SCOTUS and whatnot

[oblong]

When is she sworn in?

[Crazy Cat Gentleman]

36 minutes ago, chasfh said:

oh, he's exceptional, all right. just not in what most would consider to be any sort of positive way.

[gehringer_2]

25 minutes ago, Crazy Cat Gentleman said:

oh, he's exceptional, all right. just not in what most would consider to be any sort of positive way.

yeah - like "anyone would have a rational take on this case, except Thomas.

He's the judicial version of Boynton's Hippopotamus, except the consequences of where he would take the law if he could are not funny. 

Edited April 8, 2022 by gehringer_2

[pfife]

I love how the dudes that ushered through a rapist via a sham FBI investigation are calling someone else pedophiles based on no evidence of whatsoever.   Hillary was right they're deplorable.   If anything she understated them.

[buddha]

thomas was raised by a single mother one generation removed from slavery.  raised in extreme poverty as a child, he was eventually taken in by his grandparents after he was homeless for a while because his house burned down.  from there his grandparents got him into a local catholic school where he excelled enough to get accepted to catholic college.  he did not grow upnspeaking english so he decided to major in english in college and did so, doing well enough to get accepted into yale law school.

after graduating and failing to get a job at a white shoe law firm (because of racism), thomas went to work as an AG in missouri under soon to be senator danforth.  from there he spent a brief time in the corporate world before resuming a government career, moving to a few different agencies before heading up the eeoc.

from there he was appointed to the supreme court to replace the legendary but decrepit thurgood marshall.  unlike marshall, thomas doesnt believe in affirmative action or abortion rights, so he received little support from liberals.  the anita hill controversy made his nomination even more controversial.  he passed a democratic controlled senate 52-48.

since then, he's been one of the most influential justices in recent court history.  the "originalism" constitutional analysis and the adherence to strict construction of interpreting statutes has become mainstream in conservative legal circles and is now the dominant legal theory on the court.  it was not when thomas got there and the use of outside documents and sources to interpret the law (legislative history, etc) was much more prominant.

thomas is also one of the best writers on the court.  he is brief and concise and, unlike scalia, his opinions are easy to read, explain, and much more pleasant and largely free of the pot shots scalia threw in to his political adversaries.

from abject poverty and homelessness, a non-english speaking grandson of southern slaves who was raised without running water in his home rose to go to yale law school and become a justice on the supreme court.

thomas may be THE most exceptional member on the current supreme court.

[buddha]

kentaji brown was born in dc but moved to miami.  she was the daughter of a lawyer and a school administrator.  she attended one of the best high schools in the miami area (the same school as jeff bezos) before being accepted to harvard, where she excelled.  she then went to harvard law school.  after graduating from harvard, she clerked for three judges (including stephen breyer) and spent a year doing corporate work at one of the most prestigious law firms in boston.

she then spent three more years in corporate private practice before working going to work as an assistant federal public defender in DC (as an fyi to you non lawyers, an assistant federal PD is a prestigious and well paid position, she was not slumming it as a poorly paid county public defender).  she was appointed by obama to the federal sentencing guideline commission.  from there she went back to corporate work at one of the biggest and most successful corporate firms in america doing appellate work.

in 2012 she was appointed a district court judge.  in 2021 she was appointed to the dc circuit court of appeals by biden as a precursor for a supreme court.

like all the members of the supteme court, she has had an exceptional career and is well qualified to sit on the highest court in america.  

[buddha]

sotomayor is probably closest to thomas in their upbringing, coming from working class bronx to princeton and then yale.

unlike thomas, sotomayor openly credits affirmative action for her being able to go to princeton and acknowledges struggling to compete once there.  but instead of being bitter about it (like thomas), she worked hard and caught up, eventually excelling.

sotomayor, thomas, and president obama were all beneficiaries of affirmative action.  and that's not a sleight to any of them.  in fact, its an advertisement for keeping affirmative action as those are examples of the success it can foster to people who are given a chance to get into the best schools who dont come from your usual rich private high schools.

[smr-nj]

Apropos of nothing….  Sotomayor went to the same h.s. as I did in the Bronx (Cardinal Spellman), but I was only there for a year then we moved to Jersey.  Also, she would have been a year behind me. 
My biggest regret moving to Jersey was leaving that high school. It was incredible. 

 

[romad1]

 

Good points.  

[pfife]

yeah I agree with Rachel and that's why I'm calling Justice Kegger a rapist and IDGAF if people thing it's not true.  When in Rome.

[Archie]

Being a black woman on the Supreme Court will inspire an extremely small group of people. The democrats make a way bigger deal out of it than it is. The bigger deal is how racist and sexist their criteria is. If Brown wants to really inspire people and make her legacy on the SCOTUS a positive one, she will make sound decisions based on the Constitution instead of making decisions based on sex, race and the liberal agenda. Unfortunately, I don't think she even knows what the Constitution is.

[pfife]

9 hours ago, romad1 said:

 

Good points.  

Issue: gas prices

GOP:  it's all bidens fault 

DEMS: it's oil companies fault and also by the way we won't attack Republicans so literally no one is attacking the Republicans 

It's absurd strategery

[gehringer_2]

definitely 'exceptional'. And so careful not to inject politics into the court.

Edited April 9, 2022 by gehringer_2

[buddha]

21 hours ago, gehringer_2 said:

definitely 'exceptional'. And so careful not to inject politics into the court.

inject politics into the court?  like ginsburg saying in the nyt how terrible trump would be for the country if he became president?

cant have that...

[Tiger337]

3 minutes ago, buddha said:

inject politics into the court?  like ginsburg saying in the nyt how terrible trump would be for the country if he became president?

cant have that...

One can be apolitical and think Trump is horrible for the country.  It's not his politics which makes him horrible.  

[Dan Gilmore]

Trump was (and continues to be) terrible for the country. Thomas embracing another liar that wants to be elected is not comparable to the comment by RGB, imo.

[gehringer_2]

2 hours ago, Tiger337 said:

One can be apolitical and think Trump is horrible for the country.  It's not his politics which makes him horrible.  

yeah, I think events have proved pretty conclusively that she was right, and truth is supposed to be the absolute defense, is it not?

I certainly wouldn't want to die on the hill of arguing Herschel Walker wouldn't be bad for the US Senate either.

Edited April 10, 2022 by gehringer_2

[buddha]

3 hours ago, Tiger337 said:

One can be apolitical and think Trump is horrible for the country.  It's not his politics which makes him horrible.  

yes, but supreme court justices should not be making public comments about potential elected officials whose decisions they will need to rule upon.

[buddha]

1 hour ago, gehringer_2 said:

yeah, I think events have proved pretty conclusively that she was right, and truth is supposed to be the absolute defense, is it not?

I certainly wouldn't want to die on the hill of arguing Herschel Walker wouldn't be bad for the US Senate either.

if my side does it, its ok.  if the other side does it, they're evil.

[Tiger337]

1 hour ago, gehringer_2 said:

yeah, I think events have proved pretty conclusively that she was right, and truth is supposed to be the absolute defense, is it not?

 

Unfortunately, it's  not conclusive.  I think he would win the election if they had it today.  

[gehringer_2]

42 minutes ago, buddha said:

if my side does it, its ok.  if the other side does it, they're evil.

did Ginsburg make public appearances with Obama or Biden? I'd say there was at least another mile between giving an opinion and making joint appearances or doing photo-ops that imply outright campaigning. Again, this is pretty pure and non-equivalent whataboutism. Thomas has been out there with Ginni being a *political* advocate in public throughout his tenure in a way that leaves the average justice in the dust - that just is what it is.

Edited April 10, 2022 by gehringer_2

[ewsieg]

1 hour ago, buddha said:

if my side does it, its ok.  if the other side does it, they're evil.

Jeez, don't you get it.  Ginsburg's opinion was correct, so that's why it's not a big deal.  Whereas Thomas is wrong, so he can STFU.

[gehringer_2]

29 minutes ago, ewsieg said:

Jeez, don't you get it.  Ginsburg's opinion was correct, so that's why it's not a big deal.  Whereas Thomas is wrong, so he can STFU.

I think someone once said "Wisdom is justified of all her children" --

[buddha]

5 hours ago, ewsieg said:

Jeez, don't you get it.  Ginsburg's opinion was correct, so that's why it's not a big deal.  Whereas Thomas is wrong, so he can STFU.

of course!

like how kennedy was a scheming conniver who only retired because trump promised to elevate his former clerk kavanaugh, but breyer is an honest selfless public servant who retired and - oh what a coincidence - his former clerk was elevated to his position.

[pfife]

poor strawman taking on two at once