Judge kicks newest impeachment lawsuit into high gear

[BumRushDaShow]

Last edited Mon Oct 28, 2019, 09:34 PM - Edit history (1)

Source: CNN

CNN)Judge Richard Leon wants to hear from lawyers for the Trump White House, the House of Representatives and from impeachment witness Charles Kupperman on Thursday after Kupperman filed a lawsuit asking the federal court to decide whether he would need to testify. Kupperman's House testimony had been set for Monday, but Kupperman didn't show up, citing White House and Justice Department reasoning that he was immune from testifying because of his previous work on the National Security Council.

Leon will meet the parties in court at 3 p.m. on Thursday, "due to the time-sensitive nature of the issues raised in this case," the DC District judge wrote Monday night.Kupperman, who served until last month as deputy national security adviser at the White House, was listening in on the July 25 phone call when, according to a White House transcript, Trump pressed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden.

Kupperman's lawsuit raises additional questions about possible testimony from former national security adviser John Bolton, as Kupperman's lawyer Charles Cooper also represents Bolton. "Plaintiff is faced with irreconcilable commands by the Legislative and Executive Branches of the Government and, accordingly, seeks a declaratory judgment from this Court as to whether he is lawfully obliged to comply with a subpoena issued by the House Defendants demanding his testimony '(p)ursuant to the House of Representatives' impeachment inquiry,' or he is lawfully obliged to abide by the assertion of immunity from congressional process made by the President in connection with the testimony sought from Plaintiff," the lawsuit states.

Kupperman's lawsuit includes a copy of a letter that White House counsel Pat Cipollone sent to Cooper directing Kupperman not to comply with the subpoena and maintaining that he would be protected by "constitutional immunity."


Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/28/politics/judge-impeachment-court-case/index.html

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Original article -

(CNN)Judge Richard Leon wants to hear from lawyers for the Trump White House, the House of Representatives and from impeachment witness Charles Kupperman on Thursday after Kupperman filed a lawsuit asking the federal court to decide whether he would need to testify.

Kupperman's House testimony had been set for Monday, but Kupperman didn't show up, citing White House and Justice Department reasoning that he was immune from testifying because of his previous work on the National Security Council.

Leon will meet the parties in court at 3 p.m. on Thursday, "due to the time-sensitive nature of the issues raised in this case," the DC District judge wrote Monday night.

House Democratic leaders announced earlier Monday that the full House will vote Thursday to formalize the procedures of the impeachment inquiry.

This is a breaking story and will be updated.

[mysteryowl]

1. I wonder who Judge Leon is.

[BumRushDaShow]

2. Looks like it could be Senior Judge Richard J. Leon from the D.C. District Court

https://www.dcd.uscourts.gov/content/senior-judge-richard-j-leon

[mysteryowl]

4. I wonder if he is a trump fan

[Beakybird]

3. This judge was appointed by George W.

Don't get your hopes up.

[Lulu KC]

5. This makes me nervous

From Wikipedia.
Now I'm concerned about his character.

There's more there, but it just stood out.

On February 15, 2019, Leon dismissed a lawsuit brought by the North American Butterfly Association against the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) seeking to prevent the building of a border wall through its National Butterfly Center, a 100-acre wildlife preserve in the Rio Grande Valley in Texas. He said the Fourth Amendment against unreasonable searches and seizures "offers little refuge for unenclosed land near one of the country’s external borders" and that environmental review had been properly waived by the DHS.[27]

[Canoe52]

6. "Constitutional immunity"? Is that a thing???

[Perseus]

7. Here it is

Speech or Debate Clause, a provision in the United States Constitution that provides immunity to members of Congress for statements made in either house. Sovereign immunity, the prevention of lawsuits or prosecution against rulers or governments without their given consent.

I don't know that it applies to that person.

[Canoe52]

8. So tRump is claiming that for his people while threatening to sue Rep. Schiff

but Rep. Schiff IS protected by sovereign immunity. Oh the irony...

[reACTIONary]

11. Thanks! I was wondering what "constitutional immunity" is...

... I assumed is was just made up for the occasion like all the other ad hoc legalistic formulations that are being bandied about.

But it is so very, very, very off point that it might as well have been made up.

[TomSlick]

13. See Post 12 below.

[TomSlick]

12. Sovereign immunity is a thing. Constitutional immunity is not.

Historically, governments - the sovereign - could not be sued unless they waived sovereign immunity, as in the Federal Tort Claims Act. The viability of sovereign immunity for state governments varies from State to State.

Trump's plea of "constitutionally immunity" is patent nonsense.

[jaysunb]

9. Well.. there's someone else that was on the call testifying tomorrow.

That should clear it up for the court.

[BumRushDaShow]

10. Yup plus the excuse about an "invalid" inquiry

The House Rules vote this Thursday for the the procedures for the public portion of the inquiry, should throw that out the lack of such, as an excuse.