Ruth Bader Ginsburg

 

Ruth Bader Ginsburg

 Ruth Bader Ginsburg, was a great American, a great legal mind, and a great Supreme Court Justice.  May she rest in peace.

 Of the nine Supreme Court justices, four have always formed a monolithic liberal bloc, consisting of Ginsburg, Kagan, Sotomayor and Breyer, with Ginsburg as the titular head.  This bloc has voted for progressive and liberal causes nearly 100% of the time.

 Of the other justices, Alito and Thomas have been pretty consistently conservative.  Recent appointees, Gorsuch and Kavanaugh, and Chief Justice Roberts, have acted as judges should, and seem to have ruled strictly in accordance with the law, and not with the politics.

 So, the dynamic of the “Roberts Court” has nearly always been four “bloc” votes for the liberal view of the law, and anywhere from two to five votes opposing, depending on how the other justices interpret the law.  Sometimes, but not always, this has resulted in 5-4 rulings against the leftist view.

 With the passing of Associate Justice Ginsburg, the republican president and the republican senate have the constitutional right and obligation to nominate and appoint another Supreme Court Justice.  The proximity of the election has no bearing here, as it did when a president of an opposing party (Obama) nominated a Supreme Court Justice, and the senate refused to consider timely confirmation. 

 Since the senate abrogated the 60-vote filibuster rule, 51 votes are now necessary to confirm a SCOTUS nominee.  Alaska’s RINO senator, Lisa Murkowski has already announced that it would be “unfair” to appoint a Supreme Court judge before the election.  Maine’s Susan Collins and Utah’s Mitt Romney, may also be dubious.  Thankfully, we no longer have wishy-washy, flakey, senator Jeff Flake of Arizona in the mix.  Since the senate is now 53-47 republican, this would make the count 50-50, and Vice President Mike Pence would have to cast the deciding vote.

 President Trump has had a list of SCOTUS appointees that he recently expanded.  These days, it’s almost a given that the appointee should be a woman.  Wouldn’t it be a political coup if it were a competent, qualified woman of color?

 And inevitably, based on past experience, riots financed by the same people that gave us Minneapolis, Seattle, Portland and other cities this summer, would ensue, because it’s something that Trump will have done.  If it were clear that these were insurrections, and could not be called “peaceful protests”, like the looting and arson this summer, the national guard should be federalized, or barring opposition by democratic mayors and governors, the insurrection act should be invoked, and military troops employed.

Ray Gruszecki

September 18, 2020