TPM is keeping a running tab of which Democratic senators have said no SCOTUS nominee vote before the midterms. Here’s the list as of an hour ago:
Richard Blumenthal (D-CT)
Bob Casey (D-PA)
Dick Durbin (D-IL)
Dianne Feinstein (D-CA)
Kamala Harris (D-CA)
Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY)
Jeff Merkley (D-OR)
Chris Murphy (D-CT)
Chuck Schumer (D-NY)
Chris Van Hollen (D-MD)
Elizabeth Warren (D-MA)
If your senator isn’t on the list, maybe call and ask why? Honestly, I don’t think there’s anything we can do to stop Trump from putting a Federalist Society drone on the court since the Republicans have the majority and nuked the filibuster.
But our senators need to know this is the fight of a generation — and that we are watching. The court just issued a spate of truly appalling decisions that hurt women, workers and minorities. Another Trump pick could doom women’s reproductive rights, marriage equality and voting while young and/or brown.
Americans don’t agree with this agenda — it’s rule by an extremist minority. The situation sucks big green gator balls, no doubt about it. But we can use it as a civics lesson for the folks who sat out the last election.
As bad luck would have it, this happens to be a year when Democrats have to defend more senate seats, and thanks to gerrymandering, we have to win a huge majority to flip the House. We need a blue tsunami, and fighting the Republicans on this nomination — even if we ultimately lose — is one way to build it.
David Rickard
How many Senators are required to make a quorum for a vote? Can the Dems block a nominee by refusing to appear for votes?
opiejeanne
Somehow I missed that they nuked the filibuster.
sigaba
Wouldn’t you want to have the vote before the election, in order to keep the court off the ballot and take away pro-life voter mobilization. Isn’t it better to run against Republicans after they’ve all publicly voted to end abortion in the US, rather than running against them when they believe “This election decides EVERYTHING!”
Mnemosyne
As always, both of my Senators are at the top of the list. ? I need to write to both of them and thank them.
cain
Surprised that my Senator Ron Wyden isn’t on the list. I would think he would be on it. Jeff Merkley, has been fucking outstanding. He’s been leading with passion with the border issue. He’s just fucking awesome. Ron hasn’t been out there as much, but he’s vocal as well. Ron is a big policy nerd. Jeff is truly a firebrand. Proud of both of them.
donnah
I just emailed Senator Sherrod Brown and asked for his support. I got an automated reply, so I know it got delivered. I hope he’ll step up. He’s one of the Good Guys.
AM in NC
I would also suggest that everyone start putting pressure on local and national news media to get in line with the idea that NO judges or justices should be appointed until the Mueller probe is complete. We cannot allow anyone who is potentially compromised by a hostile foreign power to seed our judiciary with their tainted picks.
jl
@sigaba: I think your logic assumes more attention and reasoning out of motivations than can be expected in the average voter. And the stakes are very high. Dems have to make a big noise, explain over and over again about power grabs and ruthless anti-democratic corrupt executive and GOP Senate, and recent dangerous, corrupt and, I think objectively lawless SCOTUS decisions that will get worse with another Trump appointment are needed. Voters need to see their leadership out there fighting.
Sitting back and depending on voters to game out things like you think they should is not a way to gain the kind of decisive majority or big election wins that are needed to change things in this country.
rikyrah
Will call
barb 2
This is a life or death vote.
jl
@Mnemosyne: Tell them their job is to everything possible, and part of their job is to make sure every Senator is on that list. and they will knock down doors to get on TV to explain the danger to the country.
That is what I will tell them. I’ll thank them for what they have done, and thank them in advance for the other.
I’ll remind Feinstein that there is another Democratic candidate running against her in November who I think would be more aggressive and she needs to change my mind about that, asap.
Edit: I’ve been reminding Feinstein that she is not aggressive enough, and not reliable enough for a long time. Now is my chance to remind her of that and point out I have a real choice coming up.
Yarrow
Yarrow
I have no idea why my comment is in moderation. FYWP.
MomSense
If you are having trouble getting through because of call volume, you can text RESIST to 504-09 and resistbot will walk you through contacting your senators.
Betty Cracker
@MomSense: I love resistbot.
Dorothy Winsor
My senators are Grassley and Ernst. Sigh. I’ll call.
jl
@Yarrow: And the Dems need to push back aggressively in the face of the coming noxious corporate media GOP friendly BS.
Dorothy Winsor
The Ancient Randonneur
Bernie is on the list now.
debbie
I want Schumer to stand on the Senate floor and demand that McConnell explain why it isn’t equally important to give the American people a voice in the process, just as he insisted two years ago. I want every reporter interviewing McConnell to demand the same.
debbie
@donnah:
I would be shocked if Sherrod didn’t support us on this.
MomSense
@Betty Cracker:
So do I. Makes it so easy to be active.
The Ancient Randonneur
@Dorothy Winsor:
My hero speaks the truth. Again. I love John Lewis.
Mnemosyne
@jl:
Be very careful about telling a woman of Dianne Feinstein’s age that she doesn’t care enough about abortion rights. Very careful with that mansplaining, Sparky.
Humdog
Can people disrupt the senate daily to prevent voting on a new Shitstain pick for SCOTUS? If a filibuster is out, is there truly nothing Dems or partisans can do besides persuade an R Senator to vote against?
jl
@debbie: Dems need to quite bleating about fairness and similar stuff that the GOP and too many voters don’t really care about at all. They need to stoke popular outrage about ruthless and hypocritical GOP power grabs.
I think that will require courage and quickness of thought that some Senators just don’t have.. They have to remember their audience is the voting public, not some corrupt media hack. I think, hope, enough have the equipment to do the job.
Even before the miserable Kennedy slunk off, elections were only thing that can cure the sickness the country has fallen into. The degree of the crisis has changed, but not its essential character.
Mike in DC
Manchin, Heitkamp and the other conservadems who are up for reelection this year will be key here. We need to hold all 49, then pressure the half dozen remaining “moderate” Republicans to get just one of them–Corker and Flake are retiring–to punt this until after the midterms.
Betty Cracker
BTW, I wouldn’t read anything into a senator not appearing on the list yet — this cataclysm just befell us. Just noting that we need them to get to HELL NO and quickly. Also, I like the suggestions above to work the media refs.
bobbo
My goodness, Feinstein is on the list. If you voted for Kevin de Leon in the primary, I salute you! (Also, vote for him in the general. That is all.)
debbie
@jl:
I see no reason why they can’t do both.
Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism
@Dorothy Winsor: Love that man.
geg6
People do not give Bob Casey the credit and respect he deserves. He has been as progressive a senator as anyone can expect from the Keystone State. I will be happy to vote for him again.
stinger
This is the worst day since 11/8/16. Stomach punch.
ETA: I appreciate the more positive, action-oriented comments here.
jl
@Mnemosyne: You brought up that topic out of thin air. When did I say I was going lecture her on that topic? Or that I mainsplain anything to her? She has repeatedly promised strong action on a number of issues and then not come through. It is not ‘mainsplaining’ to point out that history to her on a number of environmental issues, executive appointments, health care and other issues.
So, I’ll say what I want and let Feinstein decide if I am mainsplaining anything to her. And what do I care what she thinks as long as she gets the job done?
lamh36
@Yarrow: @debbie:
So now we’ve got to trust folks like Joe Manchin to vote to not let the SCOTUS nom go forward? Just the other day we were saying he is the best we can do in WV…so tell me…do we expect the Senator from WV to vote lockstep w/Dems? This will be where the rubber hits the road for folks who defend Manchin…cause why would he do it? We’ll see I guess.
eldorado
take back the senate. and no votes for s.c. until after 2020.
A Ghost To Most
@Dorothy Winsor: Thanks for this. I may carve that into a plaque.
Mnemosyne
@bobbo:
You thought that a liberal woman who grew up pre-Roe v Wade would be anti-abortion? Seriously?
Get the entire fuck out of here with that bullshit. And if De Léon thinks he can win by attacking her on abortion, he’s going to lose REALLY hard. Liberal women are fucking sick of liberal men trying to pretend that they care more about our health than we do.
debbie
@lamh36:
West Virginia is what it is. Great if he does, and it would be nice to be surprised. Do you think GOP Senators will 100% go with Trump’s pick? I’m not sure I do.
Steeplejack (phone)
@Yarrow:
Sometimes FYWP doesn’t like the shortened URLs. I’ve never been able to discern a pattern.
Mnemosyne
@jl:
Trump is only nominating judges who have pledged to end Roe v Wade and I’m bringing abortion up out of nowhere? Do you really want to pursue this line of argument?
TenguPhule
@sigaba:
The women may object to being sacrificed like that.
smintheus
I see that some of the refugee children kidnapped from their parents have been placed in this facility housing severely psychologically and emotionally disturbed kids in PA. A neighbor works there; some of the kids are violent, dangerous, or otherwise out of control.
Is this the norm with the other kinds of places these kidnapped children have been locked up in?
TenguPhule
@debbie:
Yes. Because this is for all the marbles. 5 utterly corrupt SC justices means no criminal conviction will be upheld against the GOP legally.
SiubhanDuinne
@AM in NC:
I know you know how I originally read the last word in that sentence.
Gravenstone
@AM in NC: hell, cite the McConnell Rule. No Supreme Court justices considered during a Presidential election. Oh by the by, Shitgibbon has been officially running for reelection since Inauguration Day. Petard, meet hoist.
TenguPhule
Now would also be a good time to pray hard that Roberts, Thomas, Alito and/or Gorsuch either commits suicide or suffers a serious medical condition.
lamh36
@debbie: have you seen the latest from Collins? McCain is DOA, literally and NONE of the “outspoken” Repubs have YET to actually vote AGAINST Chump’s agenda…so…yes, I completely expect GOP to lock step together.
Oh and:
TenguPhule
@Gravenstone: Didn’t work for Gorsuch.
WereBear
Sent thank yous to NY Senators.
MJS
@TenguPhule: Flake and Corker want to see Trump convicted, or at least humiliated. Flake may even run against him in 2020. He may be more than happy to stick it to him on the way out the door. Not on principle, but for selfish reasons.
SiubhanDuinne
@Dorothy Winsor:
That is a terrific quote! John Lewis is quite simply one of my heroes, and one of my favourite people.
smintheus
Republicans need Dem support to fund the government. Democrats should withhold such support until Republicans agree to demands over the nominee. As long as their demands are reasonable, voters will support the Democrats. Republicans cannot afford to have the entire election nationalized and distilled into a simple test of their fairness/reasonableness/consistency. It’s hard to persuade your voters to turn out en mass to defend blatant hypocrisy and shameless opportunism.
Tilda Swintons Bald Cap
@debbie: He probably will, but you won’t see it on your TeeVee.
MJS
@TenguPhule: Why? If all is lost re: Kennedy’s replacement, what would change for their replacements?
Mnemosyne
@MJS:
Flake and Corker are both forced birthers. They will publicly whine and complain, but they’ll be first in line to take women’s rights away from them.
lamh36
@debbie: I agree that Manchin is the best we can do in WV…so if Manchin doesn’t allow a vote, I’ll be surprised, but when we talk about needing all Dems to be a no vote, we gotta know that we are already at a -1 deficit…and that’s just the OBVIOUS Conserv-Dem that seems likely to not want to be on record on this.
But we shall see
jacy
@Mnemosyne:
Just heard somebody on MSNBC — not a politician, but a historian, I think, say that overturning Roe V. Wade wouldn’t be as big a deal as you think it was because it would only affect poor women. I kid you not. I thought the Maya Wylie was going to shiv him. Apologies to the enlightened men among us (I have one) — but men are fucking clueless about what women deal with.
SiubhanDuinne
@A Ghost To Most:
I was thinking of needlepointing it. Would make a fine throw pillow.
MisterForkbeard
@lamh36: The last I saw was “I look for judges that respect precedent”.
Which, obviously, is none of the guys on Trump’s short list, but she’ll probably say they’ve promised to do so.
lamh36
@MJS: Has Flake voted against anything that McConnell and Trump have put up for vote?
Cause I don’t recall anything…so why would he start now?
MJS
@Mnemosyne: You’re probably right, but here’s hoping their forced birtherism is sacrificed to political payback. They never have to run in a Republican primary again.
jacy
@smintheus:
The Kennedy bullshit has pushed the kids right off the rader screen, at least for today. If I was a conspiracy theorist, I would worry that the government really has something horrifying to hide and are depending on the firehose of news to keep it in the dark. Most days I am not that conspiracy theorist, but some days it’s a near thing.
TenguPhule
@MJS:
Replacements in the pipeline are not actually making decisions on the SC.
Delay delay delay.
TenguPhule
@jacy:
its not a conspiracy theory when the monsters tell us they’re never returning all those kids to their parents.
MJS
@lamh36: Political payback. Trump killed his career.
I know it’s a thin reed, but I need some hope, however illusory it may be.
Joseph A. Miller
Want take ACTION? Look here!!
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/6/27/1776050/-Don-t-Just-Get-Mad-TAKE-ACTION-MOBILIZE-FIGHT-BACK-Please-SHARE-This
TenguPhule
@lamh36: -3. We lost 2 others beside Manchin on Gorsuch.
TenguPhule
@smintheus:
I’m sorry, did you miss the 2010 elections?
MJS
@TenguPhule: Trump has 25 names picked out. He gives no thought to his decisions, and McConnell has no regard for rules. Assembly line confirmations.
SiubhanDuinne
@jacy:
I had MSNBC on in the car during MTP Daily. Kornacke was guest-hosting for Chuck Todd. He had Chris Matthews on to do “analysis” of the political implications of the SC vacancy, and honestly, in all the years I’ve been aware of him I’ve never heard Tweety sound as completely deranged as he did this afternoon. Wondering all over again why MSNBC even keeps him on the payroll.
TenguPhule
@MJS: 5 SC GOP judges means their asses are legally exempt from criminal conviction from treason. The maximum penalty of which is death.
danielx
Anthony Kennedy. Best known for his immortal words:
“We now conclude that independent expenditures, including those made by corporations, do not give rise to corruption or the appearance of corruption…No sufficient governmental interest justifies limits on the political speech of nonprofit or for-profit corporations.”
– Citizens United v. Federal Communications Commission
Good fucking riddance, except he’ll probably be replaced by someone much worse.
Yarrow
Christ. WTF is this crap?
So Dems will fight the Kennedy replacement but only somewhat because they think seating the replacement will help them in the midterms? That’s the analysis? Fuck that shit. I don’t know who Benchmark Politics is, but Joy Reid retweeted it.
Kay
Well, we can say one thing. Republicans own it. They own every branch and most of media. They even seem to own Facebook, who are joining up with Fox News to promote pro-Trump propaganda, I suppose.
Whatever happens next- and I don’t think it will be good with this far Right lock on everything- liberals had absolutely nothing to do with it. It’s all Trump, as far as the eye can see.
Josie
@SiubhanDuinne:
I did as well. Wonder what that says about us.
Kay
Political media should tone down the gloating and the high fives- it’s unprofessional.
They’re all so confident they’ll do well living in Trump Country. I’m not so sure. Oh, well. They’re pretty good at protecting their own interests. They’ll think of something. They can all go work for Fox- the state news agency. They’re halfway there already.
WereBear
@MomSense: I love it, thank you for reminding us!
WereBear
How Democrats can shut down the Senate
If Democrats refuse to participate in roll call votes, the Senate will come to a halt for lack of a quorum.
Nicole
Man, now is really the time I wish some lady who was the recipient of an abortion paid for by Trump (or, more plausibly based on his history, his charity) would say f*ck the non-disclosure consequences.
In my fantasies, ob/gyns also, in a post-Roe world, refuse to perform abortions on the daughters of Republicans. Including ob/gyns in Europe. Yes, I know implausible. But it’s a nice fantasy.
A Ghost To Most
@WereBear: Yertle will just change the rules. Fucking fascists.
MJS
@Kay: They don’t seem to take much offense when Trump calls them, “The enemy of the American people.” Which means they’re too stupid to be offended, or they’re in on the scam.
debbie
@lamh36:
Craven assholes aside, I’d like to think that a few would in fact stick to principles, but even as I type this, I know I could be wrong. I’d like to see a few state their position on when to vote before I go into a rage.
Steve in the STL
@opiejeanne: still extant, at least for the moment, for legislation, but nuked for cabinet appointments and judicial nominees.
Elizabelle
@Kay: Besides which, as has been pointed out a lot earlier today, it sounds like Joe Crowley took his district as cavalierly as Eric Cantor did. That was one big issue with Cantor: he was too busy in DC to bother with the rube constituents.
Nominee Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez campaigned intelligently and energetically, and had some attention-getting issues. She will push the envelope on getting new ideas out there.
There is a different lesson to be learned here, but it’s not convenient for the pundit class, it seems.
Steeplejack (phone)
@jacy:
Jeffrey Rosen, president and CEO of the National Constitution Center.
TenguPhule
@Kay:
Because if nothing else, their own asses are next on the list. And when they ask for our help, we shall respond:
“Womp Womp.”
hilts
“It’s time for democrats to play Hardball” – Chris Matthews
Even Chris Matthews gets it.
Trump’s administration is a crime against truth, decency, rationality, and humanity and democrats must fight as hard as humanly possible against whatever douchebag Trump nominates. Fuck that goddamn motherfucker Mitch McConnell!
James E Powell
Interrupting this Open Thread to advise the site managers that:
a) the “Click to Edit” and “Request Deletion” are lighting up on whatever comment is last in the column, and
b) the comment box does not save my name & email when I leave the site and return.
Forgive me if these things were already noted in previous threads. We now return you to our regular programming.
P-Dog
Serious question, do you really think a conservative court will overturn gay marriage? I can somewhat agree with Roe V Wade being gutted (personally I don’t even think they’ll want to touch that case, but if they do I think at most it will go back to the states), but I do not see anything happening with gay marriage.
For minority voting rights, from what I see all that a conservative SC can do is say voter ID laws are constitutional (And again, this is up to the specific state to pass said voter ID law).
Anyways, I don’t see this as the dumpster fire that many are making it out to be. Or is that just me?
Matt McIrvin
@Nicole: Sins of parents shouldn’t be visited on their children, to the extent we can avoid it.
bobbo
@Mnemosyne:
Yeah, right I said Feinstein was anti-abortion. Wait, what?
No, I’m saying she is a “process” person and a “comity” person who I am surprised is taking such a strong Dem tactical position. Nothing to do with her views on abortion. But thanks for cursing me and telling me what I pretend to care about. Kisses.
MJS
Have the Never Trumpers weighed in yet? Is Rick Wilson still in favor of a Democratic Congress, or have these past few days made him think, “You know, I forgot about all the issues that were before the SC, and what is still to come. This crew may not be that bad after all.”
Matt McIrvin
@P-Dog: I think they could definitely overturn Obergefell, but I doubt they’d do anything to ban same-sex marriage nationally–it would be extremely hard to make that case with a court ruling.
And public support for same-sex marriage is high enough that if they did overturn Obergefell, a lot of states would probably just legalize it, meaning that the main loss would probably be federal recognition–a pain for same-sex couples, yes, but not the disaster it could be.
I’m less sure about Roe, because public on abortion is still incredibly polarized; it’s this 100% tribal thing. The real nightmare is if they declare fetuses persons under the 14th Amendment, which would be some Handmaid’s Tale stuff–pregnant women would basically be wards of the state, and we’d have homicide investigations for every miscarriage.
TenguPhule
@Matt McIrvin:
We can no longer avoid it.
Matt McIrvin
@TenguPhule: Which innocent children should we punish, do you think?
TenguPhule
@P-Dog:
Yes. Give them the case, they’ll return a bullshit made up on the fly ruling.
Calvinball is now the official role model for all three branches of government.
TenguPhule
@Matt McIrvin:
Ideally none of them.
But they’re coming for ours. So why should theirs be fucking immune?
Civilization was a contract. And the GOP broke it.
Matt McIrvin
@TenguPhule: A lot of people on this board are children of Republicans. You’re proposing going after them?
eemom
@P-Dog:
It’s just you. You have no idea what you’re talking about.
Do tell why you’re in favor of Roe v. Wade being gutted.
MagdaInBlack
I see Im going to have to check in with Senator Duckworth ?
Mnemosyne
@bobbo:
Or she’s taking up that strong Dem tactical position BECAUSE OF HER VIEWS ON ABORTION, numbnuts.
We are in deep shit if self-proclaimed liberal men don’t get that TRUMP’S NOMINEE WILL END LEGAL ABORTION.
Dianne Feinstein gets it. Apparently, you don’t.
Nicole
@Matt McIrvin: And as long as the wealthy, middle-class and White never have to pay any penalty for what we visit upon the poor and non-White, they will continue to take away freedom. White middle-class women have always been able to get abortions. Until they are unable to, there will be no concern for women’s bodily freedom.
As the great boogeyman Saul Alinsky said, one’s concern with the ethics of means and ends varies inversely with one’s personal interest in the issue.
joel hanes
@WereBear:
That’s not how it works.
There must be a Democrat to move for a quorum check.
But if that Dem is able to so move, he or she must be present.
All the Republicans plus one Dem is a quorum.
eemom
Here’s some commentary from people who actually know their shit on what an unmitigated disaster this is.
Here Are Some of the Monsters trump is considering as replacements for Kennedy.
Justice Kennedy sendoff
The Only Thing That Might Stop Trump From Replacing Kennedy with a Scalia Clone (Spoiler alert: it’s not gonna happen)
TenguPhule
@Matt McIrvin:
No. I’m not naming names. I’m not suggesting targeting anyone. But the concept that Trump or Paul Ryan or any of the shithole’s families are off-limits has got to go. They will target hostages to fortune on our side to quash dissent.
When the inevitable reaction occurs, shed no tears for them. Give them nothing but silence. They made these new rules.
Nicole
@Matt McIrvin: And a lot of women out there have are too poor to travel 500 miles for an abortion. What makes them less worthy than the wealthy daughter of a GOP Representative?
We keep thinking we can advance a social agenda while being polite to people who are taking away our freedom. I believed in the politieness for a long time, but the older I get, the more I think Frederick Douglass, who, I hear, is someone people are talking about more and more, was right:
“If there is no struggle, there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom, and yet depreciate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground. They want rain without thunder and lightning. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its many waters. This struggle may be a moral one; or it may be a physical one; or it may be both moral and physical; but it must be a struggle. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will.”
P-Dog
@eemom:
No I’m reluctantly pro-choice. I’d rather it not be gutted, but if it were, I don’t see the huge fuss of it because I live in a blue state. You can call me selfish, but that’s the reality we deal with. It’s not the hill I want to die on because I there are other issues that affect me more than Roe V Wade.
What about gay marriage and minority voting rights? Are you with me on that, were I don’t really see them being touched?
joel hanes
@P-Dog:
do you really think a conservative court will overturn gay marriage?
They will overturn Griswold, on which the right to privacy rests.
With the right to privacy came sexual privacy (so no anti-sodomy law can be enforced),
and the right to purchace contraceptives.
Pre-Griswold, state legislatures could and did pass laws to make non-hetero sex acts illegal
(and even many hetero sex acts).
Pre-Griswold, state legislatures could and did pass laws regulating who could purchase contraceptives and under what conditions ( only men and married women, and the latter only with the knowing consent of her husband )
Pre-Griswold, gay marriage was all but inconceivable.
Matt McIrvin
@Nicole: I don’t think TenguPhule is talking about abortion.
P-Dog
@TenguPhule:
OK, can you give me a scenario where the SC overturns gay marriage? I really can’t see one, but I’m not a legal scholar.
Tilda Swintons Bald Cap
Wait til they declare SS, Medicare unconstitutional.
P-Dog
@joel hanes:
Wouldn’t that just remove the right to privacy and not of gay marriage? It’s a strike against all people, not just gay people.
Matt McIrvin
@P-Dog: For the federal ruling, it’s easy: Congress re-passes DOMA. Judge overturns it, creating a test case. States argue that Obergefell violates their equal sovereign dignitude and the rights delegated to it by the 10th Amendment. SCOTUS upholds re-DOMA and invalidates the ruling in Obergefell. Wouldn’t ban it in the states where it’s legalized by state law, but it’d ban it in the others, and the Feds go back to making same-sex couples file taxes as single.
Nicole
@Matt McIrvin: TenguPhule was replying to your response to my comment, in addition to the other comments. It’s the nice thing about comment threads; you can carry on multiple conversations at once.
TenguPhule
@P-Dog:
If you don’t stand and fight for the women in every state, don’t expect them to stand behind you come the next round of voting. This isn’t rocket science.
TenguPhule
@P-Dog:
State Government sues over having to recognize and provide marriage benefits to gay couple.
Poof, done.
Nicole
@P-Dog: Here’s the thing about legal abortion- a woman who does not have the right to control her own reproduction is not free. Period. So by saying Roe v Wade is not a big issue to you, you are saying that the freedom of 50% of the population is not a big issue to you. And that may be.
As to living in a blue state, Slate has an all-too-plausible scenario for the Republicans outlawing abortion on a federal level.
TenguPhule
@P-Dog:
Voting Rights act will be second on the chopping block after gay marriage.
Kathleen
@Josie: You and SD are “not civil”?
P-Dog
@Nicole:
Yeah but that’s just your interpretation of what makes a woman free. Don’t project that to other people who aren’t you.
Matt McIrvin
@P-Dog:
That, and all the other stuff they already do: extreme gerrymandering, making people in black counties drive 100 miles to get the ID they need to vote, removing most of their polling places, etc.
Without the VRA they can do a bunch of other stuff: putting police or ICE checkpoints in front of polling places, maybe reinstating literacy tests and all that old Jim Crow crap. We know how much the 15th Amendment is worth without decent legislative enforcement. Probably the 24th too (if the 15th were taken seriously the 24th wouldn’t even have been needed).
Matt McIrvin
@P-Dog: Oh hell no. Banning abortion is an abridgement of freedom; you may not approve of that freedom but it is one.
Peale
@P-Dog: without griswold, Lawrence will soon follow. Which kind of puts gays and lesbians in 13 states in kind of jeopardy of admitting to a crime by being married or wanting to be. There was a reason why anti-sodomy laws needed to go first, since those were used against gaining others rights. I’m old enough to remember a case where a lesbian lost custody of her children after the death of her partner because the grandparents were able to site the existence of a sodomy law still in effect. Beyond that just “throwing the issue” to the states means we’d automatically be SOL in 30 states. The whole point of fighting these cases nationally is so that freedom and safety aren’t contingent on were one lives.
Mnemosyne
@P-Dog:
So you missed the Voting Rights Act being gutted by the Roberts court in Shelby County v Holder?
Matt McIrvin
@Kay: The second item on that list doesn’t belong there. How the hell is a strong progressive winning a Democratic primary a bad day for Democrats? Only if you read “Dems in Disarray” into everything.
Mnemosyne
@P-Dog:
Yes, the days when women committed suicide because they couldn’t handle having a sixth child were AWESOME! And the septic wards after women had illegal abortions. Who wouldn’t want those days back?
Also, feel free to fuck off anytime now, Mr. Why Should I Care About The Rights Of Anyone Who Is Not Me? You and Andrew Sullivan can go wank off in a corner together.
burnspbesq
@sigaba:
No. Unilateral disarmament is never a winning strategy. Ask Kim Jong Un if you don’t believe me.
YetAnotherJay formerly (Jay S)
@WereBear: I understand that a quorum is assumed without objection. If all 50 republicans are present it takes one democrat to make the quorum call. I believe Vox is right on the rules but wrong on the practice.
burnspbesq
@jl
You should really try to sober up. The only person to whom DeLeon represents a threat is himself.
TenguPhule
@P-Dog:
Go home P-dog. You’re drunk.
James E Powell
@Nicole:
The number of otherwise liberal persons who don’t accept this simple truth or who don’t think it’s important enough to animate their political participation is sadly pretty large.
Nicole
@Matt McIrvin:
Thank you.
jacy
@P-Dog: I don’t think I have said this to anyone here before, but fuck the hell off. I’m not going to waste my breath telling you why, because you are obviously too dense and self-absorbed to understand.
YetAnotherJay formerly (Jay S)
@YetAnotherJay formerly (Jay S): To be clear I don’t believe that Democrats can use the quorum rules to shut down the Senate because of the way the rules work in practice.
Nicole
@James E Powell: You speak truth. Patriarchy is hard to get out from under.
burnspbesq
@P-Dog:
Andrew Sullivan, is that you?
Gay misogyny is the ugliest kind.
Matt McIrvin
@Nicole: No need. Disagreements about tactics are one thing, this is another.
efgoldman
@P-Dog:
First rule of holes: STOP DIGGING
You are wrong, you have been wrong the whole thread; you are a a misogynist troll, and you don’t belong here.
I pity your female companion and your daughter(s)
Spinoza Is My Co-Pilot
Trump getting to put at least one more SCOTUS justice besides Gorsuch on the bench during his first (let’s hope only) term was a pretty fair bet, and here we are.
Not a damn thing can be done to stop it. Trump will make the (relatively-young, of course) pick suggested to him — like Gorsuch was — and McConnell’s Senate will confirm.
There is no silver lining here. It is just as bad as it appears — a near certainty that for the next generation this country will be living under a far-right Supreme Court.
And Ginsburg is 85, with cancer. Breyer is 80. Wanna take bets that Trump doesn’t get a SCOTUS hat trick that even further cements that generation-spanning far-right Court?
We can talk all we want about somehow using the SCOTUS for some electoral gain somewhere, but really, does anyone think that’s going to work to the benefit of Democratic candidates this November? Republicans, maybe, since they have millions of single-issue voters whose single issue (abortion) is most affected by the make-up of the Court, and they damn well know it. I still doubt there will be a noticeable effect due to the Court on either side in the ’18 mid-terms, but if there is such an effect it’s very unlikely to be to the Democrats advantage.
Cuss me out for a dirty doom ‘n’ gloomer, I don’t care. I see no upside here. Give me some reasons to think otherwise, I’d love to be wrong about this.
P-Dog
@efgoldman:
Hahha. This is how you get more Trump. Try not to label people with actual questions as misognyists. You don’t speak all women, or probably barely even a small minority of women. I don’t either, but I never tried to make a claim that I do.
Omnes Omnibus
@P-Dog: Dude, please stop.
P-Dog
Look guys, I came by because I USED to be a progressive. Then things went really crazy. I’m not a conservative by anymeans, but for today’s retirement announcement, I wasn’t really that faded. Yeah, maybe it’s because I’m selfish, that’s a criticism you can make of me, true.
I came to ask sincerely, do you really think it’s going to be THAT bad. Obviously most of you feel that way. But consider for a second — what if you’re wrong? What if Roe V Wade doesn’t get overturned, neither does gay marriage, neither does the Voting Rights Act. It doesn’t do well to go into hysteria, that’s the only advice I can give you.
Yeah, I don’t really see any of those things happening, and I ain’t even a conservative.
Raoul
@jacy:
Yes.
And it seems that most TV talking heads are fucking clueless about what poor people deal with. Maybe because far too many TV talking heads are white men with cushy paychecks.
Jeffro
Several notes here:
– This is not the end of the world…Kennedy was already a reliable far-right judge, especially this last term.
– The problem is, this pick cements his seat as far-right for another 3-4 decades. Ouch.
– We need to beat the media up about “double standards” and “the McConnell Rule”, as well as R politicians
– We need to get our people fired up about this
– We actually want this vote to happen before the election. Ds will be in an absolute rage afterwards and will produce a mighty blue wave; Rs will be satisfied and not be as roused to get to the polls.
– Folks pointing out Breyer’s and Ginsburg’s age and health forget that Thomas is old and pretty overweight himself.
– We’re not done yet…not a huge chance, but there are a few Rs who could throw a wrench in the works here (especially those who are retiring)
SO
– really all we can do is make sure that A) our Dem Senators stand firm, and B) that the media reports on this for what it is: complete hypocrisy on the R side, hypocrisy that will affect everything from American’s worker/union rights to their reproductive health to Muslim travel bans and on and on. Make it earth-shaking on our side that we, for once, vote with SCOTUS in mind.
James E Powell
@Spinoza Is My Co-Pilot:
I agree with you and I too, get cussed out for being a gloom ‘n’ doomer. I guess being a street level campaign volunteer since 1976 has taught me how little the Big Arguments filter down to Democratic and Democratic leaning voters and convince them which way to vote or whether to vote at all.
The supreme court being at the center of the election means that this is the right-wing Götterdämmerung. They will treat it like it’s the last great battle to save America for the white race. They kind of treat every election that way, but this is to save their Great Leader and to accomplish the goals they have been advocating for since Reagan.
The Republicans have been more lucky than good, but they have managed to have ending abortion, keeping brown people out of the country, and making liberals unhappy as the three issues that will define this campaign season. The press/media are already on board. I am not optimistic.
Steve in the STL
@Mnemosyne: well said
Mnemosyne
@P-Dog:
Did you predict Trump’s administration kidnapping the children of asylum seekers, putting them into camps, and then refusing to return them? Why on earth are you giving them any credit whatsoever?
Trump has declared himself “the most pro-life president ever” and said he will install a Supreme Court justice who will end Roe v Wade. Why, exactly, are we not supposed to believe him?
sukabi
@Mnemosyne: not to mention Drumpf prefers unqualified, corrupt/corruptible, ass kissers that will toe the line.