204 Comments
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Marcie Alexander's avatar

There are a lot of delicious lines in this decision. She really gave it to him. He’s going to be very angry.

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Public Servant's avatar

Judge Howell is defending democracy. Thank you Katie for making my week! I was inspired by Mark Carney fighting fascism up north, so I wrote a poem: https://democracydefender2025.substack.com/p/mark-carney-oh-canada

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Heather.B's avatar

The Trump Administration are ignoring laws and court orders with no consequences. I hope they do face SERIOUS consequences.

Unfortunately it was understandable for Biden to pardon family members when he knew Trump thugs would continue to ruthlessly target them and a corrupted DOJ/Supreme Court could very well comply by punishing them. We should never have allowed it to get this far!

Trump no longer follows the constitution, he laughs at SCOTUS while accepting no responsibility: doesn't know, blames lawyers, makes excuses, tell lies, misdirected the media, threatens everyone that won't comply.

Enough is enough.

Supreme Court needs to direct CONGRESS to do their job: Impeach Trump.

Trump and MAGAs literally have to do everything and anything they can to remain in power or they’ll end up in prison with how much criminality and damage they are doing.

It's my time to wear these liberal t-shirts everyday until this nightmare ends 👇

https://libtees.dashery.com/t-shirts

It’s time MAGAs understand that there is a thing called the CONSTITUTION.

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Amy Walter's avatar

The trump regime not administration

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John Buchanan's avatar

The courts can't tell congress to impeach Trump. But the PEOPLE can. Call, protest, and VOTE them out and put someone in who will.

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MT's avatar

I have all MAGA Republican representatives, and they hear from me at least once a week. It's telling, when you ask for a reply, that they totally ignore what I wrote about and thanked me for staying involved and that it "mattered." You can tell by the language, especially from Senator Mike Lee, that he didn't pay any attention to what I wrote. The reply letters always come in two different fonts---meaning it is obvious which part he tacked onto the reply. He has his lips permanently stitched to Trump's ass, and would never dream of doing anything except what Trump wants. The man has no original thoughts, he just repeats Trump's, which is ultra disgusting. I will fight to get him removed from office when his reelection comes up.

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John Buchanan's avatar

I can relate to your situation. Where I live one can't swing a dead cat without hitting a republican. Don't despair, they ignore us at their peril.

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Ss's avatar

Florida 💯 feels your pain. Rick Scott 💩💩💩

The canned replies are an indication they couldn’t care less because they are dug in, neck deep up his rear and trapped. Those slowly waking up are scared 💩- less because they’ve sold their souls, they know we know it, and now they don’t know who to trust in their own party, or who bleeds human and who bleeds Cheetos orange. Consequences.

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Rymes1's avatar

SCOTUS is main part of the problem. They gave tRump immunity.

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Bryan's avatar

I've never understood fully why Republicans (MAGA?) let Trump get away with all the LIES! How the hell do they know what parts to believe and what parts to take to the bank.

Must be a cult.

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Robin's avatar

I love your poem! Make sure you copyright that and then send it out to canadian bands and/or their managers. Lyrics like your poem is what makes hit songs. It would be wonderful if something great came out of this chaos.

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Joan's avatar

Where are the songs — catchy, but fiery and upbeat — that censure Donald Trumpet’s criminal activities and intent? Every group should write their own. They’ll be sung throughout the land and played for every occasion. No one will be able to stop clapping their hands and tapping their toes!

Go, my Friends! Bring forth your best poets and musicians! We have multiple platforms

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Judy Cross's avatar

Thank you for your wonderful poem. It says it all.

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Carol Moore's avatar

I LOVE your poem!!! Thank you, from a Canadian (who voted Liberal!). Elbows up!!

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Pam Edgeworth's avatar

A great poem! Thank you.

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Schmendryck's avatar

Let's all say it together: "Aneurysm!"

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Lex Alexander's avatar

Or hemorrhoids. Either works for me.

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Shirley Eads's avatar

He is a hemorrhoid!! The biggest pain in the a$$ to all of us!

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MT's avatar

Couldn't have said it better!

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James Seever's avatar

In his case, I think aneurysm and hemorrhoid are one in the same.

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MT's avatar

Lol

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SLMontgo's avatar

Are hemorrhoids fatal? Or do you only WISH you were dead...?

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Lex Alexander's avatar

If they can be fatal, I would like his to be.

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SLMontgo's avatar

That would be soooo appropriate, too. He has been such a monumental pain in the ass his entire life. Did you know that his suit pants have an elastic waist band? Photos show there is no zipper on his slacks. He says it's because they are easier to put on (I presume they slide over the Depends more easily without the zipper catching).

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MT's avatar

That gave me a disgusting image! I need to erase it just like Trump needs to be erased. I have heard from numerous sources that he stinks and it's difficult to be around him.

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Schmendryck's avatar

Well this is just another example of their hypocrisy about migrants because Trump has had, for decades now, an undocumented Uruguayan woman named Rosita whose job it is to wipe him every morning & powder his buttoxia & apply whatever medicinals he needs to his reddened nether passage & nobody knows she even exists!

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Barb O's avatar

They can be, depending on circumstances.

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Martha Kenne's avatar

🤣

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Suze's avatar

Brilliant!

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David Maceira's avatar

Would be sad if it were fatal. On the bright side that's the one way I could see t getting that military parade he's always wanted.

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Suzn Sez's avatar

As long as it's agonizing, terror inducing, and just prolonged enough so he's fully aware of what's happening.

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MT's avatar

Hear, hear!!

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Nancy Cochran's avatar

Indeed, delicious lines in this decision.

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Dee Joy's avatar

Absolutely!

Perfectly said Heather 👏👏👏

Trump regime must do everything they can to hold power and stay out of prison.

Prison is their destiny for being so evil.

They're traitors, liars, cheaters and thieves - every single one of them deserves to be locked up for life, where they can no longer harm innocent people.

Trump regime is a cancer on the great USA and must be cut out now!!

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EtTuBrutex's avatar

Thank you, DJ, for using my new favorite word to describe this regime - EVIL!!!

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MT's avatar

I've been calling him evil since before he was elected. Go read all the awful stuff he's done! I honestly don't know how he got elected! I guess people didn't research him. But the six bankruptcies should have been a clear message he couldn't run a government when he can't even run his own businesses!!

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MT's avatar

It's already been too long! I had hoped we were rid of him after his first disastrous term. He should have been tried for treason because of his efforts at the January 6 Insurrection!

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Dorothy's avatar

The ketchup and dishes will be flying! 😂

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Claire's avatar

I doubt he understands the big words, and the decision is over 100 pages so you know he didn’t read it. One of his sycophants had the unfortunate task of telling the big baby he lost. Or maybe they told him he won. Who knows?

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💜Ebony Noèl💜's avatar

Thank you, Katie! This is the kind of news we need going into the weekend! ❤️

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Nancy Cochran's avatar

Thank you, Katie.

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Mark Whitson's avatar

Thank you Katie Phang… my fangs and claws are out

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David J. Sharp's avatar

It should be quite obvious by now that Donald Trump, for all his peacocky bombast, is terrified of a court of law—he fears that he’ll be required to tell the truth “under penalty of perjury.”

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Mark Whitson's avatar

Has taken an oath to the constitution multiple times. Every lying utterance he commits a form of perjury. Then we have the puppet masters behind him. And beside him at the Supreme Court.

What oath do the members of Congress and the Supreme Court take?

Constitutional Oath:

This oath is taken by all federal officials and requires them to support and defend the Constitution of the United States, bear true faith and allegiance to it, and faithfully discharge their duties

Judicial Oath:

This oath, specific to judges, requires them to administer justice without respect to persons, do equal right to the poor and rich, and faithfully and impartially discharge their duties according to the Constitution and laws of the United States

And each and every elected and appointed Government official is subject to removal… ‘For high crimes (felonies) and misdemeanors’

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Douglas Gilligan's avatar

Please note, the 14th Amendment, section 3 still applies. SCOTUS only decided a narrow issue about elections, not the ability to hold office. In fact their decision was two findings, one, that they were not going to make a decision on his ability to hold office and two, that since they would not compel all states to remove him from their ballots, no state could remove him from their ballots, supposedly because congress never passed a law relating to the process. Notably they did not try to pretend the 14th Amendment section 3 did not apply to the president.

The argument against him, became stronger when he gave both aid and comfort to all the Jan 6 insurrectionists. Note that while 'pardons' is a core power, that does not remove the effect of his actions, or the consequences. That would be like saying a person with a gun can not be convicted of murder because they had the legal ownership of their gun and were able to use it.

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Nick's avatar

As Judge Michael Luttig says, the 14th Amendment is self executing. When the Supreme Court said Congress had to pass a law, they were simply re-writing the Constitution. Of course this is not surprising. The six Christian Nationalists gave the Felon immunity, in an unconstitutional decision. They also overturned Roe which, as Kavanaugh said was precedence on precedence.

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MT's avatar

He ignores his Oath of Office just as his MAGA Senators and House Representatives do!

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Mark Whitson's avatar

Yes they do…

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David J. Sharp's avatar

Willingly and gleefully.

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Nick's avatar

Just as the six Christian Nationalists on the Supreme Court do. Just as the members of the Felon's cabinet do.

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Judy Cross's avatar

Who gets to remove Senators that won't do their jobs. Who repeat the lies of tRump? Who are not honoring the Constitution?

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Cindy Wiggins's avatar

Therein lies the problem. Those who have the power of governing also hold the power of enforcing the law. They aren't going to impeach or arrest themselves. That's why in countries where a dictator is overthrown it is the military that does it, not the justice system.

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Mark Whitson's avatar

Sometimes the partisans catch them, hang em upside down in meat market.

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Cindy Wiggins's avatar

We may need the military.

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Nick's avatar

The six Christian Nationalists on the Supreme Court have placed their religious beliefs above the Constitution. No where in the Constitution is the President of the United States given immunity. Roe was, as Kavanaugh said, precedence on precedence. Giving "Religious Liberty" greater rights than American's Constitutional rights is is simply supporting the Felon's moves to an authoritarian theocracy (Putin's Russia).

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Douglas Gilligan's avatar

They are in fact 'Activist Judges' rewriting the constitution, using claims not supported by the Constitution and ignoring the plain reading and clear intent of the constitution.

Here is another constitutional argument on Abortion for you: 13th Amendment. "involuntary servitude". In the sixties and seventies when Roe v Wade occurred and women were first starting to gain rights, the idea of life support was not really a 'thing' yet. We now routinely pay for life support, including surrogate mothers carrying fertilized eggs not their own. We have established law allowing for the denial of life support. We recognize legally the "Labor" involved in bearing a fetus to birth, and yet there are states where the women, even girls, are forced to be in servitude to a fetus (or the state, depending on your legal theory) providing life support, even beyond the date where these states claim the fetus is "viable", where it could be argues, by the states own claim, the mother's services are no longer required, even if you were to argue for the value of one life over another.

Roe v Wade was always a weak argument, based on privacy which is far too easily pierced and the limits placed on it were always centered on what most people were 'comfortable' with. Real rights exist and are enforced even when it makes most everybody upset to grant them. Ist, 2nd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 8th and yes, the 13th with regards to women. Just because men can not provide that labor with their own bodies does not remove the fact that it is labor, which per the language of the day, servitude specifically included labor, work... and the language of the 13th is not vague or complicated and the ONLY exception was for prison labor upon conviction of a crime. Going to be hard for them to claim the crime they are convicting the woman of (thereby forcing the labor) is the refusal to provide the labor. There are LOTS of 'labor' that is required for saving of lives, but we incentivize those people, not force them at gun point, nor place them in jail when they never signed up for the labor in the first place.

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Judy Cross's avatar

He still wouldn't tell the truth. He is rotten to the core and would perjure himself, because, after all, his lies are the truth.

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Cheryl Boedicker's avatar

That’s why his lawyers make sure he doesn’t testify in court to defend himself. The prosectors would shred him & his lies when he took the stand!

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David J. Sharp's avatar

This is exactly right — lie on the courthouse steps, avoid the courtroom assiduously.

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Ellen CW's avatar

Yep, I believe your comment to be truth!! 💯☝🏻

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Shari Szilagyi's avatar

Thank you Katie This is so encouraging. I tell the corrupt Republican senators when I call that we are bringing the law and we will win. It is hard to keep faith because Donold has been propped up for so long by so many greedy unamerican influential wealthy people in this country. We will continue to protest even with a broken heart.

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Dorothy's avatar

Shari, those are my feelings exactly!

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David J. Sharp's avatar

Finally, brava Judge Howell!

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Vicki Pearson's avatar

Can some Judge, please, find some way to get the DOGE team stopped and out of DC

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Greg's avatar

They better not come for you Katie because they will need to go through me first 🤛🏻😎🤜🏻

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brad ziegel's avatar

When we see the Democrats being ostracized from congressional meetings and not allowed to enter,that will be one step from complete takeover of the United States this is going to require our military to be with us in case the president and the Republicans seize illegal power over the people,this administration will require complete obedience to Trump's authority,and I don't plan on bowing to his rule . ....sic sempre tyrannus!

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Dorothy's avatar

Agree 100%!

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Lynette Mason's avatar

This was like a shot in the arm to keep us going. I needed that. Thanks for being with us on Substack.

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Jen's avatar

There needs to be more rulings like this...across the country. History WILL remember those who fought for democracy, the constitution and We the People.

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Cheryl Boedicker's avatar

What we need is the SC to rescind that presidential immunity order to start with. Then stop the nonsense that is going on with the election in NC. Please look that up! If the Republicans get away with what they’re doing, we will be hard put to win any election. It’s six months & 2 recounts later & the Republican who lost won’t give up. Read about their shenanigans!

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Linda Ihlenfeld's avatar

Thank you Judge Howell!

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Hope E.'s avatar

Thank you for honest information.

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Mama Wink's avatar

Thank you Katie for being the voice in support of Judge Beryl Howell. You’re both the light in the dark that our republic and citizens needs right now. Plz keep up the good and important work and stay safe! Thank you!

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Barbara Bly's avatar

I’m so glad I caught that news! It has truly given me such joy to hear how Judge Howell made him for what he is. 🎉Little joys. Keep them coming.

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SLMontgo's avatar

Amongst the many courageous citizens, women citizens specifically, Judge Beryl Howell will be on that roster, next under Ketanji Brown Jackson, who should be at the top.

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David J. Sharp's avatar

Astonishingly, tantrums don’t hold for a court of law … still.

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