Associate Justice Brett Kavanaugh

Federal Judiciary, Including Appointees Of Trump, The Bushes, Reagan, Put Limits On Donald Trump Power!

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The Federal Judiciary, including appointees of Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, George W. Bush, and even Donald Trump, have been clamping down on abuse of executive power, to the fury of Trump.

The fact that even some of his own judicial appointees are holding Trump accountable says legions about the abuses of power going on.

This includes all three of Trump’s Supreme Court Justice appointments—Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett.

Trump seems to be ready to refuse to obey any Supreme Court decision, or lower courts, and if that ultimately occurs, then we are in a no win situation in which the President and his appointees are unaccountable in any fashion.

This is a terrifying scenario, with horrifying potential for disaster in so many ways.

Death threats are mounting against judges across the nation, and the President’s rhetoric is encouraging such intimidation.

It is getting more difficult for critics, including this author and blogger, to keep up their optimism that democracy, the rule of law, and the Constitution can, successfully, win out over the abuses of power going on in America, as we enter the fifth full month of the second Trump Presidency.

Donald Trump Has Declared War On Supreme Court And Other Federal Courts’ Authority!

Ronald 60 Comments

The nation is reaching a crucial turning point, as Donald Trump has attacked the seven members of the Supreme Court, who have ruled that he cannot use the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to deport immigrants without habeus corpus and due process.

Trump is ranting on Truth Social about this, and he and his MAGA Republican supporters have also unleashed attacks against District Court Judges and Appeals Court Judges who have ruled against his policies regarding deportation.

Chief Justice John Roberts has also made clear how disturbed he is at the attacks on the rule of law and the Constitution, as has Associate Justices Ketanji Brown Jackson, Elena Kagan, Sonia Sotomayor, and even Trump appointed Amy Coney Barrett.

The fact that all three Trump Supreme Court nominees, including Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh, along with Barrett, have voted against him, and that some of the District and Appeals Court Judges who have done so, are Reagan, George H W Bush, George W Bush, and even some Trump appointees, is an indication of great alarm in the judicial branch about Trump’s grabbing of power and attacks on the validity and legitimacy of the courts!

It looks as if Trump and his Cabinet officers, particularly Attorney General Pam Bondi, Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director Thomas Homan, and White House Adviser Stephen Miller, are hell bent on breaking the law and the Constitution, and refusing to obey the federal courts.

This is, if not stopped, a full scale attack on civil liberties, the Bill of Rights, and endangers all Americans, that any excuse could be used, without evidence or investigation, leading to massive deportations to foreign dictatorships beyond just El Salvador, with no appeal or ability to reverse such totalitarian, Fascist actions!

Sense Of Optimism As Democratic National Convention Ends, With Exceptional Acceptance Speech Of Kamala Harris!

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There is a sense of optimism as the Democratic National Convention of 2024 adjourns.

After more inspiring speeches and presentations by a multitude of speakers on all kinds of issues that matter, Kamala Harris gave a memorable Acceptance Speech, making clear how “Presidential” she really is!

As Vice President, one never can easily make an impression that is noticed, and one can ask John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Martin Van Buren, and George H. W. Bush, the only other “sitting” Vice Presidents who had the success of being elevated to the office of President to follow their “boss” by election.

Harris’s 20 year public career which began as a masterful prosecutor in San Francisco and later as the Attorney General of the largest state in the Union, so arguably the second most powerful Attorney General after the US Attorney General in Washington, DC, makes her highly significant.

Then as a probing US Senator questioning Trump Administration figures such as Attorney Generals Jeff Session and William Barr, and Supreme Court Justice nominee Brett Kavanaugh, holding their “feet to the fire”, made her someone who clearly was principled to pursue justice and truth.

Harris has been underestimated, and also dismissed by misogynists who resent that a woman has the nerve to be aggressive in her pursuit of exposing evil in the criminal justice system and in American government.

Now that we see her out in the open, we are coming to realize how wonderful it was that Joe Biden selected her to be his “behind the scenes” Vice President, who gained lots of experience that we could not recognize openly, but now is ready to become President of the United States, and to bring Donald Trump to account in the 73 day campaign to follow until Election Day on November 5, 2024.

Harris and the Democratic Party have raised a half billion dollars in the past month; have had massive crowds everywhere that Harris and Tim Walz have appeared; and the momentum is on to bring about widespread Democratic victory all over the map in November!

US Supreme Court Adding To Its Poor Image By Delaying Presidential Immunity Decision To End Of June!

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The US Supreme Court, already with a terrible reputation as an extremist right wing Court, is adding to its poor image by delaying its Presidential Immunity decision to the very last week of the present term.

The idea that any President has total immunity on anything he does as President is shocking, but the Court, with its three Donald Trump appointees, plus the horrendous Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, both involved in conflict of interest controversies of their own making, is adding tension to the nation by not having rejected such an idea summarily.

The hope is that the Court will reject such an outrageous abuse of Presidential power, that would allow any action of a President without any controls.

This blogger senses, and hopes that the vote will be as high as 7-2 rejecting total Presidential immunity, with only Thomas and Alito seemingly assured to back such abuse of power.

But this assumes that the Trump appointees, and at the least, Amy Coney Barrett, along with Chief Justice John Roberts, will join Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown Jackson, to come to that conclusion. The hope is that Brett Kavanaugh will also join such a majority, and possibly Neil Gorsuch.

Supreme Court Justice Quality Way Down From Decades In The Past!

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Republican Party Presidents since 1953 have selected the vast majority of Supreme Court Justices!

Dwight D. Eisenhower 5
Richard Nixon 4
Gerald Ford 1
Ronald Reagan 4
George H. W. Bush 2
George W. Bush 2
Donald Trump 3
Total 21 with William Rehnquist listed twice under Nixon and Reagan

in 40 years of Republican Presidents

Democratic Party Presidents have had far fewer appointments!

John F. Kennedy 2
Lyndon B. Johnson 2
Jimmy Carter 0
Bill Clinton 2
Barack Obama 2
Joe Biden 1
Total 9

in 32 years of Democratic Presidents

So twice as many Repubican appointments as Democrats!

Eisenhower had Chief Justice Earl Warren, Associate Justice Potter Stewart, and Associate Justice William Brennan stand out!

Nixon had Chief Justice Warren Burger and Associate Justice Harry Blackmun stand out!

Ford had Associate Justice John Paul Stevens stand out!

Reagan had Associate Justice Sandra Day O’Connor and Associate Justice Anthony Kennedy stand out!

H W Bush had Associate Justice David Souter stand out!

On the Democratic side:

Kennedy had Associate Justice Byron White stand out!

Johnson had Associate Justice Thurgood Marshall stand out!

Clinton had Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Associate Justice Stephen Breyer stand out!

Obama had Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor and Associate Justice Elena Kagan stand out!

Biden had Associate Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson stand out!

So 9 Republican appointments and 7 Democratic appointments have stood out!

Now, sadly, we have a group of appointments by Republican Presidents (the two Bushes and Donald Trump) that have been extremist and involved in conflicts of interest, and are not interested in being in the moderate center of constitutional law!

These include Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Brett Kavanaugh, Neil Gorsuch, and sadly, Chief Justice John Roberts!

Supreme Court Corruption Is Massive: Time For Reform!

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The latest revelation about Supreme Court Associate Justice Neil Gorsuch selling property to a law firm that has argued before the Court adds to the similar actions of Clarence Thomas selling property to a right wing billionaire, and makes clear the reality of ethical violations by members of the Court, who seem to think they are beyond reproach!

Add the nasty, arrogant manner of Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas; the ethical issues around Thomas and Brett Kavanaugh that have never been truly addressed; and the abuse promoted by Kentucky Senator and Republican Minority Leader Mitch McConnell in promoting a quick replacement for Ruth Bader Ginsburg by Amy Coney Barrett just weeks before the Presidential Election of 2020, while blocking the appointment of Merrick Garland to replace Antonin Scalia nine months before the Presidential Election of 2016.

One could argue that except for Barrett and Chief Justice John Roberts, that all of the other Republican appointments to the Court are, at the least, ethically challenged, and screams for Supreme Court reform.

The Court is more extreme right wing than it has been since the 1920s, so there is now a strong argument to add members to the Court to right the balance, and to set term limits for future Court Justices.

Justices are on the Court for too long, with Thomas now at almost 32 years, and the all time record being 36, and with Alito at 17 years and Roberts at 18 years, which sounds like what the proper term in the future should be 18 years, with the idea that every President in the future, would have two appointments in a four year term, and there would be constant turnover over four plus Presidential terms.

Senators Susan Collins And Joe Manchin Were Bamboozled By Supreme Court Nominees!

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It is now clear that Republican Senator Susan Collins of Maine and Democratic Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia were bamboozled by Supreme Court nominees Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett.

All three claimed that they understood that Roe V. Wade was established law, and that they had no intention of conspiring to reverse abortion rights.

This is a major embarrassment for both Collins and Manchin, and sullies their reputations long term, although it seems clear that they are arrogant personalities, who really do not care about public opinion, which is overwhelmingly pro choice on abortion.

The three Supreme Court Justices, by all ethics and morality, should be forced off the Supreme Court for lying under oath before the US Senate Judiciary Committee, but of course they will face no such action.

And all three were chosen by a President, Donald Trump, who lost the popular vote by 2.85 million, and who was put into office by Russian collusion, confirmed by a Republican Senate majority in 2010 to be reality.

The Supreme Court has lost any respect or reputation, and clearly has become a right wing extremist group wishing to destroy much more than abortion rights!

A move to add members to the Court seems urgent, but can only happen as a long shot at this point, so the nation is a victim of right wing extremism, very disconcerting!

Abortion Rights Fails In US Senate, And So Called”Supporters” Collins And Murkowski Bail!

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Abortion Rights has failed in the US Senate, by a vote of 49-51, not surprising, but two so called “supporters”, Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, bailed on the legislation on technical grounds, along with Democratic Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia!

Basically, both Senators showed they talk the talk but do not walk the walk.

So it seems certain that women will lose their rights to their own bodies’s autonomy, and there will be botched abortions and suicides rapidly increasing!

This is extremely tragic as women’s rights are going backwards, and yet, at this point, nothing can be done to stop it, unless by miracle, the Supreme Court backs away from its draft decision from February.

This would require Chief Justice John Roberts to influence at least one of the five Justices in the majority, likely either Brett Kavanaugh or Amy Coney Barrett, to join him and the three Democratic appointments on the Court.

But there is no way to know if Roberts might in the end join the five other conservatives, and make the final vote in June 6-3 instead of 5-4!

Supreme Court Nominees Lied, And Susan Collins And Lisa Murkowski Were Tricked!

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Two Women Republican Senators, considered the most “moderate” Republicans in the US Senate, have made it clear that they are supportive of abortion rights–Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska.

Both interviewed Donald Trump’s three Supreme Court nominees–Neil Gorsuch in 2017, Brett Kavanaugh in 2018, and Amy Coney Barrett in 2020–and all three nominees pledged that they would not touch Roe V Wade.

But now, based on the draft of the likely decision of the Supreme Court in late June, all three are supportive of Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, to wipe out fifty years of abortion reaffirmation, and take away a basic right already granted, a totally reprehensible action!

So it comes down to this–all three Trump nominees LIED to Collins and Murkowski, and have undermined faith in the veracity and reputation of the Supreme Court!

By all rights, all three should be impeached and removed, but of course, that will not happen, but the image and historic role of the Supreme Court has been sullied for all time!

And Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski SHOULD support a carve out on the filibuster to allow 51 votes, including theirs, to pass legislation to insure the continuation of abortion rights, and therefore, tell the Supreme Court to go to hell, as a disgrace to the law and the Constitution!

Republicans And Conservative Supreme Court Will Suffer By Attack On Abortion Rights!

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The Republican Party and the majority Conservative Supreme Court will suffer massively by their attack on Abortion Rights!

Vast numbers of Americans, and particularly women, will not sit idly by and allow a woman’s right to choose to be taken away without a massive negative reaction at the polls in 2022 and beyond!

It will be like the California Republicans who passed legislation in the form of Proposition 187 in 1994 under Republican Governor Pete Wilson to deny undocumented immigrants any rights to health care and education, with that legislation delayed and then declared unconstitutional, but with the Republican Party having committed suicide in the process.

So the California Republican Party, except for a few Congressional seats and a small number of state legislative seats, have been in the wilderness for the past quarter century, insuring that California is strongly Blue.

The Supreme Court under Chief Justice John Roberts will lose all credibility, and will damage the instition of the judiciary long term.

The Roberts Court will not go down as an outstanding, fair minded Court as with Chief Justice Earl Warren (1953-1969), and respect for the Court will decline rapidly.

If John Roberts has his scruples, he needs to work behind the scenes to convince Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett to reject the extremist view of Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito!

By all rights, both men should recuse themselves from the Roe V Wade challenge, as they should never have been allowed on the Court with their extremist views!

Both Thomas, appoinated by George H. W. Bush, and Samuel Alito, appointed by George W. Bush, were and are outside the mainstream of American constitutional law!