U.S. Supreme Court: Post-Nino Edition

oh god no. this is bad. really bad.

Start planning some assassinations

About the last thing our politics can handle is an open SCOTUS vacancy and Kennedy’s seat no less. Let’s hope I’m wrong.

— Chuck Todd (@chucktodd) June 27, 2018

genuine question: how fast can a successor be nominated? i.e. is it plausible it would happen before midterms (they're probably going to try, obviously, but)

as fast as McConnell wants, and he knows the clock may run out

back during more normal days it would take maybe a couple months for justices to get confirmed after nomination. sometimes shorter - john roberts was confirmed less than a month after his nomination.

ahhhhh fuck

McConnell will ram through a successor as fast as he can

all they wait on is FBI clearance; the rest is formality

and Trump will just pick some idiot off his Federalist Society list

I...need to stop engaging with the news for a while, I think.

this is a kind of insane week for the SC, several landmark rulings and the "I'm out, so long democracy!" yikes

wait till rbg dies

Surely she has another two and a half years in her.

yeah is really depressing i need a vacation somewhere with no internets

Chris Hayes (@chrislhayes):

Kennedy handing his seat over to Trump is the most perfect example *ever* about how it is all the party of Trump. All of it. Kennedy looks down from SCOTUS and sees the man in the White House and says “Yes. Him. I want him to be the one to choose my replacement.”

you just know Trump is looking for only one thing in a justice - will they exonerate him for his crimes

if ever i wanted to ring the neck of fucking bernie sanders voters and the like

this shit isn't bernie voters' fault, it's the fault of supposed "never trumper" republicans who couldn't suck it up and vote democrat, i.e. the most expedient way to have been "never trump"

it's America's fault. let's not rehash this for the millionth time.

yeah i know i'm just seething right now and want to blame stupid people

this specific catastrophe is kennedy's fault, for the reasons mentioned in the chris hayes tweet alfred posted above

really this is the gamble "sensible" Republicans made and it's paying off - the cover given by a "popular" but unpalatable president to finally enact their dreams (a huge tax cut, a conservative SC). they don't really give a fuck about anything else

this week kennedy slashed the tires, shit in the gas tank, then handed the keys to a 3-year-old

this is def Kennedy's huge middle finger to America.

I don’t know how true that is of Bernie voters but for too many people it was certainly a hot take if you brought up that the Supreme Court was a thing.

If Democrats don’t politicize the court and promise to violate norms, it doesn’t matter whether they win back congress and the White House. Either they radicalize or the progressive cause is moot for the rest of our lives.

Also, this has been clear since the moment Trump won.

— David Klion 🔥 (@DavidKlion) June 27, 2018

If there's one thing the GOP has gotten right since the Reagan era, it's obsessing over SCOTUS. In the next decade, as the Court makes the 1930s Court look like Earl Warren's, Dems may learn that lesson.

This really is one of the most grandiose acts of nihilism I've ever witnessed.

man, imagine if this means goodbye to Roe v. Wade

he's probably got ass cancer or something

get your IUDs now

— libby watson (@libbycwatson) June 27, 2018

this shit isn't bernie voters' fault, it's the fault of supposed "never trumper" republicans who couldn't suck it up and vote democrat, i.e. the most expedient way to have been "never trump"

― aloha darkness my old friend (katherine), Wednesday, June 27, 2018 6:25 PM (three minutes ago)

it did piss me off when i'd hear republicans humblebrag that they just left that space blank on the ballot, as if that was actually an effective way to stop trump from winning

Dude, fuck IUDS I am buying up all the drones. Free abortions for everyone.

Free IED with every IUD

It’s funny that the same crew that obsesses over “the west wing”’s supposed influence on liberals of today also engages in their on fan fiction about court packing.

guilty lol

Anthony Kennedy do not retire bitch

— in DC the stanley cup's called the stanley cupfefe (@AllezLesBoulez) June 27, 2018

And now Roberts is the Most Important t Man in America

MCCONNELL on the Senate floor: "The senate stands ready to fulfill its constitutional role by offering advice and consent … we will vote to confirm justice kennedy’s successor THIS FALL."

Eat my entire ass Mitch

god i hate mitch mcconnell with a fiery burning passion

i look forward to the day that his neck finally swallows his face

what if he were to... die suddenly for some reason

lol Bill Kristol:

I’d probably prefer the jurisprudence of Trump’s pick to that of Kennedy. But given that the debate—or should I say the war?—over his successor is going to intensify an overheated political culture and hyper-partisan political system, I’m inclined to wish Kennedy hadn’t retired.

Cornyn's not any better ideologically but I'm not sure he's as canny with Senate rules and processes as McConnell is

rosiest hail-mary scenario I can think of is that the Dems somehow manage to delay the vote long enough to win the majority and then refuse to consider whatever pondscum Trump actually nominates

yeah shit's about to get violent

war criminal Bill Kristol can also die in a fire btw

yup

Kennedy was a pompous windbag whom ever lawyer had to tiptoe around and tailor arguments, so I'm happy he looks like the fraud he was. Scalia used to love cutting him down.

yeah, he is hated by both sides. Hope he's happy!