Norman Ornstein: The Roberts Court is going to go down in history as the most corrupt ever.

[BeckyDem]

Link to tweet

( Beyond any doubt. )

[DFW]

1. Norm does not mince words

I hope to see him tomorrow or Saturday (I am in DC for 3 days). If I do, I will certainly bring up the subject!

[BeckyDem]

3. How fabulous...I have huge respect for him, huge.

2012



But the second part as Norm said and this is the most difficult part of all is the fact that while Democrats may have their got a bit off track in the period of the '60s and '70s and the contemporary era, it was the Republican Party that was doing so. It's a party that has really become a radical insurgency.
https://fordschool.umich.edu/video/2012/tom-mann-and-norm-ornstein-its-even-worse-it-looks

[DFW]

7. Norm has always tried to be a realist

His assessments, no matter what his sentiments, are always reality based, as he sees it. He survives in a workplace full of nut cases, but is the place's most highly respected analyst because of it. He knows everybody because they know how straight he is. No one who is sane does NOT want to talk to Norm.

[BeckyDem]

10. Absolutely, he is well respected across a spectrum. The GOP are bought and paid for

by corporate titans and the demagogues keep their focus on false boogie men, their latest is transgender people/especially the young.

Loot the treasury while they point at dumb ignorant fears...he sees through it all.

[2naSalit]

5. What a treat!

Do, if you would please, let him know he has fans here. As a polisci kid, he's a very important figure in my little world.

[DFW]

6. I'll be glad to!

I've known him for over 20 years. He is a wonderful, insightful guy, and a good friend.
Al Franken's best friend, too, by the way (members of the Minnesota Mafia, as they are known in DC).

[2naSalit]

8. I have only known of him since...

School and after seeing him on the internet with live streams and podcasts. I would have loved to have been in a seminar with him on the judiciary, or any government topic. It's comforting to know he has friends like you and Al Franken whom I also admire a great deal.

Enjoy your visit... if you get to, that is.

[DFW]

11. He said he'd let me know this evening. He has house guests this week

So he'd have to abandon them for a couple of hours if we are to meet up this time. I'll at least talk to him for a few minutes if we don't meet up.

Here's an old story you'd appreciate. In December 2007, when the 2008 Democratic Primary was looming, and Howard was still DNC Chairman, the three of us were discussing the upcoming primary. Howard wondered aloud how come Mark Warner of Virginia wasn't expressing an interest in running for President. Norm, who, like I said before, knows everybody in DC, let on that Sen. Warner was having some severe issues with one of his teenage sons just then, and didn't want the distraction, considering family to be more important. Since both Norm and Howard were going through the same thing, they both understood only too well. Since I only had daughters, I commented in jest that this was the reason that I, too, had decided not to enter the primaries. Norm smiled, but Howard cracked up. Washington is often called the "biggest small town in America," even though this particular conversation took place in Charleston, South Carolina.

[2naSalit]

16. I get it...

And I know what you mean about the big small town thing. State capitols/governments are the same... though I was mostly oriented toward federal policy and issues.

[Bev54]

19. I hope Norm allows you to share his thoughts with DU, I know many of us would be interested

in his unbridled opinion.

[DFW]

29. That might be a problem

I may be able to give some general outlines, but when we get together, it's understood that it's just us two (or us three if my brother is along), and not for public consumption. I'm not a public figure, but Norm is, and things he says in private are not necessarily what he wants attributed to him. I have to be careful with that. Nobody cares what I say, but "Norm Ornstein said..." can carry a lot of weight, so I can't be the source of something he didn't want attributed to him. I'll try to give a general outline, but I won't betray a trust. I have to beg your understanding on that.

[Bev54]

30. Totally understand.

[DFW]

31. Thanks for that. Not all do. n/t

[Mysterian]

2. Corrupt Clarence and the Five Clowns

Roberts is a gutless weasel.

[BeckyDem]

4. Totally, he is a bad joke.

[dem4decades]

12. He's a Federalist Siciety whore, just a weak one

[underpants]

9. At least 3 have absolutely no business being on the court

Thomas
Kavanaugh
Coney Barrett

[BeckyDem]

15. Yep, painfully obvious.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

24. The Subversive 6 have turned it into an Extreme Cult.

[Baitball Blogger]

13. Their legacy is shit.

[BeckyDem]

14. +1 Concise and to the point.

[The Unmitigated Gall]

17. Not just corrupt...

Repuke judges have been violating all of previously inviolable principles…legislating from the bench, ignoring precedent and settled law…
For the time being the SC is a flaming porta-potty.

Heckuva job, Johnny.

[NotVeryImportant]

18. Who's Norman Ornstein?

Not that I disagree w/him on this, just don't know who he is.

[BeckyDem]

22. See post #3. There is a link to his work w/Thomas Mann

and determined the Republican Party to be essentially illegitimate...corrupt to the core.


Some bio here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_Ornstein

[Botany]

26. Norm is a good guy and a life long friend of my

late father. Norm, Sandra Day O'Connor, and my dad shared an office in D.C. in the early 1980s.

[Butterflylady]

20. One would think that if one wants to leave a great legacy....

Being the leader of the supreme court Roberts would have the integrity of making sure that who is on the court belongs there. He knew the last two were not qualified to sit on the court and yet he let it happen. So all and all he deserves every bit of scorn he receives.

[madamesilverspurs]

21. Given that Roberts came to the court

as reward for his part in arranging W's ascent to the Oval Office, there should have been no expectation of anything other than corruption. And two of his co-workers in that corrupt endeavor now sit next to him, with Gorsuch bringing his corrupt DNA and Alito providing the sour icing on the toxic cake. With that mix, corruption is the only possibility. There's a difference between legacy and curse, and Roberts is ensuring the latter.


.

[BeckyDem]

23. Excellent commentary, thank you.

[Marthe48]

25. roberts participated in the overthrow of the election 2000

He got on the (formerly) surpeme court because he was willing to destroy our country then, and he hasn't done anything yet to prove he's changed his stripe. And the other 5 fascists sitting as justices drool every time they get a chance to be traitorous, venal, corrupt or cruel. Yep, they are the worst.

[BlueWaveNeverEnd]

27. k&r

[dchill]

28. Roberts: started out bad and got regressively worse.

[live love laugh]

32. Book banning and illiteracy will fix the legacy "problem".