Category Archives: Federalist

Federalist Party, early U.S. national political party that advocated a strong central government and held power from 1789 to 1801, during the rise of the countrys political party system. The term federalist was first used in 1787 to describe the supporters of the newly written Constitution, who emphasized the federal character of the proposed union. Between October 1787 and August 1788, Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison wrote a series of 85 essays that appeared in various New York newspapers attributed to the pseudonym Publius. The Federalist papers (formally The Federalist), as the combined essays are called, were written to combat Anti-Federalism and to persuade the public of the necessity of the Constitution.The Federalist papers stressed the need for an adequate central government and argued that the republican form of government easily could be adapted to the large expanse of territory and widely divergent interests found in the United States. The essays were immediately recognized as the most powerful defense of the new Constitution.

Parties were generally deplored as inimical to republican government, and Pres. George Washington was able to exercise nonpartisan leadership during the first few years of the new government (begun in 1789). Strong division, however, developed over the fiscal program of the secretary of the treasury, Hamilton, whom Washington supported. Hamilton and other proponents of a strong central government formed the Federalist Party in 1791. Differences with the opposition were intensified by ideological attitudes toward the French Revolution, and by 1795 administration supporters had hardened into a regular party, which succeeded in elevating John Adams to the presidency in the 1796 election.

Over the decade of the 1790s, the Federalists stood for the following economic policies: funding of the old Revolutionary War debt and the assumption of state debts, passage of excise laws, creation of a central bank, maintenance of a tariff system, and favourable treatment of American shipping. In foreign affairs they observed neutrality in the war that broke out between France and Great Britain in 1793; approved the Jay Treaty of 1794, which terminated the difficulties with Britain; and sponsored strong defense and internal-security legislation in the crisis of 179899 (see Alien and Sedition Acts), when French demands almost forced open war. These policies were strongly resisted, especially in the South; the opposition, organized by Madison and Thomas Jefferson beginning in 1791, became the Republican Party (also known as the Jeffersonian Republicans), which later was renamed the Democratic-Republican Party. Eventually this organization became the modern Democratic Party. The name Republican was taken over in the 1850s by a new party that espoused Federalist economic ideas and that survives to the present day under that name.

The Federalists never held power again after 1801. Their failure is attributable to the Republicans political skill and to the Federalists own incapacity or unwillingness to organize politically, their internal divisions (especially between supporters of Adams and Hamilton), and their aversion to compromising principles for the sake of winning elections. Furthermore, New England Federalists adopted a divisive policy of sectionalism, moving dangerously near secession in 1808 and strenuously opposing the War of 1812 (see Hartford Convention). By 1817 the party was practically dead, though the opposing Republicans had adopted the Federalists principles of nationality and had accepted many of their economic ideas.

The accomplishments of the Federalists were great: the party organized the enduring administrative machinery of national government; fixed the practice of a liberal interpretation of the Constitution; established traditions of federal fiscal integrity and credit worthiness; and initiated the important doctrine of neutrality in foreign affairs, allowing the infant nation to develop in peace for more than a century.

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Federalist Party | Definition, History, Beliefs, & Facts

More than 200 years ago, Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay published a series of essays promoting the ratification of the United States Constitution now known as Federalist Papers. In explaining the need for an independent judiciary, Alexander Hamilton noted in The Federalist # 78 that the federal courts "were designed to be an intermediate body between the people and their legislature" in order to ensure that the people's representatives acted only within the authority given to Congress under the Constitution.

The U.S. Constitution is the nation's fundamental law. It codifies the core values of the people. Courts have the responsibility to interpret the Constitution's meaning, as well as the meaning of any laws passed by Congress.The Federalist # 78 states further that, if any law passed by Congress conflicts with the Constitution, "the Constitution ought to be preferred to the statute, the intention of the people to the intention of their agents."

"Nor does this conclusion by any means suppose a superiority of the judicial to the legislative power. It only supposed that the power of the people is superior to both; and that where the will of the legislature, declared in its statutes, stands in opposition to that of the people, declared in the Constitution, the judges ought to be governed by the latter rather than the former. They ought to regulate their decisions by the fundamental laws, rather than by those which are not fundamental."

The American democratic system is not always based upon simple majority rule. There are certain principles that are so important to the nation that the majority has agreed not to interfere in these areas. For instance, the Bill of Rights was passed because concepts such as freedom of religion, speech, equal treatment, and due process of law were deemed so important that, barring a Constitutional Amendment, not even a majority should be allowed to change them.

Rule of law is a principle under which all persons, institutions, and entities are accountable to laws that are:

The courts play an integral role in maintaining the rule of law, particularly when they hear the grievances voiced by minority groups or by those who may hold minority opinions. Equality before the law is such an essential part of the American system of government that, when a majority, whether acting intentionally or unintentionally, infringes upon the rights of a minority, the Court may see fit to hear both sides of the controversy in court.

DISCLAIMER: These resources are created by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts for educational purposes only. They may not reflect the current state of the law, and are not intended to provide legal advice, guidance on litigation, or commentary on any pending case or legislation.

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Overview - Rule of Law | United States Courts

As the year winds down, the border is about to break wide open. In less than a week, the Biden administrations last remaining tool to control illegal immigration, left over from the Trump administration, will be taken away.

Title 42, the public-health order invoked by President Trump during the pandemic that allowed immigration officials to quickly expel most migrants caught crossing the border illegally, will end on Dec. 21 by order of a federal judge.

Once Title 42 is gone, federal agencies at the border will have no choice but to process and release nearly every illegal border-crosser. It will represent a full return to the Obama-era catch-and-release policy. Border Patrol estimates they could see as many as 14,000 arrests per day in the coming weeks, which would totally overwhelm the border.

For migrants, there is now every incentive to do just that. Word of Title 42s demise has almost certainly reached migrants in Mexico already, who now know that if they cross the Rio Grande, they will be allowed to remain in the United States, with work authorization, for years while they await the outcome of an asylum hearing.

Biden, who repealed or severely curtailed nearly every one of Trumps border policies upon taking office in January 2021, has no plan for what to do now. Axiosreported this weekon a vague plan circulating among Biden officials for a temporary (five-month) moratorium on asylum, but the plan hasnt been approved. Its unclear how it would even be implemented with less than a week to go before Title 42 ends.

But even if the feds do impose a temporary halt to asylum, its too late. Thousands of migrants arecrossing into the El Paso sector every day now, many of them having beenbussed into Ciudad Jurez by the Mexican government. They are coming from large caravans that, having heard of the impending end of Title 42, formed for precisely this purpose.

Many of them are from Nicaragua, which means they cant be deported to Nicaragua (the U.S. has no deportation agreement with the authoritarian dictatorship of Nicaraguas president-for-life Daniel Ortega), and they cant be expelled to Mexico, which refuses to take back Nicaraguans. So the U.S. is just letting them in, giving them a court date for an asylum hearing years from now, and releasing them. Never mind that many of these migrants, by their own admission to reporters, are economic migrants who have no valid asylum claims.

Back in August, my colleague Emily Jashinsky and Ireportedon the migrant encampments and shelters in the Mexican border towns of Matamoros and Reynosa across the Rio Grande from Brownsville and McAllen, Texas, respectively. Most of those migrants were Haitian, although they had been living in various South American countries for years, with legal status. They came to the border for a chance to get into the U.S. and pursue what one of them told us was the American dream, a dream for all Haitian people.

The reason so many had been waiting in Mexican shelters was that they feared being deported back to Haiti, where they hadnt lived in many years, or because they had already tried to cross and been expelled back to Mexico under Title 42. They could not afford to pay the cartels for multiple river crossings, and so they were waiting, they told us, for U.S. policy to change.

Their wait is almost over. Once the threat of expulsion under Title 42 is gone, there will be little to hold them back. The border will become a chaotic, ungovernable disaster. We will likely see the appearance of tent-like refugee camps on the U.S. side of the border, as we saw in Del Rio, Texas, in the fall of 2021. To put the figure of 14,000 arrests per day into context, three years ago, during the 2019 border surge, President Obamas DHS Secretary, Jeh Johnson, said that1,000 apprehensions a day overwhelms the system and that he cannot imagine what 4,000 arrests per day would look like.

2022 wasthe worst year for illegal immigration in U.S. history. 2023 will be worse yet. As long as the Biden administration maintains its open-border policies, illegal immigration will increase, the cartels that profit from migrant smuggling will get rich, and the border will descend into chaos.

John Daniel Davidson is a senior editor at The Federalist. His writing has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, the Claremont Review of Books, The New York Post, and elsewhere. Follow him on Twitter, @johnddavidson.

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End Of Title 42 Caps Worst Year Of Illegal Immigration Ever

Sens. Mike Lee, Ted Cruz, Rick Scott, and Mike Braun are warning Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell against greenlighting Democrats massive omnibus spending bill before the newly elected, GOP-controlled House of Representatives is officially sworn in.

The coalition of senators sent a letter on Wednesday urging the GOP head to ignore pleas to extend the governments funding beyond when the new Congress takes office to encompass the entire 2023 fiscal year, including increased spending on Ukraine.

We must not accept anything other than a short-term Continuing Resolution that funds the federal government until shortly after the 118th Congress is sworn in, the senators wrote. No additional spending, no additional policy priorities should be included. Any urgent items that require the Senates attention should be considered separately and under their own terms.

If McConnell rushes to pass the omnibus bill without the new Houses input, the Republican senators say he will be guilty of directly contradicting voters wishes.

On November 8, 2022, the American people made their voices heard at the ballot box. Using the Democratic process, millions of Americans sent a message they want divided power in Washington to curb the worst excesses of both parties, the lawmakers wrote.

Already, McConnell has signaled strong support for overruling his voters in favor of showering Washington with more taxpayer dollars.

Theres widespread agreement that wed be better off with an omnibus than a [continuing resolution], McConnell said Tuesday, echoing Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumers words.

Lee, Cruz, Scott, and Braun, however, explicitly state that they stand with the voters on this issue.

We believe it would be both imprudent, and a reflection of poor leadership, for Republicans to ignore the will of the American people and rubber stamp an omnibus spending bill that funds ten more months of President Bidens agenda without any check on his reckless policies that have led to a 40-year high in inflation, the senators said.

Already, Americans across the nation are feeling the effects of excessive spending led by President Joe Biden and the Democrats. Their $4.8 trillion increase in the national deficit, the senators note, is weighing on Americans in the form of an average cost increase of $753 per month.

It should be up to the new Congress to set spending priorities for the remainder of this fiscal year, the senators wrote. Now is the time for Republicans to get serious about leading America towards a better future.

Jordan Boyd is a staff writer at The Federalist and co-producer of The Federalist Radio Hour. Her work has also been featured in The Daily Wire and Fox News. Jordan graduated from Baylor University where she majored in political science and minored in journalism. Follow her on Twitter @jordanboydtx.

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Sens To McConnell: Stop Spendathon Till New Congress Can Vote

In a win for religious freedom, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals has permanently blocked the Biden administrations attempt to force religious doctors and hospitals to perform so-called gender transition surgeries.

InSisters of Mercy v. Becerra, a coalition of Catholic hospitals, nuns, and a Catholic university that run health clinics for the poor sued the Biden administration over a Department of Health and Human Services mandate that would have compelled religious doctors and hospitals to administer mutilative gender reassignment surgeries even if the surgeries violated the health-care providers conscience.

The mandate, which was first issued in 2016, interpreted the Affordable Care Act to require doctors to perform such surgeries on any patient including children even if the medical provider believed the surgery would harm the patient.

The Eighth Circuits opinion comes after the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled this past August that the Affordable Care Act could not require doctors to perform cross-gender surgeries if it violated their conscience. The Eighth Circuit affirmed the Louisiana-based appeals court decision.

We agree with these courts and therefore conclude that the district court correctly held that intrusion upon the Catholic Plaintiffs exercise of religion is sufficient to show irreparable harm, the eighth circuit wrote in its decision.

While the Eighth Circuits ruling is not a nationwide injunction (only the named parties are its beneficiaries), it does set a helpful precedent for religious liberty cases in the future.

Todays victory sets an important precedent that religious healthcare professionals are free to practice medicine in accordance with their consciences and experienced professional judgment,Luke Goodrich, vice president and senior counsel at Becket Law, said in a press release. The governments attempt to force doctors to go against their consciences was bad for patients, bad for doctors, and bad for religious liberty.

The Biden administration has 60 days to ask the Eighth Circuit to re-hear the case or 90 days to appeal to the Supreme Court.

There is a growing body of research that points to the detrimental effects of cross-gender reassignment surgeries, including but not limited to serious heart conditions, loss of bone density, loss of fertility, and increased cancer risk.

Victoria Marshall is a staff writer at The Federalist. Her writing has been featured in the New York Post, National Review, and Townhall. She graduated from Hillsdale College in May 2021 with a major in politics and a minor in journalism. Follow her on Twitter @vemrshll.

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Court: Biden Can't Force Doctors To Mutilate Sex-Confused People

Democrats in the House of Representatives blocked an amendment that would have protected religious Americans from retaliation based on their opposition to same-sex marriage, in order to jam legislation furthering the LGBT lobbys agenda through Congresss lame-duck session.

House Rules Committee ChairmanRep. James McGovern shot down Republicans last chance of defending religious liberty in the ill-named Respect for Marriage Act on Monday when he refused to even let Rep. Chip Roys amendment solidifying First Amendment protections be brought to the House floor for a vote.

McGoverns reasoning for bypassing procedural debate was rooted in the fact that Roys amendment would give the process of passing the RFMA a shelf life that could last well into the newly-elected Republican House.

Seeing as most of the Republicans in the current House oppose the RFMA on the grounds that it stomps on religious Americans right to act on their convictions about traditional marriage, McGovern and his Democrat allies werent keen on waiting around to see if the legislation would survive the new GOP-led House.

If we were to amend this and it goes back to the Senate, for all intents and purposes, its dead for the year. And many of us believe that we have a court right now that is hell-bent on trying to reverse the rights for the LGBTQ community and we do not trust them to respect marriage equality in this country, McGovern said to the rules committee on Monday. When January comes along, the gentlemans party will be in charge and you can bring one amendment after another to reverse the last 70 years of social progress, if the gentleman prefers. We will oppose you on that.

Theres no evidence of the armageddon that he describes being at the doorstep, Republican Rep. Michael Burgess retorted.

Roy, along with his Republican cosponsors Reps. Byron Donalds and Doug Lamborn, submitted the amendment for review on Thursday in a last-ditch effort to convince conservative legislators to prioritize Americans First Amendment rights. Roys amendment copied the legal protections for religious Americans that Republican Sen. Mike Leetried, but ultimately failed, to addto the Senates version of the legislation two weeks ago.

I think it would be an important amendment just to offer on the floor of the House, Roy replied to McGovern during the committee meeting. You know how it will work. Well get an hour of debate on both sides. The amendment will almost certainly get voted down, but I hope it wouldnt because I believe its important. Id like to have at least the opportunity, in the one hour of debate that I would get in this august body, to be able to make the case for religious liberty with my colleagues.

McGovern, however, refused to listen to Roys concerns. As a result, the unamended RFMA, which expands the Supreme CourtsObergefell v. Hodgesdecision to further open the door for LGBT activists to sue Americans opposed to same-sex marriage, will see a floor vote as soon as next week.

The 47 Republican legislators who voted for a previous version of the bill still have a chance to vote no to the RFMA. Even without GOP support, however, the Democrat voting bloc is expected to send the bill to the White House where President Joe Biden already signaled he plans to sign it into law.

Jordan Boyd is a staff writer at The Federalist and co-producer of The Federalist Radio Hour. Her work has also been featured in The Daily Wire and Fox News. Jordan graduated from Baylor University where she majored in political science and minored in journalism. Follow her on Twitter @jordanboydtx.

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House Dems Kill Amendment Protecting Religious Americans

As a result of the Supreme Courts Dobbs v. Jackson Womens Health Organization decision returning abortion regulations back to the states, the Biden administration has worked overtime to open every back door to advance its pro-abortion agenda, including in states with recently passed abortion restrictions or even bans. To accomplish this, it has turned to federal agencies such as the Department of Veterans Affairs to terminate the lives of unborn children. These efforts have quickly turned into a legal disaster.

Just last week, news broke that Stephanie Carter, an Army veteran and nurse practitioner at a Veterans Affairs (VA) hospital in Texas, is suing the Department of Veterans Affairs for forcing her to handle and distribute abortion pills one of the latest mandates enacted by the Biden administration to circumvent the Dobbs decision. The Reproductive Health Services rule enacted in September immediately allowed elective abortions at VA medical clinics.

This rule does not currently allow for religious exemptions for workers like Carter, who have religious objections that conflict with this life-ending procedure. When Carter attempted to opt out of the handling and distribution of abortion pills at the Olin E. Teague Veterans Center, her supervisor refused, according to a report from Live Action. This egregious violation of religious freedom has resulted in First Liberty Institute filing a lawsuit on Carters behalf.

To make matters worse, because this VA hospital is under both federal and state jurisdiction, Carter could be held liable for providing this abortion access, as it potentially conflicts with the various abortion restrictions in Texas.

The rule thats at issue in this case, according to Danielle Runyan, an attorney of First Liberty Institute, allows for abortions to be provided to protect the life or health of the mother. Health [can be] a wide variety of things that can potentially be in conflict with the laws of the state of Texas. So not only are Ms. Carters religious liberties being violated, but she could also be held criminally and civilly liable here in Texas if she complies with the rule.

This gross violation of religious liberties is just one instance in the Biden administrations recent efforts to bring abortions to states with pro-life laws. Just two weeks after the quite literally life-altering Dobbs decision, President Joe Biden signed the executive order Protecting Access to Reproductive Health Care Services in an attempt to access any loopholes.

The Federalist staff writer Jordan Boyd explained this order will effectively funnel federal time, resources, and funds, mostly through the Department of Health and Human Services, to shield existing abortion facilities, promote unlimited abortion, and circumvent Republican state laws to help send women to abortion appointments in other states.

Additionally, the orders pledge to protect access to medication abortion is a misleading euphemism for a chemical abortion that starves, kills, and expels the dead child from a mothers womb. This is clearly the antithesis of medication and has also sparked lawsuits against the Food and Drug Administration and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The order is just another way for the Biden administration to push abortion into states that have legally placed restrictions on it.

Since this order was signed, HHS has further peddled this abortion agenda. In August, HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure wrote a letter to each U.S. governor, encouraging them to work with CMS by applying for Medicaid 1115 waivers to provide increased access to care for women from states where reproductive rights are under attack and women may be denied medical care.

So while the Dobbs decision has promoted federalism, reverting the choice to legalize or ban abortion back to the states, the pro-abortion Biden administration led by our self-proclaimed Catholic president is working to find every last loophole to allow the killing of unborn children in these abortion-restricted areas. Lawsuits like Carters may have these mandates come tumbling down into the same ash heap Roe now lies in.

Sophia is a graduate of Le Moyne College, where she received her B.A. in English. She is pursuing a career in political journalism.

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The Biden Administration Works Overtime To Circumvent Dobbs

After surrendering to Democrats on a myriad of hot-button issues, Senate Republicans may get yet another chance to sell out their base before the years end this time, on a last-minute immigration bill reportedly engineered by North Carolina GOP Sen. Thom Tillis that would provide amnesty to millions of illegal immigrants.

According to reporting from melodramatic Washington Post columnist Greg Sargent, Tillis and Arizona Democrat Sen. Kyrsten Sinema are pressing for the upper chamber to consider their bipartisan immigration reform bill before Congresss current lame-duck session ends later this month.

While the legislation would apparently provide more funding for Border Patrol officers, resources to expedite the removal of migrants who dont qualify for asylum, and an extension of Title 42 (a health policy that permits federal officials to expel illegal immigrants with minimal processing) for another year, it doesnt stop there.

Among its massive concessions, the legislation would establish a so-called pathway to citizenship which usually denotes bypassing the pathway that already exists for 2 million illegal immigrants brought to the United States as minors.

These immigrants refer to the recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. DACA was illegally established by former President Barack Obama, who admitted on multiple occasions throughout his presidency that he was not king and couldnt just bypass Congress and change the (immigration) law [himself].

While its unclear whether the Senate plans to take up the bill before the current congressional session ends, Tilliss last-minute attempt to ram through an amnesty package before Republicans take control of the House of Representatives next month runs contrary to claims issued by his office earlier this year. Back in June, a representative from the North Carolina senators office told Fox News there was not much to negotiate on immigration until President Joe Biden enforce[s] immigration laws and takes action to end the crisis at the [U.S. southern] border.

Judging by the number of illegal border crossings since that statement, however, its pretty evident that hasnt happened. In October alone, Customs and Border Protection apprehended more than 230,000 illegals, marking a 1.3 percent increase from September and a new record high. Those figures dont even include the estimated 64,000 gotaways that evaded apprehension by border patrol officials.

Since taking office, Biden has presided over a record-shattering number of border crossings, with 1.7 million apprehensions reported in fiscal year 2021 and more than 2.3 million in 2022.

Tillis office did not respond to The Federalists request for comment.

While the move to hand out amnesty like candy on Halloween is absurd, it should come as no surprise to conservative voters. Over the past year, Tillis and several of his Republican colleagues have worked overtime to sell out their base on a whole host of issues.

Most recently, Tillis ignored the wishes of his voters and helped spearhead the wrongly named Respect for Marriage Act, voting with 11 of his fellow GOP senators to help Democrats pass the bill. With the Democrat-controlled House poised to pass the legislation and send it to Bidens desk for signature, the measure, once law, will open the door for radical LGBT activists to use the legal system to harass religious Americans for believing in the true definition of marriage.

The move came not long after the Senate GOP overwhelmingly reelected Sen. Mitch McConnell as party leader, despite a majority of likely Republican voters favoring a change in leadership.

But Senate Republicans betrayal of their base doesnt stop there. Earlier this year, Tillis and 14 of his GOP colleagues demonstrated their fecklessness yet again by helping Democrats advance gun control legislation. Among the most notable changes to federal law included in the bill is a provision that uses taxpayer money to incentivize states to enact red flag laws, which erode gun owners constitutional right to due process.

Shawn Fleetwood is a Staff Writer for The Federalist and a graduate of the University of Mary Washington. He also serves as a state content writer for Convention of States Action and his work has been featured in numerous outlets, including RealClearPolitics, RealClearHealth, and Conservative Review. Follow him on Twitter @ShawnFleetwood

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Will Amnesty For Illegals Be Senate GOP's Next Act Of Betrayal?

Twitter CEO Elon Musk fired Jim Baker, the companys deputy general counsel, on Tuesday after an unconvincing explanation of the terminated employees role in the suppression of the Hunter Biden laptop story.

On Sunday, independent journalist Matt Taibbi posted a link to an article from attorney Jonathan Turley published in the New York Post which connected Bakers work at Twitter with his prior operations peddling the Russia hoax at the Department of Justice. In 2016, Baker was the Clinton campaigns go-to, speed-dial contact to plant false claims about Kremlin collusion and the Trump White House effort. Clinton campaign lawyer Michael Sussmann picked Baker to give junk intelligence about a purported connection between President Donald Trump and the Russian Alfa Bank.

He was effectively forced out due to his role and reportedly found himself under criminal investigation. He became a defender of the Russian investigations despite findings of biased and even criminal conduct, Turley wrote. After leaving the FBI, Twitter seemed eager to hire Baker as deputy general counsel.

The first batch of Twitter Files out on Friday revealed how Baker went on to play an instrumental role in suppressing blockbuster stories from the New York Post about Hunter Bidens laptop and the Biden family business ventures stories containing emails that implicated then-candidate Joe Biden in the dealings.

Baker soon weighed in with the same signature bias that characterized the Russian investigations, Turley wrote. Internal documents made public last week show Baker pressed colleagues at Twitter for more information that Bidens emails had been hacked.

Caution is warranted, Baker wrote, despite there never being evidence the emails were illegally hacked.

Musk responded to Taibbis post on Tuesday with the announcement that Baker had been fired.

In light of concerns about Bakers possible role in suppression of information important to the public dialogue, he was exited from Twitter today, Musk wrote.

Was he asked to explain himself? inquired a user.

Yes. His explanation was unconvincing, Musk replied.

In a Twitter Files Supplemental thread, Taibbi explained that last weeks delay in publishing the first round of files was due to Baker reviewing them without new Twitter leadership knowing.

Twitter Deputy General Counsel (and former FBI General Counsel) Jim Baker was fired. Among the reasons? Vetting the first batch of Twitter Files without knowledge of new management, Taibbi wrote.

The post suggests Baker was running interference behind Musks back to minimize the fallout over the reveal of Twitters behind-the-scenes operations to elect Joe Biden in 2020.

While general counsel at the FBI, Baker was central to the agencys deep-state operations to undermine Trump as an agent of the Russian government. According to former FBI Deputy General Counsel Trisha Anderson in her testimony before House lawmakers in 2018, Baker personally reviewed and made edits to the [Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act] warrant on Trump campaign adviser Carter Page.

The ex-FBI counsel would later defend the agencys conduct, telling Yahoo News that officials took seriously the uncorroborated dossier commissioned by the DNC that alleged collusion, but we didnt necessarily take it literally.

The agencys legal chief, however, took it seriously enough to sign off on warrants to spy on political opponents. At least two of the warrant applications to conduct government surveillance on Page were declared illegal by a federal judge.

Tristan Justice is the western correspondent for The Federalist. He has also written for The Washington Examiner and The Daily Signal. His work has also been featured in Real Clear Politics and Fox News. Tristan graduated from George Washington University where he majored in political science and minored in journalism. Follow him on Twitter at @JusticeTristan or contact him at Tristan@thefederalist.com.

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Elon Musk Fires Former FBI Lawyer Behind Russiagate Hoax

Ukraines Volodymyr Zelensky is slated to receive a heros welcome in the U.S. capital today, just as Congress is poised to award him another $45 billion in its mammoth inflationary spending bill.

It may be Zelenskys first time leaving Ukraine since the war with Russia began, but its not his first time appearing before an American audience to beg for more money. And it certainly wont be his last. Already, Zelensky is prepared to use his congressional address to complain that the beaucoup bucks the U.S. has thrown at Ukraine in the last 10 months more than $100 billion total if the omnibus passes is still not enough.

Despite the financial strain Ukraine has put on the United States, the swamp is ready to welcome Zelensky with open arms. You wouldnt know it from corporate media coverage, but thats problematic. Heres why.

Contrary to Mitch McConnells claims, spending taxpayer dollars on a proxy war in Eastern Europe is not high on the priority list for Republican or Democrat voters.

If Americans overwhelmingly reject going to war with Russia on behalf of Ukraine, which polling since the beginning of the conflict has said they do, Congress shouldnt be spending money that indicates the U.S. is willing to prolong a war by whatever means necessary.

Nearly half of Americans want their government to urge Ukraine to negotiate a peace settlement. Instead of heeding the voters wishes, the Swamp extends Ukraines ability to fight with more funds, weapons, and verbal support. Money for Zelensky solidifies U.S. involvement in a war that Congress never voted to declare.

While Congress funnels tens of billions of dollars to protect the border of a foreign country, our countrys border is virtually nonexistent. Each day, thousands of illegal border crossers pour into the southern United States.

These migrants put a physical and financial strain on our immigration system and cities all around the nation. Yet Congress, specifically Senate Republicans, repeatedly refuse to leverage their influence for funding to secure our border.

While Congress ships taxpayer dollars overseas, Americans cant afford to live in the increasingly expensive homeland.

As retirement accounts dip into the negative, 1 in 4 U.S. parents reports they couldnt cover basic needs such as food, shelter, and care for their families in 2022. Thats no surprise considering raging inflation has jacked up prices across the board. Americans now pay 49.1 percent more for eggs, 27 percent more for butter, and 14.7 percent more for milk compared to 2021.

[RELATED: Grocery Shop With Me To Fact-Check Bidens Inflation Up Hardly At All Claim]

The more than $45 billion Congress designated for Zelensky is part of a sweeping, inflationary omnibus bill that would fulfill Democrats spending wishes before the newly elected Republican House is sworn in.

The legislation was conjured quickly with hardly any time slated for review or criticism. Because of that, Senate Republicans like McConnell face threats of gridlock from members of the new GOP House.

As the world watches Ukraine and Russia duke (or possibly nuke) it out, China, our nations biggest threat, has been taking advantage of the Russia-Ukraine war.

Thanks to the laxity of the U.S., China crept its way into a working relationship with Russia and created a hegemonic plan to expand its rule. The communist regimes boldness in expanding its Marxism and reaching for Taiwan will only grow stronger as America drains its foreign policy budget on Ukraine.

Not only is Ukraine not our biggest foreign policy problem, but its also not even a top strategic U.S. security interest. McConnell regularly justifies funneling dollars to Ukraine under the guise that the spending is part of Essential Investments in American Strength and Security. But the truth of the matter is that spending endless money on an indefinite war in Ukraine does nothing for Americans but create a national security threat.

Americans dont trust Biden to handle the Russia-Ukraine war because every problem the Biden administration touches turns into an even bigger disaster.

Not only does the White House exacerbate crises, but it also creates them. Take one look at the economy, the southern border, the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, and the political war waged by the Department of Justice and FBI against Americans, and youll understand why our president shouldnt be so eager to be a cash cow for a foreign country.

Zelenskys Ukraine is filled with anti-democratic practices and principles: a war on the free press, money-grabbing bureaucrats, and a broken justice system.

Congress granting a corrupt regime funds with little to no oversight doesnt just undermine war hawks reasoning for supporting Ukraine. It could also quickly result in a Taliban inherits American weaponry situation.

Jordan Boyd is a staff writer at The Federalist and co-producer of The Federalist Radio Hour. Her work has also been featured in The Daily Wire and Fox News. Jordan graduated from Baylor University where she majored in political science and minored in journalism. Follow her on Twitter @jordanboydtx.

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Everything Wrong With Congress's Plan To Gift Zelensky Cash