U.S. Supreme Court: Post-Nino Edition

Mitch the Knife

gtfo w this

not to mention borked

#NoBorking.

John Yoo:

"The Senate has rarely confirmed Supreme Court nominees during a presidential election year, especially when opposite parties have controlled the Senate and the White House."

Gee, did you ever stop to think that maybe that is true because it has come up so rarely? File this under "Lawyers Being Clever in Exceedingly Stupid Ways".

Especially when the nominees' last names start with G

I think the lefty angst I've seen over Garland is a little overdone, even leaving aside the likelihood that he'll never get a hearing. The NYT analysis pegs him right around Breyer ideologically, and there's no question anyone even slightly left of center would change the 5-4 calculus on most of the major divides. A Scalia-of-the-left is appealing mostly rhetorically, in the same way Scalia appealed to the right mostly rhetorically for most of his time on the bench.

Plus, if you're going to make somebody into a potential political sacrifice, I'd just as soon it's an old white guy, and save the other choices for when they have a stronger shot at being confirmed.

i think that hot air piece is 100% otm, which is why i thought nominating garland was risky

if garland were being offered solely as a sacrificial lamb, i'd love the pick. but, there's a serious chance senate republicans read the writing on the wall between now and january and realize he's the best pick they can possibly hope for. that would not be ideal for us

Why? "We" still get a justice in the Breyer-Souter mold, which is still better than Attila.

yea kevin otm xp

i'd almost say it is the more likely option that senate republicans will cave and confirm him, there is still plenty of time

btw didn't know this about failed Nixon appointee Harrold Carswell!

In September 1979, Carswell was attacked and beaten by a man whom he had invited to his Atlanta, Georgia, hotel room in similar circumstances.[18] Because of these incidents, Keith Stern, author of Queers in History, alleges Carswell to have been the first homosexual or bisexual nominated to the Supreme Court.

that's some real interpretative jiggery-pokery!

http://www.thecrimson.com/article/1973/3/8/pinter-in-progression-pbnbight-school-landscape/

man Carswell's wiki entry is a treat

In defense against charges that Carswell was "mediocre", U.S. Senator Roman Hruska, a Nebraska Republican, stated:

"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? We can't have all Brandeises, Frankfurters and Cardozos.

no wonder Nixon liked him

some of the greatest artists ever are bland.

like Marcel Marceau, f'rinstance

or Raffi

I knew about Hruska's comments, didn't know Carswell was a sodomite.

Well: https://twitter.com/nprmontagne/status/710142777569492993

cutting their losses eh. lame duck session confirmation would also get them out of the "let the American people have their say" rhetoric. Of course, if Obama was smart and wanted to twist the knife, he would withdraw Garland's nomination after the election and get some commitment from Hillary to nominate someone else w her new Senate majority.

which would be a total dick move but oh the lolz

dick move but do-able. garland could withdraw citing ill health and exhaustion with the process or something in october. but don't count on any eight-dimensional chess game here, though maybe more than the usual one dimension might apply.

Not sure what benefit is for Obama getting Garland over during lame duck session... This sounds dubious.

Yeah I would think that Obama will withdraw Garland before then.

Not sure what benefit is for Obama getting Garland over during lame duck session... This sounds dubious.

― One bad call from barely losing to (Alex in SF), Wednesday, March 16, 2016 4:20 PM (2 minutes ago)

shhhhh obama knows more about the law than us and is a master negotiator, just be happy!

oh i misread that tweet -- yeah, if they're going to wait til november anyway this would make no sense unless obama just really wants another justice in there as part of his legacy

wow. such dimensional. very chess.

Right I get making that deal if you get Garland now, but in November/December after Democrats have already won?!?! What's the upside then? It's been vacant for nearly a year by then, what's another month or two.

ughhhhhhhhh

This deal, it's a terrible deal. The worst deal I have ever seen. It's a disaster. We're gonna make a much, much better deal, and replace Garland with something way better.

This judge, let me tell you something, I know lots of judges and the guy is a loser. I dunno, maybe we should boycott the Supreme Court, I'm just throwing it out there.

I wonder what would happen if Obama said "y'know, if the Senate doesn't give my nominee a hearing... I don't know, but I represent millions of people, there's a good chance there would be riots. I think there's a very good chance there could be riots"

I say there's a 40% chance he would be shot immediately

otm

when I think about it, I consider it a minor miracle he hasn't been assassinated already.

It appears as though the Secret Service has gotten a lot better at protecting presidents lately.

Garland is a step up in that he doesn't believe in the literal devil burying dinosaur bones to fool people about the age of the earth

Anthony Anderson's monologue from the riot episode of Black-ish when describing watching the Obamas walk down the street during their first inaugural parade and being paralyzed by fear that they were about to be shot brought back some severely unpleasant memories of watching that footage and thinking the same thing.

Anthony Anderson's monologue from the riot episode of Black-ish when describing watching the Obamas walk down the street during their first inaugural parade and being paralyzed by fear that they were about to be shot brought back some severely unpleasant memories of watching that footage and thinking the same thing.

Yikes! Surely this has faded?

... The past seven years have given us Treyvon Martin, Walter Scott, Eric Garner, Freddie Grey, Aiyana Jones, Sandra Bland, Kimani Gray, John Crawford III, Michael Brown, Miriam Carey, Tommy Yancy, Jordan Baker, and the massacre in South Carolina, so no it has not faded.

yeah Trump's armed and violent followers are hardly a palliative

That's not even including major incidents I left out like Tamir Rice

christ what an asshole

Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the majority leader, has called President Obama’s Supreme Court nominee, Judge Merrick B. Garland, and explained that no action would be taken in the Senate on the nomination, Mr. McConnell’s spokesman said.

Mr. McConnell also informed Judge Garland that they would not be meeting in person at the Capitol.

“Rather than put Judge Garland through more unnecessary political routines orchestrated by the White House, the leader decided it would be more considerate of the nominee’s time to speak with him today by phone,” Mr. McConnell’s spokesman, Don Stewart, said in a statement.

“The leader reiterated his position that the American people will have a voice in this vacancy and that the Senate will appropriately revisit the matter when it considers the qualifications of the person the next president nominates. And since the Senate will not be acting on this nomination, he would not be holding a perfunctory meeting, but he wished Judge Garland well.”

Rather than put Judge Garland through more unnecessary political routines orchestrated by the White House Rather than put Judge Garland through more unnecessary political routines orchestrated by the White House Rather than put Judge Garland through more unnecessary political routines orchestrated by the White House Rather than put Judge Garland through more unnecessary political routines orchestrated by the White House Rather than put Judge Garland through more unnecessary political routines orchestrated by the White House Rather than put Judge Garland through more unnecessary political routines orchestrated by the White House Rather than put Judge Garland through more unnecessary political routines orchestrated by the White House

ice cold

so what's gonna happen? is this actually gonna cost any senators their seats, or what?

they have no bargaining chips really, I mean sure they could hold out for all that time but i suspect they are going to play chicken with Obama and will eventually find an excuse as to why they decided to start confirmation hearings despite frequent assurances that they wouldn't, while also assuring that they were doing it not because Obama told them to but because *they wanted to*!

i'd think they'd at least wait through all the primaries before folding; the florida senate primary isn't until august 30, so hell why not wait another two months anyway

tbh i don't think the senate gop has any idea what it's doing -- they're just delaying in the hope that things magically improve somehow

yeah it won't be tomorrow but they'll wait until they can't keep the charade up any longer