Jennifer Winch: 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...

It is a go outside and take a long walk kind of news day.

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

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.

Roberts cares up to a point, but of the SCOTUS 6, he's the only one who does, and not by much.

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.

Yeah. Kavanaugh turns out to not be an unmitigated disaster, rather a (modestly) mitigated disaster. That's all I find myself living for, politically speaking, these days.

Thomas could have a fatal A-fib attack, but that's wishful thinking.

I have wishful thinking about many of our leaders fairly often. :)

That all seems accurate to me. I will hang onto my wee fantasy that resistance might make a difference a little bit longer. :) I would love to see Biden add 5-10 more justices. :) A girl can dream. :)

We need about 10 more Senate Dems first w/o losing more than 2 of many at-risk seats in November. Dems have to defend over 20 seats. Manchin's a Kochtopus DINO & will lose to the GOP candidate. Sinema, also Kochtopi, will lose, I hope to Gallego & not Lake. Rosen, Tester & Brown are at risk, etc.

It might be possible. I'd feel a lot less concerned if there were at least one less horrible war going on.

I just hope Dems aren't sleepwalking into a disaster. We're bad at showing up for primaries & in states like CA, the top 2 vote-getters end up on the Nov ballot, so low primary turnout puts 2 GOP on the Nov ballot since Republicans always show up to vote. We'll lose more House seats over this.

Idk much. It's a big country and I don't have the grasp of how the Dems are working I once had. About 15 yrs, ago, for a book, I researched grassroots tactics used in election campaigns. Back then, it was clear Dems were under-organized, and top-down. I think it's gotten better since 2016.

They're still under-organized, especially compared to GOP. Dems obsess about policies, but modern politics is more about personality & power dynamics. No one is going to read a binder about policies. It's now a zero-sum game. Winners make policies, losers go home. You have to win first.

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