US Politics, October 2018: next week will be even longer

'dems increase the size of the supreme court to 16' will lead to 'republicans increase the size of the supreme court to 10,000'

I know you know isn't what court packing is

"they kinda have! donald trump is king nihilist "

No he isn't - he believes in himself

I know you know isn't what court packing is

is there some alternate definition?

court packing means increasing the size of the court so that a single President gets to nominate a whole bunch of justices, thereby altering the balance of the court in their favor (ie, "packing" it with their appointees)

I think it's kinda stupid to argue that this would easily pass Congress, it would precipitate a huge crisis

yeah I'm not sure where that breaks with my sentence

I don't think it does. Cuz obviously the strategy's benefits only accrue to the initial round of appointees, ie, a single administration. Unless subsequent Congress's pull the same stunt, in which case it could just spiral on and on as you suggested.

would like to see Supreme Court with more justices than the House has representatives

My favorite Beastie Boys line always was "Got more justices than Jamaica's got mangoes."

imagine how apoplectic conservatives would get if liberals actually did break norms. dear god. they already point the finger that direction. I think some of them actually believe it too!

Today, Mike Pence gave a speech basically declaring a new Cold War against China and accusing Beijing of seeking to prevent Trump's reelection. But there's so much going on that it's barely in the news. You can read the speech here: https://t.co/2XEtiohYe6

— Nicholas Miller (@Nick_L_Miller) October 4, 2018

Huh, John Paul Stevens has come out against Kavanaugh. If he's against him, I would wager most of the current court probably is as well.

and that means....

It means kavanaugh will have an awkward work environment every day til he dies

SCOTUS judges don't die, they evaporate

Who knows. But if McConnell wasn't a cruel and stubborn idiot he would realize Kavanaugh wasn't worth any risk of antagonizing John Roberts.

Stevens is still in good mental shape? I ask because he's well into his nineties.

sounds like it

why would Thomas or Roberts or Alito or any of those assholes care what Stevens thinks. Nobody cares what he thinks, he's old and retired and a liberal.

^^^

yeah, not shocking that a guy who was a liberal bastion on the court for decades doesn't like Kavanaugh

Rehnquist would've loved him

Stevens is also a Shakespeare authorship skeptic

Everybody needs a hobby

i mean, he was there, he'd know better than us

Request to knock off the ageist shitting-on-olds, pls

Request to knock off the ageist shitting-on-olds, pls

i don’t think it was “shitting on him,” but point taken

I do5 think shakespeare authorship questioning is total wuackery fwiw

*don’t

Baconian

I had my students research this for a project once in another life. I believe shakespeare was the author but jt was a good way for them to kind of learn more about the historical context

The only thing i don’t like about it is the implied classism—the idea that only a nobleman would have had the educational background to write the plays

Who knows. But if McConnell wasn't a cruel and stubborn idiot he would realize Kavanaugh wasn't worth any risk of antagonizing John Roberts.

This is a sentence that sounds good but means nothing. What's the risk of "antagonizing" Roberts - suddenly John Boy becomes Thurgood Marshall II?

Ageist crap has been recurrent throughout this thread, not just the relatively benign authorship denier quip

Ah ok. Yeah i think the hope of ppl dying off is distasteful too i just didn’t say anything. I admire justice stevens and i think getting to 98 is an achievement— i didn’t mean it disrespectfully at all

suddenly John Boy becomes Thurgood Marshall II?

The Conservative reboot of Get Out: Scientist turns boring white guys into righteous black dudes.

October 4th, huh

The only thing i don’t like about it is the implied classism—the idea that only a nobleman would have had the educational background to write the plays

Eric Idle:

how could a man who had only a grammar-school education and spoke Latin and a little Greek possibly have written something as bad as “All’s Well That Ends Well”?

Lol

#BREAKING @SteveDaines has a scheduling conflict this weekend. He says he'll be walking his daughter down the aisle at her Montana wedding, regardless of the #KavanaughVote that could take place this weekend. #NBCMontana #mtpol #mtnews #Kavanaugh

— Maritsa Georgiou (@MaritsaNBCMT) October 4, 2018

McConnell will move the wedding. Maybe he can get Trump to give away the bride.

manchin will step up and vote yes in his place

it's not about sexual assault, it's not about being unfit for the highest court in the land, it's not about being partisan, it's not about a blatant abuse of trust. it's about friendship. let's go joe manchin, be a friend to steve daines!

Why is manchin a democrat? Confirming kavanaugh is the most bullshit republican bullshit possible

“I’m a vegetarian but also I’m a cannibal”

Why is manchin a democrat

labor unions

specifically unionized mine workers

Kavanaugh will be no friend to those

I would bet Manchin votes no tbh

this feels correct to me

The Heitkamp takes I'm seeing are wrong. She was fairly critical of Kavanaugh throughout the process, so voting *for* him now would look like an exceptionally craven and poll-driven move, especially given that she's had some bad polling lately.

— Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) October 4, 2018

Voting *against* him and doubling down on her image of honesty/authenticity is a high-variance strategy and will probably not work. But the alternative is quite possibly worse, and you want to take high-variance strategies when you're down in the polls.

— Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) October 4, 2018

By the same token, Manchin, who has a pretty solid lead in polls, has incentives to be risk-averse, which probably means a "yes" vote.

— Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) October 4, 2018

https://www.wsj.com/articles/i-am-an-independent-impartial-judge-1538695822

How the fuck is he this terrible of a writer? This is like "maybe" pile for the personal essay on a state school application.