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Comment by gpm | Hacker News Reader

I strongly doubt that US-Australia trade relationships played any role in the judges decision on this case (and, of course, everything else in this case occurred before Trump was even re-elected). Judges aren't in a role where they are negotiating, or particularly care about, international trade at all. Judges are intentionally separated from the political wing of the state in just about every western democracy.

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In some ways you are probably right, however do not discount the fact that America’s relative weakness has opened up avenues for this type of action that otherwise would have likely not happened out of internal pressure due to concerns about that relationship, external pressure on the government to scuttle these kinds of efforts, and/or general lack of alternatives to the American market.

Especially with the rise and seeming power of BRICS there is surely a sense that the pressure is a bit off from the USA, America will be unwilling to add on to pressure against Australia that is close to core BRICS, etc.

Do not discount the rising awareness of the real weakness the “American” empire finds itself in suddenly.

I agree with this. I think potentially someone may have suggested the federal court sit on the decision until the 10% tariff was confirmed a couple of weeks ago. Mostly because the announcement pre Tariff might have resulted in a long Truth Social post from DT followed by a knee jerk reaction. But I highly doubt it would factor into the decision.

Australia is also in the process of regulating platforms and I'd expect it to end up a little closer to Europe/Japan in the next couple of years anyway. They will watch to see what loopholes Apple/Google exploit and try to deal with that in the regulations upfront.

Important context for anyone not aware is that Australia is one of the few countries that US runs a large trade surplus with.

Lol at you believing courts or judges don't follow their countries dictates. Most of the time such cases would be routed to a judge that will do what is asked without making any noise.

Where I come from, there is no need to route cases. I used to believe in Western justice systems, but as I've grown older, I've come to realize that much of the corruption money from Asia, Africa, and South America is parked in these same Western countries. Many of the corrupt officials who have fled their home countries are now living in these same Western countries, and in many cases, their families have been granted citizenship. The behavior of the ruling elite in Western countries tells me all I need to know about their justice systems. It seems that a large portion of the population has willingly, maybe unknowingly, put on blinders to their own countries' systems and behaviors.

maybe wherever you are from that’s true, but not really in the developed anglosphere

This stuff is true in the US to some extent.

no it's not, but i get that it's "in" to hate on the US political structure. essentially all federal cases are randomly assigned

I don't think it's widespread by any means but the US Supreme Court has been directly pulled into this exact topic.

https://www.npr.org/2024/10/21/g-s1-28919/supreme-court-judg...

https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/judg...

https://news.northeastern.edu/2025/03/27/judge-shopping-expl...

this is more describing circuit shopping, which is a far cry from what OP is suggesting

In my country judges don't get elected. They pretty much sit in their ivory tower and fuck up anyone they want.

Which is part of the reason why the Netherlands is not a superpower.

Judges don't get elected in the US (except for some state and local judges) and yet the US is a superpower. I don't think judicial selection plays a major factor in determining superpower status.

Can you name any country that has ever been a superpower where judges (of the national judiciary if it has separate judiciaries for constituent parts from the national one) were predominantly democratically elected?

https://www.cigionline.org/articles/why-east-texas-ground-ze...

I do think this is a great counterexample, but it is largely a bug in the law specific to patents that was closed in 2017. Even then, IIUC on appeal your case would still be randomized.

Judiciary and law enforcement are some of the most corrupt people

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