Open Thread June 19, 2023

Yesterday, I got to see Virgil, and passed on to him all greetings, all of which he returns. He did say that being with me was the best Fathers Day gift he could have received. We got in four games of Scrabble (using all letters, not scoring) although the fourth one by the end of it we were ignoring a bunch of rules. We finished it 3 minutes before visitation ended. The weather was about perfect both ways – warm (but the air conditioner was working) and just enough cloud cover to minimize glare.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

Today’s Edition Newsletter (Robert Hubbell) – A tactical retreat by the Supreme Court?
Quote – A string of surprising Supreme Court decisions has caused some people (i.e., me) to wonder if the Court’s conservative majority is engaged in a tactical retreat to prevent further damage to the Court’s legitimacy…. If that interpretation is correct—even in part—it should spur us to greater efforts to reform and enlarge the Court. Why? Because the reactionary majority may have changed course because it believed that the calls for reform are likely to succeed. If so, the worst thing we could do is to relent merely because the Court followed precedent in a handful of cases—something it should do in all cases.
Click trough for article. Emphasis is the author’s, but if he hadn’t, I would have.

The Daily Beast – Jack Smith Should Have Waited a Week to Indict Donald Trump
Quote – [O]n Thursday—one week after Trump was charged in Florida—the U.S. Supreme Court handed down the decision in Smith v. United States, a case that decided whether the wrong choice of venue in a criminal case would not only be reversible error but also irreparable error—meaning that the case could not be re-tried in the correct venue. In many ways, this decision is no surprise because, as the unanimous Supreme Court opinion stated, there is no reason to treat a mistake in venue any differently than any other violation of Constitutional rights—meaning it can be remedied. Per the Smith decision, a case that resulted in conviction but was brought in the wrong venue would have to be re-tried in the right place.
Click through for opinion. All that waiting would have accomplished (assuming the charges had then been filed in DC) the only result would have been delay. The document charges would still have had to be filed in South Florida eventually. But this decision does open up some possibiities. (Emphasis mine.)

Food For Thought