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Former Supreme Court justice David Souter has died

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Re: Former Supreme Court justice David Souter has died

#21

Post by StopDisinfo910 »

stevenae wrote: post #14
detourdog wrote: post #3

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWcVtWennr0 Here he is discussing the dangers of the erosion of civic knowledge.

How accurate is his claim that Augustus became emperor through (my paraphrasing) democratic means and promises to fix real problems for Romans?

Well, first, you have to consider that the Roman republic was never really democratic but was at the hand of a small aristocracy which had sometimes but rarely the interest of the Romans at all, let alone the non citizen inhabitants.

But even, then it is definitely not accurate. Augustus gained powers through the numerous conflicts which followed Caesar murder at a time when the Republic was already challenged thanks to legions he more or less inherited (oversimplification) from Caesar. He was given powers by the Senate through what we would call rubber stamping only after his military power was inescapable.

Re: Former Supreme Court justice David Souter has died

#22

Post by Hilift »

rhd1729 wrote: post #16

Radiolab made a podcast on him, detailing about how he rose above partisanship. We need more people like him in the courts. Episode link: https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radiolabmoreperfect/epi...

The Gingrich Revolution happened shortly after Souter arrived. Republicans corrected all the previous mistakes and succeeded in stacking the court after that.

Re: Former Supreme Court justice David Souter has died

#24

Post by devwastaken »

pyrophane wrote: post #8

I was active in history and civics events in high school and I remember going to DC for a civics competition, and Justice David Souter spoke at it. I was a teenager at the time, it was the 90s, and I don't think I took much of anything too seriously, but I remember being kind of in awe of him. He talked about the importance of civic education which to this day that remains one of my core beliefs as an American. A lot…

what you see is a reflection of socioeconomics caused by regulatory buyout and political nepotism. “better citizens” and “civic duty” may have been optimal a generation ago and are now a losing strategy. remove the systems that created corps like Rockefeller and you fix this problem.

Re: Former Supreme Court justice David Souter has died

#25

Post by delichon »

Supreme Court justices are famous but not well known. Their names are familiar but not their faces. For this reason, David Souter and Stephen Breyer were frequently mistaken for each other. Once during his tenure on the court, Souter was driving from Washington to his home in New Hampshire, and he stopped in a little restaurant to get something to eat. A couple came up to him, and the man asked him a question.

"You're on the Supreme Court, right?" Souter nodded. "You're Stephen Breyer, right?"

Souter didn't want to embarrass the fellow in front of his wife, so he said yes, he was Breyer. They chatted for a little while, and the fellow asked, "Justice Breyer, what's the best thing about being on the Supreme Court?"

After a pause, the justice answered, "I'd have to say it was the privilege of serving with David Souter."

https://x.com/WakeUp2Politics/status/1920887550496927899

Re: Former Supreme Court justice David Souter has died

#26

Post by RajT88 »

alabastervlog wrote: post #17
baruz wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I remember that decision and am still indignant about it. Why should the government give private land to a different private party? If the government is going to take it for public use, I can see the reasoning, but using eminent domain to transfer to private owners is fraught.

It was a terrible decision. Not that those are rare. [EDIT] To make this a little more substantive, on an issue where they extremely plausibly could have decided otherwise, they elected to go for the option that is plainly, guaranteed to be less-just. There is no universe in which anyone with a brain could believe the overwhelming result of this decision wouldn't be to benefit people with power and money at the expen…

> the city's use of eminent domain was permissible under the Takings Clause, because the general benefits the community would enjoy from economic growth qualified as "public use"

Subjective decisions are bad, like we're seeing in other areas. "General benefits" can mean anything if you've got cooperative judges you crammed the courts with.

> Not that those are rare.

Heller comes to mind, even as a 2a supporter.

Re: Former Supreme Court justice David Souter has died

#27

Post by Amezarak »

karaterobot wrote: post #19
detourdog wrote: post #3

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWcVtWennr0 Here he is discussing the dangers of the erosion of civic knowledge.

> What I worry about is that when problems are not addressed, people will not know who is responsible. And when the problems get bad enough—as they might do for example with another serious terrorist attack, as they might do with another financial meltdown—some one person will come forward and say 'give me total power, and I will solve this problem'. That is how the Roman republic fell: Augustus became emperor not be…

This is a big problem. Democracies throughout the west are refusing to do anything about big problems that have populist support. This is enabling authoritarianism because the authoritarians present an alternative vision and promise to actually do something. If mainstream parties would just take real action on issues like immigration or crime it would suck all the oxygen away from authoritarians.

Re: Former Supreme Court justice David Souter has died

#28

Post by ls612 »

Amezarak wrote: post #27
karaterobot wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> What I worry about is that when problems are not addressed, people will not know who is responsible. And when the problems get bad enough—as they might do for example with another serious terrorist attack, as they might do with another financial meltdown—some one person will come forward and say 'give me total power, and I will solve this problem'. That is how the Roman republic fell: Augustus became emperor not be…

This is a big problem. Democracies throughout the west are refusing to do anything about big problems that have populist support. This is enabling authoritarianism because the authoritarians present an alternative vision and promise to actually do something. If mainstream parties would just take real action on issues like immigration or crime it would suck all the oxygen away from authoritarians.

Why solve the problems when you can just outlaw populist parties instead? /s

Re: Former Supreme Court justice David Souter has died

#29

Post by roguecoder »

stevenae wrote: post #14
detourdog wrote: post #3

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWcVtWennr0 Here he is discussing the dangers of the erosion of civic knowledge.

How accurate is his claim that Augustus became emperor through (my paraphrasing) democratic means and promises to fix real problems for Romans?

I recommend "Augustus: First Emperor of Rome" by Adrian Goldsworthy.

Given that "democratic" didn't mean the same thing then it does now (with suffrage limited to a small group of the uber-rich), and that some of the problems he was fixing was "the threat of this army I happen to have" and "this war I actively participated in", I don't think it is wrong. He wasn't in Rome when the Senate awarded him power and the Vestal Virgins drank in his name, which isn't something that would be commanded.

After decades of war and strife and food shortages, peace under one warlord looked more appealing than having three who would likely eventually be at each other's throats.

Re: Former Supreme Court justice David Souter has died

#30

Post by quantumfissure »

danso wrote: post #2

Maybe the first Supreme Court justice I knew by name as a child: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekpUyxovK7k

First thing I thought of too when I saw he died.

Homer's random knowledge of Supreme Court Justices mentioned throughout the years never ceases to amaze me.

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