U.S. Supreme Court: Post-Nino Edition

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!

actually I don't hope he's happy I hope he has painful ass cancer

One potential contender for the new high court vacancy is believed to be D.C. Circuit Judge Brett Kavanaugh. A former lawyer in President George W. Bush's White House counsel's office, Kavanaugh was not on two lists of potential Supreme Court nominees Trump released during the 2016 presidential campaign, but he was included on a list the president issued in November 2017.

Other possibilities to replace Kennedy include those who were interviewed by Trump for the seat Gorsuch eventually filled: 3rd Circuit Judge Thomas Hardiman, 11th Circuit Judge William Pryor and 6th Circuit Judge Amul Thapar.

Among others Trump has named as potential nominees are just-confirmed 7th Circuit Judge Amy Barrett, Supreme Court Justice Britt Grant, 11th Circuit Judge Kevin Newsom and Oklahoma Supreme Court Justice Patrick Wyrick. Conservative court-watchers have also speculated that former George W. Bush solicitor General Paul Clement, who is the right's go-to litigator at the high court, and Sen. Mike Lee of Utah could be candidates for the spot.

White House legislative affairs director Marc Short said last month that Trump could consider nominating someone he has not yet named publicly if a vacancy arose. The president might pick someone seen as less stridently conservative for Kennedy's seat, since moderate Republican senators are likely to face pressure from the left not to confirm anyone viewed as too polarizing.

last paragraph is lol yeah right

I'll go out on a limb and bet he picks a white guy

Are there any sort of shenanigans lower court judges could engage in to offset this? Like prolonging judgments on controversial cases? I dunno. Something. Give me something, for chrissakes.

I will double down on that wager of it being a white guy.

i think it's not impossible he would pick a white woman

I’ll take the other side of that bet tbh, why not

seems about right

july: democrats encourage republicans to pick a justice "in the kennedy mold"
aug: trump nominates giuliani, democrats act betrayed
sep: democrats urge restraint, the gop invokes the nuclear option
oct: heitkamp votes to confirm
nov: heitkamp loses re-election anyway

— chris hooks (@cd_hooks) June 27, 2018

Well, who's the most bangable lawyer-y, trumpiest white woman out there that we know?

the general thrust of all that is very plausible