And here we go… Justice Kagan and Sotomayor take the stage with Yale Law Dean Heather Gerken at Princeton’s celebration of 50 years of women. #SheRoars18 #YahooNews pic.twitter.com/Y0CkHgP32Q
— lisabelkin (@lisabelkin) October 5, 2018
Much more of Lisa Belkin’s livestream at her Twitter feed…
"The longer I stayed at Princeton the more different I felt compared to most of my classmates… It was just opening its doors to women…When you feel like a fish out of water I dont think you ever completely get past it…" Justice Sotomayor
— lisabelkin (@lisabelkin) October 5, 2018
Elena Kagan thanks her senior thesis advisor, in the audience, for "convincing me I didn't want to be a historian." Recalls that her senior thesis on the Socialist Party caused a lot fo trouble during confimation hearings because "they assumed I was a Socialist"
— lisabelkin (@lisabelkin) October 5, 2018
"There is no occupation or profession that can't give you an avenue to do good work,"Justice Sotomayor, talking largely to the hundreds of current students in the balcony
— lisabelkin (@lisabelkin) October 5, 2018
Justice Kagan recalls the wall of "13 of the scariest looking older white men", all former Harvard Deans when she took over the job… "so the first thing I did was I took that picture down…"
— lisabelkin (@lisabelkin) October 5, 2018
Kagan says "I think I'd be Serena Williams"
— lisabelkin (@lisabelkin) October 5, 2018
And a footnote, on the difference between what’s expected from women and men…
I get why people are mad at Collins, but Dean Heller, WHO IS UP FOR ELECTION 32 DAYS FROM NOW was just as important a vote as hers.
— Chris Hayes (@chrislhayes) October 5, 2018
I’d like to see Collins retired as much as anyone, but Dean Heller made the same vote, is up in 31 days, and even has a real live Dem candidate against him right now https://t.co/0rRvPKvCvy
— Patrick Dillon (@mpdillon) October 5, 2018
The best way to defeat Susan Collins is too relegate her to the minority, THEN gear up for 2020. Give to vulnerable Dem incumbents (esp Heitkamp), and to Kyrsten Sinema, Jacky Rosen, Beto O’Rorke, Phil Bredesen, and maybe even Mike Espy and Jane Raybould
— Dana Houle (@DanaHoule) October 5, 2018
Steeplejack (sky-high wi-fi)
I know nobody can ask the question, but I would love to know how Kavanaugh will be received by the current justices.
raven
@Steeplejack (sky-high wi-fi): They will certainly play it straight in public don’t you think?
OzarkHillbilly
@Steeplejack (sky-high wi-fi): Any one can ask, just don’t expect an answer.
Steeplejack (sky-high wi-fi)
@raven:
Yeah, I know. But in chambers? And maybe in public an occasional discreet eye-roll or “Don’t sit him next to me in the group picture!”
JGabriel
Steeplejack (sky-high wi-fi):
I don’t know why no one can ask, though I suppose they’d be unlikely to answer. That said, I think we already know the answer as to how the Beer Leerer will be received by at least the four legitimate Supreme Court Justices: Coldly.
OzarkHillbilly
I have a question: The surgery on my shoulder was on the top/back side of it. So why the fuck do I have bruises running from my armpit to almost the wrist?
JGabriel
@Steeplejack (sky-high wi-fi):
“Make him stand in the back, all the way over to the right.”
Ken
@Steeplejack (sky-high wi-fi): “Reports are understandably confused, but apparently Justice Ginsburg was approaching Justice Kavanaugh to shake his hand, when she stumbled and fell against him, accidentally driving a pen through his heart.”
raven
@OzarkHillbilly: Probably from how they supported it when the cut. When I had spinal surgery they laid me on my stomach, pout some kind or rolls under my shoulders and cut my back wide open at the spine. I had no feeling in my hands for weeks and bu shoulders were bruised.
Ken
@raven: As President Jackson noted, the Court doesn’t have an army. Their power comes because the other branches agree they have it. Playing it straight is a big part of that, and I hope Justice Roberts is losing a lot of sleep over the possibility that Kavanaugh will screw it up.
OzarkHillbilly
@raven:
OUCH!
No feeling in your hands? I’ll bet that was a rather clumsy time. When the nerve block was still f’n with me, one of the stranger aspects of it was I could not tell where my arm was, even looking at it didn’t help. I was looking at somebody else’s arm.
JGabriel
Ken:
I spent a significant portion of the night praying for the early deaths of Shit-Shoe Spanky, Mama’s Pence, The Pube Hair Guy, Mosquito, the Beer Leerer, and Illegitimate Justice Number One.
And when I finally fell asleep, I dreamt that the entire Trump family had been arrested for illegal gun-running.
Why gun-running? I have no idea, it was a dream. Who knows how or why the unconscious comes up with this stuff? But I woke up happy thinking they were all in jail, until reality asserted itself when I stubbed my toe on the desk.
raven
@OzarkHillbilly: It’s funny, when I went to the neuro about my eye problems last week she had me do the, “close your eyes and touch your nose”. That is what the docs dod when I freaked out about the lack of feeling in my arms and hands and I though I was paralyzed. In that regard, I was a meeting of faculty this week and one of the folks is Neuroscience prof. When we talked about my double vision whe said “get yourself to an ophthalmologists NOW!. Even thought the MRI was negative she feels that someone in that field needs to address my issue.
OzarkHillbilly
@raven: Your in luck. I hear Rand Paul is accepting new patients.
On the more serious side, it sounds like a good idea.
raven
@OzarkHillbilly: Ca-ching!
Immanentize
@Steeplejack (sky-high wi-fi): Alito will love Kavanaugh “winning.”. He has as much resentment as any white guy on the planet. I think the women will be appalled. Gorsuch disdainful because Kavanaugh just isn’t that good a judge (like he sees himself). Who knows about Thomas and Roberts, although Kananaugh’s “friend” must be mighty worried about the Courts reputation.
Immanentize
@OzarkHillbilly: gravity. It’s like when you get black eyes from a broken nose
Nelle
@OzarkHillbilly: I’m four weeks past a hip replacement and the physical therapist said some of the leg pain is from the way I was trussed up during surgery. I have vague memories of being wrestled into some sort of strapped posture as I was going under.
OzarkHillbilly
@Immanentize: Gravity? I thought eyes were above the nose.
Yeah, gravity may have more than a little to do with it. I had a lot of swelling and was unable to do anything at all with the arm for a good 36+ hours. A curious thing is that the bruising is only on the inside of the arm, which may be where Raven’s theory comes into play.
Idaknow, I’m just tired of the whole damned thing.
p.a.
They couldn’t understand intellectual curiosity- or played it to their base, which doesn’t.
Would love to see a movement in DC for continuous public harassment for any of these fuckers out and about. And once again, it will probably be women who will take the lead. They should be subject to FlakeInTheElevator moments at any time. A thin reed, I know, but that’s what we’re clinging to right now.
OzarkHillbilly
I needed a break from all the shitshow crap. Paul Bronks came thru.
Jeffro
@OzarkHillbilly: nice!
David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch
Even the liberal Karl Rove
Baud
A sliver of hope for today. For whatever reason, Clarence Thomas has not retired yet. If we can take the Senate and then hold the presidency for a little while, we might have a chance to replace him with someone good.
jmg
Since it is composed of people, the Court has had its share of assholes over the years. But they strive for a collegial working atmosphere (most cases are unanimous votes or damn near, they just don’t get the publicity). But they go their very separate ways off-duty and don’t even talk to each other that much in the course of work. Roberts seems to be on good terms with all the justices, I imagine he might make a friendly suggestion to the new boy to tone it down a mite.
OzarkHillbilly
A flock of flamingos can pick a T-rex clean in under 60 seconds.
Baud
@jmg: That would be my guess as to how Roberts approaches it. And perhaps Kavanaugh stays relatively quiet for a while and waits for people to move on to the next atrocity.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@p.a.: That sentence caught my eye too. She wrote about socialism, ergo she is one. It’s stunted intellectual development.
When you teach freshmen how to write a research paper, you find a significant portion of them (maybe a third) can’t distinguish between a belief that a source quotes and a belief a source holds. They think that if Kagan quotes a socialist, she believed what she was quoting. They couldn’t see that there were two people’s writing on the page. But you could teach them to see that. They could grow intellectually.
Baud
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
As Karl Marx said, “fuckem.”
Dorothy A. Winsor
@jmg: Kavanaugh has apparently gotten along well enough with his fellow Republicans that someone like Nicole Wallace thinks of him as a “lovely person.” He can fake it. The mask slipped under pressure during the hearings.
Lee Hartmann
Did anyone ask Dean Gerken about the initial support of that proud son of Yale, BK?
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Baud: I think you pushed the number of people speaking there to three.
WereBear
What was enlightening about the firestorm for me was how many people who apparently believed Republicans would do the right thing.
Just where have they been? Has all the previous instances of Republicans hawking loogies on every precept of responsibility and human rights not sunk in? They expected better from people who stole children and put them in cages? What?
OzarkHillbilly
Caturday.
Immanentize
@jmg: This is really an important point that people don’t generally know. The Supreme Court justices don’t talk to each other hardly at all. They meet for conference afyer a case is arguedwhere they go around the room — Chief Justice first, then by seniority — and say, I will be voting to (affirm or reverse) because (short answer). There are no questions and no talk-back. Then the senior most person in the majority (or Chief if he is in the majority) assigns a Justice to write an opinion. From then on they do all their talking by draft opinions and memos.
Fun fact, Kananaugh will have to hold the door for all the other Justices and answer the door during conference if anyone knocks until he is no longer the Junior justice.
MagdaInBlack
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
I run in to that mindset quite often : if you’re reading or learning about “X” it must be because you believe it. The concept of wanting to know and understand what others believe and/or think, is not within their understanding.
And now, come to think of it….extend that to lack of interest or understanding of other cultures.
Explains why we are where we are.
The dumbing of America has worked out quite nicely for our current administration.
WereBear
As I have been telling people for a while: Republicans are run by, and elevate, utter assholes because that is who they are.
And we should believe them.
OzarkHillbilly
“I’m going to kill you last, Stephanie”
Immanentize
@OzarkHillbilly: That was very funny. Poor Kitty, but s/he knows what must follow….
rikyrah
Good Morning, Everyone ???
JGabriel
jmg:
I don’t know how one acts collegial to someone one suspects of attempted rape – as I’m relatively sure Sotomayor, Kagan, and Ginsburg suspect of Kavanaugh.
Omnes Omnibus
@Baud: efg is Karl Marx? It makes sense at some level.
Also, when will ‘nyms stick?
Omnes Omnibus
@WereBear: It has been more than 10 years since I have given any benefit of a doubt to any Republican.
Balconesfault
@Dorothy A. Winsor: the first real test will be when a case comes up with pressure on Kavanaugh to recuse himself … and he tells everyone to go pound sand.
JGabriel
Omnes Omnibus:
I stopped giving any Republican the BotD around the time Gingrich was ramping up to take over the House in ’93, so about a quarter century ago.
Quinerly
@Baud: I heard some reporting after Trump was elected that he was babbling about replacing 5 justices in 4 years… asking about Sotomayor’s health and diabetes and making fun of RBG’s weight… something like, “she probably doesn’t even weigh 80lbs” kinda thing. DOG, I just hate him. Never knew I could have this much hate for someone.
Baud
@rikyrah: Good morning.
Baud
@Quinerly:
I feel the same way. But the sad fact us, except for lawyers, Democratic voters have not placed enough value on the courts. People are learning some hard lessons now.
JGabriel
Balconesfault:
It would be malpractice for any lawyer representing a Democratic client to not file a request for Kavanaugh’s recusal, citing specifically Kavanaugh’s threats to Democrats during his Senate testimony.
rikyrah
@OzarkHillbilly:
Absolutely adorable ?
Quinerly
I could have dreamed this. Has anyone seen hard reporting that McConnell’s office wrote the Collins speech Thursday? I think I read something about it in a tweet.
rikyrah
@Quinerly:
Morning to Poco and the tribe ? ?
Omnes Omnibus
@JGabriel: For me, the thing was wrong or evil. In the ’90s, I went with wrong on the issues and shitty on the messaging. Later, I changed. Unlike many on this blog, I am not a pessimist or a misanthrope. Not even after yesterday.
OzarkHillbilly
@JGabriel: Pretty sure all the justices suspect K of attempted rape. Thomas is welcoming of his soul mate. Alito is hoping he might learn a new trick or 2. Gorsuch wants to sit as far away from K as possible, Roberts is praying K will just shut the f up, and the 4 liberals are plotting his murder.
Omnes Omnibus
@Quinerly:
I didn’t realize I was capable of hate until he was elected.
Quinerly
@Baud: In related news, Poco is heading back to NC in a couple of weeks to sniff around for your campaign. ? His mom will be also loading a POD. He will be watching and guarding.?
What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us?
I’m just spitballing here, but since suppressing the vote is a legit tactic these days…suppose all the buses, vans, and other conveyances that take the blue haired seniors to the polls just mysteriously had mechanical breakdowns on November 6? Wouldn’t that be a shame.
Baud
@Quinerly: How does Poco feel about replacing Clarence Thomas?
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
I have a better idea – burn Harvard and Yale to the ground, scatter the ashes and salt the sites. After that, revolutionary tribunals could hold drumhead trials of officials of the former government of the United States of America – judges, members of the House and Senate, state officials, aides, cabinet members and staffers. First question of every goddamned one of them should be “are you now or have you ever been a member of the Federalist Society, ALEC or Heritage”. A “yes” answer invites an inquiry about whether you abandoned it in the long past or only at the start of the Revolution. Unsatisfactory responses will yield a choice – guillotine, rope or baseball bat, and if you choose the baseball bat, your family keeps your holdings (and even if you weren’t in the groups, your other actions in furtherance of their aims will gain you the same penalty). The others mean that families forfeit every farthing. Many, many Ameros will be yielded by broadcasting the trials and execution of sentences on Pay Per View. Maybe throw in a laugh track.
There could also be a sentence modification of mercy for the families available to the tribunal head – he or she could overrule the wishes of the condemned and order the baseball bat anyway, because why should families suffer over a former senator or judge’s selfish choice of rope or guillotine? That would get the overlay of yakkety sax along with the laugh track….
Yes, I’m feeling a tad salty – why do you ask?
Omnes Omnibus
@What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us?: I will just say that my parents are in their mid-70s and are probably far left of you. Don’t do the generational thing.
JGabriel
OzarkHillbilly:
I suspect Thomas and Alito probably think of it as mere persistence rather than attempted rape. Because of course they would.
Omnes Omnibus
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: Which one declined your application?
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@Baud:
“Don’t try to blackmail me with the courts. My vote has to be earned and I must be excited about the candidate.
Besides, shitty court rulings will ignite the electorate and bring about radical progressive change.”
/Susan Sarandon paraphrased
Quinerly
@rikyrah: Tail wags, meows, and waves right back at you.???♥️❤️? I’m forcing myself out to hear a great band at 10:00AM at Tower Grover Farmers Market, then “Best of Missouri Market” at Missouri Botanical Garden and the Shaw Art Fair… more live music, beer, food, and art. Can’t take the news channels and internet anymore. Really working myself into a dark place. All too intense.
What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us?
It was a stupid, juvenile and futile gesture, but I work near the DC ballpark, and my route to meet my wife for dinner yesterday evening enabled me to walk past the back side of the Supreme Court building with a detour of only a block, so I did, and flipped the building the bird the entire length of it. Several people stuck at the light in cars rolled down their windows to cheer. That made me feel a little better.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@Omnes Omnibus:
Neither. Was never an option for a middle income schlub like me.
Spanky
@Quinerly:
@Via John Revolta in the previous post.
I’m also at the meta-hate phase, where not only do I hate them more than I can believe, I hate them for making me hate them this much.
ETA: Total link fail first go-round. Hopefully this will take you straight to LGM.
Quinerly
@Baud: ?
Poco would have more to say from the bench. He can be quite vocal and passionate. Especially if a squirrel was to have a case before him. ?
OzarkHillbilly
@What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us?: It was a stupid, juvenile and futile gesture, And entirely appropriate.
Planetjanet
@OzarkHillbilly: that is one smart kitty.
Omnes Omnibus
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: So it’s not personal; it’s just class conflict?
What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us?
@Omnes Omnibus: My parents are also in their mid 70s and my dad has never voted for a Republican, except Ike. But we’re dealing with averages here and all their peers at church vote the wrong way, every time. I’d much rather make it easier for minorities to vote but that’s not in my power. Also I’d rather convince young people to vote rather than feel too cool to show up for anyone who doesn’t have the raw charisma of Obama, but I can’t make that happen either, so…
JGabriel
@Omnes Omnibus:
See, I always went with thinking the GOP was both wrong and evil. But that could be because I’m both a pessimist and a misanthrope – however, I’m trying to overcome the pessimism, because I agree with Josh Marshall that optimism is an ethic:
Steeplejack
Home safe and sound! Touched down at Dulles about 6:40, got back to my modest rooms in Threadkill Lane at 7:30. Joyful reunion with the housecat. Just gave her an extended facial massage, and now I’m about to go into a semi-vegetative state for an indefinite period. Otherwise known as morning nap time to her.
Immanentize
Geepers, I thought eliminationist rants were reserved for the evening threads. Another convention broken. Next we will have tumbrel talk in the Sunday garden comments….
It’s too early and too pretty a day here for snuff fantasies….
Barry
@Ken: ” I hope Justice Roberts is losing a lot of sleep over the possibility that Kavanaugh will screw it up.”
This is post Bush v. Gore, post Shelby County, post Merrick Garland, ….
Thinking of Roberts as a moderate is like thinking of any of the GOP senators as moderates. Years of abuses have both gained them a solid GOP SCOTUS majority, and have set the political stage for keeping that indefinitely.
They’ve seized power, and intends to use it.
Omnes Omnibus
@JGabriel:
Yes. A great summation.
Baud
@Barry: No one thinks of him as a moderate. They think of him as someone who cares about the Court’s legacy under his tenure.
Immanentize
@JGabriel: Added — I was given a pack of sticky post-its that say, “Optimism is a Strategy”
I never used them because I like to keep them, still wrapped in cellophane, in my desk to remind myself occasionally.
bystander
Why is Jerry Nadler saying publicly that if the Dems take the House, they’ll investigate Kavanother? He wants to be featured in every repub ad in the cycle? Why bait them? I feel similarly about Manchin. Turning on him and cutting off his funding are exactly what the repubs want. No matter what, im not giving them what they want.
I’m in KC for the first time in nearly 20 years. Really a revitalized place. And the barbecue is just as great as I remembered. 39cue could be where I stay the next time.
Bostonian
@Immanentize: It is now the job of the Democrats to make sure Kavanaugh never passes beyond junior Justice. This requires two things:
-No more appointments for Trumpski, even if it’s Jesus himself
-Immediate criminal investigations into Kavanaugh upon taking control of either house of Congress
Immanentize
@Baud: This. He does care, I know. But he is not half as effective at carrying that mission out as Rhenquist was. Someone wrote that the best antedote to Trump’s justices would be a year or two of a very quiet docket. But Roberts won’t be able to achieve that (it only takes four votes to grant certiorari)
Woodrow/Asim
@Baud: “They think of him as someone who cares about the Court’s legacy under his tenure.”
This is why I, and others, say it’s going to be a death by a thousand cuts, a boil-the-frog, strategy.
Roberts clearly knows that striking Obergfell/Roe/Griswold/Voting Rights Act/etc. down would bring a massive backlash to his legacy. But he’ll allow restricting them, squeezing them until those rulings and laws are but empty shells. That plays to his warped sense of jurisprudence.
That’s the real threat of his approach, and what having Kavanaugh on the Court will enable, in my opinion.
What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us?
@Barry: My only hope is Roberts is focused on the long game. Suppose they do away with the special prosecutor law, or the ability to try some one in both State and Federal courts for the same crime….and then we elect another Bill Clinton type? The only hay they ever make against Democratic Presidents is drumming up controversy via investigations…do they really want to remove that from their toolbox?
We’re toast on campaign finance reform and Roe. Not so sure on gay marriage – that is so generally accepted at this point that I’m pretty sure even the conservative SCOTUS folks know it would really be playing with fire to undo it. The long term implications of giving Trump a get out of jail free card and preventing Congress or law enforcement from poking around in his business, is that any other future Democratic President will be able to avail themselves of the same protections.
Plus, if laws aren’t enforceable on the President, the SCOTUS has basically defenestrated itself – they interpret the law, but if the President is above the law, he’s above having to abide by their interpretations. Do they really want to make themselves obsolete? Maybe Kavanaugh is that dumb, and Thomas probably is, but I think Roberts is at least capable of working this out for himself – maybe Alito too. Maybe they do the short term dumb thing out of political pressure or as a raw power grab anyway but it’s not a certainty.
Immanentize
@Baud: I know it’s garbage, but the NYT has a very interesting op ed about the court today pointing out that Gorsuch and Kavanaugh are “minority” justices in that they were appointed by a president who list the popular vote and confirmed by senators who, together, earned far fewer votes that the senators who voted to oppose the nominations
Hutus and Tutsis
Omnes Omnibus
@Bostonian: We would need control of the Senate to stop appointments.
CarolDuhart2
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: I don’t get the revolutionary thing. People are going to rise up and follow Susan Sarandon, when? What krappy ruling or act? Too many on the far left fantasize about revolution because they think that it’s easier than voting. They despise voting as a mechanism because it’s often a half-loaf and then they have to make nice and be political with people who are not enlightened enough for them.
Omnes Omnibus
@What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us?: Kav is replacing Kennedy. It does move the median Justice to Roberts, It is not, however, a sea change on the Court’s decisions. On which cases would Kav be different than Kennedy?
Immanentize
@Omnes Omnibus: I would like to see Mike Espy win in Mississippi. It could happen. Imagine the crazier Republican male candidate beats out the woman Republican and espy gets enough votes to send it to a November run off in late november. And we get to 50 Senate seats otherwise. Will it be 50/50? Or could Espy pull it off? Unlikely, but what a crazy scene it would be.
Omnes Omnibus
@Immanentize: I would love that.
debbie
@Steeplejack (sky-high wi-fi):
They’ll be professionally cordial, providing he maintains good behavior.
gene108
@Balconesfault:
I believe this already happened with on of the Republican justices and he refused to recuse and there was a collective shrug.
Not sure we have the media muscle to keep them focused on Kav, when the latest Trump outrage is around the corner.
debbie
@OzarkHillbilly:
Pooling blood.
(Alas, no edit or nym saving?)
MomSense
The idea of sleeping late is wonderful. The caffeine headache not so much. Be back after I chug a pot of coffee.
dnfree
@What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us?: I actually think it would be good to have some kind of cognitive test for voting–maybe a certified diagnosis of advanced dementia would disqualify–but we can’t because it would be too easily abused. But I have seen senior citizens voting with “assistance” when it was clear that the voter had very little idea what was going on, and the helper was steering them, as in “You don’t want them to take away guns, do you?” True story.
Having the buses mysteriously break down would not help when you consider that at least in our area, polling places are often IN a senior residence.
OzarkHillbilly
Hell Yeah: Banksy Painting Immediately Self-Destructs After Selling For Over $1 Million.
germy
Senator Susan Rice, Maine
debbie
@David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch:
Based on the date, I’d bet his mind has changed.
gene108
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:
I was feeling the same way yesterday. But I was not feeling as forgiving to the families.
SenyorDave
Since the event took place at Princeton, it should be noted that Samuel Alito once belonged to Concerned Alumni of Princeton. From reading about the group, it appears that their “concerns” seemed to be that having women and minorities at Princeton would ruin the university.
debbie
@WereBear:
In addition to getting whatever they want, choosing assholes provides an opportunity to piss off a lot of people.
Baud
@OzarkHillbilly: That’s why I put my millions in bitcoins.
debbie
@OzarkHillbilly:
And of course people are offended. Cat’s pissed but not hurt, people.
What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us?
@Omnes Omnibus: The rumor is he would be willing to say the law protects the people from being tried in both Federal and State courts which would limit Mueller’s leverage over the people he’d flipped, because the President’s pardon would then be an actual get out of jail free card. That’s probably the main difference. Also Roe – if Kennedy had been anti-Roe it would be gone already.
Omnes Omnibus
@dnfree: What you saw then was illegal. It is, however, no reason to deny voting rights to the elderly. Everyone who is a citizen has a right to vote and, whether we agree or disagree with how they will vote, we should support that right. And no, I don’t have a sense of humor about this.
debbie
@Omnes Omnibus:
Ahh, too young for Nixon then.
germy
@SenyorDave:
I’m curious. Did that come up during his confirmation hearings?
debbie
@Quinerly:
I heard the same thing, but can’t remember where. I also heard it reported that McConnell sat beside her, turning his chair to face her. I take this to mean he was watching her to make sure she read it exactly as he had written it. Not that this excuses her in any way.
Omnes Omnibus
@debbie: I was 8 in 1972.
Immanentize
@Omnes Omnibus: I worry about the juvenile life-without-parole punishment cases I’ve been involved in for years. Kennedy was critical in those cases.
debbie
@Omnes Omnibus:
Yeah, I knew you were too young. I probably should have added LBJ on raven’s behalf, though I’m not sure of his opinion on Nixon.
Immanentize
@debbie: I saw the viddy and thought — poor cat probably was skunked or some such. But what an excellent cold revenge look…
Omnes Omnibus
@Immanentize: I know that he is worse, but he is not the Anti-Christ. We can survive this.
Kay
CarolDuhart2
Baud
@Kay: I hope next month proves the narrative wrong.
Immanentize
@What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us?:
People really need to try and understand that the Supreme Court case regarding dual sovereignty and double jeopardy will not have any if the extreme effects people are getting their pants over.
I oppose the dual sovereignty priciple and have for decades in pleadings. If the court were to revisit it, it would stop allowing prosecutions for the very same acts based on the very same criminal elements. The same but one test is referred to as the Blockberger test after the case of that name. If the Court did alter the dual sovereignty rule, it would end up having an amazingly narrow effect. And, it would stop both the states and the feds from double trying defendants (primarily in drug cases).
Baud
@Immanentize: And it definitely would not affect pardons.
SenyorDave
@germy: I’m curious. Did that come up during his confirmation hearings?
I believe it did but it was glossed over, and questioning it was made out to be like “the whiny liberals are at it again”. I mean it’s not like he was part of some of evil group like the ACLU (maybe my wife is right, I’m getting too cynical in my old age).
Juju
@Quinerly: Join the club. I never thought I was capable of that kind of seething, death wish sort of hate, but I guess I am.
debbie
@Immanentize:
That cat’s look reminded me of Stripe in the Gremlins. I used to keep this wind-up toy on my desk at work. Stripe was a proxy for my real attitude.
Immanentize
@debbie: Stripe was a very naughty gremlin
Immanentize
@Baud: It most definitely would not have anything to do with the pardon power
zhena gogolia
@bystander:
Have fun!
Immanentize
Oh damn! I just got an edit button!
Hurray hurray! St. Hogarth’s Day!
What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us?
@Immanentize: Is he the Saint of Rapey private catholic school jocks? That would be appropriate.
germy
Elizabelle
Glad I missed St. Susan the Moderate and her fan dance reveal yesterday. The mask is off. I hadn’t really expected a good vote from her, but — and this will surprise you — Manchin shocked me.
Which makes Heidi Heitkamp and Joe Donnelly and Lisa Murkowski look all the more courageous. I am glad Balloon Juice is giving HH and JD some support, and I absolutely plan to donate or volunteer for Murkowski in her next primary.
Mood this morning: disgusted but resolute. It’s grey and chilly in NoVA. Close enough to head downtown to protest a bit, but gonna just pack and head back down to RVA to canvass for Abigail Spanberger. Have a friend who can drive me around the neighborhoods, so we will take a really big packet.
Remember: the GOP now owns Kavanaugh, and any debacle or further charges that come up about him. Some of you may find me ridiculously optimistic or even dumb, but this has not played out yet.
And I keep mulling over “the consent of the governed” in the back of my mind.
Tenar Arha
@Spanky: Yeah. I’m feeling so angry right now they’d be dead if I had TK. & I really do hate them for making me that angry.
MomSense
@Baud:
We could decide to have 13 justices. 9 is not a fixed number. Maybe liberals will once and for all view the Supreme Court as fight or die in every election from now on.
zhena gogolia
No edit for me.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@OzarkHillbilly: That’s a best selling novel waiting to happen.
Baud
@MomSense: We could. If we do, we have to control at least one branch of government for many, many years, because the GOP will pull the same stunt.
MomSense
@Quinerly:
It doesn’t matter. Those words, full of lies and bullshit, came out of her mouth. They were entered in the record under her name. She is responsible for them.
Her cousin was a dear family friend. He was a major influence on my father’s life. I’m relieved he didn’t see this. Can you imagine how this process would be viewed by a man who served as a Justice on Maine’s Superior Court.
Tenar Arha
@Baud:
If he’d cared then he wouldn’t have been on the wrong side of Shelby County vs. Holder or Citizens United or Korematsu II. He’s a politician in a black robe presiding over the 3rd revanchist court in our history & he will be remembered as helping to destroy its ability to be seen as anything but a partisan enabler of reactionaries.
His own decisions have led me to think of the Court as clearly a political body, & therefore only deserving of the respect I’d give any other politicians in our government. So, right now I spit on that frakking a-hole Roberts’ decisions and his past & future “conservative” majority. He’s a hack in a robe & I know that now. It makes me sad that all my respect is gone, but I’ll never forget the feeling.
Why yes, I am very very salty about that POS, bc I think he deserves some of the blame for us being in this situation, him & his crappy anti-democratic 5-4 decisions.
Kay
@Baud:
Dave Weigel – IMO the hand’s down best coverage of the midterms- has “senate races move Right, House races move Left” which is what one would expect, I think.
Gin & Tonic
@Omnes Omnibus: Agreed. My mother-in-law is 94, always votes, and now practically spits in anger whenever she sees Il Donaldo on the teevee. I’ve heard phrases from her that I don’t recall ever having heard before.
Gin & Tonic
@OzarkHillbilly: Did anybody at the auction house wonder why the painting’s frame had a power cord? Clearly they were in on the stunt.
raven
@debbie: I hated that motherfucker with the heat of 1000 suns!
Gelfling 545
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Lord, my daughter wrote her honors thesis on Shaker communities and utopian beliefs. I wonder if they’d think she was a Shaker.?
JPL
@germy: When Alito was questioned about past comments, his wife cried. The media then criticized the mean dems, cuz of course they did.
Matt McIrvin
@Immanentize: I’d heard it described somewhere as “Trump’s pardon power being extended to state crimes,” which sounds like a gross mischaracterization.
germy
@JPL:
Disgusting.
Dorothy A. Winsor
See The Wind Reader at top center? My book is being seen by total strangers. In Spain!
JPL
@OzarkHillbilly: I actually thing that’s funny, but that’s probably because I wouldn’t spend a million on a painting even if I had it.
J R in WV
@debbie:
“And of course people are offended. Cat’s pissed but not hurt, people.”
I bathed Ralph, a 20 pound cat once, he had been under an old PU truck and got engine oil and transmission fluid, all dirty, all over his back. Had to get it off before he ingested any more. He was well behaved, it was summer time and hot. And of course, that old engine crap would have tasted terrible!
True story, we took Ralph and a couple of other critters to the vet once. We left Ralph on his chair in the waiting room while we took the others into the examining room. When the Vet was ready for him, we opened the exam room door and said “Ralph, it’s your turn.” and he walked in and jumped up on the exam table; the Vet was astonished. Truly the most intelligent cat I’ve ever known, out of all we’ve had over the past 50 years.
Gelfling 545
@What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us?: Then you will lose a lot of Dem votes. I suspect that I was a leftist before you were born or thought of.
Kay
@Tenar Arha:
What’s never mentioned is how completely wrong Roberts was about that. His whole position was based on his belief that southern states had evolved and wouldn’t suppress voting anymore. Immediately after he predicted that, 4 southern states changed state laws and ramped up voter suppression. The only difference was now they have the court’s blessing.
There is no area they consistently show how out of touch, impractical and clueless they are more than voting. The conservatives (including Kennedy) don’t know what they’re talking about.
germy
Here’s an interesting theory:
https://www.theroot.com/kamala-harris-would-ve-handled-brett-kavanaugh-from-the-1829403556
Things would have played out differently if Ford had approached Kamala Harris first.
Harris would have handled things differently.
Shakti
@Steeplejack (sky-high wi-fi):
No idea. I just know he isn’t fit to shine Ginsburg’s judicial collar(s).
I do not see this dude going on vacation with any of the other justices (apparently RGB and Scalia did once?)
Maybe they know him from being Kennedy’s clerk so they have different opinions of him to counteract that fucking speech where he said he wasn’t even going to pretend to be impartial and measured but was going to be a partisan hack out for revenge. At least he’ll have company with Thomas as a fucking angry whiny baby.
raven
@J R in WV: I had a shepherd collie named Ralph and he was the smartest dig I ever dad.
Dorothy A. Winsor
People say one good thing about our lengthy presidential campaigns is that they reveal character because there are too many chances to let the mask slip. I feel the same way about the K hearing. He showed us who he was. People who “knew” him are astonished.
Gelfling 545
@Immanentize: Well, Kavanaugh should be sympathetic to the idea that juvenile offenses shouldn’t ruin their lives, right? Yeah, I know. I know.
(Autocorrect changed lives to liver. In Kavanaugh ‘s case that could be right)
Baud
@germy: I really don’t like speculative alternative histories like that, even if it’s not from the usual suspects.
Shakti
@Ken:
I laughed. Thank you.
I went to see Hari Kondabolu last night because spending two hours laughing is better than two hours of impotent rage.
germy
@Dorothy A. Winsor: The first glimpse of the real man was when he walked away from that Parkland father. At the time I thought that would be the only glimpse. And then the second hearing happened.
debbie
@raven:
? ?
debbie
@J R in WV:
I also had a dog-like cat. Best of both worlds!
dimmsdale
@Immanentize: I’d like to know more detail about this; speaking for myself, my inclination at the moment is to over-catastrophize the future based on our immediate experience, which isn’t helpful to maintaining either peace of mind or active hope about the future. So your comment is welcome at a time like this; although it leads me to ask, “What restraints bind a majority Republican Supreme Court when ‘because we say so, that’s why’ appears to be the only law they need to follow any more?” It’s a serious question (posed in ignorance, certainly) but as we now know, without a doubt, Republicans will corrupt and debase any institution they touch, and I only see their momentum increasing. (Sorry, Immanentize, this isn’t a question I’d ask you to address; partly I’m just venting here, and partly reminding myself that I need to be diligent about maintaining a reality and balance based on what’s true, rather than what’s feared; I’ll be watching out for more detailed discussions of this particular suit.)
germy
@debbie: I used to have a male cat who would come running when I whistled. From the other side of the house.
Now I have a female cat who calls to me from the other side of the house, and I get up to see what she wants.
zhena gogolia
@germy:
I thought the very first glimpse was the words that came out of his mouth the first time he addressed the American people with an outrageous lie about DJT’s incredible preparation for selecting this candidate. But the cold sneer he gave the Parkland father was indeed chilling.
sdhays
@germy: I read that before, and while I think it’s entirely possible that Harris would have handled this differently (and possibly better), the actual actions that are suggested that Harris would have taken seem implausible to me – particularly how filing a complaint with the FBI would have honored Blasey Ford’s desire to stay out of the spotlight. Once she’s on record at the FBI, that information is no longer in her hands or the hands of people she trusts (e.g. Harris).
Kay
Good piece on how Collins misrepresented Kavanaugh’s judicial record:
What’s awful about her is how she constantly misleads her constituents. She gives them these iron-clad guarantees and it’s just nonsense. It’s one thing to snow the national political media, it’s another to mislead her constituents on specific issues that will have real impact in their lives.
sdhays
@zhena gogolia: I was pondering just the other day how right Al Franken was when he zeroed in on that toadying bullshit from the get go. I’m sure others did too, but I remember reading a statement from him that day which has turned out to be really spot-on.
Tenar Arha
@Kay: Kennedy might have been utterly naive about real world effects of his decisions. But I’ll never believe John Roberts was naive about the Voting Rights Act & Section 5. He had a history working against it when he was in the Reagan DOJ.
It was practically inevitable that he’d rule against Section 5, because all the way back in the 80’s he thought section 5 was wrong. By the time he was on the court, with all the money sloshing around to support cases to attack all kinds of Civil Rights Laws, he could practically pick & choose from the cases he could use to get rid of a law he’d criticized deeply in his own early career. He’s not naive, he’s calculating.
Quinerly
@germy: thanks for posting this.
germy
@zhena gogolia:
I’d forgotten about that. A purposeless lie, just for the hell of it. (Maybe to amuse his old classmates?)
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@germy: I really wanted one of the Dems to ask him how he researched that and how long it took.
debbie
@Kay:
This is further proof that she read what McConnell wrote for her.
germy
@Quinerly: I find myself returning to The Root more and more.
debbie
@germy:
??
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Kay: @debbie: Even old Parson Meecham, for whom all politics circle back to the Clenis (and who lately seems to have become MSNBC’s most frequent talking head, a slight improvement from last years attempts to make Hugh Hewitt a star), even Meecham said she was trying to make him into John Paul Stevens.
germy
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
I wonder if kavanaugh hears that speech and says to himself “I’ll try to be a better person” or does he guffaw and say “Heh, naw!”
silly question
sdhays
@Tenar Arha: I get why so many consider Citizens United the worst decision the Court has made in recent times, but I keep coming back to how the majority on the Supreme Court gutted the VRA while basically ignoring the very plain text written in the 15th Amendment, which states “The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.” The Constitution gives Congress broad power to act, but the majority on the Court substituted their personal preference over Congress’ overwhelming judgement that the problem continued to need remedy.
To me, their blatant ignoring of very simple intent written in the Constitution is even worse than the ridiculous reasoning in Citizens United. Of course, what’s “worst” is all academic; we have to live with all of these awful decisions anyway.
Kathleen
@debbie: What do Russians have on these ghouls? I’ve noticed uptick of left/right Russian troll fuckery on Twitter, even on small threads.
debbie
@Kathleen:
They’ve become a given. You’d think they’d change things up a bit now that so many people are on to them.
Kathleen
@debbie: Really.
opiejeanne
@germy: We have a male cat and a female cat. The boy is 13 but has only been with us for a year. He calls to us in the evening, from downstairs when we’re watching tv upstairs, as if he’s lost us, can’t find us anywhere. We only figured out a couple of days ago that he’s not calling us, he’s calling her because he wants to play. By then she’s on my husband’s lap and she ain’t having any. He tried to add himself to the lap last night and she snapped at his ear. He got the message, but this morning they’ll race up and down the stairs and all around the sofa in the living room, stalking each other and chasing each other. It’s a strange friendship.
Baud
@Kathleen: I’m noticed it on blogs too. Some of our classic trolls have returned recently.
r€nato
Kyrsten Sinema is certainly better than Martha McSally, but I gotta warn ya… she has a LONG, LONG, LONG history of siding with Republicans. Including on issues that ought to be anathema to anybody who calls themselves a Democrat.
She will inevitably disappoint you, she will likely win and I predict in two years y’all will be cursing her with the fury you now have for Collins. Just because she’s attractive and bi, don’t let that fool you. She’ll sell us out, just watch.
Theta-cat
I just gave Jacky 50$. #these asshats need to go. #old white men need to get out of the way. They are trying to cement in permanent inequality.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@r€nato: as you say, better than McSally, and like Manchin we have to hope for a victory if only for the vote for Shcumer.
The Rosen-Heller race gets so little attention, the polling I’ve seen suggests it’s a dead heat. I heard she went hard at him over Kavanaugh, I hope it’s enough to push her over the top
Shana
@What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us?: I do that every time I drive west on I-66 past the NRA headquarters, although I keep my hand below the level of the window cuz I don’t want any passing motorists on the edge of road rage to think it’s meant for them.
Tenar Arha
@sdhays: Dead thread, but I suspect that if we do manage to have many scrupulous histories of this time (as opposed to Dunning School equivalents that spread propaganda to schools for decades), we’ll look at Citizens United as one of the multifaceted elements which led to the end of Section 5 & the election of 2016, including Citizens United. & much like the best Civil War histories, they’ll all start at least a 1/4-1/2 century before “now.”
Dan B
@What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us?: The assault on “Gay” marriage is already underway. Suits are prepared. They weaken the pillars of marriage rights: Adoption – religious groups are excepted. Licenses – ditto plus States will likely be able to decline or restrict rights. Hospital visitation and Inheritance – religious and State exceptions. Accomodation – religious and municipal exceptions. Municipal exceptional may be the last to be granted.
I believe Lambda Legal and Right Wing Watch have info about specific suits and the orgs that are supporting them.
MoxieM
@OzarkHillbilly: Paul Bronks is a quiet genius, imho.
Bonnie
I think the notorious RBG, Kagen, and Sotomayor will keep the young whippersnapper in line.
Jack the Second
@JGabriel:
“You can’t take that seriously, I was drunk at the time.”
Doris
I had the good fortune to be in the audience at Princeton to hear Justices Sotomayor and Kagan. They were intelligent, thoughtful, generous, good natured and sincerely interested in working collegially with their colleagues. While they spoke, I felt better about our federal government. If only all (or at least a lot more) of those in power in our government were as professional and capable as Sotomayor and Kagan the country would be so much better.,