Ok, everybody had their fun saying Biden should just disappear his political enemies because it’s allowed now. It’s a new day, and those jokes are all old now, and also they’re cynical and stupid and counterproductive.
Democracy is on the ballot. Stop fucking acting like it’s already gone.
Because if you and enough people decide it’s already gone, it is. It’s like watching Peter Pan where you, the audience, have to clap and say you believe in fairies for them to exist, except it’s real.
My concern is this: if Roberts is willing to do this, we have to consider that he's willing to invalidate election results that support Biden.
Maybe he is and maybe he isn't. But the risk is enough that I think we have to find any way to reform the court before the election.
Well, SCOTUS just gave Biden the tools.
EO that says: 4 new seats. Recess appointment 4 justices in. Hope that Congress is too broken to stop when they reconvene.
But of course, that means not clapping for the fairy. At least for a little while.
It’s important to note that this would both backfire electorally and also not work practically. There’s more to seating some more justices than just Biden not getting prosecuted for doing it illegally after he leaves office.
Right! Biden is like “there’s four new justices now” and the court is like “lol no there’s not” and every paper is like “senile Biden believes he’s a king” and the house impeaches him and probably honestly the 25th amendment is invoked.
What Roberts and his court have done is made it very clear that there is no institution we can trust to keep our Democracy for us. All of them can fail if we vote badly. The only thing that will protect us is electing good people to office. All the offices. That's the only actual safeguard.
Well if you control the legislature you can always pass laws that do more to constrain the system and the executive.
So if you want "more" then the next step is still the same. Pass better laws.
You need control of government, and the ability to govern. Winning elections is the biggest chunk of this. Not everything on its own, but the big piece.
Step 1, win elections. Step 2, keep winning them until the GOP is forced to change their behavior. Step 3, fix the laws so they actually work to constrain the executive.
I am definitely not on board with "abuse executive power for as long as we have the executive." That's a bad plan.
Yeah - I mean, I do think we should not shy away from using and even working to expand constitutional authority where it's beneficial and necessary. And especially, we shouldn't allow dated traditions (blue slips, say) to limit us.
But that's not just swinging randomly.
Do I think there are spots we could be slightly more ruthless? Yes. Do I think we also have to very carefully pick and choose the places we do it so that there's a bright line between us and them? Also yes. Very yes.
