U.S. Supreme Court: Post-Ginsburg Edition

It may seem least bad in a very shortsighted way, but it attacks the entire idea that the Supreme Court's rulings have any validity, which in turn attacks the idea that the federal government has any authority over the states. And that path leads to a madness a hundred times worse than this insane ruling.

― Respectfully Yours, (Aimless), Thursday, 26 November 2020 bookmarkflaglink

Insanity is...good now

The rule of law doesn't mean shit when 45% of the country and 50+% of federal and state gov't simply ignores any law with which they disagree.

should I return the pack of Certs I stole in third grade?

The law, in its majestic equality, forbids the rich as well as the poor to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal Certs.

So if, say, Breyer retired under Biden, or if anyone else suddenly retires or even dies (looking at you Thomas or Alito, how heathy can you be), assuming the Senate stays GOP, can't/won't McConnell just hold up the seat for 4+ years?

You bet!

Of course, because reasons.

xps

thank you alfred. and i'm sorry to everyone who read...that, yesterday. i know it's not cool to keep doing that and keep apologizing, and also that i get a longer leash than most because most of you are familiar with my shit.

anyway...mcconnell's reasoning for not filling a retired SC seat during biden's term will be ____?

a) the longstanding tradition of the senate dictates a SC nominee must not be confirmed by a senate held by the opposing party
b) the democrats broke the sacred trust of the senate by invoking the filibuster during GWB's 2nd term - no more SC justices for them
c) the democrats were the ones that did not confirm gorsuch. they refused to hold a vote on gorsuch, and instead waited until obama was president and then installed SC justice merrick garland instead. Mitch McConnell was there - that's what happened.
d) "i am controlled by a turtle"

(edit: i meant that i sense that i sometimes get a "longer leash" for my bullshit, and although i appreciate it i want to stop doing that.)

If, say, no party controls the presidency and Senate simultaneously for several decades I suppose we could see the SC dwindle to zero as justices die off one after another?

Clarence Thomas is living until 183

guys he's citing the non-indictment of THE COMPANY THAT MADE THE GAS THE NAZIS USED TO KILL JEWS as precedent!!!!!! https://t.co/QeIr6LtmoM

— Alex Kotch (@alexkotch) December 1, 2020

I personally did not have "supreme court greenlights US corporations aiding and abetting child slavery" on my 2020 bingo card but I suppose I should have

Attorney Neal Katyal made the arguments on behalf of Nestle and defending their role in child slavery. He’s a never Trump guy who also though once wrote a NY Times op-Ed in support of Gorsuch.

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2021/02/covid-elena-kagan-supreme-court-kill.html

Late on Friday night, the Supreme Court blocked California’s public health ban on indoor religious services in a splintered 6–3 decision South Bay United Pentecostal Church v. Newsom is the latest in a long line of COVID cases to reach the Supreme Court. The plaintiffs challenged three pandemic-related restrictions on religious worship: a total ban on indoor services in areas where cases are surging (which covers much of the state right now); a 25 percent cap on indoor services where they are permitted; and a ban on singing and chanting during those services.

In amuddled order, SCOTUS shot down the total ban on indoor services, but upheld the 25 percent cap and the singing ban. The majority’s decision—issued as a highly infectious “California variant” of the coronavirus sweeps across the state—allows residents to resume indoor worship, the cause of countless superspreader events since the start of the pandemic. While there is no single majority opinion, five justices supported the proposition that California’s regime violates free exercise because it treats secular businesses more favorably than religious establishments. Notably, no justice in the majority even pretended to apply the appropriate standard for this emergency request, which requires plaintiffs to prove that the legal rights at issue are “indisputably clear” and that an injunction is “in the public interest.” They simply issued a decision on the merits, another example of the court making law through its shadow docket.

...“Justices of this Court are not scientists,” Kagan began. “Nor do we know much about public health policy. Yet today the Court displaces the judgments of experts about how to respond to a raging pandemic. … That mandate defies our caselaw, exceeds our judicial role, and risks worsening the pandemic.” She pointed out that, contrary to the court’s belief, California has not actually treated churches less favorably than secular businesses and assemblies: Political meetings, lectures, and plays are also banned, she wrote—and these “secular gatherings,” like religious worship, “are constitutionally protected” by the First Amendment. The court simply created “a special exception for worship services.”

This guy:

THOMAS' dissent on the decision to deny the Pennsylvania election case adopts the 'prove a negative' argument proffered by Rudy and others:

That the absence of evidence of fraud could just prove that fraud was hard to detect. pic.twitter.com/Xe1taFlGy0

— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) February 22, 2021

never met a logical fallacy he didn't want to sexually harass

no election fraud you say? doesn’t that in itself seem.... suspicious?

must I post a photo of Ginny

I just bought www.isclarencethomasdeadyet.com for the next two years for a whopping ten bucks.

who wants to help program it for me.

i have temporary content up

I read the rest of his opinion and it was actually more horrifying than just that sequence alone.

You need 4 to take cert and have oral arguments. Thomas, Alito, and Gorsuch were close .

wondering what drove Kav and Coney's "no" vote

so uh having dinner w/my sis at the posh Biltmore's outdoor courtyard I think I saw Sam Alito. Y'all be the judge. The bald spot, Fed society striped tie, and dumbfounded mien gave him away.

https://imgur.com/a/pDCxA16

https://i.imgur.com/4kOL378.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/PgxvxYz.jpg

He got up to ogle the wild parrots.

oh baby I will Venmo you $112 USD if you can make him uncomfortable enough to leave

so was this him? Am I mad?

lol I honestly can’t tell for certain

how bout those pants

well, i certainly didn't see *this* development coming

So close and yet so inconsequential.

Lonely justice thinking baout parrots

I think I saw Sam Alito. Y'all be the judge.

Is this what you said to him

https://i.imgur.com/OG8GqtO.gif?noredirect

among a true embarrassment of binches
he really is the worst one isn’t he

Probably. Alito adjudicates like a Republican Party hack. Beyond loyalty to the current party line, he has no coherent judicial philosophy whatsoever. Even Justice Thomas has a rather eccentric philosophy that seems to guide his votes.

https://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2021/03/stephen-breyer-needs-to-retire-now

The only problem I see with that argument in favor of Breyer retiring asap is that Breyer would not find it convincing. I say that because it is an argument based solely upon politics and the future composition of the court. In that way it reflects how every ilxor is likely to view the question, but not how I think Breyer would.

He emerged from a period when the court and its justices were idealized as non-partisan and non-ideological, so that the politics of the Senate should not be a vital consideration in whether a justice should retire. But mainly, I'm pretty sure that every single sitting justice believes in their own ability to arrive at the 'most correct' interpretation of a case and that in their absence, no replacement could be trusted to do so to the same degree as as they trust themselves. iow, it's an ego thing.

yeah, Democrats of his generation take the above-the-fray shit too seriously -- as if the last 20 years haven't proved Breyer and Ginsberg wrong. And Ginsberg made a colossal mistake staying on when the whole planet knew she was seriously ill and even if she weren't you don't want to see your legacy in tatters thinking that as an 80-plus-year-old woman you can wait for the next Dem Senate to vote for your successor.

Honestly, I don't know really anything about Breyer as a person. Kennedy joined the court 6 years prior to Breyer, and his retirement was clearly partisan and ideological, but I assume you're correct about Breyer's self-image.

It's depressing though; "cannot adapt to significant changes in society" and "is convinced of his own immutable rightness" are extremely strong arguments in favor of setting term limits on justices, not that there's any enthusiasm for anyone to battle the conservatives over that any time soon.

Clarence and Alito being burned alive in a go-karting accident would also be nice

Kennedy joined the court 6 years prior to Breyer, and his retirement was clearly partisan and ideological

Republicans serving in office are in very consistent in viewing all issues through the lens of power, so that attaining and keeping the greatest amount of power becomes their primary motive in all their actions. Lots of Democrats in office think similarly, but they are far less unanimous and consistent in that regard.

According to NPR, Ginsburg dictated the following statement to her granddaughter, Clara Spera, shortly before she died: "My most fervent wish is that I will not be replaced until a new president is installed."

these are the last words of someone who knows they fucked up.

Whoa. @SenWhitehouse asks Merrick Garland to investigate FBI's background check of Brett Kavanaugh--alleging that it may have been 'fake'. https://t.co/k9u5B3ecnf

— Mark Elliott (@markmobility) March 16, 2021

iirc, it was definitely “fake”

we don't call them background checks, we call them factground checks.

anything else is fake

Forget the background, just give me the facts, Jack. That’s what I’d say if I were Gordon Cole.

Give me the facts, Jack
Spy on QAnon, Ron
Is there a Deep State, Nate?
Just give it to me