Walter Katz's avatar

Walter Katz

@walterkatz.bsky.social

174 followers 237 following 189 posts

Ex-public defender now law and policy / criminal justice reform. Leadership in gov’t, tech, and philanthropy. “It is certain, in any case, that ignorance, allied with power, is the most ferocious enemy justice can have.” - James Baldwin

Walter Katz's avatar Walter Katz @walterkatz.bsky.social
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Article II Sec. 4 to now should say, “The President, Vice President and all Civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction [for unofficial acts as determined by SCOTUS] of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors

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Walter Katz's avatar Walter Katz @walterkatz.bsky.social
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New from @timcushing.bsky.social — Detroit PD used facial recognition technology and then arrested the wrong people not once, not twice, but three times based on little else than a hit in the system. One of them sued and the settlement mandates new policies: www.techdirt.com/2024/07/03/d...

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Walter Katz's avatar Walter Katz @walterkatz.bsky.social
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I ordered two copies today!

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Walter Katz's avatar Walter Katz @walterkatz.bsky.social
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I think she revealed her position on cert on page 13 of 13, so easy to do!

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Walter Katz's avatar Walter Katz @walterkatz.bsky.social
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Justice Sotomayor did not vote to grant cert in McCrory (bite mark case). She wrote it wasn’t ripe yet for SCOTUS review but urged legislative action to allow for post-conviction review when forensic science changes the validity of the trial’s evidence.

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Walter Katz's avatar Walter Katz @walterkatz.bsky.social
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When I was a trial lawyer, my strength lay in gaming out what the prosecution was going to do before even they knew it. That’s the feeling I get watching Heritage. You’re either defining the battlefield or reacting to it. Don’t be the latter, Democrats.

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Walter Katz's avatar Walter Katz @walterkatz.bsky.social
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The last couple days have revealed the blissful ignorance that folks have had over how the criminal justice system actually works. Rule 1: protect your own. Facts and laws can are regularly twisted to get to the desired outcome and that has usually resulted in Black and Brown people losing.

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Walter Katz's avatar Walter Katz @walterkatz.bsky.social
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This and it’s been in plain sight.

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Walter Katz's avatar Walter Katz @walterkatz.bsky.social
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Shit. It’s like we’re waiting for someone else to take action. I’ve been watching @timothysnyder.bsky.social and this is so applicable: youtu.be/9tocssf3w80?...

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Walter Katz's avatar Walter Katz @walterkatz.bsky.social
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We have been since 2000, but attention wanders to our peril.

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Walter Katz's avatar Walter Katz @walterkatz.bsky.social
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Offices of electeds are very good at shielding the “annoying” from the principal. The incoming communications are handled by the lowest level staffers and interns. The fax machine is in a closet. Physically showing up is much harder to ignore.

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Walter Katz's avatar Walter Katz @walterkatz.bsky.social
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“Illegally” is doing a lot of work in that paragraph.

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Walter Katz's avatar Walter Katz @walterkatz.bsky.social
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I think it’s less about being rushed and more about mutually respecting the little personal space we have in crowded cities.

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Reposted by Walter Katz

Jacob T. Levy's avatar Jacob T. Levy @jacobtlevy.bsky.social
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At the risk of being tiresome in reposting my own writings on the separation of powers and executive accountability, since prominent scholars are now in the news saying "habeas corpus will still be OK"— Montesquieu's insight was precisely that it won't be.

dx.doi.org/10.13140/RG....

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Walter Katz's avatar Walter Katz @walterkatz.bsky.social
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I have not seen discussion about the parallels between the court-created presidential immunity and qualified immunity for police. The doctrines are not identical but share similarities. However, the effects of QI shielding officers from accountability are clear and do not portend well re: POTUS

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Walter Katz's avatar Walter Katz @walterkatz.bsky.social
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Hold on, are people genuinely surprised that was the outcome or is it the expansiveness of the opinion? I was expecting immunity but not the bright green light for “official acts.”

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Walter Katz's avatar Walter Katz @walterkatz.bsky.social
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True, but the union protections came about just as real talk about police being held accountable for their actions during the unrest began.

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Walter Katz's avatar Walter Katz @walterkatz.bsky.social
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Which dates precisely to the rise of police unions as a response to the unrest of the 1960s.

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Walter Katz's avatar Walter Katz @walterkatz.bsky.social
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That last line in the trailer, “I’m the bad guy?” perfectly sums up his worldview. The defense industry engineer was the prototypical LA juror in the 1990s. My clients generally did not fare well because they were the “bad guy” those jurors despised.

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Walter Katz's avatar Walter Katz @walterkatz.bsky.social
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I agree with all of this. While the right was organizing - read the David Brooks interview of Steve Bannon - the Democratic Party was using their out of date playbook. But activist organizing has been focused on particular issues rather than trench building.

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Walter Katz's avatar Walter Katz @walterkatz.bsky.social
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Exactly! So please folks, stop with the “I can’t believe they said it out loud” bits. Literally the only objective now is to win in November and a hot take on here will do zilch to change or get out a vote.

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Walter Katz's avatar Walter Katz @walterkatz.bsky.social
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Keep going. There is a certain thing about that strata in that they are nice to your face until they feel threatened. Whatever the reason, that type gets super angry with women.

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Walter Katz's avatar Walter Katz @walterkatz.bsky.social
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When all they need to do is thank James Comey every f******* of the year.

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Walter Katz's avatar Walter Katz @walterkatz.bsky.social
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This in the latest piece by @marisakabas.bsky.social makes the essential argument that everyone needs to absorb:

“This is an emergency situation where egos and baggage must be put aside in order to serve the ultimate goal of making sure Donald fucking Trump never gets back to The White House.”

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Reposted by Walter Katz

Brendan Nyhan's avatar Brendan Nyhan @brendannyhan.bsky.social
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Beware the temptation to downplay the SCOTUS ruling and to deny its potential implications. We've been down this road before.

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Walter Katz's avatar Walter Katz @walterkatz.bsky.social
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Why does she need “training up” as if she is unqualified now? I assume it’s not intentional, but take a step back and look at what you are saying and how you are saying it.

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Reposted by Walter Katz

The Silvered Spherical Ideal Median Voter 's avatar The Silvered Spherical Ideal Median Voter @swolecialism.bsky.social
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frankly, the first defeat that we can hand them, in November, is the easiest possible one we are going to be offered, and we'd be fools not to make it happen.

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Walter Katz's avatar Walter Katz @walterkatz.bsky.social
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Just stating the facts. It’s far past time for handwringing and time for activism. Get the vote out. Protect the vote. Do whatever is needed to protect democracy.

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Walter Katz's avatar Walter Katz @walterkatz.bsky.social
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Three suggestions: 1) stop the infighting now, 2) support the Democratic nominee 100%, 3) put all activist energy into GOTV and election protection. Everything else needs to wait and the campaign itself has to be relentlessly existentialist.

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Walter Katz's avatar Walter Katz @walterkatz.bsky.social
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It is beyond time to get serious. Stop the handwringing and the doomer hot takes. If it is all on the line, and it does feel like it is, act like it!

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Walter Katz's avatar Walter Katz @walterkatz.bsky.social
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If today doesn’t convince you to stop the handwringing and calling in circular firing squad I don’t know what it will take.

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Reposted by Walter Katz

Don Moynihan's avatar Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social
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This is the ball game folks, the authoritarian green light laid out in advance. Congress will not impeach Trump. And SCOTUS now blesses him with extraordinary latitude to do whatever he wants in power. A second administration will not be constrained by Congress, the courts, the bureaucracy or law.

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Walter Katz's avatar Walter Katz @walterkatz.bsky.social
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Thought exercise: treat all of Project 2025 as an official act.

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Walter Katz's avatar Walter Katz @walterkatz.bsky.social
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So, if I read this correctly, Congress is ineffectual in using its impeachment power. Criminal accountability is now an extremely narrow eye of the “unofficial acts” needle. Administrative rule making by experts is no longer valid. The only check is voters in swing states.

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Walter Katz's avatar Walter Katz @walterkatz.bsky.social
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It seems, at first blush, that the Trump v US ruling is a shield against threats by Trump to prosecute President Biden for official acts should he regain the presidency. (That is not to say that is the intent of the ruling.) www.nytimes.com/2024/04/30/u...

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Walter Katz's avatar Walter Katz @walterkatz.bsky.social
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You need to read David Brooks’ Steve Bannon interview. Read it to understand, not to tsk tsk how ‘stupid’ populists are. “They look at the noise around Trump and miss the signal of what’s really happening, and they can’t get past that, and they’re blinded by it.” www.nytimes.com/2024/07/01/o...

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Walter Katz's avatar Walter Katz @walterkatz.bsky.social
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Most accurate statement I’ve seen in a long time: “the best puppets are the worst people.”

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Walter Katz's avatar Walter Katz @walterkatz.bsky.social
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Right?! And there is way too little understanding of what is occurring right under our eyes. Stop be alarmist, they say. Um…

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Walter Katz's avatar Walter Katz @walterkatz.bsky.social
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Trump’s future prospects has nothing to do with how these are being decided. Narrowing the reach of federal government in particular is the consistent takeaway. If Trump wins, we will see a further divergence between red and blue states with a GOP federal government will punishing liberal states.

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Walter Katz's avatar Walter Katz @walterkatz.bsky.social
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To summarize SCOTUS on criminal law this term: Can criminalize homelessness (just don’t call it that) Violently trying to stop Congress is not obstruction. A wink-wink after the fact gratuity to a state or local elected is not a bribe. Gun possession restrictions for domestic abusers are ok.

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Reposted by Walter Katz

Reposted by Walter Katz

Gautham FC's avatar Gautham FC @gauthamrao.bsky.social
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Chevron famously said, "Judges are not experts in the field, and are not part of either political branch of the Government." Today, Roberts and the other chaos agents on the court say: "Judges are the only experts in any field, and can dictate policy to either political branch of the Gov't"

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Walter Katz's avatar Walter Katz @walterkatz.bsky.social
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Unfortunately, no. I tried many jury trials and when jurors make a snap judgment, it is very difficult to move them off of that position. A collective intuition that the President is “too old” will similarly be very difficult to overcome. www.psychologicalscience.org/observer/sna...

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Walter Katz's avatar Walter Katz @walterkatz.bsky.social
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This here: “By killing Chevron just one day after undermining agencies’ enforcement actions, the conservative supermajority is kneecapping the administrative state. It shares that goal with Steve Bannon, Donald Trump, and the far-right activists behind Project 2025.”

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Walter Katz's avatar Walter Katz @walterkatz.bsky.social
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I don’t see why Whitmer “needs” foreign policy experience. Carter had none besides being a governor (like Whitmer), Reagan had none, Obama had only 3+ years in Senate

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Walter Katz's avatar Walter Katz @walterkatz.bsky.social
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Fun fact - since 1992 only one president has not found himself in a full blown crisis: Clinton - impeached Bush - Bush v Gore, 9/11, Iraq Obama- no drama Trump - impeached twice Biden - whatever this is called, but the NYT calling on him to step aside is a crisis.

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