The Herd is Back

Not Loving Amy: Yesterday was all about Amy Coney Barrett’s confirmation hearing.  Recognizing that there’s little they can do to disrupt her ascension to the court, the Democrats instead turned the hearing into a political informercial.  They stayed on message, hammering home their position that Judge Amy is likely to provide the pivotal votes leading to the end of Obamacare and the end of Roe v Wade. Despite the assists she received from the Republican contingent, including an odd introduction from Chairman Lindsey Graham who inappropriately went on about all those contributions going to his South Carolina competitor, Judge Amy didn’t do much to help her case, not that it matters. Though she robotically argued that it would be inappropriate for her to reveal her views on those hot button issues that might make it to the Court and promised that she would approach every case with an open mind, her words and her refusal to answer some basic questions made her assertions hard to believe.  Though anyone who’s ever watched a news program, read a paper or seen a tweet knows that Trump has been railing against Obamacare, chipping away at its components and repeatedly attacks the deceased John McCain and his errant thumb, Judge Amy made the unbelievable claim that she was not aware of Trump’s campaign promise to appoint justices who would dismantle Obamacare.  Moreover she said that the article she wrote laying into Chief Justice Roberts for writing the opinion that saved Obamacare the last time the Court was asked to rule the law unconstitutional was just a scholarly essay rather than an Attorney General Barr like “oh, oh, pick me” effort to get herself onto the very top of Trump’s list of potential SCOTUS appointees. Similarly she asserted that her membership in so-called Right to Life groups as well as her signature on various letters and petitions attacking abortion, Roe and even in vitro fertilization shouldn’t be misinterpreted as an indication that she would vote to take away reproductive rights.  That’s another curious assertion given that in addition to promising to take down Obamacare, Trump has been very vocal about his commitment to picking a Justice who would eradicate the right to abortion, not because of any recent religious epiphany  but to satisfy “his” evangelists.  As to the IVF issue, the  Journal of Fertility and Sterility must be concerned, they took the unusual step of publishing a warning from fertility experts who believe that "seating Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court threatens those who seek to build a family through in-vitro fertilization."  It wasn’t just her answers to questions about Obamacare, reproductive rights and the Obergefell gay marriage decision that were concerning.  Judge Amy also wouldn’t say that Trump couldn’t postpone the election or that voter intimidation was a crime even after Senator Amy Klobuchar read her the citation that prohibits showing up with things like loaded AK 47s at voting places.  Instead of saying that Trump should peacefully transfer power were he to lose at the polls, she stuck to her go to phrase that she’d have to evaluate all the legal issues, have her clerks do the research and talk with the other Justices before she could form an opinion.  When pressed she did admit that one of the good things about Democracy was that until now election losers exited on schedule.  Although all the Democratic Senators held their own, Amy Klobuchar, Cory Booker, Sheldon Whitehouse and Kamala Harris, whose time provided her with an  extra campaign moment were particularly excellent.  Whitehouse distinguished himself by using his time to provide a masterclass on how dark money has perverted the whole judicial appointment process.  Displaying a series of poster boards, he tracked the hundreds of millions of dollars from those dark, unnamed interests  that have “gifted” us with far too many very conservative lower court judges, as well as the growing conservative majority on the Supreme Court, one that isn’t just going after health care, reproductive rights, gay marriage and advocating for expanded gun privileges but is also leaning in on behalf of big business at the expense of the little guy and going after the regulations needed to protect the environment.  As the day wore on, prim and proper Amy looked increasingly stressed despite all the support heaped upon her by the Republican contingent.  As to her efforts to obfuscate her true views, it didn’t help that one of her most ardent supporters is first term Missouri Senator Josh Hawley who is on record saying that he will only support a Justice who promises to overturn Roe.  Nor did it help that 88 faculty members from the University of Notre Dame posted a letter calling on her to halt her confirmation process until after the presidential election citing that voting is already ongoing, the rushed nature of the process and the dying wishes of RBG. That release of that letter was revealed by Cory Booker during his Q & A, and for a moment, just a brief moment it appeared to hit a nerve. 

Et Cetera:  US Labor Secretary Eugene Scalia’s wife has tested COVID positive, another victim of the ACB Rose Garden super spreader gala. And yes Scalia is the son of Judge Amy’s one time mentor, former Justice Antonin Scalia. The Supreme Court said it would be okay for the administration to halt the Census early while the case protesting the early halt is under review at a lower court, pretty much giving the Trump administration what it wants, the end of the Census.  To no one’s surprise Trump is again asking SCOTUS to stop the release of his tax records to Manhattan NY DA Cy Vance.  Senator Romney issued a message attacking Trump for being such a horrendous pill, but notably he also went after Speaker Pelosi because it’s all about both siderism and he appears to want to keep his future political options open.  Those white extremists who were planning to kidnap and kill Michigan Governor Whitmer, they also wanted to take out Virginia Governor Northam.  And lastly, and probably of most concern, the NY Times reports that Trump and his contingent have given up on tackling the coronavirus, instead they are rooting for herd immunity which means they are rooting for the virus.  Apparently now that Trump appears to have recovered, he’s all in on putting our lives at risk, and by our lives, think millions of us.