What is the difference between a good politician and one who takes dirty tricks to a whole new lower level? Ever notice the gleeful look Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) gets when he has put one over on the Democrats? We are not talking about jokes or harmless pranks. The self-named Grim Reaper likes to negotiate Dems way down from their original bills, then he watches his lemmings vote no anyway. Reaper also enjoys holding up a Democrat president’s cabinet choices for months. This was worse. Far worse.
One of McConnell’s best worst ones was not letting President Barack Obama’s Supreme Court choice even speak to the senators. The person in question was the current Attorney General (AG) Merrick Garland. Moscow Mitch’s excuse? He claimed that President Obama could not have a Supreme Court justice nominee during a presidential election year. Then, he brought in the ultra-conservative Justice Amy Coney Barrett mere weeks before the 2020 election.
McConnell appears to live for appointing his justices and for staying in power. But President Joe Biden has his number. He just ordered a 180-day study about the Supreme Court on Friday, according to The New York Times. The White House revealed:
‘It would query] adding seats to the Supreme Court, making good on a campaign-year promise to establish a bipartisan commission to examine the potentially explosive subjects of expanding the court or setting term limits for justices. The commission will also examine other potential changes such as term limits for justices. Progressives are pushing President Biden to add seats to balance the court’s conservative majority.’
Director of the group Take Back the Court Aaron Belkin said:
‘There’s growing recognition that the Supreme Court poses a danger to the health and well-being of the nation and even to democracy itself. A White House judicial reform commission has a historic opportunity to explain the gravity of the threat and to help contain it by urging Congress to add seats, which is the only way to restore balance to the court.’
In a 60 Minutes interview last October, President Biden said that he would create a commission for this purpose:
‘I will ask them to, over 180 days, come back to me with recommendations as to how to reform the court system, because it’s getting out of whack.’
In a statement released Friday, the White House said the commission would examine:
‘[The commission would concern] the genesis of the reform debate and the court’s role in the constitutional system; the length of service and turnover of justices on the court; the membership and size of the court; and the court’s case selection, rules, and practices.’
Then, there was the star performing Supreme Court seal candidate, Brett Kavanaugh. He played to the audience of one, Trump. He worked himself up into a rage, yelling at the Democratic senators during his confirmation hearing. He even went so far as to taunt Senator Amy Klobuchar (R-MN) when she asked about his drinking habits, which was a reasonable question. A highly qualified trauma research/practitioner claimed he had attacked her at a party. He said he did not recall.
Christine Blasey Ford, Ph.D. was a highly qualified Stanford University professor and research psychologist and his victim:
‘[Blasey Ford was a ] professor and research psychologist in Northern California at Palo Alto University and the Stanford University PsyD Consortium, a clinical psychology program where she teaches statistics, research methods and psychometrics. She has been widely published in her field.’
Klobuchar asked Kavanaugh:
‘There’s never been a case where you drank so much that you didn’t remember what happened the night before?’
Kavanaugh responded:
‘I don’t know. Have you?’
Klobuchar responded with the dignity of her office:
‘I have no drinking problem, Judge.’
Director of the group Take Back the Court Aaron Belkin said:
‘There’s growing recognition that the Supreme Court poses a danger to the health and well-being of the nation and even to democracy itself. A White House judicial reform commission has a historic opportunity to explain the gravity of the threat and to help contain it by urging Congress to add seats, which is the only way to restore balance to the court.’
Justice Breyer warned:
‘I hope and expect that the court will retain its authority. But that authority, like the rule of law, depends on trust, a trust that the court is guided by legal principle, not politics. Structural alteration motivated by the perception of political influence can only feed that perception, further eroding that trust.’
The Mueller Report Adventures: In Bite-Sizes on this Facebook page. These quick, two-minute reads interpret the report in normal English for busy people. Mueller Bite-Sizes uncovers what is essentially a compelling spy mystery. Interestingly enough, Mueller Bite-Sizes can be read in any order.
