Justice Breyer is a Supreme Idiot
Democrat-appointed US Sup. Ct. Justice Stephen Breyer doesn't want to step down and let Biden replace him with another liberal justice, lest it anger the Republicans.
If you ever ask yourself why Democrats can’t have nice things, look no further than Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer, age 82.
Breyer made some waves this week by poo-pooing the suggestion that he step down sometime soon in order to guarantee that President Biden can replace him with another liberal justice before Democrats lose control of their one-seat-majority in the Senate.
The nightmare scenario is that Breyer doesn’t step down, Democrats lose control of the Senate (the death of a single Democratic senator could hand Republicans the majority), Breyer either dies or is otherwise forced to step down, and future Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) refuses to hold a vote on Breyer’s Biden-appointed replacement until Donald Trump Jr. is elected president in 2024.
This is exactly what McConnell did to President Obama when Antonin Scalia died on February 13, 2016. McConnell claimed, with zero precedent whatsoever, that Scalia’s death happened “too close” to the November presidential election, so McConnell wouldn’t permit a vote on Obama’s nominee to replace Scalia, Merrick Garland. As a result, Trump got to appoint Scalia’s successor, and then two more conservative justices, so that there’s now a 6-3 conservative majority on the court.
If we lose Breyer’s seat, the Republicans will have a 7-2 majority on the court, and you can then kiss pretty much every liberal thing you hold dear goodbye.
The fear isn’t just hypothetical. This is exactly what happened with Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s seat. Ginsburg, who was already well into her 80s at the time, didn’t step down during the two-terms of Obama’s presidency, and instead died at age 87 during the Trump era. So Trump got to replace a liberal lion with a far-right activist a little over a week before the 2020 election. It didn’t have to be this way.
Now, good Supreme Court justices eschew politics. Of late, that tends to mean Democratic appointees, rather than Republican ones. As Hillary Clinton likes to say, Democrats are gifted (or cursed) with “the Responsibility Gene.” Meaning, we try to do the right thing, even if it doesn’t benefit out party; while Republicans are simply out for number one, to hell with the country. In Justice Breyer’s case, the Responsibility Gene is making him risk handing his seat over to the next Republican president.
The New York Times reported on a recent speech Breyer gave, in which he suggested that stepping down in order to let Biden replace him with another liberal justice would be to the detriment of the country as it might make Republicans mad:
Breyer, giving a speech at Harvard University that will later be published in book form, argued that justices must be “loyal to the rule of law, not to the political party that helped to secure their appointment.”
Breyer continued, “If the public sees judges as politicians in robes, its confidence in the courts, and in the rule of law itself, can only diminish, diminishing the court’s power.”
Bless his heart.
One wonders how Breyer thinks the country will fare should his entire legacy, along with the legacies of Thurgood Marshall, Earl Warren, and Ruth Bader Ginsburg, among others, be torched — as they certainly will — by a 7-2 conservative court.
The Republicans have already made clear that they don’t care about the history of the court or the future of the institution. They don’t care about rising partisanship and the dangers it poses to our democracy. Republicans are now Trump-Republicans. They’re a neo-fascist cult willing to do anything to gain and maintain power. Even were Breyer right, that permitting a Democratic president to replace a justice appointed by a previous Democrat would somehow increase partisanship — an absurd notion — what does Breyer think is going to happen to “partisanship” when the Republican court, and I use the word “Republican” intentionally, outlaws abortion, gay marriage, contraception, and more. And how long until that same court installs a Republican president after he’s lost the election to a Democrat?
As an aside, years ago, in response to a majority decision to strike down state sodomy laws, which were typically only enforced against gay people, Antonin Scalia expressed outrage that the decision took away the states’ right to regulate masturbation.
State laws against bigamy, same-sex marriage, adult incest, prostitution, masturbation, adultery, fornication, bestiality, and obscenity are likewise sustainable only in light of Bowers’ validation of laws based on moral choices. Every single one of these laws is called into question by today’s decision; the Court makes no effort to cabin the scope of its decision to exclude them from its holding.
And he’s their favorite justice. Imagine what these people would do with a 7-2 majority.
Breyer needs to step down now, and stop making new rules that will do absolutely nothing to help heal the nation’s wounds. Republicans have zero interest, or incentive, in bringing the country together. Nothing can solve our “partisanship” problem until Republicans wish it so.
Other Interesting Stuff
Rudy Giuliani’s son, Andrew, who is running for governor of New York, doesn’t appear to know what the Statue of Liberty is.
Democrats still aren’t doing enough to sell Biden’s accomplishments.
Local GOP officials in Arizona have had it with the phony Trump “recount” of the 2020 election.
Dog and cow.
And my dog remains amazing.
And we have a new podcast up, talking about the so-far failed attempt to establish a Sedition Commission to investigate the January 6th Insurrection at the US Capitol. You can have a listen here.
See you guys later this week. JOHN
**sigh**
I think my head will explode. Did he learn nothing from RBG and her horrific replacement?