And there it is. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson is officially a member of SCOTUS. pic.twitter.com/CY1xiaagyf
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) April 7, 2022
inshallah https://t.co/HaaLr3EbuB
— zeddy (@Zeddary) April 7, 2022
Some Republicans walk out during the applause. Mitt Romney stays and continues to clap pic.twitter.com/b9z8huQQIY
— Acyn (@Acyn) April 7, 2022
Huge presser with CBC members happening just off the Senate floor after KBJ confirmation vote: pic.twitter.com/WJ6Tb7nEEF
— Jordain Carney (@jordainc) April 7, 2022
Rand Paul is late to the vote on Justice Jackson; he was distracted working on some comments about her in his family newsletter.https://t.co/uS3m1qUh4i
— HatIsWithCriminalDefendants (@Popehat) April 7, 2022
In conclusion: this was the fullest, and the most joyful, I've seen the chamber be in a long time.
— Grace Segers (@Grace_Segers) April 7, 2022
Biden and Judge Jackson during her SCOTUS confirmation vote. (Mandel Ngan/Getty) pic.twitter.com/ZfCbFYuZAT
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) April 7, 2022
Psaki: "I'm not spending a lot of time, nor is the president, thinking about the dress code of Rand Paul today. We're thinking about the historic confirmation of an eminently qualified Black woman to serve on SCOTUS. I'm not really worried about his khakis." pic.twitter.com/0RKyr6qXIe
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) April 7, 2022
#MoscowMitch lies like normal people breathe — and presumably for the same reasons:
Baier: It used to be that nominees were not attacked over ideology, especially if they had the votes which clearly the Democrats did. Do regret any of the rhetoric?
McConnell: No, ideology is the point… pic.twitter.com/jzIH2StlkZ— Acyn (@Acyn) April 7, 2022
A little SCOOPLET in Playbook PM: The White House has begun sending invitations to an event celebrating Jackson’s confirmation Friday afternoon at the White House.
I'm told Biden, Harris and Jackson are all expected to attend.
https://t.co/inktkohBtW— Eugene Daniels (@EugeneDaniels2) April 7, 2022
Miss Bianca
Today has been a day of various irritants to the soul large and small, but all I’ve had to do to perk myself up is whisper, “Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson” and I find myself smiling again
ETA: And man…I can’t believe that I’ve come to think somewhat well of Mitt Romney. Guy has more class than I gave him credit for.
Jackie
A historic moment that will be noted in future history books! The Rose Garden celebration tomorrow will be a celebration of joy!
Dan B
@Miss Bianca: Same here. It’s great to have someone of her caliber headed to the high court.
We trapped a big feral tomcat and got him snipped today. He loves people but was threatening to our two kitties. The clinic were sure he’d be adopted immediately but we’re worried if he’d get a good home. Everyone at the clinic loved him so he’ll probably get great promo. First world problems and then there’s Ukraine.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Dan B: Go you! You made a little piece of the world better
japa21
@Miss Bianca: I don’t like Romney’s ideological view of things, but he does have, at least, a moral code he lives by. Most Republicans think morals are for fools.
And to make it clear, his moral code and mine are not always in agreement either, but he has one.
japa21
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
Not sure the tomcat that got snipped would agree.
Mike in NC
There was a snowballs chance in hell that any of the Confederate senators would vote for a black woman.
japa21
I want to repeat something I mentioned earlier. Once upon a time in the US, there would have been no issues with someone of her qualifications breezing through to confirmation, even given her gender (am I allowed to say that word DeSantis) and race. At the worst it might have been a 80-20 vote in favor.
And as far as McConnell goes, we know ideology trumps qualifications and career arc for him. Ideology was all that mattered when he was in charge and Trump made the nominations. A nominee had to be really, really unqualified not to be confirmed.
Alison Rose ???
Gonna go back in time to find 2012 me and tell her that in 10 years, she will be saying positive things about Mitt Romney, just to see her laugh hysterically.
Debating whether or not to tell her about Trump, because that bitch was already dealing with a lot and I don’t want to put that nightmare in her head.
mrmoshpotato
Shithead Ted’s “beard” is “way way way” far from being a decent-looking beard.
And yet, his face is more disgusting without it. (You can see the smarminess unshielded.)
Kelly
Well she is way, way, way to the left of Ted Cruz and most the Republican Party because they’re so far, far, far to the right we can’t hardly see them anymore
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Miss Bianca: I think Romney’s only real political principle is that the poor have it too easy in this country, and the rich have it too hard. Where that puts him on the spectrum of Republicans– Eisenhower, Ford, Reagan– I’m not sure. Combine that with the Bush The Elder ish notion of political and cultural entitlement that “the country should be run by our sort, old top”, and the corresponding political ruthlessness that leads to things like Willie Horton and soft birtherism, or self-deportation and Kris Kobach. But that’s also what horrifies him, or at least annoys him, about people like trump and I suspsect Cruz and Cotton. He’ll distance himself from trumpism, he either can’t or won’t– more the latter, I think– do anything to stop the McConnellism that uses trumpism to advance its goals.
bluegirlfromwyo
My schadenfreude is working overtime today. I so want Jackson, Sotomayor and Kagan to have a post-swearing in girls night and tell Boney Carrot to stay home.
Spanky
@japa21:
Ummmmm, I’m pretty sure we haven’t plumbed the depths of the ideologues the GOP are willing to throw up. Justices Beerbong and Covid-Barrett aren’t exactly big thinkers.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Plus ça change….
Brachiator
In 1963, in Gasden, Alabama, police arrested Mary Hamilton and other civil rights demonstrators. At a hearing that June, the court referred to her as “Mary.” It was custom to only address black people by their first name.
Today, Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson has been confirmed to be a Justice of the US Supreme Court.
Justice Jackson.
Sounds good.
mrmoshpotato
@Miss Bianca:
It’ll pass.
eclare
@Dan B: Good for you! Paws crossed here he finds a forever home soon.
I saw my resident feral today, if I get too close it hisses at me like a demon.
eclare
@Spanky: Harriet Miers…
Martin
Simply put, Romney isn’t a fascist, while increasingly more of the GOP are. That’s the whole ballgame. Romney and Cheney can have all of my praise until they’re the ones running the GOP and not Cruz and MTG. We can quibble over their policy differences another day. There are bigger threats afoot.
A Ghost to Most
Good job, Democrats. Can you the next SC Justice be an atheist? Kthxbai.
Joe Falco
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
And we can thank the two senators from Georgia for bucking that trend. I really appreciate Warnock and Ossoff being there to do the most good.
Brachiator
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Deplorables gotta be deplorable.
Something else that Marshall and Jackson have in common:
Martin
Oh, can we get a huzzah for Adam Linda Fagan for being the first woman to lead a branch of the military. Not terribly high profile achievement (mainly because everyone dismisses the Coast Guard as a useless branch of the military) but it is deserving of being a high profile achievement. The Coast Guard primarily helps people. It’s inherently the best branch of the armed services.
Joe Falco
@Brachiator:
And that’s the real reason Cruz and the other 46 reprobates believes she’s too left for the court.
Omnes Omnibus
This was a good thing. It will have good results for years to come. Let’s just celebrate it and leave the haters to themselves for a night.
Raven
@Martin: In “The Great Deluge” by Doug Brinkley the Coast Guard, Cajun Navy and Wal Mart are the only organizations that did well during Katrina.
Omnes Omnibus
@Martin: Is she tall enough?
Steve in the ATL
@Brachiator: oh no please tell me this isn’t going to turn into another Hamilton thread!
smith
@eclare: Robert Bork, Clement Haynsworth, Harrold Carswell…
And remember the immortal words of Sen Roman Hruska, when it was pointed out that Carswell was an extremely mediocre judge: “Even if he were mediocre, there are a lot of mediocre judges and people and lawyers. They are entitled to a little representation, aren’t they, and a little chance?”
Affirmative action, Republican style.
Raven
@Steve in the ATL: I had an appointment with a specialist at Wellstar on Boulevard today. He was awesome but what a weird place.!
Ivan X
This is great news!!
As for Romney, look, if his party has set the bar so low that he can shine merely by demonstrating some commitment to country over party once in a while, that’s not his fault. Given that apparently 47 GOP senators don’t share that commitment — I mean seriously, it would have been the same tally even if it had been a white male moderate (cough Garland cough), his willingness to buck the gravitational pull of McConnellism and do what he thinks is right deserves some credit. Not a lot of credit, he’s still an asshole, but ultimately being so much less of an asshole than the rest of his colleagues legitimately makes him look good. Relativity exists.
Steve in the ATL
@Raven: ha I can imagine!
Brachiator
@Steve in the ATL:
Just you wait,
Just you wait!
Sure Lurkalot
@Kelly:
Best to not even bother to look.
Mike in NC
@Martin: In 1980 I got bored with my dead-end job and applied for Coast Guard OCS. They said I did well on the entrance exam, but being the Coast Guard they could be highly selective and encouraged me to try again in six months. A week later I took the exact same exam with a Navy recruiter and was welcomed aboard.
Zelma
@Raven:
I’m from Cape May County. The Coast Guard rules!
trollhattan
In North Dakota, some 3,000 km from the Chixculub impact site, they have found the fossil remains of a dinosaur that perished that very day. If so, it’s the first on record.
Steve in the ATL
@Omnes Omnibus:
We hate you. Is that enough for tonight?
ian
@Martin:
I think y’all forget the real Liz Cheney. We are talking about a woman who demagogued the defense lawyers who were assigned by the government to represent al-Qaeda suspects. She did not stop even after the “Al-Qaeda 7” (yes that is what Cheney called them) were receiving death threats. That isn’t policy quibbles, that is serious disregard for rule of law.
trollhattan
Sotomayor is a Yankees fan. Same thing.
Raven
Martin
@trollhattan: Oh, no. Yankees fans aren’t atheists. Yankees fans believe in god, and they believe they’re god.
Martin
@ian: Don’t care right now. She’s not trying to subvert democracy. If we lose that, we lose everything.
Kayla Rudbek
@bluegirlfromwyo: I want a crafting session (stitch and bitch, as the knitters and crocheters would say) with the three of them…
Joe Falco
@Ivan X:
Nope, I’m going to hold Romney accountable for every traitorous, seditious, bigoted, and/or idiotic thing that comes out of his party. Republicans and even supposed liberals or leftists hold one or two elected officials in our party as the mouthpiece of the entire Democratic platform so Romney will not receive any such fair-mindedness from me.
Omnes Omnibus
@Steve in the ATL: No. Do as you are told.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@ian:
Neal Katyal was one of them. He’s talked about the rather surreal feeling of cheering on Liz Cheney.
Steve in the ATL
@Raven: I’m over tiger after the way he treated his wife
Martin
@Raven: You know, it doesn’t matter what Tiger does, people still want to pull for the guy. Everyone really wants 1997 Tiger back. I get that.
Dan B
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Thanks. My little gray kitty is on the chair back behind my head. The tomcat more than twice his size scared him. Not sure he would have mellowed.
Starfish
@Joe Falco: Any of them could break with the party-line nonsense that the party has chosen to do, and they choose not to most of the time. They chose to confirm unqualified judges and put complete clowns on the highest court of the land. Zero credit.
Miss Bianca
@Ivan X:
Yeah, I think that’s the right take on it.
Steve in the ATL
@Omnes Omnibus: fine. We can get back to discussing how Avril Lavigne’s “I wanna be your girlfriend” was a flagrant ripoff of the Rubinoos’ totally awesome “I wanna be your boyfriend”.
Raven
@Martin: He’s paid for his sins and it really doesn’t matter what people think. . . I’d say he’s human but I’m not sure after today.
smith
In somewhat related news, Milwaukee just elected its first Black mayor. Reading about it, I wondered how many major cities in the US have mayors who are not white men. Went down this rabbit hole and discovered that of the 20 largest cities (Milwaukee is not one of them — it’s 30th), only 6 appear to have white men as mayors. The interesting thing to me is that none of these cities is majority Black. The largest majority-Black city is Detroit, at 26th, and its mayor is a white man. Could this diversity be a sign that the US, on the blue urban side anyway, is finally growing up?
Raven
@Martin: Actually they got that in 2019.
Another Scott
Congratulations to Justice-to-be Brown-Jackson. And well done Biden and Team D in the Senate.
Meanwhile, in other news, … ProPublica – In Colorado, your HOA can foreclose on you and take your home.
WTF??
Grr…,
Scott.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Ivan X:
and if he makes them look worse by standing there, applauding alone… I hope some clever ad maker in the Demmings or Beasley or DSCC offices can figure out how to use that footage. Maybe there’s some clip of Wee Willie’d Marco slinking away.
delk
Tested negative so I’m cleared for surgery tomorrow. I’m up first in the OR at 5:45 AM. ugh Nothing major just cleaning up the after effects of breaking my nose three times.
Dan B
@eclare: This Tomcat walked right up to me as I opened the car door one night and wanted to be petted. 28 pounds of feral cat but he was very calm later plunked down at the front door. My partner walked up to him and he calmly lay there waiting for petting or treats. He’s very healthy for a feral.
Raven
This is weird, Joey Votto has been talking while he’s playing first base for the whole inning!
Brachiator
@Martin:
Perhaps Admiral Linda Fagan…
I didn’t quite get it the first time I browsed the comment.
Very cool.
Wyatt Salamanca
Play Ball motherfuckers!!
h/t https://www.mlb.com/news/ohtani-first-to-throw-pitch-lead-off-to-start-season
And fuck the Republican party, especially Trump.
zhena gogolia
@Omnes Omnibus: Yeah! I love the pictures of her with Biden.
zhena gogolia
We have all the good people.
Ivan X
@Joe Falco: K. That’s nice, but all it takes is him and three other of his co-traitors to his party of truth and righteousness and we have no Justice KBJ.
Martin
@Brachiator: Whoops. That was Adm that my spellcheck decided was wrong.
Omnes Omnibus
@Steve in the ATL: This is true.
Martin
@Wyatt Salamanca: Shohei is proof that the DH is singlehandedly responsible for the decline of baseball.
Ivan X
@Wyatt Salamanca: Despite not even growing up in OC, I’m one of those rare Angels fans, so I cannot tell you how much this pleases me.
Mai Naem mobile
@Another Scott: i didn’t think that was anything new. They can do it in Arizona too.
eclare
@Dan B: Twenty eight pounds! That is a small lion! I would be terrified.
trollhattan
@eclare:
Isn’t that something like 0.80 Steves?
eclare
@trollhattan: Hahaha…I think that is the conversion rate.
debbie
@delk:
Good luck!
Another Scott
@Mai Naem mobile: Interesting.
And disturbing.
Thanks.
Cheers,
Scott.
laura
There is joy to be savored! Be present in this sweet moment and do not diminish the spectacular now. Think about the woman who plotted a course as a very young girl and did the work in such an exemplary fashion that it left her critics with no legitimate challenge to her record and her life, and so instead, they jumped to the chance to fully display their craven dance of the unwashed ass for the clicks and the lols. And now she is elevates to the Court and will, by her presence, elevate the Court. I wish Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson a long and engaged life on the Court and I wish a moment to feel the joy of the occasion especially because things are so dire in so many ways. Celebrate this win for all of the ways that it is a wonderful and positive thing. If just for a moment Savor the Joy of it.
eclare
@laura: Very well put and needed!
Omnes Omnibus
@laura: This.
Anotherlurker
@Martin: Fuck those assholes who demean the Coast Guard. The Coasties routinely, daily, save ordinary citizens . They do a hell of a lot of good for this country, as opposed to the the other branches who appear to be more attuned to support capitalism and imperialism.
mdblanche
@Alison Rose ???: If you told me when I was living in Massachusetts and Romney was governor that he would someday be the paragon of principled Republicans I wouldn’t have believed you.
In the long term I don’t think a two party democratic system is sustainable if only one party is committed to it. So as a practical matter I don’t think it’s a good idea to pick on the Romneys and the Cheneys. And there are so many more deserving targets.
James E Powell
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Confessing my ignorance of Latter Day Saints’ beliefs, but don’t they have something akin to the Puritans’ predestination so like if you’re rich it’s because God chose you to be rich because you’re just the best ever?
Another Scott
Yet more about the Secret Service news is trickling out…
This is my shocked, shocked face.
(via Popehat)
Cheers,
Scott.
mdblanche
@mdblanche: Oh, I’m probably being too negative for today. This is an occasion to celebrate and it’s important to celebrate them.
eclare
@Another Scott: I’d be willing to bet there are a lot more shoes to drop.
Ken
@James E Powell: I once read a book about LDS beliefs, written by someone in the church. I don’t know how widely-believed the doctrine is, but this person said that souls are given a choice of which body and life they will have, and the greatest souls take the most difficult lives.
Assuming I’m not misremembering the doctrine, and that it does represent LDS thinking, I’d guess that multi-millionaire Senator Romney is not one of the greatest souls.
sab
@Martin: Coast Guard lately does a lot of drug interdiction. During Vietnam war we sent them to be Swiftboaters. They have always had their military side even though they were mostly in Department of Transportation
My husband was a Coastie, and he is always reminding me that they are an older branch of tje services than the navy.
Ella in New Mexico
I’m as white as white can be.
But this incredibly accomplished woman speaks for me on the Supreme Court. She’s intelligent, well educated, brave, and an incredible achiever, focused on upholding all the principles of the Constitution.
This has been a LONG time coming. I cannot imagine anyone I’d want more right now to be on the SCOTUS. So proud of my country today.
Baud
@zhena gogolia:
And me!
Ohio Mom
I think Romney likes showing that he has good manners, that’s why he was sure to be seen applauding our new Justice. It didn’t look to me he was especially joyous, just following along, politely.
Compare that to Rand Paul who was late and couldn’t be bothered to dress properly. Purposely rude.
JoyceH
I wish I knew what the Senate Republicans thought they were doing. Does their feral base not count a No vote unless it’s delivered as churlishly as possible? They have to strut out in that insulting manner? Lindsay Graham is so desperate for the knuckle-dragger vote that he shouts his vote in from the friggin’ cloak room? Do they even grasp that NORMAL people find their behavior offensive?
Frankensteinbeck
@Ivan X:
I agree. The vote total would have been the same. The racism and sexism was demonstrated in the vile manner of their questioning and McConnell’s deranged rant trying to get his people to all vote No. (Which failed, by the way, in case you’re keeping track of whether McConnell is a genius.)
Another Scott
More results from the Wisconsin elections, … BoltsMag.org:
Good, good.
Every seat matters, every time.
Cheers,
Scott.
phdesmond
Lucille Clifton, “won’t you celebrate with me” from Book of Light. Copyright © 1993 by Lucille Clifton.
Frankensteinbeck
@JoyceH:
Venting their hate at a black woman who is about to rise to one of the most important positions in America.
Baud
@Another Scott:
?
David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch
I was hoping Uncle Joe would have appointed Aaron Judge or Taylor Swift to the court just for headlines on Judge Judge and Swift Justice.
Plus who wouldn’t want to see Taylor’s hot legal briefs
Dangerman
Nice walkout; sure owned me. Why do they always insist in acting like they are massively constipated (though that would explain the FOS stuff)? If they follow their leader and eat paper, fiber shouldn’t be a problem.
Steve in the ATL
@eclare:
You must be talking about my wife’s closet
Mai Naem mobile
@laura: I remember Rick Wilson of all people talking about how Dems don’t celebrate wins. KBJ is a highly accomplished woman, nominated by a Democratic POTUS. A historical nomination and elevation to the highest court. It’s a huge win. Screw the haters.
eclare
@Steve in the ATL: This past year I ordered a pair of leather boots almost exactly like a pair that I already owned. I forgot I had them.
eclare
@Mai Naem mobile: And we can’t forget how critical those GA senate wins were!
Citizen Alan
@James E Powell:
I choose to believe that if he were still alive George Romney would be absolutely humiliated by the sort of man his son grew up to be.
Joe Falco
@Ivan X: So, what? You want me to sing of his praises? Screw him and every Republican of the last 30 odd years. He and his sort have degraded this country for so long now, a few acts of a handful of them choosing decency over how they usually are can never make up for what the Republican Party has done here and abroad. I’ll save my sympathies for the Democratic Party, which, warts and all, most of them want to make this country a better place for all.
We should be harsh on Republicans plain and simple. If someone has a Republican representing them and wants to call into their office to congratulate them on doing something good, I won’t stop them. Maybe it’ll make the Republican feel all warm and fuzzy inside so they want to do it again.
I have no obligation to give Romney, Collins and Murkowski anything. They are not my senators, and all four of us probably agree that me withholding my golf clap for them was not going to change their minds.
opiejeanne
@Wyatt Salamanca: Watching Ohtani in the bottom of the 6th inning right now. We need some runs, and we didn’t get it from him.
Ohtani struck out 9 in the first 4 innings before they sent in a reliever. Unfortunately, Alvarez pitching for the cheating Astros has been nails all night.
Another Scott
ICYMI, … Deadline.com:
:-(
It’s not over. And it’s clear that super-spreader events can still be a thing.
Fingers crossed that everyone either remains asymptomatic or has very mild cases.
Cheers,
Scott.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
everyone….?
Covid is among the least of the things I wish on that vile fraud Susan Collins
Connor
@David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch:
The judge who did our adoption finalization was Judge Mille M. Judge…
opiejeanne
@Another Scott: I hope for mild cases too for all of them.
Tomorrow we’re going to get our second boosters, and that might go a long way to calming my anxieties about leaving our property. We’re heading to Chicago on the Empire Builder in early May. We’ll be there for a couple of days before heading to KC to visit some cousins in Bonner Springs, Kansas.
JoyceH
@opiejeanne: I got my second booster last weekend. I was on the schedule to be eligible for jury duty for a couple weeks in April. But when I called the courthouse and found out that they’ve dropped ALL their COVID protocols, so no masks, no tests, no vaccine requirements, no distancing, I hotfooted it over to my cardiologist and got a medical excuse from duty. Now hearing about this Gridiron Superspreader, I’m congratulating myself on my astuteness, because with my abundance of medical conditions, I doubt if I would get a Mild Case if I got COVID at all.
Origuy
@Another Scott: California too. My HOA did that to someone who decided she didn’t need to pay the assessments. It’s basically the same as deciding not to pay your property taxes, which will also get you foreclosed on. If that were not the case, people wouldn’t pay them until they tried to sell. HOAs, at least the ones that have real maintenance responsibilities, need that money to keep the place up. My HOA pays for trash pickup, landscaping, external lighting, exterior painting, and the roofs.
The person we foreclosed on was a paralegal and had been the association secretary, so she knew better and would have advocated doing the same thing. Turned out she was a hoarder and the place had to be gutted.
The only way to avoid foreclosure for HOA dues in California is to be active military and I think you have to have been deployed.