I was reading some speculation on twitter that at least 6 people who were at the announcement in the white house rose garden on Saturday for Barrett have tested positive in the last 48 hours (this included the President, the First Lady, Hope Hicks, Mike Lee, Duke university president and Ronna McDaniel). I saw some discussions about whether this might be one of the possible events that something happened at-none were wearing masks and shook hands with each other.
Sen. Tom Tillis (NC) has now tested positive. He was at the Saturday event as well and is on the judiciary committee.
Any opinions about this article? It scared me a bit.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/oct/12/amy-coney-barrett-bad-choice-women
@jovesta She is scary. All the judges recommended by the Federalist Society are. They aren't just right wing, they want to re-interpret away half of 20th and 21st century jurisprudence. I hope like heck she doesn't make it on. If she does the dems will have to expand the court, otherwise they will get no legislation that will survive SCOTUS rulings. That's the right wing's next plan for holding onto power -- challenge progressive legislation and polices and have the extremist SCOTUS declare them all unconstitutional.
@jovesta She is scary. All the judges recommended by the Federalist Society are. They aren't just right wing, they want to re-interpret away half of 20th and 21st century jurisprudence. I hope like heck she doesn't make it on. If she does the dems will have to expand the court, otherwise they will get no legislation that will survive SCOTUS rulings. That's the right wing's next plan for holding onto power -- challenge progressive legislation and polices and have the extremist SCOTUS declare them all unconstitutional.
Some have had visions of Kavanaugh quickly exiting the SCOTUS. Is that still accurate? Has anyone recently been able to get a feeling on that?
I've read that other intuitives predicted Kavanaugh would get in but he wouldn't last. I've also read that some of them don't think Barrett will get on. I think ultimately it will work out because if SCOTUS starts to rule in ways that are completely at odds with the popular opinion there will be a pressure to expand the court.
On a brighter side, if Biden become president and stays in for two terms, either alone or with Harris becoming president if something happens to him, he could possibly replace Thomas and Alito, and who knows who else. That would limit extreme rulings to less than a decade. I think that's survivable, although not ideal.
The situation with the current nominee is still very unclear in my mind. However, I still think it won't matter if she gets in or not. Something tells me that while she is conservative, she is also has a more strict interpretation of the Constitution than her proponents expect. That's a double-edged sword, though, because while it could lead to her deciding against her supporters on some issues, she could also cause havoc with more progressive cases due to her stricter interpretation bias.
With regard to Kavanaugh, I'm not sure how long he'll last. I'm not seeing a "scandal" as such, but something from the past - from his original nomination hearings, maybe - may put pressure on him to resign. I have also seen speculation by a few pundits that both Alito and Thomas may leave the court within the next five years, and they are the most conservative members at this point.
I just returned from 3 days of R&R at a lovely mountain cabin, turned on the tube and saw this about the Barrett Supreme Court hearing:
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2020/10/feinstein-graham-hug-photo-barrett-hearing.html
I'd say I was speechless, but I'd be lying. But what I'd have to say at the moment is probably not appropriate for posting.
Made me mad as hell. No only from a health and safety standpoint, but what was she thinking. Rethugs have thumbed their noses at the law, the Constitution, democracy and the people of this country, and she gives them fodder like this?
I have to say I was very disappointed in my senator Ms. Feinstein. I can't believe she thanked Graham for the "one of the best hearing I've participated in" She is such a disappointment. I voted against her last time around and will vote against her if she runs again.
I am sure she will not run again. She is 87 and two years into her term I think?
But here’s the deal. (Sorry I am amusing myself) I think a back room deal may have been struck. LG needed a little boost and they maybe setting it up to delay final vote until after the election and then not at all. They might have caught her in a lie, or realize their efforts will not work as Joe will change the courts. She was not as expected, even to her fans.
The hug looked like a goodbye hug to me. He looked like he might cry.
There are musings, no cards, just a woman stuck in quarantine way too long.
I'm yelling obscenities as we speak asking out loud WTF? Can someone tell me why she would do this? What is she thinking? IS SHE thinking? If someone gets an intuitive hit on why this would happen I'd be forever grateful.
Senators who run when they may not live out there term, end up giving their governors a leg up in the next election. That works frequently. It did for Brian S. From Hawaii, he may not have been able to clear his original election, but he is a good senator. Looks like McSally can’t clear it, so it showed she was not ready.
If Feinstein retires or dies, it’s up to Newsom. He has the ability and could pick two senators if she is ill.
California is not lacking talent.
@deetoo She is my senator, I have voted for her since she became the mayor of SF.. We have know for a time that it was past time she retired. I haven't voted for her in the primary's for the past 2 elections, but she is very popular, and wins the primary's by a landslide.. we have ranked voting here which means the top 2 run off for the seat, and the other choice is so much worse.. at least she votes with her team.. I suspect that she has a long time friendship with Graham, they have served together for a long time and he is in trouble with his election. I saw the hug.. I ranted.. I raved. And then I forgave. I saw her trying to comfort a friend. Now she still should retire, she has 4 more years of her 6 yr term left. After that, she has earned her rest.
I think Feinstein is at the point where she's slow on the uptake and isn't able to grasp all of the complexities of what's going on. There was an NYT article a few days ago about how Democrats in Congress were already worried that Feinstein wasn't up to the task of this judicial showdown: too feeble, soft-spoken, passive. That's why we need term limits. No one should be a senator for 28 years.
Thank you for lifting my sprits. I can only hope that was a good bye hug for both of them. We need fresh young minds to help us out if this mess.
I see two long time friends hugging who have been through the wars together, sometimes agreeing but many times disagreeing. As for hugging with no masks, they are human and they slip up. I have hugged coworkers without wearing a mask. Then I say, oops, and do better next time.
They, like us, have been through a living hell these past four years. I feel for both of them. Graham, because he has to be a complete mess inside for the cognitive dissonance he has chosen to live in.
That's the same feeling I got. They're friends, and Feinstein probably knows the private hell Graham is going through. Even if much of it is of his own doing, the fear of being outed is a real one and she's probably sympathetic. Plus, as a much older person she's at the stage in her life where acceptance and forgiveness is a bigger part of the script, and isn't paying attention to the larger shenanigans going in with the GOP, which she may feel will all sort itself out in time. This is just an assumption on my part, but it's what popped into my head when I read about what happened between them yesterday.
@coyote I'm in agreement on term limits for Senators, but believe there should also be term limits for Supreme Court justices. Then I started thinking about all the hundreds of federal judges appointed during the Trump administration. Like Amy Coney Barrett, some of these appointed judges had never tried a case in court. Is it possible to limit their terms? @Lynnventura @allyn
There are so many moments to come that will take our breath away, and not in a good way. Let's save our strength. Only the very informed watched the hearings. There was plenty of excellent star power showing their skill, plus Sheldon, who is a rock star. She told Amy in her last hearing that her dogma lives loudly in her. She took a lot of heat for that, and she was right. It drew attention to Amy that the rank and file might have missed.
I suspect soon enough a big change will come for Feinstein. But let's not eat our own. Democrats lose when we do that. Something Republicans never make the mistake of doing, to a fault. I watched that kill Hillary's campaign. Thank goodness we are coming together now.
That hug looked like a goodbye to me and a recognition, something was over. What happened next? Was that when Lyndsey committed a felony by asking for donations? Was the hug like a career death thing?