"A man who has never gone to school may steal from a freight car; but if he has a university education, he may steal the whole railroad."---Theodore Roosevelt If you have been paying attention to the news lately, it's likely you have noticed all the Republican-controlled states acting up with a ton of unconstitutional acts and legislation flooding the daily news headlines. But one state that has virtually gone ignored by most cycles until recently in Missouri. Making headlines with the onslaught of some of the most aggressive anti-trans and LGBT+ bills in the nation since January. Even a sitting Missouri state senator named Mike Moon (Yes, that's the same dude that thinks it's completely proper to marry 12 years olds off) even went so far as to imply that "we should round trans folks up and put into conversion therapy centers". And while that caught the attention of Missourians from across the state, it didn't get the attention it should have. But the one that caught the most attention didn't come from the Missouri legislative body. No, it came from the Office of the Attorney General under the direction of a complete despot named Andrew Bailey. The emergency rule that Bailey took it upon himself to impose on folks specifically targeted both trans children and adults alike by putting an immediate halt to access to their medical care throughout the state. There was no public hearing, no testimonies that could folks could show up to or write his office about why they opposed this rule. Of course, his unilateral decision to restrict access to healthcare spurred a lawsuit by the advocacy group Lambda Legal and the ACLU of Missouri, for obvious abuse of not only power but a huge infraction on Civil Rights. But aside from the topic of the lawsuit itself, what should be catching the attention of people everywhere is the method and mechanism Bailey decided to pursue his political ambitions that would come from this lawsuit, which is a small portion of ISL theory. If you don't know what the theory is that I'm talking about, it's ISL (Independent State Legislator) theory. It's a legal radicalized theory that allows a state legislature to have two separate ways of a state whatever it wants to do. 1.) is through letting a state decide how the Electoral College should work. And 2.) It also allows state legislatures to make up the election rules as they go for congressional districts -making gerrymandering all that much easier and legal to do. As you can see why this is problematic in nature. But the real nasty part comes from removing the separation of powers that is in Article I of the Constitution through the court systems. Making it easier for any party to make a huge power grab and overthrow an election. There's no doubt that the theory itself is one big red "danger" sign when it comes to our democracy. But what most folks are missing is the "devil in the details" of this theory as a whole. Most folks just like to assume that ISL theory only serves one purpose, and that's to screw up and rig legit elections for a power grab from a political party. But like most legal theories can be applied to any kind of argument that pertains to where the federal and state powers' comes into play with the right "word salad" of an argument. Kind of like the "Originalist's Theory". That's a theory that's been used in a wide range of different cases ranging from Dred Scott to Heller vs DC-To the recent fall of Roe vs Wade. But unlike ISL (because it's so radical) the Originalists' theory is recognized, and has a standing by the courts as a legitimate case argument, and ISL is not. And that brings us to Bailey and his despotism nonsense that was laughed out of court and sent packing all the way back to Jefferson City. You might be thinking "Well, I don't see the alarm or why I should care"?- Let's get into that. Bailey essentially tried to apply a part of ISL theory by jumping court jurisdictions to fast-track his case to the Supreme Court. Hypothetically, had the federal judge sided with his arguments, it would have set a precedent of going straight to the federal courts to deal with state issues instead of letting the states handle their own problem creating a massive constitutional crisis through the separation of powers. I know it's Missouri, and creating a Constitutional crisis seems to be our jam, but this would have opened the door for other GOP-controlled states to follow in the same suit creating a mess the US hasn't seen since the South decided it needed to be its own "country". In short, Bailey's antic was to "test the waters" to see what he and his party could get away with and in time get ISL theory (or at least a part of it) legitimized by a court of law to wreak havoc on the entire nation to seize control and hold us all hostage. Sure folks, might think this piece is reactive or alarmist sounding, but it's not. The ISL theory is just another weaponized theory that the GOP has been attacking the courts for years through judge activists' appointments and extremely stupid and frivolous lawsuits. Slowly edging its way in for the power grab of our justice system. I mean, the current Supreme Court is a prime example of what I'm talking about. The SCOTUS was once considered a prestigious force of authority but now it's more or less, a "Banana Republic" filled with partisan activists and corrupt justices that the GOP really wants to get this theory in front of. Be it dealing with the elections itself or be it an adjacent topic where this theory can be applied.
And while the federal judge brutally smacked Bailey down--it's fair to say that the attempt itself is enough to embolden other GOP Attorney Generals to do the same and overwhelm the SCOTUS. But for now, the theory is just a theory until the SCOTUS rules on the Moore vs Harper case coming up, and hopefully will remain unrecognized by the courts despite being a mini "Banana Republic". As of now, even the SCOTUS isn't keen on this theory (which, for better or worse) is a blessing at the end of the day. As for Mr. Andrew Bailey- Well, his emergency rule was put on ice by a state judge who also ordered that the case will remain in state courts, putting a damper on whatever ambitions he had. So, for the time being, we can breathe a little, or at least until the next genius of the supermajority in Mo Leg gets a wild hair to try to bypass the Constitution again. In short, these coordinated attacks on the court system through deceptive and super confusing legal theories give the appearance of stealing from the train car. The reality is the GOP is trying to steal the whole damn railroad to get us to the point of an Authoritarian government, and they'll use any legal cobbled-together theory to do it to keep the illusion that they're supportive of a "Democracy". And that is why we need to start caring they're attacking and overwhelming this branch of government. Yes, it's true that our justice system is not perfect, and it sometimes can be deeply flawed in the wrong hand. But it's the only system we truly have that can keep the other branches of government in check. The legal system is the only system that we have to enforce the rights to have clarified the extent of them-- when the codified laws fail to have clear definitions, leaving them up to interpretation. Because if we don't start caring, and this branch falls to the MAGA extremists, the other branches will go in the "way of the dinosaur" and Authoritarians will be at the door wrapped in an American flag and carrying Ars while reciting some weird version of the 10 commandments. And that, my friends, is starting to become less of a dystopian work of fiction into our fundamental reality. So stay aware, stay focused, and keep fighting the good fight. As always take care and take care of one another, Much love, Jojo
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