Mitchell Epner: 1/ Anyone who tells you that Justice Alito can be forced from SCOTUS for his candid admission in a surreptitiously recorded conversation that "winning" by the Right is the only way to get past polarization is engaged in wishful thinking. theintercept.com/2024/06/10/d... Anyone who tells you . . .

1/ Anyone who tells you that Justice Alito can be forced from SCOTUS for his candid admission in a surreptitiously recorded conversation that "winning" by the Right is the only way to get past polarization is engaged in wishful thinking. theintercept.com/2024/06/10/d... Anyone who tells you . . .

2/ . . . that this is "no big deal" is ignoring Supreme Court history. Justice Abe Fortas was hounded from office for *far less* than this in 1969. [sarcasm alert] Of course, IOKIYAAR (It's OK If You Are A Republican). [end sarcasm alert].

It was really good that we also got to hear Chief Justice Robert’s response. It not only showed what a responsible response sounds like, but was also helpful to hear the responses back to back.

The problem is hounding someone from office requires them to be capable of recognizing that the public has turned on them to a degree that they have lost legitimacy. And modern politicians seem to have figured out that just digging in and waiting for shit to blow over is perfectly effective.

I don’t agree with this. Fortas took a $20,000 retainer (which was supposed to be 20k a year for life) for legal advice while he was a Supreme Court justice from a former client who was in regulatory hot water that was about to move to criminal charges. Without defending Alito, Fortas was worse.

I think it was Ken @kenwhite.bsky.social who may have said “the law is whatever 34 senators say it is”?

A federal judge once said to me, "The Constitution says whatever five members of the Supreme Court agree it says."

I think what we are rightly seeing is a drip drip drip effect w/Alito. No ONE scandal will take him down but the cumulative effect of continuous legitimate issues being raised about actions he's taken that undermine his credibility & his legacy will have to erode his desire to remain on the court

What does winning look like to Alito?

Speaking of wishful thinking, have you read the "good Behaviour" clause in the Constitution?

Yes, and I know that the only way to remove a Supreme Court justice is through impeachment. That would require a majority of the House (which is currently majority GOP) and 2/3 of Senate (which currently has 49 GOP members). I cannot imagine a world where Alito is impeached and removed.

Which was McConnell’s plan all along…

Even if Dems had the numbers, they wouldn’t do it. The thing top-tier Dems fear the most is exercising power

I do not know that to be true and I do not think you can either. I do know that every single Democratic Senator (and few GOP) voted to convict in Trump’s second impeachment.

So everything short of high crimes and misdemeanors is "good behavior?" That's dumb!

You may think of it as "dumb", but that is how the Constitution operates. It is even worse than that, because (as pointed out elsewhere) the GOP will not vote to impeach or remove a President or Justice who is guilty of High Crimes Or Misdemeanors.

Well, the bigger problem is that the GOP won’t remove a justice (or a president) even for high crimes and/or misdemeanors— if they’re a Republican.

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