Elena Kagan temporarily stays House Jan. 6 committee's subpoena for Arizona GOP chair's phone record

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: CNN Politics

CNN — Lawyers for Arizona Republican Party Chair Kelli Ward and her husband Michael Ward filed an emergency motion with the Supreme Court on Wednesday asking the justices to block a subpoena from the House select committee investigating January 6, 2021, for phone and text records.

Hours after the filing, Justice Elena Kagan – who supervises the appeals court that ruled in the case – issued a temporary order blocking the subpoena. The administrative stay was likely issued to give the justices more time to consider the matter and may not reflect the court’s final disposition. Kagan also asked for a response from the House committee by Friday.

The move is the latest dispute concerning January 6 to come before the conservative-leaning court. Justice Clarence Thomas on Monday similarly agreed to temporarily freeze a lower court order requiring the testimony of Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham in front of an Atlanta-area special grand jury that is investigating efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election in the state.

The Wards served as fake electors for Donald Trump in Arizona, one of the states the former President lost but where Republicans gathered to put forth a pro-Trump slate of electors. According to a committee letter seeking Kelli Ward’s testimony, she also spoke with Trump and members of his staff regarding the election certification in Arizona. The committee also sought Ward’s testimony. She invoked her Fifth Amendment rights during the deposition.

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/26/politics/kelli-ward-january-6-house-subpoena-supreme-court

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Full headline: Elena Kagan temporarily stays House Jan. 6 committee’s subpoena for Arizona GOP chair’s phone records

[ananda]

1. Sigh

Will we ever get justice?

[CentralMass]

2. The party of corruption.

[SheltieLover]

3. Ridiculous rat fuckery!

[onenote]

17. I see. So Kagan is engaging in rat fuckery?

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

4. More time for what?!?! The "final disposition" should be obvious!!

[paleotn]

5. That's annoying.

[ffr]

6. This country is about 2 seconds from riots in the streets.

Someone just has to light the match. Sick and tired of playing by the rules to get FUCK IN THE ASS over and over again from people who don't.

[The Grand Illuminist]

8. Not riots

But total war.

[ashredux]

7. Total bullshit. She is not an elected official, by the people of the state ..has no grounds for it

[onenote]

16. Did you read the pleadings in the case?

The legal issue raised isn't limited to objections made by public officials (such as is the case with respect to Graham's objection to his subpoena). Rather, the objection is based on the first amendment's protection of the "freedom of association" first recognized in NAACP v. North Carolina in 1958. The scope of that right most recently was considered by the Supreme Court in a 2021 case in which the conservative majority adopted a broad interpretation of that right. Ward's appeal of the district court's denial of her request for a stay of the subpoena of her phone was rejected by the Ninth Circuit by a 2-1 vote, with the dissenter arguing that the 2021 case controlled the outcome. That dissent, it should be noted, cited Kagan's dissent in the 2021 case as supporting its interpretation of that case.

Kagan followed standard procedure in issuing an administrative stay to allow the rest of the Court to decide Ward's emergency motion. Indeed, given that the 2021 case was decided by a 6-3 margin, Kagan may have felt compelled to issue the temporary stay since the standard for granting the emergency stay is whether 4 Justices likely would grant certiorari and there is a reasonable possibility that 5 justices would reverse the Ninth Circuit.

That doesn't mean that the court will in fact grant the emergency stay and, eventually, reverse the ninth circuit. And there would have been no point in Kagan denying the emergency stay request herself since once an emergency request for relief is denied by the justice that is assigned to a particular circuit, the party whose stay request has been denied can then go to any other Justice it chooses and renew its request.

[Angrybob2001]

21. thank you

ty

[24601]

22. I trust Kagan (N/T)

[maxsolomon]

9. How did Ward skip all other levels of the Federal Judiciary?

It's like there's only 1 court with the ability to issue a decision now.

[sl8]

11. She didn't. She went to both district and circuit court first. nt

[maxsolomon]

12. Okey doke.

Sure hope the full court tells her to fuck off.

[kacekwl]

10. NO. It's really easy to say.

NO again NO. One more time, NO. See Justice Kagan easy.

[onenote]

13. In which case, Ward and her husband could go to any other Justice and renew their request.

Kagan's decision is consistent with the standard by which such applications are considered (and, while it sucks to say it, so was Thomas's similar action with respect to the Fulton County subpoena of Graham ).

The question that the Justice to whom the emergency request is presented is supposed to consider is whether it is likely that four justices will support granting certiorari. Ward's argument is based on a recent court case in which Kagan was in the minority, meaning that she has little choice but to conclude that four justices would want to hear the case.

The procedure is explained in detail here: https://www.supremecourt.gov/publicinfo/reportersguide.pdf

[iemanja]

14. I'm thinking this temporary stays are procedural

Obviously Kagen has no interest in helping Republicans evade testifying.

[moniss]

15. The strategy

is to run out the clock. Just like with Bannon etc.

[sarcasmo]

18. The Republican Court is destroying this country.

[ripcord]

19. People need to get a grip

Kagan is taking care since both are doctors she probably wants to make sure patient's privacy is protected. The meltdowns are getting old though, Kagan is not screwing us but following the law, how dare she do her job!

[Jakes Progress]

20. This is why the maga party wins.

Last edited Thu Oct 27, 2022, 04:21 PM - Edit history (1)

We follow the rules, and they cheat. We tell the truth, and they lie. We do the right thing, and they break laws with impunity.

Tell me how we are to ever get our country back from the 40% of assholes that think authoritarian, religious, bigoted government is a good thing. Majority doesn't seem to matter.

[old guy]

24. Yup.

[Bayard]

23. Agreed

She did the right thing. Justice can hit some speed bumps.

[Emile]

25. Republicans will be accusing Garland that he is weak on crime next.