Posted on

Justices Sotomayor and Gorsuch Warn Partisan Divisions and Disinformation Threaten Our Democracy

Screen Shot 2021 04 15 at 10.20.34 AM

During a recorded event sponsored by the Center for Strategic & International Studies, Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Neil Gorsuch warned that partisan divisions and disinformation threaten the fabric of American democracy.

“This is the scariest of times, and the most exciting of times,” Sotomayor said in the video conversation last month that was just released. “We had one of highest turnouts in voting the last election read more

Posted on

Mitch McConnell is the Latest Villain in MAGA World

Mitch McConnell Trump impeachment trial

Being a Republican in this day and age requires complete fealty to Donald Trump. To maintain the president and his supporter’s backing, one must fully aid in all of Trump’s fights no matter how ridiculous.

And to not back Trump is to immediately be attacked. Amy Coney Barrett, Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch drew the ire of some Conservative media members after the Supreme Court refused to take up Texas AG Ken Paxton’s frivolous lawsuit.

William Barr was next in line. He’s been ripped by the likes of

Jeanine Pirro read more

Posted on

Trump Says He Can “Live With” Supreme Court’s Decision on LGBT Rights Despite Conservative Anger

Trump holds coronavirus briefing with no medical experts

Donald Trump says he can accept the Supreme Court’s decision on LGBT rights, despite conservative outrage. The President did not criticize the move, as some believed he would.

The court ruled 6 to 3 that LGBT people enjoyed protections under Title VII of the Civil Rights act – meaning they cannot be fired simply for being LGBT. Trump-appointee Neil Gorsuch sided with the majority.

“I’ve read the decision, and some people were surprised,” Trump said on Monday. “But they’ve ruled and we live with their decision.”

“That’s what it’s all about. We live with the decision of the Supreme Court,” he said

“Very powerful. Very powerful decision actually,” Trump said. “But they have so ruled.”

Trump’s apparently calm reaction to the landmark decision may further worry conservatives, many of whom reacted with fury and incredulity to the ruling and attacked the justices supporting it.

Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Gorsuch have become particular targets of conservative ire – but none more than Gorsuch, who was appointed by Trump to succeed Justice Antonin Scalia.

There are also suggestions that the court’s decision could endanger President Trump’s reelection.

One major reason cited by many social conservatives for supporting him was the need for conservative judges but the recent decision seems to indicate that argument is flawed.

Follow Darragh Roche on Twitter

Posted on

John Roberts Rebukes Schumer For Bogus “Threatening Statements” Against Gorsuch, Kavanaugh

2018 11 21T181944Z 211122447 RC175677AF40 RTRMADP 3 USA TRUMP ROBERTS

Chief Justice John Roberts has rebuked Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) for “threatening statements” against two conservative justices.

“Justices know that criticism comes with the territory, but threatening statements of this sort from the highest levels of government are not only inappropriate, they are dangerous,” Roberts said, adding that the justices “will continue to do their job, without fear or favor, from whatever quarter.”

Roberts’s comments came after Schumer, standing outside the Supreme Court, said Associate Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh would “pay the price” if they fail to uphold abortion rights as the judiciary takes up June Medical Services v. Russo, which considers the constitutionality of a law requiring doctors to possess admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 minutes of their abortion clinics.

“I want to tell you, Gorsuch. I want to tell you, Kavanaugh. You have released the whirlwind, and you will pay the price,” Schumer said to a crowd of abortion-rights advocates. “You won’t know what hit you if you go forward with these awful decisions.”

Schumer was soon criticized by Congressional conservatives, including Senators Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Steve Scalise (R-La.).

🚨 UNHINGED → Schumer threatened conservative justices Kavanaugh & Gorsuch on the steps of the Supreme Court:

"You have released the whirlwind & you will pay the price. You won't know what hit you."

Enough. This rhetoric has dangerous consequences. Where's the media outrage? pic.twitter.com/SiGNHxG0iX read more

Posted on

Opinion: “Judicial Modesty” Is The New Legal Fig Leaf For Denying Civil Rights To LGBTQ Americans

2019 03 25T145801Z 13 LYNXNPEF2O15O RTROPTP 4 USA COURT RACE

While we don’t yet know how the Supreme Court will decide the major civil rights question before it regarding whether or not gay and transgender people are protected under federal legislation that outlaws employment discrimination “on the basis of sex,” the nature of the debates and the questions raised from the bench last week when attorneys for both sides presented arguments do not reflect well on this nation’s supposed commitment to civil rights.

At a minimum, it’s fair to say it’s no slam dunk that the Supreme Court will arrive at ruling that endows LGBTQ Americans with the basic civil rights that American ideals, especially those ideals people, particularly African Americans, took to the streets for in the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s, pose as fundamental liberties for all.

At worst, the court may very well be poised to ratify—and likely further unleash through its endorsement—rampant and hostile discrimination against people simply for how they choose to love and define their sexual and gender identity.  While this case centers on employment discrimination, thus entailing grave consequences for LGBTQ people’s abilities to earn a living, a ruling that denied their civil rights would surely have ramifications well beyond the workplace and economy, serious as those elements are.  Just as Trump’s virulent and loudly expressed racism has resulted in exponential increases in white nationalist and other racist violence against people of color and Jewish people, it seems to fair to expect that if the highest court in our land endorses discrimination against LGBTQ people, that a similar uptick in violence against them will likely occur.

What was most underlined in the back and forth between the justices and the attorneys is that extension of civil rights to all Americans is still in question.

Let’s underline that: Civil Rights have not been embraced by the United States for all members of society.

And that the Supreme Court is pondering and scratching its collective head about whether civil rights should be extended to all members of society is absolutely troubling.

The justices are actually wondering if it is just to have a group of second-class citizens.

We need to continue to point out this fact. And we should explore and make clear the warped reasoning coming from these supposedly prized intellects and dazzling legal minds, as I’ve done elsewhere.

For the court, the crux of the matter seemed to be whether the word “sex” in the 1964 Civil Rights Act could be construed as incorporating sexual orientation and gender identity—did it just refer to distinctions between “male” and “female,” or does it include distinctions between “gay” and “straight”?

Justice Samuel Alito at one point responded to attorney Pamela Karlan, representing two of the plaintiffs,

“You’re trying to change the meaning of what Congress understood sex to mean in 1964.” read more