"We cannot afford to see Justice Stevens replaced by another Roberts"-Schumer (too little too late?)

[swag]

from the shitty, right-wing Politico but still interesting, in a nightmarishly ex post facto way:

New York Sen. Charles E. Schumer, a powerful member of the Democratic leadership, said Friday the Senate should not confirm another U.S. Supreme Court nominee under President Bush “except in extraordinary circumstances.”

“We should reverse the presumption of confirmation,” Schumer told the American Constitution Society convention in Washington. “The Supreme Court is dangerously out of balance. We cannot afford to see Justice Stevens replaced by another Roberts, or Justice Ginsburg by another Alito.”
. . .

Senators were too quick to accept the nominees’ word that they would respect legal precedents, and “too easily impressed with the charm of Roberts and the erudition of Alito,” Schumer said.

“There is no doubt that we were hoodwinked,” said Schumer, who sits on the Senate Judiciary Committee and heads the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.
. . .

“Alito shouldn’t have been confirmed,” Schumer said. “I should have done a better job. My colleagues said we didn’t have the votes, but I think we should have twisted more arms and done more.”
. . .

[Double T]

1. Chuck, you need to legislate Term Limits for ALL members of congress.........

and the scotus. That will be greatest first step in reclaiming our nation.

[cynatnite]

2. Definitely not SCOTUS...

If you think it's politicized now...term limits would make it even worse.

[Double T]

14. Lifetime appointments only promote arrogance and abuse of authority......

and power, as 'WE' have experienced during the bushco crime era.

[AX10]

3. Why didn't you work to filibuster Sammy Scalito?

:eyes:

[demgrrrll]

4. Cause Mrs. A turned on the waterworks. I am being facetious but

I do think that it comes down to appearances with a lot of those folks.

[kath]

5. Gee, Chuck, aren't you glad you have all that dry powder?

That was the absolute most important thing, to keep the powder dry.

[Bluebear]

6. No shit, Sherlock. nt

[SoCalDem]

7. BULLSHIT..

shame on our naive little senators..they got "hoodwinked".."charmed"..

when I was about 6 years old, I learned that "leopards don't change their spots"..

too bad that all grown-up, rich, college educated lawyerly senators are so easily fooled..

They seem to get "hoodwinked" every time a repubilcan comes near them..

we need to turn the SCOTUS picking process back to the ABA, and charge them to provide a list of 50 lawyers each calendar year..based on LEGAL standing ...and that would be the list used to fill vacancies..

[defendandprotect]

10. A G R E E -------------- !!!!!!!

[orleans]

8. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! n/t

[defendandprotect]

9. Damned good of Schumer to at least say that now . . . and some are looking into nominee's testimony?

Evidently, they feel that the nominees lied at hearings -- ???

You know, we have Clarence Thomas because of Joe Biden's outright betrayal of Anita Hill and her counsel -- and the witnesses -- all former employees of Clarence Thomas' dept who were ready to testity to his pervert behavior and comments --
See Anita Hills's book which reports what went on -- "Strange Justice"
And -- I watched what Biden did til 4 am in the morning trying NOT to put those witnesses on.

Also -- reading someone today re SC and expanding retracting number of members --
Congress controls that --
So if Stevens should die while Bush is still president . . . we can increase the justices.

I don't know if a new President can change the "Chief Justice" -- ???

Anyone know?

[Marr]

11. "My colleagues said we didn’t have the votes..."

Well, here's your chance to make up for it! That same line is being used now as an excuse not to impeach, even though, once again, the public is clamoring for it.

So we've got a nearly identical dynamic. Doesn't seem like anything's changed to me.

[rwenos]

12. Sounds Like Chuck Knows Something

I hate to say it, but it sounds like maybe Justice Stevens is ill or failing. Other than wishing him the best of health, all I can wonder is why Sen. Schumer is saying anything about it. With a majority in the Senate, why not simply vote the goddamn nominee(s) down?

Besides, Ted Olson, Kenneth Starr and Janice Rogers Brown SUCK!

[bbgrunt]

13. but the powder stayed dry--so now you should have plenty of ammo for impeachment.

[Skidmore]

15. Hoodwinked, my tush.

Damn, I hate it when the Dems trot out those inane excuses. WE TRIED TO TELL THEM TO FILLIBUSTER ON ROBERTS & ALITO!!! God damn them all! We tried to tell them that * was trying to pull a fast one in his own obvious way. NO, Senators wanted to play a gentleman's game with kid gloves with a no account punk.

Senator Schumer, you can take your sorry excuses and shove them. Do you have daughters? Did you think of them or any other daughters in the world when you were playing footsie with this asshole in the WH? Why, given the administrations record, would you ever entertain the idea that they would act in good faith and with integrity?

Just....just... shut up and get to work on reversing the damage to the nation this bunch of psychopaths have wrought.