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17 hours ago, Paul Wesley said:

I’m completely serious when I say this…  I honestly would have guessed that these guys would be able to offer up MUCH more reasoned and persuasive public arguments for themselves.   
 

In other words:  Samuel Alito is terrible at this job.  

Yeah, I read his piece in the WSJ. If I were his PR man, I would have said not to write it. The entire argument of "I didn't really receive a benefit because that seat would have been empty otherwise" is just dumbfounding.

Imagine a husband telling his wife that it's not cheating because he wasn't looking for any action, but the other lady offered a sexual favor for free.

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I read an article today explaining that, while members of the judicial branch are not allowed to accept most gifts, there is no Ethics panel with censure power, particularly at the Federal level.  This is not true for the executive and legislative branches.

Hence, impeachment remains the only way to remove a SCOTUS justice.  Isn't that nice?

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1 minute ago, jimmyjazz said:

I read an article today explaining that, while members of the judicial branch are not allowed to accept most gifts, there is no Ethics panel with censure power, particularly at the Federal level.  This is not true for the executive and legislative branches.

Hence, impeachment remains the only way to remove a SCOTUS justice.  Isn't that nice?

Hence why we need a Dem trifecta to get an ethics reform package through. We have an entire human history to prove that letting an institution police itself leads to nada 

1 minute ago, elfenix said:

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3 minutes ago, jimmyjazz said:

I read an article today explaining that, while members of the judicial branch are not allowed to accept most gifts, there is no Ethics panel with censure power, particularly at the Federal level.  This is not true for the executive and legislative branches.

Hence, impeachment remains the only way to remove a SCOTUS justice.  Isn't that nice?

That technically not the only way 

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13 minutes ago, FirstTimeCaller said:

Yeah, I read his piece in the WSJ. If I were his PR man, I would have said not to write it. The entire argument of "I didn't really receive a benefit because that seat would have been empty otherwise" is just dumbfounding.

Imagine a husband telling his wife that it's not cheating because he wasn't looking for any action, but the other lady offered a sexual favor for free.

That vagina would have been empty otherwise.

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WSJ's editorial board shilling for Alito: https://www.wsj.com/articles/justice-samuel-alito-propublica-fishing-trip-alaska-paul-singer-supreme-court-5f4bd925

Quote

The political assault on the Supreme Court continues, and the latest Justice in the grinder is Samuel Alito. ProPublica reports that the Justice went on a fishing trip to Alaska with a billionaire in 2008 and didn’t report it on his annual Court disclosure form. As usual, this is a non-scandal built on partisan spin intended to harm the Justice and the current Court majority.

The ProPublica story is a typically slanted piece alleging that Justice Alito broke ethics and recusal rules after the trip with businessmen Robin Arkley and Paul Singer. He flew on Mr. Singer’s private jet for part of the trip. The story also recounts a fishing trip that the late Justice Antonin Scalia took with Mr. Arkley in 2005. But Justice Alito is still on the Court so he is the big fish that ProPublica is attempting to catch and fillet.

***

Regarding ethics, the story flatly asserts that Justice Alito violated disclosure rules, but he did not. At the time of the trip, the Justices were authoritatively advised that such “personal hospitality” wasn’t reportable. Ray Randolph, a federal appellate judge who was on both trips, says he asked the judiciary’s disclosure office whether to report the trip on his 2005 form. Backed by his notes taken at the time, Judge Randolph said he was told he did not have to disclose.

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This spring the Judicial Conference changed its rules to note that judges should disclose trips taken on private jets. The regulations specified that “transportation that substitutes for commercial transportation”—i.e., private planes—is now an exception to the disclosure exemption for personal hospitality. But Justice Alito violated no rules in 2008.

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As it happens, the fishing trip isn’t even a ProPublica scoop. Justice Alito was so intent on concealing the trip that he told a large audience of lawyers and journalists about it at a Federalist Society dinner in 2009. Mr. Singer had introduced the Justice, and here’s how David Lat reported it on the Above the Law website on Nov. 18, 2009:

“Like a good dinner speaker, Justice Alito warmed up the crowd with a story. He talked about going on a fishing trip deep into the wilderness with Paul Singer (maybe to the wilds of Alaska, but the details escape us). One morning they woke up to find their camp surrounded by bears. Justice Alito said he asked himself: ‘Do you really want to go down in history as the first Supreme Court justice to be devoured by a bear?’”

The more serious allegation is that Justice Alito should have recused himself from cases involving Mr. Singer’s various companies. ProPublica cites seven certiorari petitions to hear a case that the Court rejected. The case the Court accepted, regarding a dispute over Argentine debt, was decided 7-1 six years after the fishing trip. The Justice’s recusal would have made no difference to the outcome.

Justice Alito says he didn’t know of Mr. Singer’s involvement in any of these cases at the time, and Mr. Singer says he never spoke to the Justice about them. ProPublica reports no evidence that Mr. Singer’s name even appeared in any of the Court documents prepared for either the certiorari petitions or the Argentine debt case.

ProPublica’s focus on recusal is the latest angle in the progressive campaign to cripple the Court’s new majority. By imposing even tenuous associations as grounds for recusal, litigants can exclude certain Justices from hearing a case. With a Court of only nine Justices, this could determine the outcome. Call it Court-thinning rather than Court-packing, but the effect would be similar.

Should Justice Elena Kagan have recused herself from the pending Harvard admissions case because she is a former Harvard law dean? Or Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson from cases about executive power because she must be grateful that President Biden appointed her? They shouldn’t recuse in our view, but those “appearances” of a conflict are more substantial than recusing over a plane ride from someone Justice Alito had no obvious reason to believe was associated with a case.

On the left’s logic regarding Justice Alito, there is no limiting principle for recusal. The grounds are whatever some group claims they are. The result would be that Justices and their clerks would have to hunt far and wide for even minor associations that may involve a distant stake in a case. This is the way to ruin the Court by further entangling it in politics.

***

We should add a word about our own role here. The press is in a lather because we ran Justice Alito’s response to ProPublica’s questions as an op-ed on Tuesday evening before the ProPublica article appeared. One classic headline from Wednesday in Politico: “Alito picks a fight with ProPublica.” The Justice defends himself against a phony ethics assault from the press, and he’s the one picking the fight?

Justice Alito clearly wanted his defense to receive public disclosure in full, not edited piecemeal. We saw ProPublica’s list of 18 questions and had a good idea of where the reporters were going. The story proved us right.

It is also hilarious to be denounced for betraying the media brotherhood for the offense of scooping the competition. This is the same crowd that would prefer if we didn’t exist. Their pearl-clutching reveals the degree of media conformity when it comes to approved progressive political targets like Justice Alito.

That’s the larger story to keep in mind as the campaign against the Court accelerates. This isn’t about ethics. This is about the left’s fury at having lost control of the Court, which they had counted on for decades as a second legislature to impose their priorities when they couldn’t persuade Congress. They can’t accept that loss, and they will destroy the Court if they must to get that control back.

We are defending the Court because someone has to. Someone has to stand up for judicial independence and an institution that is part of the bedrock of our constitutional order.

 

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Thomas Alito: Private jets to luxury fishing vacations with a Republican billionaire who then had REPEATED business before the Supreme Court: $100,000

Neil Gorsuch: Real estate deal with a lawyer who had business before the Supreme Court: $1.8 million

Clarence Thomas: Luxury vacations, tuition paid for grand nephew, mother’s home bought and renovated: hundreds of thousands of dollars in gifts from GOP billionaire with business before the court.

Brett Kavanaugh: $260,000 of debt paid off by “mystery” donor

Owning 4 of the 9 Justices on the Supreme Court: priceless

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19 hours ago, Paul Wesley said:

I’m completely serious when I say this…  I honestly would have guessed that these guys would be able to offer up MUCH more reasoned and persuasive public arguments for themselves.   
 

In other words:  Samuel Alito is terrible at this job.  

They've been marinating in a far-right information bubble for decades. That shit turns even the smartest conservative brains to mush, and Alito was never that smart.

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SCOTUS traditionally enjoys much higher approval ratings than Congress and POTUS due to being the more "neutral" (I.e., not elected) branch of government

Currently at 30% approval and 59% disapproval

6/10 Americans are tired of this bullshit.  Good job, Alito, Thomas, Kavanaugh, Gorsuch, ACB and the ring leader, John Roberts. 

 

Edited by Js1
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1 hour ago, tx 3 putt said:

Thomas Alito: Private jets to luxury fishing vacations with a Republican billionaire who then had REPEATED business before the Supreme Court: $100,000

Neil Gorsuch: Real estate deal with a lawyer who had business before the Supreme Court: $1.8 million

Clarence Thomas: Luxury vacations, tuition paid for grand nephew, mother’s home bought and renovated: hundreds of thousands of dollars in gifts from GOP billionaire with business before the court.

Brett Kavanaugh: $260,000 of debt paid off by “mystery” donor

Owning 4 of the 9 Justices on the Supreme Court: priceless

Also, wasn't Scalia on a hunting or golfing trip staying at some rich person's place when he died?

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6 minutes ago, tx ind said:

Also, wasn't Scalia on a hunting or golfing trip staying at some rich person's place when he died?

Yep.

 

U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonin Scalia, 79, was found dead of apparent natural causes Saturday morning at the Cibolo Creek Ranch resort near Marfa, a Presidio County official confirmed.

 

https://www.texastribune.org/2016/02/13/us-supreme-court-justice-antonin-scalia-found-dead/

 

 

Quote

All of which raises the question: Who pays for a Supreme Court justice to make this kind of trip?

 

Not Scalia, it turns out. Poindexter told The Washington Post that Scalia was not charged for his stay, something he described as a policy for all guests at the ranch.

 

“I did not pay for the Justice’s trip to Cibolo Creek Ranch,” Poindexter wrote in a brief email Tuesday. “He was an invited guest, along with a friend, just like 35 others.”

 

Poindexter added: “The Justice was treated no differently by me, as no one was charged for activities, room and board, beverages, etc. That is a 22-year policy.’’

 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2016/02/17/justice-scalias-death-and-questions-about-who-pays-for-supreme-court-justices-to-visit-remote-resorts/

 

Edited by Grade of D as in David
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25 minutes ago, tx ind said:

Also, wasn't Scalia on a hunting or golfing trip staying at some rich person's place when he died?

I mean if it resulted in more of their deaths then these trips would enjoy significantly more public support. 

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7 minutes ago, elfenix said:

Standing might still be a thing. Wonder if that will hold sway in the student loan cases as well?
 

I had mentioned that seemed to be ACB's bug during proceedings - that these states didn't have standing and the loan company didn't even appear.  I could see Roberts + Kav joining her in upholding the forgiveness based on that alone. 

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On 6/22/2023 at 12:41 AM, tx 3 putt said:

 

IMG_5054.jpeg

Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia Found Dead in West Texas

U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonin Scalia, 79, was found dead of apparent natural causes Saturday morning at the Cibolo Creek Ranch resort near Marfa, a Presidio County official confirmed.

BY TERRI LANGFORD AND JORDAN RUDNER FEB. 13, 20164 PM CENTRAL

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I don't think the country realizes what restarting student loans is going to do to the economy. The 20k discount would certainly help, but my generation is notoriously bad at living within our means and as a loan officer we've seen many many lenders completely ignoring student loans in debt to income calculations on personal and auto loans since 2020. It's gonna be a massive shitshow.

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2 minutes ago, 'stache said:

It's not easy when housing, healthcare, and tuition are 5 times what they were for the Boomers, and wages have been stagnated for decades. They built themselves a nice little nest egg where a high school graduate could afford a 3 bedroom home, annual vacations, and college for their kids on a single income. The world changed, not the people. That's why "Thanks Boomer" is a thing. They created advantages for themselves, then said fuck everyone else, they're just lazy. 

Correct, it's stacked against us and we aren't good at delaying gratification (purchases) either which is a really bad combo to try to add $200-$400/month expense (guessing the avg) to our bills. I've had 1 repo in the last two years. I think that's going to change really quickly come early 2024.

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The 2 cases with standing issues and ACB's arguments in the SLF case makes me think there's no way it's 5-4 shooting down the forgiveness.  The 3 liberals + ACB will give cover to Roberts and Kav to make it 6-3 and uphold it, maybe 7-2 if Gorsuch jumps on too.  I just don't think you bother to assume Alito and Thomas won't be huge assholes. 

Meanwhile:

 

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On 6/22/2023 at 10:27 AM, FirstTimeCaller said:

Yeah, I read his piece in the WSJ. If I were his PR man, I would have said not to write it. The entire argument of "I didn't really receive a benefit because that seat would have been empty otherwise" is just dumbfounding.

Hunter Biden can now use the same excuse for getting a ride to China on Air Force 2.

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3 hours ago, Js1 said:

The 2 cases with standing issues and ACB's arguments in the SLF case makes me think there's no way it's 5-4 shooting down the forgiveness.  The 3 liberals + ACB will give cover to Roberts and Kav to make it 6-3 and uphold it, maybe 7-2 if Gorsuch jumps on too.  I just don't think you bother to assume Alito and Thomas won't be huge assholes. 

Meanwhile:

 

the indian adoption case also featured standing. 

counterpoint:

collection_image_1643217_calvinball-content-admin-2048x1280_201808131041.thumb.jpg.bbafc05223a265dda1ecf1077cd9d00e.jpg

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5 hours ago, Js1 said:

The 2 cases with standing issues and ACB's arguments in the SLF case makes me think there's no way it's 5-4 shooting down the forgiveness.  The 3 liberals + ACB will give cover to Roberts and Kav to make it 6-3 and uphold it, maybe 7-2 if Gorsuch jumps on too.  I just don't think you bother to assume Alito and Thomas won't be huge assholes. 

Meanwhile:

 


what does this mean about Moore ?

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54 minutes ago, tx 3 putt said:


what does this mean about Moore ?

It’s going to get shot down by a non-controversial margin. Idk if I agree with Elias that it will be 8-1 with only Alito dissenting. Maybe 7-2

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4 hours ago, Js1 said:

It’s going to get shot down by a non-controversial margin. Idk if I agree with Elias that it will be 8-1 with only Alito dissenting. Maybe 7-2

Can you remind us about the implications of Moore vs. Harper? Some people were thinking it could be shot down by the court  because North Carolina GOP is going to resolve their map dispute after they won control of the NC Supreme Court during the 2022 elections. 
 

I was told Moore vs. Harper could somehow stop democrats from fixing Wisconsin’s egregiously gerrymandered maps, which would suck after dems fought so hard to win the Supreme Court in that state.

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2 hours ago, Voldemort86 said:

Can you remind us about the implications of Moore vs. Harper? Some people were thinking it could be shot down by the court  because North Carolina GOP is going to resolve their map dispute after they won control of the NC Supreme Court during the 2022 elections. 
 

I was told Moore vs. Harper could somehow stop democrats from fixing Wisconsin’s egregiously gerrymandered maps, which would suck after dems fought so hard to win the Supreme Court in that state.

Moore v. Harper asks the Court to adopt the independent state legislature theory.

That is a position that urges that the Elections Clause, Article I, Section 4, "The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof" means that state legislatures act completely independently of state constitutions, courts, and governors in enacting regulations of federal elections.

That would mean that the governor cannot veto state legislation governing federal elections, nor can that state's supreme court invalidate or overrrule, and any state constitutional provisions governing federal elections are invalid.

And that would subject the conduct of federal elections within a state to unchecked political power.

Standing is always a fertile ground for dismissing a case as the courts are increasingly used to address political issues.  Normally, legislators and legislatures lack standing to bring a lawsuit over their own legislation.  

Mootness would also seem to be an issue, as the legislation at issue, a gerrymander struck down by the NC Supreme Court, has since been upheld by a now R-majority NC Supreme Court.  Grotesquely, however, the plaintiffs have asked the NC Supreme Court to reverse itself, fearing its decision would moot this case.  Shameless shit, right there.

An observation:  it is somewhat curious that the drafters inserted "by the Legislature" instead of leaving it at "State."  However, my best guess is that they meant that the legislature of each state would take the first pass at any such laws, as opposed to governors, or commissions, or other officers, and each state's legislature would operate in accordance with that state's constitution, that is, with the legislature's work subject to judicial review, governor veto, etc.

There's not a lot of "original" history explaining either way.

HOWEVER, the states immediately began legislating, vetoing, and judicial reviewing federal election legislation without protest from anyone, and continued to do so for 200 years.  If the framers had intended a "legislature only" format, you'd think someone would have raised that before now, because this whole democracy thing was new and fairly controversial back then.

There's one bit of scary, though.  State constitutional provisions governing federal elections are not literally the product of the state's legislature, in most cases.  That might seem to be a bit of a problem.

And, John Eastman is a proponent, which should tell you all you need to know.

 

 

Edited by TwiceHorn
Shameless shit
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Moore v. Harper asks the Court to adopt the independent state legislature theory.
That is a position that urges that the Elections Clause, Article I, Section 4, "The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof" means that state legislatures act completely independently of state constitutions, courts, and governors in enacting regulations of federal elections.
That would mean that the governor cannot veto state legislation governing federal elections, nor can that state's supreme court invalidate or overrrule, and any state constitutional provisions governing federal elections are invalid.
And that would subject the conduct of federal elections within a state to unchecked political power.
Standing is always a fertile ground for dismissing a case as the courts are increasingly used to address political issues.  Normally, legislators and legislatures lack standing to bring a lawsuit over their own legislation.  
Mootness would also seem to be an issue, as the legislation at issue, a gerrymander struck down by the NC Supreme Court, has since been upheld by a now R-majority NC Supreme Court.  Grotesquely, however, the plaintiffs have asked the NC Supreme Court to reverse itself, fearing its decision would moot this case.  Shameless shit, right there.
An observation:  it is somewhat curious that the drafters inserted "by the Legislature" instead of leaving it at "State."  However, my best guess is that they meant that the legislature of each state would take the first pass at any such laws, as opposed to governors, or commissions, or other officers, and each state's legislature would operate in accordance with that state's constitution, that is, with the legislature's work subject to judicial review, governor veto, etc.
There's not a lot of "original" history explaining either way.
HOWEVER, the states immediately began legislating, vetoing, and judicial reviewing federal election legislation without protest from anyone, and continued to do so for 200 years.  If the framers had intended a "legislature only" format, you'd think someone would have raised that before now, because this whole democracy thing was new and fairly controversial back then.
There's one bit of scary, though.  State constitutional provisions governing federal elections are not literally the product of the state's legislature, in most cases.  That might seem to be a bit of a problem.
And, John Eastman is a proponent, which should tell you all you need to know.
 
 

The independent state legislature theory is so stupid I don’t really like to even discuss it. Even if you accept the fundamental premise you still have to pretend state legislatures haven’t validated provisions in state constitutions, election laws, etc. with their approval/passing or by, you know, operating under that framework for over a century.
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1 hour ago, gmr548 said:


The independent state legislature theory is so stupid I don’t really like to even discuss it. Even if you accept the fundamental premise you still have to pretend state legislatures haven’t validated provisions in state constitutions, election laws, etc. with their approval/passing or by, you know, operating under that framework for over a century.

Two centuries, actually.

It is conceivable that everyone had it wrong all that time.  

Edited by TwiceHorn
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58 minutes ago, TwiceHorn said:

I agree it's insightful, but it's nothing we didn't already know: conservatives have been packing the court with ideologues that don't give a shit about stare decisis and seek outcomes over good law. I guess it's more data to support the whole "our entire court system is fundamentally compromised" angle though, which is always fun. 

If judges weren't lifetime appointments, or we had actually useful mechanisms to enforce some accountability, it may not be so dire. But assuming the same trajectory that we've been on, I don't think it's gonna get any better over the next decade or two

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On 6/22/2023 at 10:43 AM, tx 3 putt said:

Thomas Alito: Private jets to luxury fishing vacations with a Republican billionaire who then had REPEATED business before the Supreme Court: $100,000

Neil Gorsuch: Real estate deal with a lawyer who had business before the Supreme Court: $1.8 million

Clarence Thomas: Luxury vacations, tuition paid for grand nephew, mother’s home bought and renovated: hundreds of thousands of dollars in gifts from GOP billionaire with business before the court.

Brett Kavanaugh: $260,000 of debt paid off by “mystery” donor

Owning 4 of the 9 Justices on the Supreme Court: priceless

You have to understand pleb, that protesting them is trying to influence a Judge who is also way smarter than you and beyond petty influence.  Free trips, cash, homes, and lucrative business deals, well that doesn't influence them, that are just a reward for their civil service or a gift between friends and committees.     You don't understand because you hate America.   Oh, we were drinking vodka?  Well, that was because we grew accustomed to it when Maria and her whore friends were....uh... nothing.  Maria who?  Hunter Biden's Laptop is in Benghazi! 

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https://www.propublica.org/article/behind-scenes-alito-wall-street-journal-prebuttal-editorial

Quote

Around midday on Friday, June 16, ProPublica reporters Justin Elliott and Josh Kaplan sent an email to Patricia McCabe, the Supreme Court’s spokesperson, with questions for Justice Samuel Alito about a forthcoming story on his fishing trip to Alaska with a hedge fund billionaire.

We set a deadline of the following Tuesday at noon for a response.

Fifteen minutes later, McCabe called the reporters. It was an unusual moment in our dealings with the high court’s press office, the first time any of its public information officers had spoken directly with the ProPublica journalists in the many months we have spent looking into the justices’ ethics and conduct.

 

Quote

On Tuesday, McCabe called the reporters to tell them Alito would not respond to our requests for comment but said we should not write that he declined to comment. (In the story, we wrote that she told us he “would not be commenting.”)

She asked when the story was likely to be published. Certainly not today, the reporters replied. Perhaps as soon as Wednesday.

Six hours later, The Wall Street Journal editorial page posted an essay by Alito in which he used our questions to guess at the points in our unpublished story and rebut them in advance. 

 

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