To Rein in the Courts

The Dec 30, 1922 issue of Time reported that “Battling Bob” (Robert La Follette) had authored a proposal to reign in the reactionary Supreme Court. He wanted a Constitutional Amendment that would allow Congress to overrule the Court just as it had the power to defeat a presidential veto. Other remedies for judicial tyranny that were suggested included making positions on the bench elected, allowing the public to vote to reverse rulings, or allowing the public the right of recall.

As America is once again threatened by the possibility of a reactionary judiciary, channeling the ‘original thoughts’ of long dead legislators, presumably through satanic seances, what should we the people do ?

Share

87 thoughts on “To Rein in the Courts”

  2. James Carville was just on MSNBC and it reminded me that Mary Matalin hasn’t been heard from in ages.  Does anyone know if she has been ill?

     

  4.  Before 1860  everyone of those old white men  on the court  was a slave holder , with the except of 2 or 3.

  5. Big brain Brett is probably susceptible to some serious scrutiny over possible extra-legal activity involving his bills being paid, his kid In that bank, and justice Kennedy’s sudden retirement.
     

  6. Jamie –
    Where is  Ann Coulter ? 
     
    I think  she’s smokin’ meth in some bordello .

  8. This contest is killing Joe Biden , and it could put Pence  in the ICU . Trump’s  head may explode. 
    Hello President Harris. 

  10. Amy is THE  climax  of the right . 
    A  entire plan  over  50 years  to “Pack the Courts” .
    They won , get over it. 
    And Trump packed  way down the bench. 

  14. Well we are at the peak here , nothing like before.  And gaining speed, 
    By next Tuesday  , the Trump plan may run into a lockdown. 

  17. James Carville: “I’m really bullish on Texas. If we can drive turnout like I think we can in Texas I think we can get this thing across the finish line. I really do.” (MSNBC)

  20. TX is going blue.  Bloomberg is helping out.   Cornyn is toast and MJ’s ads like to show him next to Yertle and tRUMP.  
    Any Senator who doesn’t vote to block Amy Phony Barrett will have a legacy of taking healthcare away from Americans during a pandemic.
    Flip the Senate!  No more filibuster! Biden/Harris!  Pack the courts!
     

  21. Old Man, Winter has arrived!
     
    JarJar just basically called black folks lazy.  They aren’t getting ahead because they haven’t taken advantage of…? (sigh)  Yep, one night on Rikers… 

  23. A Lot of people are crawling across gym floors tonight. 
     
    I am so proud  to be an American, and to live to say it . 
    We are about bury  the last 2 centuries. 
    Everyone feels  this. 

    It won’t be easy, but it never has been.

  25. Here we go. ONEe of those hideous thing trumpity can do. *shudders*
     

    Trump issues sweeping order for tens of thousands of career federal employees to lose civil service protections
    It’s an executive order.  
    “Federal scientists, attorneys, regulators, public health experts and many others in senior roles would lose rights to due process and in some cases, union representation, at agencies across the government…change could strip due process rights and protections from more than 100,000 employees.” They’re supposed to be, a cadre of subject-matter experts for every administration….”

    “It’s an attempt to redefine the civil service as a political arm of the presidency rather than public servants who work for the American people,” “

    He’s weakening federal unions & imposing faster punishments. Further, “This could be used to put a whole bunch of Trump loyalists in place, Loeb said, making it messy for a Biden team to fire them..”

    The SECOND thing it can do, “It’s an attempt to redefine the civil service as a political arm of the presidency rather than public servants who work for the American people,”  So that if he wins, it’s a dictator kinda thing! He’s not smart enough to think this stuff up. Undoubtably, there’s the coven of witches brewing up all kinds of noxious stuff to favor his dictatorship.  This would give him even more power. They won’t finish the impeachment. Now there’s no one to stop him. No one to stop his super spreaders, even. 

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-order-federal-civil-service/2020/10/22/c73783f0-1481-11eb-bc10-40b25382f1be_story.html

     

  26. OK , let’s set this , No one is sitting on their ass on this thing .  We’re all coming . 
     

  27. Craig
    I really appreciate your political insights! It makes me feel good. The polls are good but I’m so glad you have good feelings about a Biden/Harris win.😍

     
    Click to Edit

  29. maybe this was what deutch was talking about (considering the latest jared announcement of that new trump media outlet)

  30. Tony…I have always enjoyed politics – not so much in recent years…Almost all political commentary lacks a sense of humor…This place has often been an exception…I turned in my ballot last week and was notified by text that my ballot arrived and is being prepared for counting…🇺🇸

  33. Hi OD
    Yes, spot on! I have friends in Gresham and they are from Florida. They love Oregon’s voting system. Texts take the work out of things. So glad to see you here! 

  36. OK, so trumpity tv will compete with fox. At $6.99 or whatever, will his basket of deplorables spring for that just to hear him rant and talk treason?  I doubt that he’ll be making a $billion like Deutsch said. Reminds me of trumpity U. And ya know what happened to that. 

  38. I looked up Donny Deutsch. He’s from Queens, wen to Wharton in Philly, and joined his father’s business.  But he says he’s a Dem and a feminist. 

  40. Trump in  Omaha in  the last week looking for one vote  in the EC. 
     
    This is not the move of a winning effort.   This is a fight in the gondola  of the  Zeppelin as a  the electrical storm drives in to the ground. 
     

  44. If Amy is an “Originalist”, then she should  resign  & Thomas ‘s votes are worth  3/5 ‘s .
    Let’s gut this fiction  like the dead crap that it is !
     A set  of wing nut myths  baked  in wing nut  ovens  with classy names, 

  45. He had to go to Nebraska after Sasse ~leaked~ his own phone call.  As he told the idiots in Eerie, I wouldn’t be here with you unless I had to be here, because you disgust me but I need you.  
    tRUMP’s media could also just be a more focused propaganda arm of a second term.  Faux Noise will be in his dust bin. 
    It ain’t over until it’s over.  
    Will he and JarJar and the rest of the tRUMPsky crime syndicate get tRUMP teevee in prison?

    That’s why I don’t buy it. He knows prison awaits, so tanking his campaign on a media prospect makes no sense.

  49. The 52 Senators who committed this atrocity WILL have hell to pay.  Considering how old most of them are, they have 10 to 15 years left in Earth, tops. May they be scorned and cursed the rest of their days, as millions lose healthcare or will no longer be able to afford it due to pre-existing conditions like having tested positive for COVID.   The Republican Party is dead and they did it to themselves.

  51. Trump thinks another Supreme Court justice big political gain but it’s a net loss, igniting Democratic turnout while conservatives who got what they wanted decide he’s served his purpose, done with craziness. 

  53. So’s I goes home and spend an hour or two futzing in the kitchen then an hour bantering with Lp and Mrs P then zone out for another hour and miss an entire thread. Now I’m going to bed knowing that a constitutional originalist was ceremonially sworn in as a Supreme Court justice who when the Constitution was written would have been enslaved by the guys with the pens, and more to the point, ideas embodied in that document. Ordinarily I would celebrate that. Somehow that’s not the emotional state I find myself in. On that cheerful note, good night. 

  54. Not gonna publicize any links but my regular tour of right wing dark web sites reveals Obama’s recent pro-Biden speeches are sparking a resurgence of conspiracies about his birthplace. Only a matter of time before Trump gives them a wink and a nod. He’s already begun recently in rally speeches with repeated emphasis of Hussein when saying Barack HUSSEIN Obama.

  55. I’m all in favor of digging into brett kavanaugh’s gambling debts and associates – a fishing trip – to build a case for impeachment and removal. I’m also in favor of digging deeply into clarence’s past, to find a few more Anita Hills. Maybe the guy’s first wife has a few remarks to make on second review.

  56. as cbob said above “Democrats  will have to write better laws. “

    with the new scotus imbalance toward the hard right conservative/originalism it’s imperative that the congress gets its act together and repair the flaws the court had pointed to in the civil rights act, the campaign financing laws and the ACA when they struck out portions and weakened others.  ASAP before we lose more. 

    it’s not just a case of reining in the court, but also a case for making sure the court does not reign in the legislative branch’s realm.  

  58. upon flipping the senate, will the 1st step be scrapping the filibuster?   little will get done if mitch & his no nothings can still thwart what the majority wants done.

    also imperative that dems do not fall into a morass of internal power struggles right off the bat.  too much needs to be accomplished in that honeymoon period.

  59. the hill:

    Barrett spoke following the oath, thanking Trump and Senate leaders and emphasizing the need for judges to put aside their personal policy views.
    “It is the job of a senator to pursue her policy preferences. In fact, it would be a dereliction of duty for her to put policy goals aside. By contrast, it is the job of a judge to resist her policy preferences. It would be a dereliction of duty for her to give into them,” Barrett said.
    “The oath that I have solemnly taken tonight means at its core that I will do my job without any fear or favor, and that I will do so independently of both the political branches and of my own preferences,” she continued.

  60. The pendulum swing back will take a big big slice

     

  61. I like Donny Deutsch…  but I agree with BiD.  Trump isn’t trying to set up his next gig…  he knows the New York DA is itching to get at him.  He talks to “the red meat” because that’s what he does.  He’s just a one trick phony.

  63. Congress last set the number of Supreme Court Justices in 1869. They decided on 9 Justices because at that time there were 9 Circuit Courts and they made each Justice responsible for a single Circuit Court. There are now 13 Circuit Courts. We’ll remember this in 8 days.

     

  64. Jamie,  excellent point on how the number of justices was set.  13 is a nice number – that  would bring the court back to the equilibrium it has had (more or less) during the last 20 or so years – a rough ideological balance with one justice who often swung the balance on divisive cases.

  67. …literally had to quit drinking because it was killing me, and not slowly.  It’s gonna be a loooonnnggg week😭

  68. The Goopers tried to reduce the number of judges to five.   Last in first out I say

  69. I think kavanaugh is the low fruit. Pick off that sickly mass of addictions 1st, for lying to the Senate. That rash-like redness on his puss tells me that he’s sober in modest moderation.
     
    However, Ms Cracker may have charted a more swift course with Ms Justice Barrett.

  72. Never before have so many high-ranking staffers of an incumbent president opposed his reelection and endorsed his opponent.

  73. Former Trump voters realized that all along he was nothing but a 2-bit con man. Outspoken Trump critic Bruce Springsteen helps hammer the point home in this new take on an old classic.

  75. wapo:

    Ballrooms, candles and luxury cottages: During Trump’s term, millions of government and GOP dollars have flowed to his properties
    […]
    Since his first month in office, Trump has used his power to direct millions from U.S. taxpayers — and from his political supporters — into his own businesses. The Washington Post has sought to compile examples of this spending through open records requests and a lawsuit.
    In all, he has received at least $8.1 million from these two sources since he took office, those documents and publicly available records show.
    […]
    In addition, Trump’s campaign and fundraising committee paid $5.6 million to his companies since his inauguration in January 2017. Those payments — turning campaign donations into private revenue — continued even this year, as Trump fell behind in polls and his campaign ran short of money.

    The combined total of these payments was more than Trump’s hotels in Vancouver and Hawaii brought him during the same period, according to financial disclosures.

    [continues]

  78. $ 1.1 Bn?

    jarad will need to sell a lot of subscriptions to trump tv to cover that  and god knows what 1st daughter will have to hustle.   better start counting the WH silverware. 

  79. trumpcampco basing their whole election strat on one Biden misstatement in the debate.
     
    Of course, the theft of the election strategy is another matter.

  80. Time for the traditional closing days death watch news coverage, the Trump campaign is game over. Let the staff infighting, finger pointing, ass covering begin.

  81. It is all Melanoma’s fault because she wouldn’t hold hands with him  in public
    and refused to wear leather pants like Ivanker    

  82. And then from Wapo:

    Former U.S. attorneys — all Republicans — back Biden, saying Trump threatens ‘the rule of law’

    Twenty former U.S. attorneys — all of them Republicans — on Tuesday publicly called President Trump “a threat to the rule of law in our country,” and urged that he be replaced in November with his Democratic opponent, former vice president Joe Biden.

    “The President has clearly conveyed that he expects his Justice Department appointees and prosecutors to serve his personal and political interests,” said the former prosecutors in an open letter. They accused Trump of taking “action against those who have stood up for the interests of justice.”

    The letter, signed by prosecutors appointed by every GOP president from Eisenhower to Trump, is the latest instance of Republicans backing Biden. In August, dozens of GOP national security experts signed a full-page newspaper ad endorsing Biden over Trump.

    “He has politicized the Justice Department, dictating its priorities along political lines and breaking down the barrier that prior administrations had maintained between political and prosecutorial decision-making,” their letter says.

    The effort was organized initially by Ken Wainstein, a former U.S. attorney for Washington, D.C., who later served during the George W. Bush administration as assistant attorney general for national security.

    A spokesman for the Trump campaign dismissed the letter from the former prosecutors as arrogant and offensive, noting that it is Trump who has the support of police officers and their unions.

    “No one should be surprised establishment elitists are supporting Joe Biden,” Hogan Gidley said. In an emailed statement, he noted that the signers did not speak out “when Joe Biden promised to redirect funds away from police. I noticed their worry for politics wasn’t voiced when Joe Biden’s DOJ claimed to be a ‘wingman’ for the Administration, and I must have missed their unease for disunity when Biden refused to condemn his supporters for burning down churches, destroying businesses, and physically assaulting innocent Americans in the streets.”

    The letter is signed by former U.S. attorneys from Florida, Minnesota, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas and other states. One of the signers, Gregory Brower, a former U.S. attorney for Nevada, also served during the first years of the Trump administration as the FBI’s assistant director for congressional affairs.

    “I had an up-close view of how the President and the White House dealt with the Justice Department in recent years,” he said in an interview. “It’s clear that President Trump views the Justice Department and the FBI as his own personal law firm and investigative agency,” Brower said. “He made that clear privately — and publicly.”

    Brower and Wainstein said Trump has soiled the department’s prized attributes: independence and a commitment to equal justice under the law.The letter is signed by former U.S. attorneys from Florida, Minnesota, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas and other states. One of the signers, Gregory Brower, a former U.S. attorney for Nevada, also served during the first years of the Trump administration as the FBI’s assistant director for congressional affairs.

    “I had an up-close view of how the President and the White House dealt with the Justice Department in recent years,” he said in an interview. “It’s clear that President Trump views the Justice Department and the FBI as his own personal law firm and investigative agency,” Brower said. “He made that clear privately — and publicly.”

    Brower and Wainstein said Trump has soiled the department’s prized attributes: independence and a commitment to equal justice under the law.

    (Continues)

    Seems that people who’ve been tasked with keeping the country safe just don’t like D’ump.  I guess it could be because he undermines the structures put in place to keep us safe?

  84. I think there needs to be an active public group whose sole purpose is to get the Trump Supremes to quit A lincoln project to rid the court of Trump stink Phony Barrett must go. Her legal theories are entirely motivated by racism and religion.
    she must go

  85. Who is voting for Trump   We have to get rid of them too.  Where ever Trump goes he has to take his voters with him

  87. FWIW, on the Covid-19 front the top 20 states for hospitalized folks per 100K population are all states listed by RCP as Red, leaning red or tossup – and only 3 of those are toss ups.  11 of the bottom 12 are blue or tossup – with only one (PA) listed as a tossup.  Red states are better at putting their folks in the hospital with covid and blue states are better at keeping them out.  

Comments are closed.