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Re:IRS Will Soon Require Selfies for Online Access by giantg2 on Wednesday January 19, 2022 @01:19PM (#29997714)
Ha. I'm my case my representatives completely ignored my letters about rights violations and misconduct by the state police. On other issues, I only receive unhelpful form letters, some of which don't even address the correct issue. Don't expect any real help from your representatives unless it somehow benefits them.
Re:IRS Will Soon Require Selfies for Online Access by landemva on Wednesday January 19, 2022 @10:44PM (#30004281)
Sue for declaratory judgment to have court decide if they broke a rule or law. No money in this, but can lead to their losing job.

You can follow up with injunction from court to order them to cease whatever it is. Then contempt of court if they violate injunction.

Re:IRS Will Soon Require Selfies for Online Access by giantg2 on Thursday January 20, 2022 @07:39AM (#30008130)
I talked to a civil rights lawyer. It would cost at least $5k to get the case going. He also said that while there is basis for a case, the courts generally don't care unless there was substantial monetary damages.

I submitted the information to the DOJ, who are supposed to sue if there's a pattern, policy, or practice that violates one's rights. Frankly, I don't think they'll do anything. Same as the other things I've done - contacting reps (ignored me), filing IAD complaints ("counseled" the trooper but nothing more), filing a bar complaint against the prosecutor (the bar says they won't even investigate prosecutors unless a court declares misconduct and of course that costs money to sue), and a judicial complaint against a magistrate (apparently a recording of the trial does not present sufficient evidence of misconduct even though there was clear bias, he's a retired police chief, refused to even hear a defense motion which is a 4th amendment violation, and yelled at the defense which is an example of misconduct that given when filing out complaint form).

Nobody in the system wants to hold others in the system accountable. The system itself is more important than any individual's rights - that's the justification they give for keeping judicial conduct records secret, even if they contain exculpatory evidence.

Re:IRS Will Soon Require Selfies for Online Access by landemva on Thursday January 20, 2022 @11:24AM (#30010978)
If you have the interest you can go after declaratory judgment yourself. Look in your State laws and line up COMPLAINT with every requirement in law. If you don't ask for money, a pro-se can get this started. It's mostly a process. Rights are available to those who individually enforce them.

The attorney's bar club just protects the club members. But malpractice insurance companies know the game and rate the policies based on number of complaints against each attorney. Several complaints significantly increases malpractice insurance cost.

Re:IRS Will Soon Require Selfies for Online Access by giantg2 on Thursday January 20, 2022 @03:45PM (#30014663)
My experience with pro-se representation is that the court doesn't like to side with pro-se individuals. Basically you have to prove everything to twice the standard that the lawyers do to convince the judge.

I might look into it, but I highly doubt anything will happen.

I don't think the complaints matter unless they are pursued. In this case the bar says they won't even investigate it without a court finding misconduct occurred (at that point is there even any investigation needed? Wtf does the bar complaint actually investigate?).

Re:IRS Will Soon Require Selfies for Online Access by vkou on Wednesday January 19, 2022 @02:00PM (#29998334)
In my case, two state congressional reps ignored me, state senator did not.

He wasn't very helpful, but he at least responded... And not in a canned letter.

Re:IRS Will Soon Require Selfies for Online Access by rhizome on Wednesday January 19, 2022 @01:34PM (#29997942)
Law enforcement is different.
Re:IRS Will Soon Require Selfies for Online Access by giantg2 on Wednesday January 19, 2022 @01:40PM (#29998049)
How so? I should be able to ask my representative's stance on justice reform and get a response. I did not ask them to get involved with a specific case.
Re:IRS Will Soon Require Selfies for Online Access by jrochkind1 on Wednesday January 19, 2022 @02:17PM (#29998593)
OK, now you're talking about asking for a policy position, rather than what they call "constituent services". "Constituent services" is "I am personally having a problem with some aspect of government in my personal life and I am contacting you as my elected representative to help me."

In every place I've lived, elected officials are good at constituent services, and that's how they get re-elected. I'm surprised to hear of elected reps just ignoring constituent services requests.

I also sometimes contact my reps with lobbying/policy stuff -- what is your position on X? I urge you to vote No on Bill Whatever and would like to know if you will. Can you commit to supporting legislation to reform Y? Etc. And it can indeed often take months to get a form letter response that may not really respond to my query at all, or not get a response at all. It's true.

If you want to go on to say that they shouldn't be different, or that the policy issues really do effect you personally so should be considered or treated the same... that's fine, you may be right, but it's not how the offices of elected officials usually operate.

Also, while I'm surprised to hear of reps totally ignoring constituent services requests with no response... if your constituent services request was about police misconduct, and they aren't known as a far-left politician, I'm less surprised, because that's such a hot button "political" issue. (I'm not saying it's "ok" or I like it, just based on my understanding of how politicians operate i'm less surprised).

Re:IRS Will Soon Require Selfies for Online Access by rhizome on Thursday January 20, 2022 @02:49AM (#30006000)
>I should be able to ask my representative's stance on justice reform and get a response.

It's not on their website?

Re:IRS Will Soon Require Selfies for Online Access by giantg2 on Thursday January 20, 2022 @07:45AM (#30008184)
I believe one had it on there, but it was high-level with basically no details of how they want to implement it. It also didn't cover specific issues I'm concerned about.

For example, magistrates are not required to be lawyers nor pass the bar. I had a magistrate think that I was calling him prejudice when asking to dismiss with prejudice. What a mess. How can they be allowed to be this incompetent? They should need to demonstrate basic legal knowledge and pass the bar. They have a lot of power with very little oversight and training. Nobody is addressing this.