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#separationofpowers

24 posts5 participants0 posts today
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Previously, the organization’s guiding ambition was to end #HIV as a #PublicHealth threat by 2030. But the #Trump admin has targeted #PEPFAR for sharp reductions, part of a broad move to cut #ForeignAid, which federal ofcls believe is wasteful & a misuse of taxpayers’ money.

The abrupt termination of congressionally approved funding for the nonprofit organizations that partnered w/PEPFAR has already hobbled the program & crippled the global HIV response.

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The proposed plan has been under review for weeks, & word of it already has reached PEPFAR’s partners & govts in other countries. The draft obtained by NYT contains comments & edits from many senior staff members at the program.

#PEPFAR was crippled during the chaotic first few months of the #Trump admin, as #ElonMusk’s *cost-cutting* initiative, the #DOGE, slashed existing contracts, funding arrangements & govt structures.

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#PEPFAR, as the program is called, would cease to exist as an initiative to provide medicines & services needed to treat & prevent the spread of #HIV in #LowIncome countries.

It would be replaced by “bilateral relationships” with low-income countries focused on the detection of #outbreaks that could threaten the #US & the creation of new markets for American drugs & technologies, acc/to the documents.

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Federal #judges may identify a candidate on their own, it is authorized by a federal statute, according to Carl Tobias, a law professor at the University of Richmond.

#AlinaHabba had met with the judges who held the #power to extend her term to try to persuade them of her competence.

But her efforts had largely fallen flat, according to several prominent lawyers in the state with knowledge of the discussions.

#law #judiciary #SeparationOfPowers #Trump #autocracy
law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/28

LII / Legal Information Institute28 U.S. Code § 546 - Vacancies
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#AlinaHabba, Trump’s former personal lawyer, had no experience as a #prosecutor or in #criminal #law before #Trump appointed her to the temporary post.

Earlier this month, Trump nominated Habba to remain #USattorney permanently, but her confirmation faced headwinds in the US #Senate after #NewJersey’s 2 Democratic senators said she had pursued “frivolous & politically motivated prosecutions” & “did not meet the standard” to become a US attorney.

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A similar showdown took place last week in a federal prosecutors’ office in #Albany, #NY. There, after #judges refused to extend the temporary term of John A. Sarcone III, another embattled top prosecutor appointed by #Trump, the #DOJ named him “special attorney” to #PamBondi, the
attorney general.

The appointment gave Sarcone the powers of a #USattorney & is “indefinite,” acc/to a letter from the DOJ’s HR division that was obtained by NYT.

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The #judges’ decision, made after a private vote on Monday, had raised the possibility that the #NewJersey #USattorney would be an outlier in a #DOJ in which #Trump has insisted on loyalty. Ms. Grace, were she to become the US attorney, would still have to answer to top Justice ofcls in Washington — but the response from those officials on Tuesday seemed to indicate that even the prospect of leadership from someone who was not hand-selected by Trump was unacceptable.

I still can't get over the lather worked up by traditional #media over the Epstein-🍊🤡 connection. I mean, sure, it's a disgusting episode. But we already knew that Red Don is a rapist and pedophile. What's really changed?

Don't get me wrong: I'm glad it's happening. But I'm amazed that I live in a world in which this stuff is creating more widespread indignation than, say, the collapse of the #separationOfPowers; the destruction of American health and scientific research; and the plain-clothed, masked, #racist thugs cruising our streets, abducting brown people, and sending them off to foreign internment camps.

But hey, whatever brings him down is fine by me.

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Robert J. Cindrich, who helped found the group, said the country is not yet in a #ConstitutionalCrisis [really?] but that the strain on the courts is immense. Citing the admin’s response to orders, as well as its attacks on judges & law firms, Cindrich said, “The judiciary is being put under siege.”

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Justice #Sotomayor echoed that concern in a recent dissent when she accused #SCOTUS of “rewarding lawlessness” by allowing #Trump officials to deport immigrants to countries that are not their homelands. The conservative majority gave the green light, she noted, after Trump officials twice carried out deportations despite lower court orders blocking the moves.

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…“The #courts can’t enforce their own rulings — that has to be done by the executive branch,” said Michel, the fmr judge & Watergate special prosecutor.

He was referring to US #Marshals, the #ExecutiveBranch law enforcement personnel who carry out court orders related to #contempt proceedings, whether that is serving subpoenas or arresting officials whom a judge has ordered jailed for not complying.

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#Trump officials deny defying court orders, even as they accuse those who have issued them of “judicial tyranny.” When #SCOTUS in June restricted the circumstances under which presidential policies could be halted nationwide while they are challenged in court, Trump hailed the ruling as halting a “colossal abuse of power.”

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#Legal experts said the pattern of conduct is unprecedented for any presidential admin & threatens to undermine the #judiciary’s role as a check on an #ExecutiveBranch asserting vast #powers that test the boundaries of the #law & #Constitution. #Immigration cases have emerged as the biggest flash point, but the admin has also been repeatedly accused of failing to comply in lawsuits involving cuts to federal #funding & the #workforce.
#Trump #democracy #SeparationOfPowers #Autocracy #AbuseOfPower