June 24, 2022

Four ways to expand the US Supreme Court...

Excerpted from the Harvard Law & Policy Review:

The first and most straightforward approach to expanding the Court is adding two, four, or six new justices to the Court. This suggestion has been advanced by Professor Michael Klarman of Harvard Law School, among others...

The second option is to reconstitute the Supreme Court in the image of a federal court of appeals. This course of action would increase the number of justices to fifteen or a similar number. Panels of justices would be drawn from this larger group, with an option of en banc review. This plan would not only dislodge the Court’s current reactionary majority, but the panel format also would allow a greater number of cases to be heard.

Third is the Supreme Court Lottery, a more aggressive version of the panel strategy. Daniel Epps and Ganesh Sitaraman outlined this proposal in a Yale Law Journal piece. All federal appellate court judges, roughly 180 in total, would become associate justices on the Supreme Court. Panels of nine justices would be randomly selected from this pool. Importantly, decisions on whether to grant certiorari on a given case would be made by panel members who would not know the ideological makeup of the panel that would hear the case. This plan would frustrate partisan maneuvering.

Fourth and finally is Epps and Sitaraman’s idea for a “Balanced Bench.” The Court would have ten justices, with five seats allocated to each of the two major parties. Those ten justices would select sets of five additional justices at a time to serve a future, non-renewable one-year term. That selection would operate on a requirement of near-unanimity to ensure that this final set of five justices would be relatively even-handed. This proposal aims to counteract the effects of partisanship on the Court by explicitly recognizing and institutionalizing partisanship presence.

[link:https://harvardlpr.com/2019/05/06/the-supreme-court-has-been-expanded-many-times-before-here-are-four-ways-to-do-it-today/|]

From the Yale Law Journal:

How to Save the Supreme Court
[link:https://bit.ly/3NfeveR|]

Supreme Court as Superweapon
[link:https://www.yalelawjournal.org/forum/supreme-court-as-superweapon|]

June 23, 2022

In case you missed it...

These Republican congressmen asked for pardons after January 6th:

Rep Andy Biggs (R-AZ)

Rep Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA)

Rep Mo Brooks (R-AL)

Rep Matt Gaetz (R-FL)

Rep Louie Gohmert (R-TX)

Rep Paul Gosar (R-AZ)

Rep Jim Jordan (R-OH)

Rep Scott Perry (R-PA)


Watch this space...


That is all...

June 16, 2022

What did RTump promise John Eastman...

if RTump's coup was successful???

May 10, 2022

Nicolle Wallace, Tim Alberta, Politics and the Poisoning of the Evangelical Church

Nicole Wallace had a conversation this afternoon with Tim Alberta re: his article in today's Atlantic...

Tim Alberta's article in the Atlantic can be found here:

[link:https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2022/06/evangelical-church-pastors-political-radicalization/629631/|]

A fascinating, terrifying exposé of the radicalization of white evangelical "Christianity"... (my feeling
is belief in Christ has been obliterated in the movement's evolution... Scripture shares ample warnings
for the kinds of belief promoted by these movements and their followers)...

May 9, 2022

Despite precautions, the wife of UCSF's Chief of Medicine, Bob Wachter, tests positive for Covid...

Katie & I didn’t mask when we were only with each other, & we shared a bed both nights. All was well until this am, when she woke up congested & her rapid test was now pos. Our flight home (Palm Springs to SFO) was scheduled for tonight. So here’s the first poll question: (7/23)— Bob Wachter (@Bob_Wachter) May 9, 2022

For the entire conversation (23 posts):

https://twitter.com/Bob_Wachter/status/1523539583761215488

The latest Omicron variant (BA.2.12.1) is the most infectious yet, & it’s snagging tons of people who have avoided Covid for > 2 years. It’s hitting close to home for me, so tonight’s 🧵is about that…with a few poll questions to see how your thinking lines up with mine. (1/23)— Bob Wachter (@Bob_Wachter) May 9, 2022

May 4, 2022

Furious Elizabeth Warren slams 'extremists' on the bench

Source: Daily Mail - UK

Warren accused conservatives of 'plotting, carefully cultivating these Supreme Court justices' to act against the majority...

'It's not going to fall hardest on well-to-do women,' Warren said of a post-Roe America.

'They can afford to get on a plane and go to another state where abortion is legal. They can afford to leave the country. Who this is going to fall hardest on is going to be on poor women. It's going to fall hardest on those who have been molested. It's going to fall hardest on women who've been raped. It's going to fall hardest on the woman who's already working two jobs to try to take care of the children she has. And this Supreme Court has said they don't care,' she fumed.

Read more: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10779615/Furious-Elizabeth-Warren-joins-protesters-Supreme-Court-slam-extremists-bench.html#v-7851620868298815824

May 3, 2022

Individual climbing Salesforce Tower in SF, CA...

Source: KRON 4 News

San Francisco officials are responding to a man climbing Salesforce Tower. SKY7 is overhead now.
https://abc7ne.ws/39DOeJn

Read more:

February 27, 2022

Two Daily Beast journos lucky to be alive in Ukraine

May all members of the press reporting on the chaos in Ukraine stay safe...

Do your job...

Come home safely and soon...

[link:

https://www.thedailybeast.com/journalists-stefan-weichert-and-emil-filtenborg-mikkelsen-shot-while-reporting-in-ukraine?ref=scroll|

February 24, 2022

Live -- BBC -- Putin announces military operation in Ukraine

Naked aggression...

[link:https://www.bbc.com/news/live/world-europe-60454795|