An entire series of outrages from the radical Republicans on the Supreme Court have ginned up calls for President Biden and Congress -- to “pack” or expand the size of the Court.
The current Court is corrupt, intellectually lazy, and wedded to the notion that America is best ruled by and for the landed gentry. Attempted expansion now would almost certainly be thwarted by Sinema and/or Manchin, and the failure would inspire a potential Repugnican administration and senate to add even more incompetent reactionaries. Should we retain the Whitehouse and senate this fall, however, YES - four more seats ASAP! We can’t allow one branch to destroy democracy.
Democrats need to capture Congress (house and senate) to change the Supreme Court.
IMO, since it is the Senate that approves the appointment of the Federal Judiciary and the House has nothing to say. He that giveth, may also taketh away. And a Democratic senate can remove, with impeachment, a federal judge.
Call it revocation of appointment.
Of course that requires Complete democratic control of the Senate and revocation of the filibuster
Don’t forget that in 1934 a plot to overthrow FDR was exposed by Marine Major General Butler, who revealed a plot to take over our government with a coup led by those industrialists. The ceo of General Motors was one
A fascinating history. As for our era, this MUST happen, and soon. At this point it is not a matter of age. There is enough evidence of election tampering in 2016 that should invalidate the Trump/ McConnell appointments.
The world has become too complex for just nine. It should be 13, one for each circuit.
I am not sure the Democrats have the strength to do it.
They need to gain control of both branches of the legislature with Biden still the president. Then, we can make them do it. We should make sure it is one of the major issues in the election now.
Annabel, strength is in numbers it takes a 3/5th Majority to over ride the filibuster and to kill it.
The Democratic party currently hold 48 seats,
Eight Senators are not seeking re election, five are Democrats, 2 Republican and one independent
Mike Braun of Indiana, Republican is running for Governor
All of the states that are Solid Republican or Democrat at the moment are safe Republican and Democrat with the following exceptions
Arizona leans Democrat
Florida is likely Republican
Maine liklely independent (caucuses with who?)
Michigan leans Democrat (except for the Muslims who threaten to sit out the election)
Montana (Testors seat) is a toss up
Nevada leans Democrat
Ohio is a toss up (Sheldon Whitehouse)
Pennsylvania leans Democrat (same problem as Michigan compounded by young black males)
Texas likely Republican
Vermont independent, hopefully caucuses with the Democrats
Wisconsin leans Democrat
If Democrats take all of the likely and leaning states and the independents caucus with them
that brings the total Senate Democratic population of Senators to maybe 52, no where near the 60 needed to recall a Federal judge or appoint more judges to SCOTUS
What that means is the DNC, DSCC, DCCC and Biden campaign are going to have to work better,no more of this Third Way and DLC bullshit We have to make inroads into the south, and choice, women';s issues are the key, The Right may have a lip lock on the Evangelical and right wing fascists, but they are not the entire south, and women will vote for choice and Dems are going to have to get serious and deliver this time, if they win, on women, POC, and Queer issues, no more lip service.
The rules of the Senate are set at the beginning of each session, and they require only majority vote. Among the rules to be considered is the validity of the filibuster.
At the beginning of the next session in January, 2025, the filibuster can be eliminated.
Thanks for the history lesson Thom. I never realized how hard it was for FDR to pass the New deal and all of the progressive legislation that makes this country livable and barely civilized!
The evangelicals think they have it bad now, wait until Donald tanks the entire economy. Somehow I don't think they are going to adjust to starvation very gracefully. It gets old always keeping the right wingers from creating another failed third world catastrophe! Their minds do not work properly. It is like we are the lifeguard and there's thousands of swimmers drowning and they need us to save them while they are biting the hands that feeds them!
Thanks for the history. The comparison is similar in some ways, but in many others the current court is more flawed. The old men in the ’30s were men who represented the all-business attitudes of the previous decades. The 6 extreme members today were nominated and confirmed in a very questionable manner. They have openly taken large payments from individuals and groups that want something in return, or who are paying to reward what they have gotten. Also, this current court has ventured into areas that never concerned the court, religion, sexual activity, women’s rights, LBGTQ rights, voting rights,, and now are protecting a criminal who they like from prosecution. This court has become as big a threat to American freedom and democracy as Trump is, but they hold much more power, and the are in a position where it is very difficult to challenge them. This has allowed them to become isolated, arrogant, extreme, and corrupt, and they flaunt it.
I'd like to start with a National Columbia University type movement where we the 250,000 people to surround the Supreme Court and peacefully shut them down until at least three of the five men resign. I wouldn't do this if Trump was President, as he would shoot half of the people there. Anyway, I don't have the organizational skills of Bayard Rustin.
I am old and a former 1960s demonstrator whose peers went to jail while being less than peacefully beaten up by the authorities. There is nothing peaceful about these vandals and Hamas supporting people with their terrorist headbands, masked faces, and Islamic Jihadist ambitions for this country. When I see a Hamas flag flying on American soil, I am more than a little upset about my democracy.
I've been watching quite a bit of coverage, and I don't think i've seen the Hamas flag in the demonstrations: only the Palestinian flag from the 1920's. Hamas flag would be solid green with a white inscription in the middle, or apparently a white flag with an "emblem of Hamas" in the middle. I understand Hamas started the catastrophe, but how many dead satisfy eye for eye, etc? The State of Israel (strictly differentiated from Jews as race or religion) has harvested at least a thousand for every one. If you had a bad relative who your family had nothing to do with, who killed the wrong victim, and that victim's connections first surrounded your town so there was no escape, and then bombed everything within: no water, no toilets, etc. and commenced to kill until they figured their revenge had been at least 1,000 to 1, would that be justice to you?
LOL. you need very dedicated and rotating protesters, they will be carted away, but you need others to fill their ranks, Think of it as belt fed ammunition.
That’s what happened in the Children s March in Birmingham while MLK was in jail writing his famous letter. Some of the kids would run to get arrested half an hour after being released. It took a week but then the city caved and let Black people vote— the right this Court is taking away.
I agree that Hamas always used terrible terrorists methods to oppose Israel. They are guilty of not caring how many Palestinians die. People are and should be protesting against their existence. However, there are neo-nazi groups in America that parade around under swastikas. This is just as reprehensible but it is considered protected speech in America. The real problem is that both Israel and Hamas continue to kill innocent people with no possibility of resolution. This is cruel and crazy on both sides. These are both crimes against humanity. I protest against both of them.
The other thing to do, if the Dems carry the House and not the Senate is to impeach Thomas and Alito for abuse of power, corruption, and breaking their oath to support and not overthrow the Constitution. There is more proof for that that the Repubs ever had against Biden. Unless the Dems hold the Senate and get rid of the filibuster they would never be convicted, but it would show the world how sleazy they are and maybe embarrass the ones over 70 to resign.
They feel above the law since they have the power to make it. But not by us, the people. So, the electorate might surprise the pollsters. What worries me is the current extremes of both right and left and the apparent collusion of mainstream media and social media in just ginning up the collective conspiracy theories and paranoia. The stupidity of the manipulated, long-seed results of the Islamic propaganda campaigns driven by many operatives and university departments and hires over the years has resulted in a perfect storm of antisemitism. The Supreme Court of activist fascists needs to be replaced if we are expected to have any respect left for the decisions they are making over our lives.
Rebalance is the term to use, not pack! The amoral orange creature packed the court with right wing extremists as side kicks to Thomas and Sammy a both US Constitutional illiterates!
Rebalance the court to reflect gender, race, and religious affiliation demographics! Perhaps we need a good old fashioned atheist on the court!
Rebalance to diffuse the stench emanating from the right wing 6!
The only way to do that is when a Justice dies, or retires. Most it seems prefer to die on the bench. RBG is lionized by liberals, but it is because she wouldn't retire when Obama was in office, that we got a Gorsuch, when she died in office we got ACB
I think she believed Hillary would be elected and it would have a certain appeal for her to retire under the first female president. I also think she regretted that decision.
In a way, it's sad that the harmful, hypocritical and gaslighting wrong-think of the Supreme majority can be conflated with Catholicism. Per The Catholic times 2023, 18.7% of the US population identify as Catholic. (Wiki has it at 23%) Six out of 9 Supreme Court makes it 66.66666...% (Pew Research calls Sotomayor a "liberal Catholic;" not sure how to figure that in.)
What is unfortunate is that Obama lacked the guts to force through the appointment of a Supreme Court nominee and rolled over for the Republicans. This was as much a turning point as when the Supreme Court justices decided to halt the vote recount in Florida and gifted the presidency to GW Bush.
The core of the problem is the activist decisions by the Supreme Court that violate the Constitution, including the separation of religion from the state.
I am not so sure that anything would have been different if Garland had been appointed.
All evidence is that he too is a right winger. vetted by Orrin Hatch to Obama, an employee of the Federalist Society as a moderator, and he didn't even open an investigation into Trump and J6, for almost two years and then only when under pressure by judicial peers, and the public, those that he did prosecute, most go off with a misdemeanor and a slap on the wrist, and he Garland DOJ is a hot house of Trump humpers, like David Weiss who is prosecuting Hunter.
Truth to suppositions and lies. Garland has been a disaster in his current position. I wish he would gum his way out of the administration so someone with teeth could bite some corrupted GOP ass.
In retrospect, I still can't figure out what happened with that. I gather there just isn't any set procedure for a President to go around the Senate. Obama would have had to just swear in Garland (already a craven compromise choice) and maybe make Mitch figure how to impeach him? But Obama never was much of a sh.... disturber....
An article some months ago offered what strikes me as a better alternative. Reduce the size of the court to seven, or even five. First in, first out: Buh-bye Thomas and Alito!
This Supreme Court ( the conservative contingent hired by the Heritage Foundation) exists to upend Democracy. They are an enthusiastically corrupt group who has not a whit of conscience or truth about them . They are blanket distorters of the Constitution they pretend to serve.
They are renegade disseminators of lies that serve only themselves and the very wealthiest in this country .
They are clearly onboard with authoritarianism.
The last session where they were to determine the question of immunity for Trumps criminal acts was pathetic.
They posed and fawned over many possible hypothetical scenarios that have not one thing to do with the question at hand . And their pretense was obvious to all.
They didn’t have the guts to deal with this as educated adults and playacted all kinds of nonsense theories apparently in an attempt to confuse us .
They made asses of their Supreme selves and it was clear to all Americans .
The court must be expanded , we cannot continue to allow these Justices who in a few cases replaced rightful nominations at the corrupt Republican hand of Mitch McConnell to roll over our Constitution and our Rights as Citizens.
Federalist Society Pat. It is the Federalist society that vetts federal judges. The Heritage Foundation is a fascist think tank, that is devoted to fascist policies like Project 2025.
They are all fascists. All I was doing was trying to tell you that it was the fascist Federalist society that vets judicial nominees and the fascist Heritage foundation that floats policies and program.s
Fascism as Mussolni envisioned it was a corporate state, headed by a strong man dictator.
Religions are sectarian corporations, not necessarily in the American legal sense of a legally founded charter, but corporations of a group of resources united by a single directive of power and control.
Before there were corporations, people (who were called adventurers) pooled their resources to achieve an objective, and then used human resources to achieve those objectives. In England it was called a joint stock company, and was always enfranchised by the sovereign or ultimate authority.
And thatis also the story of religions, they are always started by some dude with a big idea, which he then peddles to others who get on board, because it sounds like a good deal and is profitable, not necessarily financially, but money is only used as a tool to obtain power, and with power you have access to resources, especially human labor.
Control of people is control of their labor, and there labor is then used to protect your position, enhance your social status, and provide you access to all you want or think you need.
Ideology is the perfect tool to control and use the labor of others, even have them risk their health,life and future.
Ideology is both sectarian and secular, though we are taught and told to think of religion as a higher from than ideology. But it isn't.
I wasn't dissing them. The context was a bunch of discussion about confirming supreme Court justices, and I was taking note that nobody even mentioned the ABA.
Understood I wasn't thinking that you were dissing anyone, Just couldn't make the connection with the ABA. Anyone that can pass the bar exam can join the ABA. But it is almost impossible to disbar someone. Same with the AMA. Professional Unions take care of their own, because everyone has dirt on their hands.
Some of us remember another historic SCOTUS-rigging episode, back in 1981. That was just a few years after Justice Powell's Memo and its call-to-action to create an Activist Court. Its importance in getting America to this crisis point is also greatly important, and demands the firm remedy of Term Limits.
It was a scary time to see the racist traitor Reagan surge into power. Reagan had no mandate for anything except his "No negotiations with terrorists" mantra. But anyone could see he was determined to inflict "neoliberalism" on the country. I and likely many others quickly became wary of anyone who enabled this, like SCOTUS justices.
Justice Potter Stewart, appointed by Eisenhower in 1958 *could* have easily resigned during Carter's term. Twenty plus years on the bench seems like a "lifetime" already. Instead he waited until only a few months after Reagan's inauguration to resign. Reagan appointed Sandra Day O'Conner, garnering accolades for the first appointment of a woman to the bench. I thought Stewart's resignation signaled something more sinister and crooked going on, and that there was a hidden agenda afoot to reshape America, assisted by a rigged SCOTUS. Meanwhile no one talked about SCOTUS term limits back in that period.
When O'Conner wanted to resign 19 years later, it appeared to many that Al Gore would be the president and would replace justices leaving the bench starting in 2001. She was open about being appalled at that possible outcome proclaiming, "This is terrible", and that she "wanted to resign under a Republican president." She and 4 other Republican appointed justices made sure she got her wish. SCOTUS completely ignored and disrespected the American citizens' right to vote and have their vote counted correctly in the final tabulation, and inflicted Bush on America in 2000. Her seat on the bench went to Sam Alito, one of the most corrupt partisan zealots to serve on the court. A bonus for Republicans was getting Umpire Roberts to replace Rehnquist.
Consider - had there been Term Limits of 18 years for SCOTUS justices, she would have been automatically term limited off the bench during the Clinton administration. Perhaps Thomas too, as well as others before them including Stewart.
We could have had a very different and better country today.
There are at least two bills in Congress that attempt to legislate term limits and create a biennial nomination process. Senator Whitehouse and Representative Khanna are authors, and the bills are a decent *Starting Point* for dealing with this type of rigging. This rigging is a form of Cheating, it is corrupt, and needs to be stopped immediately, or at least as soon as the legislation is passed.
The courts HAVE been packed---by The Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies. And what they have been studying is how to enshrine the old ways and how to stymie any movement along the lines of human rights. They do not give a damn about the law.
Ideally our judges would leave their political beliefs at the door. When the robe goes on, they are paid to apply equal justice under the laws and determine the intent of some laws. It's a JOB.
If they didn't lie to get the job, if they stuck to application and intent, we wouldn't care what their party was, because the rest of the responsibility would belong to Congress as prescribed by the The Constitution.
So much for having any romantic idea about the titles Your Honor or Justice and young law students in love with the law. What these ideologues have done to create bias in our judicial system should be a crime.
FDR, who created the middle class, was a warrior unpararelled in the history of our presidents. Just wonder if many see Biden as receiving FDR's paton. Biden's history with SCOTUS has been surprisingly obtuse. Chairing the committee in the Anita Hill/Thomas inquiry, Biden calmly heard testimony from Thomas's advocates, and rudely closed the hearing, denying all witnesses for Hill to say anything in support of Hill. This ensured Thomas's appointment to the highest bench. Thomas! Later Biden could have offered up any of many outstanding legal liberals to be appointed to the high court, chose remarckably to appoint the ubermild, perennaly self'muted, chronic dweller of back stage hide-outs, Merrick Garland. He was not nazi enough for the howling banshees, and was defeated with a quick ruse. Biden then appointed Garland to be attorney general, again out of numerous liberal possible choices. I judge Biden by his historical political actions, not by his condescending, one-liner sarcasms. I do not see Biden making any effort to take on the corrupt, undemocratic SCOTUS. Not in the slightest.
It is hard for me to be a booster for Biden because of Anita Hill and Thomas' legacy. He is a corporate democratic whom we can thank for the credit card interest we have had to pay over long years, among other things. Despite Wall Street's earnings, people in this country need help putting food on the table and finding reasonable rent. Inflation is supposed to be under control, but I do not see it daily at the supermarket or most other places where consumers in the middle class purchase milk over $7 00 in my Key Food and Eggs, Avocados, etc. My food prices on a fixed retiree income have doubled. I live in a coop in NY, and our maintenance for water, electricity, and everything else has increased 25% plus with special assessments for city-mandated services. No one with a fixed income can keep up, and SS certainly does not fill the gap. Medicare is a give with one hand, take away with the other. As for the American Rust Belt, they are angry beyond description and have no place to go. And the brain-fogged privileged demonstraters flying the Hamas flags on American soil are not peaceful and nothing like what my peers and I were like in 1968. I fear for the convention rife with operatives.
Now, I haven't gone back to research this, but as a 12-year-old in the early 1950s, I read an article in the Reader's Digest about a plot by the Roman Catholic Christophers organization to take over political control of the U.S. I believed it then, and I believe it now. The Pope doesn't care about Democracy, he's a theocrat. His desciples in the Republican Party are carrying out the plan as we speak. Leonard Leo, C. Thomas, A. Scalia, and host of others are actively undermining this country.
Seven of the justices are Catholics, six of the seven are trad rad extremists. There is a glimmer of hope that ACB is coming to her senses and wakes up and realizes that she is being used by male supremacists, and that she has been brainwashed.
A number of justices that were conservative when appointed to the bench, did a 180 once they were no longer indebted to and held hostage by the money powers.
However the rich like Harlan Crow and Paul Singer have found it easier to buy them once on the bench.
It seems there isn't anyone that money can't buy., after all it buys the labor and loyalty of men who risk black lung and death from falling rocks, or cancer from benzine and other chemicals spewed by refineries.
The 2025 Judiciary Readjustment Act has only two sentences: "The number of United States Supreme Court justices shall be equal to the number of United States Circuit Courts of Appeal. The number of United States Circuit Courts of Appeal shall be an odd number." As there are now 13 US Circuit Courts of Appeal, this gives us 13 SCOTUS justices. Obviously, the filibuster has to be reformed or eliminated. Reforming the filibuster should not require a super-majority - it can be done by a simple majority vote. The reform is to eliminate the requirement for 60 votes to bring cloture to a bill. Instead, the minority party calling the filibuster must maintain 41 senators on the Senate floor at all times - failure to do that allows the Senate Majority Leader to call for a cloture vote, decided by a simple majority of those present. In addition, all debate must be limited to the bill in question - any attempts to read "Green Eggs and Ham" into the Federal Record will trigger a cloture vote immediately.
The intent is the same of course. I developed my "2025 Act" to eliminate the possibility of Republicans "repacking" the Court should they take the Senate in the future. They would have to increase the number of US Circuit Courts to add more justices to SCOTUS.
Waiting until after the election to make changes is a losing proposition. If DT were to win the election the opportunity for an expanded court would be lost. Do it now even if it is deemed to be political suicide.
The current Court is corrupt, intellectually lazy, and wedded to the notion that America is best ruled by and for the landed gentry. Attempted expansion now would almost certainly be thwarted by Sinema and/or Manchin, and the failure would inspire a potential Repugnican administration and senate to add even more incompetent reactionaries. Should we retain the Whitehouse and senate this fall, however, YES - four more seats ASAP! We can’t allow one branch to destroy democracy.
Republicans wouldn’t think twice to do it if the situation was reversed
Democrats need to capture Congress (house and senate) to change the Supreme Court.
IMO, since it is the Senate that approves the appointment of the Federal Judiciary and the House has nothing to say. He that giveth, may also taketh away. And a Democratic senate can remove, with impeachment, a federal judge.
Call it revocation of appointment.
Of course that requires Complete democratic control of the Senate and revocation of the filibuster
Would Biden appoint Donald loving Garland to the Supreme Court then?
Don’t forget that in 1934 a plot to overthrow FDR was exposed by Marine Major General Butler, who revealed a plot to take over our government with a coup led by those industrialists. The ceo of General Motors was one
A fascinating history. As for our era, this MUST happen, and soon. At this point it is not a matter of age. There is enough evidence of election tampering in 2016 that should invalidate the Trump/ McConnell appointments.
The world has become too complex for just nine. It should be 13, one for each circuit.
I am not sure the Democrats have the strength to do it.
They need to gain control of both branches of the legislature with Biden still the president. Then, we can make them do it. We should make sure it is one of the major issues in the election now.
Big ask, Oldin theway, see my post above and this link https://ballotpedia.org/United_States_Senate_elections,_2024
The Senate stands in the way, unless in Red states, the Democrats make abortion a major issue.
Annabel, strength is in numbers it takes a 3/5th Majority to over ride the filibuster and to kill it.
The Democratic party currently hold 48 seats,
Eight Senators are not seeking re election, five are Democrats, 2 Republican and one independent
Mike Braun of Indiana, Republican is running for Governor
All of the states that are Solid Republican or Democrat at the moment are safe Republican and Democrat with the following exceptions
Arizona leans Democrat
Florida is likely Republican
Maine liklely independent (caucuses with who?)
Michigan leans Democrat (except for the Muslims who threaten to sit out the election)
Montana (Testors seat) is a toss up
Nevada leans Democrat
Ohio is a toss up (Sheldon Whitehouse)
Pennsylvania leans Democrat (same problem as Michigan compounded by young black males)
Texas likely Republican
Vermont independent, hopefully caucuses with the Democrats
Wisconsin leans Democrat
If Democrats take all of the likely and leaning states and the independents caucus with them
that brings the total Senate Democratic population of Senators to maybe 52, no where near the 60 needed to recall a Federal judge or appoint more judges to SCOTUS
https://ballotpedia.org/United_States_Senate_elections,_2024
Despite what you say, we have the capacity to sweep. Expand the base. 13 million potential unregistered Democrats.
https://www.fieldteam6.org/mission
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DVUsBHUBvS8
The polls are premature at best. Think Hopium. https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/biden-2024-election-polls-strong-rcna130507?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
Well, that’s depressing to hear! ☹️
What that means is the DNC, DSCC, DCCC and Biden campaign are going to have to work better,no more of this Third Way and DLC bullshit We have to make inroads into the south, and choice, women';s issues are the key, The Right may have a lip lock on the Evangelical and right wing fascists, but they are not the entire south, and women will vote for choice and Dems are going to have to get serious and deliver this time, if they win, on women, POC, and Queer issues, no more lip service.
The rules of the Senate are set at the beginning of each session, and they require only majority vote. Among the rules to be considered is the validity of the filibuster.
At the beginning of the next session in January, 2025, the filibuster can be eliminated.
Thanks Dick, and my next (rhetorical question) Why hasn't Schumer changed the rules.?
I know the answer, yellow streak.
I struggle to define a different answer.
Thanks for the history lesson Thom. I never realized how hard it was for FDR to pass the New deal and all of the progressive legislation that makes this country livable and barely civilized!
The evangelicals think they have it bad now, wait until Donald tanks the entire economy. Somehow I don't think they are going to adjust to starvation very gracefully. It gets old always keeping the right wingers from creating another failed third world catastrophe! Their minds do not work properly. It is like we are the lifeguard and there's thousands of swimmers drowning and they need us to save them while they are biting the hands that feeds them!
Thanks for the history. The comparison is similar in some ways, but in many others the current court is more flawed. The old men in the ’30s were men who represented the all-business attitudes of the previous decades. The 6 extreme members today were nominated and confirmed in a very questionable manner. They have openly taken large payments from individuals and groups that want something in return, or who are paying to reward what they have gotten. Also, this current court has ventured into areas that never concerned the court, religion, sexual activity, women’s rights, LBGTQ rights, voting rights,, and now are protecting a criminal who they like from prosecution. This court has become as big a threat to American freedom and democracy as Trump is, but they hold much more power, and the are in a position where it is very difficult to challenge them. This has allowed them to become isolated, arrogant, extreme, and corrupt, and they flaunt it.
Time for a 1789 or 1917 style revolution. Oldaninthe way
I'd like to start with a National Columbia University type movement where we the 250,000 people to surround the Supreme Court and peacefully shut them down until at least three of the five men resign. I wouldn't do this if Trump was President, as he would shoot half of the people there. Anyway, I don't have the organizational skills of Bayard Rustin.
I am old and a former 1960s demonstrator whose peers went to jail while being less than peacefully beaten up by the authorities. There is nothing peaceful about these vandals and Hamas supporting people with their terrorist headbands, masked faces, and Islamic Jihadist ambitions for this country. When I see a Hamas flag flying on American soil, I am more than a little upset about my democracy.
I've been watching quite a bit of coverage, and I don't think i've seen the Hamas flag in the demonstrations: only the Palestinian flag from the 1920's. Hamas flag would be solid green with a white inscription in the middle, or apparently a white flag with an "emblem of Hamas" in the middle. I understand Hamas started the catastrophe, but how many dead satisfy eye for eye, etc? The State of Israel (strictly differentiated from Jews as race or religion) has harvested at least a thousand for every one. If you had a bad relative who your family had nothing to do with, who killed the wrong victim, and that victim's connections first surrounded your town so there was no escape, and then bombed everything within: no water, no toilets, etc. and commenced to kill until they figured their revenge had been at least 1,000 to 1, would that be justice to you?
LOL. you need very dedicated and rotating protesters, they will be carted away, but you need others to fill their ranks, Think of it as belt fed ammunition.
That’s what happened in the Children s March in Birmingham while MLK was in jail writing his famous letter. Some of the kids would run to get arrested half an hour after being released. It took a week but then the city caved and let Black people vote— the right this Court is taking away.
I agree that Hamas always used terrible terrorists methods to oppose Israel. They are guilty of not caring how many Palestinians die. People are and should be protesting against their existence. However, there are neo-nazi groups in America that parade around under swastikas. This is just as reprehensible but it is considered protected speech in America. The real problem is that both Israel and Hamas continue to kill innocent people with no possibility of resolution. This is cruel and crazy on both sides. These are both crimes against humanity. I protest against both of them.
The other thing to do, if the Dems carry the House and not the Senate is to impeach Thomas and Alito for abuse of power, corruption, and breaking their oath to support and not overthrow the Constitution. There is more proof for that that the Repubs ever had against Biden. Unless the Dems hold the Senate and get rid of the filibuster they would never be convicted, but it would show the world how sleazy they are and maybe embarrass the ones over 70 to resign.
You left out the perjury committed by each and every one of the "conservative" candidates during their Senate confirmations.
They feel above the law since they have the power to make it. But not by us, the people. So, the electorate might surprise the pollsters. What worries me is the current extremes of both right and left and the apparent collusion of mainstream media and social media in just ginning up the collective conspiracy theories and paranoia. The stupidity of the manipulated, long-seed results of the Islamic propaganda campaigns driven by many operatives and university departments and hires over the years has resulted in a perfect storm of antisemitism. The Supreme Court of activist fascists needs to be replaced if we are expected to have any respect left for the decisions they are making over our lives.
Rebalance is the term to use, not pack! The amoral orange creature packed the court with right wing extremists as side kicks to Thomas and Sammy a both US Constitutional illiterates!
Rebalance the court to reflect gender, race, and religious affiliation demographics! Perhaps we need a good old fashioned atheist on the court!
Rebalance to diffuse the stench emanating from the right wing 6!
The only way to do that is when a Justice dies, or retires. Most it seems prefer to die on the bench. RBG is lionized by liberals, but it is because she wouldn't retire when Obama was in office, that we got a Gorsuch, when she died in office we got ACB
I think she believed Hillary would be elected and it would have a certain appeal for her to retire under the first female president. I also think she regretted that decision.
Yeh, we will never know what is in somebody else's mind, all we can do is project.
Never gamble on hope and expectations, only on a sure thing.
But Gambling is not and has not been one of my addictions.
In a way, it's sad that the harmful, hypocritical and gaslighting wrong-think of the Supreme majority can be conflated with Catholicism. Per The Catholic times 2023, 18.7% of the US population identify as Catholic. (Wiki has it at 23%) Six out of 9 Supreme Court makes it 66.66666...% (Pew Research calls Sotomayor a "liberal Catholic;" not sure how to figure that in.)
What is unfortunate is that Obama lacked the guts to force through the appointment of a Supreme Court nominee and rolled over for the Republicans. This was as much a turning point as when the Supreme Court justices decided to halt the vote recount in Florida and gifted the presidency to GW Bush.
The core of the problem is the activist decisions by the Supreme Court that violate the Constitution, including the separation of religion from the state.
I am not so sure that anything would have been different if Garland had been appointed.
All evidence is that he too is a right winger. vetted by Orrin Hatch to Obama, an employee of the Federalist Society as a moderator, and he didn't even open an investigation into Trump and J6, for almost two years and then only when under pressure by judicial peers, and the public, those that he did prosecute, most go off with a misdemeanor and a slap on the wrist, and he Garland DOJ is a hot house of Trump humpers, like David Weiss who is prosecuting Hunter.
Truth to suppositions and lies. Garland has been a disaster in his current position. I wish he would gum his way out of the administration so someone with teeth could bite some corrupted GOP ass.
In retrospect, I still can't figure out what happened with that. I gather there just isn't any set procedure for a President to go around the Senate. Obama would have had to just swear in Garland (already a craven compromise choice) and maybe make Mitch figure how to impeach him? But Obama never was much of a sh.... disturber....
An article some months ago offered what strikes me as a better alternative. Reduce the size of the court to seven, or even five. First in, first out: Buh-bye Thomas and Alito!
Kind of dangerous though. Might turn around to bite us in the future
That’s what a lot Dems always say. And what has “what about-ism” gotten us? Closer to a true democracy? Definitely not.
It’s gotten us closer to an authoritarian Christofascist oligarchy.
The handwringing and pearl-clutching MUST end. The GQP is ruthless and morally bankrupt. Protecting ourselves and our children is our duty.
There shouldn’t be any life-time appointments to ANYTHING.
It can be expanded in the future. The court has expanded and contracted over time, 11, 9, 7
It should be reflective of the demographics. We know that is different from what it is currently.
Should be, but will be's are two different things. Interesting thought.
How and who would determine demographics, by race, class, religion , education? Not enough seats.
Good thinking, should be easier to reduce the court than to expand it. Great idea. Wlliam
This Supreme Court ( the conservative contingent hired by the Heritage Foundation) exists to upend Democracy. They are an enthusiastically corrupt group who has not a whit of conscience or truth about them . They are blanket distorters of the Constitution they pretend to serve.
They are renegade disseminators of lies that serve only themselves and the very wealthiest in this country .
They are clearly onboard with authoritarianism.
The last session where they were to determine the question of immunity for Trumps criminal acts was pathetic.
They posed and fawned over many possible hypothetical scenarios that have not one thing to do with the question at hand . And their pretense was obvious to all.
They didn’t have the guts to deal with this as educated adults and playacted all kinds of nonsense theories apparently in an attempt to confuse us .
They made asses of their Supreme selves and it was clear to all Americans .
The court must be expanded , we cannot continue to allow these Justices who in a few cases replaced rightful nominations at the corrupt Republican hand of Mitch McConnell to roll over our Constitution and our Rights as Citizens.
They gone way too far over the line .
Federalist Society Pat. It is the Federalist society that vetts federal judges. The Heritage Foundation is a fascist think tank, that is devoted to fascist policies like Project 2025.
I think they are also Fascists. All of their relatively recent decisions smack of fascism to me . However your point is noted.
They are all fascists. All I was doing was trying to tell you that it was the fascist Federalist society that vets judicial nominees and the fascist Heritage foundation that floats policies and program.s
Fascism as Mussolni envisioned it was a corporate state, headed by a strong man dictator.
Religions are sectarian corporations, not necessarily in the American legal sense of a legally founded charter, but corporations of a group of resources united by a single directive of power and control.
Before there were corporations, people (who were called adventurers) pooled their resources to achieve an objective, and then used human resources to achieve those objectives. In England it was called a joint stock company, and was always enfranchised by the sovereign or ultimate authority.
And thatis also the story of religions, they are always started by some dude with a big idea, which he then peddles to others who get on board, because it sounds like a good deal and is profitable, not necessarily financially, but money is only used as a tool to obtain power, and with power you have access to resources, especially human labor.
Control of people is control of their labor, and there labor is then used to protect your position, enhance your social status, and provide you access to all you want or think you need.
Ideology is the perfect tool to control and use the labor of others, even have them risk their health,life and future.
Ideology is both sectarian and secular, though we are taught and told to think of religion as a higher from than ideology. But it isn't.
I agree Patricia they most certainly are Fascists in their values and politics
Yes , thanks . Not to mention they’ve done tremendous damage to most Americans . And continue to do so .
I love the way nobody even mentions the American Bar Association! Who woulda thought they'd be no 'count atall?!
Mmerose I don't get what you are saying about the ABA being No count at all.
The ABA is a non profit and it's members come in every conceivable, gender, color and persusasion (sectarian and secular,
Here is a link to their Nov 22 position on ABA Support for S. 4573 - Electoral Count Reform and Presidential Transition Improvement Act
I wasn't dissing them. The context was a bunch of discussion about confirming supreme Court justices, and I was taking note that nobody even mentioned the ABA.
Understood I wasn't thinking that you were dissing anyone, Just couldn't make the connection with the ABA. Anyone that can pass the bar exam can join the ABA. But it is almost impossible to disbar someone. Same with the AMA. Professional Unions take care of their own, because everyone has dirt on their hands.
Some of us remember another historic SCOTUS-rigging episode, back in 1981. That was just a few years after Justice Powell's Memo and its call-to-action to create an Activist Court. Its importance in getting America to this crisis point is also greatly important, and demands the firm remedy of Term Limits.
It was a scary time to see the racist traitor Reagan surge into power. Reagan had no mandate for anything except his "No negotiations with terrorists" mantra. But anyone could see he was determined to inflict "neoliberalism" on the country. I and likely many others quickly became wary of anyone who enabled this, like SCOTUS justices.
Justice Potter Stewart, appointed by Eisenhower in 1958 *could* have easily resigned during Carter's term. Twenty plus years on the bench seems like a "lifetime" already. Instead he waited until only a few months after Reagan's inauguration to resign. Reagan appointed Sandra Day O'Conner, garnering accolades for the first appointment of a woman to the bench. I thought Stewart's resignation signaled something more sinister and crooked going on, and that there was a hidden agenda afoot to reshape America, assisted by a rigged SCOTUS. Meanwhile no one talked about SCOTUS term limits back in that period.
When O'Conner wanted to resign 19 years later, it appeared to many that Al Gore would be the president and would replace justices leaving the bench starting in 2001. She was open about being appalled at that possible outcome proclaiming, "This is terrible", and that she "wanted to resign under a Republican president." She and 4 other Republican appointed justices made sure she got her wish. SCOTUS completely ignored and disrespected the American citizens' right to vote and have their vote counted correctly in the final tabulation, and inflicted Bush on America in 2000. Her seat on the bench went to Sam Alito, one of the most corrupt partisan zealots to serve on the court. A bonus for Republicans was getting Umpire Roberts to replace Rehnquist.
Consider - had there been Term Limits of 18 years for SCOTUS justices, she would have been automatically term limited off the bench during the Clinton administration. Perhaps Thomas too, as well as others before them including Stewart.
We could have had a very different and better country today.
There are at least two bills in Congress that attempt to legislate term limits and create a biennial nomination process. Senator Whitehouse and Representative Khanna are authors, and the bills are a decent *Starting Point* for dealing with this type of rigging. This rigging is a form of Cheating, it is corrupt, and needs to be stopped immediately, or at least as soon as the legislation is passed.
The courts HAVE been packed---by The Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies. And what they have been studying is how to enshrine the old ways and how to stymie any movement along the lines of human rights. They do not give a damn about the law.
Ideally our judges would leave their political beliefs at the door. When the robe goes on, they are paid to apply equal justice under the laws and determine the intent of some laws. It's a JOB.
If they didn't lie to get the job, if they stuck to application and intent, we wouldn't care what their party was, because the rest of the responsibility would belong to Congress as prescribed by the The Constitution.
So much for having any romantic idea about the titles Your Honor or Justice and young law students in love with the law. What these ideologues have done to create bias in our judicial system should be a crime.
Glad to learn of this piece of scotus history.
FDR, who created the middle class, was a warrior unpararelled in the history of our presidents. Just wonder if many see Biden as receiving FDR's paton. Biden's history with SCOTUS has been surprisingly obtuse. Chairing the committee in the Anita Hill/Thomas inquiry, Biden calmly heard testimony from Thomas's advocates, and rudely closed the hearing, denying all witnesses for Hill to say anything in support of Hill. This ensured Thomas's appointment to the highest bench. Thomas! Later Biden could have offered up any of many outstanding legal liberals to be appointed to the high court, chose remarckably to appoint the ubermild, perennaly self'muted, chronic dweller of back stage hide-outs, Merrick Garland. He was not nazi enough for the howling banshees, and was defeated with a quick ruse. Biden then appointed Garland to be attorney general, again out of numerous liberal possible choices. I judge Biden by his historical political actions, not by his condescending, one-liner sarcasms. I do not see Biden making any effort to take on the corrupt, undemocratic SCOTUS. Not in the slightest.
I offer a minor correction: it was Obama who nominated Garland for SCOTUS, but I certainly concur with the rest of your sentiment!
It is hard for me to be a booster for Biden because of Anita Hill and Thomas' legacy. He is a corporate democratic whom we can thank for the credit card interest we have had to pay over long years, among other things. Despite Wall Street's earnings, people in this country need help putting food on the table and finding reasonable rent. Inflation is supposed to be under control, but I do not see it daily at the supermarket or most other places where consumers in the middle class purchase milk over $7 00 in my Key Food and Eggs, Avocados, etc. My food prices on a fixed retiree income have doubled. I live in a coop in NY, and our maintenance for water, electricity, and everything else has increased 25% plus with special assessments for city-mandated services. No one with a fixed income can keep up, and SS certainly does not fill the gap. Medicare is a give with one hand, take away with the other. As for the American Rust Belt, they are angry beyond description and have no place to go. And the brain-fogged privileged demonstraters flying the Hamas flags on American soil are not peaceful and nothing like what my peers and I were like in 1968. I fear for the convention rife with operatives.
Now, I haven't gone back to research this, but as a 12-year-old in the early 1950s, I read an article in the Reader's Digest about a plot by the Roman Catholic Christophers organization to take over political control of the U.S. I believed it then, and I believe it now. The Pope doesn't care about Democracy, he's a theocrat. His desciples in the Republican Party are carrying out the plan as we speak. Leonard Leo, C. Thomas, A. Scalia, and host of others are actively undermining this country.
Seven of the justices are Catholics, six of the seven are trad rad extremists. There is a glimmer of hope that ACB is coming to her senses and wakes up and realizes that she is being used by male supremacists, and that she has been brainwashed.
A number of justices that were conservative when appointed to the bench, did a 180 once they were no longer indebted to and held hostage by the money powers.
However the rich like Harlan Crow and Paul Singer have found it easier to buy them once on the bench.
It seems there isn't anyone that money can't buy., after all it buys the labor and loyalty of men who risk black lung and death from falling rocks, or cancer from benzine and other chemicals spewed by refineries.
I would not count on her doing anything her hubby and sponsors do not dictate. She is such a good handmaiden.
The 2025 Judiciary Readjustment Act has only two sentences: "The number of United States Supreme Court justices shall be equal to the number of United States Circuit Courts of Appeal. The number of United States Circuit Courts of Appeal shall be an odd number." As there are now 13 US Circuit Courts of Appeal, this gives us 13 SCOTUS justices. Obviously, the filibuster has to be reformed or eliminated. Reforming the filibuster should not require a super-majority - it can be done by a simple majority vote. The reform is to eliminate the requirement for 60 votes to bring cloture to a bill. Instead, the minority party calling the filibuster must maintain 41 senators on the Senate floor at all times - failure to do that allows the Senate Majority Leader to call for a cloture vote, decided by a simple majority of those present. In addition, all debate must be limited to the bill in question - any attempts to read "Green Eggs and Ham" into the Federal Record will trigger a cloture vote immediately.
Judiciary Act of 2021?
The intent is the same of course. I developed my "2025 Act" to eliminate the possibility of Republicans "repacking" the Court should they take the Senate in the future. They would have to increase the number of US Circuit Courts to add more justices to SCOTUS.
Waiting until after the election to make changes is a losing proposition. If DT were to win the election the opportunity for an expanded court would be lost. Do it now even if it is deemed to be political suicide.