Joe Biden worries that the “extreme” US supreme court, dominated by rightwing justices, cannot be relied upon to uphold the rule of law.
“I worry,” the president told ProPublica in interview published on Sunday. “Because I know that if the other team, the Maga Republicans, win, they don’t want to uphold the rule of law.”
“Maga” is shorthand for “Make America great again”, Donald Trump’s campaign slogan. Trump faces 91 criminal charges and assorted civil threats but nonetheless dominates Republican polling for the nomination to face Biden in a presidential rematch next year.
In four years in the White House, Trump nominated and saw installed three conservative justices, tilting the court 6-3 to the right. That court has delivered significant victories for conservatives, including the removal of the right to abortion and major rulings on gun control, affirmative action and other issues.
The new court term, which starts on Tuesday, could see further such rulings on matters including government environmental and financial regulation.
I am concerned about the obvious concerning things as well. Y’all should make me your leader.
Can you figure out how to get off a stage though…
I love completely unaware comments like this. President stable genius wasn’t really all that stable nor all that much of a genius. Dude bragged about memorizing 5 words in a TV interview.
If you’re willing to mention one as a disqualifying factor, you should really take a long hard look at the other candidate through the same lens.
Also … to be fair… my capability to walk on a stage has no bearing on my ability to be president. FDR used a wheel chair and had ramps installed in the White House. I find it terrible that we disparage our presidents based on their physical abilities.
I would put more stock in whether they can string together a cogent argument on a debate, or whether they can actually put together a sentence with correct punctuation, spelling, and grammar…
Ironically, Biden has been shying away from debates…
Honestly, I don’t know why anyone would want to be president after age 70. It just seems like too much stress, too much work. When I am 70 I want either be working for myself so that I can determine my hours, or just full on retired enjoying some piece and quiet.
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So your argument is literally “both sides”… I thought both siding was frowned upon
It’s more a “don’t throw stones if you live in a glass house” thing, but fair enough.
I don’t understand this whataboutism the US has going on. Trump was a megalomaniac and didn’t give a shit about the country. Biden is a demented old man and doesn’t give a shit about the country.
Democrats and republicans have chosen horrible leaders this past decade. Can’t you see it’s harming you all? Why are you acting like this is a sports team you’ll die following?
I think one thing that some people seem to miss is that liberal voters didn’t necessarily vote for Biden, they simply voted against Trump.
You’re absolutely right in your assessment. Our system is stacked against us. I wish we had a system that could support multiple parties. But all we have to choose from is one extreme or the other. I’m not exactly pleased with it.
And if you want to see what happens when a politician breaks ranks to get things done, look no farther than McCarthy getting ousted as speaker of the house. I don’t like the guy at all but he did the right thing this one time by getting bipartisan support to get a funding bill passed in order to avoid a government shut down. His party crucified him for it. So yeah, we are fucked.
Then maybe he should have packed the court with some good judges
Would have had to nuke the filibuster to make it where they could pack the court. That required yes votes from all Democratic senators (only because not a single fucking Republican would vote for it), and Manchin and Sinema refused to do it.
Nothing Biden could have done. We needed more Democrats in Senate seats. That’s the game though. Republicans do their best to make us feel like voting doesn’t matter, then we don’t turn up - making it easier for Republicans to say the government doesn’t work.
Nothing Biden could have done.
He could have attacked them. Called on their constituents to protest outside their offices. Politics is more than just filing papers and casting votes.
Machin’s constituents are heavily Red.
Manchin’s constituents are heavily red, but his voters are mostly blue.
How do you figure? Biden received 29.69% of the vote in 2020 vs 68.62%.
Joe Manchin won his last election with 49.6% of the vote. Presumably Biden voters all vote for him. 29.7% is more than half of 49.6%.
Ok, but what’s your point?
It’s just that easy ™️
I don’t think he’s exactly even capable of doing so. SCOTUS judges have to retire or die, and then vacant seats have to get confirmed by the Senate, and no self-respecting Republican Supreme Court justice would die while in office. Expanding the number of justices is also extremely unlikely to happen, and also, relevantly, not really in Joe’s hands.
The notable historical threat to pack the courts previously (which succeeded in moderating the court without packing) was done by a president. They don’t have unilateral authority, but they are the leader of the party. Stuff doesn’t happen unless leaders lead.
When has Joe Biden had the opportunity to replace a ring wing judge?
I’m talking about Roosevelt as a model for Biden threatening to pack the court. This reply doesn’t make sense.
Those threats only worked because the party was sane. These days we have nothing more the terrorists calling themselves the gop.
What? There were like 16 Senate Republicans total in Roosevelt’s time. It had nothing to do with sane Republicans coming around. The threats worked because Roosevelt and his policies were incredibly popular and if the court didn’t stop blocking them the court packing bill likely would have passed.
I’m saying the opposing party. And yes fdr used the bully pulpit well. But there were still rational people in office. Today we have a party that thinks the election was stolen because… Reasons.
There’s no limit to how many supreme Court justices can be active at a time. Biden could have nominated more. Getting them approved is the hard part.
Then you end up with the next president doing it again. We don’t need that race today.
So we just give up without trying?
Not give up. Seeing a single solution as bad doesn’t mean we give up.
and also, relevantly, not really in Joe’s hands.
That didn’t stop FDR from trying and indirectly succeeding.
At least they’re finally starting to get a clue that “They go low, we go high” is bullshit
Damn, did he just now notice this?
COLOUR ME SHOCKED
To me, as a non-American, the most baffling thing is that everyone in the States just assumes, and accepts, that these appointed justices are going to rule according to some political bias.
That’s not the way it works in the rest of the free world. Judges are, by definition, trusted to be impartial interpreters of the law/constitution. That’s their role.
I live in Canada, and I’m vaguely familiar with some of the names of our Supreme Court justices, but I certainly don’t know their political leanings, nor do I care. Nor does any Canadian I know. That’s the way it’s supposed to be.
So as far as I can see, the problem isn’t that SCOTUS is stacked with Republicans, nor that it can be. The problem is that everyone seems to assume that this is the way it should be.
First of all, the Overton Window in America is skewed heavily right. So our centrist Democratic leaders are center right, our Republicans are what most countries would call regressive, extremist, authoritarian right wing, or even fascists.
See, the problem is rightwing extremism has been on a campaign since the civil rights era to take control of the country and undo the progress made since the 1960s.
They installed right wing media. They cut education and tampered with curricula. They gerrymandered. They instituted voter suppression. Their strategy culminated in the Federalist Society influencing the selection of Gorsuch and installation of right wing judges during the Trump administration.
The thing you have to know if you ever want to try and stop extremist, authoritarian, right wing regressives is that they do not hold the same ideals and morals as you and I. They do not play from the same playbook or follow the same rulebook.
They believe that “might makes right,” that any ends justify the means, that rules are enacted to protect them and their in group and punish their selected out group. They believe in many cases that their cause is justified by God.
And so any justice who adheres to such zealous principles will see no issue with finding a way to rule in the favor of their side. They may even go so far as to rule with weak or minimal justification. They will be a lot less likely to rule in an unbiased fashion.
My current opinion is that, so far, we have only seen rulings that fall into the “finding a way” category.
I think these justices will incrementally push the envelope on what they can get away with over the upcoming decades.
I doubt the Republican justices stay alive for much longer with the growing realization that political assassinations easily solve issues with the supreme court. It’s talked in hush tones a lot online because people act as if talking about the thing means you’re inviting it.
Tbh I’m genuinely surprised suicidal people on the left haven’t already taken one out. I was betting on it to happen shortly after Biden took presidency. It’s going to happen eventually if they keep ruling like shit. Revolutions are started by such political stunts.
Although I used to think all the crazy school shooters were eventually going to be lefties as well. Turns out they at least try to get medicated and fix themselves. Righties just go out murdering for apeshit reasons lol. Still, I know way more people on the left in serious depression and wanting to commit suicide. With the amount of fame MSM gives suicidal murderers… like before, I’m surprised it hasn’t already happened.
“I think these justices will incrementally push the envelope on what they can get away with over the upcoming decades.”
I feel like we have already turned the corner of openly ruling along party lines as well as unrepentant corruption.
I think it will get worse and worse until… well I don’t know what will turn it around or when.
Agreed. I forgot to end my post with “but I fear that it can get so much worse before anything is done.”
I mean, as crappy as the court has been and all the confidence they’ve lost, they have essentially just cemented the role of Supreme Court justice as a politician instead of some honored impartial high quality person who stays above it all.
So they have blatantly pushed the Republican agenda, including things like Roe. But they could do so much more damage still.
This patently false, compared to the world as a whole the US is quite liberal. Only in certain aspects, compared to certain European countries is the US “right-wing”. US for instance has way more liberal freedom of speech and religion than most countries. How many European countries have a state religion?
Your parliament just gave a nazi a standing ovation.
Yes. The supreme court is a political tool just like every other branch of government.
They are not impartial. They all have agendas.
I think Canada may not have this issue because there aren’t as many different cultures in Canada competing for dominance.
Even though your ruling class wants to extend its reach as much as possible, they acknowledge they’re still ruling over Canadians.
In the US, it’s “city people ruling over country” or “whites ruling over blacks” or “christians ruling over everything.” This means it’s acceptable and even encouraged for one group to abuse another.
This creates an “us vs. them” mentality because it really is us vs. them.
Okay, but “The Extreme Court” does sound a lot cooler.
He’s not alone
And proceeds to do fuck all about it! Awesome.
I mean, if this is the way the executive branch is talking about the judicial branch, both of them should be forced to resign and be replaced with other people.
How that is, I have no clue, but you can’t run a country with distrust like this.
Both sides paint the other as the enemy of democracy and freedom.
That’s just what happens when you have two authoritarian parties. They just lob Accusation-In-a-Mirror attacks at each other.
Can they write this article without Biden…?
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If team magma wins, what will the water Pokemon do??
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That’s alright. A decision to release billions to Iran to cause a war is so much worse.
