Political life sure is complicated 'over there'

Well, I suppose every political system has its subtleties and nuances which can escape general knowledge.  As far as American affairs are concerned, I have been banging on about the chance - or chances! - Trump might have to nudge the Supreme Court to the Right with new appointments and thus end decades of Democrat subversion as they have tried to shift it to the Left.  According to Peter Skurkiss at The American Thinker, even the impeccably Left-wing New York Times is beginning to panic as they contemplate the possibility that the 81-year old Justice Kennedy may be contemplating retirement.  So nervous are they that they have just published an open letter to Justice Kennedy begging him to hang on in there!

To add to their panic there is the sickly condition of 85-year old Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg and the advancing years of Justice Stephen Breyer (79) and even the relatively young Justice Sonya Sotomayor (63) is a worry because she suffers with diabetes.  As Mr. Skurkiss emphasises, it is absolutely crucial that the Republicans maintain control of the Senate at the next election in order to facilitate confirmation of the President's nominee(s).  He also adds a warning that control of the House is essential to forestall Democrat attempts at impeachment.  It could all be "a fine run thing, the finest thing you ever saw", as the dear old 'Duke of Boot' put it after Waterloo!

 

Comments

[Bob]

Skurkiss's argument is boilerplate for the upcoming midterm elections. It's meant to motivate more Republicans than those who belong to the Cult of Trump. The idea is to overcome the "enthusiasm gap" created by an historically unpopular president by breathlessly reminding Republican voters that a less conservative court would undoubtedly mean Armageddon. The NYT editorial is the other side of the same coin.

Not that everything is politics. There would no doubt be a difference between a court with 2 or more Trump appointees and one without. However, the costs and benefits to various groups of Americans would not necessarily work out along predictable lines.

The old saw about the SCOTUS "legislating from the bench" is nonsense. The way our system works the Congress can adjust laws to better achieve their desired effects by reintroducing versions compensating for past rulings. The Trump travel ban is a case in point.

[David Duff]

Bob, you say: "The old saw about the SCOTUS "legislating from the bench" is nonsense."

Skurkiss says: "And the Democrats have long politicized the selection of justices with the aim of choosing people who will advance the progressive agenda no matter what the Constitution or written laws says. Mandating homosexual "marriage" and abortion for all 50 states makes for two of the most grievous examples of this overreach."

[JK]

Well Bob,

"The way our system works the Congress can adjust laws to better"

You're familiar perhaps with Justice Gorsuch's observation in his dissent taking issue with Congress' vagueness over "the criminaliness" piece in the recent decision? The one in which Gorsuch implicitly accuses Congress of abdicating its Constitutional duties in handing over to the Executive powers that the document plainly assigns to the Congress?

I'd suggest Bob the insertion of "was designed to" and drop the "s" from Work.

You know Bob perfectly well how much a stickler I am as regards clarity!

[Bob]

David,

The Constitution guarantees "life, liberty and pursuit of happiness." That means different things to different people. The whole point of democracy is to sort it all out.

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JK,

Just because legal aims can take a long time and are part of ongoing social processes doesn't mean the system doesn't work.

[JK]

Bob,

"...legal aims can take a long time and are part of ongoing social processes..."

I'm with you there. Except that, where the Congress is concerned there's that First Amendment conflict cake bakers for instance find themselves constantly at peril with, "or prohibiting the free exercise thereof" which, at the lower Appeals Courts level (the ones confusing David apparently/maybe) oftentimes shuttered.

(I have noted no Queers have dared a SCOTUS review while for the Christians it's Open Season.)

That's the rub Bob.

[Bob]

JK,

Cake bakers who have nightmares about possibly having to write "Congratulations Fred and Larry" in icing and place two marzipan grooms on a cake are irretrievable snowflakes. Prospective customers should take their business elsewhere so as not to seem heartless.

Pleading against perceived persecution seems to be the actual heart of Christianity. All cake bakers might someday realize that baking a queer cake beats being nailed up every time. They'll probably be replaced by robots first, though.