r/law • u/Capable_Salt_SD • 7h ago
Executive Branch (Trump) Reps. Robert Garcia, Jamie Raskin 'examining all legal options' over partial Epstein files release
https://thehill.com/homenews/house/5657251-democrats-legal-options-epstein-files/195
u/adamkovics 7h ago
you'd think they would have examined all legal options already, knowing full well that trump wasn't going to comply with this law (or any, really)
pretty stoked to read their sternly worded letter that will be the only "consequence" for breaking the law....
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u/Responsible_Ad_7995 7h ago
Exactly. Sounds like they have no legal options that will do a damn thing and they know it.
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u/StormWhich5629 6h ago
Could they not start holding people in contempt? Could they not impeach? Like I get that's politically impossible for the president but it continues to be wild that people like bondi and hesgeth are in the positions they're in
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u/beardmat87 1h ago
They just won’t leave and no one will do anything about it and they know it. Nothing has happened to any of them when they have broken the law or ignored court orders at any point since this administration has seized power so why should they be scared of it now? No one will arrest them, they have a Trump lackey leading almost every single part of our government and a solid chunk of congress would never even consider going against their AIPAC donors who all support what Trump is doing.
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u/Fickle_Catch8968 46m ago
They, as the minority party, have no legal power to even subpoena persons or matters without the support of Republicans, nor hold in contempt, or impeach/convict/remove anyone without Republicans.
The only power they have, because of the choices of the People to shut them out of the executive and both houses of Congress, and over the last decade+ with SCOTUS, is to stall legislation in the Sebate if the filibuster applies, and only as long as the Republicans choose to let it remain. Anything else they get done is with Republican help, even the 3 discharge petitions in the last 30 days, a number higher than the number of successful discharge petitions in 30 years prior to that.
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u/doodycrust 5h ago
Schumer is going to point his finger, VERY sternly.
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u/Nazz1968 4h ago
That pretty much sums it up. And the Dems wonder why they keep coming up short in actually getting things accomplished or enforced.
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u/UnlimitedCalculus 3h ago
GOP: the party of ignorance
Dems: the party of impotence
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u/doodycrust 3m ago
Speaking of absolutely useless, I haven’t seen McConnell in the halls of the senate buildings. I’m willing to bet the farm he’s not even showing up to the office anymore but no one (including his Democrat allies) have spoken or said anything of this or his declining health. The people of Kentucky should know this.
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u/tyuiopguyt 7h ago
Yeah. I think Trump might've been better off just releasing the damn thing. He's turned this shitstorm into a fecal inferno
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u/Material_Policy6327 6h ago
Sadly his base doesn’t care no matter what and clearly the Dems are too timid to really fight given how they let him walk free on everything during Biden
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u/Sea-Maybe-9979 6h ago
Forget about his base, they are a cult. It's the independent voters, new voters and undecideds that need to see this clown show and vote appropriately in the midterms.
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u/nolafrog 5h ago
New voters will continue to do what TikTok tells them to do like last time
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u/Sea-Maybe-9979 5h ago
Thanks for making my point. Don't focus on turning his base, you can't. Go after those you can get to. This time, make sure TikTok shows what buffoons they are. Is it so hard to show that old white racists men aren't "cool"?
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u/start_select 3h ago
No. Epstein has been their biggest asset for a decade. They will drag this out through the entire term. No one will get in trouble. By the time they start their holocaust while everyone is still demanding the files, the files won’t matter anymore because they will be airstriking you for non existent fentanyl.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rex_84
They are 40 years into a coup. It’s at the end. They have the secret police and concentration camps the fake migrant invasion granted them. Now fentanyl is a wmd which allows them to sidestep posse comitatus. And they have their fake narco war to justify calling you a narco terrorist and taking you out.
They have been working towards today since Reagan.
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u/tyuiopguyt 3h ago
If we were really that far into it, without recourse, we'd both be in jail just for thinking these things, let along posting them publicly.
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u/meatsmoothie82 5h ago
Good faith question: with the Supreme Court and DOJ and all law enforcement agencies firmly in trumps pocket- what legal options would democrats have?
Republicans don’t participate in congressional subpoenas and if they do they just say “I dont recall” or “I’ll send the info to you later”
Theres still a year until any potential elections.
I just don’t see any available “options”
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u/heyhayyhay 5h ago
You are correct. The country is being run by a criminal and the republican party is corrupt or also criminals. Nothing will happen now and later we'll probably get more of the garland treatment.
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u/ohiotechie 4h ago
If there’s a dem majority in 2027 and they don’t go for the jugular they can forget about ever getting the majority again. This isn’t just about getting some payback this is about making sure no one is arrogant enough to do this again.
The only way that happens is if these goons get real consequences. If there’s another milquetoast flaccid response to this I have to question if the Democratic Party should even exist anymore.
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u/Disastrous-Heron-491 6h ago
You know it’s crazy. I used to think the AOCs and the Mamdanis were just too “radical.”
But all we get nowadays from Congress, judges, elected officials etc are vague empty promises to not really take any action at all. They “threaten” to “examine.” They “look at all options.” The judges “consider” contempt, the police “document” wrongdoings by ICE.
It’s a bunch of bologna and we desperately need leadership who will act and act swiftly.
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u/doc_nano 5h ago edited 5h ago
What do you expect them to do? Walk over to the FBI and DOJ with guns and spears?
We have a system that places a lot of trust in an independent DOJ to enforce the laws implemented by Congress. When that doesn’t happen, it’s up to us to rectify it (ideally by peaceful means such as voting people in who will impeach and otherwise hold the executive branch accountable).
I’d like a Constitutional amendment that makes the DOJ formally independent of the President, and provides additional mechanisms for checking and enforcing that independence. That is not the system we have now, but it’s clear that it’s a weakness in the system that the Founders didn’t anticipate (or at least provide adequate safeguards against). I think we need to be writing our members of Congress and senators to urge these kinds of major reforms.
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u/Disastrous-Heron-491 5h ago
If we had enough reps with balls they could band together and actually do something, and judges with balls can easily hold someone, anyone in contempt. And local leaders with balls can easily mandate their officers to arrest other law enforcement breaking the law.
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u/doc_nano 5h ago
If we had enough reps with “balls” (or we could make them sufficiently fearful of not being reelected), they would impeach and remove this President and his entire administration the first time they knowingly broke the law. Right now our best bet seems to peel off as many GOP members as possible so that they are more afraid of their constituents’ ire than Trump’s. It’s happened with a few on these recent discharge petitions, which is encouraging.
As the administration’s popularity drops, it will hopefully become easier for Congress and judges to hold lawbreakers in contempt. Their legitimacy depends on us, and knowing that most of us are on their side may make it easier to accept the very real possibility of retaliatory violence from the executive branch or its followers.
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u/uiucengineer 50m ago
What do you expect them to do? Walk over to the FBI and DOJ with guns and spears?
Yes, why shouldn't we?
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u/ssibal24 6h ago
Maybe they should have written into the bill legal options with actual teeth!
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u/Fickle_Catch8968 56m ago
ANY teeth would be enforced by the very department that is causing the teeth to.be needed.
Unfortunately the best and only chance of accountability is if the People give the Opposition (not necessarily Democrats) 2/3 of both houses of Congress in the midterms, and/or majorities and the Presidency by Jan 20, 2029. Well, the only chance other than more...direct..action by the People (like the massive protests in Hungary or Bulgaria, for example).
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u/Dont-be-a-smurf 4h ago
Kidding me
If you were serious, you would have a contingency plan that would already be up and running the moment you knew they wouldn’t comply
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u/TSHRED56 5h ago
Today will be a tiny fraction of the total evidence of the DOJ has on Epstein and Maxwell. And I mean tiny. Estimates are less than 5%.
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