George, you and Robert are both right! I am truly sickened from what I have read and heard about this hearing. When "you have" the judges everyone loses! My wife said the other day that the world is coming to an end. She just might be right!
Increasing the Court: I was against this idea because it is what the "maga" people have done and two wrongs do not make right but I have finally come to the conclusion that I was wrong and that today, at this time in our history, it is the only way to bring stability back to the Federal Judiciary. We must get it back to the middle!
Ivy League: Does not represent the US. It represents money, power, and privilege. All three working in unison can lead to unfairness, greed, and people believing they are the new "Royal Family"!
Religious beliefs: You also can't have a court that a majority have the same religious affiliation. We should not have 7 Methodists, Protestants, Jews, or Catholics. I am staring to think though that 7 women might clean this mess up!
Our future depends on Democrats and Moderates winning at all levels this November!
Is Amy Coney Barrett going to save the Court? Would MTG save the Court? Lauren Boebert? Seven women from whereever Ketanji Brown Jackson, Elana Kagan, and Sonia Sotomayor, are from would save the Court, but I suspect the Federalist Society could find seven women who could send the Supreme Court down the toilet! And veering off course from my original point, I have to add that Joe Biden, the best president of my lifetime--which began the first summer of the Eisenhower Administration--made a superb pick for the Court!
They have what they need with only one woman (Comey-Barrett) and 5 rogue men. They don’t need to look further for now.
Interesting that Trump called for and encouraged violence on January 6, 2021 while 6 justices have done and are continuing to do more damage to our democracy with the stroke of their judicial pen. We can recognize Mitch McConnell for having brought the court to this low level where justice is not their mission.
Vote in 2024 - up and down the ballot fully recognizing that the right has outflanked us in too many states as well as on the Supreme outrageous court.
I certainly will vote as you say. But I'm in Massachusetts, where my votes will change nothing except the total count. Still, that's enough for me--well, not quite enough. I wear a t-shirt while running that has BIDEN HARRIS in very big letters.
It can't happen unless Dems have the majority in both branches of Congress and Biden retakes the White House. I agree about the Ivy League Law schools, who seem to fail to teach ethics well, given what we see of the behavior of many of their graduates in politics.
Law schools don't teach ethics. They teach the meaning of the rules. We can see what happens when consequences are ignored, in large part because State Bars are mired in their own inability to hold lawyers accountable for their misdeeds. The ineffectual California State Bar is enough to turn a lifelong Democrat into a Libertarian.
You can't teach character. The rules are easy to skirt, most lawyers don't keep up with the rules, and there's no fear of running afoul The Supreme Court showed us how the highest jurists in our legal profession feel about accountability.
Yes, but it's the politics of those who would be tyrants. Many of you have read Ruth Ben-Ghiat's excellent "Strongmen: Mussolini to the Present." I am urging it on all my friends. Even if you just search the Index and read the pages on Trump it is chilling. In look and manner and misogyny, Trump is more like Mussolini than Hitler, more like Pinochet and Gaddafi and maybe closer to Berlusconi than all. Robert has taught us that the courts will not save us. I didn't think they would, but I also didn't think that the highest court in the land would reveal itself to be so "feckless," Robert's damning word, and without a modicum of critical thinking, forget judicial acumen. The road to a horrible tyranny, just got paved not by judges who fear for their lives, as they did in Pinochet's Chile, but by the rich, "righteous," and arrogant elites who are following their version of God's will. If the election is close, and even if it isn't, this Supreme Court stands ready to throw the election to Trump and to granting him all the powers of a President for Life. We must make the electoral victory resounding.
That would seem to follow. I think we are putting a lot of hopes that there will be a ground swell for Biden and Democrats around reproductive freedom and around the mendacity, cruelty, and loathsomeness of Trump and his ideas. But still a lot of Democrats seem too cool to vote, too pure to get out for Joe Biden, and pretty much bored with the whole thing. Among my friends, children of the 'sixties mostly, there isn't much interest in discussion regarding politics and less interest in action. I know that is not the case for the passionate Hubbell readers, but it is there among Demcrats 60-80. I am heartened by what we have heard on Today's Edition recently on the activism of young voters, and the potential shift in public attitudes regarding the labor movement but when 74% of Trump voters will vote for him even if he is convicted and the many voters suffering Trump fatigue, there is work to be done and many groups and individuals are doing it. We are counseled to avoid looking at the polls yet advised to follow Simon Rosenberg, who notes every uptick in Biden vs. Trump. ( I appreciate that monitoring.) But when the Democrats are virtually tied in the polls with the party of Trump with their advocacy of more guns, religious extremism, and oppression of women as their planks, and an insane tyrant as their leader, it is hard to get really confident. Your thoughts, Stephen, on what the rally point(s) should be and how we can motivate our friends and strangers would be welcomed.
Yep! 21st century politics, with internet, social media, and the phenomenon of alternative facts was beyond the consciousness of the Fathers of our democracy. And our legal system has long been too infirm to be of any use besides its own limited, greedy interests.
You are correct, of course. However, notwithstanding, the State Bar of California is, in my humble opinion, a useless financial drain on lawyers and the profession. Truly, scandalous, but with all the trappings of propriety. I could talk for an hour against them. If I thought anyone would care, I'd write an editorial.
The Ivy League universities do not produce people of good character. Ted Cruz, Tom Cotton, Josh Hawley, Brett Kavanaugh, Samuel Alito immediately come to mind. The idea that people of "good character" will be the ones who hold elected office is a flimsy foundation for a country. Donald Trump has committed crimes his entire adult life. How's that working for our country? Evidently, good character is optional.
I don’t have time to rack my brain for counterexamples of Ivy League schools graduating people of good character, but, here are a few, off the top of my head: Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Barney Frank, the ‘liberal’ Supreme Court Justices, Laurence Tribe, Heather Cox Richardson.
Linda, your post is most - the MOST - relevant. We can read about the outrage. We can be outraged. BUT we must vote en masse to recapture control of democracy in every branch of the United States government.
I agree, and it took me a long time to get there. I saw Sophia Nelson, a conservative anti-Trumper, call for the same thing. Part of her reasoning was much more basic…she believes several justices are racist, anti-LGBTQ, extremists and the court is basically corrupt at this point.
In '86 when I was applying to college, I knew Ivy leagues weren't all that. Many decades later, we know they are merely big business, same as corporations and politics. Proudly public k-12 & college educated. Education as a whole is sadly broken in this country. Teachers grossly underpaid, teaching to test instead of critical thinking. Evangelicals are getting everything they've dreamed of and we're losing our democracy in the process.
Seeing the oligarchic leadership at the NYT convinced me to cancel my subscription to the NYT. I am glad to have done so. Even though I still see them in my inbox, I just delete them now. Not even the puzzles tempt me because I cannot stand the publication. As for the Supreme Court, I assume they are waiting to see whether Treacherous-treasonous-tantruming-traitor-Trump will win the election. Of course if he wins, it won't be with a majority of the population supporting him. His crazies and the opportunistic wealthy will be supporting a system of gerrymandering and removing voters from the polls. It is good that all of these nasty tactics are out in the open, though as this latest case in NYC shows, the level of dirty deeds he has sunk to are probably mostly hidden from us. For example, I attended a Big Tent speaker series last night, where Katie Couric interviewd Anne Applebaum. Anne is a brilliant woman whom I admire a lot. She was saying that Russia is prolonging the war with Ukraine in part because of the promise of Trump's return and what that will mean for Europe. She did not spell it out but certainly implied WWIII. That is if you include the countries in NATO, Ukraine and those aligned with Russia, whom she says are very actively supporting Trump with a disinformation campaign. That includes Russia, Iran, China, North Korea, Cuba and Venezuela. These countries are very actively setting up their Bots to influence the election. We should be doing the same thing in their elections. It is time we fight technological fire with fire. While she did not say that we should or should not force a sale of TikTok, she did say that they are clearly a vehicle for China to gather intel on our population and influence them! A no brainer for a thinking person. She said a lot more like that Biden's support for Israel is nuanced in ways that most people don't understand. I can see that too. It is not a black and white situation for our global political diplomacy, even if it is for many Americans. So, I continue to say, my slogan for this campaign is "We Do Better With Biden!"
Thank you, Linda, for saying what I’m still too steaming mad to sort out in my own head after listening to the “not above the law” Supreme Court yesterday. One didn’t need a legal background to feel utter humiliation at what was presented by most of justices and lawyers in the eighth grade level mock court on display.
At best I too am so, so glad I dumped the NYTimes and I choke as I read their attempts to get me back with their tag line “Support independent journalism.”
I am grateful to Simon Rosenberg and his Hopium Chronicles for keeping me in the fight for democracy and keeping me focused. As Simon says (no pun!) I would much rather be us (Dems) than them. We have Biden a strong, productive president and they have Trump, the ugliest political thing any of us has ever seen. And Simon’s best advice for success “Work more and worry less.”
Finally I was registered for the Katie Couric speaker series event with Anne Applebaum but missed it. I will investigate finding a replay but if anyone can advise I’d be so thankful.
Marie, your pointing out "the eighth grade level mock court on display" in the Supreme Court's airing of arguments on Presidential immunity is precisely targeted. "Eighth grade at best." When i was president of Wabash College, I watched and once participated as a judge, in the great tradition of the College's annual Moot Court, where students present cases and are grilled by real judges and a professor or two. Had the arguments of Trump's lawyers been presented by any of those students they would have been laughed out of the room by the other students in the audience at worst and at best calmly told by the judges to think more deeply, act wisely, and define your terms with greater precision. As an English teacher and an educator, I was ashamed of the majority of the Supreme Court justices. A sorrowful day for anyone who loves our country.
On their Events page on the website https://www.bigtentusa.org scroll down to past events where they post recordings. It'll probably take a short while for them to post.
Yes Beth. Thank you for saying this. I was going to suggest that too, because it was recorded. If I get a copy sent to me I will be happy to share as well.
I agree. To think I stayed with them for recipes and puzzles makes me mad at myself. Glad I finally dumped them. They are NOT a friend of We The People!
Victoria, I totally agree. I was staying with them for their puzzles and recipes, but decided that I had to take the stand to not give them my money. If their leadership wants to cater to a Fox News audience let them. A lot of people in that audience though I suspect many cannot read that well.
appreciate all you have said, and for introducing the Big Tent event discussion into the comments.
Information is power, and certain sources (like Robert Hubbell and Heather Cox Richardson, etc.) have gathered a community that is rich in information, perspective, and potential solutions (instead of the whining and obstruction and attempts to go backward to some imagined but unreal better days the MAGA GOP and patriarchal and racist systems are intent on imposing on unwilling victims).
Friends, I participated in a Zoom call put together by Partners For Democracy earlier this week. They had the Wisconsin Dem Party chair report on what they are doing and the success they have had in Wisconsin. Two knowledgeable speakers from Michigan gave an update on what Michigan folks are doing to keep their majority (which is slim) and build upon their successes.
When I get a link to their taped Zoom I will share it for sure. They conversation and speakers were well informed and inspiring.
As a lawyer for over 40 years, I was numb listening to the men on our SCOTUS entertaining the notion that an American president can use his power to stage a coup without fear of any consequence other than impeachment. It doesn't bother them that such a POTUS would know for sure that no member of the House of Representatives would ever support articles or impeachment against such a POTUS. And Trump has shown himself completely and openly willing to be such a POTUS. It's not even hypothetical, for heaven's sake.
45 was never interested in being President, he ALWAYS wants to be Dictator (a la Putin)
and he constantly referred to multiple terms and references to passing the position on to his spawn.
If Biden had not recognized the danger of the Charlottesville rally that resulted in a martyr's death and brought 45's support for white supremacists and the enemies of the USA into evidence, if 45 had been reelected in 2020, there would never have been another American President. 45 would then have proceeded, and likely succeeded, in destroying all institutions with rich, privileged, and myopic loyalists installed over them - education, environment, judicial, women's rights, national alliances, societal safety nets, and more... And if it were in any way related to something President Obama had touched, he would have destroyed it out of sheer malice and envy. No matter how beneficial, necessary, popular, effective, or important the item, he would destroy it just for spite and racial hatred.
As Anne Applebaum said, he is in it for the money. Every decision and every alliance is about how he can get money out of people. Such sickness puts our national security totally at risk as do the people who support him at both extremes of wealth.
Listening to the audio I was alternating between numbness, shock and sheer rage. I wonder how many sedatives it took for Robert to pen such a level headed letter today.
Robert is by nature an optimist,and he is also a smart lawyer. He has said all along that the courts will not save us. WE alone can save us by winning as many elections as possible! Onward we go!
While I agree in principle what you are saying, I am very concerned that the Trumpites will steal the election like they did in 2016, by all kinds of illegal skulldugery, and that if we the people take him/them to court, the Supreme Court will allow the Republican party to steal yet another election. Unless the people riot until the Court is shut down.
I have those fears also, Linda. I just can't wear out my old body with more worry. I, as well as you, am doing everything I can to win this election for Democrats. That is all I can do. I am a worrier by nature, but for some reason, I'm not allowing myself to worry about this.
I have no doubt that if Trump is re-elected he will see this ruling as giving him permission to follow up on his retribution campaign and at the same time I doubt that Biden will take advantage of the ruling while still in office.
Spot on. Only people of good character and conscience will promote democracy. The SCOTUS will issue a fractured opinion that will reward selfish, narcissistic fascists who will lie their way to power. The SCOTUS, thanks to McConnell, have destroyed us.
In Germany the equivalent court is called The Constitutional Court. It is not a name this court could have because they have thrown the constitution out of the window, a defenestration of our democracy just like their buddy Putin is so fond of doing. Our Supreme Court is basically run by a theocracy, and is not a democratic body!
According to Jessica Craven (ChopWood/CarryWater), there are three major bills that need attention.
Contact your Senator and say something like:
"I want the Senator to support rebalancing the Court by co-sponsoring S. 1616 the Judiciary Act of 2023. I also want him/her to co-sponsor S. 359 the Supreme Court Ethics, Recusal and Transparency Act. We also need term limits, so please ask the Senator to support S.3096, the Supreme Court Biennial Appointments and Term Limits Act of 2023. Please ask the Senator to make court reform a top priority. Thanks."
Contact your Congressmember and say something like:
"I want the Congressmember to support rebalancing the Court by co-sponsoring HR 3422 the Judiciary Act of 2023. I also want him/her to support HR 926 the Supreme Court Ethics, Recusal and Transparency Act. We also need term limits, so please ask the Congressmember to support H.R.4423, the Supreme Court Term Limits and Regular Appointments Act of 2023. Please ask the Congressmember to make court reform a top priority. Thanks."
I feel for you, Dave. Unless I was concerned about some sort of revenge from him, I would still voice what I want - an unpacked, more balanced court - to him. You could even write to him rather than call if you choose to.
Today I heard 5 men dressed in black bending over backwards in a convoluted limbo to get below a bar to prove a president is indeed above the law . They grasped at straws to make up facts to try to fit the objective they wanted to accomplish. i.e, aiding and abetting a rogue potus.Their incoherent questioning and ramblings made everyone who listened to it dumber. I award them no points and may God have mercy on their souls.
Here's a suggestion from " We the people" to the SCOTUS.
It is your charge to stick to the facts of the case that is in front of you and apply existing law to those facts. It is outside your purview to imagine hypothetical circumstances with a completely different set of facts and to suggest laws that may apply to such facts. That is not your job.Full stop.
I have this awful feeling that the Supreme Court is counting on a Trump win. Or, that another well planned coup will take out the government if Biden wins.. Then, none of these Supreme Cowards will have to worry anymore for their own and their families' lives, they can just continue to be Trump's lackeys. If Biden wins ( which I fervently hope and pray he will), then all these corrupt judges have to worry about is expanding the Court. Yes, may God have mercy on their souls.
1. The Supreme Court is illegitimate because it has chosen to be a political body. However inappropriate and unfair McConnell's selection process was, the members of the Court could choose how to behavior once they were on the job. They have life tenure, after all. Sadly, they have interfered in the 2024 presidential election and will probably have further opportunities to extend that interference. Nevertheless, Democrats can and should win this election. Alvin Bragg appears to be beyond the Supreme Court's reach while Donald Trump is not.
2. The bit about AG Sulzberger is shocking. (Not quite as shocking as the failure of the Court to be shocked by an easy discussion of assassinations, but......) New York City needs another, non-tabloid newspaper. Instead, I turn to the internet -- the Guardian, the Boston Globe. Democrats can overcome the NY Times, too. Another Biden presidency, a Democratic House, and a Democratic Senate can cure what ails us.
3. Kristin Hook sounds interesting. Does she have any chance at all to defeat Chip Roy? I love it that Pennsylvania Democrats have nominated someone for the state's 10th Congressional district, former television anchor Janelle Stelson who can defeat Republican incumbent Scott Perry --quite possibly the worst Congressional offender and participant in Trump's effort to overturn the election.
When Democrats realize that we’re in an all out war against our Democracy we will have a chance. First Thomas should have been challenged by the Biden DOJ with a motion to recuse him based on his wife’s participation in the crimes alleged in the indictment. The challenge should have been on papers publicly filed laying out her possible criminal participation; and it should have been done on oral argument. All of the justices should have been shamed into doing something about what is clearly a corrupt justice. Second, when Gorsuch and Co said they weren’t interested in the case but in the future, they should have been reminded that the court is only able to decide cases and controversies, one of which is the indictment of Trump which alleges crimes committed for personal reasons. Third, Smith’s counsel should have reminded the court that Bush v Gore was decided one day after oral argument and that any delay in this case would poison the voters against the Court and the Republican Party. And finally, Special Counsel Smith should plan on asking for an immediate hearing in the District Court to establish that the crimes alleged in the indictment were personal crimes committed to preserve Trump’s power as President when he knew he had lost a fair and square election. A public hearing before the election will serve the same purpose as a trial. It will allow the voters to judge the candidates based on all the facts available. The witnesses that testified under oath at the Jan 6 Committee hearings can do so again. Let Trump try and cross examine them and see where it gets him. Trump is an existential threat to our way of life. He must be locked up and his ill gotten gains taken away from him.
I have not had a lot of time to read or share with all of you but today is luxurious so hello and thank you Robert! I agree about your comments to Peter Baker. We have no equal-sided match in this election. Trump is an anomaly and is dangerous, unfit for any office and cannot be treated fairly to Biden on any level. It’s like saying Charles Manson should be fairly compared to and given equal coverage to benevolent Brownie Troop leader. No.
And I agree 100% that this election is the answer and every liberal hearted person just has to set down their personal issue-focus and vote to ensure we don’t get Trump. And in our hearts, many of us know he will come after every liberals…..especially the ones with any presence that can be influential and tracked. Jail for us or worse. His followers have no boundaries and we must believe in their escalation capability. Vote, vote, vote. And keep pushing as hard as we can for issues that matter but push good, solid, sane elected officials. Not criminal-minded deviants.
I’m so thankful for Robert’s summaries and for this community of Americans.
From HCR, "Constitutional law professor Anthony Michael Kreis ... found it '[u]nbelievable that Supreme Court justices who see forgiving student loans, mandating vaccines, and regulating climate change as a slippery slope toward tyranny were not clear-eyed on questions of whether a president could execute citizens or stage a coup without being prosecuted.'”
They are clear-eyed alright. They know exactly what they are doing. Firebrand Alito is all but spelling it out "ok, just win the elections, Donald, and the Republic is yours for the taking." And Thomas is just sitting there, watching, listening, practically not speaking – and then casting his vote.
There are three major damages Trump inflicted on this country that we need to remind people of everyday. He mishandled and lied about the COVID pandemic for political reasons and close to a million people died many of whom might have been saved. Secondly he masterminded and encouraged the overthrow of our government. Finally he stacked the Supreme Court which resulted among other things in stripping women of their reproductive rights and freedoms as well as a disregard for the Constitution and precedent law. Voters need a reason to vote for Biden and these are three of the best reasons I can think of. We can’t let people forget. Many readers like myself are frustrated by the SCOTUS and feel helpless about being able to do anything about it. The Biden Administration needs to show us a path on how to remedy this situation.
thank you for summarizing what's important to understand and focus on
as someone who lost family members to Covid, I remain grief-stricken over the mismanagement of the pandemic - from eliminating the protocols and teams for early detection of Obama's administration (remember, Ebola did not spread in the USA due to his policies and support of experts), to ignoring the early cases (he never listened to his PDBs), to not utilizing the mistakes of Pence and Adams in their own mishandling of the AIDS epidemic when he was governor of Indiana, to denying the dangers even though he was himself aware, to telling people to ignore public health protections, to taking over the daily press briefings because he can't stand not being the lead story and the only person in the spotlight due to his pathological narcissism, to his taking unproven treatments, and later to having the benefit of multiple specialists when he himself caught AND SPREAD the virus. I seethe just thinking about it. I DO blame 45 for the hundreds of thousands of lives unnecessarily lost (and no, I do NOT give him credit for pushing development of the vaccines, I give that credit to the researchers, who include a brilliant black woman!)
I agree with Beverly, but I’m afraid that re covid we must give the devil his due. The Trump Administration expedited production and distribution of covid vaccines, essentially by “throwing money” at the problem – funding development of more than one vaccine, for example; taking the chance that some funded development efforts would fail.
No Democratic Administration could have gotten away with that approach. Republicans would have pilloried them for “wasting” money.
So we should be thankful for not-so-small favors in this instance.
In the 1830s, President Andrew Jackson said, “Justice Marshal has made his decision, now let him enforce it.” That revealed the limit of the court’s power: it is entirely based on the court’s credibility. The reactionaries on today’s court are so extreme that they test the idea that people ought to follow their dictates. They threaten the legitimacy of their institution, and by doing so threaten the rule of law itself.
So they are just spineless, weak, despicable weasels without any values, principles and honor? No, there must be more than that. Most probably they are part of the anti-democratic movement.
Far-right wing leader Wilders from the Netherlands is invited, I repeat invited, at a CPAC event in Hungary by Orban. At the CPAC event in the US Bannon was speaker. Dear friends for democracy, we must hold each other's hands, spread the word, bring out the votes and don't allow them to divide us.
"...und morgen die ganze Welt". If you haven't heard it before, google 'Nazi songs'. The international far right is thriving. And they happily accept, if not ask for the support of their buddy Putin. The Grenell quote in the New Republic piece (please click on the link and read it) is revealing. Bannon is currently looking into the possibility to open a 'Warroom Berlin' in 2025.
Just HOW is any judge supposed to do "pre-trial fact finding." There is no evidence before him of what the facts are. Just allegations. I would say that the only response of a judge is to say "OK, once there is a trial I'll do fact finding--or let the jury do the fact finding under instructions that comply with your rule, and then in light of your "rule" decide whether the there was sufficient evidence for their verdict."
Any decision that a trial court has to decide facts before hearing the evidence is indeed a fatal blow to our system. It obliterates the entire jury system and the entire concept of "trier of fact." Clearly the liberal justices know that and are going to argue strenuously that point in their conferences. I would say if 5 justices decide that judges can rule on facts without evidence, the grounds for impeachment are sitting right there.
The burden is already on the prosecutor to prove that there a) was a conspiracy to b) commit a crime. Without saying that a president is immune fully from prosecution for committing crimes, I don't see how anyone can that even IF they prove he committed a crime, he is immune. The prosecution ALREADY, for example, has to prove that the elector scheme was more than just providing for alternates. The defense is perfectly free to argue that it wasn't.
As you note, yesterday was a gut punch. To me it felt unexpected, though it should have been apparent when the SC decided to review the court of appeals verdict that they were determined to serve trump with a delay.
I’ve been considering canceling my NYT subscription for the last year- after 50 years- but yesterday decided me. What a twit Sulzberger is!
You said it all when you say it should not have been unexpected!
My gal pal fro Canada is going through an 8 year divorce (…and counting. It happens in CA - sadly, but more on that later). Every time her ‘husband’ pulls a stunt she is floored. I am trying to instill a way for her to expect it! It does not diminish her intent to fight. It does help to keep the disappointment of having the finish line moved away from you.
We must keep the gut punch and emotions that go with it- in check. Roll over me like water- and then keep moving toward getting our numbers to vote.
I expect Robert’s Substack will be blowing up with comments. My outrage is palpable. A case that never should have been heard, but which seemed to be so obvious, is stunningly debated in an absurd theatre. The fact that even non-lawyers know that a case needs to be considered on the facts in front of it, not the past and not the hypothetical future seems to have been ignored by the highest justices in the nation. It is beyond outrageous. And one more thing to add to the many more burdens that we need to overcome. I’m exhausted. But I know what we need to do.
I thoroughly back Robert and others in increasing the number of Supreme Court judges.
The 7 are far from representative of our country and the breadth of its citizens.
Also, Ivy league law schools should not be the primary source of candidates.
Good Morning All!
George, you and Robert are both right! I am truly sickened from what I have read and heard about this hearing. When "you have" the judges everyone loses! My wife said the other day that the world is coming to an end. She just might be right!
Increasing the Court: I was against this idea because it is what the "maga" people have done and two wrongs do not make right but I have finally come to the conclusion that I was wrong and that today, at this time in our history, it is the only way to bring stability back to the Federal Judiciary. We must get it back to the middle!
Ivy League: Does not represent the US. It represents money, power, and privilege. All three working in unison can lead to unfairness, greed, and people believing they are the new "Royal Family"!
Religious beliefs: You also can't have a court that a majority have the same religious affiliation. We should not have 7 Methodists, Protestants, Jews, or Catholics. I am staring to think though that 7 women might clean this mess up!
Our future depends on Democrats and Moderates winning at all levels this November!
There are 9 justices. We need to add 4 positions under Biden to correspond with the 13 circuits. Robert’s idea.
I love the idea that more women might save the court!
More women like Amy Coney Barrett?
Is Amy Coney Barrett going to save the Court? Would MTG save the Court? Lauren Boebert? Seven women from whereever Ketanji Brown Jackson, Elana Kagan, and Sonia Sotomayor, are from would save the Court, but I suspect the Federalist Society could find seven women who could send the Supreme Court down the toilet! And veering off course from my original point, I have to add that Joe Biden, the best president of my lifetime--which began the first summer of the Eisenhower Administration--made a superb pick for the Court!
They have what they need with only one woman (Comey-Barrett) and 5 rogue men. They don’t need to look further for now.
Interesting that Trump called for and encouraged violence on January 6, 2021 while 6 justices have done and are continuing to do more damage to our democracy with the stroke of their judicial pen. We can recognize Mitch McConnell for having brought the court to this low level where justice is not their mission.
Vote in 2024 - up and down the ballot fully recognizing that the right has outflanked us in too many states as well as on the Supreme outrageous court.
I certainly will vote as you say. But I'm in Massachusetts, where my votes will change nothing except the total count. Still, that's enough for me--well, not quite enough. I wear a t-shirt while running that has BIDEN HARRIS in very big letters.
Agree 100%.
Yes, we need to send a powerful, undeniable message that we value honor and integrity over self-serving authoritarianism.
Yes women would clean this mess indeed!
It can't happen unless Dems have the majority in both branches of Congress and Biden retakes the White House. I agree about the Ivy League Law schools, who seem to fail to teach ethics well, given what we see of the behavior of many of their graduates in politics.
Law schools don't teach ethics. They teach the meaning of the rules. We can see what happens when consequences are ignored, in large part because State Bars are mired in their own inability to hold lawyers accountable for their misdeeds. The ineffectual California State Bar is enough to turn a lifelong Democrat into a Libertarian.
If the law schools teach the rules they didn’t do a good job with Alito and several other of the justices
You can't teach character. The rules are easy to skirt, most lawyers don't keep up with the rules, and there's no fear of running afoul The Supreme Court showed us how the highest jurists in our legal profession feel about accountability.
Yes apparently there is no accountability for them or Trump. How do they sleep at night? I know I don’t get much.
Losing sleep over misdeeds is what happens to people with character. Not a problem for the Thomases and Alitos.
You can’t teach character *in the classroom, perhaps*. But it can, and often is, taught by personal example.
A great topic for a debate! Love to!
It’s politics pure and simple
Yes, but it's the politics of those who would be tyrants. Many of you have read Ruth Ben-Ghiat's excellent "Strongmen: Mussolini to the Present." I am urging it on all my friends. Even if you just search the Index and read the pages on Trump it is chilling. In look and manner and misogyny, Trump is more like Mussolini than Hitler, more like Pinochet and Gaddafi and maybe closer to Berlusconi than all. Robert has taught us that the courts will not save us. I didn't think they would, but I also didn't think that the highest court in the land would reveal itself to be so "feckless," Robert's damning word, and without a modicum of critical thinking, forget judicial acumen. The road to a horrible tyranny, just got paved not by judges who fear for their lives, as they did in Pinochet's Chile, but by the rich, "righteous," and arrogant elites who are following their version of God's will. If the election is close, and even if it isn't, this Supreme Court stands ready to throw the election to Trump and to granting him all the powers of a President for Life. We must make the electoral victory resounding.
I agree but it has to be a battle cry and a rally point to get people engaged and motivated to act and vote.
That would seem to follow. I think we are putting a lot of hopes that there will be a ground swell for Biden and Democrats around reproductive freedom and around the mendacity, cruelty, and loathsomeness of Trump and his ideas. But still a lot of Democrats seem too cool to vote, too pure to get out for Joe Biden, and pretty much bored with the whole thing. Among my friends, children of the 'sixties mostly, there isn't much interest in discussion regarding politics and less interest in action. I know that is not the case for the passionate Hubbell readers, but it is there among Demcrats 60-80. I am heartened by what we have heard on Today's Edition recently on the activism of young voters, and the potential shift in public attitudes regarding the labor movement but when 74% of Trump voters will vote for him even if he is convicted and the many voters suffering Trump fatigue, there is work to be done and many groups and individuals are doing it. We are counseled to avoid looking at the polls yet advised to follow Simon Rosenberg, who notes every uptick in Biden vs. Trump. ( I appreciate that monitoring.) But when the Democrats are virtually tied in the polls with the party of Trump with their advocacy of more guns, religious extremism, and oppression of women as their planks, and an insane tyrant as their leader, it is hard to get really confident. Your thoughts, Stephen, on what the rally point(s) should be and how we can motivate our friends and strangers would be welcomed.
Yep! 21st century politics, with internet, social media, and the phenomenon of alternative facts was beyond the consciousness of the Fathers of our democracy. And our legal system has long been too infirm to be of any use besides its own limited, greedy interests.
The corruption begins in how the courts justices are selected for interviews.
I’m sure you were only being sarcastic but needless to say, “libertarian” won’t give you comfort. 😳🥱
You are correct, of course. However, notwithstanding, the State Bar of California is, in my humble opinion, a useless financial drain on lawyers and the profession. Truly, scandalous, but with all the trappings of propriety. I could talk for an hour against them. If I thought anyone would care, I'd write an editorial.
The Ivy League universities do not produce people of good character. Ted Cruz, Tom Cotton, Josh Hawley, Brett Kavanaugh, Samuel Alito immediately come to mind. The idea that people of "good character" will be the ones who hold elected office is a flimsy foundation for a country. Donald Trump has committed crimes his entire adult life. How's that working for our country? Evidently, good character is optional.
I don’t have time to rack my brain for counterexamples of Ivy League schools graduating people of good character, but, here are a few, off the top of my head: Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Barney Frank, the ‘liberal’ Supreme Court Justices, Laurence Tribe, Heather Cox Richardson.
Linda, your post is most - the MOST - relevant. We can read about the outrage. We can be outraged. BUT we must vote en masse to recapture control of democracy in every branch of the United States government.
One can teach anything, one can learn anything, but if one is corrupt lessons in ethics will be like water off a duck.
I agree, and it took me a long time to get there. I saw Sophia Nelson, a conservative anti-Trumper, call for the same thing. Part of her reasoning was much more basic…she believes several justices are racist, anti-LGBTQ, extremists and the court is basically corrupt at this point.
well said!
In '86 when I was applying to college, I knew Ivy leagues weren't all that. Many decades later, we know they are merely big business, same as corporations and politics. Proudly public k-12 & college educated. Education as a whole is sadly broken in this country. Teachers grossly underpaid, teaching to test instead of critical thinking. Evangelicals are getting everything they've dreamed of and we're losing our democracy in the process.
Seeing the oligarchic leadership at the NYT convinced me to cancel my subscription to the NYT. I am glad to have done so. Even though I still see them in my inbox, I just delete them now. Not even the puzzles tempt me because I cannot stand the publication. As for the Supreme Court, I assume they are waiting to see whether Treacherous-treasonous-tantruming-traitor-Trump will win the election. Of course if he wins, it won't be with a majority of the population supporting him. His crazies and the opportunistic wealthy will be supporting a system of gerrymandering and removing voters from the polls. It is good that all of these nasty tactics are out in the open, though as this latest case in NYC shows, the level of dirty deeds he has sunk to are probably mostly hidden from us. For example, I attended a Big Tent speaker series last night, where Katie Couric interviewd Anne Applebaum. Anne is a brilliant woman whom I admire a lot. She was saying that Russia is prolonging the war with Ukraine in part because of the promise of Trump's return and what that will mean for Europe. She did not spell it out but certainly implied WWIII. That is if you include the countries in NATO, Ukraine and those aligned with Russia, whom she says are very actively supporting Trump with a disinformation campaign. That includes Russia, Iran, China, North Korea, Cuba and Venezuela. These countries are very actively setting up their Bots to influence the election. We should be doing the same thing in their elections. It is time we fight technological fire with fire. While she did not say that we should or should not force a sale of TikTok, she did say that they are clearly a vehicle for China to gather intel on our population and influence them! A no brainer for a thinking person. She said a lot more like that Biden's support for Israel is nuanced in ways that most people don't understand. I can see that too. It is not a black and white situation for our global political diplomacy, even if it is for many Americans. So, I continue to say, my slogan for this campaign is "We Do Better With Biden!"
Thank you, Linda, for saying what I’m still too steaming mad to sort out in my own head after listening to the “not above the law” Supreme Court yesterday. One didn’t need a legal background to feel utter humiliation at what was presented by most of justices and lawyers in the eighth grade level mock court on display.
At best I too am so, so glad I dumped the NYTimes and I choke as I read their attempts to get me back with their tag line “Support independent journalism.”
I am grateful to Simon Rosenberg and his Hopium Chronicles for keeping me in the fight for democracy and keeping me focused. As Simon says (no pun!) I would much rather be us (Dems) than them. We have Biden a strong, productive president and they have Trump, the ugliest political thing any of us has ever seen. And Simon’s best advice for success “Work more and worry less.”
Finally I was registered for the Katie Couric speaker series event with Anne Applebaum but missed it. I will investigate finding a replay but if anyone can advise I’d be so thankful.
Legal background? Ha. All you need to know is right from wrong. My GAWD, these highly educated people don’t know right from wrong? Ya, sure!
… and if I sound bitter, that’s because I am. Stack That Court!
Bravo!
hear, hear!
Marie, your pointing out "the eighth grade level mock court on display" in the Supreme Court's airing of arguments on Presidential immunity is precisely targeted. "Eighth grade at best." When i was president of Wabash College, I watched and once participated as a judge, in the great tradition of the College's annual Moot Court, where students present cases and are grilled by real judges and a professor or two. Had the arguments of Trump's lawyers been presented by any of those students they would have been laughed out of the room by the other students in the audience at worst and at best calmly told by the judges to think more deeply, act wisely, and define your terms with greater precision. As an English teacher and an educator, I was ashamed of the majority of the Supreme Court justices. A sorrowful day for anyone who loves our country.
On their Events page on the website https://www.bigtentusa.org scroll down to past events where they post recordings. It'll probably take a short while for them to post.
Yes Beth. Thank you for saying this. I was going to suggest that too, because it was recorded. If I get a copy sent to me I will be happy to share as well.
Ditto, Ditto, Ditto. I sort of miss their food recipes and articles. But the internet fills that void nicely. :-)
I agree. To think I stayed with them for recipes and puzzles makes me mad at myself. Glad I finally dumped them. They are NOT a friend of We The People!
Victoria, I totally agree. I was staying with them for their puzzles and recipes, but decided that I had to take the stand to not give them my money. If their leadership wants to cater to a Fox News audience let them. A lot of people in that audience though I suspect many cannot read that well.
For recipes the OG Smitten Kitchen can't be beat!
I will try it!
appreciate all you have said, and for introducing the Big Tent event discussion into the comments.
Information is power, and certain sources (like Robert Hubbell and Heather Cox Richardson, etc.) have gathered a community that is rich in information, perspective, and potential solutions (instead of the whining and obstruction and attempts to go backward to some imagined but unreal better days the MAGA GOP and patriarchal and racist systems are intent on imposing on unwilling victims).
Thank you for your post!
Friends, I participated in a Zoom call put together by Partners For Democracy earlier this week. They had the Wisconsin Dem Party chair report on what they are doing and the success they have had in Wisconsin. Two knowledgeable speakers from Michigan gave an update on what Michigan folks are doing to keep their majority (which is slim) and build upon their successes.
When I get a link to their taped Zoom I will share it for sure. They conversation and speakers were well informed and inspiring.
As a lawyer for over 40 years, I was numb listening to the men on our SCOTUS entertaining the notion that an American president can use his power to stage a coup without fear of any consequence other than impeachment. It doesn't bother them that such a POTUS would know for sure that no member of the House of Representatives would ever support articles or impeachment against such a POTUS. And Trump has shown himself completely and openly willing to be such a POTUS. It's not even hypothetical, for heaven's sake.
45 was never interested in being President, he ALWAYS wants to be Dictator (a la Putin)
and he constantly referred to multiple terms and references to passing the position on to his spawn.
If Biden had not recognized the danger of the Charlottesville rally that resulted in a martyr's death and brought 45's support for white supremacists and the enemies of the USA into evidence, if 45 had been reelected in 2020, there would never have been another American President. 45 would then have proceeded, and likely succeeded, in destroying all institutions with rich, privileged, and myopic loyalists installed over them - education, environment, judicial, women's rights, national alliances, societal safety nets, and more... And if it were in any way related to something President Obama had touched, he would have destroyed it out of sheer malice and envy. No matter how beneficial, necessary, popular, effective, or important the item, he would destroy it just for spite and racial hatred.
As Anne Applebaum said, he is in it for the money. Every decision and every alliance is about how he can get money out of people. Such sickness puts our national security totally at risk as do the people who support him at both extremes of wealth.
Listening to the audio I was alternating between numbness, shock and sheer rage. I wonder how many sedatives it took for Robert to pen such a level headed letter today.
Robert is by nature an optimist,and he is also a smart lawyer. He has said all along that the courts will not save us. WE alone can save us by winning as many elections as possible! Onward we go!
While I agree in principle what you are saying, I am very concerned that the Trumpites will steal the election like they did in 2016, by all kinds of illegal skulldugery, and that if we the people take him/them to court, the Supreme Court will allow the Republican party to steal yet another election. Unless the people riot until the Court is shut down.
I have those fears also, Linda. I just can't wear out my old body with more worry. I, as well as you, am doing everything I can to win this election for Democrats. That is all I can do. I am a worrier by nature, but for some reason, I'm not allowing myself to worry about this.
He's among the sequoias 😉
:-)
I have no doubt that if Trump is re-elected he will see this ruling as giving him permission to follow up on his retribution campaign and at the same time I doubt that Biden will take advantage of the ruling while still in office.
Spot on. Only people of good character and conscience will promote democracy. The SCOTUS will issue a fractured opinion that will reward selfish, narcissistic fascists who will lie their way to power. The SCOTUS, thanks to McConnell, have destroyed us.
In Germany the equivalent court is called The Constitutional Court. It is not a name this court could have because they have thrown the constitution out of the window, a defenestration of our democracy just like their buddy Putin is so fond of doing. Our Supreme Court is basically run by a theocracy, and is not a democratic body!
According to Jessica Craven (ChopWood/CarryWater), there are three major bills that need attention.
Contact your Senator and say something like:
"I want the Senator to support rebalancing the Court by co-sponsoring S. 1616 the Judiciary Act of 2023. I also want him/her to co-sponsor S. 359 the Supreme Court Ethics, Recusal and Transparency Act. We also need term limits, so please ask the Senator to support S.3096, the Supreme Court Biennial Appointments and Term Limits Act of 2023. Please ask the Senator to make court reform a top priority. Thanks."
Contact your Congressmember and say something like:
"I want the Congressmember to support rebalancing the Court by co-sponsoring HR 3422 the Judiciary Act of 2023. I also want him/her to support HR 926 the Supreme Court Ethics, Recusal and Transparency Act. We also need term limits, so please ask the Congressmember to support H.R.4423, the Supreme Court Term Limits and Regular Appointments Act of 2023. Please ask the Congressmember to make court reform a top priority. Thanks."
https://www.house.gov/representatives/find-your-representative
https://www.senate.gov/senators/senators-contact.htm?Class=1
Already done. Thanks.
thanks!
Jessica is a treasure
My Congressman is MAGA. He sends out daily lies on FB. His presence is a pestilence
I feel for you, Dave. Unless I was concerned about some sort of revenge from him, I would still voice what I want - an unpacked, more balanced court - to him. You could even write to him rather than call if you choose to.
I live in Floriduh. ‘Nough said.
Today I heard 5 men dressed in black bending over backwards in a convoluted limbo to get below a bar to prove a president is indeed above the law . They grasped at straws to make up facts to try to fit the objective they wanted to accomplish. i.e, aiding and abetting a rogue potus.Their incoherent questioning and ramblings made everyone who listened to it dumber. I award them no points and may God have mercy on their souls.
Here's a suggestion from " We the people" to the SCOTUS.
It is your charge to stick to the facts of the case that is in front of you and apply existing law to those facts. It is outside your purview to imagine hypothetical circumstances with a completely different set of facts and to suggest laws that may apply to such facts. That is not your job.Full stop.
https://youtu.be/5hfYJsQAhl0?si=Vnml93Aor08g5C_f
Dumber indeed 🤯
I have this awful feeling that the Supreme Court is counting on a Trump win. Or, that another well planned coup will take out the government if Biden wins.. Then, none of these Supreme Cowards will have to worry anymore for their own and their families' lives, they can just continue to be Trump's lackeys. If Biden wins ( which I fervently hope and pray he will), then all these corrupt judges have to worry about is expanding the Court. Yes, may God have mercy on their souls.
Five men and one woman, Bob.
1. The Supreme Court is illegitimate because it has chosen to be a political body. However inappropriate and unfair McConnell's selection process was, the members of the Court could choose how to behavior once they were on the job. They have life tenure, after all. Sadly, they have interfered in the 2024 presidential election and will probably have further opportunities to extend that interference. Nevertheless, Democrats can and should win this election. Alvin Bragg appears to be beyond the Supreme Court's reach while Donald Trump is not.
2. The bit about AG Sulzberger is shocking. (Not quite as shocking as the failure of the Court to be shocked by an easy discussion of assassinations, but......) New York City needs another, non-tabloid newspaper. Instead, I turn to the internet -- the Guardian, the Boston Globe. Democrats can overcome the NY Times, too. Another Biden presidency, a Democratic House, and a Democratic Senate can cure what ails us.
3. Kristin Hook sounds interesting. Does she have any chance at all to defeat Chip Roy? I love it that Pennsylvania Democrats have nominated someone for the state's 10th Congressional district, former television anchor Janelle Stelson who can defeat Republican incumbent Scott Perry --quite possibly the worst Congressional offender and participant in Trump's effort to overturn the election.
"Does she have any chance at all...." That's where the rest of us come in, no?
When Democrats realize that we’re in an all out war against our Democracy we will have a chance. First Thomas should have been challenged by the Biden DOJ with a motion to recuse him based on his wife’s participation in the crimes alleged in the indictment. The challenge should have been on papers publicly filed laying out her possible criminal participation; and it should have been done on oral argument. All of the justices should have been shamed into doing something about what is clearly a corrupt justice. Second, when Gorsuch and Co said they weren’t interested in the case but in the future, they should have been reminded that the court is only able to decide cases and controversies, one of which is the indictment of Trump which alleges crimes committed for personal reasons. Third, Smith’s counsel should have reminded the court that Bush v Gore was decided one day after oral argument and that any delay in this case would poison the voters against the Court and the Republican Party. And finally, Special Counsel Smith should plan on asking for an immediate hearing in the District Court to establish that the crimes alleged in the indictment were personal crimes committed to preserve Trump’s power as President when he knew he had lost a fair and square election. A public hearing before the election will serve the same purpose as a trial. It will allow the voters to judge the candidates based on all the facts available. The witnesses that testified under oath at the Jan 6 Committee hearings can do so again. Let Trump try and cross examine them and see where it gets him. Trump is an existential threat to our way of life. He must be locked up and his ill gotten gains taken away from him.
Spot on! Best comment I've seen. Just one suggestion: paragraphs help. 🙂
Hello All,
I have not had a lot of time to read or share with all of you but today is luxurious so hello and thank you Robert! I agree about your comments to Peter Baker. We have no equal-sided match in this election. Trump is an anomaly and is dangerous, unfit for any office and cannot be treated fairly to Biden on any level. It’s like saying Charles Manson should be fairly compared to and given equal coverage to benevolent Brownie Troop leader. No.
And I agree 100% that this election is the answer and every liberal hearted person just has to set down their personal issue-focus and vote to ensure we don’t get Trump. And in our hearts, many of us know he will come after every liberals…..especially the ones with any presence that can be influential and tracked. Jail for us or worse. His followers have no boundaries and we must believe in their escalation capability. Vote, vote, vote. And keep pushing as hard as we can for issues that matter but push good, solid, sane elected officials. Not criminal-minded deviants.
I’m so thankful for Robert’s summaries and for this community of Americans.
Well said. Thanks 🙏💙🩵💙🩵💙
From HCR, "Constitutional law professor Anthony Michael Kreis ... found it '[u]nbelievable that Supreme Court justices who see forgiving student loans, mandating vaccines, and regulating climate change as a slippery slope toward tyranny were not clear-eyed on questions of whether a president could execute citizens or stage a coup without being prosecuted.'”
They are clear-eyed alright. They know exactly what they are doing. Firebrand Alito is all but spelling it out "ok, just win the elections, Donald, and the Republic is yours for the taking." And Thomas is just sitting there, watching, listening, practically not speaking – and then casting his vote.
There are three major damages Trump inflicted on this country that we need to remind people of everyday. He mishandled and lied about the COVID pandemic for political reasons and close to a million people died many of whom might have been saved. Secondly he masterminded and encouraged the overthrow of our government. Finally he stacked the Supreme Court which resulted among other things in stripping women of their reproductive rights and freedoms as well as a disregard for the Constitution and precedent law. Voters need a reason to vote for Biden and these are three of the best reasons I can think of. We can’t let people forget. Many readers like myself are frustrated by the SCOTUS and feel helpless about being able to do anything about it. The Biden Administration needs to show us a path on how to remedy this situation.
thank you for summarizing what's important to understand and focus on
as someone who lost family members to Covid, I remain grief-stricken over the mismanagement of the pandemic - from eliminating the protocols and teams for early detection of Obama's administration (remember, Ebola did not spread in the USA due to his policies and support of experts), to ignoring the early cases (he never listened to his PDBs), to not utilizing the mistakes of Pence and Adams in their own mishandling of the AIDS epidemic when he was governor of Indiana, to denying the dangers even though he was himself aware, to telling people to ignore public health protections, to taking over the daily press briefings because he can't stand not being the lead story and the only person in the spotlight due to his pathological narcissism, to his taking unproven treatments, and later to having the benefit of multiple specialists when he himself caught AND SPREAD the virus. I seethe just thinking about it. I DO blame 45 for the hundreds of thousands of lives unnecessarily lost (and no, I do NOT give him credit for pushing development of the vaccines, I give that credit to the researchers, who include a brilliant black woman!)
I agree with Beverly, but I’m afraid that re covid we must give the devil his due. The Trump Administration expedited production and distribution of covid vaccines, essentially by “throwing money” at the problem – funding development of more than one vaccine, for example; taking the chance that some funded development efforts would fail.
No Democratic Administration could have gotten away with that approach. Republicans would have pilloried them for “wasting” money.
So we should be thankful for not-so-small favors in this instance.
👏👏👏👏👏
In the 1830s, President Andrew Jackson said, “Justice Marshal has made his decision, now let him enforce it.” That revealed the limit of the court’s power: it is entirely based on the court’s credibility. The reactionaries on today’s court are so extreme that they test the idea that people ought to follow their dictates. They threaten the legitimacy of their institution, and by doing so threaten the rule of law itself.
They are the product of rich white business people who value wealth and power.
Yes, but it’s more than that. They have given in to the anti-democratic movement from the right that would dispense with democracy.
So they are just spineless, weak, despicable weasels without any values, principles and honor? No, there must be more than that. Most probably they are part of the anti-democratic movement.
They are, but I'm not sure whether it's knowing or mainly a result of their intellectual dishonesty.
Far-right wing leader Wilders from the Netherlands is invited, I repeat invited, at a CPAC event in Hungary by Orban. At the CPAC event in the US Bannon was speaker. Dear friends for democracy, we must hold each other's hands, spread the word, bring out the votes and don't allow them to divide us.
https://newrepublic.com/article/179287/cpac-2024-trump-steve-bannon-fascism
"...und morgen die ganze Welt". If you haven't heard it before, google 'Nazi songs'. The international far right is thriving. And they happily accept, if not ask for the support of their buddy Putin. The Grenell quote in the New Republic piece (please click on the link and read it) is revealing. Bannon is currently looking into the possibility to open a 'Warroom Berlin' in 2025.
Exactly. On the other hand in Germany this is happening
https://www.dw.com/en/germany-hamburg-dresden-protest-against-the-far-right-afd/a-68369779 we protested in many places.
Which is hopeful, but wherever these far-right elements see an opening, they jump in.
Just HOW is any judge supposed to do "pre-trial fact finding." There is no evidence before him of what the facts are. Just allegations. I would say that the only response of a judge is to say "OK, once there is a trial I'll do fact finding--or let the jury do the fact finding under instructions that comply with your rule, and then in light of your "rule" decide whether the there was sufficient evidence for their verdict."
Any decision that a trial court has to decide facts before hearing the evidence is indeed a fatal blow to our system. It obliterates the entire jury system and the entire concept of "trier of fact." Clearly the liberal justices know that and are going to argue strenuously that point in their conferences. I would say if 5 justices decide that judges can rule on facts without evidence, the grounds for impeachment are sitting right there.
The burden is already on the prosecutor to prove that there a) was a conspiracy to b) commit a crime. Without saying that a president is immune fully from prosecution for committing crimes, I don't see how anyone can that even IF they prove he committed a crime, he is immune. The prosecution ALREADY, for example, has to prove that the elector scheme was more than just providing for alternates. The defense is perfectly free to argue that it wasn't.
As you note, yesterday was a gut punch. To me it felt unexpected, though it should have been apparent when the SC decided to review the court of appeals verdict that they were determined to serve trump with a delay.
I’ve been considering canceling my NYT subscription for the last year- after 50 years- but yesterday decided me. What a twit Sulzberger is!
You said it all when you say it should not have been unexpected!
My gal pal fro Canada is going through an 8 year divorce (…and counting. It happens in CA - sadly, but more on that later). Every time her ‘husband’ pulls a stunt she is floored. I am trying to instill a way for her to expect it! It does not diminish her intent to fight. It does help to keep the disappointment of having the finish line moved away from you.
We must keep the gut punch and emotions that go with it- in check. Roll over me like water- and then keep moving toward getting our numbers to vote.
Regarding the Republicans on the Supreme Court. Hillary's word still stands.....Deplorable.
I expect Robert’s Substack will be blowing up with comments. My outrage is palpable. A case that never should have been heard, but which seemed to be so obvious, is stunningly debated in an absurd theatre. The fact that even non-lawyers know that a case needs to be considered on the facts in front of it, not the past and not the hypothetical future seems to have been ignored by the highest justices in the nation. It is beyond outrageous. And one more thing to add to the many more burdens that we need to overcome. I’m exhausted. But I know what we need to do.