We're screwed: Anthony Kennedy retiring.

Started by trdsf, June 27, 2018, 02:49:07 PM

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trdsf

So after having stolen one nomination (funny, no one pitched a fit about Reagan nominating a Supreme Court justice during a presidential campaign, or Nixon naming TWO during a campaign in which HE HIMSELF WAS RUNNING), the Orange Disaster Area is going to get his chance to fuck over the country for a generation: Justice Anthony Kennedy is retiring.

No, I don't have any expectation that a sensible candidate will be named.  If Gorsuch is any indication, we're going to get another nutcase.
"My faith in the Constitution is whole, it is complete, it is total, and I am not going to sit here and be an idle spectator to the diminution, the subversion, the destruction of the Constitution." -- Barbara Jordan

Unbeliever

I was afraid this would happen, but I hoped that was just my pessimism talking. So Chump get's another SCOTUS pick? Yeah, we're through.
God Not Found
"There is a sucker born-again every minute." - C. Spellman

Shiranu

And it's still possible he can get even more.
"A little science distances you from God, but a lot of science brings you nearer to Him." - Louis Pasteur

Baruch

Quote from: Shiranu on June 27, 2018, 03:43:32 PM
And it's still possible he can get even more.

I would prefer they all retire at 65.  Senility and justice aren't a good combination.

If you don't control the Senate and the WH ... blame the DNC.  They spent all your lunch money on Hillary.
Ha’át’íísh baa naniná?
Azee’ Å,a’ish nanídį́į́h?
Táadoo ánít’iní.
What are you doing?
Are you taking any medications?
Don't do that.

Shiranu

Quote from: Baruch on June 27, 2018, 06:15:45 PM
I would prefer they all retire at 65.  Senility and justice aren't a good combination.

If you don't control the Senate and the WH ... blame the DNC.  They spent all your lunch money on Hillary.

I'm actually quite okay with an age limit on SCJs.
"A little science distances you from God, but a lot of science brings you nearer to Him." - Louis Pasteur

Mermaid

A cynical habit of thought and speech, a readiness to criticise work which the critic himself never tries to perform, an intellectual aloofness which will not accept contact with life’s realities â€" all these are marks, not as the possessor would fain to think, of superiority but of weakness. -TR

Cavebear

There is SO MUCH to discuss about this sudden news. 

First. we have to recognize that Kennedy is essentially conservative (but not rabidly so).  But that he is retiring at a very awkward time that shows his true colors.  He could have waited a few months, and let it come after the 2018 elections, but chose not to.  By retiring at this time, he shows he wants Trump to appoint a new Justice almost certainly anti-freedom, anti moderate.

The consequences will be extreme.  Women will lose the right to abortion at any time beyond discovery of pregnancy.  Immigrants will continue have their children abducted.  Civil liberties will be reduced in all areas.  The verymost rich will become richer while the middle class vanishes and the poor grow poorer. 

We will gradually not become a democracy.  Trump is learning from world autocrats and implementing their strategies. He is diminishing our Federal Agencies dedicated to protecting our air, water, food, drugs, and equipment safety.  He is placing justices at lower levels who are against established court rulings like Roe v Wade and even Brown v The Board of Education.

He is gradually chipping away at the basic agreements of democracy like fair judges, objective Federal Agencies, and basic consensus.

This is not even Republican vs Democrat.  This is Trump vs democracy. 

Democracy can fail.   John Adams once said "Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide."   

"Outside Independence Hall when the Constitutional Convention of 1787 ended, Mrs. Powel of Philadelphia asked Benjamin Franklin, "Well, Doctor, what have we got, a republic or a monarchy?" With no hesitation whatsoever, Franklin responded, "A republic, if you can keep it."

The question is, can we keep Democracy in the face of Trumpian autocratism and local laws of some States that want us to return to 1900.  I think we are at a tipping point. 

We will either go the way of the Romans losing their Republic to Dictators, and smaller nations failing to maintain their rights in the face of determined autocrats, or we will stand up and challenge them in all legal ways and regain our basic democracy on consensus and good will between political parties. 

We have had both at times in the US and we face that challenge again. 

All we have to do is lose JUST ONCE and then we are Russia.  Or China.  Or Iran.  Or North Korea.

Let's not go down that path...
Atheist born, atheist bred.  And when I die, atheist dead!

Baruch

Not unexpected.  Do you know how old the SCOTUS is? 

Roberts - 63
Kennedy - 81
Thomas - 70
Ginsburg - 85
Breyer - 79
Alito - 68
Sotomayor - 64
Kagan - 58
Gorsuch - 50

5/9 should retire now!

Scalia is the last Justice that Hillary will get to Arkancide?

Would be happy with more women justices.  But fewer Catholics and Jews.  How about a Muslim or a Buddhist?

Ha’át’íísh baa naniná?
Azee’ Å,a’ish nanídį́į́h?
Táadoo ánít’iní.
What are you doing?
Are you taking any medications?
Don't do that.

pr126


pr126

Here is a prediction based on the way it is going:
DJT will have a second term.

The D party will have to wait.

Cavebear

Quote from: pr126 on June 28, 2018, 06:04:18 AM
The USA is a Republic, not a democracy

Technically true, but in common parlance it is a Democracy (a Representative Democracy in detail) in that most of the citizens get to vote directly for Congressional Representatives and Senators as opposed to having them chosen by State representives directly elected.  There isn't a convenient common category that fits here.  There is too much leftover from States (like the Electoral College) and that States used to elect Representatives by direct vote but chose Senators as representing the States by the State legislatures. 

Its an inconvenient blend.  And there are movements trying to eliminate the Electoral College as "old crap".  I don't know of any technical phrase that can actually describe the US political system (no mean ones please).

Its like saying England is a "Constitutional Monarchy", when the Monarchy has no actual power.
Atheist born, atheist bred.  And when I die, atheist dead!

Cavebear

Quote from: pr126 on June 28, 2018, 06:07:37 AM
Here is a prediction based on the way it is going:
DJT will have a second term.

The D party will have to wait.

If THAT happens, I may be asking you to find me a room to let.   
Atheist born, atheist bred.  And when I die, atheist dead!

Baruch

Quote from: Cavebear on June 28, 2018, 06:23:38 AM
If THAT happens, I may be asking you to find me a room to let.

They eat "bear tikka masala" there.  But the bear baiting comes first.
Ha’át’íísh baa naniná?
Azee’ Å,a’ish nanídį́į́h?
Táadoo ánít’iní.
What are you doing?
Are you taking any medications?
Don't do that.

pr126

#13
You don't want to come to the UK.
One wrong sentence and you find yourself in Room 101 for a quiet chat with the Thought Police.
And re-education.