this post was submitted on 25 Sep 2023
167 points (97.2% liked)

politics

19159 readers
4700 users here now

Welcome to the discussion of US Politics!

Rules:

  1. Post only links to articles, Title must fairly describe link contents. If your title differs from the site’s, it should only be to add context or be more descriptive. Do not post entire articles in the body or in the comments.

Links must be to the original source, not an aggregator like Google Amp, MSN, or Yahoo.

Example:

  1. Articles must be relevant to politics. Links must be to quality and original content. Articles should be worth reading. Clickbait, stub articles, and rehosted or stolen content are not allowed. Check your source for Reliability and Bias here.
  2. Be civil, No violations of TOS. It’s OK to say the subject of an article is behaving like a (pejorative, pejorative). It’s NOT OK to say another USER is (pejorative). Strong language is fine, just not directed at other members. Engage in good-faith and with respect! This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban.
  3. No memes, trolling, or low-effort comments. Reposts, misinformation, off-topic, trolling, or offensive. Similarly, if you see posts along these lines, do not engage. Report them, block them, and live a happier life than they do. We see too many slapfights that boil down to "Mom! He's bugging me!" and "I'm not touching you!" Going forward, slapfights will result in removed comments and temp bans to cool off.
  4. Vote based on comment quality, not agreement. This community aims to foster discussion; please reward people for putting effort into articulating their viewpoint, even if you disagree with it.
  5. No hate speech, slurs, celebrating death, advocating violence, or abusive language. This will result in a ban. Usernames containing racist, or inappropriate slurs will be banned without warning

We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.

All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.

That's all the rules!

Civic Links

Register To Vote

Citizenship Resource Center

Congressional Awards Program

Federal Government Agencies

Library of Congress Legislative Resources

The White House

U.S. House of Representatives

U.S. Senate

Partnered Communities:

News

World News

Business News

Political Discussion

Ask Politics

Military News

Global Politics

Moderate Politics

Progressive Politics

UK Politics

Canadian Politics

Australian Politics

New Zealand Politics

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
 

“This is textbook compelled speech,” U.S. District Judge Alan Albright ruled in halting enforcement of the law. Texas is appealing.

...

OP NOTE: This is actually a week old, today 3 judge panel allowed the ban to go into effect. Here's the author's mastodon post about it. though there are few other details

BREAKING: A three-judge panel of the 5th Circuit (Elrod, Haynes, Douglas) allows Texas’s book-ban law to go into effect, issuing an administrative stay of the district court ruling enjoining enforcement of the law.
The court gave no reasoning for its order, which is remarkable given that the law has never been allowed to go into effect, so the order — although posed as merely “administrative” — is a ruling, at least temporarily, changing the status of state law.

... rest of blurb ...

On Monday, a federal judge ruled in favor of booksellers who argued that Texas’s new law banning some books from public school libraries and restricting others through an onerous and complicated regime is likely unconstitutional in an opinion that blasted the law and the arguments the state made in its defense.

“[T]his Court has found that READER likely violates the First Amendment by containing an unconstitutional prior restraint, compelled speech, and unconstitutional vagueness,” U.S. District Judge Alan Albright — a Trump appointee to the federal bench — concluded in issuing a preliminary injunction halting state officials from enforcing the law. Texas already announced that it is appealing the decision.

...

“To put the scale of the number of books that would need to be rated in perspective, a librarian in San Antonio for Northside ISD testified that six school districts alone had library collections totaling over six million items,“ Albright wrote. There are more than 1,200 school districts in Texas.

Let’s just get this out of the way: Albright cannot believe this law exists. He also cannot believe the arguments the state made in its defense.

top 24 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] fubo@lemmy.world 48 points 1 year ago (1 children)

One difficulty that the Trumpies have with libertarian-conservative judges and lawyers is that the latter do believe in things like rights and law, while the former really only believe in power.

[–] Zorque@kbin.social 14 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Depends on the judge, some just like power and privilege.

[–] fubo@lemmy.world 9 points 1 year ago (2 children)

True, but those are mostly the good-old-boy types who show up drunk to work, not the earnest Federalist Society types.

[–] dezmd@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago

There arent really any earnest Federalist Society types, those dont move up the chain of corruption to the higher echelons of court positions.

[–] jscummy@sh.itjust.works 3 points 1 year ago

Your Kavanaughs versus your Gorsuchs

[–] geosoco@kbin.social 14 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

OP NOTE: This is actually a week old, today 3 judge panel allowed the ban to go into effect. Here's the author's mastodon post about it. though there are few other details and I can't find a new story about it.

BREAKING: A three-judge panel of the 5th Circuit (Elrod, Haynes, Douglas) allows Texas’s book-ban law to go into effect, issuing an administrative stay of the district court ruling enjoining enforcement of the law.
The court gave no reasoning for its order, which is remarkable given that the law has never been allowed to go into effect, so the order — although posed as merely “administrative” — is a ruling, at least temporarily, changing the status of state law.

[–] grue@lemmy.world 9 points 1 year ago

The court gave no reasoning for its order, which is remarkable given that the law has never been allowed to go into effect, so the order — although posed as merely “administrative” — is a ruling, at least temporarily, changing the status of state law.

Of course they do it in the sketchiest possible way. They know it's wrong, so they're deliberately lying to try to escape rightful public outrage.

[–] dragonflyteaparty@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I'm sorry, but I might just be missing it. What's being banned?

[–] geosoco@kbin.social 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

The intent is to ban books about topics they don't like racism, queers, trans folks, abortion, etc as part of the "war on wokeness". They pretend that they're sexually graphic or things kids shouldn't learn about, but it's incredibly unlikely schools ever had books beyond a few classics.

Obviously, these are everyday topics so it's going to ban a lot of neighboring content, probably including the bible. Regardless, because it's at a state-run institution, it's unconstitutional.

The kids will hear about all of these topics in much greater detail on fox news every day anyway, so this is entirely for show and to cause chaos.

[–] dragonflyteaparty@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

Ok, so they're doing what Florida is. Thank you. It wasn't clear to me from the article.

[–] Fal@yiffit.net 5 points 1 year ago
[–] fadingembers@lemmy.blahaj.zone 10 points 1 year ago

Conservatives try to pass a constitutional law challenge: IMPOSSIBLE

[–] OldWoodFrame@lemm.ee 9 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Just because he's a Trump appointed judge doesn't mean he exclusively makes bad decisions. I agree on this one.

[–] PunnyName@lemmy.world 8 points 1 year ago

Just means keeping a closer eye on em.

[–] catreadingabook@kbin.social 7 points 1 year ago

Judge Albright is kind of a (controversial) celebrity among intellectual property lawyers. Until the district started randomizing case assignments, everyone used to try to file in Albright's court because he's so plaintiff-friendly. The plaintiffs here got lucky with this judge assignment, too bad the Circuit Court is not amused lol.

[–] tekktrix@kbin.social 2 points 1 year ago

I want to celebrate but isn’t part of the plan / what the conservatives want though? So they can appeal it to the Supreme Court and get permission to pass these laws nationwide?

[–] Clymene@lemmy.ml 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

That was a satisfying read. I’m glad rule of law still exists to some extent and it’s not just team sports.

[–] infinitevalence@discuss.online 9 points 1 year ago (1 children)

You miss the part where the circuit court put the ban back in place.

[–] geosoco@kbin.social 4 points 1 year ago

Yeah, that's my problem. I added it after they commented.

[–] ryannathans@aussie.zone 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Not american, can't follow this circus. Can we get a translation/summary?

[–] mvirts@lemmy.world 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Texas sucks.

Also, states have their own laws but are beholden to the constitution through courts run by the federal (national) government. If a state law is challenged in federal court, it is tested to see if it violates the constitution.

At one level, a Texas law banning books in schools or something was deemed un-constitutional, so it is still a law but is unenforceable. Later, a higher level federal court decided (probably after the state of Texas appealed the first decision) that it is fine and now the law is in effect.

Sorry I may have missed something

[–] geosoco@kbin.social 4 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Great summary! a teensy nitpick. I wouldn't say the most recent court said it was "fine" per se since they didn't give any reasoning. It is at least possible, that there is a technical issue with earlier rulings. It could be minor technicality, and they let the law take effect pending the next court date?

I think your implication is likely correct, and this is probably political, but we really don't know the reason, and I think not giving one is surprising.

[–] mvirts@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago

Good point! I didn't think of that

[–] ryannathans@aussie.zone 1 points 1 year ago

Thanks for the summaries, I guess we will stay tuned for when it's ultimately decided