Name:	MartiniMan -	Reply
Subject:	SCOTUS Kennedy retiring
Date:	6/27/2018 2:10:17 PM

Watch for a full blown meltdown by the left when Trump nominates another strict constructionist.  Will all but eliminate the so-called swing vote, which for some reason is always someone nomintated by a GOP president.  This is going to be fun so get your popcorn.

Name:	phil -	Reply
Subject:	SCOTUS Kennedy retiring
Date:	6/27/2018 2:57:56 PM (updated 6/27/2018 3:02:16 PM)

I know there had been rumors but https://www.cnn.com/2018/06/27/politics/anthony-kennedy-retires/index.html

GYF and Auntie Archie need to be on suicide watch.  DEATH OF DEMOCRACY, STOLEN SCOTUS SEAT, RUSSIA RUSSIA RUSSIA  BLAH BLAH BLAH.  

Ginsberg is not a spring chicken, there was rumors she was going to step down under Obama, she missed her chance - Just imagine when Trump gets to appoint a 3rd seat.

Damn, Christmas came early.  

Name:	MartiniMan -	Reply
Subject:	SCOTUS Kennedy retiring
Date:	6/27/2018 4:27:29 PM

So now the real question is whether McCain, Corker and Flake try to prevent the vote on a replacement out of their hatred for Trump.  One would think they would want to take this accomplishment of having put in a second SCOTUS justice would outweigh their TDS but I am not optimistic.  Here's hoping they care more for our country than their petty disagreements with the president.  I am not entirely optimistic.  The one thing going for us is that it seems highly unlikely they will lose the Senate and may actually add some seats so these guys will have lost their chance to be a part of history.  That alone could motivate them.

And I can't wait for the hypocritical howling from the left about needing 60 votes.  Sorry folks, but Harry Reid road that train from the station a while ago.  We predicted they would regret that decision and am glad the GOP had the guts to make them pay for their decision.  If we get another Gorsuch they will wailing and gnashing their teeth and beating their breasts.  And when Trump wins another term and the GOP holds onto the Senate in 2020 they will really be praying that Ginsburg can outlive his second term.

Name:	phil -	Reply
Subject:	SCOTUS Kennedy retiring
Date:	6/27/2018 4:47:52 PM

and a hush has fallen over the forum.....

Name:	lucky67 -	Reply
Subject:	SCOTUS Kennedy retiring
Date:	6/27/2018 7:03:07 PM

Schumer has already declared the 25 candidates are unacceptable; Trump said 2+2=4; Schumer said hold on while the IG verifies that

Name:	Rich -	Reply
Subject:	Weekend At Bernies with Ginsburg
Date:	6/27/2018 7:58:46 PM (updated 6/27/2018 7:59:31 PM)

Somebody better be checking her pulse if Trump wins a second term. The'll be wheeling her out like in the movie.

Name:	Talullahhound -	Reply
Subject:	SCOTUS Kennedy retiring
Date:	6/27/2018 8:49:39 PM

You know, I find myself wishing that the nominee would be a moderate conservative.  I'd like to think we would get a Justice that voted cases on their legal merits and not along some philosophical/political lines.   I know that proabably sounds strange but our country is becoming so polarized, I think it is time to push  the pendulum back a bit.  Turmp said that he has some candidates in mind.  I just hope that the Senate does not screw around and approves the replacement quickly and it doesn't fall into just another thing that Congress can't get done.

Name:	architect -	Reply
Subject:	Knowing that ALL of you are fair minded
Date:	6/27/2018 8:55:30 PM

I'm sure all of you will join me in insisting invoking the McConnell rule, established about this time 2 years ago, which insists that in an election year it is of paramount importance no Supreme Court justice be considered until after the election in order that the senate will have the benefit of the ''advise and consent'' of the newly seated members who reflect the most timely expression of the will of the people.  I agree with Mitch and am certain that all of you do too.  After all, if we ALL wanted to be fair as defined by Sen McConnell in 2016 then we will ALL certainly want to be fair for the same reason in 2018.  I'm sure Sen McConnell will be discussing this soon.

Name:	architect -	Reply
Subject:	SCOTUS Kennedy retiring
Date:	6/27/2018 9:03:09 PM

Gee Hound, I wonder if you posted of a similar comment in 2016 when a candidate that was a pretty good match for your description of a preferred justice didn't even get a hearing?  Mitch said that in an election year he needed to know the current ''will of the people'' as expressed by election before considering the nominee put forward.

Name:	MrHodja -	Reply
Subject:	Knowing that ALL of you are fair minded
Date:	6/27/2018 10:54:01 PM

Wasn't it your dear leader who said "we won"?  Elections have consequences and in this case the party in power was able to table one nomination and now can advance another.  Like it or not, it is.

Name:	Rich -	Reply
Subject:	SCOTUS Kennedy retiring
Date:	6/28/2018 7:55:26 AM

I have a problem with the will of the people argument. I believe it is based on a flawed premise that gained popularity and was push by the left after Row V Wade. The poupose of lifetime appointments is to temper the current leanings of tha populace and intepret the Constitution as written. We have elections to change our law makers to reflect the current mood of the people. The Supreme Court is there to keep us from making decisions that affect us long term with the current whim of the people that can easily be swayed by a biased media. The court has currently not been doing its mandate and has been writing law (as in changing terminology in Obama Care law to make it constitutional) they should have overturned it based on the actual law as written and let the congress rewrite the law to make it constitutional. We only have proper check and balance id each branch executes their mandate as proposed by thr Founding Fathers.

Name:	MartiniMan -	Reply
Subject:	SCOTUS Kennedy retiring
Date:	6/28/2018 8:35:33 AM (updated 6/28/2018 10:02:32 AM)

Here's the deal with Trump's nominees, at least the 25 that are on his list.  They aren't conservative, liberal or moderate.  They are originalists and will judge the validity of a law based on whether it comports with the Constitution.  For the most part they will not try to legislate from the bench like the other four justices do on a regular basis and some of the GOP-nominated justices have done on occasion (ala Roberts and Obamacare where he turned a penalty into a tax). 

The reality is that over the last 25 to 30 years liberals have used the courts to implement left wing ideas when they could not do so legislatively.  However, this is a double-edged sword for them because Trump is going to leave a generational legacy on not only SCOTUS but lower appeals courts.  I suspect we will see the left suddenly decide that there are actually three branches of government with separate and distinct authority.  It'll be fun to watch them twist into pretzels trying to disavow everything they've said for years.

On the politics side, there is no easy way out for them.  If somehow they delay this nomination past the midterms they are going to so energize conservatives that their already threatened blue wave will shrink into nothingness.  And if they are unable to stop the confirmation their base is going to explode in fury and violence and be disheartened enought to sit out the midterms.  And there are at least five Democrats up for reelection in states that went heavily for Trump that are really in a pickle.  They vote against the nominee and they lose by more than they are probably already going to lose by or it could be just the difference in a toss up election.  They vote for the nominee and their base will punish them mightily by not voting for them.  And they won't pick up enough moderate votes to make up for the losses.  All in all it is not a good situation and it will be interesting to see if they somehow manage to thread the needle.

Our summer just got really interesting.

Name:	phil -	Reply
Subject:	Weekend At Bernies with Ginsburg
Date:	6/28/2018 8:58:00 AM

Well to be honest I thought they already were.

Name:	phil -	Reply
Subject:	Knowing that ALL of you are fair minded
Date:	6/28/2018 9:00:52 AM

Apples and banannas - midterm election vs presidental election.  

Knowing that YOU are about as fair minded as a snake in the grass, Make sure to write your congressman and tell shem to be fair, open minded and middle of the road... I will not hold my breath.

Name:	architect -	Reply
Subject:	Rich
Date:	6/28/2018 9:30:40 PM (updated 6/28/2018 9:52:06 PM)

I certainly agree that we need to get back to each branch doing what the constitution mandates them to do.  We are certainly not seeing that from either of the 3 branches today as clearly shown by the supreme court justice replacement in 2016 vs 2018.  I too have a problem with the ''will of the people'' argument on selecting judges.   But in fact, it was not my argument, it was Mitch McConnel's argument when he refused to allow the senate to do what the senate is ''mandated'' to do when a Democratic president did exactly what the constitution ''mandates'' that he do.  Of course the old hypocrit now sees no need for the ''will of the people'' to be considered. 

I agree that the court is no longer fulfilling it's ''mandate'' to interpret the law and has become a maker of the law.  I doubt though that we would agree on which decisions are ''interpretive'' and which are ''law making''.  It would be my opinion that the Obamacare decision was interpretive of the law while Citizens United was nothing more than the supremes declaring a law allowing corporate and political interests to buy elections!

I know Phil will see my comments as liberal BS rather than a reasoned response to yours, but what else is new?

Name:	phil -	Reply
Subject:	Rich
Date:	6/29/2018 8:32:19 AM

You are allowed your opinion and I am allowed mine.  My opinion that Obamacare could be both a tax and a penality is bull chit.  

But then again everything you type is filtered through your hatred.  You need mental help.

Name:	architect -	Reply
Subject:	Rich
Date:	7/1/2018 3:15:06 PM

As I say...''what else is new?''

Name:	phil -	Reply
Subject:	Rich
Date:	7/2/2018 8:22:13 AM

Nothing is "new" you have always needed mental help.