That is what politically induced derangement looks like.
Not gonna lie. I hit the sauce pretty hard last night. I don’t usually get so wrecked in the head by ‘global’ events, but this one shook me to the core. It reminded me of the night Anthony Bourdain died.
One thing to encourage us. It’s small, but it’s real.
Justice Roberts, though he may lean conservative, actually believes in the Constitution.
McConnell and Trump and Barr do not, but the Chief Justice does. It isn’t enough, alone, to save us, but it is a good thing and may do some good in the long run.
That’s what a pig’s asshole looks like.
I don’t give him that much credit, but I think he may care about his legacy and is concerned about the shit storm that the Roberts court will turn into if the Kavanaugh, Thomas, Gorsuch, and Alito wing don’t have a check on them. History will not be judging the Roberts court kindly as it is, but it could get so much worse. He’s been able to be a swing vote on several occasions lately, but with one more Trump appointee he’s not going to be worth a damn.
Mitch McConnell is 78. Old men used to die. Now they just hang on forever.
I must disagree with the other non-Americans. It worries me greatly. I am Australian and a lot of us have been horrified by America’s move to the right and the support for a president we can only see as immoral and unethical. Not all Australians feel this way, but most of those I know certainly do. We follow US politics closely, and this event worries me greatly.
I may not have liked all the policies nor personalities of previous US presidents, but everyone I know respected the role and felt that we could depend on the US as a ally. In a few short years, those secure views have evaporated. The justice system is, in my view, one of the major protections we have from the greed, immorality and lack of ethics of the far right. To loose any protection there is horrifying. I worry for the minorities, underprivileged and the environment.
I trust Australia’s high court without knowing the individuals nor their politics. I have never felt that the politics of our judges has an impact on their application of the law. Maybe I am naive.
I do not know the full impact nor background, so my opinion isn’t worth much, but I do worry.
To this Brit, the concept of judges being elected (yes, I know this doesn’t apply in the same way for the Supreme Court), let alone them having a political affiliation, seems really weird. I think the UK has generally done much better than the US at separating the Judicial and Legislative branches of government. Although some Attorney General decisions over the last couple of decades have brought this into question.
In terms of our reaction to the US system though, I agree with lynne-42 - when I saw this news on here I involuntarily said “oh no”, purely from having read about the issue on here in the past.
I guess it is because we follow the British justice system that I agree with Dead_Cat. It seems that a political affiliation in the courts is a really strange, and dangerous thing to do. But a year of election lead-up (we whinge about 6 or 8 weeks - our usual) and the complicated system also seems very weird and undemocratic. Again, take my opinion as being that of someone who does not follow all the details - and our system isn’t perfect either!
Usually I would defer to your expertise and experience in that subject.
I find this statement very distressing. You seem to imply that liberals think that conservatives don’t normally believe in the Constitution. WTF?
I’m a conservative. I believe in the Constitution. I think all conservatives believe in the Constitution. I also think that most liberals believe in the Constitution. I think they have a misguided interpretation of it, but I would never accuse them of not believing in it. Or of being inherently evil or anti-American.
That’s the difference between civil disagreement and toxic politics, in my opinion. And THAT is why we are SO FUCKED.
For this situation, I blame every voter who voted third party in 2016. You are reaping what you are sowing. And if you disagree with that, I would, you fucking cunt, invite you to suck me off.
I believe that you believe in the constitution. I think you are incorrect that all conservatives do.
I very much doubt Trump does - not when he says he “deserves” a third term in violation of the constitution. No one “deserves” a term as President, you have to earn it. And since 1947 and the 22nd amendment no one gets elected to more than two. That’s just one of example of our current PotUS’s disregard of the foundational document of our nation.
Whether or not Trump qualifies as a “conservative” I’ll leave up to you to argue.
It seems one of the potential nominees has said she would overturn Roe v Wade. Having her out there might very well drive several acre-feet of Democratic voters to the polls. Republicans too.
I interpreted the question to be whether or not we freak out over a justice leaving the bench in our own courts. Yes, I’m certainly worried about the situation with the US supreme court, and with the general trend of American politics moving from right-of-centre to batshit crazy, and from principled (or at least paying lip service to principle) to nakedly partisan and dishonest. Canada is sometimes seen as a “mouse sleeping next to an elephant”, because anything in the US will almost certainly effect Canada, possibly without the US even noticing. I feel that there is real possibility that the US will undergo dramatic, possibly even violent upheaval in my lifetime, and anything of that nature would have severe impacts on Canada.
That clever comeback took hours? Busy eating Trump’s ass or something else?
I said in another RBG thread that I think, politically speaking, Ginsburg’s death is much better for Biden than it is for Trump. I’ll just copy-and-paste myself:
Despite all the liberal hand-wringing, I think it does Biden more good than it does Trump. Trump has had, and continues to have, a ridiculously low ceiling. Whether they ram a nominee through before the election, or dangle the carrot during the remainder of the campaign, Trump is earning no new voters from this. This SC pick from Trump is only exciting to the right-wing base. Not to moderate voters, not to suburban women, not to low-information infrequent voters. Best case scenario for Trump: he wins back every voter he got in 2016, which he only won because of depressed Democratic voting in three specific states.
But for Biden, this has the potential to energize suburban women, moderates and progressives alike. Worst-case scenario for Biden: He gains no new voters out of this, but maintains the solid lead he’s maintained over Trump all summer, a lead that he’s maintained because of what a terrible job Trump has done on race relations, the pandemic, the economy, healthcare, etc
Now, it still does suck that RBG died, and that we’re staring down a potential 6-3 court, but just looking at how it will affect the election, it is much better for Biden’s chances, imo. Worst case for Biden, he picks up no new voters over this but holds onto the supporters he’s had all summer (don’t see him losing any support over this). Best case for Biden, this motivates a shit-ton of moderate Republicans, progressives, young people, women, and independent voters to vote for him.
Our system is indeed weird and complicated and increasingly undemocratic. This may be by design, which makes it no less fucked up.
And the length of our campaigns is becoming a serious impediment to good governance. There has to be better ways of doing these things.
After sharing the same initial despair as most others on the left with the RBG news, I’ve since become a little more optimistic. I’m seeing signs that Moscow Mitch and Orangeanus are awakening the sleeping giant. That conservative SC will have its hands full trying to stop progressive legislation during the next 16 years of Democratic control of Congress and the White House. They won’t be able to stop most of what’s coming.
(Caveat: if Democrats grow a set and decide to start fixing our systemic problems)
The sleeping giant will open one eye, mumble “Something seems to be wrong here”, then fall back asleep…like it has been doing for the last fifty years.