AMERICAblog: Supreme Court: "the coming presidential election will determine its future path"
Savage8862
· 1 year ago
This is my number one issue for the upcoming election. This court must not be allowed to shift permanently to the right. McCain cannot be allowed to win the White House. This has far reaching consequences, more so than the Iraq War, nationalized health care, economy, etc.
rextrek1
· 1 year ago
..and the Traitorous LCR's..don't give a shit..as long as those selfish bastards get thier Tax breaks,and don't have to serve in the military..they're happy to toss the LGBT community in the path of Right wing bigots.
DavidinChelseaMA
· 1 year ago
Savage, you couldn't be more correct. This is IT, folks. This is the whole shebang. The court will either stay reasonably safe with Obama appointments, and also begin the process of moving away from a conservative semi-stranglehold, or it will, under McCain, become a complete right-wing hell for those of us who care about our rights.
dad
· 1 year ago
there is only a brief moment in which we can correct the course.
that time is now.
Indigo
· 1 year ago
I doubt that the court would shift "permanently" to the right. Permanently is an awfully long time. For a decade or two, perhaps, but that's been the recent past. Once upon a time, the court had the right wingers alarmed because it had shifted "permanently" to the left. That was so dangerous to the mind set of the right wingers that they hired a second-rate actor to play the role of president and read the script they wrote.
He gave a convincing performance although Alzheimer's claimed him before he could get get the Oscar. I'm pretty sure Reaganism is part of the past, now, although a few dottering old women and men cling to it, but the court is not in danger. Unless McCain actually sweeps into the Oval Office on a cloud of misread ballots. Then there's a problem.
If history flows smoothly and Obama is inaugurated, the transition to a balanced court is likely to proceed on an even keel. What could be more distressing to the right wing than a balanced court? Prepare for an onslaught of slander and libel from the Reich.
jr
· 1 year ago
"appoint exorcists"-Bobby Jindal to McCombover
dad
· 1 year ago
"Bobby" Jindal can speak dangerously well. veep?
Houndentenor
· 1 year ago
The mostly likely justices to step down in the next term are Stevens and Ginsberg. That means that Obama's appointees will probably do nothing more than maintain the status quo. It also means that McCain's nominees would shift the court way to the right. Permanent? No. But precedents are rarely overturned by the Supremes so we would be stuck with the Scalia type decisions for a few generations. I don't think people actually understand what the right wing elimination of the right to privacy would mean in all areas of their lives. And I'm afraid that they would only find out after it was too late to do anything about it.
dad
· 1 year ago
the next appointments will be permanent to my life.
Indigo
· 1 year ago
I understand that and at the age of 67 I share that likelihood. I just don't see a conservative sweep in November happening and I'm not worried. Maybe I should be, but I'm not.
mirth
· 1 year ago
The Constitution does not specify the number of justices on the Supreme Court, leaving the issue to Congress. And Justices can be impeached by Congress.
Yes, of course it is important who will appoint the next SC judges (altho who will appoint Appeals judges and District Court judges is even more important), but it is our votes for Congress that are crucial.
To believe that a bad appointment can stand is an example of a dumbed-down populace unaware of or rejecting of their power to force our political leaders to act in the best interests of the country.
Bostonian_Queer_in_Dallas
· 1 year ago
More than any other branch of government, the SCOTUS affects ALL of us every day of the week. And because American education has all but eliminated civics courses, most of the nation is totally clueless about what can happen if McSame is elected. Bush did enough damage these 8 years with Roberts' court. If Obama is NOT elected, this nation will look like 1952 within a couple of years from abortion rights, to civil rights, to big business running us all into the toilet. This election is critical to the future of America and possibly the entire world...global warming.
lynchie
· 1 year ago
Here is some interesting reading on Salon.com today.
I just don't get how not being a Liberal and following the tenets of Liberalism are seen as so bad by our own Democratic representatives. We continue to move to the right and get nowhere. this was evident under Clinton who got elected not because he was centrist but because Americans couldn't stand the illegal activities of the Regan/Bush years. In all 235 Regan Bush folks were indicted, resigned and or went to jail. We are in the same era. We need to encourage Senator Obama to follow the liberal views that gave us Social Security, Unemployment Insurance, Minimum wage, etc. Without these we would all be eating mouldy bread and water.
Hangtown Danile
· 1 year ago
"There is no precise standard for determining whether a justice has committed an impeachable offense, though the consensus is that removal should be for criminal or ethical lapses, not for partisan political reasons." Not that this would matter.... Being against the National Progressive Movement should be grounds for Impeachment...
brian
· 1 year ago
Issues are rarely black and white, though most Republicans and Democrats see it that way. If Republicans want to end abortions, then they need to help with the root cause of woman seeking one. However, underlying the main issue is a myriad of social and economical issues that they do not want to address.
The same goes for the Democrats. While I agree with most of the social programs that are in place, there needs to be more incentive for people to help improve their situation, if possible.
There are always exception to the rules, but I would rather have a society that takes care of each other than the Republican vision of every man for itself.
KeithNovo
· 1 year ago
What liberals? Thurgood Marshall was the last one even close! William O Douglas and Hugo Black would be on the floor laughing, for calling the four moderates "liberals". Besides, liberal Republican is an oxymoron. This Court has been leaning to the right since Nixon placed his Gang of Four on it by 1972. The god Reagan only pushed it a little further. I'd like to see some real liberals to balance out the two reactionaries and Schrub's two picks. Right now, there are four moderates, one conservative, and possibly four reactionaries on the Supreme Court. Let's not get into "activist judges" because five of them just defined the Second and incorporated it against the states. They also overruled limits on spending for campaigns. George F Will is besides himself.
Indigo
· 1 year ago
There have been no "real liberals" since FDR. We'll have to make do with what we have.
OlderAndWiser
· 1 year ago
Of course, this is probably the most important issue in the election. I don't, however, want to see any more chinks in the Obama armor. He needs to tack left again and stop mollifying the rightwing.
Why the new wiretap law is more dangerous than you think:
How is two liberal appointees to seven conservative appointees "roughly balanced"? So sick of these mendacious asshat reporters. It's been stacked like that for most of my life, this is not a new thing, but somehow, the clowns in the MSM still can't wrap their small minds around something so goddamn simple.
AMEN, BROTHER! Wanted to say the same thing. The reporters are indeed asshats!
Also, where are the reporters and their stories about how the Supreme Court handed THEMSELVES ultra-conservative Alito and Roberts as their colleagues by selecting Dubya as President?!!?
vkobaya
· 1 year ago
No, no! You still don't get it yet. If the justices are honest, decent men who love our Constitution and Bill of Rights, then they are dangerous, evil, hateful, terrorist-supporting liberals.
kirkaracha
· 1 year ago
All of the moderate-to-liberal justices are over retirement age. Roberts is 53. Alito is 58. Thomas is 59. Souter is 68. Breyer is 69. Kennedy is 71. Scalia is 72. Ginsburg is 75. Stevens is 88.
McCain says that Alito and Roberts "would serve as the model for my own nominees."
vkobaya
· 1 year ago
the coming presidential election will determine its future path
Yep! Will determine whether the world returns to cannibalism, head hunting and human sacrifice or whether we remain civilized, educated and continue to wear clothes instead of animal skins.
cambridge1246
· 1 year ago
Isn't the fact that having a majority of dems elected to the senate, (rather than what there is now), could stop any McCain appointee that was too extreme? Any one McCain suggested would still have to go through the hearing process in the senate and with a majority there, could be stopped dead with no chance of being appointed?
All Comments
that time is now.
He gave a convincing performance although Alzheimer's claimed him before he could get get the Oscar. I'm pretty sure Reaganism is part of the past, now, although a few dottering old women and men cling to it, but the court is not in danger. Unless McCain actually sweeps into the Oval Office on a cloud of misread ballots. Then there's a problem.
If history flows smoothly and Obama is inaugurated, the transition to a balanced court is likely to proceed on an even keel. What could be more distressing to the right wing than a balanced court? Prepare for an onslaught of slander and libel from the Reich.
veep?
http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761574302_2...
Yes, of course it is important who will appoint the next SC judges (altho who will appoint Appeals judges and District Court judges is even more important), but it is our votes for Congress that are crucial.
To believe that a bad appointment can stand is an example of a dumbed-down populace unaware of or rejecting of their power to force our political leaders to act in the best interests of the country.
http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/06/...
Beyond its obsolescence, this "move-to-the-center" cliché ignores the extraordinary political climate prevailing in this country, in which more than 8 out of 10 Americans believe the Government is fundamentally on the wrong track and the current President is one of the most unpopular in American history, if not the most unpopular. The very idea that Bush/Cheney policies are the "center," or that one must move towards their approach in order to succeed, ignores the extreme shifts in public opinion generally regarding how our country has been governed over the last seven years.
I just don't get how not being a Liberal and following the tenets of Liberalism are seen as so bad by our own Democratic representatives. We continue to move to the right and get nowhere. this was evident under Clinton who got elected not because he was centrist but because Americans couldn't stand the illegal activities of the Regan/Bush years. In all 235 Regan Bush folks were indicted, resigned and or went to jail. We are in the same era. We need to encourage Senator Obama to follow the liberal views that gave us Social Security, Unemployment Insurance, Minimum wage, etc. Without these we would all be eating mouldy bread and water.
Not that this would matter....
Being against the National Progressive Movement should be grounds for Impeachment...
The same goes for the Democrats. While I agree with most of the social programs that are in place, there needs to be more incentive for people to help improve their situation, if possible.
There are always exception to the rules, but I would rather have a society that takes care of each other than the Republican vision of every man for itself.
Why the new wiretap law is more dangerous than you think:
http://www.slate.com/id/2194254/pagenum/all/
So sick of these mendacious asshat reporters.
It's been stacked like that for most of my life, this is not a new thing, but somehow, the clowns in the MSM still can't wrap their small minds around something so goddamn simple.
7 conservative Republican appointees.
2 "liberal" Democratic appointees.
There is nothing remotely balanced about that.
Also, where are the reporters and their stories about how the Supreme Court handed THEMSELVES ultra-conservative Alito and Roberts as their colleagues by selecting Dubya as President?!!?
McCain says that Alito and Roberts "would serve as the model for my own nominees."
Yep! Will determine whether the world returns to cannibalism, head hunting and human sacrifice or whether we remain civilized, educated and continue to wear clothes instead of animal skins.