Opinion: Biden shouldn't bother searching for a justice who's a mushy compromiser - Rubin
Its inexplicable to many watchers of politics, this one included, that President Biden seems keen to get some GOP Senate votes for his looming Supreme Court pick. He told NBCs Lester Holt, I think whomever I pick will get a vote from Republican side. He explained, "Im not looking to make an ideological choice here. Im looking for someone to replace [Justice Stephen G.] Breyer, with the same kind of capacity Judge Breyer had. Sigh. Republicans never talk this way: They want right-wing justices they know will further their agenda; they dont care one bit if Democrats vote for confirmation. Democrats would be wise, for once, to go after precisely what they want: a justice with an expansive view of constitutional rights who passionately will defend voting rights, access to abortion, and gun safety consistent with the Second Amendment. These are worthy constitutional goals and politically popular, to boot.
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Aside from Who cares if Susan Collins votes for the nominee?, the response to pleas for an equivocating, timid justice is simple: Bipartisanship has proved to be a one-way street, which is not a goal unto itself. Moreover, the stakes have changed. The right wing has an impenetrable majority of at least five, often six justices. Democracy defenders and civil rights advocates should aim to seed dissents with stinging rebukes of judicial arrogance, dissents that over time (after the right-wing justices have departed) can provide the framework for recapturing the constitutional rights and judicial legitimacy this court has sabotaged. The new justice, together with Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan, should think strategically about the best way to slow down the right wings runaway court as it barrels toward dismantling precedent and heretofore secure constitutional rights.
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What is not needed is a justice who can persuade other justices, as some naïve commentators have urged. Lets get real: At least five right-wing justices are immune to persuasion. They are staunch partisans who reflexively take the side of Republicans, consciously or not. (It hardly matters.) Its a fools errand to try to convince a Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. or a Justice Neil M. Gorsuch that the court risks its legitimacy by shredding precedent in defense of a religious and political view wildly out of step with the American people. And theres little to be gained by sometimes winning over the chief justice simply to reduce the right-wing majority from six to five.
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Who cares if she gets a couple of Republican votes? Were talking about launching a methodical initiative to take back the court and protect democracy. Get the sharpest mind, the most courageous soul and the most dedicated warrior in the battle to defend democracy.
https://wapo.st/3Boua7A
BlueJac
(7,838 posts)Fuck the Republicans they don't care about democracy!
Claustrum
(4,845 posts)Whether the new justice is a staunch leftist or a centrist means close to nothing in the current supreme court landscape because we will need to replace a few of those republicans before any swing votes would mean anything.
lees1975
(3,718 posts)should be consistent in their constitutional interpretations, meaning as liberal as can be found among those qualified.
Claustrum
(4,845 posts)We don't need republican's vote for now.
I don't know the makeup of the senate after midterm so I am not making any prediction or judgement on it yet. If somehow we lose the senate, then we will need republican votes if a vacancy appears. Though, if turtle is majority leader again, I don't think we will see a vote even if there is a vacancy anyways.
lees1975
(3,718 posts)the end of the filibuster, and amending the Judiciary Act to allow Biden to pack the court.