The nation may survive, but the wound to hope and order will never fully heal - US elections 2016: the october surprises

I bet Iago is Roger Adultery.

I read one of those unnamed sources stories which claimed that Roberts was not a happy man.

Am I crazy or hasn't the current slate of 8 SC justices generally proven to work against the GOP's favor thus far?

It's true that in the 1860s membership fluctuated, but SCOTUS justices also rode circuit. The course load is different. Constitutional cases are impossible to wipe from the slate if lower court rulings get affirmed.

xp Each 4-4 tie results in the reinstatement of Circuit Court ruling on the case, so it becomes more of a lottery for the GOP whether the earlier ruling was from a conservative court, than if the SCOTUS had a 5-4 working liberal majority and set a constitutional precedent.

January 2017: "I understand that the previous Senate did not wish to even have a vote on my predecessor's nominee, Merrick Garland. They said they wanted the people to speak first. I disagree with their choice, but that was their chosen path, and they were within their rights to do so under the Constitution."

"Now that the election is over and the people have spoken, it's time to revisit the vacancy. Rather than re-litigate the previous fight, however, I will put forward my own, totally different, nominee: distinguished jurist Garlick Merrand. I call upon the Senate to swiftly hold confirmation hearings."

I'd love for Hillary to nominate Merrick Garland just to put a spotlight on the stupidity.

― Ⓓⓡ. (Johnny Fever), Monday, October 17, 2016 2:46 PM (eight minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

oh yes great lets do this again

will shakey wet himself again at the nth dimensional chess involved in such a move, how it's sure to swing election results in favor of dems, or is that fawning reserved for obama

where do senate predictions stand right now, is a D senate likely

Has been for weeks, and the numbers keep rising.

oh the D is rising alright

Eew.

nice

Isn't Iago supposed to be opposed to Clinton from "the Left"? I mean, not convincingly so, but Adultery was never good at hiding his shitty racistness for long. [multiple xposts]

Erick Erickson abandons politics for ILX:

https://twitter.com/EWErickson/status/788092828849242113

I'd respect him and McConnell more if they just admitted "cos we want to keep a conservative Court"

the funny thing about this is the 8-member court is turning out to not be all that conservative

will shakey wet himself again at the nth dimensional chess involved in such a move, how it's sure to swing election results in favor of dems, or is that fawning reserved for obama

in my defense, what could have been a major issue in a normal campaign got subsumed by the total insanity of Trump as nominee. so there's that to consider. I do think the GOP not confirming Garland generally makes the GOP look bad and is good motivational fodder for the Dems, but at this point it is dwarfed by much bigger controversies.

Iago is a berniebro, thought this was established.

Wait hold on

https://twitter.com/RogerJStoneJr/status/787774752576245760

I'd respect him and McConnell more if they just admitted "cos we want to keep a conservative Court"

the funny thing about this is the 8-member court is turning out to not be all that conservative

― Οὖτις

well, they lost on abortion, and lost big- but they refuse to admit it. any way you slice it, an 8-member court is probably going to be better for them than a 9-member court with scalia replaced by garland or anybody clinton would nominate.

there are two ways this goes for the republicans. either they leverage their congressional majority to get their way, or congress stops _mattering_. how many times can the congress threaten to send the us into default by not okaying interest payments before somebody steps in and says they can't do that anymore? and who's going to say they can't do that?

Interesting wording here. God forbid putting women front and center.

Donald J. Trump ‏@realDonaldTrump 14m14 minutes ago
New polls are good because the media has deceived the public by putting women front and center with made-up stories and lies, and got caught

It's not just the Scalia vacancy, *someone* else is going to die or retire in the next session (likely as not), and how many times can a Republican Congress get away with not filling a seat? Once more? Twice?

im sure we'll get to find out

I wouldn't be surprised if the republicans in the senate planned to stonewall any replacement of the next supreme court retirement as well (if it's one of the liberal justices). I think they'd be happy to see a 7-member court

an 8-member court is probably going to be better for them than a 9-member court with scalia replaced by garland or anybody clinton would nominate.

agreed - their tactic is a rear-guard action

why even have 7 members? why not three? maybe just 2 would work

After RBG, Breyer and Kennedy are probably the next most likely to vacate their appointments one way or the other.

After RBG, Breyer and Kennedy are probably the next most likely to vacate their appointments one way or the other.

You underestimate HRC's ability to have conservative justices murdered.

ok, i since i was curious i looked it up- the judiciary act of 1869 requires there to be nine supreme court justices. text is here:

http://www.fjc.gov/history/home.nsf/page/landmark_10_txt.html

the text says nothing about what happens if congress _doesn't_ do that- it's never come up. after lincoln's death, congress wouldn't let andrew johnson appoint any more supreme court justices, but they accomplished this through passing legislation, rather than simply ignoring the president's nominations.

ianal, but if a republican senate does as mccain suggests, i'm pretty sure the doj will have to sue them.

https://twitter.com/greg_doucette/status/788082197253292032

The NCGOP claims that completed absentee ballots were destroyed in the firebombing, which if true means the NCGOP was... committing a felony. Oops.

why is Trump doing so shitty in Alaska?

So in North Carolina at least, anyone in possession of any absentee ballot that is not their own is committing a felony?

^^^ my question as well

The NCGOP claims that completed absentee ballots were destroyed in the firebombing, which if true means the NCGOP was... committing a felony. Oops.

amazing

according to the pictures on that tweet, unless the NCGOP people were a relative or guardian, yeah xp

http://www.ncga.state.nc.us/gascripts/statutes/statutelookup.pl?statute=163-226.3

New polls are good

he's not even cherrypicking data anymore, he's just saying shit in defiance of it.

like I struggle to think what poll he could be talking about other than the hilarious LA Times one, which has barely moved, or the trio of CNN state polls that painted a better pic for him, but those came alongside really terrible national polls including one which shows him down 12%, soooooooo...

The NCGOP claims that completed absentee ballots were destroyed in the firebombing, which if true means the NCGOP was... committing a felony. Oops.

if only someone would focus on voter fraud

congress wouldn't let andrew johnson appoint any more supreme court justices, but they accomplished this through passing legislation, rather than simply ignoring the president's nomination

and they could ignore Johnson b/c the GOP had a veto-proof majority (I think that Congress holds the record for most veto overrides).

lol people on the Hannity forum are arguing w/ each other over the felony thing

The original NBC News must have been edited at some point to include "(Weeks later clarified that the ballots were not stored at that office.)"

Still, no one is flatly denying that completed ballots are being stored by party officials.

why is Trump doing so shitty in Alaska?

My first guess was Mormons again, but that's only 4.5% of the pop. Any moves in Anchorage by a few points this way or that have a massive effect on the state as a whole.

you can see russia from their porches and they don't like all this russia talk

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/10/17/hillary-clintons-email-problems-just-came-roaring-back/

well that's annoying

eh idk

Cillizza is such a Chicken Little.

*yawn*

yeah it's not "BOMBSHELL" but still ugh emails

guys the unsourced and unsubstantiated allegation is coming from INSIDE THE HOUSE

The number of people outside of the right wing media bubble who even give two shits about since last year is negligible.