Supreme Court refuses to block Troopergate inquiry

[Tesibria]

Source: Anchorage Daily News

Supreme Court won't block Troopergate inquiry

Anchorage Daily News

The Alaska Supreme Court today rejected an attempt by a group of six Republican legislators to shut down the Legislature's investigation of Gov. Sarah Palin.

The ruling means that Steve Branchflower, the investigator hired by the Legislative Council, will release his report as scheduled on Friday.

Read more: http://www.adn.com/palin/story/550940.html

---

Read the ruling here: http://media.adn.com/smedia/2008/10/09/12/AK001__2_.source.prod_affiliate.7.pdf

[AndyA]

1. WOO-HOO! Palin goes down tomorrow!

R.I.P., Sarah. And take the First Dud with you.

[ShortnFiery]

3. Hope Springs Eternal. Grampy and Skanky don't have many friends left in or out of the GOP. eom

[kestrel91316]

2. Expect this to be appealed to the USSC. To delay action leading to

Palin's fall.

[The Magistrate]

6. No Grounds, Ma'am

The Federal Constitution is silent on the arrangements of the state of Alaska's government. The Alaska supreme court is the final arbiter of that state's constitutional arrangements.

[David Zephyr]

17. Correct and event the hint of trying it will sink Palin with Americans.

Great news here.

[jeff30997]

43. Er...

I thought that Palin was already as sunk as the Titanic with Americans?

[kestrel91316]

19. Well, I guess you would be the one to know, lol.

[nichomachus]

22. Yes, but

The Supreme Court had no business interfering in the 2000 election. That didn't stop them. Put nothing past these fascists. Suppose the Supreme Court does intervene, who will stop them?

Pelosi?

:rofl:

[Tallison]

30. Plus, it would be political suicide to appeal any further

Standing by the state court's sovereignty against the mighty centralized Feds is the RW's stump. Challenging that would be too rich and ironic and cost Palin the job she'll likely need come Nov. 4.

[VWolf]

46. I'd love to see it though.

Can you imagine a SECESSIONIST appealing to the USSC over this?

Oh, the irony!

[TomInTib]

7. Can they do that?

Can they leapfrog the Alaskan SC?

If so, the appeal wouldn't be heard (or reviewed) for a year. The USSC has this session's docket already scheduled.

[scytherius]

11. No. They can't. Not unless . . .

there is a Federal Question upon which the State Court ruled. And though I haven't read any of the pleadings, I can't imagine there is one.

[TomInTib]

14. Thanks, that's what I thought.

Unfortunately, most of what I know about law comes from those instances when I found myself on the wrong side of it.

[LiberalFighter]

26. If they wanted to they could make one up.

[Tallison]

31. Yes, it is all about obstruction

but I think it would be political suicide to appeal to the mighty centralized Feds to overrule Alaskan's sovereign court. Palin's gonna' need that job.

[Happyhippychick]

4. What time is it being released tomorrow?

[ScaryBob]

24. Late Friday Dump, I'm Afraid

Hopefully early in the day, but probably near the end of the day -- easy for the MSM to ditch and will be forgotten by the middle of the road sheep by Monday.

But I may be wrong, I hope I am!

[maddezmom]

5. Excellent News!

Are they out of options or can they appeal to SCOTUS?

[blueclown]

13. The SCOTUS does not have jurisdiction in state matters.

[AlbertCat]

32. The SCOTUS does not have jurisdiction in state matters.

Except when counting votes for President....apparently

[blueclown]

35. That was a national matter.

They could challenge the Florida Supreme Court's ruling because it had national implications.

This one doesn't.

It is strictly a state matter.

[Ms. Toad]

38. Not so fast...

perhaps. I couldn't access the parties' documents from the Daily Kos link - but the Daily Kos notes that the Constitutional issues - both Alaskan and US were clear. If federal constitutional issues were involved, the US Supreme Court could hear the matter - unless it made its decision solely based on state constitutional grounds alone. (The opinion is not yet available - and the order is silent as to the basis of its decision.

I can't imagine there are Federal constitutional issues - but Daily Kos implies there were (although reporters don't always get the subtleties of the law and often get it wrong).

[blueclown]

47. This is a state matter, affecting the state and the state only.

Did Sarah Palin abuse her job privledges?

Why would the SCOTUS have anything to do with that?

Why should they care?

[Ms. Toad]

48. There shouldn't be any federal issues

But the plaintiffs have the right to argue whatever they want. I have not seen the arguments - only the court order. Depending on what they argued, and on what is in the opinion that the court has not yet released, the plaintiffs may have the right to ask the Supreme Court to hear an appeal.

Daily Kos mentioned US constitutional issues. I don't know where they got that idea from. If it was from the complaint (which I have not seen) and and the Alaskan Supreme Court didn't expressly decide the matter on state constitutional grounds then the plaintiffs may have a right to appeal to the US supreme court (which may or may not choose to hear it).

It isn't a matter of whether the US Supreme court cares - courts don't have the power to jump out and grab cases. It's a matter of whether the plaintiffs set it up so that if they got a bad break at the state level they could potentially ask the US Supreme Court to jump in - and of whether the Alaska Court told the US Supreme Court to butt out because it was purely a state matter. I can't tell either, since I haven't seen the first set of documents - and the court hasn't released the opinion yet - but the comment by Daily Kos (which appears to have seen at least the complaint) leaves the door open.

[maddezmom]

41. thanks for the reply

good to know.

[polichick]

8. Great news!

[Patriot Abroad]

9. Here's Todd's testimony from the same paper

http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/story/550229.html

Is it just me or does it all sound like the Dukes of Hazard up there, only with moose? I grew up in rural Washington state, but compared to these people we were cosmopolitan . . .

[LiberalFighter]

27. They (Alaska) should pretend Todd is a moose.

[BigAnth]

10. I've always loved the expression "To be hoisted with ones own petard."

When McLame announced Caribou Barbie for his running mate and I checked out her background, I kenw that this was a gift. And this gift just keeps giving, and giving and giving. Thanks again Johnny Boy!!!!!

[ejpoeta]

12. you probably did more vetting then they did from the looks of it.

[taddles]

16. Wait a sec.....yup there it is!

I thought I had a spare Petard back here in the garage. I'll ship this to Grampy tonight.

[solanus]

25. I HOPE YOUR RIGHT

:9

[IllinoisBirdWatcher]

15. Detailed diary on this over at Kos

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/10/9/165558/217/11/625454

[Winterblues]

18. I think many here are going to be quite disappointed in the report.

It probably will find Todd was a bit ambitious in trying to get the trooper fired but I doubt there will be any concrete evidence found that will say beyond any doubt that Sarah fired the Commissioner because of that. There is a good paper trail of complaints by her Administration against the Commissioner. This is going to disappear like a whisp of smoke with zero effect..

[IsItJustMe]

20. Appearances here is what matters. And those appearances won't go away.

[long beach liberal]

21. I see your point, but...

If that is the case, why has so much sturm und drang taken place to squelch this story? If there is "no there there", why did they not openly allow the investigation to continue? I think that the most damning item will be testimony from the state worker who claims that she was pressured by the Governors office to deny disablility claims to this man. I could be wrong...guess we'll see tomorrow!

[speedoo]

29. What do you base that expectation on? You might want to reassess...

You might want to read the NYT account of some of the evidence:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/10/us/10trooper.html?scp=6&sq=troopergate%20palin&st=cse

[stoge18]

34. Thanks for the link

The NYT account seems to be pretty damning. I'm hopeful that people will soon see the Palins as the vindictive power mongers that they are.

[Swede Atlanta]

23. Yeah!!!!!

Even if she is not named, her husband's activities will be highlighted as being involved. This against the background that he has operated as a shadow governor, present at meetings an executive's spouse should not be, etc.

[fNord]

28. Ding Dong The Bitch is dead

:woohoo::woohoo::woohoo::woohoo::woohoo:


"Now be gone, before someone drops a house on you!"

[clydefrand]

33. I love this line from a previous article from ADN.com on the same

subject.

When one of the lawyers who is tied to Dobson's Focus on family group, was asked if he talked with the McCain Palin campaign, this was his answer:


"Have I talked to them? Sure. Do they tell me what to do? No," he said, adding: "Sometimes they don't know what they're talking about."


Now is that telling or what? Love it! :-)

[snappyturtle]

36. How is palin going to spin this? nt

[Zambero]

37. Will this give McCain an "out"?

To drop Palin and put in a last-minute replacement? Devil's Advocate-wise, I'm guessing that a Huckabee selection would excise the negative Palin baggage that's accumulated while maintaining cred with the fundie crowd. If someone like Huckabee is seen as an "improvement" it might broaden the GOP ticket's appeal among undecideds and independents. I'm hoping that McCain stays the course with Palin however the Troopergate report shakes out, but given the surprises in this campaign...

[Jackpine Radical]

40. At this point, the issue of who he picks is irrelevant.

He's been running on his mature judgment and all that shit. He is wide open for ridicule, and for using this as a prime example of his heedles impulsivity. If he can't pick a running mate who can stay out of trouble, do you want him picking the Cabinet?...etc.

[serrano2008]

39. I was saying from the beginning about Palin

It was a huge mistake picking someone who is currently under investigation, for anything, because no matter how it turned out the investigation itself was going to be what mattered.

Only 5 out of 12 of the legislatures involved were involved in the court case/appeal...I think the rest were VERY put off by the Palin's and how they treated the investigation.

I haven't been expecting much in this case, seeing as how all the great Bush investigations have gone regarding the Iraq war (yeah, there were none) but I keep getting surprised and hope it keeps up tomorrow. I guess we'll find out soon enough.

I wouldn't expect to hear anything until around 7:00pm (EST) tomorrow though. The news in this case has been slow to reach the mainland.

[ladywnch]

42. there's only a 4 hour difference between Anchorage and the East Coast

if they release the report first thing in the morning we should have it by early afternoon. As long as they don't wait till the end of the day in AK we should have the news in time for the evening news.

[Tesibria]

44. Fox News (AP?) Take: Gov was "In the Dark"

http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/10/09/palins-husband-pushed-trooper-fired-documents/

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin remained in the dark while her husband repeatedly asked top state officials to help get his former brother-in-law kicked off the state police force, Palin's husband and top aides said in affidavits provided to The Associated Press.

[goforit]

45. LoL!!!! The bells are aringing!!!