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Four of popular vote loser Donald Trump's current judicial nominees have been deemed unqualified to serve on the bench by the American Bar Association, and a few of them have been caught lying to the Judiciary Committee. Despite all this, it appears that Senate Republicans intend to be a rubber stamp for any and all of his nominees.
Trump's Supreme Court Justice, Neil Gorsuch, is working hard to prove himself Trump's man, including giving politically-tinged speeches at Trump's Washington, D.C., hotel. He also thinks it's entertaining to joke about the man he said should have frozen to death rather than disobey his boss, a case that was a key controversy in his confirmation hearings.
The premise of Gorsuch’s joke is that he was unfairly attacked during his confirmation hearing because he reached a result that was required by the law. A judge may be presented with a law, Gorsuch began his joke, and "immediately know three things."
One, the law is telling me to do something really, really stupid. Two, the law is constitutional and I have no choice but to do that really stupid thing the law demands. And three, when it’s done, everyone who is not a lawyer is going to think I just hate truckers.
The joke was a hit with the gathered Federalist Society members, who laughed and clapped uproariously after Gorsuch delivered his punchline.
Gee, what a card. What a thing to joke about. Gorsuch has quickly made himself such an obnoxious presence on the court that reporters actually are hearing gossip about it—something that Just. Does. Not. Happen. We're hearing of conflicts that arise between Gorsuch and other justices—namely Elana Kagan—in conference, the most closely guarded, sacrosanct place in all of federal government. Because he is that divisive, that obnoxious.
All of this to put a reminder out there for Democrats who might just be winning a majority in 2018: federal justices, including Supreme Court ones, can be impeached. It's happened before and it can happen again. Particularly if the president who appointed them turns out to have won his office illegitimately—like, say, through the machinations of a foreign power.