3882

While this is true, also Fuck Joe Manchin.

At least if he were replaced by an actual Republican it would be more honest.

3883

Only if there are no political consequences to restoring rights or abolishing them. But there are.

Every time the pendulum swings, one party reaps the benefits. When it swings the other way, the other party pays a price. Eventually, they will stop trying.

The alternative is to remove democracy as a factor, and let nine people settle an issue once and for all. Those nine people are not at all representative of current sentiment, so every controversial decision amounts to a coin flip. I prefer the more democratic solution.

3884

I wish there were, but Republicans used the Court to e.g. gut the ACA and cost millions a chance to get health care through the Medicaid expansion, and what happened? They got control of both houses and the White House and get to change the balance of the court. So I’m not really seeing those consequences.

3885

I hate that fucker myself, but without him, we’ve got no chance at all to take the Senate.

3886

Bredesen (candidate in TN) has said he would have supported Kavanaugh as well.
The problem is, in order to win a Senate majority, the Democrats need red state Senators. A majority means committee chairs and subpoena powers. One thing at a time, and right now that thing is to check trump in all ways possible - and living with the likes of Mancin.

3888

No. It won’t.
It’ll just make the correction into another political body like Congress, only one that you don’t directly elect. There will be no real judicial thought in any of the verdicts.

Fools need to consider that even the SCOTUS does not make laws.

Vote, and take control of the legislature. Pass good, well written laws. The scotus doesn6t get involved.

3889

Quoted for posterity before Timex corrects the autocorrect.

image

3890

So what did Murkowski do–vote for or against cloture? The 51 who voted for included Manchin, so? Or did some other Republican not show up?

N/m, looks like she voted no.

3891

Eh. I’ll accept it.

3892

Sebelius was hardly a clear Republican victory. IIRC, most Republicans called Roberts a traitor for upholding most of the ACA.

More generally, democracy does not mean that the good guys always win. The ACA was controversial, regardless of whether you think it is a good thing. In a democracy, you should expect controversial initiatives to suffer setbacks as the nation makes up its mind. Fortunately the people seem to be deciding that the ACA is beneficial overall, and challenges look less likely to succeed in the future.

3893

This is completely irrelevant. If the Constitution said “until death” the words “for life” would not be in there and yet it would be clear. As is “during good behavior”. What do you think “during good behavior” means? It doesn’t say “during good behavior until a specified term is up”. It’s important to consider what the clause says and what it doesn’t say. Since there is no limit on the term, the term continues until death. The only constraint is good behavior, not time.

I write this as someone who strongly wants terms on USSC Justices, but it’s just not in the Constitution. And it’s not a matter of interpretation, it’s what the Constitution says. Justices serve “during good behavior” without any other constraint. That’s it.

Also, the historical common law clearly establishes “during good behavior” as the traditional limit on lifetime tenure. This is in contrast to terms “at the pleasure of the King” which could be revoked at any time.

Edited to tone down the combative initial language in light of the life-affirming peace pact enacted in the posts above.

3894

This is certainly true… see Plessy v. Ferguson, and a million other things.

The deeper problem of course is that democracy doesn’t even mean that democracy always wins.

3895

I like autocorrect’s results this time.

3896

Poor manchin.

3897

WASHINGTON — An exasperated President Trump picked up the phone to call the White House counsel, Donald F. McGahn II, last Sunday. Tell the F.B.I. they can investigate anything, he told Mr. McGahn, because we need the critics to stop.

Not so fast, Mr. McGahn said.

Mr. McGahn, according to people familiar with the conversation, told the president that even though the White House was facing a storm of condemnation for limiting the F.B.I. background check into sexual misconduct allegations against Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh, a wide-ranging inquiry like some Democrats were demanding — and Mr. Trump was suggesting — would be potentially disastrous for Judge Kavanaugh’s chances of confirmation to the Supreme Court.

3898

On a lighter note:

Stay for the thread

3899

Washington Post goes to bat for the Republican Party, Donald Trump and Susan Collins.

After the attack on Ford:

At the center, as always, was Trump, who used his bully pulpit to champion Kavanaugh and accused men everywhere. Initially restraining his combative impulses and deferring to the Senate on process, the president ultimately followed his own gut as if he were, in the description of one aide, “a strategic boogeyman.”

The result is likely to be, according to counselor to the president Kellyanne Conway, “a crowning achievement of his presidency.”

Poor Democrats.

The GOP’s hardball approach left Democrats shaken and defeated.

And brave, brave Susan Collins.

Collins struck defiant notes in defense of Kavanaugh and lambasted liberal activists and senators,

Why do Republicans get away with their moral depravity?
This is why. “News” like this.

3900

The con is enshrining an anti-democratic court for 30 years. The pro is getting a good court for a few years now and then.

I’ll take the pro.

If we’re headed to the end of democracy- I’d rather have a dictator I like than a dictator I don’t.

3901
3902

This plan sounds like nothing could possibly go wrong.