# Trump's Supreme Court nominee? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [September 20, 2020, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-supreme-court-nominee/921092 "2020-09-20T19:00:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 12
**Author:** ![Wrenching\_Spanners](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ecb155/32.png) [@Wrenching\_Spanners](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wrenching_Spanners)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2020, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-supreme-court-nominee/921092/221 "2020-10-15T12:14:36Z")
Trump has done some harm and he’s done some good. I certainly believe that his nomination of Barrett to the Supreme Court falls in the good column. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2020, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-supreme-court-nominee/921092/222 "2020-10-15T12:18:34Z")
I’m sure you do. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2020, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-supreme-court-nominee/921092/223 "2020-10-15T12:35:28Z")
We live in such different moral and factual universes that any mutual understanding is impossible. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2020, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-supreme-court-nominee/921092/224 "2020-10-15T12:36:33Z")
> [@Wrenching\_Spanners](#): > > It then deduces from Trump’s babbling that he has a Machiavellian plan to deny the legitimacy of mail-in votes. Except in true James Bond villain style, he can’t help but talk about his brilliant evil plan. No one says anything about a Machiavellian plan. You are correct that he can’t stop talking about his plans, however. He is very clear and direct that he expects the election to go to SCOTUS, and for his appointees to vote in his favor. This is less like n-dimensional chess, and more like a toddler stealing cookies from the cookie jar. The only ones who are in any way “outsmarted” by him are those who support him. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2020, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-supreme-court-nominee/921092/225 "2020-10-15T12:38:26Z")
> [@k9bfriender](#): > > This is less like n-dimensional chess, and more like a toddler stealing cookies from the cookie jar. …surrounded by supposed adults that want those cookies stolen because they want cookies too. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2020, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-supreme-court-nominee/921092/226 "2020-10-15T12:50:30Z")
Some harm? Some? You are seriously mistaken. He’s done an incredible amount of harm. As to good, he has done precious little, if any. What has he done that you think is good? What do you think is only “some harm”? ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2020, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-supreme-court-nominee/921092/227 "2020-10-15T13:10:27Z")
He has hurt _some_ of the right people, just not all or enough of them. > **["He’s not hurting the people he needs to be": a Trump voter says the quiet...](https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/1/8/18173678/trump-shutdown-voter-florida)** > > A Trump voter hurt by the shutdown reveals the real reason the president attracts hardcore supporters. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2020, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-supreme-court-nominee/921092/228 "2020-10-15T13:36:00Z")
Bottomline, I find Barrett repugnant, but I think it is entirely appropriate for Trump to nominate her and the Repub controlled Senate to affirm her. The ONLY issue is that it was HIGHLY INAPPROPRIATE for the Senate to refuse to act on Obama’s nomination of Garland. However, I don’t see any real logic or mechanism to insist upon consistency or ethical behavior from the Repubs. So, in the end, they are willing to do whatever it takes to gain any advantage, and have succeeded. At least for now (and the foreseeable future.) Sucks, but makes me glad I live in a blue/sane state. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2020, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-supreme-court-nominee/921092/229 "2020-10-15T13:37:30Z")
You have a point. It does no good to accuse them of hypocrisy when they view it as a feature and not a bug. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2020, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-supreme-court-nominee/921092/230 "2020-10-15T13:39:41Z")
It’s not remotely realistic, but I don’t find anything Trump could do aside from resign to be “appropriate”, and nothing aside from demanding his resignation or removal would be appropriate for Republicans in the Senate. Democrats don’t need to act like this is all normal and acceptable. Trump is president, but he’s entirely corrupt, and this means everything he does is wrapped in corruption. ---
**Author:** ![Wrenching\_Spanners](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ecb155/32.png) [@Wrenching\_Spanners](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wrenching_Spanners)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2020, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-supreme-court-nominee/921092/231 "2020-10-15T13:57:43Z")
Of course I do. Here’s the write-up of Barrett from Time magazine – about as mainstream a media source as you can get. It’s clear she was respected as a law clerk, a professor, a judge, and as a person. > **[Not Just Another Conservative Vote: How Amy Coney Barrett Could Influence the...](https://time.com/5898043/amy-coney-barrett-supreme-court/)** > > Barrett may be able to unite the six justices on the right and shape the language of majority rulings Here’s an assessment of her legal skills from a liberal Harvard law professor. > I know her to be a brilliant and conscientious lawyer who will analyze and decide cases in good faith, applying the jurisprudential principles to which she is committed. Those are the basic criteria for being a good justice. Barrett meets and exceeds them. [https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2020-09-26/amy-coney-barrett-deserves-to-be-on-the-supreme-court](https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2020-09-26/amy-coney-barrett-deserves-to-be-on-the-supreme-court) For a balanced selection of comments on her judicial philosophy from across the political spectrum, here’s Politico. Note that while several commenters disagreed with her politically, not one stated that she was unqualified or impugned her character. > **[How Amy Coney Barrett Would Reshape the Court — And the Country](https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2020/09/26/amy-barrett-scotus-legal-experts-422028)** > > More than two dozen legal thinkers game out what President Trump’s new Supreme Court pick means for America’s biggest legal fights, the court’s reputation, the fate of its “swing seat” and more. And for how I think Barrett will rule in the future as a Supreme Court justice, I think her originalist philosophy will seek to make the Supreme Court a less activist body and push to have legal changes made by legislation. Congress is the body that can be held accountable by elections and should be the branch of the federal government that decides what is and is not legal. Here’s a column on originalism that I generally agree with: > **[Op-Ed: Judge Barrett is an originalist. Should we be afraid?](https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2020-10-14/amy-coney-barrett-supreme-court-originalism-conservative)** > > Textualist methodology, which is at the core of originalism, can yield progressive or conservative results, depending on what the text says. ---
**Author:** ![Wrenching\_Spanners](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ecb155/32.png) [@Wrenching\_Spanners](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wrenching_Spanners)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2020, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-supreme-court-nominee/921092/232 "2020-10-15T13:59:03Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > We live in such different moral and factual universes that any mutual understanding is impossible. Which I find both a relief and a compliment. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2020, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-supreme-court-nominee/921092/233 "2020-10-15T14:14:06Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > … Democrats don’t need to act like this is all normal and acceptable. Trump is president, but he’s entirely corrupt, and this means everything he does is wrapped in corruption. … Of course they oughtn’t act as though it is normal and acceptable. They should loudly decry Republican hypocrisy, but there is little they can effectively do, when the Rs control the Senate and are unwilling to act consistently with any previously understood assumptions of ethical behavior. The Dems need to focus on getting control of the Senate, and deciding what is in their power if they do gain the Senate, as well as if the Rs retain the Senate (and - heavens forbid - the Presidency.) If the Dems gain the presidency and both houses, they should jam through as much legislation as possible on liberal issues such as health care, abortion, etc., while making NO PRETENSE of seeking bipartisan compromise. Force the increasingly conservative courts to show their true activist colors. If the Rs retain the Senate, I’m not sure what a D President/House can accomplish in the face of consistent opposition. If the Rs retain the Senate and Pres, it will be a dark several years. The only hope is that things will be bad enough that EVENTUALLY the population votes for change. But A LOT of damage will have been done by then. Like I said, it is good to be reasonably comfortable and healthy, and in a blue state. Sucks to be poor and sick in the red lands. ---
**Author:** ![DavidNRockies](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidnrockies/32/6279_2.png) [@DavidNRockies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidNRockies)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2020, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-supreme-court-nominee/921092/234 "2020-10-15T14:14:52Z")
One of the aspects of ACB that I find most troubling was eloquently elucidated by a former classmate of hers in a [Guardian piece](https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/oct/12/amy-coney-barrett-bad-choice-women): > Like the late Justice Scalia, for whom she clerked, Barrett is a self-described textualist and originalist; she interprets the US constitution based on its plain language and an attempted understanding of the intent and mindset of the original drafters. Barrett has also written that, in her view, it is appropriate and legitimate for judges to overturn precedents when they conflict with their personal interpretation of the constitution. Obedience to the exact original meaning of the constitution without current context is problematic. These laws were made by white, cisgender men who enslaved other human beings and never intended to include a vast sum of Americans – like women and people of color – in their quest for equal rights. > When one person’s truth, defined by the way they see the world, impacts the lives and liberties of generations of diverse Americans, it has tremendous power. [Jefferson thought](https://jeffersonpapers.princeton.edu/selected-documents/thomas-jefferson-james-madison) the Constitution should be revisited and revised once a generation. The notion of ‘originalism’ is misguided on its face, IMHO. Not only are we asking ACB to twist herself into a pretzel to understand the Constitution in light of … today … we’re also asking her to tie herself in knots to set aside Her Most Closely-Held Beliefs – beliefs that utterly define her. The party that doesn’t think left-leaning journalists can do an objective job at reporting the news … are _dead certain_ that a profoundly religious Judge can be totally fair and impartial, not letting her religious beliefs influence her jurisprudence, without even messing up her hair. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2020, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-supreme-court-nominee/921092/235 "2020-10-15T14:16:45Z")
I agree with this in general, with the addition that the Democrats should also expand the courts (all of them!) if they can. ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2020, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-supreme-court-nominee/921092/236 "2020-10-15T14:19:48Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > If the Dems gain the presidency and both houses, they should jam through as much legislation as possible on liberal issues such as health care, abortion, etc., while making NO PRETENSE of seeking bipartisan compromise. He said it once before but it bears repeating. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2020, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-supreme-court-nominee/921092/237 "2020-10-15T14:20:20Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > I agree with this in general, with the addition that the Democrats should also expand the courts (all of them!) if they can. My main difficulty with that is, where does it end? ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2020, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-supreme-court-nominee/921092/238 "2020-10-15T14:21:34Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > My main difficulty with that is, where does it end? At 11, of course. (I’ll let myself out). ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2020, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-supreme-court-nominee/921092/239 "2020-10-15T14:27:25Z")
It ends either when the US finds a way to heal our divisions and wounds, and starts working together again, rather than tearing itself apart. Or it ends in civil war. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2020, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-supreme-court-nominee/921092/240 "2020-10-15T14:28:17Z")
With a Constitutional amendment, hopefully. If we don’t do it, the GOP wins on everything for 20 years or more. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-supreme-court-nominee/921092.md?page=11) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-supreme-court-nominee/921092.md?page=13)