Jill Wine-Banks...

[pbmus]

Link to tweet

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Justice Roberts gave us citizens united...he is part of the problem, and will be known in history as helping to destroy representative democracy.....and I personally do not see him being part of any solution.

[lunatica]

1. The Senate's choice will set precedent for the Nation's future

Checks and balances will be one of the first Constitutional articles to become obsolete. The Senate will vote to obliterate it’s own power.

Democracy will die and be replaced. Though it will still bear that name, like all meaningless and empty terms the Republicans love to spout.

[KPN]

16. Yes. Checks and balances already seems outdated if not laughable.

I fear we are doomed ... unless we win the WH and Senate in November.

[lunatica]

21. Democracy will be doomed if this happens

but we will have to live with the new order.

The thing to understand is that Republicans believe in Democracy, but only in terms of Capitalism. In many ways Capitalism, or the free market, is the denier of what we liberals call Democracy. Capitalism is a world where the haves and have mores are free to pursue wealth with as little restriction as possible. Unfortunately liberals understand that Capitalism must be regulated for the benefit of those who don’t have wealth.

Therein lies the dichotomy. When a Republican uses the word Democracy they’re not using it the same way Democrat’s do. As a matter of fact the concept on both side of the aisle couldn’t be more in opposition.

[ancianita]

22. What makes you think this newly acquitted dictator won't suspend elections over some pretext?

[KPN]

35. Nothing.

[triron]

36. Some still refuse to believe it could happen here.

[magicarpet]

33. It is like the USA flag pin on the lapel....

It signifies ones devotion to being patriotic. Acts and deeds are not expected or required.

The superficial display of the flag pin is sufficient to let the world know of your love of country - even though you might use the US Constitution for the preferred toilet paper to wipe your ass.

It is all for show,... what you do behind closed doors is your business. Just be sure to flush 10X to get rid of the evidence.

[Cousin Dupree]

2. Justice Roberts is doing exactly what I thought he would do: act like wallpaper.

[diva77]

4. I heard him referred to as a "potted plant" this morning

[Cousin Dupree]

6. Yep. A good analogy.

[erronis]

9. Didn't he have to be awakened from his stupor at some point?

I thought that nodding off was reserved for Clarence.

[Cousin Dupree]

10. It's very tiring being wallpaper.

[dem4decades]

3. I guess we're going to learn what it's like to live in Russia. .

When does the press get shut down?

[magicarpet]

34. Now,.. now,.. let's not be cynical,....

We got the one ceiling camera through the grace of dear leader Moscow Mitch and his Fascist overseers.

We could have ended up with zero cameras and had to follow the proceedings with an audio feed only.

Of course the other six C-Span cameras in the room were disconnected. They wanted a dry delivery hoping people would get bored and stop watching. And they did not want the public to see Roberts dozing off, people seeking Moscow Mitch picking his nose, and 3/4 of the Rethug seats empty because they were off fucking off and refuse to listen to any evidence that may incriminate dear leader King of Orange, then they might have to vote to convict - but they pre-decided any idea of his impeachment is invalid right at the outset of any trial being heard.

Our dwindling Democracy is being normalized to our faces - with a smirk and a grin from the Nazis and Fascists.

You gotta trigger thems libs.... !

[Pacifist Patriot]

5. "I did nothing, and I did it very well."

[Hortensis]

7. We'll see. The question involves not just the balance of powers

between the executive and legislative branches that the Republican leadership has done their best to eliminate in the executive's favor, but between those two and the judicial branch.

Trump/Repubs are stacking the Supreme Court with hard-core, RW political agents (who make Roberts look fairly moderate and the soul of probity in comparison) who are mostly indifferent to traditional judicial principles. Kavanaugh and Gorsuch joined Clarence Thomas on the far right. Gorsuch has held the institutional knowledge of the court he joined in marked contempt.

Another Trump term could see the Roberts Court dominated by corrupt RW hierarchical interests, using the excuse of textualist, originalist theories to wipe out much of over 235 years of judicial precedent, including much of that protecting the rights of the individual against the state and other authority.

The "general welfare clause" and the "right to privacy" that most/all of the New Deal programs and personal rights to such things as contraception and right to a free internet, are BOTH inferences and/or constructs inferred from other parts of the constitution. While people squabble over WHICH national healthcare system, Medicare and the ACA are both in grave danger of being found completely unconstitutional within the next several years.

A lot more is at stake than Trump's presidency itself.

[erronis]

11. Thank you for your note. Is this all from the Fed Soc or are there other malevolent actors

that are influencing the SCOTUS.

Of course, they can all be in league.

[Hortensis]

18. Jane Mayer and others have documented a

"giant right wing conspiracy" (Hillary knew) taking form back in the 1960s among very wealthy strong conservatives and continuing to today. (Dark Money: The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right) Before he was rewarded with a seat on the Supreme Court, Lewis Powell wrote up a plan, his "memorandum," for the wealthy to save themselves from the Democratic Party by class warfare designed to turn the whole nation conservative. And that movement is much too well and widely entrenched after all this time to ascribe to any one group. In league much more than not. Trump's been filling offices from lists provided by Federalists, a front for him, and from the religious right, overlapping, competing, probably temporary allies.

Although their energy seems to have spread and taken on different life of its own among many millions of strong social and religious conservatives and somewhat slipped the control of original central actors like those in the Kochs' alliance. The Kochs' dad had definite fascist leanings, but they styled themselves as libertarians and I'm not sure where the right is now going is what they imagined they wanted. Trump was a populist rebellion against their control, and they're currently riding the disordered tiger who has the power they need. They're very fortunate he's too incompetent to have already eaten, or at least harnessed, them and moved on to us.

Just my picture.

[moondust]

8. Hmmm.

I don't know about Roberts but an awful lot of Republicans/"economic royalists" seem to really like the idea of being part of an unchallenged white supremacist monarchy/plutocracy/oligarchy. This is as close as they've ever managed to get and they may not be willing to stop if they don't think they'll get another chance.

[erronis]

12. The tides of the future are against them.

Youth, hard-working immigrants, second/third born citizens.

They can rail and scream and build gated communities. But like all other self-proclaimed privileged classes, they will not survive.

Better to accept change and learn to live and benefit by it.

[KPN]

19. But that takes generations to happen -- could easily take 30 or 40 years

at which point, from an environmental and social sustainability standpoint, may already be too late. The long arc of history has always been in favor of good, but we may have never experienced evil of this ultimate power and degree.

We can’t wait much longer. We need to assert ourselves now.

[erronis]

29. Agree. 30-40 years in the grand scheme is not much; but it doesn't remove our responsibilities

to try and make this place better for the ones who have to deal with it.

[fifty8bar]

13. we are the solution

[KPN]

20. Indeed. But do "we" recognize and know it? And

do we have adequate courage, urgency and will?

[aeromanKC]

14. Roberts hands are tied in the Senate rules trial, HOWEVER

there will be cases related to impeachment reach the SCOTUS, especially regarding separation of powers and witnesses and that will be where we can see where Roberts stands. I think good chance he will stand with the dems, the Constitution and against Trump

[progressoid]

15. He doesn't seem to give a shit.

[Skittles]

17. oh he understands

but I have zero doubt there is kompromat on him

[TNNurse]

23. So when will Roberts understand that Trump would remove

him and the court from decision making? Would this not make him irrelevant?

[pbmus]

24. Basically, That has already happened....

Roberts has already proved he is not in favor of ordinary people voting to control their destiny, moreover his opinion sides with oligarchs and corporations[citizens united] to destroy the very fabric of representative government. We are watching the last vestiges of our democracy crumble before our very eyes and ears....

[TNNurse]

25. I am grateful that I am as old as I am

and do not have children to face this all in the future. Isn't that awful? I sincerely care about the future for anyone who has to live with the destruction of the government and the planet, but will not be here to see all of it.

I am 70, my father died at 50, my mother at 76, not expecting 10 more years, will we still have a planet until then???

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

27. Same here.

I think it's going to suck pretty hard, but since I'm old too I might get to miss out on the worst of it. On the other hand, my grandmother lived to be 98 so I might be stuck here for a while. But maybe I'll at least get to find out what happens.

[pbmus]

28. We could have a planet, however the representation of all the people

Is going to become more difficult, as the framework of voting rights, and many other people programs are becoming harder to represent due to citizens united and oligarchy and corporate greed..we are virtually fighting for our right to a fair trial...taking that in perspective to me is mind blowing...that our representatives have to argue for a fair trial...I will say it again, OUR REPRESENTATIVES ARE ARGUING FOR A FAIR TRIAL....Remembering that our country is based on JUSTICE FOR ALL

[C_U_L8R]

26. All these konservative klowns pray at the altar of the unitary executive.

There's probably even a unitary shrine in the bowels of the Heritage Foundation. Lord knows what goes on there after dark.

[Kurt V.]

30. i think this plays in roberts favor, not against. a new state where only elites have the say in all

matters, big and small. he's given up on the republic as a failed experiment.

[pbmus]

31. A long time ago, he chose oligarchs and corporations...

The people to him are to ignorant to control their own destiny.

[CrispyQ]

32. Never forget who nominated Chief Justice Roberts.

“If this were a dictatorship it would be a heck of a lot easier... as long as I'm the dictator. Hehehe.”
~ George W. Bush

Trump did not spring from a vacuum.