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Ruth Bader Ginsburg has died

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Re: Ruth Bader Ginsburg has died

#891
post #758

Why are there life-terms on the Supreme Court? Doesn't that incentivize the justices to hold on past their prime, dying waiting for a new president or resigning in a politically motivated fashion? And don't life terms create a race to the bottom where younger justices are favored for longer remaining life? Why not 20 year limits?

In India we have a fixed retirement age. Of course extensions can be granted on an exceptional basis, But in general you serve till a fixed retirement age and retire. It also makes sense. Cognitive ability deteriorates with age. And you don't want very old, with illness to rule on important things.

The supreme court structure is very different for india. The strength of court currently is 34 judges and keeps increasing. Any single case goes to a bench of typically 2-3 judges . The largest ever bench was 13 when the 1973 constitution amendment case had come .

The idea behind no term limits is, the judge can choose to retire doesn't have to.

You have invested a lot of effort in getting a judge to the top as a country. you don't necessarily need a arbitrary date to retire.

Each individual has a capacity to serve upto different age unique to them. Setting a common age for all is not efficient, plenty of judges for example are employed in india post 65, in arbitration and government commissions.

It makes sense not have term limits when the court size is small.

The problem for america is that everything is political: judges and their retirement . In a 2 party first past the post/ winner takes all system that is inevitable.

Re: Ruth Bader Ginsburg has died

#892
post #656

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do not make the mistake of thinking the politicians who represent you are particularly principled people. The left has been talking about stacking the supreme court since Kavanaugh. Democratic senators played games with the filibuster. There are plenty of other examples of weaponizing politics that I could cite (from both sides). I would like to see Senate Republicans show some fair play and wait for after the electi…

>The left has been talking about stacking the supreme court since Kavanaugh. Considering the court has had a Republican majority since 1989, I don't blame them.

You don't think making the court an explicitly partisan institution by just stacking it whenever you are in power is going to be a bad idea? You don't think it will destroy the collegial attitude of the court that allowed Ginsburg and Scalia to be friends? You don't think Republicans will just do the same thing in response?

Judging by the wikipedia page on judicial leanings[1], Roberts, Kavanaugh, and Gorusch are all fairly moderate, whereas Breyer, Kagan, and Sotomayor are (relatively) more ideological. Only Alito and Thomas are particularly conservative.

And it's not like rulings have always been one-sided. I know plenty of conservatives have their gripes with Roberts.

Democratic appointees even held all nine seats during the 40's, and Republicans didn't stack the court.

[1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ideological_leanings_of_United...

Re: Ruth Bader Ginsburg has died

#893
post #617

Go back 10 years and as apathetic as voters were in much of the developed world, I had a hard time envisioning how these democracies/republics could fall. Boy was I naive. There was a time in the US that as bitter as partisan politics could be there seemed to be a level of decency on both sides and a higher loyalty to the institutions of our government. Nixon resigned in disgrace because it became clear even his own…

>Abortion in particular seems to be one of those issues where self-described moral voters seem to view anything as justified. Like how anyone can justify to thsmselves bombing an abortion clinic or a church is in any way justifiable is beyond me.

Honestly thought you were going to say how can anyone justify "abortion on demand without apology" or the taxpayers paying for abortion or abortion allowed at any time in the pregnancy (even up until the last day, barring health concerns for the mother).

Abortion is a topic where 80% of people have the same thought (it's wrong and it's bad and it's terrible but just sometimes it's necessary) and 20% of people are crazy extremists on both sides.

Re: Ruth Bader Ginsburg has died

#894
post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm somewhat curious how much deference and respect the administration will grant her. Basically how many days before they start pitching their nominee. Edit: Fwiw, the RBG movie about her is on Hulu now.

They already pitched nominees because they knew she was dying. So zero respect. https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetillman/trump-suprem...

Both sides have lists for judges not just for the supreme court but all federal courts. Its easier to keep a up to date list then to try to figure out a list when there is a vacancy. They will also often reveal the list or parts of it to get other people's opinions.

Re: Ruth Bader Ginsburg has died

#895

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a very western philosophical way of viewing it. Many eastern philosophies believe the best answer lies between the opposing positions.

So half dead babies? Right to your own body every other week? Last name starts A-H get abortions, rest don’t? Or maybe by race, undesirable races get genocide? Or maybe the rich ones? It’s not a topic with much “in between”

For example, in Islam, abortions are allowed in very very limited circumstances:

1) any time the life of the mother is in jeopardy (the principle here is not to sacrifice existent good for potential good)

2) Any time 40 days into the pregnancy for legitimate reasons (I can't afford to take care of a baby is NOT a legitimate reason because the belief is that God provides for everyone, so this is disbelieving in God, but other reasons are considered).

Re: Ruth Bader Ginsburg has died

#896

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why? Should I stop writing code if I think I'm leaving this job in a year? Why should the president stop doing his job?

Because Mitch said so.

What one person said about some other issue years ago is irrelevant to the question at hand.

Re: Ruth Bader Ginsburg has died

#897

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There would seem to be precedent for this now. Justice Antonin Scalia died in February of 2016, a replacement was nominated in March of 2016, and because Scalia's seat had become vacant during an election year, the Senate would not even consider a nomination from the president [0]. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merrick_Garland_Supreme_Court_...

McConnell immediately clarified his position was "the Senate shouldn't consider a nomination in an election year if it's controlled by my party and the president isn't in my party" -- no kidding, this was his actual clarification.

What's so surprising about that? It's not so much a "rule" as a statement of political fact. Now that Supreme Court has become a de facto legislative body, no nominee has a chance of getting through when the presidency and Senate are not controlled by the same party.

The reality is that if we had a Democratic President and Senate, nobody on the left would be arguing that we have to hold off until the election. Chuck Schumer would no doubt be insisting that the Senate "do [its] job", as he did in 2016. [1]

It's hard to fault McConnell for doing precisely what he was elected to do -- confirm conservative judges and justices.

[1] https://twitter.com/SenSchumer/status/701953299268902912

Re: Ruth Bader Ginsburg has died

#898

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah no way this matters to the current generation of Trump supporters. His second in command, McConnell, is probably calling an emergency session tonight to get the votes he needs to put in someone to end Roe v. Wade, as it is probably the most symbolic victory of women against the white male patriarchy since the birth of the USA (and suffrage) and it must not stand.

The irony of your scare-mongering is that Roe was a 7-2 case where two Nixon appointees voted in the majority. It was reaffirmed in Casey where another Republican voted in the majority. Obergefell was written by a Republican. So was Bostock .

I don't think there's irony there. The republican platform explicitly wants to overturn Roe. Russo was months ago. If the new justice is right of Roberts, it would get overturned.

Re: Ruth Bader Ginsburg has died

#899
post #780

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm curious: does anybody seriously think that if the positions were reversed that the Democrats would honor this? Let's say that Biden wins, then Trump runs against him again in 2024. Somebody dies or retires right before the election, do you think the democrats would seriously wait and risk allowing the nomination to be done by Trump? None of these people are in any way signaling their actual virtues. It's all just…

Why would anyone believe Democrats would behave differently after they spent all of last year again threatening to pack the Supreme Court?

Has any elected democrat threatened to pack the supreme court, except as a response to McConnell reversing his position now that his party is in control?

You can't compare the senate majority leader with a random anonymous twitter account.

Re: Ruth Bader Ginsburg has died

#900
post #784
post #568

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why is this downvoted? Harry Reid literally eliminated the ability of the minority party to filibuster a presidential nominee.[1] So the Democrats are basically complaining that they can't stop a Trump nomination, but only because they changed the rules themselves. [1] https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/nov/21/harry-reid-sen...

You can’t possibly argue in good faith that the republicans would not have changed it anyway.

Perhaps not, however democrats should not complain when they set precedent knowing full well they will end up regretting it later.
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