Wow. "negotiations for months". Another corrupt bargain. Where'd the banker son fit in? https://t.co/7vQagS4taD
— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) July 10, 2018
Senators could demand millions of pages of records from Brett Kavanaugh’s time in the Bush White House – and grind the SCOTUS confirmation process to a crawl (1/5) https://t.co/0gDnEZViio pic.twitter.com/rZ0G1LjhRB
— POLITICO (@politico) July 10, 2018
In addition to the Bush White House files, senators will probably also demand access to about 20,000 pages of documents Kavanaugh assembled for Whitewater independent counsel Kenneth Starr (4/5) https://t.co/0gDnEZViio pic.twitter.com/XPSNammNmK
— POLITICO (@politico) July 10, 2018
The potentially massive number of records will likely slow the timeline for confirmation hearings – and it might make any hearing before the August recess impossible (5/5) https://t.co/0gDnEZViio pic.twitter.com/TZoX9I3uis
— POLITICO (@politico) July 10, 2018
Manchin is saying similar stuff. This is a good approach. It helps inoculate them from accusations of being too partisan RE SCOTUS. They’re protecting ppl w preexisting conditions, can say their opponent won’t. https://t.co/A8dc7jHedT
— Dana Houle (@DanaHoule) July 10, 2018
Good point RE Repubs. I suspect if this nomination is scuttled it’ll be before a vote, but this argument could be used vs anyone who might be moveable, like Collins, Murkowski, or Capito, and maybe to spook people up in 2020, like Gardner, Ernst, & Cotton https://t.co/eLEzMZujf2
— Dana Houle (@DanaHoule) July 10, 2018
Alternative Kavanaugh strategy:
•All 49 non-R Senators SHOULD meet w him. One at a time. No matter how long it takes.
•After the mtg each Senator will have 200-300 followup questions for him. Written.
Such careful consideration will take time. Might delay hearing.
So be it. https://t.co/FBoFlAJIpM
— Philippe Reines (@PhilippeReines) July 10, 2018
Only good thing that could come from this dirty deal w Kennedy is if the other three manipulated & used “finalists” began regularly ruling against the Trump administration.
— Dana Houle (@DanaHoule) July 10, 2018
If the GOP has a problem with Democratic challenges to their nominees, the GOP should stop nominating regressives, misogynist bullies and outright ghouls. https://t.co/bkyJwHNIbu
— Ragnarok Lobster (@eclecticbrotha) July 10, 2018
trollhattan
A millllionnn pages [Dr. Evil voice]. Zounds.
TenguPhule
Orrin Hatch, a funeral long overdue for a eulogy.
feebog
I like the idea of all 49 Democrat Senators meeting with Judge Kavanaugh. Very lengthy interviews. Follow up interviews. Tons of written questions.
Jerzy Russian
Wasn’t Orrin Hatch the senator who had to have an aid whisper in his ear to tell him what to say during a hearing? If so, I respectfully ask that aid to tell the senator to go fuck himself.
MomSense
@feebog:
Yes I like that too.
Yarrow
Trump will go ballistic if his nominee fails to get a vote.
prostratedragon
So glad Justice Ginsburg signalled an unwillingness to go along with a stunt like this. And I wonder who really was floating the idea out there.
Yarrow
@feebog: @MomSense: I like it too.
trollhattan
@Yarrow:
His punishment to us would be nominating Stephen Miller. “Great guy, smart, great jurist.”
Yarrow
@trollhattan: Figure it would be that screechy lady on Fox, Jeanine Pirro.
Roger Moore
Turnabout is fair play, Senator Hatch.
Yutsano
@trollhattan: @Yarrow: Nah. Still has to get the Federalist Society approval. They want their pure right-wing judge ya know!
boatboy_srq
@trollhattan: Sans the Kennedy connection, that would be different, how exactly?
Yarrow
@Yutsano: But this would be only if this nomination doesn’t make it to a vote for some reason. Trump would be furious and, since he followed the Federalist list and it failed, I can easily see him nominating someone he likes, someone he thinks is loyal to him.
trollhattan
@boatboy_srq:
I don’t get the “put ducklings in a blender” and “chased down Mexican day laborers in his Merc at the Home Depot parking lot” vibe from Kavanaugh.
Corner Stone
Never, ever happen. They all feel pretty sure either Thomas or RGB (or both) will leave the court during Trump’s tenure. They are young and can wait to be slotted in again next time around.
piratedan
“Senator Hatch, we have Judge Garland still on hold for over three years on line 2……”
today’s GOP, the party of hypocrites…
TenguPhule
@trollhattan:
I get the feeling he texts his junk a lot.
Major Major Major Major
@prostratedragon:
Er, why?
JPL
@TenguPhule: The person who has been trying to convince the baby bunnies today to stop squealing, has no clue about the ducklings.
TenguPhule
@JPL: Metaphor for Stephen Miller’s known lack of humanity.
Thoughtful David
The only solution to this is, the next time Democrats get control of government, is to expand the Supreme Court by 4, to 13, and put in four 25-year-old non-Catholic Latinas with immigrant parents and immigrant relatives and sensibilities like Ms. Ocasio Cortez.
That would make things better.
? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?
@Yarrow:
And? What’s the problem with that? Maybe he’ll stroke out from the rage.
TS (the original)
There is no level below which the GOP and their orange frump will not fall. I truly wish I had not lived to see this takeover of the US by unbridled streams of hatred.
Thoughtful David
@Thoughtful David:
ETA The Latinas will save us. Not kidding.
Thoughtful David
@Thoughtful David:
By that I mean, they’re hella strong women, smart as hell, and damned hard workers.
I’m with them.
Kathleen
@TenguPhule: A crypt in search of a vampire.
Mary G
@Yarrow: Trump actually got the Federalists to add Kavanaugh to their list, along with three fillers, last fall. He’s been scheming this for months.
PST
The Onion is for sale according to a news bulletin that just popped up on my screen. Shall we go in together and make a bid? It would make a fine addition to the Balloon Juice empire.
James E Powell
The headline of this post shows a lack of the civility that the Village insists all Democrats must follow. And just for that, they will continue to be hateful bigots, just to show us how things really stand.
What are the odds that the GOP senators just take the nomination to a vote with no hearing? They will explain that Democrats are just obstructionists who ask a lot of impertinent & uncivil questions & they’re never going to vote for him anyway because they hate Jesus, America, and Our Troops. There will be NYT & WaPo OpEds to back them up on this.
Every day I expect things to be worse than the day before.
Amir Khalid
@Thoughtful David:
FDR tried that. The tactic was called “packing the court”, and it didn’t work.
Major Major Major Major
@Amir Khalid: it arguably ended the Lochner era and salvaged the New Deal, and didn’t exactly dampen his re-election chances.
germy
? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?
@Amir Khalid:
That’s because the Southern Dems bolted and wouldn’t support it.
japa21
@Amir Khalid: Because he tried it unilaterally and even the Dems in Congress refused to go along. But Congress can expand it by statute. Of course, then when the GOP is back in power they can expand it again, or reduce it and decide which current justices have to leave.
TenguPhule
@Major Major Major Major:
But did he get his packed court in the end?
Mary G
OK, more awfulness:
MagdaInBlack
Pulled this off Rawstory….Blitzer and Azar
“If this policy been in the works for more than a year, gearing up. Why can’t you meet the federal deadline?” Blitzer asked, as he grilled Azar on the immigration policy.
Azar said he never expected to.
“Two weeks ago the court said put them back with parents in ICE custody within a two week period. On average it takes us 58 days for a normal placement of a child to out place them to a safe environment. Here in the United States. So, placing them back into ICE’s custody with an individual purporting to be a parent was never an expectation.”
NEVER an expectation.
? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?
@TenguPhule:
What else do we have to lose at this point? We need to start playing smash mouth politics.
Major Major Major Major
@TenguPhule: I’m sorry, I didn’t realize that merely accomplishing several important things wasn’t a good enough reason to try something again.
Thoughtful David
@Amir Khalid:
Didn’t work then, because of conservative Democrats.
This is now. We have to try.
Tilda Swintons Bald Cap
david
@Amir Khalid: Nothing magical about the number 9. When the SC was formed, it had only 6. GOP pledged to keep it to 8 if Hillary won. If a Dem ever wins both houses and WH again, they can choose to change the number of seats.
TenguPhule
@Major Major Major Major:
I’m asking, did it work?
Platonailedit
Lifetime judges.
Hey, it sounded like a great idea at that time, ok?
/the ‘founding fathers’
SiubhanDuinne
Because, and ONLY because it’s a designated Open Thread:
I have a vague recollection that someone here had some experience with a parotidectomy, either first-hand or a loved one. This was years ago, and I have no way of identifying the jackal in question. But if it was you, please let me know. I’ll check back in an hour or so. Thanks!
? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?
@Thoughtful David:
We also need to expand the number of seats in the House to actually represent the population. If any small state Dems complain, ask them if they want the Repukes to win forever.
grandpa john
@TenguPhule: another despicable asshole that already has a front seat reserved in Hell
chopper
@Platonailedit:
to be fair, lots of dudes back then keeled over before they hit 50.
Major Major Major Major
@TenguPhule: if your definition of a political maneuver ‘working’ doesn’t include “achieving long-desired goals” then I don’t think we can have a sensible discussion about political maneuvers.
Thoughtful David
@? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?:
Agreed. X3. 1305 reps. Back to the per capita level of 1910.
Amir Khalid
When I come across, a story like this, I remember what happened the first few times I applied for a US visa. Even though I was going to be a guest of a big blue tech company, and supporting documentation made it clear that I was a journalist on assignment, I was given a visa with a code that said I was travelling to the US for religious reasons. Once an immigration agent questioned my odd visa classification, and I had to argue with him to be let in. This was during Bill Clinton’s presidency. Had it happened during Trump’s, there might have been a less happy outcome.
Mary G
WaPo posted an opinion of Kavanaugh from a lady who’s a neighbor and co-parishioner of Kavanaugh about what a great dad he is. I commented “Hitler loved his dogs,” which is totally unlike me, but I am so angry today.
Baud
@chopper: Or quit. It was a very unglamorous job for a long time.
TenguPhule
@Major Major Major Major: My reading of the court packing attempt was that it blew up in FDR’s face and although he won re-election, the court packing did not help him in that. You are free to disagree and point out how and where I’m wrong.
sukabi
@MagdaInBlack: saw that earlier…they need to be asked “what exactly was your expectation, if returning them to their parents wasn’t in your plans?”
chris
Well, as long as the pig enjoyed it…
While we’re on the subject of judges, I saw this tweet today. going by the comments this is another bad thing in the continuing shitstorm.
Mike in NC
@James E Powell: Chinese proverb (so I have been told): “May You Live In Interesting Times”
TenguPhule
@sukabi: The plan was to make a quick profit from human suffering and then play the “we must look forward, not back” card.
James Lindley
For forty years, the only requirement for Republican judicial nominees is a capability to commit perjury by commission or omission with a snarl, a smile, or a smirk.
TenguPhule
@Mike in NC:
Technically its a curse.
Amir Khalid
@Thoughtful David:
Right now, Trump and the Republican party are better situated to pack the Supreme Court. If Democrats try it and fail, they might decide to pack the Court with their preferred justices, and that would really not be good.
efgoldman
Generally I like and agree with Dana, but there is no fucking way Suzy Q Collins votes against, unless McTurtle pulls it because he knows he doesn’t have tbe votes.
Dem Sens ought to question the nominee very closely about his work for Rape Apologist Starr, chasing the Clenis
TenguPhule
@Baud:
Rather like banking.
I see the problem.
Baud
@Amir Khalid: We wouldn’t try it unless we control the government after 2020. After that, we’d have to control at least one House of Congress or the Presidency to keep the GOP from doing it.
? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?
@TenguPhule:
Sorry, that was last decade.
TenguPhule
@Thoughtful David: Have we even checked with our elected reps if they’re even willing to consider it, let alone vote on it?
TenguPhule
@? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?: Nobody has ever accused the Republicans of creative thinking and not recycling old plots.
Mike in NC
@Amir Khalid: Waterboarding is going to be coming back, I think, especially with regard to ICE.
sukabi
@TenguPhule: think it’s worse than that.
piratedan
and if the fix was in for the last six months, you have to hand it to the GOP to let the cat out of the bag 6 hours after its announced. If they could keep it under wraps while the deal was being cut, now its alright for the shareholders to know that they “bought” the golden parachute for the Conservatives in regards to control of the Supreme Court.
beginning to think we have the wrong folks in these detention camps…. instead we should be placing these assholes there and then let them submit to DNA testing at their own expense to get their guns and money back.
efgoldman
Typo’d my email Please to free from moderation
The Ancient Randonneur
Karol Kuns has a very interesting piece up at C & L: Brett Kavanaugh May Have A Jim Jordan Problem
Mike in NC
@Mary G: If anybody here watches the sitcom “Superstore”, this fellow Kavanaugh looks a bit like the prissy, goofball store manager.
TenguPhule
@piratedan:
Wait, we’re supposed to give those back to them?! That wasn’t part of the plan!
The Ancient Randonneur
Karol Kuns has a very interesting piece up at C & L: Brett Kavanaugh May Have A Jim Jordan Problem
(Let’s try this one again)
Amir Khalid
@Mike in NC:
I’m all for waterboarding ICE agents who abuse their authority to harrass innocent travellers.
Thoughtful David
@Baud:
Yes. I didn’t say “right now.”
TenguPhule
I’m sure this bodes well for the Alliance. //
Thoughtful David
@Thoughtful David:
It didn’t work for FDR because of conditions then.
This is now.
Change the conditions and make it work.
Gvg
@TenguPhule: the goal wasn’t to pack the court. The goal was to save the new deal. After the Court struck down several important laws, the FDR came up with the idea of expanding the court. He did not succeed in packing the court, however, the court changed it’s views and quit striking down FDR’s plans, which I think you wil agree, were important to our surviving the depression. So, he did “succeed” and I would speculate that if the court had continued to prevent efforts to survive the depression, Congress would have probably changed it’s mind about court packing. Either that, or different Congressmen would have been elected.
piratedan
@TenguPhule: shhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! they don’t need to know that!
Groucho48
@Mary G:
I’m guessing there’s no need to mention the racial info on those 34…
JPL
@TenguPhule: He’s so ignorant, but his base loves it, because they also are uninformed.
ugh
JPL
@chris: What bothers me is that the administration thinks they will be in power forever, so why not.
TenguPhule
@Gvg:
My understanding is that the common belief is that political pressure from the court packing proposal was credited in part to convincing one crucial judge to switch positions. However, there is debate about it given that the judge appeared to have made that pivot prior to the attempt to add more justices to the court. FDR managed in part to change the court simply because he was in office long enough to see multiple openings as justices left.
And it seems to me that FDR blew a lot of political capital in the attempt and damaged his popularity, though not to the extent that it ever threatened his releelection chances.
opiejeanne
@Mary G: At least one of the genealogy sites has volunteered to do the DNA testing for them for free. i think it was 23 and Me but I’m not sure.
chris
@TenguPhule: More lies. Daniel Dale is such a trooper!
Mike in NC
@TenguPhule: I predict a significant drawdown of our military presence in Europe. Maybe 50% to spite the anti-Trumpian Eurotrash (as they must say on Fox & Friends). Caligula demands to be loved in ALL countries.
grubert
How about just taking away the Supreme Courts power of Judicial Review? It’s not in the Constitution, and they just sort of grabbed it in the late 18th century and Congress let them.
Letting the Supreme Court decide on the Constitutionality of bills is clearly not working well.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Mike in NC: I think a lot of our military facilities in Europe are staging areas for other places. It seems to me whenever you hear about a US service member being badly hurt, they’re evacuated to Germany, for instance. I don’t think we’re defending France. I could be wrong. This is so not my area.
chris
@JPL: The thousand year yecch!
I had to look up ALJ. After that I had the same thought, that this would blow up in their faces when power changes hands. But with the shitgibbon it’s always GIMME NOW NOW NOW!!!
TenguPhule
Translation: Pfizer is going to wait till Trump is distracted by the next shiny object, then raise prices across the board.
TenguPhule
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
We no longer have US bases in France. We still defend it as part of NATO.
JPL
@chris: My concern is that it that doesn’t change hands.
@chris: Also it’s all lies.
Brachiator
@TenguPhule:
Oh, Trump, Trump, Trump. Always trying to force a choice. “Give me my wall and I will support DACA.”
So, what does he really want here, zero tariffs or the end of NATO.
Trump ultimately seems to be slouching towards a weird nativist isolationism, with separate trade deals with the countries he likes.
European leaders have to make some hard choices. Trump doesn’t seem to care about past friendships and traditional alliances. And can he be trusted to keep secrets from Putin?
Even though it would obviously be difficult, might it be better for the Western democracies to disengage from Trump’s America?
raven
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Did you see my note about my Barrington connection?
TenguPhule
@Brachiator:
I demand they invade and occupy us. The EU Marshall plan for the USA.
SiubhanDuinne
Jesus God. This is just corrupt AF.
? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?
@TenguPhule:
The fate of American democracy is at stake. If we have the opportunity, we should take it and pack the court. Damn what the Republicans and the VSP media say. Insurgent politics.
zhena gogolia
@Mary G:
I rip out Trump’s picture when it appears on the front page of my NYT. This morning I was ripping out the picture, which included Kavanaugh’s little daughters, and I was screaming, “If you should some day want an abortion, little missy, don’t worry, Daddy will arrange it sure enough!” I don’t like what I’ve become.
What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us?
I would find it extremely gratifying if the Democrats could drag this out for a few months by weaponizing the Star Report against Kavanaugh. I’m sure he’s got something really seedy in his past…they all seem to these days.
debbie
@TenguPhule:
Has Trump ever acknowledged how those same NATO allies fought and died alongside Americans in Iraq and Afghanistan? Has anyone ever even asked him?
TenguPhule
@? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?:
Again, do our elected reps even know about this proposed plan yet? I presume we plan to tell them before they have to vote on it?
TenguPhule
@debbie:
No.
chris
@JPL:
Yeah, I’m not quite there yet but I’m getting closer. After Chait’s article the other day I’ve been chanting, MAGA! Mueller Ain’t Going Away.
? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?
@JPL:
22nd amendment, GOP Congress overreaching, incoming backlash as a result.
Does that cover it?
debbie
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
You’re right. Trump can’t do his fighting against ISIS directly from American soil.
TenguPhule
@What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us?:
Apparently just asking for all of his paperwork could potentially eat up at least 4 months or more alone.
zhena gogolia
@The Ancient Randonneur:
Veddy interesting.
TenguPhule
@? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?: Only applies to 2024, which is 4 years too late.
The Thin Black Duke
@SiubhanDuinne: When they finally kill Roe v. Wade, Kennedy should be charged as an accesory to murder.
? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?
@TenguPhule:
You presume correctly. I think it will become increasingly clear to Democratic politicians, especially if more like AOC rise through the ranks, that extreme measures will need to be taken, such as packing the Supreme Court. Thank the GOP for creating this brave new world, starting 40 years ago.
TenguPhule
@The Thin Black Duke: Bush v. Gore should justify that already.
TenguPhule
@? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?:
I have learned it is never wise to presume a politician already knows something we think they should.
? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?
@TenguPhule:
The backlash will (hopefully) begin this fall.
danielx
@SiubhanDuinne:
One of the many instances which have reduced me to sputtering incoherent rage.
These vile, corrupt bastards. EVERY FUCKING THING THEY DO is designed and planned to keep rich white males in charge for a few more decades while they work on eliminating the universal franchise.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
I was listening to the Hayes show and he went through the list of R-Critters coming to Jordan’s defense. It’s the usual nitwits, Scales and McCarthy. Has anyone asked Rob Portman or the terribly, terribly principled John Kasich what they think of this history at THE Ohio State University? and one member of their Congressional delegation?
? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?
@TenguPhule:
IOW, they will need to be told, and this will work it’s way up the chain via grassroots organizing and activism
TenguPhule
Via Wapo.
Fuck Pence in his lying mouth with a rusty chainsaw.
Fuck Civility.
danielx
@TenguPhule:
Always assuming McConnell doesn’t throw Senate rules completely out the window, which he is fully capable of doing if he thinks the stakes are high enough. He’s done it more than once already.
TenguPhule
@? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?: They need to be told and more importantly, they need to communicate back that they understand and are onboard with it. Votes need to start being counted if you’re serious about this.
Gin & Tonic
So Senators Mike Lee and Rand Paul (surprise, surprise) do not support NATO. Tonight the Senate voted on a resolution expressing their support for NATO. It went 97-2, I’m assuming McCain not voting. Lee and Paul were the two “nays.”
TenguPhule
@danielx: I’m not ruling anything out at this point. Its Calvinball.
TenguPhule
@SiubhanDuinne:
Or as we’ve come to call it, Tuesday.
Everything Trump touches, dies.
efgoldman
@grubert:
And you get pony, and you get a pony…..
A Ghost To Most
@Mike in NC: We live in interesting times already.
B.B.A.
@PST: It turns out Univision’s long history of importing telenovelas and game shows from Latin America taught them diddly-poo about how to run blogs and satire websites. Who’d a thunk it. Congrats to the private equity douchebags who own Univision and eternal Likud tool Haim Saban for coming up with this idiotic merger.
TenguPhule
Looks like someone’s afraid of catching a terminal case of suicide.
TenguPhule
@efgoldman:
Surely there have to be a few at the end of all this horse shit.
TenguPhule
@A Ghost To Most:
Less interesting! Boring is good!
A Ghost To Most
@zhena gogolia:
I think I see your problem.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
When Kagan was nominated, Rs demanded that all her emails as an exec branch employee be given to Congress, maybe even made public. I know neither McConnell nor the Villagers give a shit about precedent or consistency, but I hope the Dems and allied groups are already making demands, writing letters and filing FOIA requests for Kavanagh’s emails from his time as Bush’s staff secretary
Brachiator
@TenguPhule:
That might work, too.
But it sure looks like the European allies are going to have to ignore everything that Trump says on this European trip.
momus
And to think, it took Un about 36 hrs to pants donnie.
Sm*t Cl*de
@sukabi:
“Selling them to nice Republican families”.
Mai Naem mobile
Can the Democrats waste some time trying to impeach Kennedy? I only say this to waste some time.
debbie
@Gin & Tonic:
At least they’re unified on something.
B.B.A.
@Mai Naem mobile: We can always just have another few years of Benghazi hearings.
Kay
I hold a grudge and have a HUGE chip on my shoulder so this is a dilemma :)
Not really. Cordray’s campaign is going well so far and I want a Democratic governor so this skeleton in his closet will just have to be forgiven.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@momus: I think you mean Kim. Kim is the family name, Jong Un is his given name.
Amir Khalid
@grubert:
Someone has to have the power to review laws, otherwise there’d be no way to remove bad laws other than repeal by Congress. If you take the power away from the courts, who do you give it to?
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Amir Khalid: Congress.
efgoldman
@Amir Khalid:
You and me, and Adam in alternate weeks
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
Hahahahahahaha
Omnes Omnibus
@efgoldman: Mommy, I am scared.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Omnes Omnibus: I know, Amir and efg are OK, but Adam?
?BillinGlendaleCA
@efgoldman: Think I’m ready for the Borscht Belt?
Gravenstone
@What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us?: It took over a year to get the smarmy little fucker confirmed for his current position. So I say we drag this farce out well into 2020 if at all possible. Sounds like there’s plenty of data to go mining through over that time.
Omnes Omnibus
@?BillinGlendaleCA: That will work well. Congress decides whether Congress did things right?
Amir Khalid
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
You might not get a sympathetic Congress in time to prevent some serious damage to society.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Omnes Omnibus: Congress could set up a court to rule just on their laws.
Calouste
@Amir Khalid: Other countries manage to get by without it, probably even function better that way.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Amir Khalid: You mean like now?
J R in WV
And the good, though age-demented, Senator Hatch has forgotten that the Republicans refused not only to confirm President Obama’s nomination, but to even hold hearings, interviews, meet with, or even vote for Judge Garland.
Wouldn’t even talk to him~!!!
Stole President Obama’s 3rd supreme court nomination from him, to give it to semi-president Trumpelstiltkins of Russia!
Thanks, Senator Hatch, for working with President Obama to fulfill your constitutional duties!!!! You chicken-hearted bigot monster!!!
B.B.A.
@J R in WV: As James Watt said, it’s not about Democrats and Republicans, it’s about liberals and Americans.
Omnes Omnibus
@?BillinGlendaleCA: Like a Supreme Court?
@Calouste: Other countries have parliamentary democracies. If you want to reinvent our government, cool. Be careful though. You might not get what you want.
chris
More about Administrative Law Judges and the shitgibbon’s EO from the WAPO. Under the radar of most people but this sounds really ugly.
Southpaw is a lawyer, other lawyers weigh in to the thread. This is your dictatorship, America, cherish it.
Omnes Omnibus
@chris:
You seem nice.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Omnes Omnibus:
More like a Court of Deciding Laws.
Omnes Omnibus
@?BillinGlendaleCA: Oh, that’s a completely different thing.
J R in WV
@Mary G:
This appears to be debatable based up reading the whole long-ass Daily Beast story. Some may do that, some may not, a bowl of spaghetti rather than cut and dried beef. But totally believable !!
chris
@Omnes Omnibus: Of course I am, I’m Canadian.
You’re a lawyer, what do you think of politically appointed ALJs?
burnspbesq
@chris:
It’s a real problem. It allows agency heads to pick people without regard to qualifications. Worst case, it’s a return to the spoils system.
B.B.A.
@Calouste: No other country has life tenure on its supreme court. But that’s something those holy infallible slave-raping Founders foisted on us, and to question it would be tantamount to apostasy in our civic religion. Why not just burn the flag, commie?
Another Scott
@Brachiator: Of course, the $150B number is wrong and intentionally misleading.
USTR.gov:
Donnie always ignores the US surplus in Services.
Yeah, the US running a large trade deficit for decades is actually not a good thing, as Dean Baker occasionally reminds us. But Donnie isn’t actually trying to fix that problem, he – as Mary Louise Kelly noted on ATC today (!!) – is trying to break things:
Yeah, sure Donnie is, Kay, sure he is… :-/
Cheers,
Scott.
Mandalay
@Mai Naem mobile:
Did anyone ever determine that it was pure coincidence that Kennedy Sr. announced his retirement less than 24 hours before it was revealed that Kennedy Jr. had been dishing out gazillions of $$$ in loans to Trump for years?
I’m not claiming there is any link, but it would be highly irresponsible not to speculate.
Hkedi [Kang T. Q.]
@TenguPhule: I’m thinking more along the lines of Truth and Justice trials for the US.
chris
@burnspbesq:
And they will rule as instructed by their appointer. What could go wrong?
Omnes Omnibus
@chris: Sorry I didn’t post the sarc tags. Once upon a time, I was an ALJ. Thanks for bringing up bad memories But as long as you are at it, take a shot at my mom – she has F-C ancestry.
chris
@Omnes Omnibus:
Document that, it might help if you have to run for the border.//
I didn’t know what an ALJ was until today. It strikes me that the repubs can lose a house in November and just crack on because one of “their” judges, at all levels now, will say it’s OK. Happy to be wrong of course.
B.B.A.
@chris: Il Douche said we don’t need judges or courts. I think in context he meant we don’t need immigration judges (who are ALJs) to decide who to deport, just deport everyone ICE picks up (which is itself absolutely pants-on-head bat fuck insane). But he could have just meant shut down all the courts. It’s hard to tell with him.
Omnes Omnibus
@chris: I don’t know how your government works. I suggest that you might not know how ours does. I am not trying to to be rude, our shit is weird.
Omnes Omnibus
@B.B.A.: Gone troll again? Have fun.
chris
@Omnes Omnibus:
Ya think? You should see it from here!
(I took civics and and American history in grade 10. In Boston. But obviously I’m missing something. Back to google.)
westyny
@Brachiator:
We’ll save Australia.
Don’t wanna hurt no kangaroo . . .
Procopius
I do not believe for one moment that Manchin will vote against Kavanaugh. If he does I will say a prayer of thanksgiving to the god I don’t believe in and donate ฿1,000 to my local temple (Buddhist).
Procopius
@TenguPhule: He didn’t get his packed court, but he did get a court sympathetic to human beings and the New Deal. The packed court wasn’t his goal, anyway. Changing the court’s ideology was.
burnspbesq
I’m bemused by the stories about Kavanaugh facing trouble on the right. One story at The Hill even went so far as to suggest that Paul and Cotton might vote no.
Sure. And the Mets will win the NL East.
Zinsky
Democrats should walk out of the Senate chambers and refuse to vote on anything until Merrick Garland receives a vote. Shut the whole government down. That’s what the GOP would do. This Supreme Court seat was stolen and the American people need to be forcefully reminded of that.
stan
How will we be able to tell?
stan
Well….yes and no. The number fluctuated a bit before the civil war but has been nine since the 1869 Judiciary Act.
So, although the Constitution doesn’t specify their number, there’s a pretty long-standing norm that it’s nine.
Plenty of longstanding norms have been broken recently. So, I honestly am undecided on this one. if the dems “pack” the court with a few more justices, we have to expect it to happen again….which will tend to destroy what’s left of the court’s legitimacy. On the other hand, I feel like SCOTUS has basically had no legitimacy at all since Bush v Gore. So maybe ending the pretense is needed…..
stan
No. Our European bases are for defending Europe, and because they’ve been there a long time and are very, very well-established, they get used for other stuff besides.
We (NATO) are absolutely all defending each other without question until trump came along. France is a member of NATO.