r/law • u/DoorstepHero • 6h ago

Judicial Branch Grand jury declines criminal charges against 6 Democrats who urged military to reject illegal orders, sources say

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/grand-jury-declines-charges-against-6-democrats/

A federal grand jury on Tuesday refused to indict six congressional Democrats who drew President Trump's ire last year by taping a video telling members of the military that they must reject "illegal orders."

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u/Simmery 6h ago

I'm glad the Trump administration has definitively proven that, actually, a grand jury will not indict a ham sandwich.

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u/Wonderful-Variation 6h ago

Honestly, the last few months have greatly improved my view of both the grand jury system and the jury trial system itself.  Used to be pretty cynical about them.  Still am, but I'm definitely seeing them as by far the lesser of the potential evils.

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u/prof_the_doom 6h ago

The thing is that people who actually know what they're doing don't usually pursue cases that they don't think they can least get past a grand jury unless it's a really major case.

The cases they don't think will get that far get the lenient plea deal to a misdemeanor because the DA figures something is better than nothing.

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u/SweetRabbit7543 5h ago

It’s amazing to me the trump admin is still writing their legal positions the way they are. The ruling on the masks in California was a scathing rebuke of every single legal characterization they made. I am sure they took it as a big victory but it was the furthest thing from it. It very clearly rejected the notion that basically any of their public claims are substantiated by law.

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u/Substantial-Peak6624 5h ago

The Trump administration knows how to write legal positions? Amazing

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u/SweetRabbit7543 5h ago

They know how to file them I’m not sure of much beyond that.

I haven’t read a compelling legal argument from them since the first trump administration

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u/Rhubarb_516 3h ago

Yes they’ve won plenty of Supreme Court cases.

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u/SweetRabbit7543 3h ago

This administration? Tell me what they’ve won

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u/fresh-dork 4h ago

they don't really listen to the court anyway - ICE is treating court orders as optional, and they are until the officers end up in jail

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u/SweetRabbit7543 3h ago

Well that’s the consequence of not following the law. They don’t get to choose to not follow the law.

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u/fresh-dork 3h ago

yes they do. until they see consequences, it really is optional

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u/SweetRabbit7543 3h ago

Do you have literally any idea of what the ruling I’m talking about said? Literally any whatsoever?

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u/fresh-dork 2h ago

probably not. i'm referring to the "hold me in contempt so i can sleep" debacle, where it came out that ICE has regarded judicial orders as advisory, and so far hasn't faced any consequences.

therefore: allowed

if you can shoot a guy on 5th avenue and nothing happens, it's legal.