The Smith team then made its most important and aggressive move by noting that when judges have issued clearly erroneous jury instructions that doom prosecutions, “courts have permitted the government to obtain writs of mandamus.”

Even buried in a parenthetical as it is, the word “mandamus” jumps off the page as a threat to seek an extraordinary intervention by the appellate court. Smith has laid down the gauntlet, telling Cannon in no uncertain terms that if she doesn’t move to resolve Trump’s frivolous arguments well ahead of trial, he will bring a writ of mandamus to the 11th Circuit along with a motion to recuse her from the case. Providing this road map of his intentions puts Smith on firm footing to challenge the judge if she continues to dither.

  • bobburger
    link
    fedilink
    472 months ago

    Writ of mandamus from Wikipedia

    A writ of mandamus (/mænˈdeɪməs/; lit. ‘‘we command’’) is a judicial remedy in the English and American common law system consisting of a court order that commands a government official or entity to perform an act it is legally required to perform as part of its official duties, or to refrain from performing an act the law forbids it from doing. Writs of mandamus are usually used in situations where a government official has failed to act as legally required or has taken a legally prohibited action.[1] They cannot be issued to compel an authority to do something against the law. For example, it cannot be used to force a lower court to take a specific action on applications that have been made, but if the court refuses to rule one way or the other then a mandamus can be used to order the court to rule on the applications.

    • Entropywins
      link
      fedilink
      362 months ago

      Appreciate the info…it’s funny they have a special way to officially say “nah, fuck you, do your job.”

      • Pennomi
        link
        English
        92 months ago

        Until AI is smart enough to preside over our courtrooms in a purely unbiased fashion (ha!), we’ll be stuck with shitty humans running our shitty legal systems.

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          112 months ago

          Garbage In, Garbage Out.

          Even if humans build a computer smarter than we are, the machines will still be a product of human minds.

          • @[email protected]
            link
            fedilink
            12 months ago

            Of course but the next generation will be of the computer’s minds. Evolution will continue long into the machine age.

            • @[email protected]
              link
              fedilink
              22 months ago

              Intelligent and moral are too separate things. Henry Kissinger was objectively intelligent He spoke several languages and conducted high level negotiations with world leaders. He also made the decision to bomb civilians in Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam.

              • @[email protected]
                link
                fedilink
                22 months ago

                I thought we were talking about AI judges. They should be impartial and consider the facts, what has morals got to do with it?

                • @Feathercrown
                  link
                  English
                  2
                  edit-2
                  2 months ago

                  That question is exactly why we shouldn’t try this

                • @[email protected]
                  link
                  fedilink
                  12 months ago

                  You should read some of Kissinger’s writings. He didn’t kill all those people because he wanted to be a monster; he had a rational belief that killing millions in Asia would lead to long term peace. He was impartial and considered the facts.

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          22 months ago

          AI would work along the parameters that are set by the biased humans that programmed it, so it would just be another layer of abstraction continuing the same systemic issues.

          • Pennomi
            link
            English
            62 months ago

            Yes obviously, which is why I laughed immediately after saying it.

      • @Fredselfish
        link
        22 months ago

        She probably won’t know what means and to stupid to look it up. Or she will ignore it.

    • @jettrscga
      link
      English
      232 months ago

      I DECLARE MANDAMUS ON ALL OF CONGRESS. EXPECTO MANDAMUS.

  • TWeaK
    link
    fedilink
    English
    402 months ago

    See now this is a good article about these legal proceedings. It actually explains the detail that isn’t apparent to non-lawyers and gives an overview of the potential outcomes, rather than a retired lawyer just speculating and jerking themselves off over what might happen.

    • lettruthoutOP
      link
      English
      112 months ago

      Yeah, the LA Times has some pretty good writers. They consistently impress me with the thoroughness and (real) fairness of their pieces.

  • @ChowJeeBai
    link
    142 months ago

    Mandamus: A writ issued by a superior court and directed to some inferior tribunal, or to some corporation or person exercising authority, commanding the performance of some specified duty.

    Noice.

  • @danc4498
    link
    English
    22 months ago

    I wonder how much switching judges would delay the trial.

  • @ChowJeeBai
    link
    12 months ago

    Won’t she just pull the trump strategy of delay delay delay until the election comes around?