1/ In light of Amy Coney Barrett's dangerous views on choice and the ACA, her views on guns haven't gotten much attention.
But she's a radical - a blinking red outlier - on how she interprets the 2nd Amendment. Like, she wants felons to buy guns.
And you need to know. A THREAD:
2/ Like Gorsuch/Kavanaugh/Alito/Thomas, she is an "orginalist" on guns. It's total BS - just a way to legislate from the court and invalidate modern gun laws.
But basically, she believes that if the regulation didn't exist in 1787 then it's unconstitutional.
3/ So, for instance, that makes it easy for her to rule against bans on weapons that didn't exist in the 1700s (like semi-automatic weapons), or restrictions on guns in places that didn't exist (like airplanes), or background checks for felonies that post-date 1787.
4/ But it's not just her general philosophy - it's her stunning dissent in Kanter v. Barr. There, she broke with decades of precedent (and Scalia's decision in DC v. Heller) upholding the constitutionality of background checks, and argued that felons have a right to own guns.
5/ In Kanter, Barrett said two things that made clear she intends to legislate from the bench.
First, she said that courts, not the legislature, should decide who is too dangerous to own a gun. She said courts should take that power away from the legislature. Just mind-blowing.
6/ Second, she said that legislatures had to "prove" that the gun law they passed would reduce violence, and claimed Wisconsin hadn't provided that proof. Thus, Barrett said the restriction was unconstitutional.
7/ But Wisconsin HAD provided proof. It just wasn't ENOUGH for Barrett, who clearly had read plenty of NRA-funded studies arguing against background checks.
So, Barrett thinks that gun laws are unconstitutional so long as a study exists that says more guns equal less crime.
8/ This is all REALLY radical stuff.
Coney Barrett will be the 5th vote to rewrite the 2nd Amendment. SCOTUS will be able to rule bans on assault weapons and background checks unconstitutional.
The plan to legislate gun policy from the bench.
We can't let it happen.
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This hasn't gotten enough attention, but you need to know. Everybody needs to know.
1/ It's about the massive coverup campaign underway to disguise the octopus-like Russian election interference operation being run on Trump's behalf.
Please read this whole thing.
2/ Earlier this year, reports start coming into Congress about a giant, multi-layer Russian effort to help Trump in 2020. Bigger than what they did in 2016. Looks like Russians are trying to get U.S. persons - especially those close to Trump - to help.
3/ On July 13, Dem leadership writes a letter to FBI Director Wray, asking for an all-Congress briefing, especially because the reports we're reading suggest Russian agents are trying to find Members of Congress to assist their interference operation. speaker.gov/newsroom/72020…
1/ Let's be clear - Trump had a goal last night to get his right wing, white supremacists to organize an election day intimidation effort. He succeeded. Recruitment by Proud Boys and others is underway. Here's why this is especially worrying this year - and what you can do.
2/ In 2018 a federal judge ended a three decade long court order on the Republican National Committee that placed restrictions on the RNC's "ballot security" measures and Election Day activities at the polls. Why were these restrictions in place?
3/ In 1982, Republicans used illegal harassment and voter intimidation to discourage Black Americans from voting. They sent targeted mailings warning about the consequences of voter fraud & posted armed guards at polls in minority neighborhoods. Thus, the court intervened.
1/ A THREAD on the death of honor in the Senate and why we can't just let it go and brush it off as "Republicans doing Republican things".
2/ Democracy is predicated on the exercise of restraint and fair play. Our Constitution has enormous amounts of wiggle room in it - enough so that a democracy could be converted to a one party system without a technical violation of our founding document.
3/ For instance, the founding fathers didn't require a Senate vote on a President's nominee for the Supreme Court bc they assumed fair play. They never envisioned a situation like 2016 where the Senate's majority party refused to vote on the president's pick.
I know what I wrote below sounds harsh. But I stand by it and I want to explain why.
1/ From the start of the epidemic, Trump has mostly refused to wear a mask and engage in social distancing. He often does this very publicly and brazenly (like in Oklahoma City).
3/ He and his advisors KNEW the consequences of brazenly thumbing their nose at their own CDC.
They know viewers follow his example, and thus it will now be impossible to convince many people social distancing/masks are important. Bc Trump has made it crystal clear they AREN'T.
Spent some time this week surveying Connecticut's current COVID testing system.
It's made it clear to me how disastrous Trump's refusal to build a national testing plan has been - even in a state like CT that has done COVID response right.
1/ A short THREAD on where we are:
2/ Current turnaround time at New Britain's community health center drive through testing program is 3 days.
3 days is NOT GOOD. That's 3 days for a unknowing positive person to spread.
3/ Trump has refused to build the additional lab capacity nationally to reduce these wait times. Connecticut can't do it - the testing industry is national. Only HHS and partner federal agencies can expand this capacity, but they simply refuse. Outrageous.