{"id":5,"date":"2019-08-14T00:57:00","date_gmt":"2019-08-14T00:57:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/onlygunsandmoney.com\/2019\/08\/14\/how-not-to-win-friends-and-influence\/"},"modified":"2019-08-16T18:30:48","modified_gmt":"2019-08-16T18:30:48","slug":"how-not-to-win-friends-and-influence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/onlygunsandmoney.com\/?p=5","title":{"rendered":"How Not To Win Friends And Influence Justices"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class='__iawmlf-post-loop-links' style='display:none;' data-iawmlf-post-links='[{&quot;id&quot;:5862,&quot;href&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/en.wikipedia.org\\\/wiki\\\/Sheldon_Whitehouse&quot;,&quot;archived_href&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;redirect_href&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;checks&quot;:[],&quot;broken&quot;:false,&quot;last_checked&quot;:null,&quot;process&quot;:&quot;done&quot;},{&quot;id&quot;:5863,&quot;href&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/www.supremecourt.gov\\\/DocketPDF\\\/18\\\/18-280\\\/112010\\\/20190812151259076_18-280bsacSenatorSheldonWhitehouse.pdf&quot;,&quot;archived_href&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;redirect_href&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;checks&quot;:[],&quot;broken&quot;:false,&quot;last_checked&quot;:null,&quot;process&quot;:&quot;done&quot;},{&quot;id&quot;:5864,&quot;href&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/en.wikipedia.org\\\/wiki\\\/Charles_S._Whitehouse&quot;,&quot;archived_href&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;redirect_href&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;checks&quot;:[],&quot;broken&quot;:false,&quot;last_checked&quot;:null,&quot;process&quot;:&quot;done&quot;},{&quot;id&quot;:5865,&quot;href&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/en.wikipedia.org\\\/wiki\\\/Sheldon_Whitehouse_(diplomat)&quot;,&quot;archived_href&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;redirect_href&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;checks&quot;:[],&quot;broken&quot;:false,&quot;last_checked&quot;:null,&quot;process&quot;:&quot;done&quot;},{&quot;id&quot;:5866,&quot;href&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/fedsoc.org\\\/about-us&quot;,&quot;archived_href&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/web-wp.archive.org\\\/web\\\/20260409031443\\\/https:\\\/\\\/fedsoc.org\\\/about-us&quot;,&quot;redirect_href&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;checks&quot;:[{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-04-17 11:05:09&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200}],&quot;broken&quot;:false,&quot;last_checked&quot;:{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-04-17 11:05:09&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200},&quot;process&quot;:&quot;done&quot;},{&quot;id&quot;:5867,&quot;href&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/en.wikipedia.org\\\/wiki\\\/Living_Constitution&quot;,&quot;archived_href&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;redirect_href&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;checks&quot;:[],&quot;broken&quot;:false,&quot;last_checked&quot;:null,&quot;process&quot;:&quot;done&quot;},{&quot;id&quot;:5868,&quot;href&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/hotair.com\\\/archives\\\/jazz-shaw\\\/2019\\\/03\\\/09\\\/maryland-democratic-leader-calls-doxxing-gun-rights-activist-terrorists&quot;,&quot;archived_href&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;redirect_href&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/hotair.com\\\/jazz-shaw\\\/2019\\\/03\\\/09\\\/maryland-democratic-leader-calls-doxxing-gun-rights-activist-terrorists&quot;,&quot;checks&quot;:[],&quot;broken&quot;:false,&quot;last_checked&quot;:null,&quot;process&quot;:&quot;done&quot;}]'><\/div>\n<p>\nSen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) considers himself worthy of authoring an amicus brief for a case before the Supreme Court. He should think again.<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Sheldon_Whitehouse\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">&nbsp;Despite a long legal career<\/a> before being elected to the Senate which culminated with him serving as both the Attorney General of Rhode Island for one term and before that as the Clinton-appointed US Attorney for Rhode Island, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.supremecourt.gov\/DocketPDF\/18\/18-280\/112010\/20190812151259076_18-280bsacSenatorSheldonWhitehouse.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">his brief in NY State Rifle and Pistol Association v. City of New York is a polemic and not an argument.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Moreover, as the son and grandson of diplomats, you would have thought somewhere along the line it would have rubbed off on him how to be diplomatic towards those that matter.&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Charles_S._Whitehouse\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Daddy <\/a>served as deputy ambassador to the Republic of Vietnam followed up as the ambassador to Laos and then Thailand. <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Sheldon_Whitehouse_(diplomat)\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Granddad <\/a>was ambassador to Guatemala and Colombia and served earlier on the commission that wrote the Treaty of Versailles.<\/p>\n<p>Whitehouse was joined in this polemic, I mean amicus brief, by Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL), Mazie Hirono (D-HI), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) who are all lawyers by training. They begin the brief arguing that the NYSRPA, the petitioners, are asking the Court to be their allies in &#8221; a \u201cproject\u201d<br \/>\nto expand the Second Amendment and thwart gun-safety (sic) regulations.&#8221; They continue that it is no wonder polls show the Supreme Court is &#8220;motivated mainly by politics.&#8221; It goes downhill from here.<\/p>\n<p>They then argue that it was the National Rifle Association, the Federalist Society, and other conservative groups fought to make sure that Justices Gorsuch and Kavanaugh would be on the Court to &#8220;break the tie&#8221; in favor of the Second Amendment. It goes on to say about the Federalist Society:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"tr_bq\"><p>\n<i>The Society counts over eighty-six percent of<br \/>\nTrump administration nominees to the circuit courts<br \/>\nof appeal and to this Court as active members. It is<br \/>\nnot yet clear who the powerful funders are behind<br \/>\nLeonard Leo and the Federalist Society judicial<br \/>\nselection effort, nor what took place as the Federalist<br \/>\nSociety was \u201cinsourced\u201d into the Trump<br \/>\nadministration\u2019s judicial selection process.5 But<br \/>\nmassive political spending and secrecy are rarely a<br \/>\nsalubrious combination.<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>In other words, these fine senators are pissed off that President Trump has nominated active members of an <a href=\"https:\/\/fedsoc.org\/about-us\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">organization <\/a>dedicated to an interpretation of the Constitution that preserves the original meaning. They would much prefer those of the <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Living_Constitution\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Living Constitution<\/a> stripe.<\/p>\n<p>This brief then goes on to attack the amicus briefs in favor of the NY State Rifle and Pistol Association implying that they are stooges of the NRA. Eight of the <i>amici <\/i>are affiliated with the NRA. However, most of those are from only one amicus brief &#8211; that of the National Sheriffs Association. Then, heaven forbid, a number of <i>amici <\/i>are 503(c)(4) social welfare organization who are not required to disclose their donors. As the <a href=\"https:\/\/hotair.com\/archives\/jazz-shaw\/2019\/03\/09\/maryland-democratic-leader-calls-doxxing-gun-rights-activist-terrorists\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">secretary of the Maryland Democratic Party<\/a> might note, this makes them harder to dox. Of course much of this is ludicrous. Accusing groups like the Pink Pistols and GOA of being stooges of the NRA is laughable.<\/p>\n<p>Whitehouse ends Section I of the brief with this.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"tr_bq\"><p>\n<i>Out in the real world, Americans are murdered<br \/>\neach day with firearms in classrooms or movie<br \/>\ntheaters or churches or city streets, and a generation<br \/>\nof preschoolers is being trained in active-shooter<br \/>\nsurvival drills. In the cloistered confines of this<br \/>\nCourt, and notwithstanding the public imperatives of<br \/>\nthese massacres, the NRA and its allies brashly<br \/>\npresume, in word and deed, that they have a friendly<br \/>\naudience for their \u201cproject.\u201d<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>You might think Whitehouse might now try to curry favor with the justices in Section II and you&#8217;d be wrong. After a few paragraphs saying how the Court shouldn&#8217;t be answering moot questions and legislating from the bench, he then accuses the Court&#8217;s majority of being the tools of big business, the GOP, and fat cats.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"tr_bq\"><p>\n<i>Recent patterns raise legitimate questions about<br \/>\nwhether these limits remain. From October Term<br \/>\n2005 through October Term 2017, this Court issued<br \/>\n78 5-4 (or 5-3) opinions in which justices appointed by<br \/>\nRepublican presidents provided all five votes in the<br \/>\nmajority. In 73 of these 5-4 decisions, the cases<br \/>\nconcerned interests important to the big funders,<br \/>\ncorporate influencers, and political base of the<br \/>\nRepublican Party. And in each of these 73 cases,<br \/>\nthose partisan interests prevailed.<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Then he accuses the petitioners of engaging in strategic &#8220;faux litigation&#8221;. What he is speaking of is strategic civil rights litigation with carefully chosen plaintiffs and with the purpose of building precedent. The interesting historical aspect of this is that the model for this strategic litigation was none other than the NAACP Legal Defense Fund run at the time by future Justice Thurgood Marshall.<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"tr_bq\"><p>\n<i>For example, we have seen flocks of<br \/>\n\u201cfreedom-based public interest law\u201d organizations<br \/>\nthat exist only to change public policy through<br \/>\nlitigation, and which often do not disclose their<br \/>\nfunders. We have seen behavioral signals, like<br \/>\nlitigants who rush to lose cases in lower courts \u201cas<br \/>\nquickly as practicable and without argument, so that<br \/>\n[they] can expeditiously take their claims to the<br \/>\nSupreme Court\u201d (ordinarily, in litigation, litigants<br \/>\nseek to win).<br \/>\nAlmost invariably, and as we have seen in this case, such plaintiffs are accompanied by<br \/>\nthrongs of professional amici, whose common funding<br \/>\nsources and connections to the organizations behind<br \/>\nthe supposed party-in-interest are obscured by<br \/>\nineffective disclosure rules.<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Instead of being flattered, Whitehouse seems to say how dare these dirty, low down conservatives imitate the tactics and strategies of the Left!<\/p>\n<p>He then ends the brief with a threat.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"tr_bq\"><p>\n<i>The Supreme Court is not well. And the people<br \/>\nknow it. Perhaps the Court can heal itself before the<br \/>\npublic demands it be \u201crestructured in order to reduce<br \/>\nthe influence of politics.\u201d Particularly on the urgent<br \/>\nissue of gun control, a nation desperately needs it to<br \/>\nheal.<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Whitehouse is no FDR but he thinks his threat of packing the Court is going to sway it. His demeaning attitude should irritate even the most ardent liberals on the Court. Whether this case is ultimately dismissed as moot or not, there will be more cases that have even more impact for Second Amendment rights that are now or soon will be in the pipeline.<\/p>\n<p>\n<b>UPDATE:<\/b> I&#8217;m not the only one who found Whitehouse&#8217;s brief to be a polemic and not a real argument. Prof. William Jacobson at Legal Insurrection covered it as well. Note the comments. I agree with the person who said &#8221; The Court should strike the brief without a right to refile an amended brief, and impose sanctions.&#8221; <\/p>\n<div style=\"margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;\" class=\"sharethis-inline-share-buttons\" ><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) considers himself worthy of authoring an amicus brief for a case before the Supreme Court.&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":2,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9],"class_list":["post-5","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-amicus-briefs","tag-dick-durbin","tag-kirsten-gillibrand","tag-mazie-hirono","tag-nysrpa-v-city-of-ny","tag-richard-blumenthal","tag-sheldon-whitehouse","tag-supreme-court"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/onlygunsandmoney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/onlygunsandmoney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/onlygunsandmoney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onlygunsandmoney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onlygunsandmoney.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/onlygunsandmoney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11941,"href":"https:\/\/onlygunsandmoney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5\/revisions\/11941"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/onlygunsandmoney.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onlygunsandmoney.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onlygunsandmoney.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}