By Bob Williams, Stevensville
For much of 2016, billionaires and the dominating political party prevented the minority party from nominating a Supreme Court Justice. Then in 2017, the GOP installed their man as Supreme Court Justice.
This year the billionaires added a new name to their short list of candidates for a lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court. A man with the unusual view that while in office, the President of the United States cannot be charged with a federal crime. That man is now the Presidential nominee to sit on the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS).
Week before last was the four-day Senate Judiciary Committee Hearing to question the Presidential nominee to replace SCOTUS Justice Kennedy who our President may have urged to resign.
But last week some very unusual things happened. The majority party wrongly marked some heavily redacted documents as under Presidential privilege. And wrongly marked some as confidential to the Judiciary Committee. And did something totally radical. Refused to let the minority party examine many important, need to know Federal Court records about that unusual candidate.
The minority party strongly argued that both political parties must be able to examine related documents so as to render advice and consent for a SCOTUS Justice nominee. Subsequently some more documents were released.
Guess what happened? We found out that on record, the unusual nominee had three different positions on whether Roe v. Wade was correctly decided law.
Then we found out how in 2002, the now unusual SCOTUS Justice nominee received and wrongfully used emails stolen from the minority party. Even lying under oath in 2004 to Senator Hatch about his complicity in those stolen emails. And lying under oath in 2006 to Senator Kennedy about those stolen emails. Emails wrongly used to bias people in favor of lifetime Judge appointments to individuals favored by the major political party.
Week before last, confronted with new evidence that he had known the emails were stolen, the unusual nominee showed no remorse about his wrongful use of stolen emails, or his related possibly five perjuries.
That’s when people raised the obvious concern. If he thought it OK to use emails stolen from the minority party, maybe he thinks it’s OK for the President and the majority party to use emails stolen from the minority party to win the 2016 Federal Election.
Week before last, members of the minority party testified that some documents evidenced where the unusual nominee had argued a court case by standing on a false premise. Premising that birth control pills are “abortion inducing drugs.”
Consequently, some conservatives felt uncomfortable with the unusual process advancing tainted ethical and legal reasonings of the unusual nominee.
To me it’s obnoxious that some of the reluctantly released materials evidence critical, public need to know information. Makes me wonder what else the majority party wanted hidden from public view. Makes me mad that the majority party never allowed a hearing about Judge Merrick Garland, and now have brought about a very inadequate hearing for the likely next Supreme Court Justice.
Watching the hearing where the unusual nominee faltered and gained not much yardage made me think of Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen. While no hearing for Merrick Garland reminded me of no play time for Colin Kaepernick.
Only in very terse summary, here’s what many people probably find obnoxious. According to documents, the unusual nominee has in judicial capacity acted to diminish rights of workers, voters and women. While protecting the rights of greenhouse gas emitters to pollute the atmosphere.
While Montana glaciers, also Arctic ice, are rapidly melting, here’s some things you might not have noticed or thought through.
Justice Kennedy was acclaimed as often a ‘swing Judge.’ Senate confirmation of the unusual nominee would cause an ongoing 5-4 Supreme Court of the United States. And present not only a possible Constitutional crisis but also certain existence crises to voters, workers, women, minorities, those covered by the Affordable Care Act, and coming generations.
The rights of those people may be diminished so that the chance of the USA President to be charged with criminal offence will be diminished.
Billionaires in the Federalist Society and Judicial Crisis Network have been planning on taking advantage of the simple one vote majority rule for Senate confirmation of a SCOTUS Justice nominee, by drumming up political and enterprise media support to confirm an unusual SCOTUS Justice.
Consequently, local TV, also the local daily newspaper, have failed at reporting prominent, important to know information from the Senate Judiciary Committee Hearing. And have reported how politicians of the majority party smeared minority party objections as “hysterical” and as taking part in a “circus.”
Greedy, narrow minded, neo-conservative identity politics billionaires have been scheming to take over all three branches of our federal government, with help and assistance from the majority party, and segments of enterprise media. Meanwhile, our junior Senator went so far as to call the related objections of the minority party “obnoxious.”
Hooking up billionaire money to select a new Supreme Court Justice is as disastrous as hooking up a large, high pressure gas mainline to homes serviced by low pressure gas lines.
Look how here in Montana, both the NRA and the majority party candidate for Senate blew away ethics, communicated with each other, and each put $400,000 into the same shell company to run a month of ads attacking the minority party for not supporting the unusual nominee, who slipped through a very, very unusual hearing.
Look at last week’s news about how, in 2006, the nominee bought a $1.2 million home, but his bank accounts did not decrease before, during or after the home purchase. And how they increased in 2008-9.
Guess what? If we had publicly financed elections we would not have a Congress manipulated by billionaires voting to confirm an unusual nominee, who slipped through unusual procedures.
And if we had ranked choice voting both political parties would have less power.
Lacking progress toward fair federal elections, we cannot repair what is broken.
We are like the owners of John Deere tractors and tractor equipment who have lost their right to repair their own machinery.