The U.S. Supreme Court

tbf i think obama needed to wait at least a certain period of time. scalia just had his lying-in-state thing on friday, and if obama really wants to sell the "here's a perfectly good, qualified, seriously-chosen candidate" it can't look like he just flipped to a name and threw somebody out there. even though we all know that there are long-in-the-waiting lists of very carefully chosen people, i think there is a performance element of the statesmanly decision made with solomonic care.

which is why we've learned the nomination's coming in weeks, not months

I like this making the rounds
http://giphy.com/gifs/26FPOxoL14J6VbbJS

http://giphy.com/gifs/26FPOxoL14J6VbbJS

Just a n animated illustration of "Every Supreme Court nominee in US history has received a vote within 125 days."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/wp/2016/02/24/brian-sandoval-republican-governor-of-nevada-is-being-vetted-for-supreme-court-vacancy/?postshare=971456337532370&tid=ss_tw

:|

wtf

srsly

give me a fucking break

I'm kinda confused as to why Sandoval is a Republican

with that last name how can he be

how can that be surprising to yall

hopefully a trial balloon? I assume whoever is the nominee knows theyre signing up for a suicide mission.

yeah I thought I'd seen his name floated immediately.

he doesn't seem totally terrible, apart from his whole GOP thing of hating teachers, which will never be cool with me

if the point is to make the republicans look ridiculous, then floating sandoval's name seems like a fairly shrewd idea.

i know, shame on me for giving a shit about this, we good liberals should just cheer whomever obama nominates*, clearly he knows better than we, but yeah sorry i'd 100% rather take the risk of waiting a year for hillary to appoint someone better than have obama appoint a republican, sorry

*and yes i understand this is a report about him being vetted, not a report about him being named the nominee

waiting a year for hillary to appoint someone better

I'm not sure this would happen tbh

altho odds are probably better w a Dem Senate

right. and she'll have the "mandate" republicans have seemingly invented

waiting a year for hillary to appoint someone better

I'm not sure this would happen tbh

Yeah especially when there's still the possibility of a Bernie presidency.

No but seriously folx.

mandates only occur when republicans win

yeah everyone knows that, even Democrats.

Sandoval is disliked by Grover Norquist and the Tea Party, perhaps they will also express disgust with him and thereby show the White House that nominating a centrist Republican to the Supreme Court might not even work as a strategy

consider Obummer goin' Repug as a strategy a "callback" to Bubba and a preview of Hil

Callback to himself on secdef tbh

Was the Toobin post mortem in the New Yorker linked yet? Pulls no punches. First few sentences:

Antonin Scalia, who died this month, after nearly three decades on the Supreme Court, devoted his professional life to making the United States a less fair, less tolerant, and less admirable democracy. Fortunately, he mostly failed. Belligerent with his colleagues, dismissive of his critics, nostalgic for a world where outsiders knew their place and stayed there, Scalia represents a perfect model for everything that President Obama should avoid in a successor.

This also OTM:

This Republican intransigence is a sign of panic, not of power.

Pierce going with the "clever trap" theory

"There's been this dramatic betrayal," says the staunchly anti-tax Republican Assemblyman Ira Hansen, a Ted Cruz supporter who has become a public face of conservative opposition to Sandoval. "Sandoval went totally moderate liberal on us. If there was a referendum tomorrow, you'd find a dramatically different result among the Republican party base."

http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/news/a42431/brian-sandoval-supreme-court-nomination-rumor/

pretty sure sandoval is only being "vetted" to send the message that the administration is "serious" about a pick that, if not for senate GOP intransigence, "should" have bipartisan consensus. really do not expect him to actually be put forward as nominee.

I admit that there is a small warning bell going off in my head that the president is going back to his "There are no red states. There are no blue states." persona that failed him so badly in the early days of his administration

The bell should be louder

quote makes O sound like Ned Beatty in Network

(he's not that principled)

FOX reporting that McConnell and Grassley meeting at White House tomorrow.

who runs the world? gabbneb

― we can be heroes just for about 3.6 seconds (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, February 23, 2016 5:24 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

QFP

Josh Marshal's take.

The only real challenge I see here for the White House is that the person President Obama likely wants is one of those brainiac, hyper-credentialed judicial minds whose made his or her life in the law schools and the federal bench. Those tend not to be the sort of people who are temperamentally cut out for this kind of political drama. To the extent these folks are political - and they definitely are, just in a different way - they may not see it as in their longterm interests to become such a politically charged figure. Still, I'm sure Obama can find someone.

The smarter Democrats must see this. And I suspect the Republicans do too. That's why they are doing everything they possibly can to shut this process down before it starts. That's the key. It is entirely within their power not to hold a vote. The public spectacle of nine months of stonewalling, the political fallout and the narrative it creates is not. That's what's behind the almost maniacal blood oath drama of the "three nos". This is not close to over unless the Democrats agree to make it over. And I doubt they will.

is he hearing from White House sources? I don't discount the Dems' talent for fucking up golden opportunities.

feel like the Dems are chill about it because they know how insane the R's are about it

I think both sides' playbooks are already written and both are well-rehearsed. Just import the budget / government shutdown / debt ceiling subroutines, and do a search and replace for judicial appointments.

"Republicans are just the 'Party of No.' Obviously you have no agenda for governing, other than obstruction."

"Well, we wouldn't have to be that way if you had not been so divisive."

"Divisive? who came up with the whole 47% thing?"

"There you go again, politicizing the process! And when government intrusion is as rampant in our lives as it is today, perhaps what it needs is to be obstructed!"

Lather, rinse, repeat.

@RalstonReports
Breaking: Sandoval takes himself out of consideration for SCOTUS.

haha I was expecting it

Can imagine some of the phone calls he got when his name was floated out there.

lol

hadda save some club memberships

and possibly his left nut

just awesome

http://www.tampabay.com/news/nation/justice-scalia-spent-his-last-hours-with-members-of-a-secretive-society-of/2266763#pq=RF79Em

and possibly his left nut

― we can be heroes just for about 3.6 seconds (Dr Morbius)

cuz the right one was answered for

i knew i was settin you up

"Honoring God by honoring His creatures,"

honoring god's creatures by splattering their guts on the ground

No upside for Sandoval, obvs.

"Honoring God by honoring His creatures,"

honoring god's creatures by splattering their guts on the ground

― crüt, Thursday, February 25, 2016 11:43 AM (5 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

literally spent the last ten minutes trying to put together a joke about latin conjugation but it just wasn't happening

deguts-tabus very disgusting.

oh man!

http://ww3.hdnux.com/photos/06/23/03/1650890/3/920x920.jpg

do they hunt in those?