I am mad at myself for allowing myself to be shocked, but I’m legit shocked. It is as appallingly cynical as anything the court has done since Bush V Gore
If you are too young to remember and want to know what it felt like to watch the 2000 election being stolen through the courts, in part by the very folks now sitting on this SCOTUS, this is what it felt it like.
Why wouldn't they do it though? Bush v Gore isn't a source of shame for them, it's a generational triumph and Kavanaugh, Roberts and Barrett all worked on the case on the winning side!
i for one am deeply shocked that the people who fucked me over before, celebrated the fact that they fucked me over, then announced their intention to fuck me over again have now in fact fucked me over
I keep saying we need a stronger word than “cynical” to describe the GOP during this era. “Craven” doesn’t quite do it. Neither does placing “appallingly” or “extremely” in front of it.
I think in this case we’re talking more about the acceptance of an extreme level of moral bankruptcy and corruption as if it’s just the way things are done now. Like “Oh well, que sera, sera.”
They told us who they were when they upheld the Muslim ban, wouldn't enforce the emoluments clause, slow-walked the Trump tax return case, and at argument when they searched for a way to not enforce the insurrection clause. They tell us who they are over and over. We all just dont want to believe it
And all of them sat there before the Senate Judiciary Committee prattled on about stare decisis when they were asked about Roe. Christ, ACB wouldn't even commit to saying Brown was decided correctly! These are cynical, cynical people who nuked any credibility they might've had after Bush v Gore
You can't get on Leonard Leo's approved judge/justice list without being willing to gut democracy & enable theofascism. His chosen SCOTUS justices are performing as expected.
Well at least in the interim they could probably commit a worse atrocity by dismantling the modern regulatory state allowing us to stew in our own industrial byproducts for generations.
It's not even a pardon. As POTUS, Trump could order the DOJ to drop the cases against him and no court could interfere. This is true even if a jury has already found him guilty, unless he's been sentenced & judgment entered. Under today's timeline, there's no way for judgment to enter by 1/20/25.
It’s okay I’m sure a near bankrupt Trump won’t be a security threat in his second term after he does his day 1 military enforced deportations and retribution against the left.
Hear me out. If we get the vote out and reelect Biden, citizen trump can spend the next two years in criminal trials. His sole defense is “win the presidency and pardon himself.” We can prevent that.
Yeah. When I taught Judicial last spring, half the classes started with “I had this lecture on X prepped, but first here’s what Clarence Thomas is up to this time…” but I don’t know if I could discuss today with tact and sobriety.
Justin Driver (Yale):
“One of the primary challenges when teaching constitutional law is to impress upon the students that it is not simply politics by other means,” he said. “And the degree of difficulty of that proposition has never been higher.”
Can someone do a follow-up w Prof. Driver?
Almost the entire Republican establishment has shown that it is on-board with doing whatever it takes to gain and keep power, from gerrymandering to mass lying to violent insurrection. We need to shout this truth from the rooftops & not let anyone characterize them as a normal political party again.
What's really depressing is how self-congratulatory all the conservative justices will be when they eventually rule against Trump after they've done everything they can to protect him by delay. "LOOK HOW FAIR WE ARE! NEVER QUESTION OUR INTEGRITY!"
If you want even more reason to be mad, consider that even if they don't outright grant immunity they could say "the test the DC Circuit used was wrong, here's the new one, but it's up to the lower courts to apply it to these facts" and tie everything up for another year
Serious question: How much complicity do Kagen, Sotomayor & Jackson have by remaining collegial & following the norms of not commenting, etc.?
This is "flashing red lights, sirens & alarms" level ratfucking & delegitimizing behavior cloaked as normal "process." Can they make statements??
There should be a public outcry.
The justices kinda sorta care about their personal reputations and the reputation of the court.
A brushback pitch should cause them to be slightly less bold.
I agree it's a very slim possibility.
I wouldn't over sell it.
But they did seem miserable about the unfavorable attention they're getting.
It might just be him one time, one case where he knows he will get a lot of scrutiny, if he pauses before full fash, it will be worth it.
Thomas and Alito are fine with being despised. Barrett is a true-believer who will rationalize what she does to help the cause of theofascism. Kavanaugh might be persuaded not to come down on Trump’s side on this, but at least 4 justices had to agree for the case to be heard at all, so...
I suspect those four were Thomas, Alito, Gorsuch,and Barrett. And they will all be looking for ways to give Trump immunity. The three Dems and Roberts won’t go for it. I think the fight is over Kavanaugh.
I suspect you're right. Gorsuch has been trying to dismantle democracy since Mitch got him onto the Court. Weird to consider that Kavanaugh is now what passes for a swing-vote on SCOTUS.
