The judiciary, Alexander Hamilton wrote in the Federalist Papers, has “no influence over either the sword or the purse; no direction either of the strength or of the wealth of the society; and can take no active resolution whatever.” Its power flows entirely from the widespread sense that its decisions are legitimate. Courts “may truly be said to have neither FORCE nor WILL, but merely judgment; and must ultimately depend upon the aid of the executive arm even for the efficacy of its judgments.”

In other words, Republicans may come to find that by seizing control of the judiciary through constitutional hardball, they did so much damage to their prize that it is no longer worth having. The Whitehouse brief is an early warning sign that Democratic elected officials are, at the very least, ambivalent about whether they should obey courts that are increasingly seen as illegitimate. If those courts push too hard, that ambivalence could harden into something that will do permanent damage to judicial power.

the SCOTUS.

Only if we have power do we have teeth in what we say.


We need to run the other branches of the government. If we fail to do that we lose democracy!

When the GOP Congress is purchased by rightwing billionaires,
And the GOP president is in thrall to rightwing billionaires,
And the GOP SCOTUS was picked by and owes their jobs to rightwing billionaires

We don’t have checks and balances anymore. There is only one group controlling all three branches: rightwing billionaires— Republican oligarchs.

Republikkkan mega-donors write the checks, and the GOPee legislators collect the balances.......

Oh, well. If wishes were horses.

the Kavanaugh hearings/testimony. He reminded me of Atticus Finch for some reason.

can only be 9 members.

Add additional office space and call it the Merrick Garland Wing.

Do you really want to go down that road?

and it's paying off. There were Republicans who did not like Trump but still voted for him because Supreme Court nominations and the judiciary were important to them. If Trump wins another term it will be the final nail in the coffin for the judiciary from a Democratic point of view.

For Democrats, a long term party plan might be the next election, if that.

2000 should have been a huge wake up call to the dems, that the GOP had thrown the rule book in the trash, but it feels like our side is just starting to wake up to exactly what the republican party has become.

of electing more of the same.



I WILL, however, vote for whomever our nominee is, enthusiastically.