Tea at Trianon: Merrick Garland Reigns Like A King

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Saturday, August 27, 2022

Merrick Garland Reigns Like A King

From Gregg Jarrett:

This is the hazard when you pick a federal judge to be the nation’s chief law enforcement official. Too many of them believe their decisions are sacrosanct and beyond reproach. Federal judges are anointed for life and gulp too often from the cup of self-righteousness. Garland declared that he personally approved the raid, as if by decree that should end the matter once and for all. Deplorables have no rights.

So, what happens when the King is wrong —in this case, wrong about the law? For Garland, the answer is simple. He just waves his magic scepter and ignores the law, as if it never existed. After all, what’s the point of being the all-powerful ruler unless there are perks that come with the gig?

Did you bother to watch Merrick Garland’s confirmation hearing to be Attorney General of the United States? Naw, I didn’t think so. But I did. He left the distinct impression that any laws he likes are sacred, but the laws he dislikes are an inconvenience to be swatted aside like pesky flies. That’s a dangerous mentality.

So, it should come as no surprise that his raid on Trump’s home in Palm Beach, Florida was a lawless and punitive hit job. Garland cited three criminal codes as the basis for his dubious warrant. But those statutes have no application because the controlling law on presidential papers is dictated exclusively by the Presidential Records Act of 1978. Under that very specific law (which nullify general statutes), the Trump had the right to take custody of the documents in dispute.

I’ve pointed this out before, including on air the day of the raid when the news broke. But don’t take my word for it. Read the excellent analysis by David Rivkin and Lee Casey, two well-respected constitutional law experts who nicely explained it in the op-ed section of The Wall Street Journal on Tuesday. They wrote, “the FBI had no legally valid cause for the raid” because “federal law gives Mr. Trump a right of access to them. His possession of them is entirely consistent with that right, and therefore lawful.”

Garland knew this, but he didn’t care. He waved his Divine orb and invaded Mar-a-Lago for purely political reasons. He hates Trump and all Republicans for denying him a seat on the U.S. Supreme Court. So, he sought vengeance while doing the partisan bidding of his boss, Joe Biden, in a desperate ploy to knock out Joe’s expected opponent in the next presidential election. That’s how ruthless and unscrupulous despots operate —neutralize the enemy. (Read more.)