U.S. Supreme Court & judicial system

[Aussie Willy]

Meh. We don't have to liberate ourselves from the past. We have to learn from it. Learn from it's successes and its flaws, and continue to move forward in positive ways from it. We've known this & have been doing this ever since the Constitution was written, particularly notably since the Civil Rights Act. We don't have to cast the past as something to be severed or as something to be venerated. It is the past. It is what helped us progress & led us here. For example, it would be extremely wise of the Supreme Court to take heed of the flaws within the States' Rights movement of the past & where that movement led the country. There are many many different time periods & different forms of legislation that can enlighten us on our steps forward. We cannot limit our ability to learn to one particular point in time.

No the Supreme Court don't care and will now do whatever the Republicans want and heaven help those who are going to be impacted by their decision.

Interestingly I had a friend who suggested to me that the US should just split itself into two (aligned with Red and Blue states). He wasn't aware that the Blue states financially support the Red states. So that really ain't an option.

 

[Trillian]

Interestingly I had a friend who suggested to me that the US should just split itself into two (aligned with Red and Blue states). He wasn't aware that the Blue states financially support the Red states. So that really ain't an option.

Plus the fact that no state is a political monolith, people move from state to state a lot, and many people who live in blue states aren’t willing to say, “Peace out, sorry about your human rights!” to friends and family in red states.

Anyway, I live in one of the most closely contested states in the country, in the exact area of the state that the NY Times visited in 2020 for a nice human interest article about how the fate of the world might rest in the hands of myself and my neighbors, so I’m just picturing someone going door to door down my street with a piece of chalk trying to figure out where they’re supposed to draw the border.

 

[Amy L]

Plus the fact that no state is a political monolith, people move from state to state a lot, and many people who live in blue states aren’t willing to say, “Peace out, sorry about your human rights!” to friends and family in red states.

I feel like this is already happening. I live in a red as hell town in Texas, but it's also located very close to purple/blue (violet?) cities of Galveston and Houston. What the hell are we supposed to do? I hear from blue-state types who are basically telling us, "just move and leave the hellscape" but like, there's millions of us. California has its own housing crisis as-is, how would ten million urban Texans help that situation? My husband actually just proposed we move to Missouri since he has friends relocating there soon and there may be better job opportunities for him, but um. yeah. My prospects aren't great and I'd rather not live with Confederacy 2: Electric Boogaloo Boys. I'd rather we try as hard as we can to make things better for all Americans and not dismiss half the country because 10% would like us to live in an Evangelical apartheid dystopia.

 

[Dobre]

I feel like this is already happening.

I don't think it is. Biden met with a bunch of Democratic governors--I think maybe 9--to strategize protecting the right to choose. The governors of the three West Coast states all said they want to help women from other states who need health care access. (In my state, this means setting up a clinic in a small city on the Idaho border. Not easy, politically, as that's the Republican heavy portion of Oregon. Currently I don't think there are any abortion clinics on that half of the state. The closest would be in the Tri-Cities, WA). I'm sure other states are making similar attempts.

Anyway, Amy, I'm with the poster earlier who said that she intended to stay & fight. Texas was only pale red in the last election. You've probably more power to change things where you are than you would anywhere else.

Here there's a political push to try to make rural Oregon part of Idaho. (They're collecting signatures & having counties vote on it. I'm pretty sure the measures are just saying that counties want to look at the practicalities of doing so, but meanwhile, propagandists are using those measures to claim that everyone in those counties wants to be part of Idaho). And, I'm sorry, but no. We do not need to waste our tax dollars on this garbage. People should be discussing how impractical it is before putting these measures on the ballot, much less passing them. Has there been any discussion about what this would do to the minimum wage, the road department budget, salaries for policemen, teachers, the jobs of people who work at state prisons, etc? How about the likely legal brick wall? No discussion that I've heard. A. We don't need to be a test case. And B. if this actually happened, I know it would completely tank at least my salary. People here really need to look at the practical side of things, instead of letting propagandists use us to make their political statements.

 

[Dobre]

SCOTUS Justices ‘Prayed With’ Her — Then Cited Her Bosses to End Roe

SCOTUS Justices 'Prayed With' Her -- Then Cited Her Bosses to End Roe

A right-wing evangelical activist was caught on tape bragging that she prayed with Supreme Court justices. The court’s majority cited a legal brief that her group filed while overturning Roe v. Wad…

www.rollingstone.com

"At an evangelical victory party in front of the Supreme Court to celebrate the downfall of Roe v. Wade last week, a prominent Capitol Hill religious leader was caught on a hot mic making a bombshell claim: that she prays with sitting justices inside the high court. 'We’re the only people who do that,' Peggy Nienaber said.

This disclosure was a serious matter on its own terms, but it also suggested a major conflict of interest. Nienaber’s ministry’s umbrella organization, Liberty Counsel, frequently brings lawsuits before the Supreme Court. In fact, the conservative majority in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health, which ended nearly 50 years of federal abortion rights, cited an amicus brief authored by Liberty Counsel in its ruling."

 

[PRlady]

Liberty, along with Alliance Defending Freedom which Barrett was associated with, are the two most powerful organizations litigating for Christian nationalists. They were counsel to the praying coach. I’m not surprised at all that they’re praying with their Justices, they already own them.

 

[Susan1]

Durbin says its ‘not realistic’ to consider impeaching Clarence Thomas

Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, on Sunday said it would be “a mistake” to impeach Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, who has drawn national scorn for suggesting the court reconsider precedents that affirmed the constitutional rights to same-sex...

www.yahoo.com

 

[Dobre]

Chart showing the tanking of the Supreme Court's approval rating since 2020.

https://twitter.com/joshtpm/status/1549771306966597636/photo/1

 

[Dobre]

Per Steve Vladeck:

"Sunday marks a year with a vacancy on the five-judge Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces. President Biden nominated Tia Johnson (who’d be the first Black woman on CAAF) in January; she was voted out of SASC in April. But things are frozen because Hawley is holding DoD nominees."

https://twitter.com/steve_vladeck/status/1552403836366598144?cxt=HHwWgMCt6Y3En4srAAAA

 

[sk9tingfan]

And the grift continues and we have to live with it:

https://twitter.com/LEBassett/status/1555334076185415682

4,500 Tips About Kavanaugh Sexual Assault Were Punted to Trump White House, FBI Director Admits
Christopher Wray confirmed Thursday that the FBI sent thousands of tips to Trump's team, who then decided whom the FBI could interview in their probe.