NEW: Justice Dept says a new team of lawyers from the civil division will take over the 2020 census cases. Spox says AG appreciates the service, integrity & professionalism of the old team & expects “the new team will carry on in the same exemplary fashion as the cases progress.”
— Carrie Johnson (@johnson_carrie) July 8, 2019
The Washington Post, this morning:
There are two likely explanations for the Justice Department replacing its legal team in the census citizenship question case. Neither of them is good, and one could signal something much worse lying ahead.
The Justice Department announced the moves Sunday, as The Post’s Matt Zapotosky reported, and there is at least some indication that it was because the lawyers had qualms about the direction in which this was heading…
Another not-mutually-exclusive possibility is that the lawyers had seen their credibility shot by changing their minds about how to proceed. The old legal team told a judge last week that they were done, and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross waved the white flag publicly too, before President Trump reversed the administration’s course in a tweet…
The explanation is simple. If you’re going to completely change legal theories and contradict what you’ve said before, it’s more credible (not very credible, MORE credible) to bring in new people to mouth the words.https://t.co/d2df9xcZ7z
— RammedTheRampartsHat (@Popehat) July 8, 2019
Or as Nancy Pelosi frames it, per Bloomberg:
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi accused President Donald Trump’s administration Monday of wanting to “make America white again” with its plan to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census.
“You know his hat? ‘Make America white again.’ They want to make sure that people, certain people, are counted,” Pelosi said at a press conference on election security. “It’s really disgraceful and it’s not what our founders had in mind.”
Pelosi said the goal of the Trump administration is “self-evident” to have “a chilling effect” so certain populations will not respond to the census…
She added that Democrats were fighting for an accurate census count and are seeking enough funding for outreach to ensure everyone is counted.
Democrats are also seeking to enforce subpoenas for information on the census. The House Oversight and Reform Committee voted last month to hold Attorney General William Barr and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross in contempt for withholding documents.
Isn’t the real story with the census case that the admin got caught lying about its rationale and four justices basically went along with it?
— Dave Weigel (@daveweigel) July 8, 2019
Not stall so much as re-boot. SCOTUS held the question was theoretically allowable if DoJ came up with a new/valid reason for it. If they present the court with such, the plaintiffs can challenge it. This will cause a delay. The real ? is can US delay the census itself?
— rogercee23 (@rogercee23) July 8, 2019
Per a DOJ official (declined to be ID'd), the new team in the census litigation will include a mix of political appointees and career lawyers, drawing more from the Consumer Protection Branch, as opposed to Federal Programs. Official declined to get into the *why*
— Zoe Tillman (@ZoeTillman) July 8, 2019
Recap of where things stand after the holiday weekend:
– Census Bureau is going ahead with printing the 2020 form *without* the citizenship Q
– Trump admin is still deciding if it can get the Q in and survive another round of court review
– New DOJ lawyers are subbing in— Zoe Tillman (@ZoeTillman) July 8, 2019
The amount of paper that will be printed for the Census is more than enough to cover the entirety of D.C. https://t.co/UM0WY7XCAk
— Philip Bump (@pbump) July 5, 2019
debbie
The judge won’t slice through these new attorneys the way he did their predecessors? Shit’s still shit, even if it’s wearing a fancy new bow.
rikyrah
Glad to see this FrontPaged.
They lied their azzes off to the judge.
Let’s bring discovery, shall we???
JohnPM
If I were the judge handling this case, I would be very tempted to order Trump yo appear in person to “explain” the need for the citizenship question.
TenguPhule
I see they really plan to go all out on election fraud next year.
TenguPhule
I want to see the printed forms first.
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@TenguPhule:
Scaramucci apparently hasn’t been paying attention to his approval numbers. He’s underwater. Or he’s trying to get Trump to notice him and get a campaign job. And honestly, this economy is not great at all. A recent survey found at least 50% of the US population couldn’t come up with $400 on short notice.
Oh look at those latest job numbers! Those part-time minimum wage jobs sure will raise Americans out of poverty. Such a great economy /s
TenguPhule
Let’s see the Legislation.
TenguPhule
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??:
I believe I did mention election fraud.
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@TenguPhule:
If the turnout is high enough, that will be effectively impossible, at least without starting a civil war or declaring martial law, the military going along with this, and establishing a civilian dictatorship.
A tall order for sure. Trump only won via the EC and he had a lot of factors in his favor, many he had no control over and are unlikely to help him this time. He was more popular then because some fell for his businessman and “progressive” (he defended Social Security and Medicare IIRC) image
lamh36
Uh huh…15 IS A CHILD!
I see some of the Brits are going to try to do whatever they can do get the heat off of Prince Andrew and Epstein!
Check out the response to a tweet from Tapper and a pic of Andrew w/said 15 year old!
https://twitter.com/jaketapper/status/1148348470912344065?s=20
trnc
@TenguPhule: What legislation do we need that isnt already covered by the constitution?
Ithink
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??:
Who, if it’s a Democrat, represents you @ the state level, out of curiousity?
PaulWartenberg
This is on one level the willingness of the Republicans as a party to let government stop working – in this case, running a Constitutionally-required Census on schedule – all in order to protect their own party from losing even an inch of political power.
You saw part of it back in 2010, when they made all this noise against Obama running the Census and encouraging people to leave their forms unfilled. It was because they wanted to under-report people, in an effort to delay the reality that the demographics of the U.S. was sliding more Latino, even back then. They’d seen the long-term projections of the U.S. population – that with the dying off of the Boomer population and the lack of European immigration since the 1980s – and are horrified by the implications. The political projections suggest Texas – the last large-population Conservative state the GOP can rely on for Electoral College shenanigans – will be non-White majority (and likely Democratic) by 2024.
Not to mention how messing with the Census would allow Republicans to manage their Gerrymandering in key battleground states. If they can get away with under-reporting the populations of states that have seen Latino growth – not just the Southwest but also Florida and Georgia – it will keep it easier for them to skew Congressional districts to make more seats safe for the GOP.
TenguPhule
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??:
What matters is not how many vote, but who counts the votes.
Anonymous At Work
This speaks of the one case but the other case deals with Equal Protection claim and that’s gonna be the hard one to dispute. There’s a lot of evidence to go into that record that plaintiffs will absolutely insist upon before going up appeals. And it has the possibility of generating a ruling that the citizenship’s question is entirely premised on impermissible racial motivations as a matter of fact & law: much tougher to overcome and would take a pretty brazen Supreme Court decision to show otherwise.
I think that Kevin Drum has the right of it when he says that a quick SCOTUS ruling will provide evidence for who the hacks on the Court are, and who would need an “assistant Justice” to help guide their decisions.
TenguPhule
@trnc:
More then you’d think, given that Trump considers the Constitution an easily ignored suggestion.
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@Ithink:
None, unfortunately, at the moment. Both the State Senate and the State House Rep are Republicans. Both seats were traditionally, AFAIK, Democratic. One of them is an empty “moderate” suit who voted for the Ohio heartbeat bill. His name is Rulli, family owns a local grocery chain, where he used employees to pass out campaign signs. He’s Italian and probably Catholic, so that partially explains his vote, despite only carrying the district by 66,000 to 60,000
TenguPhule
@Anonymous At Work:
Janus vs. Afscme would like you to hold its beer.
James E Powell
@TenguPhule:
Voter suppression is more likely than election fraud.
Also the national polls are useless. We need to know how he’s doing in Florida, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Wisconsin. All the other states are pretty well set.
Yutsano
@lamh36: 15 is, I believe, still under the age of consent in Britain. Prince Andrew is gonna be in the thick of this.
TenguPhule
@James E Powell:
They’re gonna do both. Those Republicans didn’t “misplace” thousands of already cast votes in Florida and Georgia until after the deadline by accident.
Yutsano
@James E Powell: Throw in North Carolina as well. Even with the gerrymandering mishegas, that could still be a struggle for Dolt45.
lamh36
@Yutsano: I mean if this was in Britain…maybe not so much a big deal, but if this happened in US…then 15 I believe even in the most backwards of states is still below the age of consent. And even if not…ugh…15 IS A CHILD!!!!
Beatrice and Eugenie were 15 year olds once…and I’d assume Andrew didn’t want no ole pervs near his daughters…ugh
Adam L Silverman
@rikyrah: The judge in Maryland has already ordered discovery during one of the phone conferences last week.
John Revolta
@JohnPM: Judge Hazel has already said that if it was anybody other than Trump he would have him in court to explain himself.
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@TenguPhule:
They do that, and there absolutely will be riots. They won’t be able to to contain it.
Baud
@Yutsano:
Gerrymandering doesn’t affect the electoral college unless a state allocates electors by district.
OzarkHillbilly
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??: trump’s first 29 months of jobs is almost a million short of Obama’s last 29 months of jobs.
lamh36
So I had a thought today that the folks at my current job will be so blindsided if things work out the way I want them to with this job I have a phone interview with Wednesday?
I mean I know I’m putting the cart before the horse, it might not even work out but just thinking about it had me like damn. And if the job offers good money I probably won’t even work weekends to keep my skills up, but man it was a professional opportunity they I couldn’t pass up!
I’ve learned when opportunity happens don’t miss it cause it worried about other folks who aren’t worried bout you
Doesn’t help that we have a coworker who has some weird disease and has been in ICU for almost a month
Adam L Silverman
@lamh36: That would be this guy.
https://eppc.org/author/pascal-emmanuel-gobry/
The Ethics and Public Policy Center’s mission statement is:
https://eppc.org/about/
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
OT: Does anybody know how to translate Japanese?
lamh36
@lamh36:
So a lil bit about my young coworker (she’s only 26).
The young lady is in a really bad way. She been in ICU for over 3 weeks, almost a month and things are not looking good. She’s been sedated in ICU for all this time.
They’ve run all kinds of tests on her and they just can’t figure out what the hell is going on. They think it all goes back to her love of exotic animals.
No one knows what exactly is going on, but her mother had been posting had been posting all kinds of really inappropriately detailed shit about my young coworker’s condition and the workups and stuff on FB. So people were following the mom to get updates. It’s been very uncomfortable since the young lady wasn’t the type to post stuff so personal on her page, but it’s the only way we’ve been able to keep up with what’s been going on. Based on the mom’s post we thought things were gettin better, but this past weekend another coworker visited her in ICU and it was pretty BAD she said. Based on what her mom was posting on FB, we’d all thought she’d had a mircale recovery…smh
The coworker who went to see the other one in ICU was so upset that she said she hasn’t been able to sleep since Friday. She had to get something from her Therapist. She was mad because thanks to the mother she thought the girl was doing better…smh.
Anyway…please send up prayers and or healing thoughts up for my young coworker…she really needs it them now.
Ithink
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??:
Ah, wow! That’s good to know.
Baud
@lamh36:
Good luck to your friend.
Ithink
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??:
Oh yeah, I can a little! I know a few people who are absolute experts though.
Cheryl Rofer
@Adam L Silverman: Isn’t the Ethics and Public Policy Center the organization that employs Bret Kavanaugh’s friend who “geolocated” a house that “proved” that Christine Blasey Ford was lying?
Jay
https://bylinetimes.com/2019/03/18/robert-mercer-is-fueling-a-multimillion-dollar-anti-muslim-propaganda-industry/
trollhattan
@lamh36:
That is truly sad. Would be horrid for anybody and their family, but 26? Unthinkable.
My best wishes to her and you all.
James E Powell
@Yutsano:
I’m thinking if Trump is losing in North Carolina, he will be losing in the six states I listed. But then I was really wrong about everything in 2016, so my thinking is worthless.
Brachiator
Are they going to suggest counting 3/5 of all undocumented persons?
trollhattan
@Adam L Silverman:
Were anybody crafting a “to be rounded up in the first group” list you would have a hard time topping this crew.
Patricia Kayden
@lamh36: Sending prayers and good vibes her way.
trollhattan
@James E Powell:
My prognosticator done got broke November ’16 and the manufacturer is out of business.
rikyrah
Gay Out of Context ?️?? (@SJGrunewald) Tweeted:
Attention media: Underaged women are children. Underaged women are children. Underaged women are children. Underaged women are children. Underaged women are children. Underaged women are children. Underaged women are children. Underaged women are children. https://twitter.com/SJGrunewald/status/1148310635152719872?s=17
rikyrah
Ben Penn (@benjaminpenn) Tweeted:
To those who think Epstein’s arrest for sex trafficking is irrelevant to Alex Acosta & his ’08 lenient plea deal w/ Epstein, Labor Sec Acosta now enforces trafficking. Yet last week his DOL made it easier for traffickers to get off the hook. https://t.co/cSJrYocFhW https://twitter.com/benjaminpenn/status/1147992816926318593?s=17
Honus
@TenguPhule: 1) Trump respects statues even less than the Constitution. 2). No legislation will pass the senate especially not with a veto proof majority
David Koch
Sports Illustrated’s stunning cover (photo)
burnspbesq
@lamh36:
The “well, she looked 18” defense is not going to fly where that kid is concerned.
Ithink
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??:
Let me know if you wanna swap email addresses and we can discuss it in more detail!
Baud
@David Koch:
One nation, one cup??? Kind of risque, no?
rikyrah
@David Koch:
??????
John Revolta
@trollhattan: Well you can cross Kristol and Krauthammer off the list for starters.
Honus
@James E Powell: unlike all the other states you mention he lost Virginia in 2016, and he hasn’t made any friends here since then.
lamh36
smh… “kept his underwear on”…DAFUQ
Baud
@lamh36:
I don’t get the bit about the massages. Is the insinuation that it was not adult woman?
Steve in the ATL
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??: domo=thanks. You’re on your own for the rest of it.
lamh36
Bill Clinton released a statement
https://twitter.com/sahilkapur/status/1148366119511764992?s=20
Baud
@lamh36:
Trump’s turn.
burnspbesq
@Baud:
The implication is that it wasn’t sexual. I think “bullshit” is the appropriate response.
dmsilev
@John Revolta: Did something happen to Kristol? Please tell me it was appropriately ironic. Maybe you’re thinking of Robert Novak, who, like Krauthammer, is still dead.
Baud
@burnspbesq:
Ah, ok. I was focused on the underage aspect of this lurid story.
trollhattan
This has a familiar and evil echo–killed for listening to rap while black.
He was just a kid.
lamh36
@Baud: ’cause it’s bullshit. that’s why
David Koch
Girls Gone Wild (video) NSFW
TenguPhule
@trollhattan:
The GOP has decided that effective retroactively, 14 is the new 18.
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@Ithink:
Sure!
Barbara
@Adam L Silverman: I found out recently to my shock that France does not have an equivalent to US statutory rape laws. I have read about prosecutors having to prove that girls as young as nine did not consent to an attack, even one perpetrated by a stranger. Being French, maybe that’s where PEG gets his ideas about rape. It is like a riddle, how can there be so many bottom feeders when it seems as if there is no bottom anymore?
Ruckus
@trollhattan:
That’s what I was thinking.
The first question that came to mind was, these folks even know what the word ethics means? Or even how to spell it? Now wait, maybe they were supporting something that was going to redefine the word ethics so that they could actually say they had some.
lamh36
lamh36
John Revolta
@dmsilev: Irving Kristol died some years ago praise FSM. You may be thinking of his failson Bill, The Man Who Was Always Wrong.
lamh36
Hmmm with this Epstein news and Chumps “modeling” agency back in the news, is it time to talk about Melanoma’s old “modeling” career
https://twitter.com/amakabot/status/1148372170512523264?s=20
James E Powell
@lamh36:
Our experience with Bill Clinton’s statements hasn’t been such that I am completely reassured by this one.
Ithink
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??:
[email protected]
David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch
Hard to believe a guy who gets peed on by Russian hookers is best friends with a pedophile.
Ruckus
@burnspbesq:
Isn’t bullshit pretty much the appropriate response to anything most republicans say?
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@Ithink:
Got it!
Baud
@James E Powell:
Then what would reassure you, given the lack of any evidence against him?
Mandalay
@TenguPhule:
Meh. This story is bubbling under right now, but will become a big deal in a couple of months:
lamh36
My sister works for the state here and she’s pissed, because with the new law Bel Edwards signed into law abortion clinics are now places that you are mandated to report if a woman goes there for an abortion…smh
Never had to before…she and most of my sisters and family (‘cept my one sister who “kinda” religious) are extremely PRO-CHOICE.
My sis with the state is so pissed she’s already looking for a new job!
Jay
@rikyrah:
And attn. MSM, sex with “ underage women” is not sex, it’s rape.
SFAW
@Adam L Silverman:
I’d like to see records of any and all communication between SCOTRP (esp. Roberts) and the DOI (esp. Shill Barr).
Of course, it would be cynical of me to suggest that Roberts either volunteered, or Barr asked for, whatever phrasing would mollify Roberts (a/k/a provide him a fig leaf of cover) so that he could “revise his decision.”
TenguPhule
@lamh36: Trump is going to push for concessions for not destroying America’s credit rating.
debbie
@lamh36:
So sorry to read of this. Hope they can figure it out and get her healthy.
Don’t be too angry with the mother. Moms see what they want to see, especially when it comes to hope and their kids.
TenguPhule
@Mandalay: Between this and Trump’s eagerness to dive into currency manipulation of the US dollar, we’re pretty much fucked as a reserve currency.
James E Powell
@Baud:
Probably nothing. And when has the lack of any evidence ever mattered when it comes accusations against a Clinton?
Dorothy A. Winsor
Forgive my reposting this. I blogged about sentence level revision today.
Baud
@James E Powell:
It doesn’t matter. I would just like this place to be an oasis of reality in a fake news world. We’ll be fighting the NYT in no time over this.
Adam L Silverman
@Cheryl Rofer: Yep, same place. Also, Mona Charen.
Baud
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
Cool.
lamh36
@James E Powell:
that’s more detail than he gave up during the Lewinsky days…LOL
mrmoshpotato
These fucking people…
Chyron HR
@Baud:
That’s just because nobody’s investigated his personal affairs yet.
SFAW
@Baud:
WTF? This place? The place where the “owner” drives Subarus naked into a pond of mustard, said pond being surrounded by tire rims and anthrax-laden mops?
Or something like that.
TenguPhule
@Baud:
Too late, actual FTFNYT headline.
Adam L Silverman
@Baud: @burnspbesq: Epstein is alleged to initially lure the girls and teens in, often via Ghislaine Maxwell, by hiring them to give massages.
John Revolta
Popcorn!
?BillinGlendaleCA
@dmsilev: The quote was from Irving, who’s still dead.
Baud
@Chyron HR:
Someone should hack their emails.
@TenguPhule:
Of course.
Omnes Omnibus
@James E Powell: Your first comment seemed imply that Clinton’s past makes you hesitant to accept the veracity of this statement. Now you are saying that nothing would reassure you that he isn’t involved, but accusations against Clinton that aren’t supported by evidence are rife. I am a little confused about what you are trying to say.
SFAW
Totally OT, but:
For all the Mets’ fans out there, I personally GUARANTEE that the bullpen will NOT blow yet another save tonight
Baud
@SFAW:
You think those stories were fake news?
Steve in the ATL
@rikyrah: “Underaged women”—I swear there’s a better word for that…what could it be? Oh yeah—“girls”!
@lamh36: I might could be convinced to be pro-choice, but I’m not there yet. Until I see a big improvement in humanity, I will remain pro-abortion.
@TenguPhule: we are ok until oil trades in something else.
Baud
@Steve in the ATL:
Thank God Trump and Jared are such good friends with the Saudis.
Adam L Silverman
@Barbara: Being erudite scum or being scum with no sense of shame and a willingness to do anything pays well.
Uncle Cosmo
@TenguPhule: Just another fucking imbecile goombah whistling past the electoral graveyard. Goofs like Mooch give gli italoamericani (i.e., my people) a bad name.
frosty
@TenguPhule: I am so fucking tired of your bloodthirsty and/or depressing comments. You seem to delight in breaking everyone’s spirit. I’ve held off for awhile because now and again listening has been worthwhile, but after buggering up at least three threads today you’re getting pied.
Steve in the ATL
@SFAW: Roberts’ entire career has been focused on voter suppression. He doesn’t need secret communications from DOJ or anyone else to execute his plan.
Uncle Cosmo
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??: Yet another fucking imbecile goombah (cf. #106 supra). Che vergogna!
lamh36
SiubhanDuinne
@trollhattan:
Well, Krauthammer’s dead, so he’s already been rounded up. I’d nominate (for entirely different reasons) Marc Thiessen or Maureen Dowd to fill his slot.
MomSense
@Omnes Omnibus:
I have no information on which to base my hunch, but I don’t think Bill was engaged in sex with girls. That’s not his kink. He was into Epstein for the $$$, especially at that time.
TenguPhule
@Steve in the ATL:
Pretty sure that’s Mad Max territory. $200 per barrel of oil is bad enough.
SiubhanDuinne
@lamh36:
How awful! I hope they can figure out what’s going on medically (so they can deal with it), and whatever the diagnosis, I hope she gets better soon. Must be so worrying to all of you — her colleagues, friends, and family.
TenguPhule
@MomSense:
Phrasing!
TenguPhule
@SiubhanDuinne: Ed Roger.
MisterForkbeard
@Omnes Omnibus: I’m mostly inclined to accept Clinton’s statement, except he really does need to square his “I was on the plane four times” with the flight logs that Gawker published showing he was there up to 26 times.
It’s possible there’s just some parsing here I’m not seeing, but Bill really should have learned not to do that by now.
SiubhanDuinne
@lamh36:
I didn’t comment in the increasingly strident and ugly thread a few flights down, but while I agree that Schumer may not be the pony we’re all hoping for, I don’t think he is the total evil hopeless loser that some here seem to believe he is. I like him for inviting the women’s soccer team, and good for him on taking an equal pay proposal to McTurtle.
Ithink
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??:
Sweet! Let me know here when you’ve sent anything over. I gotta run to Wal-Mart and then my gym to shower since the plumber has mine all in disrepair currently upgrading it! I’ll hit you back shortly though.
Baud
@MisterForkbeard:
Legs of a single trip?
Even 26 flights doesn’t implicate him in wrong doing though.
MisterForkbeard
@MisterForkbeard: Apparently it’s mostly just parsing, as explained here: https://www.dailykos.com/comments/1870207/74356504?fbclid=IwAR2isT_jnWFlihg9edikxsTRHbfMq2EpbsYBONnHZ9jZ9pLTEhmAboGmEIg#comment_74356504
Would have been better for him to respond to this, as both gawker and now the Guardian are stirring up trouble over it.
@Baud: Agreed that 26 trips doesn’t implicate him. It’s more that if he says “I was on that plane 4 times” and he was actually on it 26 times, that’s a problem.
That said, it appears that he was surrounded by a fair amount of witnesses who do not believe anything happened, and Epstein was never on the plane with him. At least, according to this random dude I saw on GOS
Baud
@MisterForkbeard:
Agreed on the optics. But like I said upstairs, we’ll be fighting the media on this, so we should not indulge in innuendo ourselves.
mrmoshpotato
@SFAW: Yeah, yeah. And no one will lose a baseball game tonight either.
sdhays
@Chyron HR: This is what reassures me. If there was even a hint of Bill being wrapped up in this shit, it would have come out in 2007 when they were giving Epstein his get out of jail free card. I simply can’t believe that if they even had circumstantial evidence that implicated Bill that they wouldn’t have weaponized it already.
Guilt by association is all they really have, and they are going to be desperate to distract from how buddy buddy this guy was with our Rapist in Chief.
James E Powell
@Baud:
Okay.
@Omnes Omnibus:
I’m expressing anxiety. That guy makes me nervous.
mrmoshpotato
@lamh36: So Epstein started a massage school? ?
SFAW
@mrmoshpotato:
Look, I’ll take what I can get.
SFAW
@Baud:
Maybe not. But they’re like no reality with which I am familiar. And I don’t use psychoactive pharmaceuticals.
SFAW
@Steve in the ATL:
I don’t disagree. But, he DID say (more or less) that the “reasoning”/justification for adding the question was such transparent bullshit that even HE could not vote for it. I assume that’s his “legacy” talking or some such. All he’s asking for is less-transparent bullshit, I expect. “Well, when you put it THAT way, I can do nothing but vote with my brethren to allow it.”
mrmoshpotato
@SFAW: Haha
SFAW
@sdhays:
And MoDo will blame it on that shrieking harridan, Hitlary.
trnc
@TenguPhule: Right, but that isn’t any different than he treats laws. At any rate, I’m all for the House passing laws to address the situation (even though they would die in the senate), but I don’t want them passing a law that essentially restates what the constitution already says.
Another Scott
@SFAW: I don’t recall who pointed it out (Immantenize?), but this Linda Greenhouse opinion piece at FTFNYT is pretty good:
As others noted, it was only the publicity about Hofeller’s hard drives that saved us. Roberts was more than willing to be on the other side until that information came out and became impossible to ignore.
The question is, how willing is he to be lied to again going forward?
Grrr….
Cheers,
Scott.
catclub
actually, they kind of did, with that 3/5ths rule and such.
Brachiator
@SFAW:
I’m surprised that even concern about his “legacy” slowed him down. Maybe he was just laughing his ass off and saying “Come on guys, at least try to pretend this isn’t just a naked power play.”
Republicans have been notoriously hostile to Voting Rights, and this court is doing what it can to dismantle the law.
And yet they were asked to believe that the Trump DOJ wants to enforce the Voting Rights Act more vigorously. Goddam, they must have laughed their asses off over that one.
Brachiator
@sdhays:
Not necessarily. And let me be clear here. I am not accusing Clinton of anything.
But certain Establishment sex scandals often implicate many respectable people, but their names are always kept out of it. When too many reputations are at stake, people are willing to protect their enemies in order to save their own asses.
catclub
@TenguPhule: Well, we should be fucked as a reserve currency, but the European effort to make an alternate payments system (completely feckless), so that companies can trade with Iran, shows that the US$ will remain the world’s reserve currency for a long time.
SFAW
@Brachiator:
Were he unconcerned about his “legacy” or some other pseudo-lofty principle, he would have said “fuck it,” and voted with the Usurpers-plus-two. I doubt he was concerned about being impeached. He could have voted with the RWMFs, and either kept silent, or said “because all them Lie-berals is commies” and the end result (re: continuing as Chief Justice) would have been the same. Or do you think that Traitor Turtle would suddenly, in a fit of conscience, say “This shall not stand!” and tell Speaker Pelosi to start impeachment proceedings?
Grover Gardner
Better Call Saul!
Jason Consolidation
@Baud:
It can in one sense — it makes some people in those districts feel like their votes count a bit less and probably keeps a handful of voters here and there home. A few thousand could tip a close state.
Jason Consolidation
@SiubhanDuinne: He’s *OK*. Nothing special. But one of the good guys.