Kremlin expressed relief on Sunday that Mr. Prigozhin’s uprising did not spark a civil war. But at the same time, they agreed that Mr. Putin had come off looking weak in a way that could be lasting. …
(Prigozhin, no longer in control of the Wagner Group supposedly, is exiled to Belarus with – so far – no further pnishment. Putin literally disappeared for a few hours – on a plane to St Petersburg supposedly – said to be ‘weakened’ politically.)
Russia drops charges against Prigozhin and others who took part in brief rebellion
AP via Boston Globe – just in
Russian authorities said Tuesday they have closed a criminal investigation into the aborted armed rebellion led by mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin and are pressing no charges against him or his troops.
The Federal Security Service, or FSB, said its investigation found that those involved in the mutiny, which lasted less than 24 hours after Prigozhin declared it Friday, “ceased activities directed at committing the crime,” so the case would not be pursued.
It was the latest twist in a series of stunning events that have brought the gravest threat so far to President Vladimir Putin’s grip on power amid the 16-month-old war in Ukraine.
Over the weekend, the Kremlin pledged not to prosecute Prigozhin and his fighters after he stopped the revolt on Saturday, even though Putin had branded them as traitors and authorities rushed to fortify Moscow’s defenses as the mutineers approached the capital.
The charge of mounting an armed mutiny is punishable by up to 20 years in prison. Prigozhin escaping prosecution poses a stark contrast to how the Kremlin has treated those staging anti-government protests in Russia, where many opposition figures have gotten long sentences in notoriously harsh penal colonies. …
Titan submersible implosion: another safety lesson learned through tragedy
Boston Globe editorial – June 24
The deaths of five passengers aboard a submersible should be a wake-up call to stop letting wealthy tourists gallivant in outer space or the deep seas without any regulation at all. …
The Titan sub was likely trying to surface and the passengers probably knew the hull was ‘starting to crack’ before it imploded, James Cameron says
Insider – June 23
The filmmaker and Titanic expert James Cameron told ABC News that the Titan submersible was likely trying to resurface after losing all communications with the outside world hours into a deep-sea mission Sunday and that the five passengers on board likely knew of a problem before the vessel collapsed in a catastrophic implosion.
“This OceanGate sub had sensors on the inside of the hull to give them a warning when it was starting to crack,” Cameron said on a Thursday appearance on ABC. “And I think, if that’s your idea of safety, then you’re doing it wrong.”
“They probably had warning that their hull was starting to delaminate and starting to crack,” he said.
“It’s our belief, we understand from inside the community, that they had dropped their ascent weights, and they were coming up, trying to manage an emergency,” Cameron added. …
From the Globe editorial …
… At a bare minimum, Canada and the United States could demand that operators of future high-risk ventures like deep-sea submersible dives or trips into outer space carry insurance that would cover rescue costs. Space tourism flights are generally uninsured. It’s unclear whether OceanGate had insurance for the Titanic trip or required its passengers to be insured (the company’s CEO, Stockton Rush, was one of the five who died in the submersible). But requiring insurance might at least help governments recoup rescue costs that in this case are expected to run into the millions of dollars.
Governments could also close the loopholes that have allowed such trips to remain outside the reach of safety regulators. For instance, the Federal Aviation Administration is specifically prohibited from regulating passenger safety aboard commercial spaceflights. That moratorium is due to expire in October — but only if Congress allows it. There is an existing federal law regulating submersibles (which are commonly used by the oil and gas industry) — but it did not apply to OceanGate, which operated Titan in international waters. It would take action by the United Nations’ International Maritime Organization to bring submersibles under its purview. …
Whatever approach national and international authorities choose, these deaths should be a wake-up call to stop letting wealthy tourists gallivant in outer space or the deep seas without any regulation at all. When the Titanic sank, the ship was part of a necessary and vital industry: Ocean liners were the only way to travel between the continents. Regulating ships involved economic tradeoffs. But that’s not a factor for extreme adventure tourism: No tourist needs to see the Titanic. If they want to visit the ruins, they need to be prepared to pay a price that reflects the cost of going there safely — and for a system to allow rescuers to reach them safely in case of calamity.
Supreme Court Rejects Theory That Would Have Transformed American Elections
NY Times – just in
The 6-3 majority dismissed the “independent state legislature” theory, which would have given state lawmakers nearly unchecked power over federal elections.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected a legal theory that would have radically reshaped how federal elections are conducted by giving state legislatures largely unchecked power to set all sorts of rules for federal elections and to draw congressional maps warped by partisan gerrymandering.
The vote was 6 to 3, with Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. writing the majority opinion. The Constitution, he said, “does not exempt state legislatures from the ordinary constraints imposed by state law.”
Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel A. Alito Jr. and Neil M. Gorsuch dissented.
The case concerned the “independent state legislature” theory. The doctrine is based on a reading of the Constitution’s Elections Clause, which says, “The times, places and manner of holding elections for senators and representatives, shall be prescribed in each state by the legislature thereof.”
Proponents of the strongest form of the theory say this means that no other organs of state government — not courts, not governors, not election administrators, not independent commissions — can alter a legislature’s actions on federal elections.
The case, Moore v. Harper, No. 21-1271, concerned a voting map drawn by the North Carolina Legislature that was initially rejected as a partisan gerrymander by the state’s Supreme Court. Experts said the map was likely to yield a congressional delegation made up of 10 Republicans and four Democrats. …
Supreme Court upholds North Carolina ruling that congressional districts violated state law
AP via Boston Globe – just in
The Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled that North Carolina’s top court did not overstep its bounds in striking down a congressional districting plan as excessively partisan under state law.
The justices by a 6-3 vote rejected the broadest view of a case that could have transformed elections for Congress and president.
North Carolina Republicans had asked the court to leave state legislatures virtually unchecked by their state courts when dealing with federal elections.
But Chief Justice John Roberts wrote for the court that “state courts retain the authority to apply state constitutional restraints when legislatures act under the power conferred upon them by the Elections Clause. But federal courts must not abandon their own duty to exercise judicial review.” …