Habemus Papam

Habemus Papam!

-- A Vatican spokesman speaking from the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica at the introduction of newly-elevated Pope Leo XIV, formerly Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, of Chicago, the first American-born Pope (8 May 2025)

Check The Excesses

In our Constitution ... the judiciary is a coequal branch of government, separate from the others, with the authority to interpret the Constitution as law and strike down, obviously, acts of Congress or acts of the president.

And that innovation doesn't work if ... the judiciary is not independent.  Its job is to obviously decide cases, but in the course of that, check the excesses of Congress or the executive, and that does require a degree of independence.

-- Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts speaking at the 125th anniversary celebration of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York in Buffalo (7 May 2025)

No American President

No American President has ever before issued executive orders like the one at issue in this lawsuit targeting a prominent law firm with adverse actions to be executed by all Executive branch agencies but, in purpose and effect, this action draws from a playbook as old as Shakespeare, who penned the phrase: "The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers." [WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE, HENRY VI, PART 2, act 4, sc. 2, l. 75.]  When Shakespeare's character, a rebel leader intent on becoming king hears, this suggestion, he promptly incorporates this tactic as part of his plan to assume power, leading in the same scene to the rebel leader demanding "[a]way with him," referring to an educated clerk, who "can make obligations and write court hand."  Eliminating lawyers as the guardians of the rule of law removes a major impediment to the path to more power.  See Walters v. Nat'l Ass'n of Radiation Survivors (1985) (explaining the import of the same Shakespearean statement to be "that disposing of lawyers is a step in the direction of a totalitarian form of government").

The U.S. Constitution affords critical protections against Executive action like that ordered in EO 14230.  Government officials, including the President, may not "subject[] individuals to 'retaliatory actions' after the fact for having engaged in protected speech."  They may neither "use the power of the State to punish or suppress disfavored expression," nor engage in the use of "purely personal and arbitrary power."  In this case, these and other foundational protections were violated by EO 14230.  On that basis, this Court has found that EO 14230 violates the Constitution and is thus null and void.  For the reasons explained, plaintiff is entitled to summary judgment and declaratory and permanent injunctive relief.  The government's motion to dismiss is denied.

-- U.S. District Judge Beryl A. Howell, ruling in Perkins Coie LLP v U.S. Department of Justice et al, vacating President Trump's executive order that punished the law firm for litigating cases Trump doesn't like (2 May 2025)

Have A Hap

Hey, wish me a happy birthday.  So far I have survived 66 years without accidentally dying.  Happy square root day (5/5/25  5*5=25) and Cinco de Mayo as well!

Limitation Of Authority

When an American thinks about the problem of government-building, he directs himself not to the creation of authority and the accumulation of power but rather to the limitation of authority and the division of power.

-- Samuel P. Huntington (1927 - 2008), American political scientist, adviser, and academic, Political Order in Changing Societies (1968), p. 7

We Must Die

All changes, even the most longed for, have their melancholy; for what we leave behind us is a part of ourselves; we must die to one life before we can enter another.

-- Anatole France (1844 - 1924), French poet, journalist, and novelist; 1921 Nobel Laureate in Literature, The Crime of Sylvestre Bonnard (1881) Pt. II, ch. 4

Real GDP

Real gross domestic product (GDP) decreased at an annual rate of 0.3 percent in the first quarter of 2025 (January, February, and March), according to the advance estimate released by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis.  In the fourth quarter of 2024, real GDP increased 2.4 percent.

-- U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, Gross Domestic Product, 1st Quarter 2025 (Advance Estimate), 30 April 2025