Ruth Bader Ginsburg blasts Congress...says they're really not equipped to do anything

[Cali_Democrat]

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/ginsburg-congress-not-equipped-anything

Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on Friday lamented that the current Congress is dysfunctional.

During an interview with MSNBC set to air Monday night, Ginsburg discussed The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which Congress passed in 2009 after the Supreme Court ruled that individuals could not sue their employers for discrimination over a decision made 180 days beforehand.

Ginsburg said that at the time, Congress was able to act where the Supreme Court did not. But she said that's not possible anymore.

"The current Congress is not equipped really to do anything," she said. "The kind of result that we got in the Ledbetter case is not easily achieved today. Someday, we will go back to having the kind of legislature that we should, where members, whatever party they belong to, want to make the thing work and cooperate with each other to see that that will happen."

[lpbk2713]

1. I like her optimism.

Some day ...

[BobbyBoring]

5. I wish I shared it.

I don't see some day in my life.

[sheshe2]

2. KnR

[Cali_Democrat]

3. Thank you, sheshe

[sheshe2]

4. You are wecome, Cali.

I love that woman.

[japple]

6. She is a wonder woman and a Supreme to boot! If she were Chief

Justice, just think how wonderful things might be!

[former9thward]

8. Would make no difference.

The Chief has one vote just like everyone else on the court.

[japple]

11. See below

[former9thward]

12. The Justices agree with each other most of the time.

A majority of decisions are 9-0. Ginsberg agrees with Roberts 77% of the time and agrees with Scalia 81% of the time. See statistics at the bottom of the link. People don't like it when I report this because they like the image of liberals and conservatives at each other's throats at the SC. It is just not true.

http://www.scotusblog.com/statistics/

[KamaAina]

7. The Notorious R.B.G.!

[Jefferson23]

9. " Someday, we will go back to having the kind of legislature that we should......."

When we demand CU be overturned and add public funded elections.

[Calista241]

13. CU is ruling based on the first amendment

A simple law passed by congress and signed by the President will not overrule current rights guaranteed by the first amendment of the Constitution.

The only way to correct this, is to go through the Amendment process.

And our party is marching in lockstep with the Repubs in expressing no real desire to fix it.

[Jefferson23]

14. I'm well aware what it is based on, thank you and changes nothing regarding what I said, previously.

Overturn Citizens United
Sunday, September 7, 2014

The U.S. Senate votes Monday on whether to take up a constitutional amendment that would restore limits on big money in politics. Sen. Bernie Sanders on Sunday called the drive to undo Supreme Court decisions that gutted campaign finance laws “the major issue of our time.” Monday’s showdown vote, he added, is “a pivotal moment in American history.”
http://www.sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/recent-business/overturn-citizens-united2



In an opinion piece critical of the decision in Citizens United, Senator Sanders wrote:

When the Supreme Court says that for purposes of the First Amendment, corporations are people, that writing checks from the company's bank account is constitutionally-protected speech and that attempts by the federal government and states to impose reasonable restrictions on campaign ads are unconstitutional, when that occurs, our democracy is in grave danger.

The joint Sanders-Deutch Resolution proposes an amendment to the constitution "to expressly exclude for-profit corporations from the rights given to natural persons." The first section of the amendment states:

http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/6095:the-problem-with-citizens-united-is-not-corporate-personhood

As to who is in lockstep, that changes when Americans demand it.

[SummerSnow]

10. Shes absoultely right