Legal wonks clash over 'hysterical' Sotomayor dissent: 'That sounds pretty sexist to me'

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Two titans of the American legal system had very different takeaways after Monday's Supreme Court decision on presidential immunity.

Former Trump White House counsel Ty Cobb appeared on CNN to undermine Justice Sonia Sotomayor's dissent for being big on "hysterical... screaming" — but dry on substance.

The court’s conservative majority ruled 6-3 — three justices were Trump-appointed — to allow for official acts to remain immune from prosecution. They left open the possibility that private acts could be prosecutable.

The decision called into question which acts are deemed official, as the 45th president has claimed in his defense of some of his criminal allegations; specifically the attempt to subvert the 2020 election.

Sotomayor's dissent wrote that the decision by the high court armed the president with monarchy powers to order the elimination of a political rival, a military coup or sell bribes to bidders: "Immune. Immune, immune, immune."

ALSO READ: Why I'm sticking with Joe Biden

"Even if these nightmare scenarios never play out, and I pray they never do, the damage has been done," she wrote. "The relationship between the President and the people he serves has shifted irrevocably. In every use of official power, the President is now a king above the law.”

Cobb forcefully disagreed.

"Her dissent was a little hysterical and it really offered no analysis," he said. "A lot of a lot of screaming, no analysis. And I think that was unfortunate."

Instead, he openly wished Justice Elena Kagan would have taken on pen duties and written the document.

Harvard University constitutional law professor Laurence Tribe came down like a stack of legal tomes on Cobb for the Sotomayor slight.

"I'm afraid much as I respect Ty Cobb — I couldn't disagree more with his characterization of the dissents as 'hysterical,'" he said in a separate setting outside of the company of Cobb. "That sounds pretty sexist to me. There was plenty of analysis, much more analysis."

Tribe proceeded to grade the dissenting opinions with Sotomayor and fellow liberal Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson an A+ and A, though he didn't say who earned which grade.

In a separate dissent, Jackson wrote that she wanted to lay out the “theoretical nuts and bolts of what, exactly, the majority has done today to alter the paradigm of accountability for Presidents of the United States.”

Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts, Tribe's former student, opposed the dissents and went as far as to accuse the three liberal justices of having misinterpreted the majority's opinion and engaging in "fear mongering."

Roberts wrote that they sought to "strike a tone of chilling doom that is wholly disproportionate to what the Court actually does today."

And he wrote that "like everyone else, the President is subject to prosecution in his unofficial capacity."

Watch the clip below or at this link.

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Trump admin's 'embarrassing' flag slip up leaves onlookers astonished

President Donald Trump's administration has been criticized for a mistake made over King Charles III's visit to the United States.

Black lampposts outside of the White House were adorned with flags representing Australia, not the United Kingdom.

Political analysts were left astonished by the mix-up, which Trump's admin apologized for at the time. The i Paper opinion editor, Victoria Richards, suggested this was an awkward moment during a strained time for the US and UK's relationship.

Richards wrote, "The blunder happened on Friday, when hundreds of national banners were installed across the capital to welcome the King and Queen Camilla, who are making a four-day state visit to Washington, New York and Virginia to mark 250 years since the signing of the Declaration of Independence. The error was 'quickly corrected', a DC Department of Transportation official said on Friday."

Richards went on to suggest the flag change may have been more than just a simple slip-up. She added, "But given how much the UK Government is hoping the state visit will heal the rift between the US and the UK – and between Donald Trump and Keir Starmer – the slip-up serves as a pretty good summation of how much attention America as a whole is paying. Namely: not a lot.

"So, this gaffe, now, when relations between our two nations are at perhaps their lowest ebb in 70 years, feels – accidental as it may be – like a power move.

"Britain is sharply divided as to whether the King should be meeting Trump and touring the US, worried our honor and dignity is being traduced. The US, meanwhile, can’t even remember what our flag looks like. And, in the end, what we’re left with is the message that there’s only “king” who matters in Washington – and his name is Donald Trump."

Further analysis from political commentator Art Candee suggested the Trump admin should be embarrassed by the flag mix-up. Candee wrote, "Trump’s administration put up some Australian flags instead of British flags ahead of King Charles’ visit? Embarrassing and beyond symbolic of this dumpster fire presidency."

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Supreme Court 'coming apart' as justices lob 'chilling' public attacks: analysis

The Supreme Court's infighting has spilled out into public view, and it paints an ugly picture of the judicial body, according to a political analyst.

The New York Times opinion columnist Jesse Wegman believes recent activity from Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Brett Kavanaugh, and Clarence Thomas highlights the trouble brewing inside the Supreme Court. Wegman wrote, "We’ve come to expect diatribes against entire swaths of the country from the Trump administration, but to hear a Supreme Court justice do it is somehow more chilling.

"All Supreme Court justices are at risk of huffing their own fumes. It comes along with the lifetime appointment, the endless cosseting and flattery. It’s easy for them to forget that they play a unique role in American life, and are held to a higher standard of behavior than the rest of us.

"These days, the Supreme Court sometimes feels as if it is slowly coming apart, the victim of both its own members’ arrogance and the hardball politics that Senate Republicans used to pack the court with right-wingers over the past decade."

Thomas, earlier this month, delivered a scathing critique of progressivism during a speech at the University of Texas Austin Law School, characterizing the political philosophy as fundamentally incompatible with American constitutional principles.

Thomas argued that progressivism seeks to replace the foundational premises of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution itself. "Progressivism seeks to replace the basic premises of the Declaration of Independence and hence our form of government," Thomas stated. "[Progressivism] holds that our rights and our dignities come not from God, but from government."

Sotomayor also made headlines earlier this month for a scathing put-down of Kavanaugh. Speaking at the University of Kansas School of Law earlier this month, Sotomayor said Kavanaugh "probably doesn’t really know any person who works by the hour" in response to a question about a recent case concerning immigration law.

In the case, Kavanaugh argued that Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents should be allowed to conduct what's known as "roving stops" to check someone's immigration status.

Sotomayor publicly apologized to Kavanaugh a week later. In her statement, Sotomayor said, "At a recent appearance at the University of Kansas School of Law, I referred to a disagreement with one of my colleagues in a prior case, but I made remarks that were inappropriate. I regret my hurtful comments. I have apologized to my colleague."

Suspected shooter manifesto lists Trump admin targets – but oddly omits one top official

The New York Post claimed Sunday to have obtained a copy of a manifesto written by the suspected shooter who disrupted the White House Correspondents’ Dinner (WHCD) Saturday night, in which the gunman names every Trump administration official as a target – except for one, and without explanation as to the lone exclusion.

The suspected gunman was soon identified as 31-year-old California resident Cole Allen, who police said had rushed through a Secret Service checkpoint at the event bearing a shotgun, a handgun and several knives. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche later said Allen was believed to be targeting Trump administration officials.

On Sunday, the Post published what they claimed to be Allen’s manifesto in full, which Allen had sent to family members 10 minutes before the shooting, according to the Post.

“I am no longer willing to permit a pedophile, rapist, and traitor to coat my hands with his crimes,” the suspected shooter wrote in his manifesto, an apparent reference to President Donald Trump, according to the Post.

Allen then went on to name his list of targets, which excluded just one Trump administration official: FBI Director Kash Patel.

“Administration officials (not including Mr. Patel): they are targets, prioritized from highest-ranking to lowest,” the manifesto reads.

According to the manifesto – which was confirmed as authentic by multiple journalists – Allen did not intend to target any other event attendees, including Secret Service officials, unless they posed a direct threat to either his life or achieving his goal.

“In order to minimize casualties I will also be using buckshot rather than slugs (less penetration through walls),” the alleged manifesto reads.

“I would still go through most everyone here to get to the targets if it were absolutely necessary (on the basis that most people *chose* to attend a speech by a pedophile, rapist, and traitor, and are thus complicit) but I really hope it doesn’t come to that.”

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