1/ I often write: The only thing I know *for certain* about the future is that it has not happened yet.
Yesterday’s SCOTUS ruling is a perfect example of how much I need to heed my own mantra.
For years, I heard Donald Trump was saying that he was certain that “his Supreme Court justices” . . .
2/ . . . would ride to his rescue. I scoffed at his “stupidity” and “naïveté”, confident that he did not understand how Supreme Court justices worked. I felt comfortable that “conservative” Justices would care more about their jurisprudence and institution than protecting one man. I thought SCOTUS
3/ . . . would deny cert. and leave the DC Circuit’s opinion in place. I was wrong.
I thought that SCOTUS would quickly dispatch of Trump’s appeal, perhaps in tandem with deciding the Insurrection Clause challenge to Trump’s candidacy. I was wrong.
I thought that even if though there . . .
4/ . . . was delay, that only meant that one or two Justices (likely Alito and/or Thomas) were doing Trump’s dirty work by withholding their dissents to the last possible minute, in order to make it impossible for Judge Chutkan to conduct the trial before Election Day. I was wrong.
When I heard the hearing, my immediate reaction was that Roberts was on board with it. Then a lot of analysis convinced me I was wrong.
Should have trusted that instinct.
Blackmun, Stevens, O’Connor and Souter were four GOP nominees that were nothing like what the GOP expected them to be.
O’Connor was a true swing vote (who sometimes voted GOP interests (Bush v. Gore)). The other three became liberal stalwarts. Rehnquist would have loved to be in Roberts’ position.
Casey is a terrible ruling with no medical rationale behind it. It was a purely political decision meant to chip away at Roe. A compromise sure, but with a Souter who was still quite conservative and the only woman ever to be placed on the court.
