Merrick Garland, Joe Biden's choice for attorney general, is an experienced judge who has held senior positions at the Justice Department. In 2016, Garland was snubbed by Republicans for a seat on the Supreme Court when he was nominated by President Obama. https://t.co/2sYHZV1ABH
— The Associated Press (@AP) January 6, 2021
That’s it. That’s the post.
Open thread
VeniceRiley
Bahaha! But I’m still sad it’s a white dude. I totally wanted Sally. Still, I think we do kinda owe him one, and now Biden can appoint his replacement to a life seat om the 2ndmost influential bench in the land.
Old School
Hopefully Merrick Garland can return some dignity to the position.
TaMara (HFG)
@VeniceRiley: Yes, I was pulling for Sally Yates…but this’ll do.
Benw
Leave your mask on, stupid Pence!
Elizabelle
I am glad to see Merrick Garland get justice. Justice. Since not permitted to be considered by the Senate as a Justice. It all works out.
Plus: Younger judge will be elevated to the DC Court of Appeals. To serve well for years. Win all around.
rikyrah
We get that Court seat???
piratedan
if reputation is something that still matters, Garland has integrity and he is fair. So, while I don’t expect him to be the legal version of William Tecumseh Sherman, I do expect him to right legal wrongs where they find them and to set a precedence for restoring integrity and to out those who are doing illegal acts. It may not be an act of partisan payback but probably more of what we need as a country. I expect that there’s still plenty of GOP wrong-doing that will be prosecuted.
Baud
@rikyrah:
Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson is going to be named. She might get a SCT seat if one opens up.
RobertDSC-Work
Bueno.
dmsilev
I’m going to go way way out on a limb and guess that if Georgia had gone differently last night, someone else who isn’t a sitting federal judge would have been picked. But now, Biden can nominate a replacement with reasonable assurance that that replacement will get a hearing and a vote.
oatler.
Motherfuckers are already trying t disrupt electoral vote count.
Quinerly
I’m good with it. Actually, very good with it.
I trust Biden’s judgment.
Ken
“Snubbed,” AP? Surely there are verbs that are more historically accurate.
JWR
Oh God. Paul Gosar. And… applause?
ETA. And the only item seems to be all that Fraud down Arizona way. Gonna be a long, long day.
Citizen Alan
@TaMara (HFG): I wonder if Sally Yates would “settle” for a lifetime appointment to the Federal Circuit.
Edit: I see a nominee to replace Garland has already been named. But there will be others.
Elizabelle
Satire from Andy Borowitz of The New Yorker:
Leto
They’ve objected to Arizona’s slate of electors. And now the 2 hour pointless bullshit begins. Eternal fucking hate for these people. Just eternal hate.
Benw
Here we go: first Republican objection to counting votes (Arizona) gets a standing O! Traitorous assholes
The objection is the “votes are not regularly given.” WTF does that even mean?
God, and now the stupid Senate has to walk back
Jeffro
I’m having one of the best days I’ve had in quite some time. =)
ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh
moops
So, first we expand the court? Will our soft Dem Senators hard ball? or will we have to pass a new VRA and watch the USSC strike it down before they get the f*cking message?
John S.
Merrick Garland, fuck yeah!!!
Be careful whose ass you kick today, because it might be the ass you have to kiss tomorrow.
Miss Bianca
@Benw: They’re going *ahead* with this performative BS? Man, oh man – and here I was hoping that they’d be feeling some shred of shame or sheepishness or self-awareness or *something* after last night, but nah, mang…they’re gonna dig that hole even deeper, aren’t they?
Alison Rose
Okay, I wanted Yates because LADIES, but I literally laughed with joy when I saw this. Short of picking Obama, this is the best fuck you I could think of to the GOP.
TaMara (HFG)
Not going to end well
Miss Bianca
@moops: No, first, we tell you to help yourself to a heaping helping of STFU.
citizen dave (aka mad citizen)
@Benw: Realized I didn’t have the C-Span on live, I was behind. Is it one 2 hours delay for all the BS? (Surely not a 2 hour delay for each dispute, right).
Although it’s a great day, it’s a F-ing infuriating day with all this BS. All of the a-holes need to be called to account in town halls to come.
Miss Bianca
@TaMara (HFG): Whoa, shit…
tinare
This is some top leveling trolling in addition to a good pick.
dmsilev
Et tu, Pence?
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
Every time Steve Scalise talks, I find myself regretting that people don’t spend as much time on the range as they should.
I’m going to have to turn off this sophistry.
dmsilev
@Alison Rose: Picking Obama will be the SCOTUS nom….
TaMara (HFG)
Soprano2
There are guys at my workplace in the lunchroom right now watching Fox News talk about the objection to AZ votes, and someone in a chamber bloviating about how a Secretary of State and a governor don’t have some kind of power. I’m tempted to ask them what they think is going to happen, but satisfied myself by muttering about stupidity and Trump while I was in there. They all know how I feel about him.
Haroldo
@TaMara (HFG):
I agree – I don’t think the police will be up to the task. They very much underestimated the rabidity of these folks.
Delk
A legendary horn line from 1980. Sadly the instructor/arranger died in a car crash a few weeks before this performance. Enjoy!
Skepticat
Much as I really like Sally Yates, I’m pretty pleased with Merrick Garland’s revenge. I’m now torturing myself with the joint session, but I’m not sure how long I can tolerate this horse hockey.
germy
Benw
@Miss Bianca: God Scalise is really an asshole. He’s projecting more than a mutiplex: accusing Democrats of “bullying” Secretaries of States to change the election, which Trump has “fought to stop”. It’s bonkers
@citizen dave (aka mad citizen): sounds like 2 hours for every objection. CNN’s predicting objections to AZ, PA, and GA.
Splitting Image
I look at it like this.
Either Garland is a responsible judge who will deal fairly with every case that comes before him, exonerating the innocent and punishing the guilty, in which case Trump and his crew are all completely screwed; or he is a mean, vindictive bastard who knows how to nurse a grudge for years, in which case Mitch McConnell and his crew are all completely screwed.
I am fine either way.
moops
@dmsilev: Biden might nominate Obama to the USSC, but would Obama want the job? 8 years as President takes a big toll. Most former Presidents seem to need the change of pace.
Yutsano
Jeebus…people have lost their shit…
Leto
@TaMara (HFG): I second the motion to use firehoses on a 41F day with tons of wind. Can we proceed to the deployment?
Amir Khalid
@TaMara (HFG):
Ye gods.
JWR
@citizen dave (aka mad citizen):
At first I thought the objections would be debated concurrently, but it looks more like consecutively.
cursorial
I too would love to see an AG go after the rats jumping ship from this administration with fire and sword, but after Barr, the DOJ needs someone who will restore its institutional independence in its own eyes and Garland seems like a great choice for that job.
MisterForkbeard
@TaMara (HFG): So what’s the plan here? Sic the national guard on them?
If it wasn’t Trump in office, I think that might actually happen. And supposedly Trump also just fired up a bunch of MAGAts at his rally and explicitly told them to go to the Capitol building.
Dude is setting himself up for some potential charges. I wonder if the city police can nail him for incitement, as he was calling for more people to attend a literal violent riot that was ongoing at the time.
Leto
@moops: Biden might want to do that, but before Barack will even have the chance to think about it Biden will have to go through the gatekeeper: Michelle. And I can already tell you how that conversation would go.
jonas
@oatler.: If the police don’t get a handle on this real fucking quick, things are going to get ugly. These people are insane and violent.
aliasofwestgate
Now that’s a middle finger i did NOT expect, but it’s welcome. XD
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@Skepticat:
I’ve already turned it off.
I’m afraid that there are going to be casualties today.
Amir Khalid
@moops:
I recall that a former POTUS did serve on the Supreme Court — Taft, right? — but I concur that — ETA: even if Michelle allows it, which she won’t — Obama would definitely not want the aggro.
germy
jonas
@MisterForkbeard: If this ends in violence and innocent people, police, or members of Congress, are injured, I really hope Trump and his campaign are charged with incitement and anything else in the book they can throw at them.
Leto
MSNBC is showing Yurtle’s speech and sparing us Gym Fucking Jordan’s incoherent ramble. Small mercies.
moops
How long until the new Georgia Senators get seated?
Also, how badly is Georgia gerrymandered? It just went Democratic for President and both Senators, but still has 8R to 6D in Congress. Will the census fix anything here?
jonas
@Amir Khalid: Yes, Taft is right. I don’t think Obama would be interested. If he had wanted to be a jurist, he would have run for a judgeship in Chicago or something, rather than a state senator.
germy
Trump awakened The Stupid.
MisterForkbeard
@Splitting Image: I have already stolen much of this explanation a few times. It’s inspired. :)
germy
MisterForkbeard
@jonas: There’s already violence and police have (at least minor) injuries.
So yeah, I hope there are charges filed here. Both local and federal.
LuciaMia
Sweet!
Right now McConnell’s on the Senate floor looking sad.
Elie
@Miss Bianca:
Oh yeah — NEVAH repent… double down only. Everybody is so tired of this shit. A bunch of 8 year olds double dog daring everyone….. Its a lesson to us. They are going to have to be turned back and down HARD, over and over cause they will never learn or accept anything.
John S.
Capital Police: Just pretend these white motherfuckers are black people and deal with them accordingly.
ETA: There is no more convincing display of “white privilege” than this bullshit happening right now in DC.
Leto
i recant my earlier statement at 54. Yurtle is just as dumb but with a turtle’s cadence. I do with they’d swap over to Adam Schiff’s speech.
Amir Khalid
@germy:
Add that to the list of future charges against Trump: inciting violence.
Elie
@LuciaMia:
Yeah, I’m sure he knows why he is no longer the lead dog in the senate. The stupid mothafuckas fucked themselves and him. Also too the big mothafucka in the WH screaming on tweet and destroying any chance he had to keep the senate. Hell no — he aint forgetting or forgiving…
Spanky
On this slow news day, CNN.com is telling me that Kanye and Kim are “discussing divorce”.
citizen dave (aka mad citizen)
@JWR: And so Biden gets to win in the evening or the middle of the night? These fu*&ers! All of this is beyond the pale. I tweeted that some of the R’s will portray themselves as some statesmen today, when the reality is that at best they are cowards and at worse would have been coup followers and traitors
ETA: remembered: Pence using the word “constrain” in his letter pisses me off–No, ithe constitution PREVENTS you, there is no grey area here.
Captain C
@Splitting Image:
I think this:
Could also lead to this:
LuciaMia
@Leto: They must have had some inkling that this could escalate…
Jim, Foolish Literalist
As Betty C said below, I hope Garland has the fire in the belly, that his old school nature belies a righteous indignation for everything that’s happened to the DoJ, that he echoes all the anger I’ve heard expressed by my imaginary friends Joyce Vance and Chuck Rosenberg. I hope he’s gonna clean the Augean Stables with a fucking flame-thrower (yeah I know that makes no sense)
@moops: Didn’t he recently say Michelle would leave him if he took another job like that ?
moops
It does seem like the USSC is a place that doesn’t wear a person out, like other political jobs. It is in his wheelhouse as a legal scholar. He would get the best clerks the country could offer and none would be from the Federal Society. Heck, he could even choose to retire when the WH has a Democratic President. It is for life, but you can bow out whenever you like. He is only 59 years old.
Biden could make simple speech “Hillary or Barack, pick one”
Quinerly
@Spanky: She wants to concentrate on taking the Bar Exam. Plus, she had a huge birthday gathering a few months back. He showed up but didn’t stay long. He did bring her death father’s hologram to the party per “Page 6.” There’s so much I don’t understand anymore…. They are fighting over an all white house. Yes, a physical house that is all white, inside and out, furniture too.
moops
Well, Garland might be a good pick for certain GOP Senators looking to put McConnell in jail and free up the leadership spot. I wee bit of digging is likely to turn up foreign money in his campaign coffers. If that rock is flipped over there might be other casualties though.
M31
when I saw “Obama for Supreme Court” I thought it was about Michelle
CliosFanBoy
So what will trump do after Congress finishes? I bet he calls for violence by his acolytes.
Annie
Why would Merrick Garland give up lifetime tenure on a federal appeals court to do this?
narya
A number of Black folks in my Twitter feed are not happy about the Garland pick, though–the general sense is that he’s too centrist, which is small beer in return for a massive Black effort to deliver not just GA but the presidency. I’m hoping that some additional picks fix that dismay, and meanwhile I’m respecting it. I definitely see the raised middle finger, however, and do not completely disregard the satisfaction of that.
moops
@Annie: I think he can be re-appointed to the federal court after he does a tour as AG. *shrug* how long does the guy want to keep working?
Matt McIrvin
@narya: ABL is pissed off about Garland.
Baud
@narya: Not all black voters are super-liberals.
Baud
@Matt McIrvin: Who did she want?
Gravenstone
@Leto: I’ll take a 3″ charged line straight off the hydrant, kthxbye.
VOR
@moops: A small part of me was hoping for Hillary as AG. That would light a fire!
Matt McIrvin
@citizen dave (aka mad citizen):
Or later, if they can delay it enough that the violent yahoos storming the Capitol shut the count down completely.
The last scenario for a coup I could think of was gunmen busting in and holding Congress hostage today to count Trump’s electors. But this doesn’t sound organized enough.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@narya: that was inevitable, according to Sharpton, he and other CR leaders told Biden in no uncertain terms they had high expectations for Justice. I trust Adam Serwer, and the proof will come in their actions, obviously.
Gravenstone
@germy: That’s the best laugh I’m likely to have all day.
germy
Baud
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
@germy:
Agreed. They will scare the shit out of the deplorables.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
narya
@Matt McIrvin: Yeah, though see the linked tweet below: Gupta and Clarke seem to be assuaging some of that, and that’s what I’m hoping to see. ETA, well, it’s actually ABOVE this comment. :-)
SiubhanDuinne
@germy:
WTAF??
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@germy:@SiubhanDuinne: I have a sneaking suspicion that perhaps Princess Budweiser the Younger isn’t that bright, in spite of having gotten into Columbia, which I’m sure had nothing to do with Daddy’s political standing or Mummy’s vast, vast fortune.
I only see the view in clips, and those are impossible to follow given the screaming, but I suggest a dedicated twitter account could post daily on “Big Words Meghan Used Incorrectly On The Television”
Aidy Bryant did a funny MM spoof based on Herself facing the normal frustrations of daily life with increasingly shrill cries of “I… am… JOHN MCCAIN’S DAUGHTER!“. I suspect she’s not well known enough for the general viewership to get the joke.
Lyrebird
@piratedan:
Yeah. I bet that they want an unassailable middle of the roader for doing anything like reducing the white supremacist count in law enforcement agencies.
I’m not saying it’s *right* just that it’s realistic.
Kent
I’m late to this thread, but have we talked about the fact that appointing 68 year old Merritt Garland to AG will allow Biden to appoint a YOUNG progressive to fill his lifetime appointment on the SECOND most important court in the land?
Has Biden floated a replacement nominee for Garland on the court yet? I expect the GA runoff results may have tilted things in Garland’s favor since with control of the Senate, Biden can be assured of his judicial nominees.
oatler.
It’s like Antonov Ovsenyko storming the Winter Palace, but with more moobs and more Hot Pocket farts.
Spanky
Really late to the party, but thought I’d point out that those folks who objected to the use of “sedition” because that requires violence, now have it.
And it started with Trump.
NetheadJay
@Kent: The drumbeat has indeed already started and it’s a good one: Ketanji Brown Jackson