Yours Truly has repeatedly warned you about the ultra right wing 5th Circuit Court of appeals that is extremely hostile to poor minority litigants. The running joke in the Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi region which the 5th Circuit Court covers is that if you are not a rich white Republican advocating some Republican party ideals(2nd amendment, anti-abortion etc) your petition will fall on deaf ears.
Now the extremely hostile 5th Circuit Court has struck again, this time ruling against the time honored, universally accepted Brady Rule which the U.S. Supreme Court instituted in 1963 requiring prosecutors to share exculpatory information with criminal defendants.
En banc 5th Cir. rules that prosecutors are not required to reveal exculpatory evidence to defendants before they plead guilty. pic.twitter.com/auMEGxhV8e
— Brad Heath (@bradheath) September 19, 2018
This opens the door wide open for all kinds of prosecutorial abuses the Brady Doctrine was meant to cure. It also sets the Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi region back to the path of mass incarceration which even prominent Republicans agree disproportionately affects minorities, especially blacks.
Yours Truly has repeatedly said the 5th Circuit Court and its associated district courts are not courts of law but rather branches of the GOP advancing GOP ideals, in this case mass incarceration–profit from imprisoning/detaining as many minorities as possible. Yours Truly suggests that the U.S. Supreme Court either (1)abolish the bogus 5th Circuit Court or (2) create a provision where indigent pro se litigants in TX, LA and MI are allowed to file complaints in other circuits or (3) most preferred option–create a mechanism outside the judicial misconduct process where litigants can air their complaints/frustrations about their experiences at the 5th Circuit Court that would be shared with other federal circuit courts of appeal and the U.S. Supreme Court. This would be similar to the complaints hotline most companies have for disaffected customers. As a wise man once said, sunlight is the best disinfectant.
There is no reason to have a court that is extremely hostile to indigent pro se litigants when the vast majority of cases in TX, LA, and MI involve indigent pro se litigants. The 5th Circuit Court and its associated district courts should be left to handle cases from rich white Republicans, the court’s preferred/favored litigants.
So you ask, “But @Emolclause, how is this relevant to the #TheResistance? You’ve really veered into la la land with this 5th Circuit stuff.” Well here’s why it is relevant, very relevant. We are currently engaged in a major fight over the U.S. Supreme Court(Brett Kavanaugh). It is very important for people to realize that what Republicans have already done with state courts and federal courts like the 5th Circuit Court, they now intend to do with the U.S. Supreme Court–transform the U.S. Supreme Court into yet another GOP outpost for rubber stamping the Republican party agenda. In other words the Texas Supreme Court, Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, the 5th Circuit Court and its associated district courts are no longer courts of law in the traditional sense but rather outposts of the Republican party. Republicans want to do the same with the U.S. Supreme Court and you should be terribly worried.
Bottom line our job is to fight like hell to ensure the courts remain an independent third branch of the government like the framers intended and not subservient outposts of any political party.
For those of you very happy with @Emolclause’s activism don’t shy away from the “tip jar” below on your way out