Four Supreme Court Justices Cosign Theory That Threatens Fair Elections

On the surface, the Supreme Court’s order in a Republican challenge to North Carolina’s redistricting maps earlier this week was a win for voting rights advocates. 


This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://talkingpointsmemo.com/?p=1408188
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Where are the Republicans who used to decry “legislating from the bench”?

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We’re gonna need a bigger court.

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The fact that our democracy relies on the beliefs of Amy Comey Barrett is one of the reasons I explore options that involve not spending the rest of my life in what may soon be referred to as a former one.

PS Edit – As pointed out, my wording was a bit too coy. I’m considering options for retiring elsewhere … no way I’d let any of these assholes have a claim on my happiness or lifespan :slight_smile:

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(the order came down on the shadow docket, so no one knows exactly how the justices voted).

I knew there were no public deliberations in the shadow docket, but I didn’t realize the actual votes were secret. Trying to figure out why that’s possible in the US.

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Why am I not shocked that this quartet is against free and fair elections.

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If you’re saying what I think you’re saying and you’re serious, reach out to someone for help. Don’t let 5-6 assholes determine your lifespan.

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Oh god, no. Sorry, didn’t mean to sound that frightful … was obviously a bit too coy in my wording.

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Three appointments from minority presidents.

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I would like to hope that any tampering with the right of Americans to have free elections–for example, allowing state legislatures to overthrow the voters’ will–would touch off massive and sustained public resistance. Maybe there would be something like the Ukrainians’ 2014 “Revolution of Dignity” that brought down Yanukovich?

But would such a popular uprising succeed, ushering in at last the kind of fundamental changes that would stop allowing right-wing minorities (shielded by the reactionary Supreme Court) to gain excessive power within our archaic constitutional system?

Dark times are at hand–at home, in the Russian assault on Ukraine, and in the prospect of losing the struggle to retard or reverse global climate change.

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Well, since legislatures are the ultimate sole source of authority under our Constitution, I guess Marbury v Madison no longer applies?

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The narrow interpretation of “legislature” by these four Justices was rejected in Davis v. Hildebrant (1916), which held that “legislature” in that context refers to whatever entity makes laws, not only the state representatives who may be subject to state constitutional limits such as veto, referendum, or judicial oversight. Moreover “original intent” should take into account that the Founders were very familiar with the English system, where the legislature (Parliament) included the executive branch (Prime Minister) and the judicial branch (Lord Chancellor).

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Standing atop Mount Hypocrisy and planting their flag.

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Ah, but that conflicts with “strict” interpretation of written characters on a sheet of paper.

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Celebrating a 6-3 SCOTUS.

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The Humpty Dumpty method of strict interpretation of the Constitution.

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Once again, these “judges” pull legal theories out of their rectums.

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Bush v. Gore, 531 U.S. 98 (2000) (holding that if an election is close enough for Republicans to steal, SCOTUS will push them across the finish line).

Don’t act all surprised.

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I’m not. At least Sandra Day O’Connor is ashamed of her part in it, not that it matters.

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There may come a point in the next several years - if not sooner - that some states, or at least significant chunks of power-holding officials in those states - refuse to recognize Supreme Court decisions. The SCOTUS is approaching illegitimacy at a sprint now. And if a Confederate Party Federal government wants to escalate the enforcement of these decisions, they can then contend with all the consequences that follow. Let the psychopathic billionaires try to “finesse” general strikes, REAL shutdowns like at the Port of Long Beach by those “evil” unions, refusal of States to disburse taxes to the Federal Government (perhaps NY and CA would like to be the first) and so on. Then we can see what the pushback against minority rule really looks like.

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