Ruth Bader Ginsburg rests at the Supreme Court Portico.
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President Donald Trump, commited opportunist, has pledged to nominate a new Supreme Court Justice this week, six weeks before the presidential election. He expects the Republican toadies of the Senate to confirm his pick with all unseemly haste before November 3rd, Election Day.
Mr. Trump has vowed to nominate a woman to replace Justice Ginsburg, and the former reality TV host is drumming up the drama of his choice before Saturday’s big reveal. He likes surprise endings, so Judge Jeanine Pirro cannot be ruled out, but betting favors other candidates. Front runners include U.S. Appeals Court Judges Amy Coney Barrett, Joan Larsen, Britt Grant, Joan Larsen, Allison Eid, and Allison Jones Rushing and Florida Supreme Court Judge Barbara Lagoa. We certainly hope Mr. Trump has their husbands’ permission.
White House staff hope to restrain President Trump’s tendency to decide on woman candidates through swimsuit cometitions.
There are two real reasons why Mr. Trump is nominating a Supreme Court Justice mere weeks before an election, and neither is about conservative principles, since the man has no principles, conservative or otherwise:
1. He desperately needs to divert voters’ attention from the COVID-19 pandemic and his disasterous negligence that has killed 200,000 Americans; and
2. He is likely to be indicted for corrupt business practices, tax fraud, and corruption in office, and hopes to keep himself and his spawn out of prison by filling the high court with Trump-appointed judges.
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On Thursday, in a literal 11th-hour brief, an hour before a midnight deadline, the Trump administration asked the Supreme Court to invalidate the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare, and strip healthcare from 23 million Americans during the COVID-19 pandemic. Thursday also marked the largest single-day increase in diagnosed Coronavirus cases in the U.S. to date, the day when the CDC admitted that coronavirus cases may be 10 times higher than reported.
More:
“Trump Administration Asks Supreme Court to Strike Down Affordable Care Act,” Sheryl Gay Stolberg, New York Times
“Trump administration asks Supreme Court to strike down Obamacare,” Meagan Flynn and Tim Elfrink, Washington Post
“Trump, Intent on Self-Destruction, Asks Supreme Court to Kill Obamacare,” Ed Kilgore, New York Magazine
Update:
“Obamacare Versus the G.O.P. Zombies,” Paul Krugman, New York Times
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Mark Judge and “Squi” didn’t show up, but Justice Brett Kavanaugh hung out at Georgetown Prep’s Reunion last weekend, attending Friday’s Stag Night and the Homecoming game on Saturday. There was plenty of beer, but not for the judge:
“At one point during the football game, Justice Kavanaugh prepared to pose for a picture with former classmates. First, though, he instructed everyone to put down their beers, according to a person who witnessed the exchange (Justice Kavanaugh didn’t appear to be drinking.). “
— “Back at Georgetown Prep, Kavanaugh Is Hailed as a Hero,” Kate Kelly, New York Times
More:
“Justice Brett Goes To High School Reunion, Class Praised For Its ‘Loyalty,’” Elie Mystal, Above the Law
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Judicial Temperament Tantrum
The shouting is over. Brett Kavanaugh (of Georgetown Prep, Yale legacy admissions, Delta Kappa Epsilon member, and the Federalist Society) was secretly sworn in as Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. If you’re keeping score at home, Mr. Kavanaugh is the first justice nominated by a president who lost the popular vote and confirmed by senators representing less than half of the country while a majority of Americans opposed his nomination. God Save the Republic.
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Beer-swilling protesters … oh wait, it’s a beer festival near DC’s Navy Yard. Great timing.
Demonstrators protesting the Supreme Court nomination of Brett Kavanaugh gathered outside Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s house in DC this morning, chanting “I Like Beer!” and singing “What do you do with a drunken justice, what do you do with a drunken justice, what do you do with a confirmation early in the morning? Chug! Chug! Chug! Chug!” In case you were blacked-out or in a drunken stupor last week, this refers to Judge Kavanaugh’s spirited “I like beer” defense during his Judicial Committee testimony.
MSNBC’s Kasie Hunt followed-up, sounding a bit disappointed: “The promised keg did not materialize.”
In a related development last week, the conservative Federalist Society hosted an “I Still Like Beer” party.
More:
“PBR-Drinking Kavanaugh Protesters Chant Outside McConnell’s Home ‘I Like Beer,'” David Rutz, Washington Free Beacon
“Brett Kavanaugh Protesters Bring Beer, Chant ‘Chug’ Outside Mitch McConnell’s House,” Jenna Amatulli, Huffington Post
“Kavanaugh protesters bring beer, chant ‘chug’ outside McConnell’s home,” Aris Folley, The Hill
Update:
“Kavanaugh supporters drink beer to celebrate his confirmation,” Aris Folley, The Hill
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It’s spectacle showtime for charlatan-in-chief Donald Trump, who’ll select his prime-time pick for America’s next top model Supreme Court justice tonight at 9PM Eastern. Suspense mounts! Which conservative ideologue will win? Who will go home with a consolation prize?
More:
“How Trump turned the US Supreme Court into prime time television,” Ephrat Livni, Quartz
“Trump pushing for another reality-show reveal of Supreme Court pick,” Andrew Restuccia, Politico
“A ‘Supreme’ show: Trump savors big reveal for court choice,” BY Catherine Lucey and Zeke Miller, AP via Charlotte Observer
“Trump’s New Pageant: SCOTUS Pick Will Have To Look ‘All-American,’ Jibe With Trump,” Nicole LaFond, TPM Livewire
“Trump Is Picking His Supreme Court Nominee Like He’s Casting the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition,” Bess Levin, Vanity Fair
“The Supreme Court Show,” Ross Douthat, New York Times
“The most interesting late development in Trump’s Supreme Court derby,” Aaron Blake, Washington Post
Inside Baseball:
“The Five Frontrunners,” Adam Feldman, Empirical SCOTUS
“Trump’s 2018 Supreme Court Shortlist and Their Views on Administrative Law,” Chris Walker, Notice & Comment
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Drama! Suspense mounts on the reality-TV show known as the Trump presidency as we near the prime time Monday night announcement of Mr. Trump’s nominee to replace Supreme Court Justice Whatshisname. The president has narrowed the list prepared by the Heritage Foundation and the Federalist Society to three possible nominees, Brett Kavanaugh, Amy Coney Barrett, and Raymond Kethledge. While Republicans argue about which one is the most stalwart conservative ideologue, Mr. Trump makes personnel decisions based on a candidate’s looks. That’s certainly worked out well for him so far!
More:
“Trump pushing for another reality-show reveal of Supreme Court pick,” Andrew Restuccia, Politico
“Trump’s New Pageant: SCOTUS Pick Will Have To Look ‘All-American,’ Jibe With Trump,” Nicole LaFond, TPM Livewire
“Trump Is Picking His Supreme Court Nominee Like He’s Casting the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition,” Bess Levin, Vanity Fair
“The Supreme Court Show,” Ross Douthat, New York Times
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President Donald Trump has accepted the resignation of Supreme Court Justice Whatshisname, and scheduled the announcement of his replacement nominee for July 9th. The president will ponder this momentous decision while spending the July 4th weekend in his Fortress of Solitude Trump Bedminster National Golf Club in New Jersey. There is said to be a shortlist of 5 possible contenders, none of them Gary Busey or Meat Loaf. “I may have two of them come up, like the old days to Bedminster,” said the president, “could be this weekend…It is exciting.” Suspense! Imagine the ratings. May the best conservative ideologue win!
There will be no swimsuit competition, even though two of the candidates are women. Senate Democrats and civil rights groups are asking Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to delay the confirmation vote until after the midterm elections, but he just smiles.
More:
“Supreme Court Announcement Scheduled Just Like The World’s Worst Game Show,” Joe Patrice, Above the Law
“It’s ‘The Apprentice, Supreme Court Edition,’ as Trump Summons Finalists to White House,” Maggie Haberman, Michael M. Grynbaum, and Ron Nixon, New York Times
“Online bettors see Kavanaugh as likely U.S. Supreme Court nominee,” Reuters
“Chuck Todd: GOP ‘may fully pull that hypocrisy muscle’ by confirming SCOTUS pick in election year,” Jacqueline Thomsen, The Hill
“Mitch McConnell shows there’s no honor among Supreme Court thieves,” Scot Lehigh, Boston Globe
Updates:
“Trump Narrows Supreme Court Shortlist To 3 — With 2 On The Inside Track,” Nina Totenberg, NPR
“Gamblers betting on Kavanaugh as Trump’s Supreme Court pick,” Matthew Nussbaum, Politico
Related:
“Just Like LeBron James, Justice Anthony Kennedy Is Now A ‘Free Agent,’” Staci Zaretsky, Above the Law
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The suspense is over: President Donald Trump named Federal Appellate Judge Neil Gorsuch as “Man Most Likely to Be Cast as a Supreme Court Justice in a TV Movie.” “I have selected an individual whose qualities define — really, and I mean closely define — what we’re looking for,” said the president, a devotee of central casting.
Judge Gorsuch is no stranger to DC. While a high school student at $30,000-a-year Georgetown Prep, he founded the Fascism Forever Club. That certainly would get the alt-right nod from the Commander-In-Fact, Mr. Steve Bannon.
Mr. Trump handled the Big Reveal with the decorum he became known for in his beauty pageants and reality TV shows. Rumor had it that SCOTUS runner-up Judge Thomas Hardiman would come to DC to heighten the suspense, but it was just fake news back-channel hype.
More:
“It’s ‘The Apprentice, Supreme Court Edition,’ as Trump Summons Finalists to White House,” Maggie Haberman, Michael Grynbaum, and Ron Nixon, New York Times
Related:
“Behind the Smoke Screen: What Reality-TV Veterans Think of Donald Trump’s Presidency,” Julie Miller and Josh Duboff, Vanity Fair
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