Pierce:Sheldon Whitehouse Made the Case That Amy Coney Barrett's Nomination Is a Bag Job

[mcar]

Sheldon Whitehouse Made the Case That Amy Coney Barrett's Nomination Is a Bag Job
It was planned and executed by a vast and single-minded network of which no parallel exists on the other side.

By Charles P. Pierce
Oct 13, 2020

The general feeling that the nomination of Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court is the capstone of a lavishly funded, long-term conservative plan to own the federal judiciary for the foreseeable future, and that Barrett's career is altogether a product of that project, has hung over the confirmation hearings like a foul mist. On Tuesday afternoon, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse gave that feeling form and substance, and charts, too.

Whitehouse used every one of his allotted 30 minutes to describe in detail the mechanisms by which conservative activists, fueled by the unlimited corporate money unleashed by Citizens United v. FEC, have fashioned to produce judicial nominees—and, ultimately, judges—on what in the last decade has looked very much like an ideological assembly line. Whitehouse showed in (occasionally excruciating) detail every aspect of the complicated network at the center of which is the Federalist Society, the intellectual wingnut-welfare chop-shop to which this president* outsourced the selection of federal judges.

He then tied all that research into the current full-court press across the federal courts to kill the Affordable Care Act, curb reproductive freedom, and reverse marriage equality, to say nothing of the dozens of cases regarding the money power and corporate control of government that are the real goals of most of the people funding what Whitehouse called, "the schemes." Whitehouse even worked in his favorite statistic—that on those kind of cases, there have been 80 decisions handed down by the current court as 5-4 decision, and the business/conservative side of those cases, which almost always coincides with the interests of Republican donors, is 80-0.
...

The Republicans went predictably into orbit. Ted Cruz tried to throw some statistics back at Whitehouse and Young Ben Sasse snidely referred to Whitehouse's visual aids as "Beautiful Mind charts," referring to the scribblings of schizophrenic math genius John Nash, because Young Ben Sasse rarely misses an opportunity to be an insufferable nuisance. But they couldn't refute the case that Whitehouse had made so relentlessly: that this nomination is a bag job being hustled through to please a half-mad president* who may be howling down the hallways of the White House by now. And that it was planned and executed by a vast and single-minded network of which no parallel exists on the other side.

https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a34362944/sheldon-whitehouse-federalist-society-amy-coney-barrett/

[PunkinPi]

1. He was fantastic today...

Well worth the watch if you didn't catch it earlier today. (Runs about 28 mins)

[Budi]

4. Thanks for the video

Proud to be a Democrat 💙

[PunkinPi]

5. You're welcome and me too! :) nt

[regnaD kciN]

6. I find myself in an odd situation here...

...as Senator Whitehouse was a fellow graduate of my boarding school (the year ahead of me — I had some random contact with him, but nothing that stood out), while Young Ben Sasse is a fellow alum of my college (I didn’t know him).

[dem4decades]

8. What's odd? The Democrat is awesome and the Republican an asshole.

[yardwork]

16. Yeah, well, Stephen Miller is a graduate of my university.

And so is Richard Spencer.

[unc70]

18. Also Rand Paul

And many other, including Nixon JD!

Have to give you guys up the road a hard time!

Have to own up to having our own losers that went to UNC (e.g. Rep Virginia Fox).

[yardwork]

23. I didn't know about Rand Paul. Sheesh.

[mcar]

7. Thanks for the clip

We'll worth the watch.

[c-rational]

19. Yes it was. Thank you.

[orleans]

28. thanks for posting this. i caught part of it and came on du looking for it. n/t

[mzmolly]

38. Second time I've

watched. I watched live and again with your clip.

Thank you! Very informative.

[northoftheborder]

2. I highly recommend it and will save and recommend to others.

[moondust]

3. So much integrity and honor.

I'm surprised those Republicans didn't burst into flames.

[Jarqui]

9. Excellent

I'm sending the link to the video to a number of people

[RANDYWILDMAN]

10. This is a modern civics lesson, should be taught to everybody

but repub definitely don't want that !!!!!!!

I almost vomited as I watched his presentation.

They bought this seat and Kav's seat and the Gorsuch seat as well.

Thanks Senator

[BigmanPigman]

11. This should be mandatory viewing for every American.

Of course half of them would change the channel since they LOVE to remain ignorant and vote against their own interests, then bitch and complain decade after decade. Too many Americans make me want to puke!

[mcar]

15. It should

[littlemissmartypants]

12. A true thing of beauty. Thanks Senator Whitehouse. ❤ nt

[tavernier]

13. I just watched it.

He was sharp and clear and magnificent. Thanks.

[maxsolomon]

14. "a vast and single-minded network of which no parallel exists on the other side"

like allowing the RW to purchase nearly every talk radio and television station in America, that was a mistake.

[Hekate]

17. Kick. Rec. Bookmark.

[Hotler]

20. A single-minded network of assholes. nt

[aggiesal]

21. I object to Charlie Pierce's characterization of the pResident as "... a half-mad president* ..."

He's a fully mad pResident*
Come on, get with the program Charlie.

I hope someone is asking if Justice Kennedy was offered some of the $$$'s to retire so that Beer-keg Kavanaugh could sit in his stead.

[bullwinkle428]

22. The woman pronounced the "g" in the word "poignant" - she is NOT an intellectual titan! Clearly,

the product of this long-term project on the part of the hard RW to completely own the judicial branch. The Federalist Society, Liberty University Law School...this is a ridiculously complex infrastructure that's making this happen.

[mcar]

26. How can that even happen?

How do you pronounce a soft "g" in a word? I missed that part, but that kind of thing drives me crazy.

That said, I did work with a woman who pronounced the first "b" in "undoubtably" and I'm still trying to figure out how that can even happen.

[calimary]

24. This essay helps answer my question while watching Whitehouse's presentation.

Re: "... And that it was planned and executed by a vast and single-minded network of which no parallel exists on the other side."

I kept wondering - where's OUR version? Where's OUR single-minded network to advance OUR agenda and OUR legislative/judicial wish-list?

And if we don't have one, WHY THE HELL NOT?????????????????

See? THIS is why I put such a big emphasis on our side being able to think deviously. This is VITALLY important! You can't just play nice with this bunch. They are hungry to stack the deck. And they've done a pretty thorough job! So are OUR people ready to hit back, hit back hard, hit back relentlessly, and hit back RUTHLESSLY??? I'm not sure our team has the stomach for it. And that's not good. We NEED to go there, and do that. AND FIGHT that way.

[SMC22307]

25. "The vast and single-minded network" was spelled out in "What's the Matter with Kansas?"...

back in two thousand fucking four. Sixteen years ago! Were our leaders not paying attention?!

[dalton99a]

27. Kick

In all cases, there is big anonymous money behind various lanes of activity. One is through the conduit of the Federalist Society. It is managed by a guy named Leonard Leo and it has taken over the selection of judicial nominees. How do we know? Because Trump has said so, over and over again. His White House counsel said so. We have an anonymously funded group run by this guy named Leonard Leo. We have anonymous funders running through something called the Judicial Crisis Network, which is run by Severino, and it is doing PR and campaign ads for Republican judicial nominees.

It got a $70 million donation in the Garland-Gorsuch contest. They got another donation to support Kavanaugh. Perhaps the same person spent $35 million to influence the makeup of the United States Supreme Court. Tell me that is good. Over here, you have an array of groups funded by dark money that have a different role. They bring cases to the Court. They do not wind their way to the Court, they get shoved to the court by legal groups, many of which get quickly to the Court to get their business done there. And then they turn up in an orchestrated chorus.

You have a campaign I talked about where they take $70 million contributions. That is a big check to write, $17 million to campaign for Supreme Court nominees. No idea who that is or what they got for it. You have briefs that she wrote. The Republican senator's filed briefs in that case signed by Ms. Severino. The woman who helped choose this nominee has written briefs for Republican senators. Do not say the ACA is not an issue.

The Crisis Network funds the Republican Attorneys General Association and individual attorneys general. Guess who the plaintiffs are in the Affordable Care Act case? Republican attorneys general. Trump joined them because he did not want to defend it, so he is in with the Republican attorneys general. Here is the Crisis Network campaigning for the nominee, writing briefs for senators against the Affordable Care Act, supporting Republicans who are bringing this case and leading the selection process for this nominee. Here is where they are. Mitch McConnell, Senator Collins, Senator Cornyn, Senator Holden, who is still here? Marco Rubio, a huge assortment of Republican senators who Severino wrote a brief for against the Affordable Care Act.

[Martin Eden]

29. 80-0 for GOP donors in 5-4 SCOTUS decisions

They've bought the Republican Party, so why not the judiciary too?

Wealth and power always seeks more of both. Only a functioning democracy with robust engagement by a well informed voting public can counteract the power of that wealth.

[SMC22307]

30. "The vast and single-minded network" was spelled out in "What's the Matter with Kansas?"...

back in 2004. Was our party not paying attention?

[calimary]

31. No. As usual, we were napping.

Which makes me almost literally tear my hair!

I’m not confident even now that enough voters on our side indeed HAVE awakened.

We snoozed. The bad guys stayed awake and working-working-working! And we just kept on snoozing.

And look at the direct results. The results speak for themselves.

[Dustlawyer]

32. Religious and corporate interests can read the demographic changes too.

The court packing is their attempt to maintain their interests long after the Republicans are reduced to ashes.

[BlancheSplanchnik]

33. Vast republican conspiracy. Hillary warned us a few decades ago.

Of course she was swept aside.

[mcar]

34. She was ridiculed by the media

She was, of course, correct.

[BlancheSplanchnik]

37. Yup

[George II]

35. That was a beautiful expose of money in republican politics and buying judgeships.

[mcar]

36. It was a master class

[occupant]

39. Left holding the bag

Thank You mcar for posting this video! OMG just connected all the dots, Sheldon did. I'm sorta sick to my stomach thinking about all this fucking corruption, but to find out that Dumbass Donnie even has the battery brains to follow this shit mourns me more !

[mcar]

40. It is nauseating, occupant. Nt