Kind of gross to see the Biden Supreme Court Reform Commission post a bio of a panelist that brags about his role in undermining the Violence Against Women Act.
Yes, true: Progressives criticize the Supreme Court for gutting the Voting Rights Act, handing a presidential election to the rightful loser, and inviting unlimited corporate spending on our elections, while conservatives criticize the Court for ending school segregation.
Here, Levey just straight-up bullshits the Commission, pretending that Senate confirmation of Anthony Kennedy in 1988 didn’t happen.
Also it isn’t a “norm” if nobody has heard of it until you invent it and even then your own allies misstate it because it’s so convoluted.
One very simple counter to this is that if you respond to a transgression by merely undoing the transgression, you do not create a disincentive for transgression, for the perpetrator is no worse of than he would’ve been had he not transgressed.
Here, another right-winger (Randy Barnett) tells the Commission that the Supreme Court is “a protector of our rights and liberties from majoritarian infringement.”
The word “our” is doing a lot of work there, since the Court just gutted the Voting Rights Act.
Conservatives want you to think they favor protecting the rights of the minority from the tyranny of the majority because they know that if they just came out and admitted they seek to uphold the *tyranny of the minority* they’d get booed off the stage.
Here, Barnett tells the commission that the proper way to change the composition of the court is to win elections.
Sounds nice; is bullshit.
Republicans have appointed 15 of the last 19 SCOTUS justices despite losing the popular vote in 7 of the last 8 presidential elections.
It’s notable that even conservatives stipulate that the composition of the Supreme Court should reflect the nation’s political will. But it *doesn’t, and hasn’t for decades, and that’s why reform is necessary.*
The Supreme Court Stephen Breyer served on gave GW Bush the White House, gutted the Voting Rights Act, overturned Roe v Wade, and invited corporations to flood our elections with cash. It was a tool wielded by America's political minority to impose their will on the rest of us.
making it harder for black people to vote and women to make decisions about their own bodies while genially chatting over some herbal tea in the Supreme Court dining room
I am extremely angry about how goddamned stupid this is.
The 14th amendment's prohibition on insurrectionists gaining high office is a hell of a lot more clear than whatever the 2nd amendment says about guns.
Maybe Congress should have to specifically enforce the 2nd Amendment in order for it to have effect.
CLARENCE THOMAS: These free luxury vacations are totally ethical because the GOP donor who takes me on them is a dear friend! It’s just what friends do!
SAM ALITO: This free luxury vacation is totally ethical because I barely know the GOP donor who took me on it!
These guys might want to huddle up and settle on a consistent story, you know?
I mean yes okay this guy is a fucking psychopath but also it seems like he could save himself some anxiety if he just got rid of his door bell. They aren’t mandatory you know?
“Folks you do NOT ring doorbells in 2023” — a guy who has a doorbell on his house
Note Roberts says won't testify to congress because of the "importance of preserving judicial independence."
This is bullshit. Judicial independence does not mean -- cannot mean -- that the Judiciary is immune from accountability and oversight.
Justices are not kings.
On the other hand, "judicial independence" *does* require that Supreme Court justices refrain from taking millions of dollars in secret gifts from a Republican megadonor, but *that* obviously isn't something John Roberts has prioritized.