To Heller and back
I started to read the dissents. Then stopped. Maybe later. Why ruin a good mood by ingesting all that fucking stupidity. I’d have to shower after.
In other news, 5-4 was bit too close for comfort in my opinion. I was figuring on 6-3 or 7-2, honestly. Sure, this quiz was pass/fail but we were only one heart attack away, my friends. I hate to say it but that one reason is why I’ll hold my nose, get good and hammered, and pull the lever for John McCain. And I’d have to shower after that too.
June 26th, 2008 at 11:26 am
I would not put a lot of faith in McCain, remember the gang of 14.
June 26th, 2008 at 11:28 am
i don’t have faith in him. He’s 50/50 to do it wrong. His competition is 100% to do it wrong.
June 26th, 2008 at 11:30 am
Not only was it close, it was close with a lot of compromises. You can tell when Scalia’s writing something he doesn’t inherently agree with, and there’s a good few points of that in the text.
And, yes, the dissents waver between factually incorrect, intellectually dishonest, and outright stupid, but that’s what we’ve come to expect.
June 26th, 2008 at 11:49 am
I was also expecting 6-3 or 7-2. Sigh of relief.
Your point on McCain being 50/50 but the opposition being 100/0 wrong is exactly on the money. McCain might even be 60/40.
That ain’t a lot, I know. But it sure beats nothing.
June 26th, 2008 at 11:56 am
I hate to say it, but your right, one of the most obvious decisions in our history was made 5-4. I better get my clothes pin cause 4 years of Obama could overturn that decision easily.
June 26th, 2008 at 12:12 pm
I hate to say it but that one reason is why I’ll hold my nose, get good and hammered, and pull the lever for John McCain. And I’d have to shower after that too.
I will vote for the Liberal John McCain to protect the Republic from the Marxist Barrack “You don’t need no guns” Obama.
Man up people, this is not the time to take your eye off the ball. If this wasn’t a wake up call then you need to sober up.
Vote McCain, there is no choice if you value your rights. Puke if you have to, and take a shower later, this is about our basic rights. This is not the time for some damn protest vote.
June 26th, 2008 at 12:19 pm
I am halfway through Steven’s dissent and my head is hearting. He is claiming that ‘the people’ in the first and fourth amendments are used collectively: i.e. individuals seldom assemble but groups do….individuals sometimes petition grievances but mostly it is done in groups.
It is amazing the rights that are seen when appropriate while others are hidden in clear text.
June 26th, 2008 at 12:41 pm
There’s an argument that a 6-3 or especially a 7-2 would have been even weaker on the details, to keep everyone on board. So in one sense the 5-4 split may be a very good thing for our side, but it does make future appointments critical.
I’m not sure I even trust McAmnesty and a Democrat Senate to appoint and confirm even moderate conservatives as Bush did, but Obama would be worse still.
June 26th, 2008 at 1:00 pm
Had Bush not been in office to appoint Alito and Roberts, we all know what the decision today would have been…
June 26th, 2008 at 2:23 pm
I’d offer a golden shower, but you’d probably ban me for such a rude comment….
/snark
June 26th, 2008 at 2:57 pm
I still say we rise up and throw the dissenters out of the court, if not the country. Anyone who can fold, spindle, and mutilate the constitution shouldn’t a:be there in the first place, and b: have a lifetime office.
That’s me being mellow. My personal opinion is that the dissenters have the definition of Treason nailed to their foreheads.
June 26th, 2008 at 3:04 pm
this may be an unpleasant surprise, but if you applied that standard, you’d not have any justices left. wouldn’t have had for the past century or so, in fact.
June 26th, 2008 at 10:25 pm
Great Uncle:
Indeed I do, and I was pretty sore about it at the time, but without it, Justice Alito would likely have been filibustered out of his appointment, and today’s decision might well have been 5-4 the other way.
Think sausage making process vs. sausage.
June 26th, 2008 at 10:54 pm
This ruling was WAY TO CLOSE. It goes a long way to further illustrate how out of touch people in general, and politicians (that’s what judges are) especially are with our rights as Americans.
June 26th, 2008 at 10:58 pm
That’s exactly what went through my head when I read of the decision today.
June 26th, 2008 at 11:31 pm
Better draw up a very strong pre-nup before you walk down that aisle. Remember both Stevens and Souter were appointed by Republicans.
June 26th, 2008 at 11:33 pm
We all feel the same.
June 26th, 2008 at 11:40 pm
Yeah, but if 5 out of 7 isn’t a perfect record, it sure beats being 0 for 2.
June 26th, 2008 at 11:54 pm
McCain-Feingold and your giving him 5/7ths odds? Any justice who will uphold M-F Campaign Finance Reform that can simultaneously uphold the 2nd “is unknown this side of the looking glass.”
June 27th, 2008 at 12:03 am
5 out of 7 is the Republican Presidents’ track record on the Second Amendment. McCain-Feingold is a different issue altogether. That said, McCain’s pretty good on judges generally, if McCain-Feingold ever gets struck down, it will likely be because President McCain appointed the guy who cast the deciding vote. Stranger things have happened.
June 27th, 2008 at 12:06 am
I feel the same way.
June 27th, 2008 at 12:30 am
Even if McCain becomes POTUS, all he can do is nominate. Democrats can shoot them right down if they win big this fall.
John McCain once said he has never voted against his beliefs, yet he wants me to sacrifice my beliefs and vote for him. I can’t do that.
June 27th, 2008 at 12:35 am
You guys are right. I will also have to hold my nose, try to keep from puking, and vote for McCain.
With McCain, we may have a 50/50 chance of getting another Stevens or Souter. But with O’Bama we have a 100% chance of getting another Ginsburg or Breyer.
June 27th, 2008 at 12:36 am
I have a number of posts on the subject in my blog:
http://provocateurjim.blogspot.com/
June 27th, 2008 at 1:16 am
Allen, you and your morals, and those like you, are going to cost this country more than you can fathom. How are your morals and beliefs gonna feel when President Obama gets sworn in Jan 09. When the shiat sandwich gets served from the Obama express, you and your asshat moralist better step up for 2nd and 3rd helpings. You will deserve no less.
June 27th, 2008 at 6:43 am
To those who are having a hard time accepting the fact that 50-50 odds are likely the best we can do, there is a silver lining. Remember that two of the worst Justices, Stevens and Ginsburg, are the ones most likely to resign in the next four years, and a 50% probability that each will be replaced by someone better translates into a 75% probability that at least one of them will.
OTOH, if too many of us follow Allen’s lead, Obama will win, and there’s a 100% chance the Supreme Court won’t improve at all, and a significant chance it will get worse for decades to come.
June 27th, 2008 at 9:15 am
We have had a Republican in the White House who had McCain’s popularity among Democrats. It was on the heels of a war that while militarily successful, was lost domestically politically. This Republican was so well tolerated across the aisle that he was appointed VP by a Democrat Congress. His term was marked by bi-partisan cooperation. He had outstanding personal character. His name was Gerald Ford and after just a half a term, the country had enough ‘Conservativism’ and elected Barack O’Carter.
Putting Ford and McCain on the same side of the ‘5/7ths good’ equation as Ronald Reagan and even the Bushes is a serious category error.
I strongly suspect that a McCain presidency gives us a couple of more Ford style appointments like Stevens. And after the nation has had four years of ‘Conservative’ leadership, we will have Barack Obama anyway. He is still young.
On the other hand, two years of Obama and the nation will be pleading for another ‘Contract with America’.
June 27th, 2008 at 10:31 am
Midwesterner,
I agree with your analysis.
Remember it took Jimmy Carter to get Ronald Reagan.
McCain is not the guy we want as a standard bearer for Republicans.
June 27th, 2008 at 11:37 am
If you think Senator McCain will appoint judges who voted the right way on this issue you don’t know the man. I want neither one of them as president.
June 27th, 2008 at 11:48 am
Before you buy that bottle on election day, check your state laws. Many states prohibit you from voting if you’re under the influence. And:
Well, you’re going to get one, so make up your mind which you want and vote accordingly.
June 27th, 2008 at 12:48 pm
On the subject of Souter
Midwesterner says
During that period I was close friends with a NH appellate judge who knew Souter for many years. Sununu assured Bush 41 that Souter was a staunch conservative, despite the fact that among his peers and other members of the NH judicial community he was view as most as a moderate. Neither my friend nor any of those who knew Souter well were remotely surprised when he turn left post confirmation.
I can see many ways to spin all this, but the conventional thinking in the granite state is that Sununu mislead Bush about what her was getting.
For what its worth
June 27th, 2008 at 1:48 pm
Yeah, Allen, what the Hell’s wrong with you? Having morals and all, how low can you get?
That’s just not pragmatic.
June 27th, 2008 at 2:48 pm
Who appointed the current Justices:
Roberts, Alito: Bush
Souter, Thomas: Bush Sr
Breyer, Ginsburg (retired): Clinton
Kennedy, Scalia, O’Connor: Reagan
Stevens: Ford
Who’s likely to be replaced in the next 8 years:
Ages:
Stevens: 88
Ginsburg: 75
Scalia: 72
Kennedy: 72
Breyer: 70
Souter: 69
Thomas: 60
Alito: 58
Roberts: 53
June 27th, 2008 at 6:58 pm
If that was the strategy, it was a colossal failure. Eight years of Reagan didn’t come close to undoing the damage Carter caused in “only” four years. We never got the Panama Canal back, Iran is still the #1 terror state instead of a harmless dictatorship, the 9th Circuit is still wacky-left, and Carter himself is still out there actively undermining our foreign policy like only an ex-President can. We did luck out in one respect: that Carter didn’t get to appoint anyone to the Supreme Court. We are unlikely to be so lucky this time around.
June 28th, 2008 at 12:52 am
ZZMike –
Nice scorecard for those who only started paying attention to politics recently. (Like me — I started paying attention a decade ago, when I turned 18). Thanks.
June 28th, 2008 at 9:17 am
Willfully allowing the greater evil to come to power just because your “morals” oppose the lesser evil also demonstrates the morals of Pontius Pilate or a faith healer. Truly moral people take the world as they find it, and make the best of the situation. There’s nothing “moral” about playing the hand you wish you’d been dealt instead of the one you were dealt.