Did ya miss me?
The legislative session actually ended over a week ago -- on Saturday, March 22nd -- but the condo association immediately had two crises (neither directly involving my unit, but I'm on the board, so...), and dealing with them slopped over into the beginning of the week. So even though I took Monday through Wednesday off to recover from session, I didn't really get a chance to recover recover.
Anyway, that's why I didn't write a post last weekend. And that's enough of my whining for now. Because spring has sprung here in Santa Fe, y'all!
Lynne Cantwell 2025 |
Lynne Cantwell 2025 |
I also planted white grape hyacinth bulbs last fall. In my experience, grape hyacinths usually spring up before the daffodils, but these seem to be taking their time. Maybe I planted them too deep. Anyway, they appear to be on their way to blooming now.
But the gardening adventure that is making me happiest right now is the planting last weekend of a redbud tree. And it's going to bloom! I took this photo this afternoon!
Lynne Cantwell 2025 |
I've wanted my own redbud tree for 40 years or more. We planted one in our front yard in Norfolk, but some asshole cut it down before it could bloom. I mail-ordered and planted a bare-root redbud here last year, but I got overly excited and didn't read all the way through the planting directions, so I didn't realize the roots came coated with wax and were supposed to be soaked in a bucket of water for 24 hours before the tree was planted. I didn't do that, so of course it died.
This year, I bought a tree at a local big-box store in a regular ol' pot. I put it in the bed about a week ago, and it seems to be thriving. Maybe three's the charm. Even if it only survives one year, I'll be happy. But I'll be really happy if it thrives for many, many years, because my porch could use the shade.
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Of course, while I was not-recovering from session, the mess in Washington has continued. So many of the cruel policies put into place by this so-called administration have disgusted me, but nothing has pissed me off so thoroughly as the executive order issued last week against WilmerHale, the law firm I retired from in 2020. The firm represents a whole lot of corporate clients (one of them, in fact, is Tesla), but it also has provided legal advice to the Democratic National Committee and the campaigns of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. And it has a robust pro bono practice, including the representation of several of the inspectors general that Trump has fired. But of course what really got Trump's knickers in a twist was Bob Mueller's work as special counsel investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election. When Mueller left WilmerHale to take the job, he brought along two other attorneys from the firm, Jim Quarles and Aaron Zebley, and all three returned to work at the firm after the investigation was over.
Because of all that, Trump wants to drive WilmerHale out of business. He as much as says so in his executive order.
My old firm isn't the only big law firm Trump has targeted, and at least one of them has basically rolled over and made nice with the administration to keep from being forced out of business. However, I am proud to report that WilmerHale is not rolling over. In fact, the firm has filed suit against the administration, alleging that the executive order violates the First, Fifth, and Sixth Amendments to the Constitution. (You can read the complaint here.)
Standing up to bullies is nothing new for my old firm. During the Army-McCarthy hearings in the 1950s, it was a partner at legacy firm Hale and Dorr, Joseph Welch, who kicked off the downfall of Senator Joe McCarthy. McCarthy headed the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations and was conducting a witch hunt to root out supposed communists in Hollywood and the federal government, among other places. Eventually, McCarthy got mad at Welch, who was arguing with a lawyer for the subcommittee named Roy Cohn, and verbally attacked an associate at Hale and Dorr who had once been a member of a legal association associated with communist activity. Welch mounted a spirited defense of his colleague, saying the the firm knew of the associate's background and wasn't going to fire him over it. When McCarthy refused to drop his attack, Welch finally said, "Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency?"
That was the beginning of the end for Joe McCarthy's Communist witch hunts.
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On Friday night, U.S. District Judge Richard Leon issued a temporary restraining order against the Trump administration's enforcement of parts of the executive order. In his order, Judge Leon wrote, "There is no doubt this retaliatory action chills speech and legal advocacy, or that it qualifies as a constitutional harm."
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One more thing: Roy Cohn eventually went into private practice and represented, among other clients, Donald Trump.
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These moments of historic blogginess have been brought to you, as a public service, by Lynne Cantwell. Hang in there, guys.