I was actually spellbound at this presentation, even though I knew many of the horrible details before. Thank you for including such a clear description of the connection to Bush v. Gore; and the Supreme Court history with the charts gave me new talking points.
I wonder if the media don't cover this because they fear it would sound like a conspiracy theory. Is it a conspiracy? A loose one perhaps. Not the kind centrally controlled and meticulously planned by some star chamber, but the results of highly motivated people in different branches of government that are supposed to be checking one another's power, instead working together to advance a broad, common ideology. Not so much executing a convoluted plot as much as playing the long game, being patient, and taking full advantage of some pretty good luck where it came.
In fact, I wonder how much that good luck, in the form of winning two elections that in any healthy democracy they would have lost, played a role in unleashing the forces of extremism? How much were these legal types willing to cozy up to religious, cultural, and political extremists, believing they would always be at an inherent disadvantage and could use all the help they could get, and surely never believing they'd be this wildly successful. I have to think that along those lines, Trump has surely been a kink in their plans.
Still, it's sadly ironic how the courts, in being the bastion of defending the powerless against the tyranny of the Confederate states, simply showed the forces of regressivism what they needed to do in order to win lasting victories. When people criticize America for becoming too reliant on our courts to shape the law, they don't seem to appreciate why we had to in the first place. But every tool can become a weapon in the wrong hands, and I guess the forces of liberalism became complacent.
I'm glad I was alive to appreciate the previous era. I will almost certainly not live to see it undone.
Yes, but remember, much of that was enabled by the gutting of the Civil Rights Act with the help of the two justices appointed by Bush, Roberts and Alito. Granted, they replaced Rehnquist and O'Connor, respectively, so we don't exactly know what would have happened otherwise. Still, had a Democrat been in office in '04-'08, there would be at least a moderate where Roberts sat at the time.
Most of this happened before Biden was in office. The rest is about actions by the SCOTUS that are beyond the reach of the DOJ. Nonetheless, Biden has been quite vocal about it ... if you haven't heard him it's because the MSM doesn't report it. (In fact this whole article is about what the media doesn't discuss.) As for "Biden's" Justice Department, he promised to be hands off and he has been ... unlike what we will see with Project 2025 if Trump takes office.
When the discussion is about the horrible behavior of right wingers and the GOP and someone comes along attacking Democrats, I block those trolls.
Pretty well describes past few decades of partisan court history. In foreign countries, that still practice capital punishment, there would be at least 200 co-conspirators that would be waiting to make their last decision. The rope or a firing squad.
Great work, Michael. The outrageousness of what they've done and are doing, combined with its openness, works in their favor. I watched the latest Netflix thing on Hiltler and the Nazis and Nuremberg and then the Bill Moyers interview with Shirer in which Shirer points out what misfits the Nazi leaders and bigwigs were when he met them early in the '30s. I thought this was telling, that they were losers. They were weirdos and fuckups but cunning.
For so many Americans it's hard for them to get their heads around how completely nuts this movement is because their experience of the country was so different, as it was for my family -- a salvation. But one group of Americans were definitive losers, the Confederates. And when you lose you don't forget. In addition there's a very strong Scots-Irish element among this group and they were angry bigots before they got here.
These are the lost souls to whom the old Republican establishment sold themselves for votes. They mostly cannot be redeemed, and usually account for the most extreme leanings though authoritarian Catholics are finding their inner fascists more easily as it becomes politically possible and expedient to do so. But the evengelicals were always going to drag us into such a mess if they could, with their intense combination of servility and belligerence.
They have to have a feud.
Hell, in addition to the Civil War they were still fighting the Reformation, against a straw Catholic that not only doesn't exist now but never has as a matter of doctrine and orthodox Church practice so it's strange, this alliance with those SCOTUS members with Catholic roots and ties. They're coming from deeply incompatible places, one group requiring an abiding love of creation while the other despises it as imperfect and a red-light district of temptation.
Man, they are sick. But insane people are hard to stop, partly or mostly because it's so hard for normal people to believe what a rollicking hate-fest they have going and that, yes, they will kill you or get you killed and never think twice about it. Michael is consistently an antidote to not seeing things squarely, though it sometimes makes him the bearer of alarming news, as in this case, though in other instances it's been reassuring, as it was when he wrote about the uselessness and harm of early horse race polling.
I was actually spellbound at this presentation, even though I knew many of the horrible details before. Thank you for including such a clear description of the connection to Bush v. Gore; and the Supreme Court history with the charts gave me new talking points.
Thanks!
An outstanding piece. Thank you.
Ya picked a good time for this post, on this day, we ratified the 14th Amendment and re-consecrated the Republic.
The 14th amendment is one that this conservative Court chooses to ignore.
It won't ignore it when cases come along arguing that the 14th amendment protects the rights of "unborn persons".
Another amazing piece Michael. Thank you again!
I wonder if the media don't cover this because they fear it would sound like a conspiracy theory. Is it a conspiracy? A loose one perhaps. Not the kind centrally controlled and meticulously planned by some star chamber, but the results of highly motivated people in different branches of government that are supposed to be checking one another's power, instead working together to advance a broad, common ideology. Not so much executing a convoluted plot as much as playing the long game, being patient, and taking full advantage of some pretty good luck where it came.
In fact, I wonder how much that good luck, in the form of winning two elections that in any healthy democracy they would have lost, played a role in unleashing the forces of extremism? How much were these legal types willing to cozy up to religious, cultural, and political extremists, believing they would always be at an inherent disadvantage and could use all the help they could get, and surely never believing they'd be this wildly successful. I have to think that along those lines, Trump has surely been a kink in their plans.
Still, it's sadly ironic how the courts, in being the bastion of defending the powerless against the tyranny of the Confederate states, simply showed the forces of regressivism what they needed to do in order to win lasting victories. When people criticize America for becoming too reliant on our courts to shape the law, they don't seem to appreciate why we had to in the first place. But every tool can become a weapon in the wrong hands, and I guess the forces of liberalism became complacent.
I'm glad I was alive to appreciate the previous era. I will almost certainly not live to see it undone.
A lot of that luck was manufactured with extreme gerrymandering, vote suppression and racial discrimination.
Yes, but remember, much of that was enabled by the gutting of the Civil Rights Act with the help of the two justices appointed by Bush, Roberts and Alito. Granted, they replaced Rehnquist and O'Connor, respectively, so we don't exactly know what would have happened otherwise. Still, had a Democrat been in office in '04-'08, there would be at least a moderate where Roberts sat at the time.
And all this without one mention (unless I missed it) of the pandemic and its influence on this country's politics.
Where was Biden’s Justice Department while this was happening? Where was the occupant of the presidential bully pulpit?
Most of this happened before Biden was in office. The rest is about actions by the SCOTUS that are beyond the reach of the DOJ. Nonetheless, Biden has been quite vocal about it ... if you haven't heard him it's because the MSM doesn't report it. (In fact this whole article is about what the media doesn't discuss.) As for "Biden's" Justice Department, he promised to be hands off and he has been ... unlike what we will see with Project 2025 if Trump takes office.
When the discussion is about the horrible behavior of right wingers and the GOP and someone comes along attacking Democrats, I block those trolls.
Was Biden President prior to 2020. Perhaps you should see if you can find him complicit in Lincoln’s assassination.
In the immortal words of Bugs Bunny, “What a maroon!!”
W
Pretty well describes past few decades of partisan court history. In foreign countries, that still practice capital punishment, there would be at least 200 co-conspirators that would be waiting to make their last decision. The rope or a firing squad.
Great work, Michael. The outrageousness of what they've done and are doing, combined with its openness, works in their favor. I watched the latest Netflix thing on Hiltler and the Nazis and Nuremberg and then the Bill Moyers interview with Shirer in which Shirer points out what misfits the Nazi leaders and bigwigs were when he met them early in the '30s. I thought this was telling, that they were losers. They were weirdos and fuckups but cunning.
For so many Americans it's hard for them to get their heads around how completely nuts this movement is because their experience of the country was so different, as it was for my family -- a salvation. But one group of Americans were definitive losers, the Confederates. And when you lose you don't forget. In addition there's a very strong Scots-Irish element among this group and they were angry bigots before they got here.
These are the lost souls to whom the old Republican establishment sold themselves for votes. They mostly cannot be redeemed, and usually account for the most extreme leanings though authoritarian Catholics are finding their inner fascists more easily as it becomes politically possible and expedient to do so. But the evengelicals were always going to drag us into such a mess if they could, with their intense combination of servility and belligerence.
They have to have a feud.
Hell, in addition to the Civil War they were still fighting the Reformation, against a straw Catholic that not only doesn't exist now but never has as a matter of doctrine and orthodox Church practice so it's strange, this alliance with those SCOTUS members with Catholic roots and ties. They're coming from deeply incompatible places, one group requiring an abiding love of creation while the other despises it as imperfect and a red-light district of temptation.
Man, they are sick. But insane people are hard to stop, partly or mostly because it's so hard for normal people to believe what a rollicking hate-fest they have going and that, yes, they will kill you or get you killed and never think twice about it. Michael is consistently an antidote to not seeing things squarely, though it sometimes makes him the bearer of alarming news, as in this case, though in other instances it's been reassuring, as it was when he wrote about the uselessness and harm of early horse race polling.