Monday, October 12, 2020

I Have Some Thoughts About the Court

 

The GOP, as I've already noted, seem set to treat opposition to Amy Coney Barrett's confirmation to SCOTUS as a sign that lefties hate religion. (The reliably unreconstructed Sen. Hyde-Smith has gone so far as to describe their position as "guns loaded, packed".) Honestly, the "Handmaiden" stuff doesn't necessarily alarm me as much as that other cult she belongs to--the originalist thing. 

I'm not linking to anything by way of argument but just sharing my own thoughts--the Founders didn't seem to have expected future jurists to perform a séance to determine the right thing to do with respects to Constitutional Law, but rather assumed things were supposed to change with the times. They just had a Revolution, for crying out loud! They knew they were putting things together that would necessarily have to change because events would necessitate it. They weren't prophets, but....guys. They literally were like, "for a more perfect union"--as in, we aren't there yet--go ahead and amend this Constitution of ours--we don't mind! So when you really do go back and look at the words they actually put in the document, it's like, wow, they didn't think this was a dead document at all. 

So you can't ignore progress, and you need to look at stare decisis. What is going on, as a through line? How is the law evolving and developing? Is justice reparative or punitive? And I have issues with what I'm seeing. 


Pete Buttigieg made some compelling remarks:


The Founders would not have foreseen my right to vote or Buttigieg's ability to marry his partner. Change is good.

Regarding the job of trying to block Barrett's approval--Democrats technically can't if the GOP are united. I don't even think denying the Judicial Committee quorum is wholly on. So, with this extremely late pick being forced on the court (and this is in part Barrett's choice, having said "Yes" to the process she observed with Kavanaugh) I think every argument against her prior judgments, and her tried cases and prior work, including the 2000 election, should be considered. And put to a very public screening. Also some investigation should be made of the documents and work she failed to report. 

And maybe, some glitch could occur and the hearings don't go on, or Barrett bows out. 

Things do happen. Maybe Trump doesn't get the court McConnell let him pack. For the sake of, say, any election-related suits he might consider bringing to them.

All of which would be irrelevant, don't you think, as to whether a President Joe Biden should try "packing the court" by expanding the number of justices. For one thing, wasn't that Mitch McConnell's bag--having denied all President Obama's judicial picks and ensured the stamp of approval on barely qualified Federalist Society drones? 

So you know, I don't really care when journos try to buttonhole Biden regarding the potential embrace of providing more judges. I wouldn't mind if he just responded: :"We might be looking into it very strongly, to be determined after the election as other things fall into place. " 

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