Trump's White House fetes for new SCOTUS justices, with partisan invitees, are NOT normal.
Past presidents typically avoided them, in a nod to judiciary branch's independence. Justices' were sworn in at the Court.
The late Justice John Paul Stevens wrote about this:
Stevens:
"The ceremony should take place at the Supreme Ct whenever possible. The 3 branches of our govt are separate & equal. The president & the Senate play critical roles in the nomination & confirmation process. After that... the ‘separate but equal’ regime takes over.”
Two years ago, Trump began the WH celebration for the new Justice Kavanaugh by apologizing “on behalf of our nation” (more than half of which opposed Kavanaugh, polls showed) for the allegations of sexual assault he'd faced-- or “lies and deception,” as Trump put it.
Trump, posing on the White House balcony with new Justice Amy Coney Barrett, is an unprecedented bit of staging. Unprecedented because the 3 branches of government traditionally maintained the appearance of separation of powers, and of the independence of the judiciary.
At the WH festivities for Barrett tonight, as with Kavanaugh on Oct. 8, 2018, the audience is entirely Republican, including senators, Justice Clarence Thomas and his wife Ginni Thomas, a conservative activist, and leaders of conservative organizations.
For Barrett, as for Kavanaugh & Gorsuch, the question of their judicial independence from Trump was/is a legitimate one given his many suggestions they'll rule as he wants. That their 1st act as justices was to agree to a WH fete with a partisan crowd only heightens the concerns.

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More from @jackiekcalmes

17 Oct
"So I guess they said she was threatened," Trump says to his MI rally about Gov. Gretchen Whitmer--as if he doesn't believe the FBI case against 13 men for plotting to abduct her.
Crowd chants "Lock her up!"
Yup--their gov was targeted & they want HER locked up.
Law & order.
Trump brags to MI rally about how many doctors treat a president -- "and each one wanted to touch another part of my body...I said, 'Get the hell out of here, doctors.'"
Trump on Biden to MI rally: "He's a criminal. He's committed crimes."
Read 12 tweets
18 Aug
Even as Trump was campaigned in '16 to 'drain the swamp,' he chose as campaign mgr Paul Manafort, who'd made millions as a global swamp creature for pro-Russia oligarchs, doing the work of Putin.
Details are in the Senate Intel Committee's newest report:
intelligence.senate.gov/sites/default/…
"ProRussian Ukrainian oligarchs with deep economic ties to Russia also paid Manafort tens of
millions of dollars and formed strong ties with Manafort...
Manafort hired and worked increasingly closely with a Russian national, Konstantin
Kilimnik...a Russian intelligence officer."
Kilimnik, the Russian intel agent, & Manafort "formed a close and
lasting relationship that endured to the 2016 US elections & beyond...throughout his
time on the [Trump] Campaign, Manafort directly & indirectly communicated with Kilimnik, Deripaska,
& the pro-Russian oligarchs..
Read 8 tweets
11 Jul
Finally Robert S. Mueller III responds to the months of WH lying to undermine the investigation he headed & Trump's commutation of Roger Stone's sentence:
washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/…
"Stone was prosecuted and convicted because he committed federal crimes. He remains a convicted felon, and rightly so."
"Stone became a central figure in our investigation for two key reasons: He communicated in 2016 with individuals known to us to be Russian intelligence officers, and he claimed advance knowledge of WikiLeaks’ release of emails stolen by those Russian intelligence officers."
Read 6 tweets
4 Aug 19
Manifesto: "Hispanic invasion of TX"
Trump tweets:
6/1/19--Mexico allowing "millions of people...to INVADE the US"
6/2--Mexico must "stop the invasion of our Country by Drug Dealers, Cartels, Human Traffickers..."
6/2--"what are [Dems] thinking as our Country is invaded..."
MORE
more Trump tweets
3/9/19--"I am stopping an invasion"
1/31--Sending troops to southern border "to stop the attempted invasion"
1/11--"an invasion!"
11/18--"the U.S. is ill-prepared for this invasion"
10/29--"This is an invasion of our Country and our Military is waiting for you!'
Trump tweets/3

6/24/18-- "We can't allow all of these people to invade our Country."
RTs of three people decrying 'invasion,' including one about "...ILLEGALS and 'REFUGEES' invading Texas."
Read 4 tweets
28 Jan 19
The shutdown cost the economy $11 billion, $3 billion of which is a permanent loss, acc'g to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.
CBO projected economic growth will slow this year to 2.3%, down from 3.1% as the sugar high from tax cuts abates.
The president who promised economic growth of 4% or more will run for reelection in a year when, CBO projects, growth will decline to 1.7%.
More from CBO: The president who promised he'd erase deficits will run for reelection with deficits having risen every year of his term, to a projected > $1 Trillion in FY 20 from $587 billion (under Obama annual deficits declined after the first global recession year).
Read 4 tweets

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