WaPo has published some of the letters written after the 2020 election, but before the inauguration, discussing possible approaches to overturning the election, and this one, from Pence lawyer Greg Jacob to Trump-allied lawyer John Eastman, who has become rather infamous, is a doozy of way to tell someone they’re so full of shit it’s leaking out their ears:
John, very respectfully, I just don’t in the end believe that there is a single Justice on the United States Supreme Court, or a single judge on any of our Courts of Appeals, who is as “broad minded” as you when it comes to the irrelevance of statutes enacted by the United States Congress, and followed without exception for more than 130 years. They cannot be set aside except when in direct conflict with the Constitution that our revered Framers handed us. And very respectfully, I don’t think that a single one of those Framers would agree with your position either. Certainly, [former conservative] Judge Luttig has made clear he does not. And there is no reasonable argument that the Constitution directs or empowers the Vice President to set a procedure followed for 130 years before it has even been resorted to.
The contrast between very respectfully and the idiocy of advocating for ignoring statutes, by someone who, at one time, was a professor of law, kinda tells the story. Mr. Jacob may have been merely trying to soothe an overbearing ego, but it comes out as, You idiot, that’s not how the Law works.
And that this former professor of law apparently wanted to break laws he doesn’t like speaks to the arrogance of Trump’s coterie of devotees. It rather reminds me of a podcast Andrew Sullivan conducted with Michael Anton, a far-right “thinker,” who seemed to have little familiarity with actual thinking. Now, I do have some sympathy with Anton in a podcast, as I would probably sound like an idiot, too, but his refusal to do much but hide behind a screen of “I dunno…” rendered the podcast an implicit condemnation of the right, rather than a raucous debate.
Anyways, back to Jacob’s letter, a few paragraphs later the quote ends with
And thanks to your bull—-, we are now under siege.
Which just makes me laugh. Eastman doesn’t appear to have universal respect.
