Holy moly... Scalia dead.

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malchior
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Re: Holy moly... Scalia dead.

Post by malchior »

I can't imagine it'll happen. They are at least paying lip service to the voters having a choice. If the voters choose and the Senate still does not budge then that will be a Caesar crossing the Rubicon moment.
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RunningMn9
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Re: Holy moly... Scalia dead.

Post by RunningMn9 »

Ah, but the voters also will have chosen a Republican Senate, clearly with the mandate to thwart everything that the President they selected wants to do. Duh.
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El Guapo
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Re: Holy moly... Scalia dead.

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malchior wrote:I can't imagine it'll happen. They are at least paying lip service to the voters having a choice. If the voters choose and the Senate still does not budge then that will be a Caesar crossing the Rubicon moment.
But the current asserted rationale is an obvious fig leaf to disguise their current partisan interests. They'll just have to find a new fig leaf - Clinton is uniquely radical, her nominees are uniquely radical, the Supreme Court is better off being equally divided between the parties, etc. etc. It's not hard. And how many Republican voters are inclined to punish Republican elected officials for not confirming a democratic SCOTUS nominee?

Note, for what it's worth, I suspect this would also happen if somehow Trump won the presidency but democrats took the Senate.
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Kraken
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Re: Holy moly... Scalia dead.

Post by Kraken »

El Guapo wrote:
Note, for what it's worth, I suspect this would also happen if somehow Trump won the presidency but democrats took the Senate.
Democrats would hold votes but refuse to confirm. That's at least nominally constitutional. (Also, I doubt that Trump would nominate fire-breathing conservatives, since he is not one himself.)

What's the opposite of packing the Court...unpacking it?
malchior
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Re: Holy moly... Scalia dead.

Post by malchior »

El Guapo wrote:
malchior wrote:I can't imagine it'll happen. They are at least paying lip service to the voters having a choice. If the voters choose and the Senate still does not budge then that will be a Caesar crossing the Rubicon moment.
But the current asserted rationale is an obvious fig leaf to disguise their current partisan interests. They'll just have to find a new fig leaf - Clinton is uniquely radical, her nominees are uniquely radical, the Supreme Court is better off being equally divided between the parties, etc. etc. It's not hard. And how many Republican voters are inclined to punish Republican elected officials for not confirming a democratic SCOTUS nominee?
I don't know. Polls suggest that people are already not happy about the Supreme nonsense. Most of the obstruction up until now has been mostly invisible but this Garland stuff has simply not been. And blocking all nominations for years? I think it'd be a tipping point. It would be far too public. I honestly think if they do it then it is finally Constitutional crisis time. I just don't see what that'd get them.
Note, for what it's worth, I suspect this would also happen if somehow Drumpf won the presidency but democrats took the Senate.
As Kraken said they'd at least hold the vote but they aren't as polarized and aren't even close to as radical. It'd have a different outcome probably. However that'd assume Drumpf is involved and it'd be some crazy impractical choice so not approving might be a possibly then. It's hard to look that far ahead. Drumpf messes up all predictions - he is pure chaos. :)
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Re: Holy moly... Scalia dead.

Post by Smoove_B »

malchior wrote:And blocking all nominations for years? I think it'd be a tipping point. It would be far too public.
Not the same scale by any means, but I had no idea NJ had a Supreme Court vacancy for six years -- that was just ended in April. That's insane!
Maybe next year, maybe no go
malchior
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Re: Holy moly... Scalia dead.

Post by malchior »

Smoove_B wrote:
malchior wrote:And blocking all nominations for years? I think it'd be a tipping point. It would be far too public.
Not the same scale by any means, but I had no idea NJ had a Supreme Court vacancy for six years -- that was just ended in April. That's insane!
Yeah and it is a bit different. IiRC Christie teed up that by kicking a judge off shortly before he would retire anyway and then sought to buck custom and pack the court with a Republican nominee to push through some favorable decisions for himself. Ah Jersey. Also I think they just use a fill in if short so the court was staffed all along.
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Re: Holy moly... Scalia dead.

Post by El Guapo »

malchior wrote:
El Guapo wrote:
malchior wrote:I can't imagine it'll happen. They are at least paying lip service to the voters having a choice. If the voters choose and the Senate still does not budge then that will be a Caesar crossing the Rubicon moment.
But the current asserted rationale is an obvious fig leaf to disguise their current partisan interests. They'll just have to find a new fig leaf - Clinton is uniquely radical, her nominees are uniquely radical, the Supreme Court is better off being equally divided between the parties, etc. etc. It's not hard. And how many Republican voters are inclined to punish Republican elected officials for not confirming a democratic SCOTUS nominee?
I don't know. Polls suggest that people are already not happy about the Supreme nonsense. Most of the obstruction up until now has been mostly invisible but this Garland stuff has simply not been. And blocking all nominations for years? I think it'd be a tipping point. It would be far too public. I honestly think if they do it then it is finally Constitutional crisis time. I just don't see what that'd get them.
Note, for what it's worth, I suspect this would also happen if somehow Drumpf won the presidency but democrats took the Senate.
As Kraken said they'd at least hold the vote but they aren't as polarized and aren't even close to as radical. It'd have a different outcome probably. However that'd assume Drumpf is involved and it'd be some crazy impractical choice so not approving might be a possibly then. It's hard to look that far ahead. Drumpf messes up all predictions - he is pure chaos. :)
I haven't really seen any indication that Republicans are paying any significant price for their obstructionism so far. I am inclined to doubt that it would change all that much in 2017. But I could be wrong.
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malchior
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Re: Holy moly... Scalia dead.

Post by malchior »

What does paying a price look like? Not trying to be (purely) argumentative but this did get some coverage for a time and polls showed people generally wanted hearings at least. If voters remember that and have a more negative outlook...is that paying a price?

Election spending hasn't even rally ramped up yet. Both sides will be likely using this vacancy as a way to get turnout and independents are going to have to decide if they approve of obstruction or not. I can't imagine it will not be framed that way by the Democrats. And they will hopefully make a case that covers the years of obstruction on top. That is probably when it will start to really hurt.
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Re: Holy moly... Scalia dead.

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pr0ner wrote: Thu Mar 31, 2016 5:39 pm George Mason University is renaming its law school after Justice Scalia. It will be known as the Antonin Scalia School of Law.
Looks like this (as well as some of the University's Academic Integrity) was bought and paid for by the Kochs:
Virginia’s largest public university granted the conservative Charles Koch Foundation a say in the hiring and firing of professors in exchange for millions of dollars in donations, according to newly released documents.

The release of donor agreements between George Mason University and the foundation follows years of denials by university administrators that Koch foundation donations inhibit academic freedom.

University President Angel Cabrera wrote a note to faculty Friday night saying the agreements “fall short of the standards of academic independence I expect any gift to meet.” The admission came three days after a judge scrutinized the university’s earlier refusal to release any documents.

The newly released agreements spell out million-dollar deals in which the Koch Foundation endows a fund to pay the salary of one or more professors at the university’s Mercatus Center, a free-market think tank. The agreements require creation of five-member selection committees to choose the professors, and grant the donors the right to name two of the committee members.

The Koch foundation enjoyed similar appointment rights to advisory boards that had the right under the agreements to recommend a professor’s firing if he failed to live up to standards.
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Re: Holy moly... Scalia dead.

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Imagine if it was Soros...
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Pyperkub
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Re: Holy moly... Scalia dead.

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Black Lives definitely Matter Lorini!

Also: There are three ways to not tell the truth: lies, damned lies, and statistics.
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Re: Holy moly... Scalia dead.

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I wonder what it would take to get an independent special consul to investigate the Kochs. Let Soros fund it and they can fund one looking into his business. Probably get rid of 90% of the corruption in this nation that way.
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Re: Holy moly... Scalia dead.

Post by Zarathud »

The University should not have accepted the deal or tried to keep it secret.
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Re: Holy moly... Scalia dead.

Post by Remus West »

Zarathud wrote: Tue May 01, 2018 8:39 am The University should not have accepted the deal or tried to keep it secret.
ftfy
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Re: Holy moly... Scalia dead.

Post by Zarathud »

Knowing the deal would become public is strong incentive to avoid the appearance of improper deal.

I have received significant pushback from Universities over "academic independence" when my clients were just asking for rights to publish research they funded.
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“Bad men need nothing more to compass their ends, than that good men should look on and do nothing.” - John Stuart Mill, Inaugural Address Delivered to the University of St Andrews, 2/1/1867
“It is the impractical things in this tumultuous hell-scape of a world that matter most. A book, a name, chicken soup. They help us remember that, even in our darkest hour, life is still to be savored.” - Poe, Altered Carbon
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