To protect the supreme court's legitimacy, a conservative justice should step down

[usaf-vet]

It was McConnell, of course, who in the wake of Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s death six weeks before the 2020 election, pushed through Coney Barrett’s nomination, in transparent violation of the very justification he had offered four years earlier to deny President Obama the right to name a justice to fill a court vacancy that ultimately went to Neil Gorsuch. That McConnell’s cynical manipulation of the rules was designed to compose a court that would produce dependably conservative results appears lost on Coney Barrett. Indeed, it was her vote that was determinative in the Texas case. Had Ginsburg still been on the court, the decision would have gone 5-4 the other way. McConnell secured the results he wanted.

If Coney Barrett were genuinely concerned with promoting the court’s legitimacy, she might consider resigning. Or rather, she and Gorsuch might agree to flip a coin to decide who should leave the court. If presidents do not get to replace justices in an election year, then Coney Barrett’s confirmation is illegitimate; and if presidents do get to replace, then Gorsuch’s confirmation must be illegitimate. You can’t have it both ways – not if you believe that the composition of the court should be the product of a principled process.

Coney Barrett appears to willfully overlook the fact that she has been elevated to a rarefied position through a tarnished process that will taint all decisions in which her vote plays a crucial role. And just as we might hope that a person who, through no fault of their own, has come into possession of a good not rightfully theirs, would return that object, Coney Barrett and Gorsuch could do the right thing for the nation by agreeing that one of them should step down.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/sep/21/supreme-court-legitimacy-conservative-justice-step-down

[spanone]

1. K&R

[nycbos]

2. Not going to happen.

[Lovie777]

3. Not much trust in the US SC . ...

Constitution protector they are not nor is the fucked up republican party.

They are pissing off people of "all" races. How in the hell could the 5 + 1 justices approve bounties on women besides the six weeks ban on abortion coupled with forced births on rape and incest victims.

They effing approved gerrymandering and my gawd will probably favor voter suppression laws.

[TreasonousBastard]

4. Meh. Both of them should, but they won't. Have we all forgotten...

that FDR was so frustrated by the Supremes shutting down the New Deal that he saw increasing the Court as the only answer?

We'll get through this one way or another.

[Midnight Writer]

8. By threatening to add Justices, FDR was able to temper the conservative activism on the Court.

The Justices were institutionalist enough that they cared about the integrity and the future of the Court.

I'm afraid some of our current crop don't give a tinker's turd about the institution.

They are all about their agenda, reshaping the nation to fit a conservative, religious vision.

Fairness, precedence, even factual evidence, will all fly out the window with this bunch.

[lagomorph777]

27. Expanding the Court is still the only answer.

We are wasting time. If we don't update the Voting Rights Act, and expand SCROTUS, American democracy is finished.

[rpannier]

5. Alito and Thomas should do their part

and just die already

[mountain grammy]

17. + a million.

[UpInArms]

6. They are both "tainted"

And, as such, should both step down.

[Eyeball_Kid]

18. Fairness is one thing; greed and power are quite another. n/t

[Jerry2144]

7. A conservative Justice?

In order to protect its legitimacy, the conservative justices must step down. Your concept is ok, just the amount is wrong

[luv2fly]

9. I was going to say borderline laughable

Then read the article and opted to go full-blown laughable.

[DenaliDemocrat]

10. Surely Ginsberg had to realize this could happen?

Are SC justices THAT obtuse. Look at her legacy now - all in jeopardy. Tragic.

[lagomorph777]

28. Sadly, the greed for individual power is true on both sides.

[Merlot]

35. Yes Ginsberg was smart enough to know what could happen

She actually only had a very small window of time to resign, the first 2 years of Obamas' administration. After the republicans took the senate, she held on thinking she would retire if Hillary won, then she had to hope to make it until Biden was inaugurated.

[Crunchy Frog]

40. The Rs didn't have the Senate until after 2014. She had six years in which she could have

safely resigned.

[JustAnotherGen]

11. All three appointed by 45

are toxic. I include Garland's usurper in that crew. We shouldn't have an AG Garland - we should have a Justice Garland.

[yonder]

12. The howling and yowling that would've taken place

had Democrats even attempted the same scheme McConnell successfully pulled off would've made the Benghazi consternation seem like an attaboy.

"if presidents do not get to replace justices in an election year, then Coney Barrett’s confirmation is illegitimate; and if presidents do get to replace, then Gorsuch’s confirmation must be illegitimate."

Yet here we are today.

[themaguffin]

13. Not even a Sorkin script would be so unrealistic...

[DownriverDem]

14. Won't happen

Would of, could of, should of was the message for 2016. The election was not just about trump v Hillary. It was about Federal judges and the Supreme Court. Yes, McConnell screwed us, but it wouldn't of happened if folks understood the 2016 election.

[KS Toronado]

15. Neither will ever step down

Because reQublicOns are all about POWER and holding on to it.
Being FAIR is not in their playbook.

[NCjack]

16. And, Sen. McConnell should apologize for being unworthy of his office and resign. But,

that also is not going to happen.

[CanonRay]

19. Republicans don't resign

and the assholes on the SCOTUS are still Republcans.

[augyboston]

20. Perhaps Coney Barrett, Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, Alito, Thomas and Roberts...

Perhaps Coney Barrett, Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, Alito, Thomas and Roberts could all take up free diving, downhill mountain biking and backcountry skiing?!?

[lagomorph777]

29. Or quail hunting. I hear Darth Cheney loves to entertain friends with a nice hunt.

[calimary]

21. Fat chance of that.

No CONservative will put his (OR her) country above personal profit or advantage. They’re finally approaching where they want to be: in absolute control of everything. They’re not about to give up now - when they’re finally THIS close.

Can Dems finally start growing a spine?

[unblock]

22. the only conservative justice on the court, imho, is roberts. the other republicans are fascists.

and i'm not so sure about roberts.

sick and tired of radical right-wingers being called "conservative".

[empedocles]

23. Maybe at rw justice should just die of 'evilness'?

[jmowreader]

32. That probably won't happen

Iron Maiden put it like this: “Only the good die young. All the evil seem to live forever.”

[lagomorph777]

26. Hilarious.

The Supremes are the most power-hungry politicians in the country, and sadly, that seems to be true on both sides. We can't persuade anybody on our own side to step down to protect the seat. No way we'd persuade the enemy to step down and cede power to our side.

[jmowreader]

30. I was thinking FIVE justices should step down

Gorsuch is there because McConnell was pulling strings to prevent President Obama from seating a justice.

Kavanaugh is there because the FBI refused to do its job to prevent a walking disaster from being seated.

Barrett should step down because McConnell is a two-faced…uhh, what reprehensible animal deserves to be defamed by being compared to Mitch McConnell?

Thomas should step down because he’s dead weight.

And Breyer, who is one of the few respectable justices, should step down because he deserves a pretty house on the west shore of Maui where he can just kick back and watch the sun set with a nice glass of iced tea.

For their replacements, find the five most centrist judges on the federal circuits.

[Pepsidog]

38. I agree.

[wackadoo wabbit]

45. No, find the five farthest left judges on the federal circuits

As the wonderful Jim Hightower said, "The middle of the road is for yellow lines and dead armadillos."

We need some activist judges from our side, judges who can give us rulings that expand civil rights, rulings like Brown v. Board of Education, Miranda v. Arizona, and Griswold v. Connecticut, to name a few. Recent rulings have been shrinking our rights; we need to expand them.

[jmowreader]

47. I would be perfectly happy...

…if the five centrists would roll back all the right wing crap and just restore the rights we lost to the wingers.

[Girard442]

31. Catch-22.

Any justice who should step down on principle has no principles to drive them to step down

[CaptainTruth]

33. I still like the idea of every presidential term getting 1 SCOTUS replacement.

In other words, each president gets to replace the longest-serving SCOTUS judge once per presidential term. With a 4 year POTUS term & 9 SCOTUS judges that means each judge would serve for 36 years.

No it's not perfect but to me it's a lot better than the haphazard & entirely random (in terms of timing) way SCOTUS judges are replaced now.

If anyone has a better idea, let's hear it.

[DFW]

34. There ARE no conservative justices on the Supreme Court currently serving

Just right wing hacks, Catholic hacks, members of Opus Dei, but "conservative?" Not a one of them.

[harumph]

37. Sotomayor is a breed of liberal Catholic.

We have a few members of this discussion board who not so subtly want to
fan the flames of conspiracism. One poster was asking why so many
Catholics... and not evangelicals? Of course, the Koch bros. et al. and Federalist Soc. want right wing
hacks that can at least write half-way decent briefs.
That would exclude Liberty alums and those of most "Christian" "universities."

[DFW]

42. To the extent that she identifies as Catholic, she leaves her Bible at the door at the Court

The Republicans not only take it with them, they seem to give it equal weight to the Constitution they swore to uphold. I don't care if they swore to uphold their religion, too, but they have no business doing so when interpreting the Constitution. Not only do they have no business doing so, they have no RIGHT to do so. Sotomayor gets this, always has. The Republicans either don't get it, or (more likely) they ignore it because no one is sitting on THEIR shoulders reminding them of their oath. They are the common citizen's last line of defense, and instead, they act like fifth columnists for the enemy.

[StarfishSaver]

39. So true

Nothing "conservative" about any of them.

[DFW]

44. No one can stop them from hijacking the label.

No one can stop them from coloring the sky green with a crayon, either. But neither action changes a thing.

[AdamGG]

36. No conservatives are going to step down, but Stephen Breyer needs to

It's important that Joe Biden get re-elected, but that's not guaranteed and Breyer (a good justice) is 83. After what happened with Ruth Bader Ginsburg, IMO Breyer should step aside and let Biden replace him with someone much younger.

[fescuerescue]

41. I think they should all step down

All 5.

I also think that all the Republicans in the Senate and House should resign.

And that everyday should be Christmas.

[bucolic_frolic]

43. Only 1? We have the Stolen Nomination, the Drunk Half-vetted Nomination, and the Rushed Confirmation

I mean, those are THREE stolen seats. THREE.

I rest my case.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

46. But they won't