Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires republicans to act in good faith.

Too often we confuse noise with substance. too often we confuse setbacks with defeat.

The poor and middle-class pay taxes, the rich pay accountants, the wealthy pay politicians.

Peak wingnut was a lie.

John Fetterman: Too Manly for Pennsylvania.  Paid for by the Oz for Senator campaign.

Impressively dumb. Congratulations.

This really is a full service blog.

Shallow, uninformed, and lacking identity

Their freedom requires your slavery.

Let there be snark.

Everybody saw this coming.

And now I have baud making fun of me. this day can’t get worse.

Our job is not to persuade republicans but to defeat them.

Red lights blinking on democracy’s dashboard

I did not have this on my fuck 2022 bingo card.

The words do not have to be perfect.

It’s the corruption, stupid.

Some judge needs to shut this circus down soon.

When your entire life is steeped in white supremacy, equality feels like discrimination.

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

The willow is too close to the house.

“Everybody’s entitled to be an idiot.”

Putin must be throwing ketchup at the walls.

Conservatism: there are some people the law protects but does not bind and others who the law binds but does not protect.

You are here: Home / Politics / Activist Judges! / Open Thread: Another Worthy Battle Entered…

Open Thread: Another Worthy Battle Entered…

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Supplementary, from the ever-excellent Mr. Charles P. Pierce:

… Labor Day is a good time to think about the courts because it was in the courts that organized labor was most effectively crushed in this country, and it was in the courts that the way was cleared for it to flourish, and, it appears that the courts are being set up to crush it again.

From 1897 until approximately 1937—the end date is a matter of some dispute—the court’s relation to labor was defined by the horrendous decision in Lochner v. New York. Citing “freedom of contract” as a constitutional right, the decision was used through the decade to strike down all manner of regulations touching on business large and small. (Lochner itself was about working conditions in bakeries.) Unions, of course, came along with the deal. In Adair v. United States, the Court struck down a law that would have made it illegal for a company to fire employees for trying to organize.

Make no mistake. There is a strong strain of modern conservatism that is openly nostalgic for the Lochner Era; Rand Paul made the case a part of his campaign for president in 2016…

In the history of this country, there has not been an expansion of the middle-class without a strong, vibrant union presence. That doesn’t change just because factories move to Mexico, or because of robots. There simply is no other way for wages to rise generally other than having the people receiving those wages bargain collectively for them. That Labor Day is still a holiday at all, I guess, is something for which we can give thanks. The attack on labor itself begins again on Tuesday.

Reader Interactions

120Comments

  2. 2.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??

    What if entire states and localities refused to recognize the legitimacy of this Supreme Court and ignored it’s decisions, assuming Kavanaugh is confirmed? Could this be “brazened out” so to speak? I don’t see how Kavanaugh can be stopped from being confirmed at this point.

  5. 5.

    NotMax

    Like the saying about the camel and the horse, Kavanaugh is a Justice designed by a committee.

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    Now am worried about your having suffered serious cranial injury leading to positing such gross inanity.

  7. 7.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??

    @?BillinGlendaleCA:
    What the fuck is that supposed to mean? “Sniffing glue”. Christ.

    No, I don’t think the military is launch a right-wing coup. I just meant that it wasn’t so unimaginably outlandish as efgoldman was suggesting considering the political demographics of the armed forces.

  10. 10.

    zhena gogolia

    @??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??:

    The glue thing is a quote from the movie Airplane! When the disasters start happening, the airport manager Lloyd Bridges says, “I picked the wrong week to stop smoking,” then it’s “drinking,” then it’s “sniffing glue.” Internet traditions.

  11. 11.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??

    @NotMax:
    I’m positing such gross inanity because I don’t really know how to prevent this freakshow without resorting to the above. The GOP is a minority-party whose government is running on the fumes of inertia and observance of the rule of law, both of which they rely on to keep us in line. Our own sense of good governance is being used agianst us.

  13. 13.

    Platonailedit

    Serena Williams. Sloane Stephens. Madison Keys. Naomi Osaka. Suarez Navarro. All in QF.

    Collective wingnuts’ heads explosions.Their fav doped up russian gal hasn’t gone past QF despite the lenient WTA.

  14. 14.

    Major Major Major Major

    @??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??: yeah I just saw that, thanks. Sounds like it’s coming along. Tossing in a universe hopping Merlin may be a bit much but I’ve definitely seen stuff like that pulled off.

    One thing to consider when you’re picking a time period is that the less instant communication, the easier it is to tell a story. I forget who (Stephen King?) but I once saw an author saying that the first thing they do in stories nowadays is render the hero’s smartphone useless.

  17. 17.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??

    @Major Major Major Major:
    So setting it in an earlier time period before instant communications (say the 80s) would be easier. Of course I could just claim that the “magic” interferes with electronics.

  22. 22.

    Another Scott

    @Platonailedit: J was been yelling at the TV during the Sharapova v. CSN match tonight. It’s clear that the commentators absolutely love Maria “She’s a Fighter!!” Sharapova and they think that it’s obvious the audience does as well. J has been ready to throw things at the TV because Maria has been given all the advantages (always gets a night match, her cheating is rarely mentioned, getting wild-card slots on her return, etc., etc.).

    I just shrug my shoulders and say it’s clear that all the TV networks care about are the players with the big sponsors, so that’s what we see (not the up-and-coming players who are doing well, etc.). They’ll rerun some Federer match 4 times before they show a women’s match in full. :-/ She’s slowly coming around, but it still burns her up because she loves the sport so much…

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  23. 23.

    gene108

    @??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??:

    I’m positing such gross inanity because I don’t really know how to prevent this freakshow without resorting to the above.

    A lot depends on the continued good health of Ginsberg and Brier, but assuming they hang on until January 2021, we have shot at flipping the SCOTUS. Thomas is 70 now. Maybe his health won’t hold out? Maybe he gets into an RV accident, when he drives around the country?

    Get control of the Senate in 2019 and stop all Trump judicial appointments. Keep control of the Senate in 2021, win the Presidency and load the courts with liberal justices.

    This is a dark patch, but not hopeless, if Democrats can win and keep winning.

  26. 26.

    Brachiator

    A series of great posts from Hillary Clinton. I saw her at McCain’s funeral. But it’s like she was holding back, waiting for the right moment to lay the heavy smack down.

  29. 29.

    gene108

    @Platonailedit:

    Osaka and Suarez Navarro aren’t American. Glad for Keys and Sloan. There was a dirth of talent of Americans behind behind the Williams sisters, for a number of years.

    At some point Serena has to breakdown because of age. She’s the oldest woman to win several tournaments.

    Same goes for Federer. They are both playing at a high level, when past generations of tennis players, like Agassi and Sampras, would have retired.

  31. 31.

    tobie

    I’m dreading tomorrow. The hearings will be awful. Republicans will posture, and Grassley will be a prick and probably won’t let Democrats ask questions without cutting them off or demanding that they remain civil. My dream is that the Democratic caucus will spring some damning information on Kavanaugh about his work in the Bush White House or his finances, but this is just fantasy. No one in Washington can keep secrets except Mueller and his team.

  33. 33.

    gene108

    @??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??:

    Of course I could just claim that the “magic” interferes with electronics.

    Jim Butcher has done this with Dresden Files, I am not sure, who else had done this. But like faster than light-speed travel in sci-fi, it just maybe so common place an idea it is just assumed as a given in urban fantasy.

  35. 35.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Brachiator:

    But it’s like she was holding back, waiting for the right moment to lay the heavy smack down.

    That’s very infesting that you would say that. It was my own reaction too — that on the surface, HRC looks relaxed but alert; however, there is a sense that beneath that polished exterior there is a finely-coiled spring just poised to go “POP!!”

  37. 37.

    rikyrah

    What upsets those against the KAP deal?
    What makes them.nuts?

    1. Kap was getting PAID all along. That he was getting a check to protest America.
    2. He is about to GET PAID. There are people, like me, who would never go out of their way to get anything Nike, but I will, for Peanut or my other niece and nephew. People who support Kap, and are willing to vote with our $$$$.

    And, they can’t do shyt about what WE do with OUR money. That OUR money counts as much as theirs.

  38. 38.

    gene108

    @tobie:

    The electoral backlash against Republicans regarding Kavanaugh will be most fierce from conservatives for failing to nominate him.

    I doubt enough possible Democratic voters in Maine will care to hold Collins accountable for the vote.

    And unlike the AHCA, the impacts of Kavanaugh’s appointnent will not be evident until next summer, when the SCOTUS starts handing down decisions.

    And by then people will have moved onto the 2020 Presidential election.

  40. 40.

    Bill Arnold

    Can even have an enterprising magician commoditizing magic for long-distance instant communication, and use that arc as commentary on/winking at smartphones.

    What, you don’t think magicians use mobile phones? :-)

  41. 41.

    Bill Arnold

    @SiubhanDuinne:
    I simply cannot even with this no edit function.
    I’ve been writing raw markup in a text editor and copy/pasting. Been good proofreading practice; getting it mostly right.
    Fix please!!!!

  45. 45.

    Suzanne

    @rikyrah:

    And, they can’t do shyt about what WE do with OUR money. That OUR money counts as much as theirs.

    Our money counts more than theirs. At least we are seen as more valuable consumers, likely because we have more cultural influence.

  52. 52.

    Adam L Silverman

    @??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??: We’ve had that for well over a decade. Specifically Republican led states, largely the states that emerged from the Confederacy plus the old border states and places like Wisconsin, claiming they didn’t have to respect Federal laws, Federal regs, and even Federal court rulings under the misreading of the 10th Amendment that states have rights. They don’t; individuals have rights, states have powers. To a certain extent the legalization of marijuana at the state level, whether for recreational, medicinal, or both uses, is a variant of this. Nullification theory is an old strain within American politics.

    That said, there is a potential problem when the Supreme Court is perceived to be a specifically partisan institution that becomes an adjunct and auxiliary to one party’s political efforts, especially given that that party’s political control is actually minoritarian. The GOP and the three major tribes – social/religious conservatives, business/corporate conservatives, national security conservatives – that make up the conservative movement that support and enable the party have created their own problem here. They’ve managed through both constitutional and unconstitutional means to gain majority control of both the executive and legislative branches of government despite not having majority support of the electorate. While this dynamic, and the concerns for legitimacy, will not in any way, shape, and/or form given any pause to Associate Justices Thomas, Alito, and Gorsuch, and presumably an Associate Justice Kavanaugh, Chief Justice Roberts is a bit different. He is, despite all of his attempts to simply rule in line with the partisan Republican and conservative views he holds, is very concerned about how the Supreme Court is perceived and how he is perceived and what his legacy will be. The pressure that confirming Kavanaugh will place on him is significant. Whether it will actually effect his judicial decision making is, however, another thing. And we won’t know that until Kavanaugh were to join the court.

    Finally, should Kavanaugh be confirmed, this doesn’t mean the court will not be changed again in the future. Associate Justice Thomas has been teasing he would like to retire for a while now. In addition to the long rumored that he doesn’t actually like being on the court, there are also rumored health issues. If a Democrat is elected president in 2020, and the remainder of the court remains the same from here on out – whether Kavanaugh or some other appointee of this President fills the current vacancy – it doesn’t mean that the 5-4 conservative majority is for ever. Yes, it’ll be a rough two or three years. But Kennedy wasn’t a reliable swing vote and he was capricious as well. I’m not trying to make light of the damage that can be done in two or three years of a 5-4 doctrinaire, movement conservative majority on the court, but that majority isn’t a permanent one.

  56. 56.

    catclub

    @Gin & Tonic: The Einstein description of radio… is like a very long cat. You pull its tail in New York and it meows in Los Angeles, except there is no cat.

  57. 57.

    Mandalay

    @rikyrah: I think this tweet (before Bannon’s invitation was withdrawn) nails the central issue:

    This is how we got here. The normalization and elevation of figures like Steve Bannon by respected platforms that should know better.

    What the fuck was The New Yorker thinking? Completely and inexcusably clueless is the most benign explanation I can come up with.

  60. 60.

    Adam L Silverman

    @gene108: Osaka moved to the US with her family when she was 3. She grew up in Broward County, FL. It is unclear if she and her family have US citizenship, in addition to her, her mother’s, and her sister’s Japanese citizenship and her father’s Haitian citizenship. Not trying to Floridawash her out of her Japanese citizenship or her mixed Japanese-Haitian inheritance.

  61. 61.

    NotMax

    @Adam L. Silverman

    Nicely put.

    Also, see: Justice Souter as a recent example of post-appointment temperament. Plus, the underlying assumption that Supreme Court decisions are a done deal before hearings and deliberation occur, that there is an underlying and inflexible agenda, is abhorrent and throws the entire concept of a system of jurisprudence into the ashbin.

    That said, the court has been a primarily conservative institution over many and for longer periods than it has not. And decidedly right wing leaning in modern times since the restoration of the death penalty.

  63. 63.

    Adam L Silverman

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    there is a sense that beneath that polished exterior there is a finely-coiled spring just poised to go “POP!!

    Well she does have that lengthy list of people she’s either killed herself or had killed by her operatives that conservatives keep circulating on social media…//

  64. 64.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Mandalay: This woman summed up my thoughts

    Suzanne Nossel @ SuzanneNossel
    Seems NewYorker lost sight of key distinction between warily hearing out and scrutinizing SteveKBannon’s views, and celebrating him as a Festival headliner. Like an honorary degree or distinguished lectureship, latter implies a measure of acclaim

    even though I’m only vaguely aware of what this “festival” is, The New Yorker is an institution, and whatever filleting Remnick was promising himself he would deliver, he was elevating and giving The New Yorker‘s imprimatur to Bannon

    I haven’t seen a final list of everyone who dropped out, but just going by twitter: Jon Mulvaney, Jim Carrey, Patton Oswalt, Judd Appatow and… Jimmy Fallon.

  67. 67.

    Bill Arnold

    @Gin & Tonic:

    Like the telegraph? Or more like radio?

    Mind to mind links, I presume. Maybe sometimes like party line telephones.
    Broadcast might be kinda rude (depending on circumstances) especially at planetary scale. (One could perhaps opt out by being drunk, or subscribe/tune into particular channels or not, perhaps.)

  68. 68.

    Adam L Silverman

    @NotMax: Thank you. Had to happen sooner or later.//

    Roberts has gone to great pains to make his doctrinaire rulings look reasonable and/or incremental. This will increase the pressure on him. 5-4 decisions he would have been willing to join with Thomas, Alito, Kennedy, and Gorsuch may become a bridge too far for him. And while there is no way to know, it is possible that it isn’t even clear how he will straddle this line while he’s doing it.

    Regardless, the key to everything now is to not get discouraged. To not allow the overwhelming to overwhelm you. To recognize that specific, individual political fights not only might be lost, but will be lost, but that that doesn’t mean the political war is lost. Right now the US is facing a significant, long planned political backlash from a minoritarian insurgency. This is not a good thing. And it is damaging and corrosive and dangerous and harmful. But minority based insurgents rarely win.

  69. 69.

    NotMax

    Used to have a pair of cheap (cost all of $2) pair of knock-off tennis sneakers, which had an upside-down Nike swoosh. Lasted for well over 20 years. If people asked, told them they were Ekin brand.

  70. 70.

    Bill Arnold

    @MagdaInBlack:

    “Ooooops I sure did’t mean to post THAT ?”

    Related, I do not understand why most people do not turn off autocorrect.
    (For those who don’t know, there is generally a setting for this, and highlighting misspelled words (with pulldown list of possible correct spellings) but not automatically correcting them is generally an option.)

  75. 75.

    Bill Arnold

    @Adam L Silverman:

    The GOP and the three major tribes – social/religious conservatives, business/corporate conservatives, national security conservatives – that make up the conservative movement that support and enable the party have created their own problem here. They’ve managed through both constitutional and unconstitutional means to gain majority control of both the executive and legislative branches of government despite not having majority support of the electorate.

    The bolded sentence deserves a lot more attention in the media. (Just musing about how to spread it more broadly. Perception of unfairness could be an effective wedge.)

  79. 79.

    James E Powell

    @Adam L Silverman:

    The GOP and the three major tribes – social/religious conservatives, business/corporate conservatives, national security conservatives – that make up the conservative movement that support and enable the party have created their own problem here.

    You left out the white supremacist tribe. Or are they included in the euphemistic social/religious conservatives?

  81. 81.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @opiejeanne: on this blog, I was gonna guess “quote fuckery” and “What The Ass?”

    but from the context I’m gonna guess quarter-finals and World Tennis Association

  84. 84.

    Adam L Silverman

    @NotMax: I only do big chickens. Even wings need to be proportionately large. Little chickens for me are like eating Cornish hens. If you’re going to serve me a bird that small, you’re going to have to make me at least ten of those suckers.

  94. 94.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Chuck Schumer @ SenSchumer
    ?? The Senate was just given an additional 42,000 pages of Kavanaugh documents the NIGHT BEFORE his confirmation hearing. This underscores just how absurd this process is. Not a single senator will be able to review these records before tomorrow.

    Republicans know this has been the least transparent SCOTUS process in history and the hearings should be delayed until we can fully review Judge Kavanaugh’s records.

    hare-brained thought: what kind of “documents”? are they classified or otherwise restricted? could they be posted on the internet and reviewed by crowd source?

  99. 99.

    Suzanne

    @opiejeanne:

    They’re cutting the swooshes off of their sweat socks in protest!

    Now THAT’S how to own those fashionable coastal urban elitists: look like you can’t afford socks.

  100. 100.

    Bill Arnold

    @Adam L Silverman:

    I did a post about it a couple of months ago. Norm Ornstein (full disclosure a friend) tweeted it out. I can do no more.

    When your writing is tight, it slides very smoothly into minds. (Being serious here.)

  101. 101.

    Aleta

    Also, by documents do they mean computer files. If so, there may be duplicates, fragments, old versions, etc. included in the count.

  104. 104.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Bill Arnold: I actually forwarded it to him after seeing a tweet of his on the topic. He said he’d like it and blast out the link. He’s good people.

    And thanks for the kind words.

  105. 105.

    Adam L Silverman

    New sort of Floriduh! Man post up. As in it is something you’d have expected to have been done by a Floriduh! Man, but it happened somewhere else.

  111. 111.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Doug R: I have no idea. All I know is that after its deployment in the Med off of Syria early last year it limped back to Russia, placed in dry dock, and it’ll be there until 2024 if everything goes according to schedule.

  112. 112.

    Aleta

    @NotMax:

    Typically, NASA administrators are chosen from within NASA’s ranks, come up through the military, or have a background in science. Bridenstine has none of that.

    As a politician, Bridenstine has hedged on climate change, an issue NASA scientists study and track in many different ways. During his confirmation hearing in November, Bridenstine agreed that humans are the driving force behind climate change, but he would not agree with the assertion that human activity is the primary cause of it. It’s an odd position to hold as the leader of an agency that provides some of the most comprehensive data on climate change in the world.

    NASA has a staff of 17,000 and a budget of nearly $19 billion (not to mention the numerous contractors it works with). Bridenstine’s experience of managing a museum in Tulsa pales in comparison to the enormous complexity of NASA. Plus, there are new questions about whether Bridenstein used funds from the Tulsa Air and Space Museum to prop up a private venture. He reportedly ran the museum into a financial loss.

    Vox, D. Beast

    I figure “may explore” = in the works since the first day he showed up and asked for some moon rocks to put on top of the TVs in his office.

  114. 114.

    Bill Arnold

    @NotMax:

    NASA may explore endorsements, naming rights deals

    The Trump Organization could make a deal. Trump Moon-Golf Club, Tycho Crater.
    (A par 5 would be maybe 4000 meters? Or would that be like a par 8? Any golfers have an informed opinion on moon-golf? )

  120. 120.

    opiejeanne

    @frosty: My dad was a HAM. WA6GRX. I helped him learn Morse Code when he was getting his permit, a requirement back in the 50s/60s. Aside from the SOS that almost everyone knows, I can only remember this:

    …. ..

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