Last Thursday, I signed up to go to The Nation’s offices for an editorial meeting featuring Elie Mystal, their justice correspondent. Unfortunately, I could not attend in person, but I watched it on Zoom. Mystal is well known for inciteful and biting, but hilarious, criticisms of the current SCOTUS. He noted that when comes to most civil rights cases, 6 of the justices have clearly decided how they are going to vote even before oral arguments rendering oral arguments little more than a way for these justices to guide the lawyers towards the words they will later use in the opinions they will release when the case is finally decided. He also noted these justices are so transparently obvious in their thinking, lawyers arguing to try and defend the hard won rights are now crafting their arguments specifically to try to appeal to emotion facts be damned.
There was one really interesting tidbit he mention regarding Amy Coney Barret. He says from what he has been told, she really is not a smart woman and tends to zone out after a few minutes. What lawyers have come to realize is she will suddenly pay attention if a Bible quote is uttered. Thus, lawyers have begun to come prepared with Bible quotes to drop in at random junctures to keep her paying attention.
It truly is sad this is what Leonard Leo and FedSoc has done to SCOTUS. We went from some of the true great thinkers like Oliver Wendell Holmes, Louis Brandeis, Earl Warren, William O. Douglas, Thurgood Marshall, John Paul Stevens, RBG, etc. to this sad sack of shit. At least will have Sonia Sotomayor and Katenji Brown Jackson to look up to for a while.
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From inkstainedwretch (and it juuuust missed last night’s publication time!):
Nominating WireBender73’s reply to jmiles1978, on hp68’s diary Inspired by comments to me. Antisemitism inflames Israel/Palestine diary comment boards to the point of shutting down thoughtful conversations.
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