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You are here: Home / Politics / Good News for People Who Care About Human Life

Good News for People Who Care About Human Life

by WaterGirl|  January 22, 20243:31 pm| 115 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads, Politics, Supreme Court, Supreme Court Corruption

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This is a relief. Though it’s disgusting that 4 SC justices do not appear to care about human life.

BREAKING: The Supreme Court, by a vote of 5-4, has cleared the way for federal agents to remove the razor wire fencing along the Texas-Mexico border which Biden administration officials and immigration advocates had called dangerous and inhumane. https://t.co/EGaASy6hLP pic.twitter.com/O9BR34wKBp

— ABC News (@ABC) January 22, 2024

Steve Vladeck names names.

#BREAKING: By 5-4 vote, #SCOTUS *grants* Biden administration request to vacate Fifth Circuit injunction in Texas border razor-wire case; clears way for federal officials to remove physical impediments to the border.

Justices Thomas, Alito, Gorsuch, and Kavanaugh dissent.

— Steve Vladeck (@steve_vladeck) January 22, 2024

h/t Dorothy Winsor for breaking the news in the previous thread.

ABC news

The Department of Homeland Security has also argued that the state’s activities interfered with clear federal supremacy in setting border enforcement policy.

The Supreme Court’s order did not elaborate on the decision. It means federal border agents can resume full control of the contested border area while litigation continues.

Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh said they would have denied the administration’s request to lift a lower court injunction that was blocking removal of the wire.

I have been seen a lot of talk over the past week comparing this disregard of federal supremacy to the actions that were in defiance of the ruling on desegregation all those years ago.  Happy to see the defiance generally called out in the legal proceedings, even if the filings didn’t mention the connection with desegregation.

Open thread.

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Reader Interactions

115Comments

  1. 1.

    Baud

    January 22, 2024 at 3:34 pm

    6 justices don’t care about human life.  2 of them happened to actually read the law in this case.

  2. 2.

    Villago Delenda Est

    January 22, 2024 at 3:37 pm

    @Baud: ​On target, fire for effect.

  3. 3.

    MisterForkbeard

    January 22, 2024 at 3:38 pm

    How the fuck did this ever get to 5-4? What part of “The federal executive branch controls immigration and border actions” have the Supreme’s not understood?

    Oh, it’s the “Republican federal executive branch controls immigration and border actions, unless the local governors want to kill brown people” strict constitutional reading.

  4. 4.

    Yutsano

    January 22, 2024 at 3:38 pm

    Oh good. Something to discuss that isn’t “A.I. is coming to get me!” that I can imagine Abbott choking on his salad over. I don’t really care how the 5 got to their conclusions. I just care the right thing will now happen.

  5. 5.

    Villago Delenda Est

    January 22, 2024 at 3:39 pm

    @MisterForkbeard: The Federalist/Feudalist Society hates the Enlightenment, the Constitution, and the very notion of the rule of law.  We’d retrograde back to Divine Right if they had their way, and this is proof.

  6. 6.

    waspuppet

    January 22, 2024 at 3:40 pm

    “How many divisions has John Roberts?”

    —Murderer Greg Abbott right now, probably

  7. 7.

    Scout211

    January 22, 2024 at 3:40 pm

    The case is not over.The 5th will hear arguments on February 7th.

    Steve Vladeck, CNN Supreme Court analyst and professor at the University of Texas School of Law, said that while the order is a victory for the Biden administration, the delay in issuing it raises future questions.

    “Whatever one thinks of current immigration policy, it ought not to be that controversial that states cannot prevent the federal government from enforcing federal law – lest we set the stage for Democratic-led states to similarly attempt to frustrate the enforcement of federal policies by Republican presidents,” Vladeck said. “That four justices would still have left the lower-court injunction in place will be taken, rightly or wrongly, as a sign that some of those longstanding principles of constitutional federalism might be in a degree of flux.”

    Lawyers for the Biden administration argued that the appeals court ruling “turns … on its head” the Constitution’s Supremacy Clause, which states that federal laws take precedence over state laws.

    “The result of Texas’s position would be that States across the country could invoke their laws to impede the federal government’s exercise of its authority,” Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar wrote in court papers.

    But at least lives will be saved and the Federal Government can still do its job at the Texas border right now.

  8. 8.

    Leto

    January 22, 2024 at 3:42 pm

    @Villago Delenda Est: repeat

  9. 9.

    Villago Delenda Est

    January 22, 2024 at 3:45 pm

    @Leto: You know the lingo!

  10. 10.

    geg6

    January 22, 2024 at 3:47 pm

    @Baud:

    This.

  11. 11.

    trollhattan

    January 22, 2024 at 3:48 pm

    “If they’re  invading, are they even people?”

    The vile four, probably.

  12. 12.

    WaterGirl

    January 22, 2024 at 3:50 pm

    @Scout211: I have begin to wonder if any court case is ever really over.  It feels like the appeals and delays go on forever.

  13. 13.

    Scout211

    January 22, 2024 at 3:51 pm

    @Baud: 6 justices don’t care about human life

    I beg to differ.  They care about zygotes, fetuses and billionaires.

  14. 14.

    WaterGirl

    January 22, 2024 at 3:54 pm

    @trollhattan: Not if the people are brown and poor, apparently.

  15. 15.

    AlaskaReader

    January 22, 2024 at 3:54 pm

    …a sign that some of those longstanding principles of constitutional federalism might be in a degree of flux.

    Such a polite way of saying it, no?

    Points for saying it, even so.  Way too many still don’t want to believe it.

  16. 16.

    Leto

    January 22, 2024 at 3:54 pm

    @Villago Delenda Est: ​ yes sir; learned that in tech school (A school), had to know it for deployments, as well as taught it during my time as an instructor. My career field (2E1X3) has a long history joint integration. It’s also where the TACP originated (they were originally ROMADs).

  17. 17.

    WaterGirl

    January 22, 2024 at 3:55 pm

    @Scout211: Are any of those people? :-)

  18. 18.

    Leto

    January 22, 2024 at 3:55 pm

    @Scout211: if we don’t care about the poor billionaires, who will??? – SCROTUS 6

  19. 19.

    fairdinkum

    January 22, 2024 at 3:56 pm

    Thomas, Alito, Gorsuch, and Kavanaugh need to be required to take remedial Con Law courses,  tied to student desks and their eyelids taped open.

  20. 20.

    WaterGirl

    January 22, 2024 at 3:57 pm

    @Leto:

    if we don’t care about the poor billionaires who enrich our person lives immensely, who will??? – SCROTUS 6

    FTFY

  21. 21.

    comrade scotts agenda of rage

    January 22, 2024 at 4:03 pm

    @fairdinkum:

    Thomas, Alito, Gorsuch, and Kavanaugh need to be required to take remedial Con Law courses, put onto a tiny ice floe, naked and pushed, far, far out to sea.

     

    Or that.

  22. 22.

    Leto

    January 22, 2024 at 4:06 pm

    @WaterGirl:  good catch :)

  23. 23.

    Scout211

    January 22, 2024 at 4:07 pm

    In O/T news, more  intrigue in Georgia.

    The judge in the divorce of Wade v Wade has put the deposition of Fani Willis on hold and order the divorce records to be unsealed.

  24. 24.

    prostratedragon

    January 22, 2024 at 4:13 pm

    When I saw this, I took it as a generic sign that somebody, Parloff, has had enough.
    Then I saw this crap. They’re kicking the lying up a notch.

  25. 25.

    Another Scott

    January 22, 2024 at 4:15 pm

    @MisterForkbeard: +1

    It’s infuriating.

    I remember not all that long ago when the SCOTUS ruled on something and the lower courts understood the ruling, and the state governments understood the ruling, and things that were clearly against the SCOTUS ruling would not keep moving up the chain unless there was something compelling, especially if they didn’t have standing.

    Now, these RWNJs have no compunction about court-shopping and filing lawsuits about anything at all.

    RWNJ – “These people existing violate my strongly held religious beliefs, therefore I’m going to write a law that anyone can sue them into poverty and since it’s not the state enforcing there’s nothing you can do to stop me.”

    SCOTUS – “What an interesting legal theory.  We’ll let it stand while we ponder…”

    Like you, NO, I’m not going to give a couple of RWNJs kudos for being able to understand clear English and 200+ years of federal supremacy doctrine.  Brickbats to the 4 on the other side.

    Isn’t it about time for the SCOTUS to slap the 5th Circuit around and tell them to stop with this crap??

    Fight for 15!!

    Grr…,
    Scott.

  26. 26.

    Yutsano

    January 22, 2024 at 4:17 pm

    @Scout211: ​Ugh. I hate to say it but Fani Willis is not looking good here.

  27. 27.

    Soprano2

    January 22, 2024 at 4:19 pm

    @AlaskaReader: I would love to know how these purported “originalists” who say they believe in the plain language of the Constitution get around the Supremacy Clause. “We don’t like the federal government right now, so we think the Supremacy Clause isn’t a thing”? “Oogga booga scary brown people?” I mean, really it’s insane to think each state can set their own immigration policy.

  28. 28.

    HumboldtBlue

    January 22, 2024 at 4:23 pm

    @Yutsano: ​ 

    Nope.

  29. 29.

    prostratedragon

    January 22, 2024 at 4:33 pm

    @Yutsano:  Nothing new against her here at all. The judge noted that she was subpoenaed in connection with the financial arrangements of the divorce, but that Wade himself has not even been deposed, and in fact the wholw action has been dormant for months. Therefore it is not clear to the judge that Willis’s testimony is even warranted. The unsealing of the materials on file concerns some technicalities I’m not getting near.

  30. 30.

    trollhattan

    January 22, 2024 at 4:35 pm

    So, Elmo had this great idea and we love those.

    Tech billionaire Elon Musk has visited the site of the Auschwitz death camp.

    The visit comes after intense criticism of how X, formerly Twitter, tackles antisemitic posts and just weeks after Mr Musk apologised for endorsing an antisemitic conspiracy theory.

    Prominent Jewish leaders called for Mr Musk to see for himself one of the most symbolic sites of the Holocaust.
    Later he will address online antisemitism at a conference hosted by the European Jewish Association (EJA).
    Nazi Germany murdered at least 1.1 million people in the Auschwitz death camp in occupied Poland during World War Two. Almost one million were Jews. The museum notes more than 200,000 were children and young people.

    Mr Musk laid a wreath and participated in a memorial service, including lighting a candle, during a private visit to the site. Photos showed him there with his son on his shoulders and standing next to Holocaust survivor Gidon Lev.

    As a result of the fall-out over Mr Musk’s enthusiastic agreement with an antisemitic post, Apple, Disney and IBM paused ads on X. In response, the entrepreneur has accused advertisers of attempting to “blackmail” him with money, and used expletive filled language to express his disdain for their actions.

    The Tesla boss, who took over the platform in October 2022, faced accusations of antisemitism in November when he replied, “You have said the actual truth” to a post on X that made the false claim that Jewish communities push hatred against white people.

    X’s policies state that Holocaust denial is prohibited.
    Shortly after publication of an article about the incident, a museum spokesperson told the BBC that moderation was vital in tackling antisemitism but there seemed to be “a problem on X in the quality of moderating and responding to reports”.

    But the Tesla boss has strongly defended his record in combating online hate.

    In his discussion with Rabbi Margolin, Mr Musk said it was absurd that he was accused of antisemitism “when all the evidence points the other direction and my entire life story is in fact pro-semitic.”

    He previously threatened to file a suit against the Anti-Defamation League, a Jewish advocacy group, over its claims that problematic and racist speech has soared on the site since his takeover.

    Pro-semitic, gonna have to remember that one.

  31. 31.

    Another Scott

    January 22, 2024 at 4:41 pm

    Meanwhile, PM Rishi Sunak haz a sad.

    HappyToast★
    @IamHappyToast
    1h

    [ gif ]

    Brigid Fowler
    @Brigid_Fowler
    1h

    ❗️ House of Lords votes 214-171 *for* the motion that the Gov should not ratify the #RwandaTreaty “until the protections it provides have been fully implemented”

    Jan 22, 2024 · 7:55 PM UTC

    Amazing. AFAIK, the House of Lords is almost always a rubber stamp. Sunak must be furious.

    Yet another illustration that these incompetent RWNJs can’t count.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  32. 32.

    Another Scott

    January 22, 2024 at 4:45 pm

    @prostratedragon: Thank you.

    I refuse to get drawn into the sturm-and-drang about Willis and what may or may not have happened in her personal life.  Being led around by the press and the RWNJs and pushed to rush to judgment has never, ever, been good for us.

    Eyes on the prizes.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  33. 33.

    WaterGirl

    January 22, 2024 at 4:45 pm

    @prostratedragon: Yeah, all I read was that the papers to requesting that the records be sealed were somehow not filed properly. ??

  34. 34.

    geg6

    January 22, 2024 at 4:49 pm

    @Yutsano:

    Whoever ordered the sealing of the divorce case is the one looking bad.  Not sure if that was a Fani Willis request, but whoever did it wasn’t following the law.

  35. 35.

    WaterGirl

    January 22, 2024 at 4:49 pm

    @trollhattan: Lying liar who lies.

  36. 36.

    Jay

    January 22, 2024 at 5:02 pm

    @prostratedragon:

    I am guessing that Georgia doesn’t have no-fault divorce.

    Here, you don’t go to Court. You draw up a separation agreement, (financial responsibilities, custody, visitation, etc), with or with out lawyers, a year on, you draw up a divorce agreement, with or with out lawyers.

    Once signed by both parties in front of a witness, (lawyer, notary) it get’s filed with the court, and you are divorced.

    What can often hold up the  process is the “disposition of jointly owned property”, often a house, which has to be sold, as neither partner can afford to “buy” the other one out, and the true value of the property, (and fair division of the value) can only be established by a sale.

    Unfortunately, the speed and ease of the process does have a few problems. Often the choice of a separation and divorce is not mutual, and one partner gives concessions in the separation agreement, hoping to “heal” the relationship that become baked in in the divorce agreement. IMHO both partners should be at the stage where they both agree that the relationship is over, before anything is committed to paper.

  37. 37.

    prostratedragon

    January 22, 2024 at 5:04 pm

    @trollhattan:  How my heart sank when I read the first paragraph of the quote.

  38. 38.

    prostratedragon

    January 22, 2024 at 5:07 pm

    @WaterGirl:  Yeah, don’t really know what that means, maybe that the sealing procedure has to repeat from scratch?

  39. 39.

    trollhattan

    January 22, 2024 at 5:09 pm

    @prostratedragon:

    Yup: Auschwitz photo op was not on my 2024 bingo card. And it’s only January.

  40. 40.

    Odie Hugh Manatee

    January 22, 2024 at 5:12 pm

    @Baud:

    You zeroed in on that truth and nailed it dead center. I do hope that we are billing Texas for the removal costs. If so, I think it would be nice to have the bill hand delivered to the hateful prick that a majority of Texas voters chose for their governor.

    Fuck that majority of Texas voters and please do use Abbot as the dildo because that’s exactly what he is.

  41. 41.

    trollhattan

    January 22, 2024 at 5:13 pm

    See all the “Californians flee for Texas” articles but I didn’t realize there’s a missing part.

    A 57-year-old Northern California man was arrested on a domestic violence charge after kidnapping a woman Sunday in Marysville by forcing her into a vehicle and holding her captive in an attempt to take her to Texas, police said.

    Officers arrested the Yuba City man on suspicion of inflicting corporal injury to a spouse or cohabitant, kidnapping and false imprisonment, Yuba County Jail records show. He remained in custody Monday afternoon with his bail amount set at $500,000. Around 4:17 p.m. Sunday, officers received numerous emergency calls reporting a possible kidnapping and suspect holding the victim against her will in the 1200 block of B Street, the Marysville Police Department announced Monday in a news release.

    Officers responded to the scene, and Police Department personnel tracked a phone to find the suspect vehicle. Police said officers pulled over the vehicle on the north side of the levee on Jack Slough Road. The officers learned the man forced the woman into the vehicle, refused to let her out and was trying to take her to Texas, police said. The man and the woman know each other, police said. The Police Department, however, did not provide any further details about their relationship.
    https://www.sacbee.com/news/local/crime/article284548460.html#storylink=cpy

    “It’s cheap, there’s freedoms everywhere, and you get ME” are all pretty compelling.

  42. 42.

    TBone

    January 22, 2024 at 5:22 pm

    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=LIovUBTrTa0

  43. 43.

    WaterGirl

    January 22, 2024 at 5:22 pm

    @prostratedragon: One would think, though, that it would remain sealed while they are jumping through the hoops to seal it again.

  44. 44.

    Ken

    January 22, 2024 at 5:23 pm

    @trollhattan: “Once we cross into Texas, you’ll have to stay with me, cause women aren’t allowed to leave the state on their own!”

  45. 45.

    Jackie

    January 22, 2024 at 5:23 pm

    This OT, but it gives me great pleasure every time I read it!😊

    Punchbowl News: “Rep. Bill Johnson’s (R-OH) resignation took effect today. Johnson, who served six terms in the House, retired to become the president of Youngstown State University.”

    “Johnson’s retirement gives House Republicans the smallest GOP majority in decades. Speaker Mike Johnson has absolutely no room to maneuver on votes. As of today, the whole number of the House is 432. House Majority Leader Steve Scalise has been out for a few weeks recovering from a stem cell transplant, further narrowing the majority.”

  46. 46.

    karen marie

    January 22, 2024 at 5:24 pm

    I’m a bit surprised no one’s commented on the gorilla in the decision – Coney-Barrett.

    Did she get the short straw because she’s the new kid?

    I take the 5-4 ruling as a threat by the so-called conservatives.  “We didn’t fuck with federal jurisdiction this time but don’t think we won’t.”

  47. 47.

    Yutsano

    January 22, 2024 at 5:26 pm

    @Jackie: That was the most paywall of paywalls I have ever seen!

    EDIT: I’ll be back on the dry side here soon recovering at my parents’s place. I’ll keep y’all updated.

  48. 48.

    karen marie

    January 22, 2024 at 5:27 pm

    @Another Scott:   Thank you.  I started to write something similar earlier but I accidentally closed the tab.

  49. 49.

    Jackie

    January 22, 2024 at 5:29 pm

    @Yutsano: Oh, I didn’t realize it was paywalled! I was just enjoying the summation. I’ll seek an un paywalled source.

    Here’s one:

    https://newrepublic.com/post/178306/house-republicans-shrink-majority-chaos

  50. 50.

    TBone

    January 22, 2024 at 5:32 pm

    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=3uMRpNwelDk

  51. 51.

    Betty Cracker

    January 22, 2024 at 5:33 pm

    Regarding the Willis issue, I ask myself if I would find the actions she took improper if a crappy MAGA Repub DA did them. The answer is yes.

  52. 52.

    Leto

    January 22, 2024 at 5:34 pm

    @Jackie: Ed O’Oneill (Modern Family, Married with Children) returned his honorary degree over that appointment. Had a pretty good rant about it too.

  53. 53.

    WaterGirl

    January 22, 2024 at 5:38 pm

    @Jackie: I can’t recall.  Do Dems have 218 or 216?

    edit: oh, looks like we had 212.

  54. 54.

    Barbara

    January 22, 2024 at 5:40 pm

    @Betty Cracker: I don’t know whether it was proper or improper but I don’t understand why the defendant has standing to assert them.

    Unless the prosecutor is suspended from duty, life goes on as normal in prosecutions.

  55. 55.

    JaySinWA

    January 22, 2024 at 5:41 pm

    I was reading a counterpoint to a David Brooks column here:
    https://donmoynihan.substack.com/p/what-david-brooks-gets-wrong-about

    (not paywalled, just say no to subscription)

    There is a section on Health care administration costs imposed by free market forces that echo some of David Anderson’s posts here. But the whole article talks about how Brooks gets much of his arguments wrong, while agreeing with the premise of the “time tax”

    Here’s a pretty solid argument that Trump will make bureaucracy worse:

    Its not just Trump. Across a wide swath of domains, conservatives have deliberately and consistently layered more and more bureaucracy onto peoples lives in public services: abortion, voting, and safety net services. Education is another example: An excellent recent piece in the New York Times detailed how DeSantis anti-trans policies has exponentially increased paperwork for all parents and school staff on matters as minor as whether a student can get a band-aid without parental paperwork. The case vividly illustrates how burdens emerge when policymakers distrust both the public and their own employees.

    Administrative burdens can be a form of policymaking by other means, allowing the achievement of social control or other policy goals with a measure of plausible deniability in cases where the true purposes of policymakers are unpopular. If Brooks does progressives a service by pointing out how their well-intentioned values unintentionally beget administrative burdens, he also misses how conservatives are perfectly happy to impose bureaucracy upon citizens for less noble reasons.

  56. 56.

    lowtechcyclist

    January 22, 2024 at 5:43 pm

    @WaterGirl:

    Wikipedia says 213; Rethugs have 219.

  57. 57.

    EarthWindFire

    January 22, 2024 at 5:46 pm

    @Baud: 6 justices don’t care about human life.

     Those six LET THEM BE BORN, so their work is done./paraphrased from actual RWNJ who I am no longer friendly toward

  58. 58.

    Scout211

    January 22, 2024 at 5:49 pm

    @Betty Cracker: Regarding the Willis issue, I ask myself if I would find the actions she took improper if a crappy MAGA Repub DA did them. The answer is yes.

    I’m reserving my opinion on all of this until we get past the accusations and hear some actual facts. I may agree with you in the end but in my opinion, the facts aren’t known yet

  59. 59.

    TBone

    January 22, 2024 at 5:51 pm

    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ubvV498pyIM

  60. 60.

    Alison Rose

    January 22, 2024 at 5:55 pm

    I’m really not enjoying living in the “some people think it’s totally okay to slice humans apart with razor wire because they wanted to exist somewhere near you” timeline.

  61. 61.

    Omnes Omnibus

    January 22, 2024 at 5:56 pm

    @Barbara: I agree.

  62. 62.

    prostratedragon

    January 22, 2024 at 5:56 pm

    @WaterGirl:  That’s definitely part of what I don’t understand.

  63. 63.

    Jackie

    January 22, 2024 at 5:56 pm

    @Leto: I remember reading that! I wonder if others followed suit.

  64. 64.

    Alison Rose

    January 22, 2024 at 5:56 pm

    @JaySinWA: I do love that the URL is just “What David Brooks Gets Wrong about” because that is truly an evergreen fill-in-the-blank subject line.

  65. 65.

    prostratedragon

    January 22, 2024 at 5:58 pm

    @trollhattan:  How times have changed. With Prince it was Tennessee. Tennessee.

  66. 66.

    Citizen Alan

    January 22, 2024 at 5:59 pm

    @Scout211:  No, just millionaires (or more probably, just the billionaires). No Republican has any concern for zygotes or fetuses or else they would  give a shit about our abysmal rates of miscarriage and infant mortality. They value fetuses and zygotes SOLELY for their use in inflicting suffering and even death on women. Eve at the apple, and all women must suffer.

  67. 67.

    Jay

    January 22, 2024 at 6:01 pm

    @Betty Cracker:

    So far, the only thing amongst the allegations that has been confirmed, is that she took “free” airplane tickets from a subcontractor and travelled with him.

    As I commented previously on the same subject, I bought lots of tickets for various people, because I was travelling so much for work, (who bought my tickets) that I had accumulated so many AirMiles points that I would never use, (back in the day, the passenger got the points, not the purchaser). So, in one case, I flew “The Boys From Cleveland” (a Hardware Vendor) out and back on my AirMiles, because I really needed to meet with them urgently, face to face, on a major issue.

    So far, all of the “smoke” are allegations, so it’s a little early for the torches and pitchforks.

    Cough, cough, cough, SCOTUS,………

  68. 68.

    Jackie

    January 22, 2024 at 6:02 pm

    @Scout211: I’m with you. I hope it’s much ado over nothing, but it will be what it is.

    Nobody’s perfect; we’re humans, after all. I like to think we hold Democrats to the same standards as republicans.

  69. 69.

    TBone

    January 22, 2024 at 6:02 pm

    @Barbara: the defendant Roman was a Koch operative (oppo research) according to Jane Mayer.  I don’t see why he has standing either.

  70. 70.

    JaySinWA

    January 22, 2024 at 6:02 pm

    @JaySinWA: Sorry, not just Trump, he talks about conservatives actively working to break things.

     

    @Alison Rose: Evergreen should resonate here.

  71. 71.

    TriassicSands

    January 22, 2024 at 6:03 pm

    Justices Thomas, Alito, Gorsuch, and Kavanaugh dissent.

    There has never been any doubt that Thomas and Alito are two of the worst SCOTUS justices in our history. When Gorsuch was appointed, I speculated that he could become the worst justice of all. I was all-too-aware of whom his mother and the bottomless pit of corruption and depravity she was. I feared that Neil would be his mother’s son. He has more than lived down to that expectation. His mother would be proud.

    Kavanaugh is the least consistently terrible of the four, with occasional votes that separate him from the other three, but I would never suspect him of caring about people. The whole anti-abortion garbage is about, I would guess, mindless adherence to religious doctrine with no actual concern for the fetus.
    I assume he values adult human beings primarily based on their potential as beer-drinking partners.

  72. 72.

    WaterGirl

    January 22, 2024 at 6:07 pm

    @TriassicSands: You forgot to mention that for the rapey beer judge, women are there for the taking.

  73. 73.

    Another Scott

    January 22, 2024 at 6:07 pm

    @Scout211: @Citizen Alan:

    It’s all an attempt to break the Democratic coalition to win elections. That’s what all this stuff has been about for decades.

    (repost) – Jill Lepore at the NewYorker – Birthright (from November 2011):

    In the late nineteen-seventies, the Republican strategists Richard Viguerie and Paul Weyrich, both of whom were Catholic, recruited Jerry Falwell into a coalition designed to bring together economic and social conservatives around a “pro-family” agenda, one that targeted gay rights, sexual freedom, women’s liberation, the E.R.A., child care, and sex education. Weyrich said that abortion ought to be “the keystone of their organizing strategy, since this was the issue that could divide the Democratic Party.” Falwell founded the Moral Majority in 1979; Paul Brown, the founder of the American Life League, scoffed in 1982, “Jerry Falwell couldn’t spell ‘abortion’ five years ago.”

    (Emphasis added.)

    They care about abortion as much as they care about flag burning and the Pledge of Allegiance and balancing the budget – zero. Absolutely zero. They care about finding ways to win elections when they no longer have the majority of voters.

    Grr…,
    Scott.

  74. 74.

    Scout211

    January 22, 2024 at 6:10 pm

    @Jay: So far, all of the “smoke” are allegations, so it’s a little early for the torches and pitchforks.

    And most of the allegations are coming out of a contentious divorce that was improperly sealed by a judge who has since recused herself.  The attorney for Wade said that both spouses agreed to seal the records originally. Ms. Wade’s attorney did not object when the judge ordered the records unsealed today.  AJC

    These are still not facts that back up Roman’s contention that Willis has a conflict of interest in his case.

  75. 75.

    Geminid

    January 22, 2024 at 6:12 pm

    @Barbara: The prosecution itself would not normally be affected by these allegations, it seems to me. The judge in the RICO case, Judge Atkins(?), says he will hold a hearing on this question in early February and has asked Willis to file a statement by February 2nd.

    Ms. Willis seems to violated her own office’s ethics code, though. I think they require an employee to avoid even the appearance of impropriety. A lot here may come down to her alleged “paramour’s” billing practices. They’d better be on the up and up; if they aren’t  he and Willis may have criminal exposure

    Ed. We’ll probably know about the billing before too long. I think this is a situation where everything is honna come out.

  76. 76.

    zhena gogolia

    January 22, 2024 at 6:15 pm

    I can’t bring myself to look into the Willis affair. I didn’t like her speechifying about it in church.

  77. 77.

    Villago Delenda Est

    January 22, 2024 at 6:15 pm

    @Leto: This is why one always says “say again” when asking for some clarification on a radio-telephone.

  78. 78.

    Salty Sam .

    January 22, 2024 at 6:17 pm

    never mind…

  79. 79.

    Omnes Omnibus

    January 22, 2024 at 6:18 pm

    @Villago Delenda Est: I have been out of the army over 30 years now and hearing some say “repeat that” still puts my stomach in a knot.

  80. 80.

    Alison Rose

    January 22, 2024 at 6:21 pm

    @WaterGirl: Yepppp. And you know, I usually hate the “what if it were your daughter” framing, but in his case…he has two daughters.  What if one of them came home and told him a guy did to her exactly what he did to Ford? How would he think of those actions if they’d been committed against his child?

  81. 81.

    TriassicSands

    January 22, 2024 at 6:22 pm

    @Jackie: ​
      House Republicans’ Majority Just Shrank Even More. Let the Chaos Begin.

    That’s a pretty strange headline. “Let the Chaos Begin”

    Begin? With the Republican majority when has it ever stopped?

  82. 82.

    TriassicSands

    January 22, 2024 at 6:24 pm

    @WaterGirl:

    You’re right.

    Corrected:

    I assume he values adult men primarily based on their potential as beer-drinking partners. Women are simply there for the taking. (In that, Kavanaugh is very much the “originalist.” Imagine how many mixed-race Kavanaugh descendants there would be if he had owned slaves.)

  83. 83.

    Omnes Omnibus

    January 22, 2024 at 6:26 pm

    @Alison Rose: He would want to know why she was being slutty.  After all, he raised her better than that.

  84. 84.

    Villago Delenda Est

    January 22, 2024 at 6:33 pm

    @TriassicSands: Gorsuch tends to be good about Native American issues.  Everything else, not so much.

  85. 85.

    Villago Delenda Est

    January 22, 2024 at 6:34 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus: Your SigO trained you well!

  86. 86.

    Quinerly

    January 22, 2024 at 6:37 pm

    @zhena gogolia: the church stunt troubled me.

  87. 87.

    Alison Rose

    January 22, 2024 at 6:37 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus: I hate that you’re probably right.

  88. 88.

    Omnes Omnibus

    January 22, 2024 at 6:40 pm

    @Villago Delenda Est: That’s not SigO stuff.  That’s gunnery stuff.

  89. 89.

    zhena gogolia

    January 22, 2024 at 6:51 pm

    @Quinerly: A person who felt confident in their actions wouldn’t do that, IMO.

  90. 90.

    Omnes Omnibus

    January 22, 2024 at 6:54 pm

    @Quinerly: @zhena gogolia: She knows her base better than we do.  She was shoring it up.

  91. 91.

    Quinerly

    January 22, 2024 at 6:59 pm

    @zhena gogolia: I totally agree.

  92. 92.

    Another Scott

    January 22, 2024 at 7:03 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus: I’m reminded of various Black church videos from Obama’s days.  Different churches have different cultures.

    I figure I’m not the audience.

    FWIW.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  93. 93.

    Quinerly

    January 22, 2024 at 7:03 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus: maybe so….I would have preferred her not doing it in church.

  94. 94.

    CarolPW

    January 22, 2024 at 7:09 pm

    @Yutsano: Look at Anna Bower’s twitter (lawfare). She found no there there in the unsealed documents.

    ETA Fuck, how did I get so far behind!

  95. 95.

    Odie Hugh Manatee

    January 22, 2024 at 7:21 pm

    Conservative christians use abortion as a weapon to control/harm others outside of or for not complying with their beliefs. Conservative christians do not care one bit about a child unless that child is ‘one of theirs’. All other children can beg or starve for all they care. That ‘those’ children exist and/or suffer at all is the sin of their parents and not their problem.

    There’s nothing like a christian conservative hearing about someone they hate having to comply with the rules and laws that conservative governments impose. They’re happier than a dog rolling in shit.

  96. 96.

    prostratedragon

    January 22, 2024 at 7:21 pm

    @CarolPW: Here’s a thread from Anna Bower:

    I reviewed Nathan Wade’s unsealed divorce filings—including documents labeled “sensitive,” which are not available online.

  97. 97.

    AlaskaReader

    January 22, 2024 at 7:22 pm

    @Soprano2: …the only thing this court has proven is no precedent is secure with this court.

  98. 98.

    CarolPW

    January 22, 2024 at 7:23 pm

    @prostratedragon: ​
     Thanks, linking to twitter is not in my tool box yet.

  99. 99.

    gene108

    January 22, 2024 at 7:36 pm

    I wonder if the Federalist Society or other conservative group is trying to use this Texas case to game out a way to legalize nullification, if Texas wins.

    If Texas wins, it may just apply to this specific case or maybe any border states wanting their own immigration enforcement, but eventually states could start challenging federal authority on whatever laws they don’t want to follow. All it will take are conservative judges deciding states rights prevail over federal supremacy in the law. The Texas immigration lawsuit could be part of broader plan to upend the law as it’s been known for 200+ years.

    I don’t trust conservative judges. A lot of them are just political operatives, who go along with the conservative agenda despite the law.

  100. 100.

    Cheryl from Maryland

    January 22, 2024 at 7:56 pm

    @JaySinWA: THIS.  I went to a DEI training where two lawyers demolished the idea that an employee’s religious feelings prohibited an LGBT employee’s right to display a wedding photo.  Fuck that noise.

  101. 101.

    Odie Hugh Manatee

    January 22, 2024 at 7:59 pm

    @gene108:  “conservative judges deciding states rights prevail over federal supremacy in the law”

    Conservative judges isn’t descriptive enough… how about confederate judges? Because that’s what they are when they put states rights as superior to current federal law/regulations.

    The confederacy is trying to rise once again but this time they are trying to take over from within.

  102. 102.

    moonbat

    January 22, 2024 at 8:06 pm

    I just remember how we lost a very good senator in Al Franken because of a rush to judgment on our side and will wait for all the facts to come out before taking a Trump attorney’s word for any damn thing.

  103. 103.

    strange visitor (from another planet)

    January 22, 2024 at 8:14 pm

    @moonbat: oh, FFS. franken RESIGNED. he displayed consciousness of guilt; he knew he fucked up. he grabbed on seven or eight women one was a congressional aide. how many of them were political operatives

    eta- how many more fucking times are we gonna fight over this tired bullshit?

  104. 104.

    Manyakitty

    January 22, 2024 at 8:18 pm

    @strange visitor (from another planet): right? Also, we knew he’d get replaced by another Democrat, and his resignation got us Doug Jones. Who the clueless fucks of Alabama replaced with the third senator from Florida 🥔

  105. 105.

    Chris T.

    January 22, 2024 at 8:21 pm

    @prostratedragon: [ref to Xitter stuff about NV]

    This is off topic as it were, and maybe deserves its own thread, but: WHAT THE FUCK IS HAPPENING IN NEVADA?

    So, I’m not quite as much of a politics nerd as some, but I thought I was pretty aware of things. But it seems that NV Republican politics has gone even more nutsoid than usual: they’re having a standard primary type contest on the 6th, and then a completely separate caucus contest on the 8th.

    The candidates in the primary are (mostly?) not in the caucus and vice versa, and the R party in NV has pledged to award delegates based only on the caucus…?  So if, say, Haley wins the primary by a landslide and then Trump gets only 40% of the caucus, Haley gets zero delegate votes? How will this work in the general election?

  106. 106.

    WaterGirl

    January 22, 2024 at 8:37 pm

    @strange visitor (from another planet): You are not stating facts, you are stating opinions.

    Some other people have very opposite opinions.

    I suspect we are going to be fighting about this until the day that everyone stops bringing it up.

  107. 107.

    strange visitor (from another planet)

    January 22, 2024 at 8:41 pm

    @WaterGirl:  i mean, it’s a fact that he resigned. it’s a fact that there were at LEAST seven women who came forward with stories about his misbehavior.

    really, were they ALL ratfuckers?

    if he wanted due process, i’m sure he could’ve waited it out. but yeah, he quit. he wasn’t forced to go, he walked away. that’s a fact

    eta- and as manyakitty says, he was totally replaced by a competent democrat.

  108. 108.

    WaterGirl

    January 22, 2024 at 9:01 pm

    @strange visitor (from another planet):   You wrote:

    oh, FFS. franken RESIGNED. he displayed consciousness of guilt; he knew he fucked up. he grabbed on seven or eight women one was a congressional aide. how many of them were political operatives

    The two words I bolded are a fact.  The rest is not.

  109. 109.

    TriassicSands

    January 22, 2024 at 9:12 pm

    @Villago Delenda Est:

    I don’t rule out the possibility that he, or any of them, could be good on particular issues or individual votes. Apparently, Gorsuch presided over the wedding of a same sex couple, so he may be a reliable vote to help stop Thomas and Alito from tossing same sex marriages. Fortunately, I think the corner on that issue has been turned. It’s been the law now for 8-1/2 years and millions of people now have seen that the world has not collapsed because two men or two women have been allowed to marry.

    However, Gorsuch’s mother was horrendously bad. His politics, if they are anything like hers, and there is considerable evidence they are, are both terrible and very likely to influence his jurisprudence. His testimony in his hearings was the standard dishonest, disingenuous BS that right-wing justices are known for. One interesting thing I noticed in his testimony was that more than once he used the words “Democratic party,” but one time, he slipped, and used the typical Republican reference to “Democrat party.” The only people who say that are the severely grammar-challenged and hyper-partisan RWNJs. Clearly, like others, he was misleading about his respect for stare decisis and there was never any doubt in my mind that he would vote to overturn Roe v. Wade.

  110. 110.

    Odie Hugh Manatee

    January 22, 2024 at 9:22 pm

    @strange visitor (from another planet):

    I seem to remember that a lot of Democrats in office called for him to resign. There was almost immediate pressure on him to do so.

    There was a rush to judgment.

  111. 111.

    strange visitor (from another planet)

    January 22, 2024 at 9:34 pm

    @Odie Hugh Manatee:  i mean, it turns out he was quite a handy fellow. so, you know, good riddance. but again… dude had agency. he didn’t HAVE to resign, regardless of what other people said.

  112. 112.

    strange visitor (from another planet)

    January 22, 2024 at 9:35 pm

    @WaterGirl:  fair. the rest though, is spot on.

  113. 113.

    Odie Hugh Manatee

    January 22, 2024 at 10:42 pm

    @strange visitor (from another planet):

    You call what WaterGirl said fair and then say the rest of your crap is true…lol! Did you even read what she said?

    Take your bullshit and shovel it somewhere else.

  114. 114.

    strange visitor (from another planet)

    January 22, 2024 at 11:02 pm

    @Odie Hugh Manatee: maan are you a hugh manatee or a huge idiot? yeah. it’s my opinion that he shows consciousness of guilt. a guy who’s gonna grab on women left and right may be too far gone to HAVE consciousness of guilt.

    so that’s my fucking opinion. it’s fucking FACT he resigned after it came out that he acted improperly with seven women PLUS. one was a democratic congressional aide.

    how many women have to say something before you fucking BELIEVE them?!?

    so yeah.

  115. 115.

    wjca

    January 23, 2024 at 1:23 am

    @TriassicSands: Kavanaugh is the least consistently terrible of the four, with occasional votes that separate him from the other three, but I would never suspect him of caring about people.

    Well, such lack of caring about other people is hardly surprising in a rapist, now, is it?

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