Matthew Whitaker is a crackpot

[FSogol]

The acting attorney general of the United States is a crackpot.

Matthew G. Whitaker, installed in the job by President Trump to replace Jeff Sessions, was asked in 2014, during an ill-fated run in the Republican senatorial primary in Iowa, about the worst decisions in the Supreme Court’s history. Whitaker’s answer, to an Iowa blog called Caffeinated Thoughts, was chilling.

“There are so many,” he replied. “I would start with the idea of Marbury v. Madison. That’s probably a good place to start and the way it’s looked at the Supreme Court as the final arbiter of constitutional issues. We’ll move forward from there. All New Deal cases that were expansive of the federal government. Those would be bad. Then all the way up to the Affordable Care Act and the individual mandate.”

Reasonable people can differ over the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act. Maybe there’s some space to debate the New Deal-era cases that cemented the authority of the regulatory state. But Marbury? This is lunacy. For any lawyer — certainly for one now at the helm of the Justice Department — to disagree with Marbury is like a physicist denouncing the laws of gravity.

More the Washington Post's Ruth Marcus at

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/matthew-whitaker-is-a-crackpot/2018/11/08/69e8e190-e395-11e8-8f5f-a55347f48762_story.html?utm_term=.744c5e971da9

I like her conclusion:

Marbury was wrong. Religious tests for judges. If you thought the big worry about Whitaker was how he would handle special counsel Robert S. Mueller III, that might be just the beginning.

[mucifer]

1. just hoping it's not to late to undo the damage whitaker has done

[OnDoutside]

2. Rick Wilson tweet

Link to tweet

[Thomas Hurt]

3. Another paranoid grifter like his boss.

[spanone]

4. The Mob Boss has his lackey installed...

[Tanuki]

5. He's also a crook

https://www.thedailybeast.com/matthew-whitaker-acting-attorney-general-once-used-his-justice-bona-fides-to-tout-scam-business

"Our new acting attorney general was listed on the advisory board of a patent marketing company that federal authorities shut down as a fraudulent scheme that bilked aspiring inventors of millions of dollars and intimated that those who publicly complained might have to deal with a “security team” of Israeli ex-special forces operators schooled in Krav Maga.
......

Two months into his association with the firm, a subsequent statement quotes Whitaker saying, “As a former US Attorney, I would only align myself with a first class organization. World Patent Marketing goes beyond making statements about doing business 'ethically' and translate those words into action."

The Federal Trade Commissioner took a dramatically different view in a 2017 compliant seeking a federal court order to shut down the company, saying it had bilked 1,504 aspiring investors of more than $25 million.

“Defendants have operated an invention-promotion scam that has bilked thousands of consumers out of millions of dollars,” the FTC complaint says of World Patent Marketing. “Defendants promise consumer inventors a patent and a lucrative licensing or manufacturing agreement that will allow consumers to successfully monetize their inventions. Defendants craft their marketing materials to create the impression that they have successfully helped other inventors, and thus that they are reliable and reputable. In truth and in fact, Defendants fail to fulfill almost every promise they make to consumers.”

The complaint goes on, “After Defendants collect thousands of dollars from consumers and string them along for months or years… In the end, after months or even years of stringing them along, Defendants leave most of their customers with nothing… Many of Defendants' customers end up in debt or losing their life savings or inheritances, after investing in Defendants· broken promises.”

The FTC complaint describes the company's response when its victims sought to go public with complaints or seek redress from law enforcement:


“Defendants respond by threatening to file a lawsuit for extortion, defamation, and other causes of action. Defendants and their lawyers have threatened consumers with lawsuits and even criminal charges and imprisonment for making any kind of complaint about Defendants.”

The FTC reported that one victim who sought a refund received a letter from a company lawyer “who told her that her conduct of seeking a refund constitutes extortion under Florida law and, 'Since you used email to make your threats, you would be subject to a federal extortion charge, which carries a term of imprisonment of up to two years and potential criminal fines. See 18 U.S.C. ii 875(d).’"...(more at link)

[C_U_L8R]

6. Looks and acts like he's juiced on steroids

At least, there should be blood tests.

[smirkymonkey]

7. K&R