A Hard-right Supreme Court Nominee Could Completely Alter Life As We Know It
By Thom Hartmann A...
Ruth Bader Ginsburg has died, and while everybody is focusing on abortion, the Supreme Court, if it falls into hard-core conservative hands, could do massive damage to the entire spectrum of life in America.Ever since the 1930s, Republicans have been trying to either destroy or privatize Social Security, and a hard right conservative majority on the Court could make that happen.
Since the 1960s, Republicans have been yelling that Medicare and Medicaid are actually forms of socialism. While a conservative Court will almost certainly destroy Obamacare, it's also likely to end Medicare and Medicaid.
In the early 1930s, the Supreme Court ruled that both minimum-wage laws and child labor laws were unconstitutional. Expect these to once again become issues.
Since the Reagan revolution, Republicans have systematically torn apart our nation's public schools, with the state of Michigan, where Betsy DeVos has been focusing her efforts, now about half privatized. With a conservative Court, we could even see the end of a functional public school system nationwide.
Are you concerned about how climate change is driving wildfires, massive flooding storms, and hurricanes? A conservative Supreme Court could rule that laws or policies to reduce carbon emissions are an unlawful violation of refiners and other fossil fuel companies rights to do business.
Expect, with a truly conservative court, to lose your right to be protected from being ripped off by your bank, insurance company, Internet service provider, and even your utilities (if they are for-profit corporations). They could roll back the right of LGBTQ people to get married, and the right of labor unions to even exist, and endorse privatization of the Post Office.
All of these are positions that are currently held by various high profile conservative think tanks and movement leaders. They all reflect positions David Koch ran for vice president on in 1980, and that are now embraced by hard-core conservative Republicans, including some currently in Congress.
Conservatives don't just want to take America back to the 1950s; they want to take us back to the 1920s. We all must encourage Democratic members of Congress to do everything possible to hold the line against Trump putting another radical right winger on the Supreme Court.
-Thom
Comments
#2
When there are attempts to keep a social structure in place past its expiration date, disruptive change becomes the norm. There are several things about the U.S. Federal Court system that are woefully out of date.
Life Tenure. In the early republic, life tenure was likely around 12 to 16 years per the NY Times research a while back. This fit the goal of ensuring the independence of the judiciary because it would insulate them from electoral cycles. But it did not totally insulate the judges from the generational cycles. With tenures now more 25 years, justices are two to three generations removed from societal reality.
Precedent. The U.S. system of case precedent (stare decisis) is based on a 17th Century legal concept when there was very little statutory law and certainly no administrative law. Transposing a common law system into what is today a code system gives too much power to the courts and lets the legislative branch be lazy in solving problems. Many of the later democracies have restricted precedent power on constitutional items to being only binding on the parties in the particular case and then requiring the legislature to sort things out.
Too much power in judicial review. Marshall's power grab in 1803 in Marbury vs. Madison has put the judicial system in what may be a too powerful place. In many federal systems, the supreme court has very limited jurisdiction and often cannot overrule state decisions. A power grab that may have worked with a largely illiterate population of 5 million and 16 states is not necessarily the right solution for today.
Governance systems that fail to change with society eventually implode. As evident with the USSR's inability to cope with a declining relative population of the dominant demographic, implosion can be sudden and rapid. The current court powerplay may well be the trigger of events that sets off our own implosion. I hope not, but it is not looking good right now.
#3
Why the Democrats don't frame McConnell's blocking of the first black president's judicial nominee loudly and publicly as racist while he bends his own rule for the whitest president I'll never know. I haven't even seen a headline or article making this point. Every time it is brought up it should be phrased, " McConnell's racist stonewalling of Obama's nominee."
#4
I dont think I've ever been so glad to be Canadian. Mind you, there is that 5000 mile undefended border. In many ways I feel like a Pole in 1938. I just hope you can get your country back in a few weeks and flip the Senate so you can undo the damage. You are goign to have to play them at their own game. Adding 2 more court seats would put it back the way it is, with Roberts as the swing vote. That would be be morally justifiable without looking like stacking.
#5
As the atrocities mount up all around us, Corona, wildfires, shooting of innocent black americans, soaring corporate profits, underfunding of public education...
We need to come together and call out what it all comes down to.
"Democracy Matters"
"That this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom – and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the Earth.” A. Lincoln
"Democracy Matters" should be spoken by every democratic politican whether seated or trying to get elected. We need to address the rampant fascism that the GOP is perpertrating on our society, or democracy will only exist in our past.
#6
People favor confirmation hearings for Supreme Court vacancy in 2020: Poll
"A new poll conducted shortly before the death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg revealed that an overwhelming majority of U.S. adults of all political stripes supported holding hearings for a nominee if a vacancy opened on the nation's highest bench.
Marquette University released the survey results on Saturday that showed 67% of adults believed the Senate should hold a hearing if a vacancy occurred during 2020's race, with only 32% opposition — and similar strong numbers across Republicans, Democrats, and independents, who supported holding confirmation hearings at 68-31%, 63-37%, and 71-28% respectively. The poll was completed three days before the death of Ginsburg, the 87-year-old liberal icon who was nominated by President Bill Clinton and confirmed in 1993. Ginsburg earned praise from Democrats and Republicans upon news of her death."
My favorite idiot of the day.
In other news, Thom's 30x increase in the death count from the Chinese virus did not go unnoticed by Crazy Uncle Joe who immediately told an overflow crowd of 6 that 200 million people would be dead before he finished his speech. Take that Thom.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANmcxW_-uA0&feature=youtu.be
#7
To date fourteen of the last eighteen U.S Supreme Court justices were selected by presidents who did not receive a majority of the popular vote. With Trump this will make fifteen out of nineteen that were selected by the right wing elites. And it is a mistake to refer to the selected judges as 'conservatives' as they are regressive white supremists at heart. Eisenhower was a consevative but Reagan was not. Under Nixon the EPA was created and the Clean Water Act went into effect. Nixon was more progressive than the Democrats that followed him into office and that includes Obama. Medicare for all has been opposed for more than 100 years and while it has been in effect since 1948 but this is considered too radical for the USA to be supported by any of our presidents.
#8
Pitiful. Whatabout and his fellow "grab-'em-by-the-pussy cultists are keen to point out Biden's speech gaffes while completely ignoring their own 800-pound gaffe sitting in the middle of the Oval Office. Preferring fantasy over reality, Trump's obsequious bootlickers are too cowardly, or just too far gone intellectually and spiritually, to confront honestly his 20,000-plus lies, his increasing mental incompetence, and the shocking moral degeneracy that is his whole life. (Read the books by those who know him best.)
Trump the False Prophet is the biblical ravening wolf but doesn't even bother deceiving his victims by wearing sheep's clothing. The don of the Trump crime family doesn't need to; his stupefied base loves that he's an uneducated, lowbrow, foul-mouthed racist, misogynist, and xenophobe -- because that is exactly who they are. Fortunately, the trolls and troglodytes are a much-scorned minority that can be out-voted by those who still possess working moral compasses.
Recently, I heard an apt simile: This election will be like having only two entrées on a lunch menu: tuna melt and rat poison. There will always be the fool who says, "Damn, hard choice -- I really can't stand tuna fish."
#9
I think my state Senator may be a facist
This artical from local news site which seems to me to be legitimate, shows another example of the extreme right facists moving to control US Government.
See what you think.
#10
If it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, then...
Yup, Roger Chamberlain is a fascist pig.
#11
Trump has done it again. He solisited a foreign country to berate Biden's son and now he has His Bill Barr threatening NYC to take away federal funds. On the show Thom talked about how this was for black lives matters protests but I beleive it is also about the lawsuit for Tax Fraud filled by the city. Try to threatened Trump and the AG of the USA will have your back. So scary to me. He could shoot a guy on 5th ave and get away with it. So sad for America.
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The elephant in the room is that Reps are not idealogues, unless greed for money payoffs qualifies. Their judges voted to liberate marriage and have carved out a new Suspect Class based on sexual preference or none. They do what the Corporate bosses tell them for money, like the Swiss bank scandal of UBS where it was revealed that a hundred thousand in America were hiding and evading taxes offshore, yet nobody was prosecuted because they were judges and lawyers. This bull about pro-life is a perfect example. They fear losing the majority and since white women are the ones getting abortions, they pretend it is about God. They love the death penalty and worship murderers with assault rifles, especially when in uniform. Their hucksters framed all the arguments while Dems accede like a bunch of sissies. Their women lead, but are reviled as if lesbian hytericals, The latest Qanon is what Dems could have captured, like they could have the Tea Party, since it is all about intenational banksters who appear to have video of not just Trump but Dems too. Otherwise one must ask, why are they so feckless? If Trump taught us anything, it is that this two party system is the problem. He was hated by all, yet his bombastic style was seen as refreshing for white working folks who are so mad that they are easily misled, as were Germans, in a society that they found immoral and declining economically.They had part of the problem right and blamed the banksters as should the Dems today. Obama was a shill for the banks and was probably hand-picked with the agreement of the press. If we had another Democrat like Hughy Long today [like Ebeth Warren but a man] Reps would vote for him over Trump any day of the week. They want a white guy with gumption. When you see failed states in the 3rd world, where reverse racism became reality, like Haiti or Zimbabwe, and now S. Africa, can you entirely blame them?