Trump's latest SCOTUS shortlist additions have a dangerous lack of judicial experience. Some of them are well known in legal circles (Clement, Landau, Francisco), but there are only two on the list with any real judicial experience, Bade and Lagoa (mostly low level state judge).
Half have no experience. The average is less than 2 years EACH. If you leave off the two experienced outliers, there's only 16.5 years of experience spread across 18 possible nominees: an average of 11 MONTHS of experience each. For a lifetime appointment on the highest court.
This is back of the envelope math AND I may have missed some judicial exp. AND some have other experience, just as I have other objections to, for instance, their openly hostile views towards secular Americans and blatant Christian Nationalism. But this is telling and damning.
Again, this was quick. So if you see an error, please let me know. Either in the original numbers or in my math.
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🚨We need to talk about this alarming pressure campaign that's happening right now. An attempt to muzzle discussion, criticism, and reporting on the authoritarian Christian Nationalism that is working against American democracy and a free press.
In Dec., journalist @HeidiReports wrote a piece exposing how the dark money network that financed the conservative takeover of the courts is also backing the Christian Nationalist push to dismantle public education, with Oklahoma as a test case. politico.com/news/2023/12/2…
Just days ago, Przybyla wrote a piece about Christian Nationalism in a second Trump administration which broke the internet. The reporting is accurate and terrifying. It shows that American democracy is unlikely to survive a second Trump term.
Despite Wheerler's unearned arrogance, @HeidiReports is absolutely correct. Rights given by a god can be taken away by men claiming to speak for that god. That's exactly the fight we're in now. That's what the Alabama Supreme Court just did with IVF. That's Christian Nationalism.
Again, I tackle this all in The Founding Myth, including the inevitable rejoinder of misquoting the Declaration of Independence, usually as "endowed by Our Creator," including a look the natural law philosophy the Declaration relies on.
Here's a bit.
📖 bit.ly/TFMpaperback
Hawley works at the Alliance Defending Freedom, a Christian Nationalist legal outfit behind so many of the cases that are dragging this country back to a time when conservative, white Christian men ruled everything.
ADF, with Hawley actually arguing the case, is behind the mifepristone case being litigated before Judge Kacsmaryk in Texas (Kacsmaryk worked for one of ADF's brother orgs in the Christian Nationalist space.)
But there's still more...
Hawley's husband, Josh (he of fist pump and fleet feet), taught ADF's fellows, cashing $$ in nicely.
But Josh wasn't the only teacher.
Amy Coney Barrett taught ADF fellows up until 2016 (and her recusal didn't even come up).
Thrilled to see my friend and colleague, @AmandaTylerBJC of @BJContheHill testifying about the threat White Christian Nationalism poses to a pluralist democracy. Speaking truth to power.
Read more about the role the Christian Nationalism played in the January 6th insurrection here: bjconline.org/jan6report/
Rep. Raskin notes that the 900+ prosecutions against insurrectionists and that the threats have not subsided.
White Supremacy is the most lethally dangerous terrorist threat our nation faces," says @RepRaskin and notes the role Christian Nationalism plays.
This morning, the Supreme Court will hear oral argument in Moore v. Harper, a case that could effectively end the American experiment with democracy.
Wait, what?
Yup.
Let's take a quick look:
Ostensibly, the case centers on the Independent State Legislature theory or doctrine, which is neither, but actually a nightmare born on the fringe of conservative legal thought that would help that fringe seize and retain power.
If wrongly decided, this newly forged weapon could allow (or at least justify) state legislatures to overturn elections.