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Posted

Surprised we didn't have a thread this year to discuss the rulings and their political impact.

With the latest abortion ruling, Roberts is implying that he doesn't want to overturn long standing precedents even if he disagrees with it. The Court doesn't appear to have votes to overturn Roe unless the GOP can get another Federalist Society member on the bench.

I also wonder if Roberts isn't playing politics some here in that he wants to go easy on controversial cases in an election year. It could imply that he will give Trump some cover with investigation/subpoena data on his financial background. I don't think Roberts would agree that a President is above the law but perhaps he can find a narrow ruling that would unlikely give future Presidents a similar right.

Posted

Abortion law is about oppressing poor people.  No law on earth is going to stop a rich white lady from getting a safe/confidential abortion and everyone damn well knows it.

  • Like 1
Posted
  On 6/29/2020 at 4:17 PM, tx 3 putt said:

Roberts is tired of Trump running his mouth. He was ready to back this law, imo if not for trump 

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I think it's a few things, but less a rebuke of Trump and more that he wants a challenge that isn't based on essentially the exact same law they struck down just 4 years ago. His primary concern is maintaining the Court's legitimacy in the public's eye while pushing it rightward, so he's willing to slow play his judicial activism when being too obvious about shit might become politically difficult. The last thing he wants to do right now is give the Dems even more of a reason to want to publicly criticize the Court and push for efforts to enlarge the bench. 

This doesn't mean he's not willing to neuter Roe, but like with the Census and the DACA cases he doesn't want to look like a completely partisan asshole when doing it. He's practically begging for someone to bring a more competent challenge that he can pretend to distinguish from Whole Woman's Health.

  • Like 2
Posted
  On 6/29/2020 at 4:17 PM, tx 3 putt said:

Roberts is tired of Trump running his mouth. He was ready to back this law, imo if not for trump 

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I disagree.  Didn't he write the opinion striking down the same law in Texas just a couple years ago?

Posted
  On 6/29/2020 at 4:22 PM, Hugo Stiglitz said:

Abortion law is about oppressing poor people.  No law on earth is going to stop a rich white lady from getting a safe/confidential abortion and everyone damn well knows it.

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you know the attitude: Abortions are what poor people use for birth control and the lack of judgement. Rich people are fixing a quiet issue that will ruin their daughter's life because of a small indiscretion. 

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Posted (edited)
  On 6/29/2020 at 4:47 PM, tx 3 putt said:

4D chess !

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If Kennedy was on the court and had joined the Liberal side for this vote, I think there is a good chance Roberts would have joined the conservative side. It's not like the Supreme Court acts in some academic vacuum with their decisions. They can be just as political as the Exec and Legis branches.

Edited by Nice Guy Eddie
  • Like 1
Posted
  On 6/29/2020 at 4:50 PM, Nice Guy Eddie said:

If Kennedy was on the court and had joined the Liberal side for this vote, I think there is a good chance Roberts would have joined the conservative side. It's not like the Supreme Court acts in some academic vacuum with their decisions. They can be just as political as the Exec and Legis branches.

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I've never been a Roberts fan and I'm still not one, but I do appreciate that at least for now he is acting as though he sees his job in terms of protecting the institution.

Posted (edited)
  On 6/29/2020 at 4:13 PM, Nice Guy Eddie said:

Roberts is implying that he doesn't want to overturn long standing precedents even if he disagrees with it. The Court doesn't appear to have votes to overturn Roe unless the GOP can get another Federalist Society member on the bench

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I'm not so sure that is what he was saying. I think all he's saying is "we just fucking ruled on the same law four years ago, you don't get to just get a do-over because there are a couple of new justices, and fuck you Fifth Circuit for ignoring clear precedent and putting this back on our plate right now."

But if someone wants to bring a more novel argument and the question before the Court is whether Roe or Casey should be overturned rather than whether these regulations violate Whole Women's Health, he may come down a different way.

Edited by DanRydell
  • Like 4
Posted

I mean, even by conservative standards, this was a bold move Cotton.  Let's ask the Court to overturn it's own ruling two years later.  I agree a different challenge could entice Roberts to severely limit or overturn Roe, but he's at the "At least buy me a drink" stage.

  • Like 1
Posted
  On 6/29/2020 at 4:22 PM, Hugo Stiglitz said:

Abortion law is about oppressing poor people.  No law on earth is going to stop a rich white lady from getting a safe/confidential abortion and everyone damn well knows it.

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  On 6/29/2020 at 4:29 PM, Nice Guy Eddie said:

you know the attitude: Abortions are what poor people use for birth control and the lack of judgement. Rich people are fixing a quiet issue that will ruin their daughter's life because of a small indiscretion. 

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If they wanted access to abortions then why did they choose to be poor in the first place?

Think About It Reaction GIF by Identity

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Posted

Roberts doesn't care about overturning precedent, but he's gonna make you leave the party at different times and hook up later.  He ain't walking out with your hand on his ass.

Posted
  On 6/29/2020 at 5:33 PM, DanRydell said:

I'm not so sure that is what he was saying. I think all he's saying is "we just fucking ruled on the same law four years ago, you don't get to just get a do-over because there are a couple of new justices, and fuck you Fifth Circuit for ignoring clear precedent and putting this back on our plate right now."

But if someone wants to bring a more novel argument and the question before the Court is whether Roe or Casey should be overturned rather than whether these regulations violate Whole Women's Health, he may come down a different way.

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The Fifth Circuit cannot be told to fuck itself often enough.

  • Like 3
Posted (edited)
  On 6/29/2020 at 7:49 PM, longhornmatt said:

I know the Court rejected this a few years ago, but Roberts dissenting in that case and then doing a 180 now that his vote would actually be decisive  is not exactly what I would describe as upholding the integrity of the institution.  Even if you agree with the result, I think it does more to expose the Court (or at least John Roberts) as political outcome motivated schemers than it does to guard against that perception.

It’s the SCOTUS equivalent of the Republicans campaigning on repealing and replacing Obamacare for 6 years, and then when they actually get the opportunity they reveal that they were full of shit the whole time and don’t even really want it to change.

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Nah.

Having a decision overturn less-than-a-decade-old precedent just because of a change in the composition of the court is bad business.

The losers on decisions have to eat their losses.  Except Clarence, he just eats paste.

Plus, double fuck the Fifth Circuit for sending the same case to the Supreme Court twice in a decade.

Edited by TwiceHorn
  • Like 4
Posted
  On 6/29/2020 at 8:13 PM, wildcat09 said:

If any justice eats paste, it’s definitely Alito. He’s shockingly stupid for a judge, much less a Supreme Court justice.

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I'll take your word.  Clarence has some weird ideas so you do kind of know he's thinking, if in an aberrant way.  I don't remember any Alito opinions off the top of my head.

Posted
  On 6/29/2020 at 8:19 PM, TwiceHorn said:

I'll take your word.  Clarence has some weird ideas so you do kind of know he's thinking, if in an aberrant way.  I don't remember any Alito opinions off the top of my head.

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He wrote the Burwell v. Hobby Lobby opinion.

Posted
  On 6/29/2020 at 8:19 PM, TwiceHorn said:

I'll take your word.  Clarence has some weird ideas so you do kind of know he's thinking, if in an aberrant way.  I don't remember any Alito opinions off the top of my head.

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I was gonna say, Clarence has always stuck out at me more than Alito in the stupid category. Where Alito has it on him is dishonesty

Posted
  On 6/29/2020 at 8:45 PM, NameAlreadyInUse said:

No but I remember when they claimed they were against judicial activism.

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What it was was that the liberal-types started going to the courts for things they couldn't get through the legislature:  abortion, women's rights, things of that nature.  So when the court agreed with them it was "activism."

Finally,  the GOP types (I won't say conservatives) came around to the idea that they could play in the courts, too.  

Not all that much has changed in the way courts go about their decision-making.  The role of highly politicized appointments and litmus tests has increased along with the level of #bothsides going to the courts for the purposes of their respective agendas.  And the accusations of "activism" apply to #bothsides.

Posted
  On 6/29/2020 at 8:41 PM, washparkhorn said:

Roberts and Gorsuch will defend the principle of stare decisis when needed. They are the new swing votes. 

The right to privacy has been decided. It is law.

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Nothing has been done that can't be undone. Roberts practically laid out a roadmap today for how to get him to sign on to stricter abortion restrictions.

  On 6/29/2020 at 8:43 PM, hpslugga said:

I was gonna say, Clarence has always stuck out at me more than Alito in the stupid category. Where Alito has it on him is dishonesty

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Not that any of these are exclusive of the others, but the way I see them it's primarily:

Roberts: dishonest, Alito: stupid, Clarence: crazy

 

  • Like 1
Posted
  On 6/29/2020 at 10:47 PM, Hank Scorpio said:
 

Fucking stupid. The Turtle is the reason. Well, stupid people voting for Trump is in there too. The GOP blocked most Obama judicial appointments. It ain’t that hard to figure out.
Posted (edited)

Any chance that we see an Alito or Thomas retirement in the next week or two? It's not like they can't see the possibility that Trump and the Senate flipping. They also have to realize that a Senate change could stop any new conservative justice for an extended time.

With the exception of Doug Jones this year, the Dems don't have an endangered incumbent Senator in 2022 with maybe the NV senator in question. It could be 2024 before they could lose a Senator. They take the Senate this year, it's theirs for at least 4 years.

CNN has an article about SCOTUS retirements: https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/30/politics/trump-supreme-court-campaign-boost/index.html

An open spot on the SC at this moment does help Trump too. There's no doubt that he's wanted an RBG or Breyer retirement/death but the window is closing on that. 

Edited by Nice Guy Eddie
Posted (edited)

wapost headline: montana program aiding private schools must be open to religious schools

interesting that the court dismissed the NY gun case on mootness but came to a decision on this as montana had ended the program

 

edit: i guess the montana constitutional provision still exists, maybe that's what was decided?

 

edit2: the montana supreme court tossed the whole program, not the legislature

Edited by elfenix
Posted
  On 6/30/2020 at 2:37 PM, elfenix said:

wapost headline: montana program aiding private schools must be open to religious schools

interesting that the court dismissed the NY gun case on mootness but came to a decision on this as montana had ended the program

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You mean to tell me the conservatives will immediately abandon legal formalism whenever a convenient opportunity to further their political and ideological aims arises? This comes as quite a shock!

  • Like 2
Posted
  On 6/30/2020 at 1:09 PM, Nice Guy Eddie said:

Any chance that we see an Alito or Thomas retirement in the next week or two? It's not like they can't see the possibility that Trump and the Senate flipping. They also have to realize that a Senate change could stop any new conservative justice for an extended time.

With the exception of Doug Jones this year, the Dems don't have an endangered incumbent Senator in 2022 with maybe the NV senator in question. It could be 2024 before they could lose a Senator. They take the Senate this year, it's theirs for at least 4 years.

CNN has an article about SCOTUS retirements: https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/30/politics/trump-supreme-court-campaign-boost/index.html

An open spot on the SC at this moment does help Trump too. There's no doubt that he's wanted an RBG or Breyer retirement/death but the window is closing on that. 

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Why would Alito or Thomas retire?  They are guaranteed to take the rightest wing stance possible and are a known commodity. Any replacement justice would almost certainly end up being to the left of them. Why risk appointing an actual strict constitutionalist when you already have 2 flexible conservative justices ready to bend to your will?



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