Tag Archive: U.S. Supreme Court

Time for Democrats to boost Kamala Harris

U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris

At President Joe Biden‘s State of the Union address last Thursday night, many viewers noticed Vice President Kamala Harris seated behind Biden’s right shoulder, looking radiant, mature, and even presidential. This visual was a good reminder that the time for Democrats to raise Vice President Harris’ profile, and to boost her future presidential prospects, is now.

First, it should be noted that being Vice President is often a thankless job. Nearly 100 years ago, then-Vice President John Nance Garner stated that the vice presidency “isn’t worth a bucket of warm spit,” although many historians have indicated that the real word Garner used was not “spit.” More recently, biographer Robert Caro described in detail how Lyndon Johnson went from being one of the most powerful people in America as U.S. Senate Majority Leader, to being left out of nearly all important meetings and decisions as Vice President under President John F. Kennedy.

However, according to Caro, Johnson accepted the job of Kennedy’s vice presidential running mate in large part because he researched and determined that a significant number of presidents did not complete their full terms, usually because they died in office, and that, accordingly, numerous vice presidents had succeeded to the presidency. That is in addition to the vice presidents who went on to win election for president after their predecessors completed their terms. This is exactly what happened to Lyndon Johnson in November 1963, when President Kennedy was assassinated. Johnson served the remainder of Kennedy’s term, then went on to win re-election in 1964 by a huge landslide. Since Johnson’s presidency, one Vice President, Gerald Ford, automatically became president in 1974 when President Richard Nixon resigned under threat of impeachment and removal by Congress, and another Vice President, George H.W. Bush, won the presidency after serving two terms in his job. Joe Biden also was elected president after he had completed two terms as vice president under President Obama, with Donald Trump‘s single term taking place after the Obama presidency.

All of this is relevant because, if and when President Biden gets re-elected this November, he will be 81 years old, turning 82 that same month (it should also be noted that Trump is almost the same age, turning 78 this June). Therefore, as a simple actuarial matter, Kamala Harris needs to be prepared for the possibility that she might be called on to step into the presidency at a moment’s notice sometime before January 20, 2029. Additionally or alternatively, Harris will be the likely Democratic presidential front-runner in the 2028 elections.

Adding to Republican troubles, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell calls it quits

U.S. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell

Yesterday, U.S. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell announced that he is stepping down from his leadership post this November. McConnell said that he would remain as Senator from Kentucky until his term expires in January 2027. That may be an ambitious goal, however, as McConnell is 82 years old and in frail health, having suffered at least two public episodes in the past year where he froze and was unable to speak or communicate.

McConnell is the longest-serving U.S. Senate leader in history, having been either Majority or Minority Leader since 2007. However, his legacy may well focus on a short period of time, during the presidencies of Barack Obama and Donald Trump, and involving two particular areas. The first is these presidents’ judicial nominees to the U.S. Supreme Court. In particular, McConnell made the controversial (and arguably unconstitutional) move of denying a confirmation hearing for President Obama’s Supreme Court nominee, Merrick Garland, after the death of Republican Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia in 2016. At the time, McConnell gave the flimsy excuse that no Supreme Court justice should be confirmed in an election year.

But just a short time later, not only did McConnell help confirm three Trump nominees to the Supreme Court, one of those nominees, Amy Coney Barrett, was confirmed just eight days before the 2020 elections. These nominees went on to help form the Republican majority that overturned the Court’s 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, ruling that there is no federal right to abortion. This ruling, in Dobbs v. Jackson (2022), is one of the most consequential events in U.S. political history and, ironically, has driven Democratic voter enthusiasm and turnout to the point where Democrats have flipped a couple of U.S. House seats from red to blue in special elections, and are in a much stronger position for the 2024 elections.

Senator Robert Menendez must resign, but not for the reason you think

U.S. Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ)

By now, many people know that U.S. Senator Robert Menendez, Democrat of New Jersey, is in big legal trouble, again. This time, the allegations leading to the latest corruption charges against Menendez look bad, including bribery payments to the Senator in cash and gold in return for his interfering with criminal cases and giving illegal special favors, even to the government of Egypt. As a result, there have been widespread calls for Menendez to resign, including from many Democrats. Indeed, about half of Menendez’ Democratic U.S. Senate colleagues, as well as New Jersey County Chairs and others, have now called for him to step down. It’s fair to say that such calls have grown louder and are gaining momentum.

At the same time, it’s true that in America, everyone accused of a crime is deemed under the law to be innocent until proven guilty. Moreover, it is not illegal to keep cash and even gold in one’s home; plenty of people do it. Thus, an argument can be made (and Sen. Menendez is making it forcefully, while pleading not guilty to the charges) that it’s unfair for him to have to resign unless and until he is found guilty of the crimes of which he has been accused. Unfortunately, however, neither the court of public opinion nor the U.S. Senate is a court of law, and there are powerful reasons why Menendez must resign right away.

Can a Hippie-era song help the Democrats in 2024?

Jefferson Airplane’s 1969 “Volunteers” album

“We Can Be Together” was not Jefferson Airplane‘s most popular song, but it’s one of their most controversial. Released in 1969 as the B-side to the better-known “Volunteers” and included on the album of that name, the song is a hippie call to action in the face of the Vietnam War and other oppressive actions of those in power at the time, including Republican President Richard Nixon. Here are some of the lyrics to “We Can Be Together”:

 

We are all outlaws in the eyes of America
We are obscene, lawless, hideous, dangerous, dirty, violent
And young

We should be together
Come on all you people standin’ around
Our life’s too fine to let it die
We should be together
All your private property is
Target for your enemy
And your enemy is we
We are forces of chaos and anarchy
Everything they say we are, we are
And we are very proud of ourselves
Up against the wall
Up against the wall, motherfuckers!
Tear down the wall
Tear down the wall

Wading into the right wing comments section on YouTube

The popular Assault Weapons Ban

This past week, on a YouTube channel I watch regularly, a commenter from Australia asked an unrelated question about gun violence in America, and I was off to the races. Quite an animated discussion ensued.

Interestingly, the channel is not a YouTube politics channel. Rather, it’s a special interest channel that is not officially political. Think of a channel about sneaker collecting, for example, and you’ll get the idea. However, the host is conservative. Most of his guests are conservative. And most regular commenters on the channel are likewise conservative, and they all express their views frequently, such as when talking about markets and financial issues. Normally, I don’t respond to their many right wing statements and comments. And often, I don’t tune in at all, not wanting to reward the channel with more viewership. However, as the transcript below indicates, I spontaneously waded into a fast-moving political discussion on this particular stream, and I think the exchange provides insight into two things:

  1. The right wing talking points on gun violence
  2. Our ability to fight back, and even drive the conversation, with good Democratic talking points. I found that mine came quite naturally, after having absorbed and participated in so many discussions for years.

I am not naming the channel in order to further minimize its viewership, as well as to maintain the commenters’ privacy. Likewise, I used each commenter’s initial (or initials) instead of their names to differentiate them below, with mine being “MM.” I bolded my comments to make them easier to identify. Finally, in order to keep the spontaneity, I did not correct the comments for spelling, punctuation, grammar, content, etc.

Here is the bulk of the conversation that took place:

List of culprits in the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade

Republican U.S. Senator Susan Collins, not looking too good

On Monday night, the explosive news broke that the Republican-majority U.S. Supreme Court (SCOTUS) is about to overturn its 1973 Roe v. Wade decision granting a constitutional right to abortion, and indeed, that a draft of the decision is already being circulated on the Court. The likely result of this imminent decision will be to leave abortion to the states, where it is estimated that at least half of them (primarily the ones with Republican governors and/or legislatures) will outlaw abortion completely, even in the case of rape, incest, and possibly he health or life of the mother.

To many observers, the news about this decision is shocking but not surprising, given the Court’s 6-3 majority of conservative Republicans. These Republican justices were put on the Court for the very purpose of overturning Roe, and perhaps many other decisions granting rights to women, blacks, LGBTQ Americans and other minorities; as well as protections for consumers, workers, the environment, wildlife, etc. However, the list of culprits that led us to this day goes well beyond the six current Republican SCOTUS justices and the Republican presidents who put them there. Here are some additional parties who share responsibility for the impending loss of a woman’s right to choose:

Republicans overreach, fall on their faces in Ketanji Brown Jackson Supreme Court confirmation

The U.S. Supreme Court just became more diverse

President Joe Biden‘s historic campaign promise came to fruition yesterday, as the U.S. Senate confirmed Biden’s nominee, Ketanji Brown Jackson, as the first black woman to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court. The final vote was 53-47, including three Republicans. However, Jackson’s confirmation process revealed as much about the Republican Party as it did about the supremely qualified judge. It would be an understatement to say that Senate Republicans in particular made themselves look really bad.

Of course, in any Supreme Court confirmation process of the past 30 years or more, Republican Senators (as well as Democrats to some degree) can be expected to score political points and serve red meat to their respective bases, often with written statements and purported “questions” during the confirmation hearing that read like speeches. These statements frequently are turned into campaign ads and fundraising requests. This time, however, the Republicans took that tactic far into Bizarro Land, and shot themselves in the foot.

Trump, you can’t handle the Truman

President Harry Truman at NAS Key West, FL, 1950

Right now, folks inside the White House are high-fiving each other, cracking open beers to celebrate Donald Trump‘s “win” in confirming Brett Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court. However, there’s probably at least one staffer running around, warning that the Kavanaugh confirmation process has galvanized Democratic voters for the upcoming midterm elections which are less than 30 days away. This comes on top of voter enthusiasm levels that already favor Democrats this year. In particular, Democrats have a very good chance of winning back majority control in the U.S. House of Representatives. (The Democrats’ Senate forecast is not as good, largely because this year, many more Democratic than Republican Senate incumbents are up for re-election.)

Thus, some White House advisors likely are telling Trump that, to prepare for a possible Democratic House beginning in January, Trump will have to act like Harry Truman. You may recall that Democratic President Harry S. Truman won re-election in 1948 largely by running against the Republican majority “Do-Nothing Congress.” In Trump’s case, that’s likely to be one-half of a Congress. Therefore, we can call the likely Trump strategy “Half a Harry.” Here’s why that strategy probably won’t work for Donald Trump:

Donald Trump’s Constitutional crisis

Richard Nixon leaving White House grounds by helicopter after resignation.

Richard Nixon leaving White House grounds by helicopter after resignation.

In October 1973, President Richard Nixon committed the “Saturday Night Massacre,” in which he fired the Watergate Special Prosecutor who had been appointed at the behest of Congress, which caused the U.S. Attorney General and Deputy Attorney General to resign. Nixon also abolished the office of the special prosecutor. This Constitutional crisis, which occurred nearly five years into Nixon’s presidency, ultimately led to Nixon’s impeachment and his resignation.

Last night, after just 10 days in the White House, Donald Trump had a Saturday Night Massacre of his own. Trump fired Acting Attorney General Sally Yates after Yates wrote a letter to top Justice Department lawyers, directing them not to defend Trump’s Muslim immigration ban in federal court. Trump also fired Acting Director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Daniel Ragsdale, for reasons thus far unspecified. Several days earlier, Trump fired top career officers in the State Department.