“There are no Democratic or Republican judges, there are only judges.”

Chief Justice John Roberts

The Chief meant it. Yes, Roberts is a conservative (though the most moderate one, now) but he is also an institutionalist with his name on the court itself. Having one’s name on the court means something to chief justices. “The Rehnquist Court,” the “Warren Court,” these are things that history remembers, and you can bet that history is going to have one hell of a lot to say about “the Roberts Court.” Indeed, history might well note that the court got bigger, it may well have grown to eleven justices because it simply couldn’t help itself from being as political as the person who appointed one-third (think of that) of the court.

One can argue whether or not Amy Coney Barrett should even have accepted the nomination. Someone would have, that is certain, she probably figured it may as well be her. But we shouldn’t have any doubts as to who has been nominated and what she sees as her job. She is there to do a few things, then maybe she is free to judge according to her “conscience” – which maybe even worse, for all we know.

Once a justice is sworn in, that person is a member of the Supreme Court, she could have walked over to the SCOTUS office building a minute later and ask about the location of her office and her secretaries, and started reading briefs, particularly on the ACA case that she’s about to help overturn.

Once sworn in, she could have told Donald Trump that she hated everything he stood for and no longer wanted to be in his presence, not for another second. (If one believes her religious convictions, and we do, one wouldn’t be surprised if she had that reaction). Instead, her first act as a Supreme Court justice was to essentially film a campaign commercial for Donald Trump.

Amy Coney Barrett makes her first mistake as a SCOTUS justice just moments after becoming a SCOTUS justice:

She takes part in an overly political proceeding affirming just how tawdry the process around her nomination and confirmation have been. https://t.co/15MmDoNQq1

— Tim O'Brien (@TimOBrien) October 27, 2020

About the only decent takeaway from the entire Amy Coney Barrett nomination and induction is that her place on the SCOTUS is forever tainted as illegitimate. She was appointed by an illegitimate corrupt president, for illegitimate purposes, through an illegitimate process – especially given what the Republicans did before, and her appointment will be responsible for adding positions to the SCOTUS.

The SCOTUS has had nine justices ever since 1869. It’s a much bigger country now with far more circuits below. We think it’s time to add 2-4 more positions. And the GOP can simply shut up, had they not stolen two seats, they’d have nothing to complain about. We also think that a very serious investigation needs to be undertaken into Kavanaugh’s appointment and how it was that Kennedy came to retire so … strangely.

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Peace, y’all
Jason
[email protected] and on Twitter @JasonMiciak