Kurt Eichenwald Profile picture
Sep 26, 2020 11 tweets 3 min read Read on X
The main way to save American democracy - which GOP hates - is to completely transform SCOTUS, not to tilt it toward democratic as opposed to Republican majority, but to make the majorities largely irrelevant. Which means we need 27 Justices. The way....1
time.com/5338689/suprem…
...this would work would also expose the GOP's "constitutionalism" as just BS policy seeking.

No 1 or 2 people - particularly when you have pure partisans like Alito and Thomas on the court - should have the power to change American based on policy preference, nor falsely...2
...claim "original intent" allows for throwing out all precedent. The amount of overruled - or ignored - precedent in recent years has been shocking. If these Justices *are* just calling balls and strikes (which we know they aren't) no one could possibly object to using...3
...expansion. It would work like an appeals court: A large pool of justices (27, which is less than in some full banc of judges), arbitrarily assigned to each case, where 9 hear. All reversals of precedent automatically go to all 27. All purely political cases - election...4
...results, campaign contributions, power of 1 branch of government - goes to all 27.

How theye picked: Would only happen under a democratic president with a dem senate, but here goes. A rule is established that all nominees must have served for at least 5 years on appeals...5
...court, and been involved in no partisan activities (this would have knocked out Alito, because he was practically a branch off the GOP Congressional Campaign Committee. But too late.) A total of 18 new Justices would be named. GOP senate is invited to nominate enough that...6
...the total named by GOP would be 13. Dems the same: 13. Then a final one nominated by joint agreement. Now, the "nominations" would have to go to the president. Any judge who meets the requirement - 5 years, no partisan activities - and passes background check will be...7
...formally nominated by the president. At this point, the final standard: The nominees must receive at least a B rating by the ABA to get a quick approval. Anyone who receives less than a B is subjected to more extensive hearings to explore qualifications. And...the end. You...8
...would then have qualified and experienced judges, without direct partisan behavior. No single Justice could direct the court anywhere. Every ruling would be subjected to extensive review. And in the end, the politics of nominating and confirming justices in the future would..9
...stop having "life or death" reactions on either side. Replacing 1, 2, or even 3 would make little difference.

And anyone who would not want to do this without citing policy goals misses the point. We have to try to remove SCOTUS from partisanship. Traditional...10
..."packing the court" would set off a race to the bottom. Trying to turn the court liberal would be no more appropriate than trying to turn it conservative. It needs competence, with competing jurisprudence. Then it can be the Supreme Court again rather than what we have now
end

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
 

Keep Current with Kurt Eichenwald

Kurt Eichenwald Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @kurteichenwald

Sep 24, 2023
Unsurprisingly, @RealPNavarro has no idea what the Mayo Clinic actually said. And the idea that doctors in ICUs are going to make medical decisions with critically ill pts based on CNN reports is crazy. But what do studies actually say, and why is hydro use so limited? Well...
Image
..In 2020, FDA (under Trump), NIH and World Health Organization stopped studies evaluating hydroxychloroquine for the treatment of COVID-19 due to a lack of benefit. Current NIH and US guidelines recommend its use for COVID-19 treatment in hospitals only in clinical trials...
...in *Britain*, the largest study on hydro (the RECOVERY Trial" - one of few randomized & controlled - evaluated potential treatments for patients hospitalized with COVID-19. Investigators found no benefit or reduction of death in hospitalized patients receiving hydro...
Read 6 tweets
Sep 15, 2023
Media who interview CEO Barra of @GM need to understand: When asked about difference between how much of an increase she receives to reach her compensation ($30 mill - higher than all but Tesla) compared to workers, she says "It's performance based." What a croc. Here's why.../1
...For most, it's hard for average person to understand because the compensation standards in GM's proxy is loaded with undefined acronyms - TSR, LTIP, NEO, etc. But when you know the meaning, you see that her compensation is rigged. A good percentage of her comp is based on...
...comparisons to the performance of other companies & comps with other company CEO's comp. Well, for the first one, they use other auto makers, most of which are nowhere close to the size/diversity of GM (Renault, Stelantis, Suzuki) so they really aren't comparable. BUT when...
Read 15 tweets
Aug 15, 2023
Would reporters *please* stop saying RICO law in Georgia is intended to be applied to organized crime. That is *false.* In fact, it is wrong on so many levels that it is shocking reporters keep saying it. They are clearly referring to federal RICO - where they are also wrong.../1
...federal RICO (not part of the Georgia case) has been and - according G. Robert Blakey, the man who wrote the statute - was intended both to apply to the activities of organized crime *and* other criminal enterprises, including white collar crime. From Blakey in 1989:.../2 Image
...the reason Blakey is discussing white collar crime is because, at that time, RICO was being used to bludgeon Wall Street fraud. But the federal law was specifically written to address a pattern of criminal activity that involved an "enterprise" such as a corrupt company.../3
Read 12 tweets
Jul 24, 2023
Florida wants to teach about "skills" slaves obtained in the antebellum south because "beneficent" slaveholders taught their slaves to read, write, blacksmithing, etc. They say this is supported by "scholars." Well, let's see what the scholars really say.../1
...first, let's start with blacksmithing, since this is specifically what DeSantis mentioned yesterday. This, more than anything, underscores the brutal ignorance of the GOP on history, and their apparent belief that Africans arrived here as ignorant, incompetent savages.../2
...reality: People who were already skilled blacksmiths were brought in chains from West Africa. These Africans were among the most skilled blacksmiths the world had ever seen, and *they* taught *white* blacksmiths new skills and techniques. African blacksmith slaves were.../3
Read 15 tweets
Jul 20, 2023
Wow. This is the biggest pile of nonsense I have ever read. A few problems:
1. Viktor Shokin never conducted a criminal investigation of Burisma. There was a criminal investigation in *Britain* of Mykola Zlochevsky, founder of Burisma, for purportedly laundering money stolen.../1
...when Zlochevsky served as Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources in Ukraine through British banks. Britain attempted to get documents for its case from Ukraine and Shokin *blocked* it.

2. Shokin also blocked all investigations of Ukranian oligarchs, which is what led.../2
...the EU, overseas investment firms and ultimately the IMF to either pull out investment/loans or threaten to unless Shokin was fired.

3. Shokin finally left when his deputy publicly resigned, announcing on national TV the details of Shokin's corruption re: oligarchs.../3
Read 12 tweets
Jun 10, 2023
I've long said, despite the criminality depicted in Bragg's statement of facts, the linkage to tax fraud was weak and the most damning part - the AIM coordination - was a federal crime, so not charged. IOW, I wouldnt be surprised if it didn't survive a motion to dismiss. But.../1
...the classified documents case is in another stratosphere. The magnitude of the crimes depicted are deeply serious and per se illegal. There is no "linkage" required. Plus, the witnesses are all from Trump world...unlike Michael Cohen, it would nearly impossible to argue.../2
...these are people who despise Trump. They are his guys, deeply supportive of him. Add to that the devastating tape (which likely contains even more than depicted in the indictment) and the testimony of is own PAC guy, and the violations of disseminating classified info are../3
Read 17 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Don't want to be a Premium member but still want to support us?

Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal

Or Donate anonymously using crypto!

Ethereum

0xfe58350B80634f60Fa6Dc149a72b4DFbc17D341E copy

Bitcoin

3ATGMxNzCUFzxpMCHL5sWSt4DVtS8UqXpi copy

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us!

:(