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You are here: Home / Archives for Politics / Activist Judges!

Activist Judges!

Late Night Open Thread: Bill Barr Shows Himself Out

by Anne Laurie|  December 15, 202012:32 am| 72 Comments

This post is in: Activist Judges!, Open Threads, Repubs in Disarray!

Late Night Open Thread: Bill Barr Shows Himself Out

(Jack Ohman via GoComics.com)
.

BREAKING: President Trump says Attorney General William Barr is leaving his job, effective "just before Christmas." https://t.co/IFo19C5Ws4

— The Associated Press (@AP) December 14, 2020

From what I can tell, the last few weeks have been an elaborate dance between Barr’s desire not to have his reputation (further) besmirched by being around when the Oval Office Occupant is finally packed off, and Trump’s natural instincts to ‘punish’ anyone he perceives as insufficiently loyal… or anyone who happens to be around when Trump needs an object on which to vent his rage. Neither party could risk giving the other an excuse to — shall we say — release the kraken.

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Barr’s resignation letter and Trump’s tweet are almost entirely divorced from the reality of what their relationship looked like lately. Trump talked openly about firing him and senior staff never really knew where they stood.

— Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) December 14, 2020

From Politico:

… The cordial tone of Trump’s tweet on Monday afternoon announcing Barr’s exit was in marked contrast to the president’s public scolding of the attorney general in recent weeks. In Trump’s telling, Barr had failed to make public a financial crimes investigation into Joe Biden’s son Hunter that was ongoing before the election and failed to muster the Justice Department in support of Trump’s legal campaign to upend the election results.

Rather than echo those complaints, and earlier ones about Barr’s refusal to indict the president’s political adversaries, Trump’s announcement praised the attorney general’s record and suggested nothing was amiss.

“Just had a very nice meeting with Attorney General Bill Barr at the White House,” Trump tweeted. “Our relationship has been a very good one, he has done an outstanding job!”

In a two-page letter that Trump also tweeted out, the attorney general didn’t explicitly say he was resigning, but said he would “spend the next week wrapping up a few remaining matters important to the Administration and depart on Dec. 23.”

Trump had grown so frustrated with Barr that he was considering firing him, but had not decided by Friday whether to do so, a friend of the president’s said. Trump remained angry about the attorney general’s remarks that the Justice Department had found no evidence of major election fraud, the associate added…

If ‘Ever Lower’ Barr was hoping for a burst of holiday comity from his soon-to-be-former coworkers, he’s a disappointed man tonight…

Attorney General Bill Barr:

Lied to cover for Trump.

Launched political investigations.⁰
Subverted justice and the rule of law.⁰
And violently cracked down on protestors.

So good riddance.⁰
Now, the work of restoring a credible and independent justice system must begin.

— Adam Schiff (@RepAdamSchiff) December 14, 2020

Trump firing Barr to steal the attention away from Biden's electoral college win, a real classic of the genre. Just a few weeks left of this stuff, get it while you can.

— Miriam Elder (@MiriamElder) December 14, 2020

I retain hope that neither Trump nor Barr has the temperament required not to blow up each others’ flimsy rationales on their way out. Note the dates on the following tweets:

usual skepticism applies here but as I said before bill barr is ten times smarter than trump, twice as good at playing the ratfuck game, and the last dude in the lineup trump should fuck around with https://t.co/mrIVPiB9E9

— kilgore trout, tiny desk carpenter (@KT_So_It_Goes) December 13, 2020

it’s just such a disastrously bad idea and god all I want for christmas is for trump to give barr the reason he’s been looking for to make himself look like the hero

— kilgore trout, tiny desk carpenter (@KT_So_It_Goes) December 13, 2020

barr has long been the most frightening member of this administration because unlike absolutely everyone else he’s extremely intelligent and knows exactly how the game works at a master craftsman level. please, please fuck with him.

— kilgore trout, tiny desk carpenter (@KT_So_It_Goes) December 13, 2020

Late Night Open Thread: Bill Barr Shows Himself OutPost + Comments (72)

Sunday Evening Open Thread: (Move) On Wisconsin

by Anne Laurie|  December 13, 20205:01 pm| 115 Comments

This post is in: Activist Judges!, Election 2020, Open Threads, Trumpery, Lock Him Up...Lock Them All Up

Sunday Evening Open Thread: (Move) On Wisconsin

(Lalo Alcaraz via GoComics.com)
.

FINALLY https://t.co/uxSC78axxp

— kilgore trout, tiny desk carpenter (@KT_So_It_Goes) December 12, 2020

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It's Groundhog Day. Again. https://t.co/O927AYugYg

— Patrick Chovanec (@prchovanec) December 12, 2020

In recent days, Trump's team has complained that judges have refused to consider the merits of their claims. The Wisconsin Federal Judge, appointed by Trump did just that.

Here is what he wrote: pic.twitter.com/3dQPeS3NJQ

— Marc E. Elias (@marceelias) December 12, 2020

This also has been the case in Georgia, where the focus has been on Fulton County; Michigan, where Wayne County was targeted; and Pennsylvania, where Philadelphia County was in the crosshairs.

Two Wisconsin judges finally call it out.

— Adam Klasfeld (@KlasfeldReports) December 12, 2020

this is take your fucking circus off my lawn level stuff https://t.co/Gl52zwCfJT

— kilgore trout, tiny desk carpenter (@KT_So_It_Goes) December 12, 2020

SAD! Even the Fox interviewer can’t muster any enthusiam for this charade. They just wanna move on…

"They're winning these things on little technicalities, like a thing called standing." pic.twitter.com/fPdLMHX3bg

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) December 13, 2020

Sunday Evening Open Thread: (Move) On WisconsinPost + Comments (115)

Saturday Morning Open Thread: NOPE

by Anne Laurie|  December 12, 20208:21 am| 238 Comments

This post is in: Activist Judges!, Open Threads, Republican Stupidity, Republican Venality, Trumpery

Saturday Morning Open Thread 4

(Signe Wilkinson via GoComics.com)
.

When you lost the election a month ago, but still find ways to lose over and over again, almost daily, for the entire month thereafter—I think there's a Hanukkah joke in there somewhere.

— Julia Ioffe (@juliaioffe) December 12, 2020

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AP EXPLAINER: The elections lawsuit dismissed by the U.S. Supreme Court was filled with claims that failed to withstand basic scrutiny. Here is a look at some of them: https://t.co/pZWmwnFinz

— The Associated Press (@AP) December 12, 2020

It won in November. The rule of law won today. https://t.co/fu28zTBxed

— Daniel W. Drezner (@dandrezner) December 12, 2020

All 50 states and D.C. have now certified their 2020 election results:

Biden 81,282,376 (51.3%)
Trump 74,222,576 (46.9%)

That's a 2.4 point margin swing against Trump vs. 2016 and a 15.9% increase in votes cast.

— Dave Wasserman (@Redistrict) December 11, 2020

2/ And have we ever before seen so many officials say “hey! That losing you’re doing so hideously, so flailingly, so spasmodically — that looks like something I want to be a part of!

“This effort, based on nonsense and lies, to disenfranchise millions of Americans, sign me up!”

— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) December 12, 2020

The final nail in the coffin was SCOTUS finding out that if they took the case they'd have to talk to Ted Cruz.

— Jeff Fecke (@jkfecke) December 11, 2020

ETA:

Good night! 🗽 https://t.co/2WtDUVsRtI

— Arizona Democratic Party (@azdemparty) December 12, 2020

Saturday Morning Open Thread: NOPEPost + Comments (238)

Actual Justice Open Thread: Four More SCOTUS Judges

by Anne Laurie|  October 27, 202010:34 pm| 227 Comments

This post is in: Activist Judges!, Open Threads, Republican Venality

Look, the GOP is now consistent, they hate masks in all forms and are just ripping them off whenever they can. https://t.co/Bx5A1esU52

— Daniel W. Drezner (@dandrezner) October 27, 2020

The first thing Justice Barrett did was to participate in a campaign event at the White House for the president, eight days before an election that he has explicitly said he expects will turn on her vote.

— Chris Hayes (@chrislhayes) October 27, 2020

… Which will bring the tally to one for each of the current thirteen U.S. circuit courts. (Or, for the ‘Christian nationalists‘, one for each Apostle and their leader.)

Pelosi being pretty explicit about judicial reform is on the table on Hayes right now, observing the original understanding that the number of Supreme Court justices should track the number or circuits

— Scott Lemieux (@LemieuxLGM) October 27, 2020

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we will take everything away from them https://t.co/g933jJrLgh

— fnu lnu (@Theophite) October 25, 2020

Pragmatic moderate (and my junior Senator):

We must expand the Supreme Court.

— Ed Markey (@SenMarkey) October 26, 2020

It’s gonna be interesting to revisit this quote in six months. https://t.co/kB5AII402t

— Daniel W. Drezner (@dandrezner) October 26, 2020

Man if Dems can get to 52 Dems .. https://t.co/TxhcTYMIqW

— AdotSad (@AdotSad) October 26, 2020

Court expansion is unique in that its the right thing to do and erases both Trump and McConnell's legacies. And all of it will be self inflicted for Republicans.

— AdotSad (@AdotSad) October 27, 2020

I cannot emphasize enough how much McConnell's actions on Garland and Barrett have radicalized Democratic senators.

As I've argued before, McConnell's single most consequential legacy may be what he convinces Senate Democrats to do: https://t.co/loRap0bV2z https://t.co/byejXlQh8n

— Ezra Klein (@ezraklein) October 26, 2020

Just wait. The treacherous destruction of any and all legitimacy SCOTUS may have had before the theft of the Merrick Garland seat will not go unanswered. https://t.co/ScNjpLoldK

— The Hoarse Whisperer (@TheRealHoarse) October 25, 2020

you use the internal party anger to add four justices and then if you reap the whirlwind in the midterms well, you know, four justices.

— the ribald sportsman (@CalmSporting) October 26, 2020

wildly oversimplistic hot take: the confirmation of amy coney barrett is going to end up being the republican party's operation barbarossa

— get fucking mad about it warm up machine (@golikehellmachi) October 25, 2020

Actual Justice Open Thread: Four More SCOTUS JudgesPost + Comments (227)

Stay Mad (Open Thread)

by Betty Cracker|  October 27, 202011:45 am| 193 Comments

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

About 30 seconds after swearing to “administer justice without respect to persons” and “faithfully and impartially discharge and perform” her duties, Barrett walked out onto the balcony of the White House with Trump as his co-star in an political ad.

Stay Mad (Open Thread)

I know what you’re thinking: at what point does the makeup Trump slathers on to hide his splotchy pallor cross the line into “blackface,” and why doesn’t he apply it to his fucking ears and blend at the hairline so it’s not so obvious?

But let’s focus here for a second — a SCOTUS nominee participated in a rushed, farcical process. Then she chose to cut a campaign ad as her first act as a U.S. Supreme Court Justice. In one sense, it’s like buying your dream home and then taking a shit on the carpet and smearing poop on the walls — within seconds, Barrett defiled the court she’d just joined, and now we all have to live with the stench.

From Barrett’s own actions, not partisan rancor, we must conclude she has poor judgment and zero integrity. So, what do we do with that information? Vote for Democrats who oppose this charade, first of all. Done and done, for many of us. Next, we have to hold the people we vote in accountable to fix this mess, using any action that doesn’t violate the Constitution.

Mitch McConnell made up a rule to deny President Obama a SCOTUS nomination, then made up another rule to ram this unethical, low-quality Trump hire onto the court. The rules McConnell pulled out of his ass weren’t in the Constitution, nor did the Constitution expressly forbid his actions. So, if Democrats take the Senate, it’s time for a new set of rules.

Expanding the court will be a heavy lift, but I’ve been encouraged in the last few days by seeing the likes of Senators Chris Coons and Angus King speak favorably of it. Especially Coons. When you’ve radicalized the mild-mannered Senator Coons of all people, you may have over-reached.

Anyhoo, as voters, perhaps our most important task is staying good and mad about this outrageous theft. Republicans are strutting around today. Let’s wipe the smirks off their faces, not just a week from today but two years from now too. We’ve got to hang this corrupt travesty around their necks at every opportunity.

Open thread.

Stay Mad (Open Thread)Post + Comments (193)

The Barrett Hearings: Justice Blank Sheet of White Paper

by Anne Laurie|  October 15, 20208:30 am| 149 Comments

This post is in: Activist Judges!, GOP Death Cult, Republican Venality

Caligula only appointed one of his horses to the Senate. The GOP Death Cult is about to give Trump his third ‘LOL, because we can’ SCOTUS seat…

The first amendment seems like one of the pretty important ones to know. https://t.co/JQy10VjeSP

— The Hoarse Whisperer (@TheRealHoarse) October 14, 2020

ask yourself which is more likely…a sitting appeals court justice not knowing what's in the first amendment or a craven politician knowing her vain, fickle, power-mad boss wants to jail, beat and kill protesters at will.

— Zeddy (@Zeddary) October 14, 2020

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Amy Coney Barrett would be the third(!) sitting justice, alongside Brett Kavanaugh and John Roberts, who worked on the Republican side of Bush v. Gore. https://t.co/46nIRSB3Kc

— Charles P. Pierce (@CharlesPPierce) October 14, 2020

Amy Coney Barrett is asked if she can show the notes she's referring to while answering senators' questions. She holds up a blank notebook.

Sen. John Cornyn: "Is there anything on it?"

Barrett: "The letterhead that says 'United States Senate.'" https://t.co/NN41m59TpP pic.twitter.com/XwcS5nSqEO

— CBS News (@CBSNews) October 13, 2020

She’s there to demonstrate her total, unblinking fealty to the GOP Death Cult, not to know anything about the law:

I'm sure she (and her Libertarian funders) imagine that she has an "open mind", but she just comes off as having a fundamentally incurious empty mind.https://t.co/0gXtSCt0rW

— Simon Porter (@AscendingNode) October 14, 2020

Given the impossible odds against them, the Democrats have done noble work getting her (and her fellow Repub cultists’) soulless dishonesty on the record…

Q: Will you commit to uphold the Constitution?

A: Well, kinda depends… https://t.co/UJmg6S27sv

— Dana Houle (@DanaHoule) October 13, 2020

WATCH: Senator @amyklobuchar just asked Judge Barrett whether it's illegal under federal law to intimidate voters at the polls.

Barrett refused to answer. Then Klobuchar read her the law. Astonishing. pic.twitter.com/cxoIaXTP9e

— Vanita Gupta (@vanitaguptaCR) October 13, 2020

Harris quizzes Amy Coney Barrett.

In 3 minutes. pic.twitter.com/LP6YV4v9cp

— Zach Purser Brown (@zachjourno) October 14, 2020

if you were warming up an "actually, what's wrong with separate but equal" take, please jump into a hot tub full of eels

— Gerry Doyle (@mgerrydoyle) October 13, 2020

man, she’s raising two black children https://t.co/wHzLSETmOd

— Joel D. Anderson (@byjoelanderson) October 13, 2020

the sheer amount of stupefyingly bad things we have her on camera copping to already is proof that the "boycott the hearings" proposal would have been an idiotic blunder https://t.co/KIGJEyr9Er

— local jack please ban the nazis person (@pleizar) October 13, 2020

Democratic Senator Sheldon Whitehouse used his entire allotted time during confirmation hearing for Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett to detail what he called a Republican party ‘scheme’ to deploy dark money in an effort to appoint conservative judges pic.twitter.com/5ORp0VYquF

— Reuters (@Reuters) October 13, 2020

Analysis: Amy Coney Barrett’s most telling exchange on abortion and Roe v. Wade https://t.co/6sK9Y2tapU

— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) October 14, 2020

Neither does the word women and yet here we are. https://t.co/Gb4TvKUB9w

— Katie Hill (@KatieHill4CA) October 14, 2020

Lol Alliance Defending Freedom is such a joke name but basically every one of these conservative orgs gaslights on why they exist. And of course its David French's old employer.

Barrett is a comically extreme candidate. https://t.co/VwrFJtwBRR

— AdotSad (@AdotSad) October 13, 2020

the main problem is that you can't counter a leroy jenkins strategy. if mcconnell's willing to lose his senate majority to confirm her, you can't stop him. the only thing you can do is make sure that he'll lose it, and the good dems on the committee are doing their best.

— golikechildebertmachine (@golikehellmachi) October 14, 2020

also, not for nothing, but the republicans have done an absolutely abysmal job feeding her questions that make her look good to anyone but federalist society lawyer goons. they're too high on their own supply.

— golikechildebertmachine (@golikehellmachi) October 14, 2020

The Barrett Hearings: Justice Blank Sheet of White PaperPost + Comments (149)

Barrett Hearings (Open Thread)

by Betty Cracker|  October 14, 20208:59 am| 231 Comments

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

It’s the third and final day of the Judiciary Committee portion of the charade. Here’s a livestream for those who want to watch it:

I’m looking forward to Senator Whitehouse’s follow-up to yesterday’s presentation, in which he detailed how phony wingnut “civic” organizations and dark money outfits create a conveyor belt that deposits ideologues on the federal bench:

Despite Amy Coney Barrett claiming she has no agenda, Sen. Whitehouse exposed Trump and the GOP for using this nomination to reverse Roe v. Wade, marriage equality, and the ACA pic.twitter.com/bLbcNw8KgS

— NowThis (@nowthisnews) October 14, 2020

Through an amazing series of coincidences, the titans of independent legal analysis the Federalist Society barfs up deliver rulings that dovetail with donor wishes 100% of the time! I mean, what are the chances?

But according to a Stanford anthropology professor who studies charismatic evangelical Christianity (writing for The Atlantic), Barrett might surprise us because Jesus:

More profoundly, these communities inhabit a world charged with divine meaning, which their members must interpret in order to know God’s will. Every decision—what to eat for dinner, where to go to school, even what to wear—is an invitation to think about what God wants. Members may feel a strong sense of having been called out by God to do their jobs.

And these calls involve a process of discovery, as members’ sense of self is always emerging out of their own growing, changing understanding of God. A skeptic will say that such a sense of God’s purpose is entirely determined by their community. But charismatic evangelicals say that God feels more real when he startles them—when he tells them to do something surprising that they would never have chosen on their own. What makes Barrett unpredictable is the possibility that she will interpret God as speaking in ways that she, and the broader conservative world, might not have anticipated.

With all due respect to the professor, it’s far more likely that Barrett’s interpretation of God’s will also just happens to dovetail with the Federalist Society donor wish list. Open thread.

Barrett Hearings (Open Thread)Post + Comments (231)

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