Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

The real work of an opposition party is to oppose.

Jack be nimble, jack be quick, hurry up and indict this prick.

if you can’t see it, then you are useless in the fight to stop it.

Fundamental belief of white supremacy: white people are presumed innocent, minorities are presumed guilty.

It looks like winning debates is a black job!

Jesus, Mary, & Joseph how is that election even close?

The arc of history bends toward the same old fuckery.

Anyone who bans teaching American history has no right to shape America’s future.

“That’s what the insurrection act is for!”

Let the trolls come, and then ignore them. that’s the worst thing you can do to a troll.

Whoever he was, that guy was nuts.

… pundit janitors mopping up after the gop

A democracy can’t function when people can’t distinguish facts from lies.

If you voted for Trump, you don’t get to speak about ethics, morals, or rule of law.

Too often we hand the biggest microphones to the cynics and the critics who delight in declaring failure.

Second rate reporter says what?

No one could have predicted…

We are aware of all internet traditions.

Can we lighten up on the doomsday scenarios?

Insiders who complain to politico: please report to the white house office of shut the fuck up.

with the Kraken taking a plea, the Cheese stands alone.

Republicans are radicals, not conservatives.

You come for women, you’re gonna get your ass kicked.

Dear Washington Post, you are the darkness now.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Open Thread: Sworn In, Ketanji Brown Jackson

Open Thread: Sworn In, Ketanji Brown Jackson

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This post is in: 

I think her swearing-in deserves its own post. It’s historic.

Open thread

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150Comments

  3. 3.

    Elizabelle

    Trump’s three “justices” lied like thieves in taking that oath of office. It was striking to hear the oath, and to contemplate how they have been running amok.  They have discredited their office.

    But welcome, Judge KB Jackson.

  5. 5.

    Old Man Shadow

    I’ve had many swearing ceremonies lately. Most due to the Supreme Court coincidentally enough.

    But I’m happy to see Judge Jackson seated.

  6. 6.

    rikyrah

    sniff sniff sniff

     

    I never thought that I would live to see the day where a Black from a distance woman with locs and a deliberately chosen African name would sit on the Supreme Court.

     

    It’s still surreal to me.

  8. 8.

    Sandia Blanca

    We are imagining Leslie Jones playing the “Hulk” version of Justice Jackson, striding the corridors of the Supreme Court and bitch-slapping some of her new colleagues.

  10. 10.

    SFAW

    I thought her first name was “Kantaji.”

    At least, that’s what Tucker Carlson called her, and why would he get it wrong?

  11. 11.

    H.E.Wolf

    A great day for this country! Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson is taking her rightful place, alongside Justices Sotomayor and Kagan.

    May they one day be joined by others of their judicial stature.

  13. 13.

    Bruce K in ATH-GR

    @H.E.Wolf: As far as I am concerned, Jackson, Kagan, and Sotomayor are the only three members of the Supreme Court worthy of the honorific “Justice”.

    For the others, I propose the more fitting title of “Inquisitor”, but I can be talked around to a more appropriate honorific.

  15. 15.

    lollipopguild

    Amazing how we as a country can go forwards and backwards at the same time.

  16. 16.

    SFAW

    In addition to this being a great day, I’m keeping my fingers crossed that De Facto Chief Justice and Head Racist/Misogynist, Mr. Opus Dei Scalito, has a fatal stroke or heart attack the first time he encounters her, up close and personal. But the FSM doesn’t love me that much.​

  21. 21.

    SFAW

    @Baud:

    “Chief Justice Betty Cracker” is something we can all wish for.
    ETA: “Associate Justice Adam Silverman” would be good, too. And doesn’t Mustang Bobby live there as well?

  22. 22.

    Omnes Omnibus

    Congrats to Justice Jackson.  Let’s hope we can get her a couple more good colleagues so she’s not writing dissents.  Happy retirement to Justice Breyer.  Thanks for your years of good service.

  25. 25.

    Nicole

    While I hate Amy Coney Barrett with the heat of a thousand fiery suns, this Gen Xer never thought I’d see a day when 4 out of the 9 justices were women.  I hope maybe, maybe, someday for 5…. I mean, I’d be cool with 5.  I don’t need the entire sandbox.  I’ll share some. ;)

    (I mean, preferably 7 out of 13, but that I think is less likely)

  27. 27.

    Steeplejack

    OT good news:

    Just received email updates on the GoFundMe drives for the Georgia election workers Shaye Moss and Ruby Freeman. (I contributed to both.) Moss is up to $250,199, and Freeman is up to $286,683. Both drives started with goals of $30,000 last December but didn’t catch fire until Moss testified before the January 6 committee. (Can’t remember if Freeman actually testified or they just played a video clip.)

  28. 28.

    Calouste

    @Baud: No need to expand the court, just bring it back to nine Justices because there are only three on there now.

  30. 30.

    Eunicecycle

    @Nicole: I think someone asked RBG how many women on the court would be enough. She said “Nine.” The person was shocked. I guess understanding that we had all white men for the majority of the years of the SC is beyond some people.

  31. 31.

    Jinchi

    Congratulations to Ketanji Brown Jackson (who I’m sure is a secret lurker here).

    Let’s hope that her tenure sees great transformation on the court.

  33. 33.

    Ohio Mom

    @Elizabelle: I had a similar thought, that all of Trump’s appointees must have been metaphorically crossing their fingers as they repeated those words as they were sworn in.

    Now we have two Justices who are in interracial marriages, one who is completely unethical and incompetent, to say the least, the other who is superbly qualified. As different as they can be.

  35. 35.

    Urban Suburbanite

    I really suspect the Supreme Court is going to be the root cause of the next major political crisis – the kind that leads to real, sustained violence. The sage, aging mediocrities of the court have been remade into an unelected, lifetime ruling body as the ultimate expression of minority rule. The conservative majority are an incestuous collection who went to the same schools, their careers were supported by the same people (and not just the judges they clerked under), and have Leonard Leo’s dark money network backing them up. The structure of the court has to be changed at a fundamental level, and it seems the Democratic leadership still wants to believe in the cozy myths of bipartisanship and comity, while the Republicans are ecstatic at their great work succeeding and getting ready for their next targets.

  36. 36.

    JoyceH

    As I read the reporting, the Supreme Court ruled that the EPA doesn’t have the power to regulate carbon under the Clean Air Act, which is decades old. So basically Congress needs to pass legislation giving the EPA that power. Get some legislation drafted and vote on it. Of course it won’t pass THIS Congress, but tie the no votes around the necks of the Republicans, along with abortion and, biggest anchor of all – Trump.

  37. 37.

    C Stars

    @lollipopguild: Amazing how we as a country can go forwards and backwards at the same time.

    I am feeling this very intensely these days.

    On social media several people I thought to be Republicans are turning out, after Dobbs, to be quite vocally now in favor of Democrats. Things are changing and scary and weird and…

    Supreme Court Judge Ketanji Jackson! There’s some good forward motion happening, despite the best efforts of the Bad People.

  38. 38.

    JoyceH

    Meanwhile, the argument on expanding the Supreme Court isn’t that THESE particular justices are so awful (though it’s true), but that the court was last expanded in 1869, when the population was about a quarter of the current population and there were nine Circuit Courts then. There are now 13 and there’s a lot more for the Court to do. Expansion to 13 only makes sense. Start making that argument now, while the revulsion against Trump and everything he did continues to grow, and next year use our expanded majorities to expand the court.

  39. 39.

    Betty Cracker

    @Baud: KBJ went to the same high school as loser Marco Rubio, who is a loser. Unlike KBJ, who is a winner!

  40. 40.

    different-church-lady

    @JoyceH: ​
      It’s kind of amazing how the extremist conservative justices just keep putting out decisions that are exactly what their extremist conservative supporters say they want them to decide, is it not?

  42. 42.

    A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan)

    @gene108: Thanks for the link! I didn’t know there were separate championships for tumbling.  I thought it was only part (my favorite) of gymnastics.

  44. 44.

    Ohio Mom

    @Urban Suburbanite: I wouldn’t assume the Democratic leadership still believes in fairy tales about bipartisanship.

    They are extremely political beings (d’uh, goes without saying) and they are very aware of what will and will not fly if they speak it too loudly.

    Look at Hillary, now retired, she doesn’t pussyfoot around. But I think of she was in the midst of her second term, she might not be so blunt.

    My feeling remains, I hired Biden and like a good boss, I’m not going to micromanage him. So far I see no fireable offenses.

  47. 47.

    New Deal democrat

    A month or two ago I suggested that this fall Democrats run on the slogan,
    “Hold the House,
    + 2 Senators
    = Everything gets done.”

    Reading statements from the likes of Joe Fetterman today, it looks like Democratic candidates are organically coming around to that strategy, promising to be the 51st vote in the Senate for codifying the right to personal autonomy. Probably gun control and a reinvigorated Voting Rights Act as well.

    Well done, Dem candidates.

  48. 48.

    FelonyGovt

    @Urban Suburbanite: This week SCOTUS has assumed the character of cartoon villains, especially with respect to values many young people espouse. They’ve gone backward on reproductive rights, gun regulation, and climate change. I really hope this is the beginning of the end for this.

    But Justice Jackson’s swearing-in is the one bright light this week. She just radiates goodness and brilliance. :)

  50. 50.

    burnspbesq

    Neither Alito nor Thomas will live forever.

    Vote vote vote, so when their time comes a Dem president can nominate their successors and a Dem senate can expedite their confirmation.

  51. 51.

    debbie

    So one two local boys haz have a sad because some OH prosecutors announce they won’t prosecute the state’s new abortion ban:

    Prosecutors in the two counties that make up half of all the state’s abortions said they won’t prosecute violations of Ohio’s new six-week abortion ban.

    Columbus City Attorney Zach Klein and Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Michael O’Malley, both Democrats, have signed onto a letter with dozens of prosecutors and city attorneys throughout the nation, which said they won’t seek charges for those who perform or pursue abortions.

    O’Malley is also the president of the Ohio Prosecuting Attorneys Association. Klein said he and others are “gravely concerned about the future in a post-Roe world.”

    The latest Ohio Abortion Report shows medical facilities in Cuyahoga and Franklin counties perform about half of the state’s reported abortions.

    Ohio’s new law makes abortion illegal at about six weeks into a pregnancy before many people know they are pregnant.

    “We’re not going to prosecute these cases because they are not a priority for our office. We are focused on non-violent crimes, destruction and non-violent offenders who have no regards to victims or the public. We don’t want to be involved in the personal health care decisions between a woman and her doctor,” Klein said.

    Klein said the way the current law is written, the state would need to be invited to seek criminal cases in any particular jurisdiction in this county.

    The letter from prosecutors throughout the country said, “As elected prosecutors, ministers of justice, and leaders in our communities, we cannot stand by and allow members of our community to live in fear of the ramifications of this deeply troubling decision.”

    It said resources should be used for other crimes.

    “Indeed, our communities have entrusted us to use our best judgment in deciding how and if to leverage the criminal legal system to further the safety and well-being of all, and we are ethically bound to pursue those interests in every case,” the letter stated. “Enforcing abortion bans runs counter to the obligations and interests we are sworn to uphold.”

    Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters, a Republican, has suggested he will enforce the ban. Attorney General Dave Yost, also a Republican, hasn’t responded to requests for comment. But Klein said he doesn’t think Yost has the authority to weigh-in on prosecution in this situation.

    Freda Levenson, legal director for the ACLU of Ohio, said her organization salutes “the brave and principled prosecutors who are standing up in opposition to these egregious and cruel laws by utilizing their discretion to selectively prosecute these ‘offenses.’”

    The ACLU of Ohio plans to challenge the new law.

     

    From comments:

    So they can pick and choose what laws to enforce and what laws they don’t enforce? So I guess this is how it works……

    Then they should be disbarred

    Moar, moar, moar I say.

  52. 52.

    Felanius Kootea

    Amen!  Love this!

    Let’s bring on enough new legislators who aren’t stuck in the 18th century and intent on imposing their religion on everyone so the court can be expanded and reflect the will of the majority.

  57. 57.

    The Moar You Know

    I really suspect the Supreme Court is going to be the root cause of the next major political crisis – the kind that leads to real, sustained violence. 

    @Urban Suburbanite: Americans are too cowardly – and more to the point, too fuckin’ lazy – to go on a campaign of “real sustained violence” that could have any real impact on our society at all.

    Nice fantasy you’ve built out here but in the real world violence takes a crapload of planning and work.

  59. 59.

    JoyceH

    Things we could do with two more senators and an expanded House caucus – pass sensible gun reform. Codify Roe. Subsidize renewable energy. Expand the court to match challenges of the 21st century. Pass voting protection and Electoral College reform. Democrats are for kids, women, voting, and a livable environment, and Republicans are AGAINST all those things.

  60. 60.

    Ken

    Though I would like to see the Court to return to sanity, it would be kind of nice once the Dems finally get a 5-4 majority, if they invoked the “shadow docket” one last time.

    “Yep, completely reversed everything the conservative majority did since 2016. Roe back in place, EPA can regulate all pollutants, Native tribes have complete control over who enters their lands, Customs and Border have to show a warrant like anyone else, states can regulate guns just like Justice Scalia said, Voting Rights Act restored. No, we don’t have to show our reasoning or our work. It’s the shadow docket.”

  61. 61.

    Baud

    @JoyceH:

    Things we could do with two more senators and an expanded House caucus – pass sensible gun reform. Codify Roe. Subsidize renewable energy. Expand the court to match challenges of the 21st century. Pass voting protection and Electoral College reform.

     

    I think expanding the court would require more than 52 Senators.

    I’m not sure what you mean by electoral college reform.

  62. 62.

    TaMara

    @rikyrah: Long overdue

    I’m working on a new book while the editor has my latest one and I am seriously thinking of naming one of the characters Ketanji

  63. 63.

    JMG

    @Baud: No, I believe the Congress can pass legislation to expand the Court. No filibuster, 52 Senators would be plenty.

  64. 64.

    jnfr

    @Old Man Shadow:

    I keep playing the video of everyone at Glastonbury this week singing “Fuck You” to the Supreme Court with Lily Allen and Olivia Roderigo. I find it soothing.

  65. 65.

    JoyceH

    @Baud: You need 52 senators to deep-six the filibuster. Our main problem is that we have two DINOs with an inexplicable infatuation with the filibuster. As for electoral reform, that’s to fix the wording of the 1860-something law that’s vague enough that the Trumpists used the ambiguity to drive their fake electors scheme. We need legislation to make clear that the VP is basically the master of ceremonies on 1/6 and can’t reject slates sent by the states.

  66. 66.

    Baud

    @JMG:

    Yes, as a technical matter, they can. They only need 50, technically, and the two extra are just to get around Manchin and Sinema’s love of the filibuster.

    What I meant was that Dems likely wouldn’t have 50 Senators who would sign on to court expansion if we only had 52 Senators in total.

    ETA

    @JoyceH

     

    I agree that with 52 we would have the votes for “electoral reform.”

  67. 67.

    Suzanne

    @JoyceH:

    Our main problem is that we have two DINOs with an inexplicable infatuation with the filibuster. 

    You probably have more than that, and they are just not the drama queens of Sinema and Manchin.

  68. 68.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @JoyceH: The law already says that the VP is simply presiding over a ministerial act.  The Trumpies just are pretending that it does not.

  69. 69.

    JoyceH

    @Suzanne: At the moment there might be a few quieter filibuster fans, but I think that will change as this court becomes more and more feral.

  70. 70.

    Ben Cisco

    I am happy to see Justice Jackson take her place in the Supreme Court, we now have a fully actualized African American on the court for the first time since Marshall passed.

    I said what I said.

  72. 72.

    Ben Cisco

    @JoyceH:

    Our main problem is that we have two DINOs with an inexplicable infatuation with the filibuster.

    Oh, it’s plenty explicable: Pawpaw Blacklung (Thanks Betty!) has delusions of grandeur and cashed checks, and Manic Pixie Dream Girl fancies herself a “maverick.”

  75. 75.

    lowtechcyclist

    The Bogus Scotus granted cert to a North Carolina case that would give them an opportunity to ratify the “Independent State Legislatures” theory, which says that each state legislature can write whatever rules it wants for conduct of Federal elections in its state.

    That’s based on a literal reading of this phrase from Article I, Section 4:
    “The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof”

    But then it continues:

    but the Congress may at any time by Law make or alter such Regulations.”

    So an otherwise untrammeled power of the state legislatures to determine the rules for holding such elections must imply an absolutely untrammeled right for the Congress to do so.

    Seems like this would automatically reinstate the Voting Rights Act in its entirety, at least as it applies to Federal elections.

    One would think, anyway, if the Bogus Scotus wasn’t playing Calvinball with the law, with history, and with logic itself.

  80. 80.

    Urban Suburbanite

    @Ohio Mom: Yeah, my confidence in the party leadership isn’t too high. Clinton is hardly immune from that- urging the party to drop supporting trans people lest the magical moderate voters be spooked really drove that home. Many of them are still stuck in the 90s, when Clinton was being Republican-lite.

  81. 81.

    debbie

    Not aware that this is a parody account so:

    BREAKING NEWS: Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell announces that he will resign if he doesn’t become Senate Majority Leader after November’s midterm election. RT IF YOU WOULD LOVE TO SEE MITCH MCCONNELL RESIGN!
    — Occupy Democrats (@OccupyDemocrats) June 30, 2022

  83. 83.

    cmorenc

    @Nicole:

    While I hate Amy Coney Barrett with the heat of a thousand fiery suns, this Gen Xer never thought I’d see a day when 4 out of the 9 justices were women.

    An especially aggravating factor wrt both Amy Barrett and Clarence Thomas is how egregiously unworthy they each respectively are of the particular retired/deceased Justice they replaced.

    Clarence Thomas got Thurgood Marshall’s seat.  Barrett got Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s seat – in each respective case because Marshall’s health (just over one year) and Ginsburg’s health (four months) gave out, after long careers on SCOTUS, just shy of when their replacements under an incoming D administration would have been vastly more progressive.

    For that matter, Kavenaugh is an unworthy replacement for Kennedy, whose seat Kavenaugh took on Kennedy’s retirement.

  84. 84.

    Yutsano

    @debbie: ​They’re not a parody account, but with many grains of salt I would take them. Occupy Democrats are not exactly a reliable source for information, especially with no links to back them up.

  85. 85.

    Urban Suburbanite

    The groundwork for that is already being laid. There are already fascist groups operating with impunity in this country – especially the Oathkeepers and Proud Boys. There were also the laws supporting vehicular attacks, and the soft-handed propagandists encouraging and normalizing violence against political enemies.

  87. 87.

    debbie

    Fucking Abbott (or at least his state) again:

    Only in Texas: the Texas Education Agency is proposing to the State Board of Education (who decides state curriculum) to change the word “slavery” to “involuntary relocation”. The SBOE hearings on social studies curriculum are this summer. @UnitedSua
    — Sherrie Matula☮️ (@sherriematula) June 30, 2022

     

    ABL responds:

    This was always the point of the CRT hysteria—

    to teach white children that slavery was just “involuntary relocation” so they don’t feel bad about what their ancestors did to Black people in this country.

    Classic fascist move. https://t.co/bADgz2cfr2
    — ⚓️Imani Two-Kitchens Gandy⚓️ (@AngryBlackLady) June 30, 2022

  88. 88.

    sdhays

    @JoyceH: This. Every crappy, radical decision where the Court doesn’t appear to give a shit about precedent, or even logical consistency, brings otherwise reluctant Senators closer to pulling that trigger.

  89. 89.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    just switched on MSNBC to see if there was any news, in time to hear Junior Brodedist Jake Sherman say “there are no Republicans in the room” when the 1/6 committee meet. It’s been a couple of minutes and neither the anchor nor the NBC correspondent on the panel with him have corrected this.

  90. 90.

    BC in Illinois

    Mike Luckovich has a cartoon of the six debased justices of the SCOTUS holding a vote:

    Hope for the future is overturned!

  92. 92.

    Urban Suburbanite

    @The Moar You Know: Getting the cowardly and lazy revved up for violence is where fascism really excels. There are a fuckload of soft-handed propagandists who have been encouraging and normalizing violence for years, wayyyyyyy before Chaya Raichik oozed onto Twitter and started posting targets for her followers.

  93. 93.

    Steeplejack

    My foul mood today has been lightened by seeing that @Popehat’s new temp nym is PatsyBaloneyHat (based on TV closed captions trying to deal with “Pat Cipollone”).

  96. 96.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @Bruce K in ATH-GR:For the others, I propose the more fitting title of “Inquisitor”, but I can be talked around to a more appropriate honorific.

    “Witch Hunter General”

  98. 98.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @Geminid: I don’t think she did.  If you listen to her answer in context I thought it was pretty clear she was emphasizing the need for our side to come together to win crucial elections, not to stop fighting for Transgender (or any other) Rights.  The interviewer was clearly trying to get her to bash Trans Rights/Advocates though, that seemed pretty clear.

  99. 99.

    James E Powell

    @JoyceH:

    Meanwhile, the argument on expanding the Supreme Court isn’t that THESE particular justices are so awful (though it’s true), but that the court was last expanded in 1869, when the population was about a quarter of the current population and there were nine Circuit Courts then.

    I feel the same way about the size of the House of Representatives, frozen in 1929 when the population was a little more than a third of what it is now.

    The size & complexity of the federal government was nothing like it is today.

    If dramatically expanded, each member would have fewer constituents, each campaign would be less expensive, gerrymandering would be much harder, and the whole body would be more representative of the nation.

  102. 102.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @debbie: People were saying selective enforcement that turned the anti-abortion laws into a joke and that’s why Roe in the first place.  What serious court system outside some inbreed, dying rural town is going to have the time investigate and prosecute abortion cases?

  104. 104.

    Montanareddog

    Not sure if this has been brought up already.

    Remember Tony Jay brought up that Mick Lynch, the leader of the striking railway workers’ union in the UK, was doing the rounds of the politics shows there, and showing how to stand up to the smears and bad faith arguments?

    And that Piers Morgan (spit) had tried to make a big deal out of the obvious self-deprecating joke of Mick using Thunderbirds’ villain, The Hood, as his Facebook avatar?

    Well, since then Mick changed his Facebook avatar again

    That is one serious kick in the nuts

  107. 107.

    Betty Cracker

    @debbie: FL rolled out similar bullshit civics guidelines — the Miami Herald covered teacher consternation about it today. (I may post on it later but it’s SO damn hard to keep up!)

    I think the same Christo-fascist edu-grift institution is pumping out curricula for TX and FL, probably other states too.

  108. 108.

    Captain C

    @debbie: I’m guessing with a few more Democratic Senators there will be very limited opportunities for sadism and grift, so perhaps Moscow Mitch may not want to stick around just to herd the increasingly batshit caucus.

    Of course, I’ll believe this when it actually happens.

  110. 110.

    Captain C

    @debbie: This is Pravda-level shit.  At least the Soviets expected and knew how to read through the lines thereof.

  113. 113.

    Betty Cracker

    @Geminid: If we’re talking about the same interview I read (Financial Times maybe?), I can understand why people found the comment troubling — IMO, it was an awkwardly worded response about countering Republican wedge issue techniques. But Clinton put out an unambiguous clarification later: [source]

    Not long ago, I was asked about these issues. Let me be clear: transgender people deserve nothing short of full equality. As Secretary of State, I was proud to change policy so that transgender Americans could carry passports that reflect their true gender. As a candidate for president, I sought out the input of the transgender community, and put forward a platform for trans equality. I’m glad to see the Democratic presidential candidates putting forward platforms of their own.

    In a time when we’re living through a crisis of violence toward transgender women of color that’s getting worse instead of better, cruel decrees from the White House about transgender Americans who serve our country, and an era when bullying and discrimination are being elevated like never before, it’s clear that we have urgent work to do. This is a moment for every single one of us to affirm that transgender people deserve equality, safety, and opportunity. Millions of people see you, and stand by you.

  115. 115.

    Tony Jay

    @debbie:

    Only in Texas: the Texas Education Agency is proposing to the State Board of Education (who decides state curriculum) to change the word “slavery” to “involuntary relocation”.

    Not only in Texas, I’m afraid. The Tory Party’s ‘independent’ Report on institutional racism (spoiler: there isn’t any) suggested that they replace talk about slavery with a more ‘nuanced’ discussion about what advantages those barbaric Africans and their descendants had received from their ‘Caribbean Experience’.

    That was well received.

  116. 116.

    gene108

    Today’s news that the Supreme Court is taking up the Moore v. Harper case ahead of 2024 should scare the hell out of all of us. This Court could gut our Presidential elections the same way they just gutted Roe. Here’s a on why it’s so dangerous and what we can do about it. 1/— Mallory McMorrow (@MalloryMcMorrow) June 30, 2022

    Taking up Moore v. Harper gives the U.S. Supreme Court the opportunity to apply a doctrine supported by the Court's new extreme conservative majority called “independent state legislature theory,” or ISLT. 3/— Mallory McMorrow (@MalloryMcMorrow) June 30, 2022

    ISLT attempts to vest all control of elections in the hands of only the state legislature, letting them throw out the decisions of state courts, redistricting commissions, Secretaries of State, and even state constitutions. 4/— Mallory McMorrow (@MalloryMcMorrow) June 30, 2022

    We really need to make sure Democrats can get control of at least one chamber of a state legislature.

    I know this court is going to side with the NC legislature to give them and the rest of state legislatures complete control, because it benefits Republicans, once they run up people’s legal bills by entertaining the farce that actually having cases presented to them matters. The six evil justices have their orders. Their opinions are being written now. Why even bother making arguments before the court anymore?

  118. 118.

    Tony Jay

    @Montanareddog:

    I did chime in, but I think credit for pointing out the success of Mick Lynch’s revolutionary tactic for dealing with the News Media (tell the truth, call out liars, push back against bias) should go to the estimable Kalakal.

  123. 123.

    Urban Suburbanite

    @Geminid: Yes, I’m referring to the FT interview. Her response was really hammering about the need to win elections and appeal to more voters – professional centrist noises, basically. She was a lot more specific about the dangers of the “radical left” and how defending the police is bad.

    The Democratic leadership really needs to get past its obsession with chasing imaginary moderates. I don’t Clinton or Biden understand that.

  125. 125.

    Citizen Alan

    @JoyceH: IOW, the things we could be doing right now if Cal Cunningham could have kept his pants zipped and the voters of Maine weren’t as feckless as their senior Senator. Just sayin’.

  127. 127.

    Geminid

    @Urban Suburbanite: How are “winning more elections and appealing to more voters”  “professional centrist noises?” It seems to me that you are applying your prejudices to her statements. You may be the one stuck in the 90s.

    As for “chasing moderates,” moderates outnumber liberals and in even the bluest states Democrats cannot win without them.

    And so far as the “radical left” goes,  responsible people on the left support the Democratic Party even if they have reservations. There are others that don’t, whom people like democratic socialist Michael Paulauski call the “dirtbag left.” Clinton is right to say that Democrats should not try to please them, because they cannot be pleased.

  129. 129.

    Ohio Mom

    @Urban Suburbanite: I’m a glutton for punishment so I’ll try again: When YOU have been elected to high public office in this diverse land of ours, you can get back to me about what it takes to appeal to enough voters.

    Until then, I’m not worrying about any Democrat’s style over substance.

  131. 131.

    Urban Suburbanite

    @Geminid: 

    The “dirtbag left” are a bunch of coke-sniffing assholes with podcasts who are now inching their way to fascism. Fuck em, they don’t matter. The actual left is a lot different.

    This isn’t about the reflexive need to defend Team Blue. Clinton is falling back on a classic strategy of bashing the supposedly “radical left” (not wanting millions more spent on lazy, violent cops is a revolutionary position now) to appeal to some imaginary centrist who don’t really exist. It’s a strategy that’s worked out pretty well for Republicans (cue the talk about compromise) and well-paid Democratic consultants, but it hasn’t really been successful for Democratic candidates. (Rahm Emanuel also helped with some of that failure)

  132. 132.

    livewyre

    The more pivotal things get, the more campaigns will focus on separating officeholders from their constituents. There’s a reason for that. We have to support what our representatives do, not who or what they are.

  135. 135.

    Geminid

    @Urban Suburbanite: Sharice Davids and Lauren Underwood flipped blue seats by appealing to liberals and moderates. So did the other 38 Democrats who won us the majority in 2018.  You have no strategy, unless griping about the people who do is a strategy.

    I suggest you read some of the voices on the left who do more than complain, like Michael Paulauski and Denise Oliver-Velez. Argue with them if you really want your ass handed to you.

  136. 136.

    livewyre

    @Geminid: It’s a strategy alright – one against our interests. We need unity in action with our elected officials. Performative hesitation on the basis of motive or thought or “agenda” is chaff. There will be time for intramural recriminations when the very concept of rights isn’t under fire.

  137. 137.

    Elizabelle

    @livewyre:   Have appreciated you and Geminid and others pushing back on Urban Suburbanite.  Enough of that.

    Concerned new commenter (US) says whut?

  138. 138.

    Geminid

    @Elizabelle: He’s been around. Last time we mixed up it was about how little Democrats knew about guns and how ineffective their gun safety measures are. I think he may be a Copperhead. Not sure though.

  144. 144.

    Geminid

    @Mike E: I was pretty ignorant about Ms. Oliver-Velez until I saw Ragnarok Lobster retweeting her.

    That’s also how I encountered Mangy Jay. These women are both great voices, but in different ways. Ms. Jay is very thoughtful and dispassionate. Oliver-Velez is a wise woman, and very blunt; she delivers her political opinions “with the bark on.” I learn a lot from them both.

  146. 146.

    Mike E

    @Geminid: Ms Denise is a landmark figure in America’s ongoing conflict around civil rights, she’s seen things, and yet is eminently approachable. Her connection with so many touchstones in our recent history is impressive, indeed.

  147. 147.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Baud: ​
     

    That’s what the For The People Act is based on, in large part.

    Tru dat. My point is that the advocates of the Independent State Legislature theory (which obviously include at least a few of the Fascist Five) seem to believe that the state legislatures get the final word, no takes back. But Congress’ powers to regulate Federal elections clearly trump those of the states in every way.

    So how is it possible for this theory’s advocates to reconcile the ISL theory with the way the Court casually swept away most of the Voting Rights Act, which is all about Congressional regulation of Federal elections?

  148. 148.

    Baud

    @lowtechcyclist:

    IIRC, the VRA was struck down on the made-up theory that it didn’t treat the states equally.  Subject to a new made-up doctrine, a new statute that uses objective criteria should be within Congress’s authority.

  149. 149.

    Geminid

    @UncleEbeneezer: I wonder if this person actually cares about trans people’s rights except as a club to bash Democrats with. I see people trying to whip up emnity towards the party by pretending to care about this and other issues like abortion when they actually care very little. They put up a plausible front, but they take their cues from each other and sometimes one can tell by the commonality. There is a whole lot of this going on right now, and that has been remarked upon by people here and by Democrats I follow on Twitter.

    But it’s hard to judge sincerity with such a small interaction. That’s why I’m not sure if the guy is a Copperhead, or just a sorehead.

  150. 150.

    livewyre

    @Geminid: For me the brilliance of the Copperhead designation is that it doesn’t matter what they have in mind – it’s based on refusing to pick a coat when the cannons open up on Fort Sumter, or questioning whether it should be blue or red before agreeing to wear it, as long as it takes away from the matter at hand. If one doesn’t want to be called a Copperhead, one can simply stop Copperheading. It’s a voluntary movement.

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