We Don't Need No Stinking Courts! Part 2

A slightlyt more in depth look at the noministration's efforts at the new American parlor game of judicial hopscotch!

Justices Are Urged to Dismiss Padilla's Case - New York Times: "As the administration filed its Supreme Court brief, Mr. Padilla's five-member legal team filed a brief with the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, in Richmond, Va., asking that court to keep jurisdiction over Mr. Padilla's case long enough for the Supreme Court to act on it.

For its part, the administration is urging the Fourth Circuit to do just the opposite: to vacate its September decision that upheld presidential authority to keep Mr. Padilla in open-ended detention and to 'recall the mandate,' depriving the decision of any legal force.

Since the Fourth Circuit had handed the administration a sweeping victory in that decision, the request would seem to run counter to the administration's interests. But the request, if granted, would have the effect of ensuring that the Supreme Court would be unable to review Mr. Padilla's case because there would be no decision to review.

That amounts to 'the extraordinary action of interfering with the Supreme Court's consideration of the case' while Mr. Padilla's appeal is pending, his lawyers told the Fourth Circuit. The government should not be allowed to claim the case is moot, the brief said, because the administration has not withdrawn Mr. Padilla's designation as an enemy combatant and has refused to foreclose the prospect of sending him back to military detention if he is acquitted in a civilian trial.

The lawyers told the Fourth Circuit that in its treatment of Mr. Padilla, 'the government has repeatedly altered its factual allegations to suit its goals, and it has actively manipulated the federal courts to avoid accountability for its actions.'

If the Supreme Court denies review, the brief continued, the appeals court should recall the mandate and vacate its decision at that point so as not to reward 'the government's egregious conduct and gamesmanship in the federal courts.""

Pick a court, ladies and gentlemen, any court, and we'll move to another one as soon as it looks like we won't get what we want. They kind of remind me of those people that drive in the middle of two lanes in slow rush hour traffic, weaving back and forth, hoping to pick the one that will move the fastest. Doesn't really matter if they're breaking the law, they must be first.

At the stop light.