Federal judge said prosecutors picked to replace Alina Habba repeated error of bypassing congressional approval

Federal judge said prosecutors picked to replace Alina Habba repeated error of bypassing congressional approval

Three prosecutors installed by Donald Trump’s administration to lead the New Jersey attorney general’s office after the president’s former personal lawyer was disqualified from the role in December were also illegally appointed, a federal judge has ruled.

Pam Bondi, the US attorney general, handpicked the three to replace Alina Habba, who resigned after a succession of district and appeals court rulings that she was serving illegally because she never received Senate confirmation.

On Monday, federal judge Matthew Brann said Bondi’s actions repeated the same error of bypassing congressional approval for the appointments. He stopped short of ordering their removal pending a government appeal – but, in a blistering 130-page ruling, said overreach by the executive branch could jeopardise all of its cases before him.

  • DandomRude@piefed.socialEnglish
    6·
    4 days ago

    There is no doubt that the US has been an oligarchy for several decades. However, an autocracy is a different thing, because in such a system, the oligarchs enforce their power through brute force.

    An example that is not very far from the US in this regard is Russia: this country is ruled by a tiny elite, as has long been the case in the US, but this elite no longer even pretends that the people they oppress have any choice. Anyone who opposes the system simply disappears, and I think it is precisely this total power that US billionaires are now claiming for themselves. In other words, I think the US oligarchs have now realized that no one is stopping them - and they will use this to abolish even the illusion of democracy.

    • 1.ceramics926@kopitalk.netEnglish
      3·
      4 days ago

      Isn’t that basically ICE and the selective enforcement of the law as demonstrated in Epstein?

      Are you sure you haven’t been exposed to so much violence that you’ve been convinced to redefine it?

      • DandomRude@piefed.socialEnglish
        4·
        4 days ago

        I’m not entirely sure what you’re getting at, but I can assure you of one thing: the status quo in the US is currently miles away from what an autocracy is. If you lived in one, you would have to fear for your life just because of these social media comments. And I mean that seriously: Palantir is just as much a thing in the US as the Patriot Act - if this country finally falls to fascism, every opposition, every dissident will be mercilessly wiped out. How that will play out is already evident today in the closest ally of the US, also a fascist regime: namely, Israel.