Some historical perspective on the SCOTUS

[Ramsey]

I know some of you think we were handed a great defeat by spineless Dems, and I am tempted to ascribe to that perspective as well at the moment. But let me present a snip from Digby on the historical perspective, and things don't seem so dire now. In fact, they seem promising, in that some of our Dems did the politically awkward thing and some others seemed to be swayed by our own activism.

It's fine to say do the right thing all the time, but that assumes that the "right thing" is a definable thing, which obviously it is not. Your right thing isn't necessarily someone else's, even if that person is a Senator. I'll say what many others have said, we can only prevail by having a majority. So keep fighting for that. If this filibuster vote was your litmus test, then by all means, support a candidate who you think meets your particular purity test. (I've contributed to Maria Cantwell in the past, but I don't plan to give her another dime. I can direct my money better to candidates who fight harder for what I believe to be important.) But don't just take your ball and go home. That attitude won't win us a majority or wrest our nation from the greedy hands of the current regime.

From Digby:

So we only got 25 Senators to vote for a filibuster of a Supreme Court nominee who, if defeated, would be replaced by someone just as bad by a president in the pocket of his radical right wing. Well.

Do you know how many votes the Republicans managed to get when uber wingnut Antonin Scalia was confirmed? 98. And Democrats had a majority. We didn't have to even think about a filibuster. We couldn't defeat Clarence Thomas and we had a majority, a huge push from women's groups and a very dramatic set of hearings that went into the wee hours of the morning. It is very, very tough to do.
...
I didn't expect it to get more than 25 votes and I'm frankly stunned that we did as well as we did. Indeed, something very interesting happened that I haven't seen in more than a decade.
...
The last time we had a serious outpouring from the grassroots was the Iraq War resolution. My Senator DiFi commented at thetime that she had never seen anything like the depth of passion coming from her constituents. But she voted for the war anyway. So did Bayh, Biden, Clinton, Dodd, Kerry and Reid. The entire leadership of the party. Every one of them went the other way this time. I know that some of you are cynical about these people (and ,well, they are politic ans, so don't get all Claude Rains about it) but that means something. Every one of those people were running in one way or another in 2002 and they went the other way. The tide is shifting. There is something to be gained by doing the right thing.

....

Read the whole thing, it might make you feel better when this event is put into context.

[Vinnie From Indy]

1. Well done! ....eom

[Rose Siding]

2. Read this. Read it through, and read the RFK quote twice.

It's chillingly appropriate.

digby's observation here had gone unnoticed:

snip>
The last time we had a serious outpouring from the grassroots was the Iraq War resolution. My Senator DiFi commented at thetime that she had never seen anything like the depth of passion coming from her constituents. But she voted for the war anyway. So did Bayh, Biden, Clinton, Dodd, Kerry and Reid. The entire leadership of the party. Every one of them went the other way this time. I know that some of you are cynical about these people (and ,well, they are politicans, so don't get all Claud Rains about it) but that means something. Every one of those people were running in one way or another in 2002 and they went the other way. The tide is shifting. There is something to be gained by doing the right thing.

[eyepaddle]

3. Extremely well done piece

Yes, Alito is a bitte pill to swallow, but our side managed to land a few punches in the tussle.

Digby's right, let's stay focused and move ahead.

The advantage to being surrounded is you can attack in any direction!

[swwallace81]

11. Eyepaddle is on the mark.

The thing that has kept the repugs together is the abortion issue. As long as its in the forefront, they will vote en mass. We have to stick together and stop bailing every time we lose a battle. We are in the minority, so let's hope for a backlash this fall. Sooner or later we'll be back, and the repugs have shown that staying on message, whether you believe all the message or not, wins elections.

[mistertrickster]

4. Ramsey is absolutely right. The Republicans wandered in the wilderness

for ten years as the Goldwater wing fought it out with the moderates. Nixon's re-election signaled a gain for them which was then crushed by Watergate.

The right-wing never gave up. The organized through that entire period, even when Carter annihilated Ford.

What happened was the Reagan-revolution and 25 years of increasing right-wing political dominance.

The greedy, self-righteous bastards don't give up.

And neither should we.

(spelling edit)

[milkyway]

5. Digby's great, as always. And imagine a President like RFK instead of the

America-hating confessed criminal that's squatting in the White House right now.

K&R.

[PegDAC]

32. Imagine...

I've always believed that RFK was the one candidate who could have united the Democrats in '68.

[txaslftist]

6. I never really worried about Alito...

I knew he was a GOP tool from the beginning, but frankly, we (liberals) won a victory in the Supreme Court with Roberts. We won a victory because Roberts is not a right-wing anti-Roe lunatic. Roberts basically replaced O'Connor (conservative replacing a moderate) and Alito replaces Rhenquist (radical rightwing nutjob replaces radical rightwing nutjob).

On balance the court moves slightly to the right, but Roe is not in danger and we could have done so much worse.

We just have to hope that Ann Coulter doesn't poison any of our remaining friends on the court.

[Ramsey]

9. I hope that turns out to be true

eom

[mmonk]

10. I think some civil rights advances

are going to grind still and some removed.

[aggiesal]

21. Forget about Roe .vs. Wade.

They will never overturn that decision because the GOP uses this to get their voter base to the polls on election day.
The problem I have is that the GOP brown shirts all march in lock step on every decision that King George wants, and we can't be the Dems to even consider marching let alone as a group.
Alito on the court will now promote first the unitary executive theory, followed by decisions that help corporations instead of individual rights.
This was the fight to fight, and since the Dems couldn't pull it off, I've called the DNC and told them that I am cutting my monthly donation and instead giving it to DU and MoveOn.
As for Princess DiFi, due to previous decisions, I will no longer be voting for her in the next election, and hopefully convince Cindy Sheehan to run against Princess Di.

[flashdebadge]

7. Highschool essay

I am in the 11th grade. My History teacher is having us write an essay about the supreme court. Specifically, judge Alito and his appointment. My teacher said the essay must be at least 500 words long and describe the "positive" effects that Alito's pressence will bring to the court. How do I get around this??? He (my teacher) said that we are not allowed to write about what we disagree with since the essay is about "positive" effects. My mom is furious, but was told there is nothing we can do. Any suggestions?

[gkhouston]

8. talk about how how much more revenue hospitals will have

treating women suffering from septic abortions? Oh, and we can save a lot of money by eliminating the Environmental Protection Agency; it's not as if they'll be allowed to do any actual regulating in the future. And who needs Congress when the President can decide which laws should apply and to whom? Ditto the courts? Why, I'm sure the budget will be balanced in no time. :sarcasm:

Seriously, if I were you, and I saw no positive effects, I would write thoughtfully and at length about the negative ones and if the teacher didn't like it, I'd get a parent to bitch to the principal, loud and long. It's not appropriate for the teacher to fish for talking points and that's what this sounds like.

[DemonGoddess]

12. Write what you BELIEVE

Your mother is furious, and rightfully so. If this teacher decides that your well though out essay doesn't deserve a fair grade, then let him deal with the repercussions of an angry parent going to the principal, the school board, and etc for allowing teaching practices which don't allow you to think, and write about what you know to be right. Write that while the subject of the essay is the "positive" effects, so sorry, I can't find a single positive effect to write about, so I will write about how I can't find any positive effects.

[dogday]

15. As a parent with a child in school, I would

call the teacher who issued this assignment and talk with them in detail. If you two could not agree upon the subject matter of the essay, then take it to the principal, if not there, then to the school board.... I am pretty sure the principal won't let it get any further than his office though, they don't like to involve the school board....

[knitter4democracy]

16. Hmm.

I don't think this is a good assignment. I used to teach high school English, and sometimes I would deliberately assign difficult essays to force students to think about the other side, but this one is just nasty. I did it with characters in literature, not real people in real life.

I would do this: attack the assignment. Pick things that seem positive, and then slyly debunk them. For example, it seems to be a positive thing, a literal reading of the Constitution, but then women still wouldn't have the right to vote, Title IX, or sexual harrassment protection laws. So, for each claim, like a more powerful executive branch is a good thing, make sure the evidence is such that it undercuts the point and then actually proves the opposite.

That way, if you get graded down on the merits of the paper, you have a defense--you did point out the positives. Use "A Modest Proposal" as your model (and if you haven't read it, it should be in the English lit book they use or in your school library--ask whomever teaches British Literature at your school). The teacher will be put in a difficult spot, but s/he chose that with giving out the assignment.

[mcscajun]

27. I like this approach. I hadn't remembered "A Modest Proposal"

but that's pretty much the lines I'm thinking along as well.

Get very "Positive" so positive she might not even get the sarcasm/irony.

[zippy890]

17. Heres a thought for you

pose the issue as a hypothetical: Does the presence of any particular justice
result in a 'positive' effect on the Supreme Court?

- What does the Supreme Court do? interprets the Constitution and sets federal law by
deciding on cases within its jurisdiction. Issues that effect everyone, no matter
what state you live in.

- What would a 'positive effect' on the Court mean? That would depend entirely upon
how different people view the issues the Supreme Court rules on. And it would depend upon
having the ability to see into the future to see how a justice rules.

- It is not possible to discuss at this point in time whether alito's presence will in fact be positive
(and you can put in 'or negative' - to sound objective)

-Therefore it seems more valuable in this discussion to focus on the role of supreme court justices in
interpreting matters within its jurisdiction, for instance the First Amendment of the Constitution which guarantees free speech.

Then what you could do is look up a first amendment case involving a high school student that the supreme court decided on (the ACLU website could help), pick a decision by a particular judge, get into the facts of the case and how it effects high school students everywhere - and then talk about whether this is a 'positive' thing or not.

1) it'll show the teacher you did your research on the supreme court
2) you deal with the issue of 'positive effect' by a judge
3) the teacher will know he can't mess with you because you know your constitutional rights.


Good Luck!!

[AntiFascist]

23. Maybe you could be a "good German" and write about....

the positive aspects of Nazi Germany. :sarcasm:

[nemo137]

25. Swiftian Irony!

If he's dense enough to assume that's an appropriate assignment, he's dense enough to miss the irony. Bonus points from me if you work eating poor babies into it without him catching the irony.

[bleedingheart]

28. how about this for a "positive"...

write it from the perspective of a Nazi....then it will seem very positive...

"Judge Alito's Catholic faith is sure to drive his decisions to outlaw abortion, which will result in the birth of more children for the Fatherland so that we can fight endless neo-colonial wars which will enrich the high and holy corporations"...

[tomg]

29. Well, one way you can handle it is

by suggesting that Alito will push the Supreme Court so far to the right that people will finally wake up and vote the Republicans out in 2006. That would be the only "positive" effect I can think of off the top of my head. Another option is to do a version of "A Modest Proposal." If you are not familiar with it, it is a great satire by Jonathan Swift. Seriously, it all depends on how you define "positive." Of course, you have to be willing to get hammered on your grade - I don't know the teacher. Is it possibly that your teacher is giving you that restricted a topic ( and as a teacher myself, I find the topic -simply as a writing assignment - absurdly limiting unless it allows for multiple views of the word "positive") as a way of placing some of you in a box and seeing if you can think your way out of it? ( that also implies that he would then flip the sucker around so the other students are forced into the same kind of critical thinking exercise).

[calimary]

30. Write about how sales of wire coat hangers will go up, benefiting

that industry, and possibly, the dry cleaning industry, too! After all, that was the preferred surgical tool for back-alley abortion providers. Call it the Joan Crawford Court. Maybe look up which companies manufacture wire hangers, and then mention them and their websites, or perhaps if they're listed on NASDAQ or the DJI. After all, wouldn't it be shrewd to buy stock in such companies? They're about to have a boomlet, and savvy investors could certainly make a - um - pardon the pun - killing.

There! Ain't that positive! Happy-happy joy-joy!

[fairandunbalanced]

13. the real story

What is the real story here? not that the democrats couldn't stop alito nomination, we all knew that that was a long shot at best, but I think its more about the control or in this case the controlled. I can't imagine what our Representatives have been told to make them so scared that they will not and have not really put up much of a fight against a basic nazi routing of the US government. They have rolled over time and time again, and when something is defeated it is simply reworded and attached to the next available bill. Our representatives continue there practice of selling everything to private party's, and that includes our rights. They work for themselves and the prosperity of a few and it is their intent to keep that way.

Don't let them fool you with the party line, they have a two party system that is one sided.

This is nothing but a show broadcast to fool the people of america into what they have been fooled into, the false pretense that our government and elected officials work for the people. This is the reality of a capitalist ownership society. We all know that the elected officials (well some of them are elected other seize power) work for them selves for the greed of themselves and to better their own personal goals well holding the hand of big business.

The problem now is they are doing irreversible damage to the ecosystem which of course is the very thing that supports human life on this planet. What will the true cost of a few peoples greed be?
Global warming, overpopulation, a world killing itself!
The future is not bright, it is short, for we can now count the days tell our own demise

[GalleryGod]

14. Thanks, Libby ! You're the greatest!

"The cause is just. The fight goes on. And..the Dream shall never die !"

[davidlynch]

18. Can Someone Please Explain the Claude Rains Reference? n/t

[zippy890]

19. me too - Claude Raines??

[swwallace81]

33. I believe the Claude Raines

reference is when, in Casablanca, he says that he is "Shocked, shocked, that there is gambling going on" at Rick's, all the while collecting his winnings. He's saying that they're all politicians so don't be shocked at anything.

[eggman67]

24. I just assumed it was a Mr. Smith reference

Of course I could be wrong.

[mcscajun]

26. I see two possibilities in the Claude Rains reference.

One: This exchange from Casablanca:

Captain Renault: This is the end of the chase.
Rick: Twenty thousand francs says it isn't.
Captain Renault: Is that a serious offer?
Rick: I just paid out twenty. I'd like to get it back.
Captain Renault: Make it ten. I'm only a poor corrupt official.

Two: Claude Rains played the corrupt Senator in "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington"
Which exchange the OP had in mind, I don't know, and I've seen the film a dozen times. :)

On Edit: I think it might be this speech when Senator Paine tries to dissaude young Senator Smith from blowing his state's corruption wide open in the US Senate:

"I know how you feel, Jeff. Thirty years ago--I had those ideals, too. I was you. I had to make the decision you were asked to make today. And I compromised--yes! So that all these years I could stay in that Senate--and serve the people in a thousand honest ways!

You've got to face facts, Jeff. I've served our State well, haven't I? We have the lowest unemployment and the highest Federal grants. But, well, I've had to compromise, had to play ball. You can't count on people voting, half the time they don't vote....Now, when that Deficiency Bill comes up in the Senate tomorrow you stay away from it. Don't say a word.

Great powers are behind it, and they'll destroy you before you can even get started. For your own sake, Jeff, and for the sake of my friendship with your father, please, don't say a word."

[jfern]

20. Yeah, but..

Some other Senators went the other way. Akaka, Cantwell, and Byrd did I think.

[AntiFascist]

22. VICHY DEMOCRATS NEED TO BE REMOVED !!

The fact that Alito is a far right conservative is not the only thing that should have prevented Democrats from voting yes on cloture. It has been reported that Alito is a member of Opus Dei and is linked to helping support Republicans in the Iran-Contra scandal. This should be enough to set off red flags to at least warrant further discussion in the Senate, and the fact that prominent moderate Democrats like Feinstein and Clinton voted nay on Cloture should have tipped them off. These vichy Democrats are extremely dangerous to the functioning of our democracy because they have demonstrated that they will turn a blind eye to the culture of corruption which has now become more than painfully obvious. One wonders why?

[Joe Chi Minh]

31. I would simply say to your "teacher": "Your question is

based upon a false premise. Indeed, I hope for your sake that this is intended as a joke."

Or if I were your mother, Flashdebadge, I would write that in a letter for you to give to His Nibs, and conclude: "If however, I have misread your intention, perhaps you would be good enough to enumerate the putative "positive effects" you would adduce. I enclose one postage stamp as an appropriate medium for you to endorse with your "essay" (never was the etymology of a word more prescient); and one postage stamp to defray the cost of transmitting your "oeuvre" to me by ordinary mail. Thank you and good luck.

[Joe Chi Minh]

34. Perhaps that is somewhat harsh, but it seems to me to be an

unambiguous abuse of authority, in a country in which politics is a blood sport, to dictate to students the thrust of an essay they are set (500 words, no less..!) precisely on a political judicial appointment that could not have been more controversial. For him to veer towards a partisan political position with his class, in such a domineering fashion, "speaking 6 foot above contradiction", is contemptible. It scarcely needs stating that it is by no means a given that an action perpetrated by this Administration is likely to HAVE a positive implication.