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Justice Souter nearly resigned in wake of Bush v. Gore; distraught at times weeping

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kansasblue Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Sep-04-07 03:13 PM
Original message
Justice Souter nearly resigned in wake of Bush v. Gore; distraught at times weeping
Edited on Tue Sep-04-07 03:15 PM by kansasblue
so distraught at times weeping when he thought of the case


According to Jeffrey Toobin’s new book on the Supreme Court, Justice David Souter nearly resigned in the
wake of Bush v. Gore, so distraught was he over the decision that effectively ended the Florida recount and installed George W. Bush as president.


http://www.examiner.com/blogs/Yeas_and_Nays/2007/9/4/Book-says-Souter-mulled-resignation-after-Bush-v-Gore?cid=email-blog
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NewJeffCT Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Sep-04-07 03:15 PM
Response to Original message
1. thank goodness he didn't
or, we'd probably be even deeper into fascism than we already are.
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question everything Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Sep-04-07 03:42 PM
Response to Reply #1
9. My reaction, too
which is why it is so important to vote for the nominee - whoever s/he is.

For so many DUers to declare they will not vote for the (blank) - at least I hope that now they are just blowing steam - would be to cement Bush's "legacy" of a supreme court full with Thomases and Scalias.
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brentspeak Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Sep-04-07 03:52 PM
Response to Reply #1
14. I don't know how any of the SCOTUS minority can keep their sanity
Like Justice Stevens wrote in the dissent, (paraphrasing), the Bush v. Gore ruling "shattered the American public' faith in the impartiality of the Supreme Court, once and for all." How can an impartial justice keep their wits about them knowing that five of their fellow justices were just pretending to be impartial?
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demnan Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Sep-04-07 03:16 PM
Response to Original message
2. Hey, he wasn't the only one
n/t
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never_get_over_it Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Sep-04-07 03:23 PM
Response to Original message
3. If I've said it once I've said it a million times
SHAME ON YOU SANDRA DAY O'CONNOR

the other freaks we expected it from - you FIRST WOMAN ON THE SUPREME COURT SHOULD HAVE STOOD TALL

shame shame shame on you.....
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bobbolink Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Sep-04-07 03:32 PM
Response to Reply #3
5. INDEED. Just because someone is a woman, doesn't mean they're going to be on "our" side.
Yeah, and that goes for Hillary, too.

I thought we learned that lesson many years ago.
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never_get_over_it Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Sep-04-07 03:45 PM
Response to Reply #5
10. Well I shouldn't really had made that a point
my point really is that she had voted moderately several times and should have done so with Bush v Gore....so man or woman shame shame shame on her....
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bobbolink Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Sep-04-07 03:48 PM
Response to Reply #10
12. Nevertheless, the point is there.
It's where their loyalties lie, not their gender, or race, etc.
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never_get_over_it Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Sep-04-07 04:01 PM
Response to Reply #12
20. Yep
and you know I have often wonder if she regrets it.....
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brentspeak Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Sep-04-07 03:38 PM
Response to Reply #3
7. With Bush v. Gore, O'Connor was merely standing tall for her own privileged ilk
The powerful and the super wealthy elite.
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bobbolink Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Sep-04-07 03:47 PM
Response to Reply #7
11. Yup, gender has nothing to do with it.
Same as wanting to have the first woman president, the first black president, the first hispanic president, etc.

Doesn't guarantee a thing.
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Selatius Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Sep-04-07 05:35 PM
Response to Reply #3
29. The fact that she was a woman counts not.
What counts on the bench is what you do with the skills you have before you, regardless of gender. She choose to throw in her lot with the people who wanted the count to end. She should be judged on that alone.
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brentspeak Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Sep-04-07 03:29 PM
Response to Original message
4. Bush v. Gore demonstrated once-and-for-all why O'Connor was put on the Supreme Court:
Edited on Tue Sep-04-07 03:30 PM by brentspeak
To be an American aristocracy enabler.

Once she was installed on SCOTUS, she understood her mission, regardless of her moderate positions on social issues: when the time came, and at whatever cost, she was to help maintain the Powers-that-Be status quo -- even if it meant adding her own name to one of the most ridiculously unconstitutional and blatantly partial rulings ever handed down by SCOTUS.
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tabasco Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Sep-04-07 03:36 PM
Response to Original message
6. Who can blame him?
Every informed patriot knew this was a disaster for the Nation and grieved.

It has been much worse than ever imagined with a bloody quagmire and a Supreme Court packed with radical reactionaries.

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Bucky Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Sep-04-07 03:59 PM
Response to Reply #6
19. I blame O'Conner and Kennedy.
They knew better. They voted for their buddies anyway.
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kath Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Sep-04-07 03:40 PM
Response to Original message
8. December 12, 2000. A day that will live in infamy.
I did an awful lot of weeping that night.

(It kind of surprised/alarmed my kids, who were 10 and 8 at the time. I explained that this was a VERY bad thing to happen to our country. And I told them then, and many times since, that these days of the Bush regime will go down in history as a very dark time for our country. They will be able to remember how much their parents were upset as the terrible events unfolded...
We took them to VoterMarch in D.C. in May of 2001.)
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grasswire Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Sep-04-07 03:48 PM
Response to Reply #8
13. that was the day my nephew was radicalized
He lost all faith in America that day, sad to say. He now is cynical and embittered about politics and our system. It was sad to watch that transformation, but the truth was a bitter pill.
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flashl Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Sep-04-07 04:47 PM
Response to Reply #13
27. It did something awful to individuals psyche
For a while, after the SCOTUS vote, when I casually mention the decision I witnessed adults, friends and total strangers, breakdown and cry. I was in a phone store to upgrade my phone and mentioned the decision. The salesperson stop, tears lapsed underneath his chin. He apologized as he tried to compose himself to finish the order. He said, "I have never felt pain like this my entire life". I was shaken and could not think of words to console him, I was aching too. After that, I noticed plenty of people walkiing around with a forty yard stare.
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never_get_over_it Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Sep-04-07 03:57 PM
Response to Reply #8
18. I actually believe it was over on December 9th
I was in the parking lot of a Toys R Us Christmas shopping - when I heard on the radio that Scalia had stayed the recount something he should have NEVER DONE - I literally sat there for a long time COMPLETELY bummed because I knew in my heart of hearts that IT WAS OVER - I seem to remember by that time I think the difference between Bush and Gore was in the two hundreds not the 534 it ended up being - my neighbor tried to cheer me up - she said it would be ok - and I said I WOULD BET MY HOUSE AND EVERYTHING I OWN THAT IT IS OVER and SADLY I WAS RIGHT and I didn't even have a CLUE HOW BAD IT WOULD BE....
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Red Zelda Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Sep-04-07 04:11 PM
Response to Reply #18
21. And the M$M forever screwed us
...their mantra then was "just move on."
They enabled a coup d'etat. Fucking media, now just making Dumbfuckistan stupider every day.
Back to you, Katie.
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kath Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Sep-04-07 04:22 PM
Response to Reply #18
22. you're right - I remember hearing the announcement on the radio that the SCwasSTOPPING THE COUNTING
OF VOTES and it really freaked me out. Knew that was a really bad sign, and had a foreboding of what was to come.
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never_get_over_it Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Sep-04-07 05:36 PM
Response to Reply #22
30. For me it was
kind of like remembering what you were doing when you heard about some BIG EVENT - Kennedy assignations - Martin Luther King assignation - although I was pretty darn young then especially JFK for remembering things - but you know I remember where and how I heard about the space shuttles we lost, 9/11 and the like and for me hearing Scalia had stopped the vote count was the EXACT SAME THING - I remember EXACTLY WHERE I WAS AND WHAT I WAS DOING - I bet I could come close to pointing out the parking space I was in at the toy store - the news was that stunning for me.....
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depakid Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Sep-04-07 03:53 PM
Response to Original message
15. The Court essentially committed treason
Former Mason family prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi details why:

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20010205/bugliosi

Moreover, at least 3 of its members deserved impeachment and disbarment for their actions.

The institution lost pretty much all of its former dignity and respect. Even back in the 80's and most of the 90's, the Court, as an institution, still commanded some respect from lawyers and the critically thinking members of the general public- not anymore.

It's now on par with comparable 3rd world institutions.
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killbotfactory Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Sep-04-07 03:56 PM
Response to Original message
16. The highest court in the land sold us out
And now there are two new members who are even worse.

This country only works for the powerful elite.
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Bucky Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Sep-04-07 03:57 PM
Response to Original message
17. As in "If you don't quit stealing food from my plate, I'm going to hand it to you in protest"
Poppy appointed Souter. He's sane, but kind of stupid.
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shenmue Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Sep-04-07 04:23 PM
Response to Original message
23. It could be even worse...
Whoever 'replaced' him, if they had, would have tipped the balance even more for Bush.
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kimmerspixelated Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Sep-04-07 04:37 PM
Response to Original message
24. Yes, shame on so many in SCOTUS, however
their plight would have gotten nowhere without the satanic manipulations of Katherine Harris and her band of thieves, and then once it was in Congress, Cheney had the final say, didn't he? Bastard!
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MissWaverly Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Sep-04-07 04:43 PM
Response to Original message
25. this is when the c country started to come unglued
everything we took for granted: an elected president, freedom of speech, habeus corpus, geneva conventions, war as
a last resort and not a corporate cash cow, the right to privacy, disaster relief, the list is endless.
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undeterred Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Sep-04-07 04:44 PM
Response to Original message
26. Well, that makes a hundred million of us.
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EVDebs Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Sep-04-07 05:31 PM
Response to Original message
28. Saw a SCOTUS pic post 2000 'selection' and the justices were in clown suits !
And clown make up. Perfect spoof.
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