America, the banana republic

[Zorro]

I covered South America for The Post from 1988 to 1992, a time when nations such as Argentina, Brazil and Peru were struggling to reestablish democratic norms after the long, dark night of military dictatorship. One of the biggest challenges was implanting something we take for granted in this country: public confidence that justice, for the most part, is blind and engages in an honest search for truth.

I never thought I’d be living in a country like that again. But thanks to President Trump and the inexcusable damage he is doing to our justice system, South America’s past has become America’s present.

There has been considerable hyperventilation, some perhaps by me, about the grave harm Trump is doing to our democratic institutions. I am not hyperventilating now. Public faith in justice is a delicate, precious thing. Once squandered, it is incredibly hard to regain.

That’s the kind of damage Trump is threatening with his outrageous and un-American attacks on the Justice Department and the federal judiciary for finding his cronies — including longtime political adviser Roger Stone, former national security adviser Michael Flynn and 2016 campaign chairman Paul Manafort — guilty of crimes and deserving of punishment. I know what the impact of this behavior is, because I’ve seen how it plays out before.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/america-the-banana-republic/2020/02/13/c58c7324-4ea9-11ea-9b5c-eac5b16dafaa_story.html

[Dustlawyer]

1. I fear for the long term effects of all of the life time appointments of hyper-partisan

Judges Trump and MCConnell have put on the bench. They just swore in a new one for the federal courthouse across the street from my law office. He has been very active his whole life in Republican politics. He was on the committee to screen the candidates for federal judges and could find no one better than himself. Both Ted Cruz and John “Cornholio” Cornyn attended the swearing in ceremony and were instrumental in his appointment. The only saving grace is that he is older than the youngsters they are putting on the bench.

Judges have the power to affect/determine the outcomes of the litigation they are in charge of. They are supposed to be neutral, but once on the bench there is not much to stop them if they are activist judges. Most of the Courts of Appeals are very conservative and may hesitate to overturn partisan rulings.

[mwooldri]

2. How many votes needed in the US Senate to impeach a judge?

Some of the worst of the appointees may have to be impeached to prove a point... stay the law or else....

[appalachiablue]

3. K/R