What the president could do if he or she declares a state of emergency

Everyone in America should read this story.

“The moment the president declares a ‘national emergency’—a decision that is entirely within his discretion—he is able to set aside many of the legal limits on his authority.” https://t.co/oQSy7rBWEO

— Adrienne LaFrance (@AdrienneLaF) December 5, 2018

Sessions restricts consent decrees used to enforce civil rights laws

He did this on his way out.

Jeff Sessions held true to his despicable 'law and order' agenda from start to finish.

Only days after we voted to advance criminal justice reform in states across the country, he has all but eliminated oversight of local law enforcement for abusive policing practices. https://t.co/cSFKLbrM4E

— ACLU (@ACLU) November 9, 2018

Sessions dealt parting blow to DOJ career staff, issuing memo that restricts consent decrees. This is a slap in the face to dedicated staff who work tirelessly to enforce civil rights. Will affect policing, education, employment consent decrees, which is exactly why he issued it. pic.twitter.com/fWGRZxKqbd

— Vanita Gupta (@vanitaguptaCR) November 9, 2018

The head of Baltimore’s consent decree monitoring team said a memo issued by Jeff Sessions just before he was ousted as Attorney General will have no effect on the federal decree ordering civil rights reforms at the city’s police department. https://t.co/IiGwOvefGX

— The Baltimore Sun (@baltimoresun) November 9, 2018

The idea that unconstitutional conduct by a state or local entity is no longer sufficient basis to enter into a consent decree is extraordinary. Instead Sessions mandates that the following conditions must be present: pic.twitter.com/CBDlw8AhWB

— Sherrilyn Ifill (@Sifill_LDF) November 9, 2018

No. This is prospective. You’ll recall Sessions tried to walk back the proposed consent decree before it was approved by the court. Judge Bredar wasn’t having it. The decree is now judicially approved and overseen & a monitoring team is in place. https://t.co/J17G9DS6A4

— Sherrilyn Ifill (@Sifill_LDF) November 9, 2018

To give example of what this means, here's types of relief included in Division's consent decree w/ Ferguson. It's doubtful some of this could have been obtained in adversarial litigation. But it's what was needed to comprehensively change practices. https://t.co/DmicL2Z3Fa pic.twitter.com/oUEQB3mcxA

— Sasha Samberg-Champion (@ssamcham) November 9, 2018

Trump wants to reinstate stop-and-frisk

Trump wants to reinstate stop-and-frisk policies. The way they were done in New York was unconstitutional and bigoted. His base will like the bigotry part.

Shootings are down in Chicago this year, according to police department statistics. Trump’s talk of a “shooting wave” is a political move to once again use Chicago as a scapegoat. https://t.co/yR7qYL3Bfw

— Renato Mariotti (@renato_mariotti) October 8, 2018

Trump on stop and frisk policing: "It works, and it was meant for problems like Chicago. It was meant for it. Stop and frisk."

— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) October 8, 2018

What Trump got wrong about stop and frisk during the 2016 campaign.

from the article linked to above:

“Applied almost exclusively to minorities, the stop-and-frisk tactics in New York became an elephantine government project that wasted time and money, degrading both to the personhood of the men and women who were stopped and to the professionalism of the people doing the stopping.”

The way stop and frisk was carried out in New York was unconstitutional.

from the article:

“In 2013, U.S. District Court Judge Shira A. Scheindlin ruled that city police violated the U.S. Constitution in the way that it carried out its stop-and-frisk program, calling it “a form of racial profiling” of young black and Hispanic men. ”

This Washington Post article notes ” …there’s no real correlation between the use of stop-and-frisk and New York’s reduction in crime.”

Four white supremacists arrested for their roles in Charlottesville

I assume these are some of Trump’s “very fine people”.

4 members of white supremacist group arrested in violent 2017 Charlottesville rally https://t.co/xc6hJHLVXY pic.twitter.com/teljuGsfnn

— CBS News (@CBSNews) October 2, 2018

The work @propublica did in the aftermath of Charlottesville was incredible. https://t.co/RTD5GRMzxg

— David Fahrenthold (@Fahrenthold) October 2, 2018

“Trump anti-discrimination official once called most hate crimes hoaxes”

Sad!

Trump anti-discrimination official once called most hate crimes hoaxes https://t.co/idBseGNn6L

— Catherine Rampell (@crampell) September 27, 2018

The top federal official responsible for enforcing fair lending laws has a 14-year history of racially charged comments about the "N-word" and the birther movement. https://t.co/91Q9Nmh3q1

— Glenn Thrush (@GlennThrush) October 3, 2018

Trump orders release of messages of people he considers enemies

In other words: Trump has ordered the release of the text messages of 5 of his self-declared enemies within DOJ. pic.twitter.com/xomUFwmrOW

— Aaron Blake (@AaronBlake) September 17, 2018

But he won't release his own taxes. https://t.co/EdylE2sGqx

— David Corn (@DavidCornDC) September 17, 2018

I look forward to the American people seeing the multiple streams of information that showed probable cause to surveil Carter Page. I am also pleased the people will learn more about Bruce Ohr's testimony that the Russians had @realDonaldTrump "over a barrel."#MondayMotivation https://t.co/ZSHcR5okpO

— Ted Lieu (@tedlieu) September 17, 2018

This is truly unprecedented.

It has the potential the backfire on the President as information that would normally not find its way into a court filing (such as raw intel, tips, hearsay, law enforcement discussions) will be made public. https://t.co/vDg0vUE25I

— Tom Winter (@Tom_Winter) September 17, 2018

This is unprecedented during an active investigation – and by a President under investigation https://t.co/tT3da8KdNA

— Andrea Mitchell (@mitchellreports) September 17, 2018

Trump is ordering the DOJ to release documents about an ongoing investigation that touches on him and many of his associates. Unclear whether this risky gambit will pay off or backfire. See analysis from @LauraAJarrett and @mkraju here: https://t.co/LvXBSe4cpW https://t.co/Uv9A0qYEm9

— Marshall Cohen (@MarshallCohen) September 17, 2018

Stunning. Would like to hear what Rosenstein has to say about this. https://t.co/n3jMtQexcO

— Matthew Miller (@matthewamiller) September 17, 2018

In addition, if and when these documents and records are released it guarantees that this is in the national discussion leading up to the mid-term elections.

So much for any imagined "quiet period" in the Russia investigation. https://t.co/vDg0vUE25I

— Tom Winter (@Tom_Winter) September 17, 2018

What would you think if you saw it another country? https://t.co/igR4BATefD

— Brendan Nyhan (@BrendanNyhan) September 17, 2018

Lawless. He is absolutely lawless. @realDonaldTrump is the subject of an investigation. Using his power to selectively release classified information is an abuse of power. His days of unchecked abuse are numbered. Tick tock. We will just mark this as another exhibit. https://t.co/9qbxhiRY5B

— Rep. Eric Swalwell (@RepSwalwell) September 17, 2018

New statement from @RepAdamSchiff, on Trump's release of all that new classified Russia probe info: pic.twitter.com/6zlUtcZbZJ

— Greg Sargent (@ThePlumLineGS) September 17, 2018

Important thread 👇🏽 https://t.co/qlPOoRaEUM

— Asha Rangappa (@AshaRangappa_) September 17, 2018

US intel officials, blindsided by President Trump's declassification order for Russia invest files, are hoping White House will allow formal declassification review and damage assessment before they are forced to release the docs, officials tell @NBCNews. https://t.co/L48J7GWGyZ

— NBC News (@NBCNews) September 18, 2018

Trump could put himself in legal jeopardy with Russia declassification order: former DOJ official https://t.co/cxuWP8fPh8

— Salon (@Salon) September 18, 2018

This is an especially dangerous abuse of power by this President. He places his self interest above the national security interests of the country. https://t.co/KJohV6V3tY

— Eric Holder (@EricHolder) September 18, 2018

So I've had a couple conversations this morning with some former and current IC people.

The line crossed on this declassification-as-obstruction is redder than you can imagine.

— Rick Wilson (@TheRickWilson) September 18, 2018

"It is extraordinary for a president to be involved in day-to-day declassification decisions." — @carriecordero https://t.co/mTJPBVvByi

— Chris Cillizza (@CillizzaCNN) September 18, 2018

Holy cow

“Neither DOJ nor the FBI has any idea how the redaction process for this announcement is being handled, and they think it’s possible that the White House is just doing it on its own and could release this material as early as Monday night…” https://t.co/zW6N1s7pme

— Ryan Goodman (@rgoodlaw) September 17, 2018

Trump shouldn’t have attacked the press in front of the sheriffs

Trump makes everything partisan. How can we believe these people will be fair?

Those uniformed sheriffs who applauded Trump’s tirade against the press? I talked to them to ask if they felt conflicted. They loved it. “We got to see our president chewing some serious ass.”

https://t.co/yBP468kQO1

— David Nakamura (@DavidNakamura) September 7, 2018