Trump Appeals (Again!) To Ninth Circuit, In East Bay Sanctuary -- And His Lawyers Stop Working -- In San Diego, On Ms. L. Case Motions...

[Most recent backgrounder, on it all here.] After Trump was told the Supremes wouldn't take his extraordinary direct appeal, his lawyers filed yet another new appeal, this morning, to the Ninth Circuit, arguing that the preliminary injunction may be separately appealed, immediately, after Trump lost on the TRO. Seems silly, but okay [the arguments, and thus the outcome, will be. . . identical, in my experienced opinion].

Meanwhile, down in southern California, in the Ms. L. cases, the Trump attorneys have said that they lack authority to continue working (even pro bono, should they desire to), due to Trump's petulant wall driven shutdown. Here is the operative bit of that motion:

. . . .Absent an appropriation, Department of Justice attorneys and employees of DHS are prohibited from working, even on a voluntary basis, except in very limited circumstances, including “emergencies involving the safety of human life or the protection of property.” 31 U.S.C. § 1342. . . .

So, I suspect the case in San Francisco will also go into hibernation, until Trump ends his own self-inflicted shutdown. The motion asks the court to let all deadlines roll forward, on a day-for-day basis, to account for the ultimate period of missing funding -- the full length of the shutdown. The plaintiffs do not oppose the motion, so I suspect it will be granted, in all of these asylum border cases.

Trump's self-destructive tendencies are truly legendary -- and accelerating, apparently. But since all these cases are in a posture favorable to the would-be asylees, I think it actually helps them (in court, at least) to have a idiotic Trump shutdown.

Meanwhile, though -- out in the real world, in the rogue police state that comprises Trump's border (non-) policies -- now a second Guatemalan child has died (again, of medical neglect that could be charged as manslaughter in almost every state in America) -- a week after being detained (with his father), in ICE custody. The "fire. . . this time" -- is a boy, only eight years old, named Felipe Alonzo Gomez. Before him, just two weeks ago, now -- seven year old Jakelin Caal Maquin, also from Guatemala -- was, as a matter of gross medical negligence, manslaughtered, by Trump agents.

Speak up -- and act out, peaceably, to oppose this crackpot. Do it now -- continue to do so, into 2019. We all must lock arms and end this nightmare. . . of a now-failed dictatorship.

नमस्ते