Discussion: Kavanaugh In 2002: Campaign Contribution Limits 'Have Some Constitutional Problems'

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“I have heard very few people say that the limits on contributions to candidates are unconstitutional, although I for one tend to think those limits have some constitutional problems,” Kavanaugh wrote to his Bush White House colleague Helgard Walker in a March 6, 2002, email, CNN reported.

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The Trump administration cited executive privilege in withholding 100,000 Kavanaugh documents from the public on Friday; Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) called it a “Friday night document massacre.”

well that concept is whatever the majority thinks that it should be.

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Whatever happened to all the “transparency” tha Trump and all his Repuglican shills touted during the campaign?

I know, it was all lies, just like everything else that comes out of their mouths.

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Whatever happened to all the “transparency” tha Trump and all his Repuglican shills touted…

In reactionary speak, ‘transparency’ refers only to information from ongoing criminal investigations that might implicate the presidency and DNC internal communications which can be revealed through third party cut outs.

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As long as money is free speech and the right to vote isn’t we have a major problem.

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Everything Trump touches dies. In the short term, they’ll probably get their little toady installed and he will likely do some damage to the environment, national governance, labor and civil rights, but it’s possible that the stage is being set for the eventual deconstruction of the entire SCOTUS as we have known it. And not by Republicans, but by future Democratic/Progressive governments. The norms have already been shattered and it’s unlikely they will be reestablished as before. Beware unintended and unforeseen consequences.

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The Crazy Dreams I Have in the Dead of Night

(Progressive Porn Edition)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, standing next to several state attorneys general, today announced a stunning 124-count indictment against dozens of Republicans and one former Green Party candidate. Details of the bi-partisan scandal* included earth-shattering details, stretching back decades, of Russian money laundering through American political campaign contributions.

Those implicated read like a virtual who’s who of Washington politics, including prominent names in the NRA, Family Research Council, House and Senate leadership, White House, and even the current Attorney General and a sitting Supreme Court justice.

The criminal enterprise began, DOJ alleges, shortly after the fall of the Soviet Union, when American conservatives began extensive travels to Moscow, hoping to influence Russian politics with American-style democracy. “Ironically,” Rosenstein said, “the opposite occurred. Given the amount of kompromat former KGB officials quickly gathered on GOP politicians who had built careers and reputations on ‘family values,’ it was almost inevitable.”

Reacting in a joint statement, senators Jeff Flake and Susan Collins announced they were “troubled” by the arrest of several in their party, before expressing support for Brett Kavanaugh, and departing the capital for a week of GOP fundraisers…

*Hey, it’s the AP, even in my dreams.

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I think I’m willing to let individuals donate as much as they like to campaigns. In return, I’m sure that Kavanaugh, as a Constitutional “originalist,” certainly won’t continue to maintain that corporations are people. The Constitution says no such thing - this is something invented by activist judges.

Right? RIGHT?!

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Couldn’t this be said about all aspects of government and not just SCOTUS?

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As long as corporations have all the rights of human beings, we have a problem.

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Corporations equal money

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In a state that has eliminated the death penalty, is it possible to push a corporation into Chapter 7 bankruptcy? As long as same-sex marriages are legal, is there any way to prevent a corporate merger? Asking for a friend…

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withholding access to his work for W is as egregious as Trump not releasing his tax returns. Both stink to high heaven.

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People have been talking about court packing to get around a conservative Supreme Court and I have to disagree. What needs to be the long term plan is to de-politicize the Supreme Court appointment process once and for all. Most countries don’t have their Supreme Court appointments turn into this kind of a spectacle and the fact that Presidents can appoint someone that matches their beliefs for life to the highest court needs to end. Things like mandatory retirement age, fixed amount of years they can be on the bench, the nomination must be voted on within 90 days unless something big happens, and the nominee needs 2/3 of the Senate to approve to avoid hyper-partisan night nominees.

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the fact that Presidents can appoint someone that matches their beliefs for life to the highest court needs to end.

How do we end it?

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Constitutional amendment. Good luck with that.

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Looks like that leak needs a “plumber”.
Too bad Roy Cohn is gone to his reward.

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Schumer is blowing this totally, in case people haven’t noticed. He has directed Senate Ds to complain about the documents. Fine. But not one Senate D has come out and said what must be said, which is that the legitimacy of the Kavanaugh nomination, and by extension the Supreme Court, is contingent on normal procedures of scrutiny being observed. Democrats must expressly reserve their position on any future action in relation to Kavanaugh’s appointment by virtue of a clearly illegitimate process. The Court as an institution has been broken by the GOP. Our spineless senators would do the country an enormous disservice by ratifying what has happened–as they did with Garland/Gorsuch–instead of pointing out the terrible damage that the GOP has done.

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And how are they supposed to do that?

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