If confirmed, Kavanaugh would threaten women’s rights, workers’ rights, civil rights, and voting rights for generations to come. Immigrants, LGBTQ Americans, people of color, and people with disabilities would be pushed further to the margins. And wealthy corporations and polluters would gain yet another powerful protector [Sam Parkinson, SDDP press release, 2018.07.09].
Parkinson’s alarm has some basis in fact. On women’s rights:
Just last year, he infamously ruled against an undocumented teenagerin a detention facility who had petitioned for the right to access an abortion. At one point during the hearing, Kavanaugh suggested that allowing the young woman go through with the procedure would make the government “complicit” in something that is morally objectionable. In addition, in 2015, he argued in a dissent that Barack Obama’s contraception mandate infringed on the rights of religious organizations [Amanda Arnold, “Brett Kavanaugh Poses a Serious Threat to Reproductive Rights,” The Cut, 2018.07.09].
Kavanaugh wrote a 2016 opinion saying employers can require workers to waive their right to picket in arbitration agreements [staff, “Brett Kavanaugh’s Track Record,” Politico, 2018.07.09].
In labor and employment law cases more generally, Kavanaugh’s rulings have tended to favor employers. In 2016, in Verizon New England v. NLRB, Kavanaugh held that the NLRB had improperly overturned an arbitration decision when it found that a “union’s waiver of its members’ right to picket did not waive their right to visibly display pro-union signs in cars on Verizon property.” In National Association of Federal Employees v. Vilsack, in 2012, he dissented from an opinion holding that a random drug-testing program for government employees who work in residential Job Corps centers required a showing of individualized suspicion under the Fourth Amendment. Partial dissents from panel rulings upholding NLRB findings of unfair labor practices or discriminatory hiring include Midwest Division MMC v. NLRB (2017) and NLRB v. CNN America(2017) [Edith Roberts, “Potential Nominee Profile: Brett Kavanaugh,” SCOTUSblog, 2018.06.28].
Judge Kavanaugh routinely rules against working families, regularly rejects employees’ right to receive employer-provided health care, too often sides with employers in denying employees relief from discrimination in the workplace and promotes overturning well-established U.S. Supreme Court precedent [AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka, “AFL-CIO: Brett Kavanaugh Puts Workers’ Rights at Serious Risk,” The Stand, 2018.07.10].
As a judge on the DC Circuit Court of Appeals, Kavanaugh voted in 2012 to uphold a South Carolina voter ID law that the Obama administration said would disenfranchise tens of thousands of minority citizens.
…South Carolina didn’t present any cases of voter fraud to justify its law, but Kavanaugh wrote that such laws were constitutional despite an absence of evidence of fraud. “We conclude that South Carolina’s goals of preventing voter fraud and increasing electoral confidence are legitimate; those interests cannot be deemed pretextual merely because of an absence of recorded incidents of in-person voter fraud in South Carolina,” he wrote [Ari Berman, “Kavanaugh’s Record Doesn’t Bode Well for Voting Rights,” Mother Jones, 2018.07.10].
Parkinson is even more alarmed by the prospect of a Justice Kavanaugh aiding and abetting Donald Trump in replacing the rule of law with an Imperial Presidency:
Judge Brett Kavanaugh
Even more disturbing is what this selection means for the rule of law in our country. Ignoring that the fundamental duty of the Supreme Court is to protect people’s constitutional rights and serve as a check on the powers of the executive branch, Judge Kavanaugh has expressed disturbing views of expansive presidential power. Further, A President under federal criminal investigation for colluding with a foreign power to rig an election should not be able to nominate the person who could play a part in deciding his fate if the fight over the investigation reaches the Supreme Court.
We urge Senators Mike Rounds and John Thune and the rest of their colleagues in the Senate to reject this extreme nominee and delay any vote on a replacement to retiring Justice Anthony Kennedy until after Special Counsel Mueller has submitted a report to Congress or closed the investigation into President Trump. The very rule of law in our country is at stake [Parkinson, 2018.07.09].
Senators Rounds and Thune sound unconcerned. Senator Rounds tweets that “Confirming conservative, fair-minded judges who will adhere to the Constitution is one of the most important responsibilities of the United States Senate.” Thune digs Kavanaugh and tells Parkinson and “the far left” (who? where?) to put a sock in it:
Judge Kavanaugh’s judicial career has demonstrated his commitment to impartiality and faithful application of the Constitution. I look forward to sitting dow with Judge Kavanaugh as we go through the confirmation process.
…I encourage all of my colleagues to carefully review the qualifications of this nominee instead of trying to solicit his opinions on political issues, and to remember that the responsibility of a Supreme Court justice is to interpret the laws as written, not substitute political opinions for the law [Senator John Thune, statement via Twitter, 2018.07.09].
For the best straight-up summary of Judge Kavanaugh’s rulings, see SCOTUSblog‘s pre-nomination profile, which includes this readworthy note on Kavanaugh’s approach to statutory interpretation:
In recent years, Kavanaugh has begun to spell out an approach to statutory interpretation, in what he explains as an effort to limit judicial activism. In a 2017 speech at Notre Dame Law School, Kavanaugh, like Roberts during his confirmation hearing, endorsed a “vision[] of the rule of law as a law of rules, and of the judge as umpire,” cautioning against allowing judges to import their policy preferences into their rulings. He argued that “[s]everal substantive canons of statutory interpretation, such as constitutional avoidance, legislative history, and Chevron, depend on an initial determination of whether the text is clear or ambiguous,” and that there are no clear guidelines for making that determination. He went on to assert that rather than trying to decide whether a statute is ambiguous, “judges should strive to find the best reading of the statute, based on the words, context, and appropriate semantic canons of construction.” In a 2016 review of “Judging Statutes,” by Robert Katzmann, Kavanaugh took issue with Katzmann’s endorsement of the use of legislative history to interpret statutes, arguing that “the decision whether to resort to legislative history is often indeterminate,” and that the use of legislative history should “be largely limited to helping answer the question of whether the literal reading of the statute produces an absurdity” [Roberts, 2018.06.28].
So o.k., fine, Senator Thune. We can avoid political questions. But we want to read that SCOTUSblog profile and Judge Kavanaugh about legislative intent and Chevron deference.
When someone vows to interpret the Constitution as written, beware. While the Constitution never uses the term “slavery” or specifically endorses it, it has a number of clauses which assume it and enforce it, as in the Fugitive Slave Clause. That clause includes any worker who works under some condition of servitude. Corporations prefer to exercise unlimited authority over employees, and court decisions have moved decisively in that direction. The Supreme Court in recent weeks has issued decisions that severely cripple workers’ rights in terms of the right to organize and collectively bargain.
Kavanaugh has made unmistakably clear his inclinations to give corporations unfettered power and to oppose any regulation of business activity.
However, I join those, such as Robert Reich, who think the Supreme Court nominee might be superfluous because we are moving toward a nation in disintegration and there won’t be any Constitution to interpret. The working people, including those in the intellectual professions, are being pushed to the point where it realizes mere protest and resistance are ineffective with Trump’s QAnon minions. They cannot deal with facts or reason, and reconciliation with them would be democratic suicide.
In Trump’s warped vision of acquiring the U.S. as a subsidiary of the Trump Organization, Kavanaugh has a role to fulfill. But as people come to recognize that the country to which they have pledged allegiance is betraying them, we may well reach the point where Kavanaugh and Gorsuch and their fellow justices have nothing to decide.
Porter Lansing
Hear, hear Prof. Newquist
~ Only the interpretations reached through formal proceedings with the force of law, such as adjudications, or notice-and-comment rulemaking, qualify for Chevron deference, while those contained in opinion letters, policy statements, agency manuals, or other formats that do not carry the force of law are not warranted a Chevron deference.
~ Skidmore allows a federal court to defer to an agency’s interpretation of a statute that it administers according to the agency’s ability to demonstrate “persuasive reasoning”.
Serious rumour that Drumpf and Kennedy had serious negotiations for months about Kennedy resigning if Drumpf would choose Kennedy’s former clerk Kavanaugh.
This would pass lying about sex as an impeachment charge against a Dem Potus.
OldSarg
#WalkAway
You can do it! There is no democrat party. There is only hate from the left.
mike from iowa
From Kavanaugh’s mouth- No president has ever consulted more widely or talked with more people from more backgrounds to seek input about a Supreme Court nomination.
I’m guessing he is putting the spurs to Obama whose pick was made by wingnuts after the 2016 election.
Is it me or just me that notices an equine theme in several of my last posts?
mfi, wow! It looks like one of two possibilities. Either OS is in fact a Russian bot spreading the Russian hashtag #WalkAway, or OS has been fooled by that bot. That would explain a lot about what OS has been posting on DFP.
At first glance this post by OS seemed off topic, but upon reflection it appears to be an effort to undermine Democratic unity in opposing Kavanaugh, while trying to demonize Democrats. Autocrats don’t like the rule of law and Kavanaugh has previously argued that a sitting President should not be subject to criminal or civil law for his transgressions, suggesting impeachment is the only valid remedy to reign in a renegade POTUS. And we know that Putin wants Trump in power.
mike from iowa
Kavanaugh wrote a 2016 opinion saying employers can require workers to waive their right to picket in arbitration agreements
but, unions can’t require non members to chip in for legal bargaining aid unions are required to provide.
Good deal for employers, innit?
Roger Cornelius
Great find mfi with the #WalkAway, does this mean that OldTroll is a Russian bot or just a stupid republican?
Now, about this Kavanaugh guy… sounds like even the Russian bot can’t deny Parkinson’s concerns. No wonder—the Russians are all for judges who will support the tsar and crush citizens’ rights.
mike from iowa
bcb and Roger, I don’t know what OS is, but he certainly is not pro-democracy and for the rule of law.
Roger Cornelius
mfi
It could be a coincidence of some kind, but I don’t believe in coincidences.
Porter Lansing
#WalkAway From This Deceptive Propaganda Campaign!! ~ If I could post photos, I’d show several of the many black people on Facebook who claim to be walking away from the Democratic Party because we’re not helping them. Trouble with OS and Stace’s claims that we Dem’s are the party of the KKK and only keeping black people (Indians and Latino’s, too) on the “reservation” is that the Facebook posts and photos aren’t real people. Just stock photos, made up names and made up testimonials generated from a Russian computer. (probably in Marina Butina’s office in Sioux Falls).
Hey, it worked when Cambridge Analytica did it, while working for Trump/Putin, in the last
Presidential election. Why won’t it work now? Why? Because Black people, Indians and Latino y Latina people are a whole lot smarter than the half-educated, white trailer trash that believed the fake B.S. and voted for Trump.
When the Aryan King says white supremacists are equal to civil rights protestors and takes children away from their parents, it’s only because the Republicans are the party of minority rights. Yeah right, OS and Stace. Heh heh HO!! https://arcdigital.media/pro-trump-russian-linked-twitter-accounts-are-posing-as-ex-democrats-in-new-astroturfed-movement-20359c1906d3
Leading Democrats in the senate have promised to fight the Kavanaugh nomination vigorously. They will drag out and delay the process at every turn even if goes pass the mid-terms.
What Democrats have to worry about are Red State Democrats that can derail their plans. Democrats can’t afford to have these Red State Democrats compromise or make any side deals.
Red State Democrats need to remember their loyalty to the party.
OldSarg
What’s next folks? You gave up on impeachment, kids being locked up, Hitlery losing, Gorsuch, lower taxes, ACA undermined, trade. . . all the winning.
So, when Kavanaugh is approved by the Senate what will all of you do with your built up hate then? What’s next folks? I wish someone would roll a ball through here.
Roger Cornelius
Exercise Extreme Caution: The Russian Troll (#WalkAway) is onboard.
Porter Lansing
Good one. Built up hate? You’re projecting again, young fella.
What will we do? We’ll flip Kavanaugh the way we’ve flipped Roberts and the way we flipped Kennedy. These white male justices get all squishy inside when they put on the “big robe” and sit next to some intellectual talent like Sotomayor, Ginsburg and Kagen. Happens every time.
mike from iowa
The troll’s vocabulary is commiserate with its pay rate.
He likes to sit around and commensurate with friends, except he ain’t got any.
OldSarg
If you only knew, mike from wacko.
leslie
“some” truth to SDDP concerns?
Thune/Rounds use same talking points. McConnell also fears a justice’s politics over the law. “Be kind to Brett.”
Nine months w/o a 9th SCOTUS Judge in 2016 led to 4-4 ties. But now he wants our “advice&consent” in just a few weeks. NO. DELAY DEBATE DELAY. 4-4 is better than 5-4. The public needs to hear ALL of the debate. They can’t avoid “ADVISE/CONSENT” this time.
Roger Cornelius
OldSarge@#WalkAway
We already know.
Roger Cornelius
Kavanaugh was the only Supreme Court nominee to agree with Trump that the President should no be investigated or prosecuted, good call Trump, just in time for your impeachment hearings.
mike from iowa
Out of 113 Scotus appointments, only 6 were non-white men.
bearcreekbat
If Kavanaugh is honest, then the good news is that he apparently doesn’t contend that the Constitution currently protects lawless Presidents like Trump. Although he contends that such presidential immunites might be good public policy, he has been reported to have written that such Presidential immunities require statutory changes from Congress, which he apparently concedes is not yet the law.
The eternal optimist in me makes me hopeful that Trump just might be getting a “wish sandwich” from Kavanaugh on that issue, notwithstanding Russian bots and their current #WalkAway posts.
jerry
Quick, name how many Catholics are on the Supreme Court? What if Kavanaugh gets in, then how many? How many Protestants? How many Jews?
Anyone remember John F. Kennedy and his uphill battle in 1960 as a Catholic? Catholics have come a long way since then.
“Anti-Catholic prejudice was still very much in the mainstream of American life when JFK decided to seek the presidency in 1960.
Only one Catholic, Governor Alfred E. Smith of New York, had ever been the presidential nominee of one of the major parties. Smith’s 1928 campaign was dogged by claims that he would build a tunnel connecting the White House and the Vatican and would amend the Constitution to make Catholicism the nation’s established religion. He was overwhelmingly defeated—even losing much of the then Democratic Solid South.”
I am thinking that the Catholic religion was not the reason trump picked this guy, it was because of his view that trump can do anything he damn well pleases as president and this guy will support it, including giving him a pardon.
bearcreekbat
In our current civil war, that began only a few days ago, my optimism has now been attacked from another flank. I initially reported that Kavanaugh did not think the Constitution supported the right of a criminal President to engage in criminal acts, absent impeachment by both the House and two thirds of the Senate. I may have overstated he case.
It has been reported that in a 2009 Minnesota Law Review article, he wrote, “Even in the absence of congressionally conferred immunity, a serious constitutional question exists regarding whether a President can be criminally indicted and tried while in office.”
So there we are! Perhaps we don’t even need a new statute to insulate a criminal President from prosecution for whatever crimes committed.
I don’t know if Jerry was asking the question rhetorically, but I thought I’d answer it anyway.
There are currently 5 Catholics, 3 Jews, and a person raised Catholic but attending a Episcopal church on the court.
jerry
Kal Lis, that was kind of rhetorical to get to my point of the reasoning behind trumps move. I see it as putting a get out of jail card free nomination to keep trump and the fortune he has amassed since becoming a Russian agent, intact.
Sorry bcb, but this criminal mind, that may sit on the Supreme Court bench, is right out of Putin’s playbook. Look at Russian history and you get the sense that the Tsar is above the law of the land, no matter what land it is. No wonder Rounds is a big supporter of this, and he has corrupted our tall skinny Confederate Thune in this regard as well. Where is Joop for moral support? Russia is our enemy, know it and understand it.
OldSarg
It is always color of someone’s skin, religion of the person, political leanings or anything you can label someone with. The vast majority of you are racist bigoted fools.
Sorry, no not really sorry, it is time you all faced the truth. Until you get past one’s skin color, religion and political views you will never progress. Being open to discuss, listen and think is the secret to finding peace within your hearts.
Donald Pay
Kavanaugh wrote the anti-10th Amendment ruling that the feds needed to proceed with processing the licensing the Yucca Mountain radioactive waste dump site. This decision backs the idea that states should have no ability to not consent to hosting a high-level radioactive waste dump site in their state, and that states don’t need to address state concerns. He has a scary, nearly 16th century view of the power of the central government against both lower levels of government and the rights of citizens. The guy is not a classical conservative, but one who bows to the power of the central government.
Geez, I got my information from this John Podhoretz tweet lovingly retweeted by Salina Zito, a Trump apologist and author the The Great Revolt, a book that purports to favorably explain why people voted for Trump. Podhoretz is a conservative/neocon who writes for Commentary, the New York Post, and The Weekly Standard. Are they racist bigoted fools too?
There is a process in place to amend the Constitution. It is not appropriate for the SCOTUS to make things up, the way they did with Roe v Wade. There is no constitutional right to privacy and the Patriot Act demonstrates that. If you want a right to privacy in the Constitution, you will have to go through channels to get one in there. Good luck with that.
Furthermore, Roe v Wade was wrong because the regulation of medical practice is reserved to the states. It is the states which examine and license the providers, determine if LPNs can administer IV therapy, if RNs can intubate, if physicians can assist in suicide or pharmacists can dispense medical marijuana. All those decisions are reserved to the states. The federal government has no business there.
Additionally, family law is also reserved to the states. Matters of marriage, divorce, child custody, inheritance and adoption all all decided by the states. The federal government has no business there, either.
Debbo
NBC reported that Kennedy wouldn’t retire until pres Child Abuser agreed to appoint Kavanaugh to replace him. However, that reporter has amended her report. She says her source told her that Kennedy had a short list of acceptable replacements, including Kavanaugh, that pres Child Abuser had to agree to as part of a retirement deal.
Is that legal? Was Kavanaugh in on that? If he gets on SCOTUS that way, is that an impeachable offense?
Robin Friday
And Ron Paul says he’s a Libertarian at heart, but “mumble, mumble” when asked about confirming Kavanaugh, and Collins and Murkowski likewise mumble mumble. Thune is getting pretty brave with his semi-snark on Trump, but it’s also meaningless. Rounds–well I’m getting tired of play Grandma Nice Oldcrone, so I’ll say it. Meaninglessness is a way of life for him.
Robin Friday
So convenient and efficient to just toss it back to the states when SCOTUS as a group doesn’t have the GUTS to handle the hard stuff by themselves. Simply abrogation of duty. Equivalent of “It’s not MY job”.
Robin Friday
There have been rumors and “leaks” since last Winter-Spring that Kennedy would retire in the summer. It’s a nightmare, but shouldn’t be a surprise.
jerry
Old soviet is back in the bag again.
Robin Friday
Donald Pay, that should work nicely for Trump, since Trump holds the same 16th century view. I though the Repubs were all about smaller and less powerful central government. Who knew?
Robin Friday
Roger’s comment about Red State Democrats makes me wonder. . .has Heidi Heitkamp said anything about whether she will vote to confirm Kavanaugh? I haven’t read it if she has. I can’t keep up.
jerry
It all fits together nicely when it all gets spread out. Like a jigsaw puzzle.
“In a congressional hearing last fall, Glenn Simpson, the man whose research helped lead to the now-infamous dossier on Russia and President Donald Trump, let slip a bombshell revelation about Russian infiltration in the United States.
“I would say broadly speaking, it appears that the Russian operation was designed to infiltrate conservative organizations,” Simpson said. “They targeted various conservative organizations, religious and otherwise, and they seem to have made a very concerted effort to get in with the [National Rifle Association].” https://thinkprogress.org/history-of-christian-fundamentalists-in-russia-and-the-us-a6bdd326841d/
So who is who and what is what? Are we all gonna hold hands and bury the hatchet like Stalin did to Trotsky? Kavanaugh is just one of many who have betrayed this great country and now under the uncaring shrugs of Confederate Thune and the EB5 guy, Rounds. Nice
Debbo
In the US women are always the first thrown under the bus. That’s not only evident in the Kavemanaw nomination, but even in SD where the Democrats nominated a man who doesn’t believe women have the right to control her own body.
While some Democrats locally and nationally demur, the argument is that first let’s win the election, and then we’ll see about women’s rights.
For decades, that’s been the argument. CENTURIES.
Nationally there are Democrats in positions of leadership who say we should back off on the choice issue or we’ll lose votes. Heitkamp, Manchin & #3 hear plenty of urging to vote for these anti- woman people so they can get re-elected.
Well forget that scheit! I want a political party that doesn’t even consider compromising on women’s fundamental human autonomy any more than they’d say Sure, let’s rip children away from their parents by force, starting in South Dakota.
Debbie
Porter,
Republicans are evil, but they own their racism, Democrats never can, they talk a good game but their economic policies are racist. Racism is a built in feature of American economics . Study the Liberal paradox. Just because you voted for a black President does not mean you get to burn your racist card.
Clinton is an obvious example. NAFTA wiped out a huge portion of black employment. I can give you more.
Black unemployment has fluctuated between 15 and 17 percent. Almost 20 percent of African Americans under the age of 65 are without health insurance compared to 15 percent for the rest of the population. According to the Center for Responsible Lending, a home owned by an African American or Latino family is 76 percent more likely to be foreclosed upon than a white-owned home.
The wipeout of home ownership among African Americans threatens to widen even more the gap in median family net worth. I the average white family has a net worth of more than $171,000 compared to less than $29,000 for African American and Latino families. More than 25 percent of Blacks and Latinos languish below the official poverty line, and more than a third of Black and Latino children live in poverty
OldSarg
Debbie, if republicans own racism why are Blacks, Native Americans and Hispanics population areas controlled by democrats? One inquiring mind wants to know.
mike from iowa
Debbie- From Daily Kos in 2016( so congressional numbers need be updated)
This isn’t a story. It’s just something I think about often..
Since 1994 is it?, republicans have controlled Congress 18 out of almost 22 years. Democrats had total control of Congress, Senate and the White House 2 of those years. And Democrats had a filibuster proof majority (which means republicans didn’t have the power to stop their agenda) maybe 2 months out of all those years. And that is if they could wheel in Ted Kennedy from his dying bed to vote for something very important. And that is if I understand parliamentary rules correctly and didn’t leave out anything…
Yet republicans have claimed all that time that it’s Democrats who have ruined our country with their spend-a-holic ways and helping the poor too much..
As I understand it, no one but Congress can make and set Government spending. I also understand that only Congress can make laws. Everything begins in Congress I’m told..
It’s been republicans in Congress who have had the power for decades to “make trump’s America great”. Yet republicans in Congress chose to “make America great” for just a a few billionaires
Would you care to explain to me how it is Dems have destructed minorities without having control of Congress for 20 of the past 24 years?
Why are there so many minorities packed into small Democratic districts? Blame stoopid effing wingnuts and their now scotus approved gerrymandering by race antics.
You and other wingnuts are about to be buried under an onslaught of right wing bull**** and new laws and you have not only asked for it, you have practically begged for it.
One would think that as a woman you could make decisions for your autonomous self, but wingnuts totally disagree with you. What are you going to do about it? Ask them to please stop?
leslie
No right to clean water. Flint MI
No right to privacy. Roe v. Wade. Facebook. Analytics.
NATO irrelevant?
Destabilize healthcare/costs.
Guns and abortion roiling? Immigration and lionization of ICE. Attack on law enforcement investigation of president/GOP’s cover-up.
No right to vote.
1st amend free speech for money/religion.
Trolls.
Who is/are behind these assertions?
Koch organization? Putin? China? Trump crime family? Military/indust complex? Wall Street/world banks?
Anne Beal offers the highly important concession that abortion is a medical procedure.
However, Anne’s effort at constitutional argument, while admirably on topic, is incorrect. Concerns about fundamental constitutional rights can override technicalities of which level of government regulates which fields. The states may regulate medical practice, but the feds can still tell doctors they can’t discriminate by race, color, or creed. Family law may be the states’ purview, but states still can’t write family law allowing husbands to treat their wives and children as property.
Jason
Cory,
She is correct.
Where does the Constitution say you have a right to have an abortion?
Where does the Constitution say you have a right to comment on my blog?
Where does the Constitution say I have the right to use a smartphone?
Where does the Constitution say I can shave my head?
Where does the Constitution say I can donate a kidney?
We can all read Roe v. Wade and Casey 1992 for an explanation of where the Court has identified a woman’s right to bodily autonomy. We rightly worry that Kavanaugh will not uphold that basic right.
Dicta
Jason: don’t be dense. Remember the 9th Amendment?
“The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.”
Just because a right isn’t explicitly stated in the constitution, doesn’t mean it does not exist. The ninth says as much. I don’t agree with Roe at all, and think the reasoning is garbage. Yours is terrible as well.
Porter Lansing
Ol’ Sarge asks … “Why are Blacks, Native Americans and Hispanics population areas controlled by democrats?”
1. It’s Democrats with a capital D, sir. (A small “d” democrat is a person who holds democratic views; not necessarily someone who is a member of a country’s “Democratic Party”.)
2. Black people, Indians and Latinos y Latinas and their land aren’t controlled by a political party. Black people, Indians and Latinos y Latinas choose to vote democratically and for Democratic candidates because those candidates and those candidate’s political philosophy gives them a better chance to make a better life for their children. Republicans and Republican political philosophy has proven over time to offer better chances primarily to the wealthy at the expense of the middle class and poor.
mike from iowa
So Anne, your home is not protected from unreasonable searches and seizures?
Your neighbors can drop in anytime they want and make themselves at home in your priva…..home?
Your buddy Drumpf should feel free to grab you by the lady bits without asking?
Riiiiight,
Jason
MIke,
Let’s talk about castle law and self-defense?
Are you intellectually capable of that?
Jason
Dicta,
I understand the Constitution. A life of a human right does not come from the Government.
Dicta
“A life of a human right.” Translate this. Once translated, square it with the longstanding legal tradition of being born alive. Further, address the issues changing this tradition would create and how you would square the implications in criminal law. Finally, could you address the privacy interest identified by SCOTUS in Roe and Planned Parenthood v Casey and the implied constitutional right and how you square it with your flat pronouncement?
I find abortion morally abhorrent, but man, some pro-lifers make the issue out to be SO SIMPLE when it is anything but.
Jason
Life trumps privacy.
The Supreme Court has no right to define life.
California and many States have a double homicide law for killing a pregnant woman.
Let’s get back to the Constitution.
There is no right to killing an unborn human it the Constitution.
I do contend a State has a right to ban it.
Jason
Let me clarify some more Dicta. I believe a State gets to decide life since it’s not “defined” in the Constitution. The Supreme Court does not and should not have that power.
mike from iowa
Dicta, you might just as well be talking to a stick. Jason is a troll, no more. no less. Jason and his Arguenut- OldSferbrains
Clyde
Well, once again, the Democratic party is showing their willingness to go along with what ever the 1% want.
Without a quorum Kavanaugh can’t be confirmed and considering the last appointee Schumer should be advising Senate Democrats to pack up and take a extended vacation till after the mid term election.
Once again……Republican and just like republican.
Its far past time for Democrats to get nasty in DC. My god, people, the dems are just going to roll over and take it again.
Clyde
Evan if the strategy I suggest wouldn’t work the democrats ought to walk out purely on principal and raise some hell over this appointee.
I’m not sure I’m ready for a walkout, Clyde. Seems to set a bad precedent. We go in, we make our arguments, we try to persuade a few more people to our side, and we cast our votes.
I am open, however to other delaying tactics… like demanding that we get all the documentation we need to actually review the nominee’s record.
When someone vows to interpret the Constitution as written, beware. While the Constitution never uses the term “slavery” or specifically endorses it, it has a number of clauses which assume it and enforce it, as in the Fugitive Slave Clause. That clause includes any worker who works under some condition of servitude. Corporations prefer to exercise unlimited authority over employees, and court decisions have moved decisively in that direction. The Supreme Court in recent weeks has issued decisions that severely cripple workers’ rights in terms of the right to organize and collectively bargain.
Kavanaugh has made unmistakably clear his inclinations to give corporations unfettered power and to oppose any regulation of business activity.
However, I join those, such as Robert Reich, who think the Supreme Court nominee might be superfluous because we are moving toward a nation in disintegration and there won’t be any Constitution to interpret. The working people, including those in the intellectual professions, are being pushed to the point where it realizes mere protest and resistance are ineffective with Trump’s QAnon minions. They cannot deal with facts or reason, and reconciliation with them would be democratic suicide.
In Trump’s warped vision of acquiring the U.S. as a subsidiary of the Trump Organization, Kavanaugh has a role to fulfill. But as people come to recognize that the country to which they have pledged allegiance is betraying them, we may well reach the point where Kavanaugh and Gorsuch and their fellow justices have nothing to decide.
Hear, hear Prof. Newquist
~ Only the interpretations reached through formal proceedings with the force of law, such as adjudications, or notice-and-comment rulemaking, qualify for Chevron deference, while those contained in opinion letters, policy statements, agency manuals, or other formats that do not carry the force of law are not warranted a Chevron deference.
~ Skidmore allows a federal court to defer to an agency’s interpretation of a statute that it administers according to the agency’s ability to demonstrate “persuasive reasoning”.
http://juanitajean.com/ponder-fodder/
Serious rumour that Drumpf and Kennedy had serious negotiations for months about Kennedy resigning if Drumpf would choose Kennedy’s former clerk Kavanaugh.
This would pass lying about sex as an impeachment charge against a Dem Potus.
#WalkAway
You can do it! There is no democrat party. There is only hate from the left.
From Kavanaugh’s mouth- No president has ever consulted more widely or talked with more people from more backgrounds to seek input about a Supreme Court nomination.
I’m guessing he is putting the spurs to Obama whose pick was made by wingnuts after the 2016 election.
Is it me or just me that notices an equine theme in several of my last posts?
Russian bot troll alert.
https://www.salon.com/2018/07/09/russian-bots-are-back-walkaway-attack-on-democrats-is-a-likely-kremlin-operation/
ALERT!
https://thinkprogress.org/trump-anthony-kennedy-brett-kavanaugh-corrupt-secret-deal-13fd59473ecf/
White House does not deny secret deal.
mfi, wow! It looks like one of two possibilities. Either OS is in fact a Russian bot spreading the Russian hashtag #WalkAway, or OS has been fooled by that bot. That would explain a lot about what OS has been posting on DFP.
At first glance this post by OS seemed off topic, but upon reflection it appears to be an effort to undermine Democratic unity in opposing Kavanaugh, while trying to demonize Democrats. Autocrats don’t like the rule of law and Kavanaugh has previously argued that a sitting President should not be subject to criminal or civil law for his transgressions, suggesting impeachment is the only valid remedy to reign in a renegade POTUS. And we know that Putin wants Trump in power.
Kavanaugh wrote a 2016 opinion saying employers can require workers to waive their right to picket in arbitration agreements
but, unions can’t require non members to chip in for legal bargaining aid unions are required to provide.
Good deal for employers, innit?
Great find mfi with the #WalkAway, does this mean that OldTroll is a Russian bot or just a stupid republican?
Thanks for debunking the Russian dupe, Mike!
Now, about this Kavanaugh guy… sounds like even the Russian bot can’t deny Parkinson’s concerns. No wonder—the Russians are all for judges who will support the tsar and crush citizens’ rights.
bcb and Roger, I don’t know what OS is, but he certainly is not pro-democracy and for the rule of law.
mfi
It could be a coincidence of some kind, but I don’t believe in coincidences.
#WalkAway From This Deceptive Propaganda Campaign!! ~ If I could post photos, I’d show several of the many black people on Facebook who claim to be walking away from the Democratic Party because we’re not helping them. Trouble with OS and Stace’s claims that we Dem’s are the party of the KKK and only keeping black people (Indians and Latino’s, too) on the “reservation” is that the Facebook posts and photos aren’t real people. Just stock photos, made up names and made up testimonials generated from a Russian computer. (probably in Marina Butina’s office in Sioux Falls).
Hey, it worked when Cambridge Analytica did it, while working for Trump/Putin, in the last
Presidential election. Why won’t it work now? Why? Because Black people, Indians and Latino y Latina people are a whole lot smarter than the half-educated, white trailer trash that believed the fake B.S. and voted for Trump.
When the Aryan King says white supremacists are equal to civil rights protestors and takes children away from their parents, it’s only because the Republicans are the party of minority rights. Yeah right, OS and Stace. Heh heh HO!!
https://arcdigital.media/pro-trump-russian-linked-twitter-accounts-are-posing-as-ex-democrats-in-new-astroturfed-movement-20359c1906d3
Enough meta. Back on Kavanaugh. Now.
Lo siento, amigo.
Leading Democrats in the senate have promised to fight the Kavanaugh nomination vigorously. They will drag out and delay the process at every turn even if goes pass the mid-terms.
What Democrats have to worry about are Red State Democrats that can derail their plans. Democrats can’t afford to have these Red State Democrats compromise or make any side deals.
Red State Democrats need to remember their loyalty to the party.
What’s next folks? You gave up on impeachment, kids being locked up, Hitlery losing, Gorsuch, lower taxes, ACA undermined, trade. . . all the winning.
So, when Kavanaugh is approved by the Senate what will all of you do with your built up hate then? What’s next folks? I wish someone would roll a ball through here.
Exercise Extreme Caution: The Russian Troll (#WalkAway) is onboard.
Good one. Built up hate? You’re projecting again, young fella.
What will we do? We’ll flip Kavanaugh the way we’ve flipped Roberts and the way we flipped Kennedy. These white male justices get all squishy inside when they put on the “big robe” and sit next to some intellectual talent like Sotomayor, Ginsburg and Kagen. Happens every time.
The troll’s vocabulary is commiserate with its pay rate.
He likes to sit around and commensurate with friends, except he ain’t got any.
If you only knew, mike from wacko.
“some” truth to SDDP concerns?
Thune/Rounds use same talking points. McConnell also fears a justice’s politics over the law. “Be kind to Brett.”
Nine months w/o a 9th SCOTUS Judge in 2016 led to 4-4 ties. But now he wants our “advice&consent” in just a few weeks. NO. DELAY DEBATE DELAY. 4-4 is better than 5-4. The public needs to hear ALL of the debate. They can’t avoid “ADVISE/CONSENT” this time.
OldSarge@#WalkAway
We already know.
Kavanaugh was the only Supreme Court nominee to agree with Trump that the President should no be investigated or prosecuted, good call Trump, just in time for your impeachment hearings.
Out of 113 Scotus appointments, only 6 were non-white men.
If Kavanaugh is honest, then the good news is that he apparently doesn’t contend that the Constitution currently protects lawless Presidents like Trump. Although he contends that such presidential immunites might be good public policy, he has been reported to have written that such Presidential immunities require statutory changes from Congress, which he apparently concedes is not yet the law.
The eternal optimist in me makes me hopeful that Trump just might be getting a “wish sandwich” from Kavanaugh on that issue, notwithstanding Russian bots and their current #WalkAway posts.
Quick, name how many Catholics are on the Supreme Court? What if Kavanaugh gets in, then how many? How many Protestants? How many Jews?
Anyone remember John F. Kennedy and his uphill battle in 1960 as a Catholic? Catholics have come a long way since then.
“Anti-Catholic prejudice was still very much in the mainstream of American life when JFK decided to seek the presidency in 1960.
Only one Catholic, Governor Alfred E. Smith of New York, had ever been the presidential nominee of one of the major parties. Smith’s 1928 campaign was dogged by claims that he would build a tunnel connecting the White House and the Vatican and would amend the Constitution to make Catholicism the nation’s established religion. He was overwhelmingly defeated—even losing much of the then Democratic Solid South.”
I am thinking that the Catholic religion was not the reason trump picked this guy, it was because of his view that trump can do anything he damn well pleases as president and this guy will support it, including giving him a pardon.
In our current civil war, that began only a few days ago, my optimism has now been attacked from another flank. I initially reported that Kavanaugh did not think the Constitution supported the right of a criminal President to engage in criminal acts, absent impeachment by both the House and two thirds of the Senate. I may have overstated he case.
It has been reported that in a 2009 Minnesota Law Review article, he wrote, “Even in the absence of congressionally conferred immunity, a serious constitutional question exists regarding whether a President can be criminally indicted and tried while in office.”
So there we are! Perhaps we don’t even need a new statute to insulate a criminal President from prosecution for whatever crimes committed.
I don’t know if Jerry was asking the question rhetorically, but I thought I’d answer it anyway.
There are currently 5 Catholics, 3 Jews, and a person raised Catholic but attending a Episcopal church on the court.
Kal Lis, that was kind of rhetorical to get to my point of the reasoning behind trumps move. I see it as putting a get out of jail card free nomination to keep trump and the fortune he has amassed since becoming a Russian agent, intact.
Sorry bcb, but this criminal mind, that may sit on the Supreme Court bench, is right out of Putin’s playbook. Look at Russian history and you get the sense that the Tsar is above the law of the land, no matter what land it is. No wonder Rounds is a big supporter of this, and he has corrupted our tall skinny Confederate Thune in this regard as well. Where is Joop for moral support? Russia is our enemy, know it and understand it.
It is always color of someone’s skin, religion of the person, political leanings or anything you can label someone with. The vast majority of you are racist bigoted fools.
Sorry, no not really sorry, it is time you all faced the truth. Until you get past one’s skin color, religion and political views you will never progress. Being open to discuss, listen and think is the secret to finding peace within your hearts.
Kavanaugh wrote the anti-10th Amendment ruling that the feds needed to proceed with processing the licensing the Yucca Mountain radioactive waste dump site. This decision backs the idea that states should have no ability to not consent to hosting a high-level radioactive waste dump site in their state, and that states don’t need to address state concerns. He has a scary, nearly 16th century view of the power of the central government against both lower levels of government and the rights of citizens. The guy is not a classical conservative, but one who bows to the power of the central government.
Geez, I got my information from this John Podhoretz tweet lovingly retweeted by Salina Zito, a Trump apologist and author the The Great Revolt, a book that purports to favorably explain why people voted for Trump. Podhoretz is a conservative/neocon who writes for Commentary, the New York Post, and The Weekly Standard. Are they racist bigoted fools too?
https://twitter.com/SalenaZito/status/1016497283179872256
There is a process in place to amend the Constitution. It is not appropriate for the SCOTUS to make things up, the way they did with Roe v Wade. There is no constitutional right to privacy and the Patriot Act demonstrates that. If you want a right to privacy in the Constitution, you will have to go through channels to get one in there. Good luck with that.
Furthermore, Roe v Wade was wrong because the regulation of medical practice is reserved to the states. It is the states which examine and license the providers, determine if LPNs can administer IV therapy, if RNs can intubate, if physicians can assist in suicide or pharmacists can dispense medical marijuana. All those decisions are reserved to the states. The federal government has no business there.
Additionally, family law is also reserved to the states. Matters of marriage, divorce, child custody, inheritance and adoption all all decided by the states. The federal government has no business there, either.
NBC reported that Kennedy wouldn’t retire until pres Child Abuser agreed to appoint Kavanaugh to replace him. However, that reporter has amended her report. She says her source told her that Kennedy had a short list of acceptable replacements, including Kavanaugh, that pres Child Abuser had to agree to as part of a retirement deal.
Is that legal? Was Kavanaugh in on that? If he gets on SCOTUS that way, is that an impeachable offense?
And Ron Paul says he’s a Libertarian at heart, but “mumble, mumble” when asked about confirming Kavanaugh, and Collins and Murkowski likewise mumble mumble. Thune is getting pretty brave with his semi-snark on Trump, but it’s also meaningless. Rounds–well I’m getting tired of play Grandma Nice Oldcrone, so I’ll say it. Meaninglessness is a way of life for him.
So convenient and efficient to just toss it back to the states when SCOTUS as a group doesn’t have the GUTS to handle the hard stuff by themselves. Simply abrogation of duty. Equivalent of “It’s not MY job”.
There have been rumors and “leaks” since last Winter-Spring that Kennedy would retire in the summer. It’s a nightmare, but shouldn’t be a surprise.
Old soviet is back in the bag again.
Donald Pay, that should work nicely for Trump, since Trump holds the same 16th century view. I though the Repubs were all about smaller and less powerful central government. Who knew?
Roger’s comment about Red State Democrats makes me wonder. . .has Heidi Heitkamp said anything about whether she will vote to confirm Kavanaugh? I haven’t read it if she has. I can’t keep up.
It all fits together nicely when it all gets spread out. Like a jigsaw puzzle.
“In a congressional hearing last fall, Glenn Simpson, the man whose research helped lead to the now-infamous dossier on Russia and President Donald Trump, let slip a bombshell revelation about Russian infiltration in the United States.
“I would say broadly speaking, it appears that the Russian operation was designed to infiltrate conservative organizations,” Simpson said. “They targeted various conservative organizations, religious and otherwise, and they seem to have made a very concerted effort to get in with the [National Rifle Association].” https://thinkprogress.org/history-of-christian-fundamentalists-in-russia-and-the-us-a6bdd326841d/
So who is who and what is what? Are we all gonna hold hands and bury the hatchet like Stalin did to Trotsky? Kavanaugh is just one of many who have betrayed this great country and now under the uncaring shrugs of Confederate Thune and the EB5 guy, Rounds. Nice
In the US women are always the first thrown under the bus. That’s not only evident in the Kavemanaw nomination, but even in SD where the Democrats nominated a man who doesn’t believe women have the right to control her own body.
While some Democrats locally and nationally demur, the argument is that first let’s win the election, and then we’ll see about women’s rights.
For decades, that’s been the argument. CENTURIES.
Nationally there are Democrats in positions of leadership who say we should back off on the choice issue or we’ll lose votes. Heitkamp, Manchin & #3 hear plenty of urging to vote for these anti- woman people so they can get re-elected.
Well forget that scheit! I want a political party that doesn’t even consider compromising on women’s fundamental human autonomy any more than they’d say Sure, let’s rip children away from their parents by force, starting in South Dakota.
Porter,
Republicans are evil, but they own their racism, Democrats never can, they talk a good game but their economic policies are racist. Racism is a built in feature of American economics . Study the Liberal paradox. Just because you voted for a black President does not mean you get to burn your racist card.
Clinton is an obvious example. NAFTA wiped out a huge portion of black employment. I can give you more.
Black unemployment has fluctuated between 15 and 17 percent. Almost 20 percent of African Americans under the age of 65 are without health insurance compared to 15 percent for the rest of the population. According to the Center for Responsible Lending, a home owned by an African American or Latino family is 76 percent more likely to be foreclosed upon than a white-owned home.
The wipeout of home ownership among African Americans threatens to widen even more the gap in median family net worth. I the average white family has a net worth of more than $171,000 compared to less than $29,000 for African American and Latino families. More than 25 percent of Blacks and Latinos languish below the official poverty line, and more than a third of Black and Latino children live in poverty
Debbie, if republicans own racism why are Blacks, Native Americans and Hispanics population areas controlled by democrats? One inquiring mind wants to know.
Debbie- From Daily Kos in 2016( so congressional numbers need be updated)
This isn’t a story. It’s just something I think about often..
Since 1994 is it?, republicans have controlled Congress 18 out of almost 22 years. Democrats had total control of Congress, Senate and the White House 2 of those years. And Democrats had a filibuster proof majority (which means republicans didn’t have the power to stop their agenda) maybe 2 months out of all those years. And that is if they could wheel in Ted Kennedy from his dying bed to vote for something very important. And that is if I understand parliamentary rules correctly and didn’t leave out anything…
Yet republicans have claimed all that time that it’s Democrats who have ruined our country with their spend-a-holic ways and helping the poor too much..
As I understand it, no one but Congress can make and set Government spending. I also understand that only Congress can make laws. Everything begins in Congress I’m told..
It’s been republicans in Congress who have had the power for decades to “make trump’s America great”. Yet republicans in Congress chose to “make America great” for just a a few billionaires
Would you care to explain to me how it is Dems have destructed minorities without having control of Congress for 20 of the past 24 years?
Why are there so many minorities packed into small Democratic districts? Blame stoopid effing wingnuts and their now scotus approved gerrymandering by race antics.
You and other wingnuts are about to be buried under an onslaught of right wing bull**** and new laws and you have not only asked for it, you have practically begged for it.
One would think that as a woman you could make decisions for your autonomous self, but wingnuts totally disagree with you. What are you going to do about it? Ask them to please stop?
No right to clean water. Flint MI
No right to privacy. Roe v. Wade. Facebook. Analytics.
NATO irrelevant?
Destabilize healthcare/costs.
Guns and abortion roiling? Immigration and lionization of ICE. Attack on law enforcement investigation of president/GOP’s cover-up.
No right to vote.
1st amend free speech for money/religion.
Trolls.
Who is/are behind these assertions?
Koch organization? Putin? China? Trump crime family? Military/indust complex? Wall Street/world banks?
Attack on/monopolization of free press.
Anne Beal offers the highly important concession that abortion is a medical procedure.
However, Anne’s effort at constitutional argument, while admirably on topic, is incorrect. Concerns about fundamental constitutional rights can override technicalities of which level of government regulates which fields. The states may regulate medical practice, but the feds can still tell doctors they can’t discriminate by race, color, or creed. Family law may be the states’ purview, but states still can’t write family law allowing husbands to treat their wives and children as property.
Cory,
She is correct.
Where does the Constitution say you have a right to have an abortion?
Where does the Constitution say you have a right to comment on my blog?
Where does the Constitution say I have the right to use a smartphone?
Where does the Constitution say I can shave my head?
Where does the Constitution say I can donate a kidney?
We can all read Roe v. Wade and Casey 1992 for an explanation of where the Court has identified a woman’s right to bodily autonomy. We rightly worry that Kavanaugh will not uphold that basic right.
Jason: don’t be dense. Remember the 9th Amendment?
“The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.”
Just because a right isn’t explicitly stated in the constitution, doesn’t mean it does not exist. The ninth says as much. I don’t agree with Roe at all, and think the reasoning is garbage. Yours is terrible as well.
Ol’ Sarge asks … “Why are Blacks, Native Americans and Hispanics population areas controlled by democrats?”
1. It’s Democrats with a capital D, sir. (A small “d” democrat is a person who holds democratic views; not necessarily someone who is a member of a country’s “Democratic Party”.)
2. Black people, Indians and Latinos y Latinas and their land aren’t controlled by a political party. Black people, Indians and Latinos y Latinas choose to vote democratically and for Democratic candidates because those candidates and those candidate’s political philosophy gives them a better chance to make a better life for their children. Republicans and Republican political philosophy has proven over time to offer better chances primarily to the wealthy at the expense of the middle class and poor.
So Anne, your home is not protected from unreasonable searches and seizures?
Your neighbors can drop in anytime they want and make themselves at home in your priva…..home?
Your buddy Drumpf should feel free to grab you by the lady bits without asking?
Riiiiight,
MIke,
Let’s talk about castle law and self-defense?
Are you intellectually capable of that?
Dicta,
I understand the Constitution. A life of a human right does not come from the Government.
“A life of a human right.” Translate this. Once translated, square it with the longstanding legal tradition of being born alive. Further, address the issues changing this tradition would create and how you would square the implications in criminal law. Finally, could you address the privacy interest identified by SCOTUS in Roe and Planned Parenthood v Casey and the implied constitutional right and how you square it with your flat pronouncement?
I find abortion morally abhorrent, but man, some pro-lifers make the issue out to be SO SIMPLE when it is anything but.
Life trumps privacy.
The Supreme Court has no right to define life.
California and many States have a double homicide law for killing a pregnant woman.
Let’s get back to the Constitution.
There is no right to killing an unborn human it the Constitution.
I do contend a State has a right to ban it.
Let me clarify some more Dicta. I believe a State gets to decide life since it’s not “defined” in the Constitution. The Supreme Court does not and should not have that power.
Dicta, you might just as well be talking to a stick. Jason is a troll, no more. no less. Jason and his Arguenut- OldSferbrains
Well, once again, the Democratic party is showing their willingness to go along with what ever the 1% want.
Without a quorum Kavanaugh can’t be confirmed and considering the last appointee Schumer should be advising Senate Democrats to pack up and take a extended vacation till after the mid term election.
Once again……Republican and just like republican.
Its far past time for Democrats to get nasty in DC. My god, people, the dems are just going to roll over and take it again.
Evan if the strategy I suggest wouldn’t work the democrats ought to walk out purely on principal and raise some hell over this appointee.
I’m not sure I’m ready for a walkout, Clyde. Seems to set a bad precedent. We go in, we make our arguments, we try to persuade a few more people to our side, and we cast our votes.
I am open, however to other delaying tactics… like demanding that we get all the documentation we need to actually review the nominee’s record.