National Security Counselors 🕵

Sophie Bee @pogform.bsky.social [ View ] Jul 04, 2024 at 22:45 UTC

This is the classic rock radio station I would sometimes listen to when I was a kid

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National Security Counselors 🕵 @natlseccnslrs.bsky.social [ View ] Jul 04, 2024 at 16:32 UTC

Nice relaxing day in

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National Security Counselors 🕵 @natlseccnslrs.bsky.social [ View ] Jul 04, 2024 at 15:57 UTC

Shift down KITT

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National Security Counselors 🕵 @natlseccnslrs.bsky.social [ View ] Jul 04, 2024 at 01:06 UTC

TIL that the narrator for the opening credits of the 1970s Incredible Hulk tv show was also the Hulk's voice when he roars and now I'm convinced that the entire show is an oral history from Smart Hulk. Oh and the actor was Lurch from the Addams Family because that's also awesome.

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National Security Counselors 🕵 @natlseccnslrs.bsky.social [ View ] Jul 03, 2024 at 17:59 UTC

but did it have obscene amounts of tape

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National Security Counselors 🕵 @natlseccnslrs.bsky.social [ View ] Jul 03, 2024 at 17:49 UTC

OK this is fascinating. His house was custom built to his specifications the year he took the bench. That means he TOLD them to install a flagpole there.

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National Security Counselors 🕵 @natlseccnslrs.bsky.social [ View ] Jul 03, 2024 at 17:26 UTC

I just Google Mapped Alito's address and was fascinated to see that the house was blurred out but that if you go down the street you can see a flag very prominently displayed way out in the front yard next to the driveway where absolutely nobody could miss it.

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National Security Counselors 🕵 @natlseccnslrs.bsky.social [ View ] Jul 03, 2024 at 16:36 UTC

I can see arguments for both readings so I'd like to see what the rest of you think.

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National Security Counselors 🕵 @natlseccnslrs.bsky.social [ View ] Jul 03, 2024 at 16:35 UTC

clearer insight into the white space between the lines of the opinion. But in the final analysis, if the majority opinion doesn't actually SAY something, it doesn't say it. So what do people think? Can an impeached POTUS be prosecuted for core official acts even if he was impeached for them?

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National Security Counselors 🕵 @natlseccnslrs.bsky.social [ View ] Jul 03, 2024 at 16:34 UTC

"but the impeachment clause doesn't say WHAT the President can be prosecuted for now does it huh" and waves his hands a lot. I tend to give a lot of weight to what a SCOTUS dissent says a majority opinion means because hey, they were there in the room where it happened, & they presumably have ...

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National Security Counselors 🕵 @natlseccnslrs.bsky.social [ View ] Jul 03, 2024 at 16:33 UTC

Sotomayor says that the majority opinion means that even after a successful impeachment the President can't be prosecuted for "official acts," but Roberts doesn't come out and say that to my reading, he just waffles around ...

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National Security Counselors 🕵 @natlseccnslrs.bsky.social [ View ] Jul 03, 2024 at 16:33 UTC

I'm reading the Trump immunity opinion again, and I'd like to toss out a question to #lawsky I keep coming back to. To my reading there's a disconnect between the majority and Sotomayor's dissent about what happens if a President is impeached and convicted.

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National Security Counselors 🕵 @natlseccnslrs.bsky.social [ View ] Jul 03, 2024 at 16:12 UTC

It took great willpower not to say nope I just wanted you to know what you were missing.

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National Security Counselors 🕵 @natlseccnslrs.bsky.social [ View ] Jul 03, 2024 at 16:06 UTC

Looking at that flag, it sure would be embarrassing if someone dug up examples of Heritage railing in favor of legislation prohibiting defacing flags.

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National Security Counselors 🕵 @natlseccnslrs.bsky.social [ View ] Jul 03, 2024 at 15:58 UTC

Me: Here try these. <offers bag of new snacks> Saoirse: <dismissive look> No. M: You're gonna like them. S: No I don't like them. M: We always try everything once. S: <eye-spraining eyeroll> FINE I'LL TAKE A LITTLE ONE. M: <watches patiently> S: <tentatively crunches> Mine.

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National Security Counselors 🕵 @natlseccnslrs.bsky.social [ View ] Jul 03, 2024 at 15:52 UTC

I'm more interested in the list of people who bought it.

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National Security Counselors 🕵 @natlseccnslrs.bsky.social [ View ] Jul 03, 2024 at 15:50 UTC

No because that would be evidence about an official act.

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National Security Counselors 🕵 @natlseccnslrs.bsky.social [ View ] Jul 03, 2024 at 15:39 UTC

For example, there's a bit of case law on the probative value of a newspaper article. The prevailing view is that the article is proof of only the fact that it was written, not that it was correct.

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National Security Counselors 🕵 @natlseccnslrs.bsky.social [ View ] Jul 03, 2024 at 15:38 UTC

It's not public record that a secret meeting happened just because some reporter wrote about it.

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National Security Counselors 🕵 @natlseccnslrs.bsky.social [ View ] Jul 03, 2024 at 15:37 UTC

If you're talking about Note 5, I interpret that to mean basically unimpeachable evidence, the sort that a court can take judicial notice of because nobody questions it. It's public record that POTUS issued an Executive Order saying XYZ on a particular day because nobody would dispute it.

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National Security Counselors 🕵 @natlseccnslrs.bsky.social [ View ] Jul 03, 2024 at 13:20 UTC

So hearsay is admissible now?

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National Security Counselors 🕵 @natlseccnslrs.bsky.social [ View ] Jul 03, 2024 at 04:24 UTC

the cops have no way to prove that POTUS knew about it because the only proof he knew about it was in the context of that official meeting. So even if someone in the meeting were willing to testify that yes, POTUS knew about the affair because they told him, it would be inadmissible.

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National Security Counselors 🕵 @natlseccnslrs.bsky.social [ View ] Jul 03, 2024 at 04:24 UTC

Here's another fun downstream effect of the Trump immunity decision. POTUS learns in an official meeting that a person he's never met is having an affair with the First Lady. He then slips out in the middle of the night and shoots the guy. The affair comes out in the murder investigation but ...

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National Security Counselors 🕵 @natlseccnslrs.bsky.social [ View ] Jul 03, 2024 at 04:18 UTC

Now, that being said, don't go saying "so we have Nixon or Clinton to blame for this because if they'd tried and lost then we'd have direct precedent" because seriously what has given anyone the impression that this Court cares about previous SCOTUS decisions.

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National Security Counselors 🕵 @natlseccnslrs.bsky.social [ View ] Jul 03, 2024 at 04:14 UTC

The current ruling is 100% a product of this particular SCOTUS.

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National Security Counselors 🕵 @natlseccnslrs.bsky.social [ View ] Jul 03, 2024 at 04:13 UTC

I think it's important to clarify that it is not at all safe to say that Nixon's or Clinton's stories would've turned out differently if they'd made the full court press on presidential immunity. There is every reason to believe that the SCOTUSes of their times would've laughed them out of court.

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National Security Counselors 🕵 @natlseccnslrs.bsky.social [ View ] Jul 02, 2024 at 14:04 UTC

OH: Felton: I need this stool. Saoirse: Why do you need the stool? F: I need it. S: What do you need the stool for? F: I JUST NEED IT. S: What would Mommy say if you said that? F: <pauses> You can take the stool.

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National Security Counselors 🕵 @natlseccnslrs.bsky.social [ View ] Jul 02, 2024 at 04:45 UTC

Hey @mitchellepner.bsky.social can you sue the President under Bivens? Asking for a class.

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National Security Counselors 🕵 @natlseccnslrs.bsky.social [ View ] Jul 02, 2024 at 04:43 UTC

oh my

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National Security Counselors 🕵 @natlseccnslrs.bsky.social [ View ] Jul 02, 2024 at 04:41 UTC

Literally the only thing stopping Trump from giving away our nuclear weapon secrets if reelected is now gone. Think about that.

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National Security Counselors 🕵 @natlseccnslrs.bsky.social [ View ] Jul 02, 2024 at 04:39 UTC

Congress did this precisely to ensure that an extra level of protection existed for nuclear weapon information, because it's so uniquely sensitive. Until now. Now, if POTUS were to release the info that Congress specifically prohibited him from releasing, he STILL can't be prosecuted.

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National Security Counselors 🕵 @natlseccnslrs.bsky.social [ View ] Jul 02, 2024 at 04:37 UTC

So if POTUS were to just tweet out the secret recipe for a hydrogen bomb, he would still be criminally liable for violating the Atomic Energy Act, even if he would be entirely within his authority to completely remove the national security Top Secret classification.

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National Security Counselors 🕵 @natlseccnslrs.bsky.social [ View ] Jul 02, 2024 at 04:35 UTC

There's also a protection that's *called* classification colloquially but really isn't, something called Restricted Data, or RD. That's actually a creation of a statute, the Atomic Energy Act, and POTUS can't just unilaterally remove such a label because it's not derived from Art. II authority.

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National Security Counselors 🕵 @natlseccnslrs.bsky.social [ View ] Jul 02, 2024 at 04:33 UTC

nation's most *secret* secrets, namely stuff about nuclear weapons. First, there's the national security classification. That's the Confidential/Secret/Top Secret label, and POTUS has ultimate control over that. He can classify or declassify it on a whim.

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National Security Counselors 🕵 @natlseccnslrs.bsky.social [ View ] Jul 02, 2024 at 04:33 UTC

So one of the weirder downstream effects of the Trump immunity ruling is how it plays with Atomic Energy Act stuff. As I and several others discussed at length when Mar-a-Lago was first searched, there are actually two types of what I'll call "protected" information involved in some of the ...

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National Security Counselors 🕵 @natlseccnslrs.bsky.social [ View ] Jul 02, 2024 at 04:28 UTC

Two words Bit Torrent

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National Security Counselors 🕵 @natlseccnslrs.bsky.social [ View ] Jul 02, 2024 at 03:27 UTC

OK on a day like today I think we all need to read my absolute favorite judicial opinion ever as a palate cleanser.

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National Security Counselors 🕵 @natlseccnslrs.bsky.social [ View ] Jul 01, 2024 at 23:53 UTC

The first dance at my wedding was peanut butter jelly time

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National Security Counselors 🕵 @natlseccnslrs.bsky.social [ View ] Jul 01, 2024 at 22:35 UTC

It's at 9:12-ish. Watch the center group. www.youtube.com/watch?v=CrZR...

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National Security Counselors 🕵 @natlseccnslrs.bsky.social [ View ] Jul 01, 2024 at 21:40 UTC

We just watched a competition video where I had to pause & rewind to see if I saw what I thought I saw, & I did. A guy being thrown in the air, landing, & promptly moving to another group to lift a girl in the air. I've known about male cheerleaders my whole life but I'd never seen a flyer before.

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National Security Counselors 🕵 @natlseccnslrs.bsky.social [ View ] Jul 01, 2024 at 21:35 UTC

An exchange from the first day of cheerleading camp: Saoirse: Why are there only girls here? Teacher: Anyone can cheer but a lot of boys are embarrassed. S: But there were boys in the champions videos I watched. T: That's a good point. S: I feel bad for boys.

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National Security Counselors 🕵 @natlseccnslrs.bsky.social [ View ] Jul 01, 2024 at 21:19 UTC

Side note, mad props to the Japanese national team working Cruel Angel's Thesis into their routine www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wkwa...

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National Security Counselors 🕵 @natlseccnslrs.bsky.social [ View ] Jul 01, 2024 at 21:04 UTC

The most hilarious change is that Youtube is now 100% convinced that I really want to watch videos about The Originals.

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National Security Counselors 🕵 @natlseccnslrs.bsky.social [ View ] Jul 01, 2024 at 21:03 UTC

Saoirse is in cheerleading camp this week and so we've been watching a lot of cheerleading competition videos on Youtube and let me tell you that has really thrown a wrench into the algorithm's assessment of what videos I would like to watch.

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National Security Counselors 🕵 @natlseccnslrs.bsky.social [ View ] Jul 01, 2024 at 19:31 UTC

50 years experience analyzing and deciding the most complex cases pales in comparison to being a GS-11 who just got hired at CIA the day before they signed a declaration.

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National Security Counselors 🕵 @natlseccnslrs.bsky.social [ View ] Jul 01, 2024 at 19:30 UTC

Hey at least they still agree that they are completely, hilariously incompetent to question literally any statement that involves national security.

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National Security Counselors 🕵 @natlseccnslrs.bsky.social [ View ] Jul 01, 2024 at 17:27 UTC

Silver lining is, unlike most admin law profs, I don't really need to update my fall syllabus because I practice natsec law and the Executive Branch gets near total deference from courts there anyway.

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National Security Counselors 🕵 @natlseccnslrs.bsky.social [ View ] Jul 01, 2024 at 16:29 UTC

of course

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National Security Counselors 🕵 @natlseccnslrs.bsky.social [ View ] Jul 01, 2024 at 16:29 UTC

I am deeply conflicted today. I am now able to win a whole bunch of cases I would've lost two months ago, using arguments that would've gotten me laughed at. I can bring glory to my clients and myself. And it would be destructive to any objective reading of the way the law is supposed to work.

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