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You are here: Home / Politics / Activist Judges! / Star Chamber (Open Thread)

Star Chamber (Open Thread)

by Betty Cracker|  July 26, 202212:35 pm| 153 Comments

This post is in: Activist Judges!, Open Threads, Politics

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A CNN article on “the inside story of how John Roberts failed to save abortion rights” contains no real surprises. GOP political operative/Chief Justice John Roberts allegedly worked on Kavanaugh all spring to soften the majority opinion, hoping the court would gut Roe but leave a fig leaf in place — as the wingnut majority had previously done to the VRA — to mitigate potential backlash to the Republican Party.

As previously surmised, when the Alito draft leaked in May, the players were basically frozen in place:

Roberts and his colleagues spent a few anxious days quietly awaiting publication of the document, stretching through the afternoon of May 2, when all nine were together for a live-streamed memorial at the court for the late Justice John Paul Stevens. Politico first published its story about the draft that night at 8:32 p.m.

Roberts launched an investigation into who might be behind “this betrayal of the confidences of the Court.” He vowed that court’s work “will not be affected in any way.”

But, of course, it was, most notably in diminishing whatever chance he had to dislodge the five-justice bloc set to overturn Roe. The aggressive leak investigation worsened the existing strains among the justices, their law clerks and other employees in the nine chambers… Friction among all intensified as protests began, fencing and barricades were erected around the court, and some usual end-of-session lunches and parties were dropped.

Not the usual lunches and parties!

I have lots of sympathy for Justices Sotomayor and Kagan and retired Justice Breyer (what a shitty way to go out), plus incoming Justice Jackson. But maybe it’s best that the artificial comity was stripped away as their Republican operative colleagues exercised raw political power.

Everyone else knows the “balls and strikes” model Roberts tried to sell us as he prepared to rig future games is complete bullshit.  So the justices needn’t pretend to be opera buddies anymore.

As for the leak, ask yourselves who it served. A couple of days ago, the AP published a piece on the status of the investigation:

The Supreme Court won’t say whether it’s still investigating.

The court also won’t say whether the leaker has been identified or whether anyone has been disciplined.

Or whether an outside law firm or the FBI has been called in.

Or whether the court will ever offer an accounting of what transpired.

Or whether it has taken steps to try to prevent a repeat.

To these and other emailed questions, Supreme Court spokeswoman Patricia McCabe said by email: “The Court has no comment.”

The AP piece also says “the public might never know.”

My guess is former and current cult member Mrs. Justice Thomas is the leaker. She already tried to overthrow the government, so what’s a draft opinion leak to the likes of her? Since the unaccountable star chamber doesn’t feel we’re owed an explanation, we’ll have to draw our own conclusions.

Open thread.

ETA: Paul Campos at LGM theorizes that Alito leaked his own draft. I think that’s a better theory than my Ginni Thomas guess.

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Reader Interactions

153Comments

  1. 1.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    July 26, 2022 at 12:37 pm

    LGM has a piece arguing that Alito leaked his own draft.

  2. 2.

    Baud

    July 26, 2022 at 12:38 pm

    The silence at least proves the leaker wasn’t a liberal.

  3. 3.

    CliosFanBoy

    July 26, 2022 at 12:39 pm

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: I was about to post the same thing. I think their argument makes sense.  Alito wanted to lock-in Justice McRape

  4. 4.

    ETtheLibrarian

    July 26, 2022 at 12:43 pm

    The lack of info is the most telling thing. That we haven’t heard anything even though SCOTUS is famously closed-mouth, means they know who it is and are burying it. The only people they would bury this for are justices and spouses. They would throw a clerk and anyone else out on their ass and we would have heard about it by now.

  5. 5.

    matt

    July 26, 2022 at 12:44 pm

    Someone should leak the results of the leak investigation.

  6. 6.

    Villago Delenda Est

    July 26, 2022 at 12:46 pm

    These arrogant motherfuckers will be their own undoing.  And I will be pleased to observe their demise.

  7. 7.

    robmassing

    July 26, 2022 at 12:47 pm

    LOL John Roberts had no intention of saving abortion rights. His own reputation, maybe, but he’s just as much an Opus Dei fascist as the rest of them and was none too unhappy with Dobbs, I am sure.

  8. 8.

    Betty Cracker

    July 26, 2022 at 12:47 pm

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: Okay, after reading that, it makes more sense than my theory.

  9. 9.

    Villago Delenda Est

    July 26, 2022 at 12:51 pm

    @robmassing: He need not worry about his legacy, he’s well on the way to challenging Roger Taney in that regard as being the lowest of the low, and there’s no possibility of redemption.

  10. 10.

    Betty Cracker

    July 26, 2022 at 12:52 pm

    @robmassing: Agreed. If Roberts got his way, Roe would still be gutted, but it wouldn’t be a full-out reversal and probably wouldn’t have garnered the media attention we’re seeing now. Roberts was trying to contain backlash against Republicans, nothing more.

  11. 11.

    Leto

    July 26, 2022 at 12:52 pm

    Steve Bannon to air ‘special’ to prepare ‘4,000 shock troops’ on ‘deconstructing’ government; sentient coat rack again laying the plan out in the open.

  12. 12.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    July 26, 2022 at 12:56 pm

    @Leto: Bannon’s carrying on like a guy who wasn’t recently convicted of a politically-motivated act of contempt. I think I read he’s got a couple of months to wait out a slim chance at a successful appeal and then sentencing. You’d think one of his lawyers could give him a list of “Don’t talk about….” subjects for his little show.

  13. 13.

    Leto

    July 26, 2022 at 12:56 pm

    Also can’t wait for this SCROTUS to overturn child labor laws:

    We want to tell you about a shocking new report from the news agency Reuters, that kids as young as 12 and 13 have been hired to work at an auto parts plant in Alabama at a place called Smart Alabama LLC, a metal-stamping shop that is majority owned by Hyundai, the Korean automaker. According to the Reuters report, which was documented by local police, current employees and family members of some of the youngsters, the plant has employed as many as 50 underage workers to work all shifts at the metal shop, which supplies parts for the vehicles assembled at Hyundai’s flagship U.S. plant in Montgomery, Ala. Many are children of migrants from Central and South America. The Reuters review of the records noted that the plant has been cited for repeated health and safety violations, including amputation hazards.

  14. 14.

    The Moar You Know

    July 26, 2022 at 12:56 pm

    I have always thought Alito leaked his own draft.  If the question “who benefitted by such leak?” is asked, the only answer is Alito.

  15. 15.

    Leto

    July 26, 2022 at 12:58 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: it’s almost like he knows there’s minimal consequences for him, so will continue to do it. Lol, what are they going to do? Put him in prison? hahahahaha

  16. 16.

    Villago Delenda Est

    July 26, 2022 at 12:59 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: He didn’t hire his lawyers for advice, only to prevent himself from being viewed as having a fool for a client.

  17. 17.

    Lacuna Synecdoche

    July 26, 2022 at 1:00 pm

    Betty Cracker @ Top:

    The AP piece also says “the public might never know.”

    We’ll know, someday. Maybe tomorrow, maybe in 50 years. Eventually someone, probably one of the justices after they retire, will tell the press or publish it in a memoir. The only way to keep a secret is if only one person knows it – and we’re way beyond that already. The leaker(s), the journalist, and the editor all know. Plus whoever they told. Plus anyone who figured it out in the “investigation.”

  18. 18.

    geg6

    July 26, 2022 at 1:00 pm

    I think Campos is right.  Why wouldn’t Alito do it?  There’s no reason not to and Roberts had his nuts cut off in the bargain.  Roberts should just resign.  He has no control over the court.  It’s Thomas and Alito in charge.  Jesus.

  19. 19.

    Princess

    July 26, 2022 at 1:02 pm

    Ginsburg and Scalia weren’t pretending to be opera buddies. They were opera buddies.

  20. 20.

    Lacuna Synecdoche

    July 26, 2022 at 1:04 pm

    Betty Cracker @ Top:

    Paul Campos at LGM theorizes that Alito leaked his own draft. I think that’s a better theory than my Ginni Thomas guess.

    I’ve been pushing the “Alito (or one of his clerks) did it” theory since the day it happened, but I think both theories are equally valid. Hell, it might have been leaked by Ginni at Alito’s request.

  21. 21.

    Baud

    July 26, 2022 at 1:05 pm

    @geg6:

    Roberts can get at least one nut back by outing Alito as the leaker.  Don’t think he’ll do it though.

  22. 22.

    Villago Delenda Est

    July 26, 2022 at 1:08 pm

    @Baud: He’s too cowardly to do the slightest thing about it.  He’s been made chump change, and he seems to be fine with it.

  23. 23.

    James E Powell

    July 26, 2022 at 1:10 pm

    @robmassing:

    LOL John Roberts had no intention of saving abortion rights. His own reputation, maybe, but he’s just as much an Opus Dei fascist as the rest of them and was none too unhappy with Dobbs, I am sure.

    Exactly. This article is pushed by some Roberts stan who wants to make him look like less of a right-wing radical. He’s an asshole. He has no redeeming “moderate” tendencies.

  24. 24.

    James E Powell

    July 26, 2022 at 1:11 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    Bannon’s carrying on like a guy who wasn’t recently convicted of a politically-motivated act of contempt.

    He’s carrying on like a guy who is confident he will never be punished. In fact, he expects to be rewarded for loyalty when all this investigation nonsense goes away.

    Can anyone really be sure he’s wrong?

  25. 25.

    Steeplejack

    July 26, 2022 at 1:11 pm

    @Betty Cracker:

    Yeah, they would have loved to publicly flay some hapless “Democrat” clerk if they had even a wisp of evidence. Perhaps even if it was a “misguided” or careless clerk of a right-wing justice. But this silence seems to indicate that it’s someone high up on the right end of the court. Mrs. Justice Ginni seems likely. I’ll have to read the LGM piece.

  26. 26.

    trollhattan

    July 26, 2022 at 1:14 pm

    @robmassing: Exactly. A “kinder, gentler” execution of reproductive rights is still an execution of reproductive rights. This was baked in with Coathanger’s flashmob confirmation.

    What law did the leak break? None, I figure. The faux rage should be highlighted as yet another stain on the Roberts court. He should resign in disgrace, if he’s so concerned. [as if]

  27. 27.

    SFAW

    July 26, 2022 at 1:14 pm

    @Lacuna Synecdoche: ​
     

    Hell, it might have been leaked by Ginni at Alito’s request.

    Or vice versa.

    Trigger warning!

    “Sam and Ginni lay back in bed, exhausted after their mutual efforts. A few minutes later, after Sam/Ginni had caught his/her breath, he/she rolled over to face his/her lover, and said ‘Honey, there’s a small favor I’d like you to do for me …’ ”

    Can’t say I didn’t warn youse.

  28. 28.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    July 26, 2022 at 1:15 pm

    @SFAW: That’s some tricky pronoun use, libtard

  29. 29.

    Major Major Major Major

    July 26, 2022 at 1:16 pm

    Every right-winger on Twitter is convinced that a lib leaked it, so Occam’s Razor says a conservative did it.

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: a real libtard would just use they/them

  30. 30.

    hueyplong

    July 26, 2022 at 1:16 pm

    The most disgusting thing isn’t which of them leaked it.  It’s the way they all immediately hit volume 11 on how it was some dastardly liberal, an absurdity echoed (as usual) by the idiots who comprise the supposedly neutral sectors of the media.

  31. 31.

    trollhattan

    July 26, 2022 at 1:17 pm

    @geg6:

    Alito is every bit as pompous as Scalia was (hence “Scalito”) and one presumes was super-proud of his 16th(?) century precedent argument, so had to get it in circulation in case it got deleted in a later draft, or whatever they call versions of opinions.

  32. 32.

    Tony G

    July 26, 2022 at 1:18 pm

    @matt: Somebody should leak a video of the leakers taking a leak.  There is not right to privacy, so nobody should complain about that.

  33. 33.

    Steeplejack

    July 26, 2022 at 1:20 pm

    @Steeplejack:

    Paul Campos makes a good case in the LGM piece. It strikes me that Ginni Thomas is more of a bomb-thrower, and this leak was a calculated operation.

  34. 34.

    Tony G

    July 26, 2022 at 1:23 pm

    @trollhattan: Alito, Thomas, Boofy McRape, Roberts and Saint Coney Barret are all so despicable in different ways.  Choosing the worst one is like fans choosing their favorite Beatle back in the Stone Age.  The choice says a lot about the psychology of the person choosing.

  35. 35.

    Bill Arnold

    July 26, 2022 at 1:24 pm

    @James E Powell:

    In fact, he expects to be rewarded for loyalty when all this investigation nonsense goes away.

    The Biden(/Harris) administration will be in charge of the Justice Department for the next 2.5 years.
    Bannon also hasn’t won anything recently, except scoring a Trump pardon in a fraud case. Nearly all of his initiatives have fizzled, in part because for the last few years he has had a broken (as in not predictive) mental model of the USA electorate.

  36. 36.

    eclare

    July 26, 2022 at 1:24 pm

    FYI…I keep with People.com (yes, I like celebrity gossip), and it has an article up about that TX Moms Against Abbott ad that we have posted about today.  So the ad is getting attention.  I can’t link, but it’s on People.com.  No paywall.

  37. 37.

    Spanky

    July 26, 2022 at 1:26 pm

    @Leto:

    The Reuters review of the records noted that the plant has been cited for repeated health and safety violations, including amputation hazards.

    As long as they’re not playing chess with Russian robots.

  38. 38.

    lowtechcyclist

    July 26, 2022 at 1:31 pm

    Anyone remember what the wingnuts (including Fox News, of course) said about how the leaker should be punished?

  39. 39.

    SFAW

    July 26, 2022 at 1:32 pm

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    That’s some tricky pronoun use

    If yer talking about the “youse,” that’s a bona fidey New Yawk pronoun. Not that a former Iowan would know about dat.

    If you’re talking about the “his/her” thing, that was because I don’t know which of them initiated it, and wanted to leave it open. I guess I could have put [brackets] around the [his/her] et al., but I don’t know if that would have made it clearer.

    libtard

    Damn straight!

  40. 40.

    SFAW

    July 26, 2022 at 1:36 pm

    @trollhattan:

    What law did the leak break? None, I figure.

    You figure worng. US Code has a whole Section devoted to punishment for “Stuff Which Lie-berals Say or Do Which Make Real ‘Muricans Feel Bad, Guilty, or A Teensy Bit Uncomfortable.”

  41. 41.

    Anyway

    July 26, 2022 at 1:37 pm

    @Tony G:

     Alito, Thomas, Boofy McRape, Roberts and Saint Coney Barret are all so despicable in different ways.  Choosing the worst one is like fans choosing their favorite Beatle back in the Stone Age.

    Gorsuch is EVIL too.

  42. 42.

    kindness

    July 26, 2022 at 1:43 pm

    I saw Paul’s piece at LG&M this am.  I wasn’t impressed enough by his argument to change my mind that Ginni was the leaker but will admit there may have been more than one leak.  Alito is Opus Dei enough to try to burn any moderate bridges to Roberts.  Funny how a Reagan lawyer flunky who’se life’s ambition is to overthrow the VRA, can be called a moderate.  (hint:  He’s not.)

  43. 43.

    trollhattan

    July 26, 2022 at 1:46 pm

    @SFAW: Well, when you put it that way. Also, “stuff that Fox says is bad, m’kay?”

  44. 44.

    Paul in KY

    July 26, 2022 at 1:48 pm

    @SFAW: Yeeeeickkkk! You did warn me, though.

  45. 45.

    danielx

    July 26, 2022 at 1:51 pm

    It does seem that letting dear old Felix out of the bag would serve Alito’s purposes in several ways.

  46. 46.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    July 26, 2022 at 1:51 pm

    @eclare:

    FYI…I keep with People.com (yes, I like celebrity gossip), and it has an article up about that TX Moms Against Abbott ad that we have posted about today.  So the ad is getting attention.  I can’t link, but it’s on People.com.  No paywall.

    I think that’s a good thing. People who read politico, even who know what politico is, are probably pretty set in their opinions

  47. 47.

    EarthWindFire

    July 26, 2022 at 1:52 pm

    @lowtechcyclist: None of that on Fox anymore either. Conservative politicians (and conservative judges are politicians) are damn lucky none of their supporters can read the room.

  48. 48.

    sab

    July 26, 2022 at 1:55 pm

    @Leto: Jeezus! 12 year olds in a stamping plant? That’s dangerous work for adults.

  49. 49.

    CaseyL

    July 26, 2022 at 1:56 pm

    Since the GOP has gotten away with eroding women’s health rights over the last 20 years, and SCOTUS has gutted the VRA without overturning it outright, there is logic to the idea that Roberts was hoping to do the same thing with Roe on a national level: hollow it out, but leave the bare stem remaining. That way, white women who vote GOP could reassure themselves they could still get abortions, so the new restrictions wouldn’t apply to them.

    Dobbs removed even that fig leaf, and the GOP-run state legislators are having fun playing “Can you top this?” with restrictions that try to outdo one another in their cruelty, invasiveness, and malign indifference to peoples’ health. So white GOP women don’t have that comfortable rationalization anymore.

    Whether that will change their voting behavior in sufficient numbers to affect outcomes… is something we’ll have to wait and see about. Christian/White Supremacy is a powerful drug.

  50. 50.

    Edmund Dantes

    July 26, 2022 at 1:59 pm

    @geg6: Alito also still holds a grudge about not getting the Chief Justice seat that he thought belonged to him when Rehnquist up and died unexpectedly shuffling the whole O’Connor replacement thing the GOP had planned.

    I bet he thinks he should have gotten the Rehnquist nomination and they should have kept Roberts as the replacement for the retiring O’Connor.

  51. 51.

    sab

    July 26, 2022 at 2:00 pm

    @Villago Delenda Est: He’ll never even be a Taney. Taney was out of step with subsequent  history, but never regarded as weak.

  52. 52.

    Paul in KY

    July 26, 2022 at 2:00 pm

    @Tony G: I’m partial to Kegger McBarfo, myself.

  53. 53.

    Captain C

    July 26, 2022 at 2:00 pm

    the “balls and strikes” model Roberts tried to sell us

    Using this analogy, Roberts and his court make Angel Hernandez look like the pinnacle of umpiring.

  54. 54.

    eclare

    July 26, 2022 at 2:02 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:   I think so too, I was glad to see the article.  The more people who see that (and I assume the readership is overwhelmingly female) while checking out the latest on Bennifer, the better.

  55. 55.

    Tony G

    July 26, 2022 at 2:02 pm

    @Paul in KY: The man has many aliases.

  56. 56.

    Tony G

    July 26, 2022 at 2:04 pm

    @Anyway: Sorry.  Didn’t mean to overlook Gorsuch!

  57. 57.

    Soprano2

    July 26, 2022 at 2:11 pm

    I just read a story in WaPo about the rain in St. Louis, and holy cow – some parts of NW St. Louis got 10″ of rain in 6 hours! Words fail me of what that was like. Predictably, when I was talking about it in the lunchroom one guy said “Well, if it’s ‘certain parts’ of the city that’s not a big loss”. I said that wasn’t funny, people get hurt and die when things like this happen and it’s never OK no matter where it happens. I’m sure he meant the black-black-blackity part of the city, because that’s always what they mean when they say stuff like that.

  58. 58.

    Soprano2

    July 26, 2022 at 2:13 pm

    @Leto: Yeah, now I feel guilty that I own a Hyundai Sonata, but I’m not going to get rid of it.

  59. 59.

    Ivan X

    July 26, 2022 at 2:15 pm

    I always thought the draft was leaked to blunt the surprise. If the ruling was issued out of the blue and no one saw it coming except court watchers, there might have been literal riots.

  60. 60.

    cmorenc

    July 26, 2022 at 2:16 pm

    @ETtheLibrarian:

    The lack of info is the most telling thing. That we haven’t heard anything even though SCOTUS is famously closed-mouth, means they know who it is and are burying it. The only people they would bury this for are justices and spouses. They would throw a clerk and anyone else out on their ass and we would have heard about it by now.

    Exactly.  The hard-core 5 are circling the wagons to shield the leaker, and Chief Justice Roberts is reluctant to challenge them by forcing discipline or disclosure upon them, because he doesn’t want to lose whatever remaining influence and leverage he has with them in order to shape future SCOTUS decisons.  He realizes they could react by freezing him out indefinitely from influence, just as they already give the to the moderate 3 the “la la la can’t hear you” treatment, because they have a controlling 5 votes without him and hence can do whatever they want to impose their far-RW fever dreams upon the law.

  61. 61.

    Ruckus

    July 26, 2022 at 2:21 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    Steve’s lawyers likely agree with him politically. Maybe, maybe not as far outside the box as he is but still, is he going to hire someone completely sane? Because he likely couldn’t even make a sane decision, he “functions” in a world that even in the worst of times wasn’t as bad as the world inside his disgusting pudding bowl of a cranium.

  62. 62.

    Baud

    July 26, 2022 at 2:21 pm

    @Captain C:

    Using this analogy, Roberts and his court make Angel Hernandez look like the pinnacle of umpiring.

    Really brings home how bad the Court is right now.

  63. 63.

    Paul in KY

    July 26, 2022 at 2:22 pm

    @Soprano2: That person is a dick. Has outed themselves if you hadn’t thought of them as one, prior to their odious comment.

  64. 64.

    Ruckus

    July 26, 2022 at 2:25 pm

    @James E Powell:

    “He’s an asshole. He has no redeeming “moderate” tendencies.”

    Me thinks you are being too kind here…..

  65. 65.

    Tony G

    July 26, 2022 at 2:25 pm

    @cmorenc: Roberts still wants to be invited to respectable cocktail parties.  The other five don’t care about that.  In a way, he’s worse than they are.

  66. 66.

    Leto

    July 26, 2022 at 2:27 pm

    @Soprano2: wouldn’t say get rid of it, but this is another piece for anyone’s next vehicle purchase. Also just the current state of conservative thought wrt to children/labor market.

  67. 67.

    Leto

    July 26, 2022 at 2:30 pm

    @Ruckus: some of the legal arguments his attorney tried to use, the judge shut that shit down with extreme haste. Even shut down arguments he might have brought up. But def agree that his lawyer swims in the same scum pond Bannon does.

  68. 68.

    trollhattan

    July 26, 2022 at 2:32 pm

    @Tony G: Lunch on the Vineyard with Dersh?

  69. 69.

    Tazj

    July 26, 2022 at 2:35 pm

    @Ivan X: I always thought that too. Leak it and let the outrage die down and then grim acceptance before the decision is released. Anti-abortion politicians and religious leaders were never actually afraid of violence from pro-choice people but they sure hyped the potential for it.

    The leak was the most horrible thing that ever happened to the Supreme Court until it wasn’t. Now you don’t hear about it anymore from conservatives and probably never will again.

    The reasoning Alito gives for overturning Roe is so misogynistic but conservatives don’t care. They love it and they’re so smug about it. It was always a bad decision! It’s not in the constitution like the right to bear arms libtards!

  70. 70.

    eclare

    July 26, 2022 at 2:40 pm

    @Soprano2:   Ugh.  Good for you for speaking up.

  71. 71.

    soapdish

    July 26, 2022 at 2:41 pm

    Some of the kids are all right.

    https://www.npr.org/2022/07/25/1113508044/michigan-medical-students-walk-out-on-an-anti-abortion-keynote-speaker

  72. 72.

    Ruckus

    July 26, 2022 at 2:42 pm

    @Soprano2:

    How much does Hyundai own, what percentage?

    How much actual control do they have?

    I’m not saying this isn’t bad but what if they own 10% and have zero control of how the plant is run? Who are the owners of the part Hyundai doesn’t own? It may be extremely important or it may be total bullshit. Why is Hyundai the only automaker named? Is it their stamping plant or did they invest in it so they could be customers of a local plant among several others? And if so why aren’t the others named?

    My point is it’s crappy reporting. It may also be Hyundai’s fault/problem/responsibility, but it may be that they didn’t even know.

    It’s crappy reporting.

  73. 73.

    Lapassionara

    July 26, 2022 at 2:49 pm

    @Soprano2: There was flooding in University City, which is close to Washington University and a middle class area. See Sarah Kendzior on Twitter. Also flooding in Ladue, as in “la-di-dah” Ladue. Flooding  seems to be an equal opportunity destroyer.

  74. 74.

    The Moar You Know

    July 26, 2022 at 2:49 pm

    I for one would like to congratulate Actual Chief Justice Samuel Alito on his promotion.

  75. 75.

    Matt McIrvin

    July 26, 2022 at 2:50 pm

    @Soprano2: I have one too–mine, if I recall correctly, was imported from South Korea so was presumably manufactured there (not to say labor conditions there are necessarily better, and of course it’s still Hyundai’s responsibility to ethically source their stuff).

    Hyundai has been working hard to attain more of an upscale, “cool” image over the past several years, and I imagine this kind of thing tarnishes that too.

  76. 76.

    Captain C

    July 26, 2022 at 2:53 pm

    @Baud:

    Really brings home how bad the Court is right now.

    Which is why I will forever refer to this court as the Dred Scott Roberts court.  A whole decade and a half-plus of egregiously bad decisions, and absurd rationalizations to support them (when they don’t just do the shadow docket ‘it’s this way and screw you, peasant!’ thing).

  77. 77.

    Leto

    July 26, 2022 at 2:53 pm

    @Ruckus: Did you read the first sentence? I’ll post it again:

    that kids as young as 12 and 13 have been hired to work at an auto parts plant in Alabama at a place called Smart Alabama LLC, a metal-stamping shop that is majority owned by Hyundai, the Korean automaker.

    Bold is mine seeing how you missed it the first time. This isn’t a “10%” ooops, they don’t know what’s going on! This is same shit that Nike, and the rest of the fashion world is caught up in. They know what the fuck is going on. It’s not bad reporting. How the fuck is it bad reporting exposing child fucking labor? Also “I didn’t know” isn’t a fucking excuse. You should remember that from the Navy. And if they say, “I didn’t know”, it means they’re not performing proper oversight of their plant. So that would be another issue. Which from the reporting of amputations, they should look at safety and oversight more thoroughly.

    Again, not bad reporting. Just again for those in the back:

    that is majority owned by Hyundai

  78. 78.

    Cameron

    July 26, 2022 at 2:55 pm

    @Captain C: Balls and strikes?  More like bollocks and shite.

  79. 79.

    Geminid

    July 26, 2022 at 3:00 pm

    @Ruckus: Hyundai alway interested me because they were one of the world’s biggest shipbuilders before they got into automaking. Maybe the biggest.

  80. 80.

    trollhattan

    July 26, 2022 at 3:05 pm

    A band of weather is rolling through N/CA along with “chance of thunderstorms” and all fingers and toes are crossed in hopes lightning doesn’t happen in the mountains. Dry up there.

    Saw a good twelve, eighteen raindrops this morning.

  81. 81.

    The Moar You Know

    July 26, 2022 at 3:05 pm

    How much does Hyundai own, what percentage?

    @Ruckus: “majority owned” – I assume that’s over 50% – as per Reuters.

    As per their own website, Smart Alabama LLC has one and only one customer:  Hyundai.

  82. 82.

    Soprano2

    July 26, 2022 at 3:06 pm

    @Baud: A Cardinal fan would invoke the name Don Denkinger, same idea.

  83. 83.

    Soprano2

    July 26, 2022 at 3:06 pm

    @Paul in KY: Oh, I’ve heard a lot of stuff like that from him before. Probably half of the people I work with think or say similar things.

  84. 84.

    RepubAnon

    July 26, 2022 at 3:08 pm

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: Sounds plausible. Also explains why no punishment occurred.

  85. 85.

    Soprano2

    July 26, 2022 at 3:08 pm

    @Ruckus: True, crappy reporting seems to be more the norm than it used to be. This morning’s “On Point” was about why people tune out of the news, and this was one of the things that was brought up as a reason (one of many, it was an interesting hour).

  86. 86.

    Soprano2

    July 26, 2022 at 3:11 pm

    @Lapassionara: With the rainfall totals I saw there had to be widespread flooding everywhere. I feel so badly for MSD (Metro St. Louis Sewer District). Sucks to be them right now. I can’t even imagine the calls they must have gotten about something they can’t do anything about.

  87. 87.

    Roger Moore

    July 26, 2022 at 3:18 pm

    @Tony G:

    Roberts still wants to be invited to respectable cocktail parties. The other five don’t care about that. In a way, he’s worse than they are.

    I think it’s more strategic than that.  Roberts understands the importance of maintaining good PR.  He wants to undermine stuff subtly so people continue to respect the Court and its decisions as it guts the laws Republicans don’t like.  The more radical members don’t care and just want to tear down the liberal order as fast as possible.  The cratering public opinion of the Court shows how much harm the radicals can do to the Court’s public perception if they aren’t careful.  IMO, that strategic vision is exactly why W chose Roberts as the new Chief Justice.

  88. 88.

    zhena gogolia

    July 26, 2022 at 3:20 pm

    RIP Tony Dow.

  89. 89.

    West of the Rockies

    July 26, 2022 at 3:21 pm

    @SFAW:

    Worst fan fic ever.

  90. 90.

    scav

    July 26, 2022 at 3:22 pm

    Those Opus Dei creeps have undoubtedly embraced the old Jesuit execrable doctrine of equivocation.

    Knock, knock! Who’s there, in th’ other devil’s name? Faith, here’s an equivocator that could swear in both the scales against either scale, who committed treason enough for God’s sake yet could not equivocate to heaven. O, come in, equivocator.

  91. 91.

    Ruckus

    July 26, 2022 at 3:29 pm

    @Tazj:

    I wonder if their “love” of all these disastrous decisions is because conservatives have been losing their “control” for a number of years and the only way they are going to be able to get their hate on is to reimpose doctrine from the 15th century?

  92. 92.

    PST

    July 26, 2022 at 3:33 pm

    @sab:

    12 year olds in a stamping plant? That’s dangerous work for adults.

    My father worked in one once after high school while waiting for the navy to take him. He said, “You could estimate a man’s seniority by counting his fingers.”

  93. 93.

    geg6

    July 26, 2022 at 3:36 pm

    @Ruckus:

    No need to wonder.  You’re exactly right.

  94. 94.

    Ruckus

    July 26, 2022 at 3:37 pm

    @Leto:

    Well, NO, of course not. My reading skills are almost as old as I am….

    Yes, that does make my comment – wrong, incorrect, stupid, asinine….

    I have awarded myself an F for the morning. I make no guarantees that I will be able to do better in the future, but I’ll sure damn well make the attempt.

    So, NEVER MIND, I’ll shut the hell up now……

  95. 95.

    raven

    July 26, 2022 at 3:38 pm

    @Ruckus: Morning????

  96. 96.

    Ruckus

    July 26, 2022 at 3:42 pm

    @raven:

    I was awake at 3 am this morning, woke up at 10:30.

    This retirement stuff is hard on a person, sleep when you want, wake up late, do whatever the hell you want, time has ceased to run my life. So yes it was my morning….. And I’m sticking to that. And for anyone who might think it, I stopped drinking over 20 yrs ago…..

  97. 97.

    Redshift

    July 26, 2022 at 3:45 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: The more Bannon wants to run his mouth, the better. Any “appeals” will be bogus arguments about how the judge was wrong to exclude his bullshit defenses (his “I should be allowed to call Nancy Pelosi and Benny Thompson” is equivalent to arguing a traffic ticket by saying the chief of police should be required to explain why traffic laws apply to you personally), so all this talk will do is provide copious evidence of lack of remorse for sentencing.

    While any jail time would be great, possibly the most positive outcome is that he’s no longer someone with no previous record for purposes of sentencing guidelines, the next time he pulls one of his bullshit schemes and gets arrested. (Yeah, I’m an optimist, you don’t have to tell me.)

  98. 98.

    Redshift

    July 26, 2022 at 3:49 pm

    @Roger Moore: Kinda weird that the Federalist Society didn’t take that into account, though. Considering what a long game they played, you’d think they’d realize that just because you’ve “won,” that doesn’t guarantee you’ve won forever, and would pay more attention to preserving their victories.

  99. 99.

    Gravenstone

    July 26, 2022 at 3:49 pm

    @Leto: Someone dearly wants their ass to land in prison for a very, very long time.

  100. 100.

    Leto

    July 26, 2022 at 3:50 pm

    @Ruckus: <3 I can see you’re enjoying retirement, and as a fellow retired, WELCOME! :)

  101. 101.

    Gravenstone

    July 26, 2022 at 3:51 pm

    @Leto: Wondering if the families put their kids out there to get extra money, or if the plant put the squeeze on them under threat of turning them into INS?

    Actually, I don’t wonder at all…

  102. 102.

    Leto

    July 26, 2022 at 3:52 pm

    @Gravenstone: That’s the thing, Trumpov signed the “Section F” executive order in Oct 2020, but Biden rescinded it. That EO basically turned most non-political appointments in the Executive Branch into “at-will” employment. They’re planning on replacing everyone and installing “loyalists”. Another coup attempt, essentially.

  103. 103.

    Gravenstone

    July 26, 2022 at 3:56 pm

    @sab: But the wee little scamps are just the right size to squeeze in between the presses. Just like in good old Victorian England!

  104. 104.

    raven

    July 26, 2022 at 4:04 pm

    @Ruckus: Artemis the dog will have no truck with sleeping in!

  105. 105.

    Dangerman

    July 26, 2022 at 4:12 pm

    @Soprano2:

    The Don Deckinger game would be interesting now; it would have been overturned on review and World Series is over.

    KC had another play that would have been interesting to end the WS. Royals/Giants and left fielder for SF completely bones the play. Royals player stops at third and doesn’t force a throw home. Good throw and he’s out, thus ending WS, but bad throw and game tied. Grow a pair, 3rd base coach.

    ETA: WS has never ended on a throw home. Kinda like last weeks 8-5 triple play, woulda been interesting to see.

  106. 106.

    James E Powell

    July 26, 2022 at 4:18 pm

    @Bill Arnold:

    What Bannon thinks will happen =/= what will happen, but how confident are you that the Rs won’t win the house?

  107. 107.

    Bill Arnold

    July 26, 2022 at 4:19 pm

    @lowtechcyclist:

    Anyone remember what the wingnuts (including Fox News, of course) said about how the leaker should be punished??

    Here’s one from the NY Post, May 3 2022:
    The Supreme Court’s integrity demands its leaker be prosecuted — and the decision released now (Andrew C. McCarthy, May 3, 2022)

    It would be difficult to cite a higher American public interest than conducting a criminal investigation of the Supreme Court leak. The current security of the justices and the long-term viability of the court as an institution depend on it.

  108. 108.

    schrodingers_cat

    July 26, 2022 at 4:22 pm

    We have to thank Nader voters in Florida for giving us both Alito and Roberts. With friends like the purity progressives who needs enemies

    The conservative 5 brought to you by Nader and Stein voters.

  109. 109.

    Soprano2

    July 26, 2022 at 4:23 pm

    @Dangerman: I’ve thought about that. I hated that we lost on a bad play like that. I don’t mind losing fair and square, but when the call is so bad that everyone but Kansas City and the ump could see it, well…..Plus, that was one of the best St. Louis teams I’ve ever watched, they totally deserved that World Series win.

  110. 110.

    raven

    July 26, 2022 at 4:25 pm

    Insane goal by Russo for England!

  111. 111.

    Soprano2

    July 26, 2022 at 4:26 pm

    @schrodingers_cat: They didn’t help, but the person who designed the Palm Beach ballot in 2000 is probably what actually cost Gore the election. I doubt over 3,000 people in that county meant to vote for Pat Buchanan, but that’s who they accidentally voted for. Even 2,000 votes the right way would have meant Gore was ahead, and things would have been different. Lots and lots of “what ifs” with that election. I still want to know what happened in Leon County, for example. I think that’s the one where they destroyed the ballots as soon as they could.

  112. 112.

    Jackie

    July 26, 2022 at 4:29 pm

    @zhena gogolia: Apparently premature announcement; he IS in hospice. https://nypost.com/2022/07/26/leave-it-to-beaver-star-tony-dow-still-alive-wife-mistakenly-believed-he-was-dead/amp/

  113. 113.

    catclub

    July 26, 2022 at 4:30 pm

    @Captain C:

     

    Which is why I will forever refer to this court as the Dred Scott Roberts court.

    Dread Pirate Roberts ref!

  114. 114.

    James E Powell

    July 26, 2022 at 4:32 pm

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    LGM has a piece arguing that Alito leaked his own draft.

    I agree. My theory is that he did it to show any wavering votes that the reaction would not be extreme. They were always going to do it. That was determined when RBG died. Their only concern was whether it would blow up in the Rs faces for the midterms. The reaction to the leaked opinion was pretty mild, so they went ahead and did it.

    It remains to be seen whether Dobbs has any outcome determinative impact on the midterm elections. We can hope it will, we can say it should, but I will be surprised if abortion rights causes any R to lose. I can’t think of a recent election when it did.

  115. 115.

    cain

    July 26, 2022 at 4:33 pm

    @Captain C: I’m glad that you didn’t insult the whole thing by calling it Dread Pirate Roberts instead.

    ETA – thank you – 115. I’ll take it.

  116. 116.

    trollhattan

    July 26, 2022 at 4:34 pm

    @raven:

    Managed to find the video (not able to watch). Holy hell. A nutmeg to boot.

    https://twitter.com/JeffKassouf/status/1552027851926474754?cxt=HHwWhMC4uffG9IkrAAAA

    Not even Sam Kerr…..

  117. 117.

    cain

    July 26, 2022 at 4:37 pm

    @Ruckus: Well you sure caused a Ruckus. The name fits? :-)

  118. 118.

    Bill Arnold

    July 26, 2022 at 4:38 pm

    @James E Powell:

    but how confident are you that the Rs won’t win the house?

    Bannon has already been convicted. He can try to get it overturned, but it was a straightforward case. The new House could I suppose ask that the charges be dropped, but the offense would have been against the previous House, and it was committed. Definitely am not a lawyer though.
    As to confidence about the outcomes of the Nov 2022 elections, well, they are a (adversarial) work in progress.

    ETA the DoJ also appears to be interested in S-Bannon for insurrection-related reasons.

  119. 119.

    Dangerman

    July 26, 2022 at 4:39 pm

    @Soprano2: I just watched an interesting YouTube. Top 5 reasons you can’t blame Dekinger. I thought the play at first was 3rd out but it was lead off.

    Only play I can recall that was that bad a call was Yankees Twins a few years ago. Fair or foul down 3rd base line and Ump flat blew it. I recall it being fair by a foot.

    There was a Braves game (against Cardinals, IIRC) where there was a questionable infield fly call but at least that one was debatable.

    Instant replay that stuff goes away.

  120. 120.

    Uncle Cosmo

    July 26, 2022 at 4:40 pm

    @Captain C: Extreme Court of the United States – XCOTUS, pronounced “Execute us!”

  121. 121.

    raven

    July 26, 2022 at 4:45 pm

    @trollhattan: What’s a nutmeg?

  122. 122.

    Ruckus

    July 26, 2022 at 4:47 pm

    @raven:

    Now that would be a great way to be woken up!

  123. 123.

    sab

    July 26, 2022 at 4:48 pm

    @Uncle Cosmo: Works on signs but might get you in trouble if you just yelled it in the wrong circumstances.

  124. 124.

    Leto

    July 26, 2022 at 4:50 pm

    @raven: when a player moves the ball between another players legs. So kick it between their feet: nutmeg.

  125. 125.

    trollhattan

    July 26, 2022 at 4:51 pm

    @raven: @Leto:

    Yes, in this instance the keeper’s legs, which is mortifying to a keeper.

  126. 126.

    Ruckus

    July 26, 2022 at 4:52 pm

    @cain:

    Didn’t choose it without intent…….

  127. 127.

    HinTN

    July 26, 2022 at 4:52 pm

    @Soprano2:

    I’m sure he meant the black-black-blackity part of the city

    You should have just said so. Fuck these fucking fucktards.

  128. 128.

    raven

    July 26, 2022 at 4:54 pm

    @trollhattan: Aha, even in the women’s game!

  129. 129.

    pajaro

    July 26, 2022 at 4:55 pm

    @Dangerman:

    If the Don Denkinger call is overturned, there’s one out in the Ninth.

  130. 130.

    raven

    July 26, 2022 at 4:56 pm

    @Ruckus: She’s so funny. If I get up before 5am she can wait but, any later, that long tail gets ta waggin!

  131. 131.

    Leto

    July 26, 2022 at 4:56 pm

    @trollhattan: oh god… yeah, that’s bad. I mean, I’ve seen it in all levels but it’s always like… poor keep =/

  132. 132.

    sab

    July 26, 2022 at 4:59 pm

    @raven: I can never say No to a pitbull tail. Persistent little whips those guys have on the back end.

  133. 133.

    pajaro

    July 26, 2022 at 5:00 pm

    @Bill Arnold:

    One of the things that points to the conservatives leaking is the fact that there was an actual leak the preceding week to the Wall Street Journal (no liberals need apply) describing the worry of “some” on the court that Justice Boof might not be 100% reliable and might fall victim to Roberts’ effort to craft a compromise.

    The Journal article both shows that someone on the right might leak, and it also establishes a motive for someone on the right to leak the draft.

  134. 134.

    r€nato

    July 26, 2022 at 5:02 pm

    anybody read Chris Cilizza’s latest bOtH SiDeS!?!?!!!??ELEVENTY!!??!?! bullshit?

    Democrats have spent months insisting that the aftermath of the 2020 election — and January 6 in particular — amounted to a fundamental threat to American democracy and was, therefore, above petty partisan politics.

    Which is true!

    But, the actions of Democratic campaigns and committees — meddling in Republican primaries to try to ensure election deniers wind up as the party’s nominee so they can run against supposedly weaker candidates — suggests that all of those pledges about democracy are mere words, not borne out by action.

     

    I can’t even with this guy.

  135. 135.

    eversor

    July 26, 2022 at 5:03 pm

    I’m going to vote R this ticket, we won’t tackle the Christian issue so fuck it drive it home.   I’ll vote D again when when we have a plan to strip their rights and kill them.  Till then. we should lose, and I support our death.

  136. 136.

    Baud

    July 26, 2022 at 5:03 pm

    @James E Powell:

    The reaction to the leaked opinion was pretty mild, so they went ahead and did it.

     

    A decent chunk of the reaction was blaming Democrats.

  137. 137.

    Cacti

    July 26, 2022 at 5:05 pm

    If a left winger had leaked it, the info would be public by now.

  138. 138.

    rikyrah

    July 26, 2022 at 5:06 pm

    Knew that it was a right-winger that had leaked it.

    When they stopped bringing it up.

  139. 139.

    Betty

    July 26, 2022 at 5:11 pm

    @zhena gogolia: Already corrected. Still not good news though.

  140. 140.

    James E Powell

    July 26, 2022 at 5:16 pm

    @Baud:

    A decent chunk of the reaction was blaming Democrats.

    I sometimes wonder if people really believe that or if it’s just a reflexive reaction to everything.

    So much of what passes for political discourse is just a thrown together mix of tropes & phrases that are deeply ingrained. They seem to explain things – both sides, the left is too extreme, Democrats in disarray, voting is a waste of time – but they actually work to obscure what is really going on. They seem to be pretty effective. Like a drug people take to relieve them from the pain of thinking & acting.

  141. 141.

    Cacti

    July 26, 2022 at 5:17 pm

    And for the love of all that is good and wholesome, would the liberal Justices PLEASE stop making a point to say what swell people the SCOTUS theocrats are on a personal level.

    If they’re willing to use their position to strip rights away from Americans for political reasons, they’re not good people.  And I don’t give AF if they’re a pleasant co-worker.

  142. 142.

    Miss Bianca

    July 26, 2022 at 5:19 pm

    @eversor: Yawn. Must you stay? Can’t you go?

  143. 143.

    ian

    July 26, 2022 at 5:21 pm

    @eversor: your back! I wondered what that smell was.

  144. 144.

    prostratedragon

    July 26, 2022 at 5:28 pm

    Note on site to WaterGirl, if you see it: On this page, and this page only it seems, the NoScript add-on that I use will not allow scripts to execute, even though I’ve permitted them for balloon-juice.com and the various other contributing sites that make the pages work. Repeat, it’s only this article so far; the next post and previous posts all seem to work as they should, as does the top page. Next time there’s a site-related post I’ll try to mention it.

  145. 145.

    raven

    July 26, 2022 at 5:28 pm

    @sab: We’ve been amazed at how she tumps!

  146. 146.

    prostratedragon

    July 26, 2022 at 5:34 pm

    @prostratedragon:  Now, strangely enough, I just got all the scripts running by clicking “here to refresh.”
    Strange, because refreshing from the browser control was not working, and because as noted I was having no trouble with any other page before or after this one.

  147. 147.

    Elizabelle

    July 26, 2022 at 6:22 pm

    This Supreme Court stinks of illegitimacy.  You cannot not see it.

    I wonder how these fine minds, the USSC conservatives and GOP politicians, never got the concept of “consent of the governed.”

  148. 148.

    Soprano2

    July 26, 2022 at 6:27 pm

    @Dangerman: That play completely changed the momentum of the game. You can’t quantify that. Fucking Denkinger.

  149. 149.

    Steeplejack

    July 26, 2022 at 6:31 pm

    Relevant meme.

  150. 150.

    Citizen Alan

    July 26, 2022 at 6:35 pm

    @schrodingers_cat:

    To be fair, we have Osama bin Laden to thank for alito and Robertd. Bush had no Supreme Court vacancies during his 1st term. And I’m convinced that he would have never been re elected had it not been for 911.

  151. 151.

    livewyre

    July 26, 2022 at 6:37 pm

    @Elizabelle: In short, they get it – they just affirmatively oppose it. Conservatism means you take the place you’re given or else. Consent is an obscenity. Just ask Limbaugh’s ghost.

  152. 152.

    WaterGirl

    July 26, 2022 at 9:08 pm

    PSA: raffle ticket sales end at midnight tonight.  See the posts in the sidebar for more information.

    Also copied here for convenience for mobile peeps:

    Ukraine Quilt Raffle

    Tickets for “Sale” thru Tuesday
    Raffle Tickets Available!

    Individual Blocks are Available

  153. 153.

    Uncle Cosmo

    July 26, 2022 at 9:26 pm

    @HinTN: Shoulda said

    Oh yeah? Now just what part of the city would that be?

    And if he clams up, start naming pricey whitey neighborhoods & adding after each, “Wouldn’t be much of a loss there, would it?” til the fucker ‘splodes.

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