Trump reportedly thinks that Lee would be easily confirmed by the Senate, but frets about possibly losing his seat. Even when consoled that the Utah seat is a Republican lock, Trump has complained that Attorney General Jeff Sessions told him the same thing about the Alabama seat now occupied by Sen. Doug Jones (D-AL).
Sometimes you have to step back and remind yourself: yes, Donald Trump really is THAT dumb.
Or incurious. Uninformed. Whatever. No knowledge, bad thinking. Sick (or warped) brain.
He’s intellectually a kindergartner, led around by his nose like a horse. But you said Alabama was safe, and it wasn’t safe, therefore nothing is safe also too! This is the level of analysis of which he is capable. A god damned simpleton.
“Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), both of whom CLAIM TO support abortion rights.”
FIFY
Again, stop being so credulous.
Trump’s going to play the Bachelor on this.
Contestents potential nominees will be “considered” to the degree their loyalty needs to be demonstrated. Meanwhile all sorts of aides and advisors and “friends” will vying for his ear.
Speaking of which, when is that summit with Putin again?
Is anyone really comfortable that Collins and Murkowski will vote against any anti abortion pick? They left the reservation once but it’s doubtful they’ll do it, again.
Zero confidence on that point, especially if the nominee claims they’ll be “impartial” and judge the matter on its Constitutional merits.
Mike Lee for SCOTUS? Seriously? WTF
Good grief, the support is not for “abortion rights”. It is the right of females to control their own bodies instead of having that control given over to the government. Females are not uniquely infantile to require this special government oversight. Females are quite capable of making their own decisions as it relates to birth control and to abortion. Government oversight by men–primarily white men–is disgusting.
Although Mike Lee doesn’t strike me as someone who has a great deal of experience as a jurist, In the long run, does it matter who the hell Trump picks. It used to be that SCOTUS nominees were evaluated for their legal experience, intellectualism and rational world views. We know he’ll nominate a sycophant hack. Shit, he could nominate Judge Judy or even Rudy. Roy Moore is available.
The bottom line is that Trump shouldn’t nominate and the Senate shouln’t confirm anyone until Mueller is done with his investigation. The criminal under indictment doesn’t get to pick the trial judge.
Josh quoted someone making that argument and you say “Of course.” It’s one of the simplest, most basic concepts you could imagine.
I haven’t checked re Murko yet but I do know Collins is already busy laying the groundwork to cover her ass.
Well, he’s right wing and because he’s an incumbent senator, alleged “moderate” Republicans (and maybe even some Democrats, although after the 2016 fiasco we may get our 49 votes) at least one of Collins or Murkowski will fold.
If it’s not a sitting Senator, there is a better chance of stopping this. We might get Collins just because she’s signing her political death warrant in Maine if she votes for a Trump nominee. Then there are a few senators (e,g., Dean Heller) who would just as soon not have to deal with this. And if McConnell is really giving Trump good advice, he’s telling him that he’ll have a better shot at holding onto the Senate without having to deal with the SCOTUS vote, for which the ads write themselves.
By the way, I predict that Roberts would vote to uphold Roe v. Wade (which also affects a bunch of other rulings, such as Lawrence v. Texas and Griswold v. Connecticut) but would extract a horrific price for his vote. (Roberts is pretty politically savvy and knows that knocking off Roe v. Wade would lead to the mother of all blue tsunamis.)
The Mormon Scalia. And there’s this:
Jon Huntsman Sr., Utah’s wealthiest man, considers Sen. Mike Lee an extremist
“All I can say is Mike Lee is an embarrassment to the state of Utah,” Huntsman said in an interview with Politico. “He’s been a tremendous embarrassment to our family, to our state, to our country to have him as a U.S. senator.”
I realize we love to think of all these SCOTUS nominations in terms of Abortion Rights or Gay Marriage, the reality that we live in now is that Trump is going to pick someone with absolute loyalty to him in order to protect him from the law.
Nothing more, nothing less.
That is his decision making calculus.
To the Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility
A Hypothetical Situation
Mr L is appointed to a judgeship by Mr T.
At some future point, Mr T has a case appearing before Judge L.
Under the current standards for judicial ethics, what should Judge L do?
Asking for a friend.
X
This needs to be the Dem message starting yesterday.
- Presidency under a cloud.
- Questions of legitimacy.
- Special Council.
- Ongoing investigation.
- Talk of self-pardons.
- An independent Supreme Court in a Constitutional crisis.
- CONFLICT OF INTEREST.
For now, at least, forget the whole GOP-railroaded-Garland message, and all the rest…
“Nobody who’s the subject of a criminal investigation gets to appoint their own judge.”
Period.
End of discussion.
As a political argument, the American people get this.
I’m hoping he will nominate himself (who presumably meets this condition) in the belief that it is the only way he can avoid the hammer hanging over his head.
No matter who Trump settles on, there is 100% certainty that Trump will have asked that candidate about a loyalty oath. 100%.
No.
Not to mention the litmus test that Trump himself is on tape saying - that is, rolling back Roe v. Wade. Does anyone know if there’s a time limit on how long the confirmation process can be? I’m sure McConnell will be timing it to the nanosecond …
Also, our brave red state Dem senators are already running for cover.