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Of course it's the courts!

batmagadanleadoff Jul 08 2021 10:46 PM

How Democrats Lost the Courts Excerpt: ... Democrats ... tell a story about Republican bad faith and foul play, but also one of their own failures. Progressives have largely ceded the judiciary to conservatives. Republicans have long been engaged in total warfare on the courts. They see liberal courts as an existential threat to the conservative project, and they have responded accordingly, building a well-funded machine to get true believers confirmed as judges. For years, Democrats never built an equal and opposite infrastructure for installing progressives on the federal bench. The possible explanations are many: Democratic voters don't care as much about courts as Republicans do; donors on the left didn't invest in the courts the same way as those on the right have. But some Democrats are starting to suspect that the story is simpler: They've been chumps. They have clung to norms Republicans long ago abandoned. They have championed moderates in order to appeal to their enemies, only to watch those moderates twist in the wind. And they have turned up their nose at the idea that outside groups should run the judicial-nominations process, even when those groups are effective at what they do. https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2021/07/liberal-judges-supreme-court-breyer/619333/

Fman99 Jul 09 2021 06:18 AM Re: Of course it's the courts!

Basically. The liberal press loves to shit on larger Democratic trends of complacency and optimism based on absolute pie in the sky never gonna happen nonsense of cooperation, bipartisanship and "doing the right thing." But they've also been right on this point.

Ceetar Jul 09 2021 07:31 AM Re: Of course it's the courts!

no fucking kidding. Though Democrats never built an equal and opposite infrastructure for installing progressives on the federal bench. is funny. Democrats are basically conservatives (in a broader/policy sense, not a party one) and our entire political system is pretty conservative. We've offloaded any real 'progressive' or innovation to corporations and a few pet government projects that no one has killed yet. (you know, progressive ideas like let's get a group together to study and track coronavirus in Wuhan china to help Prevent outbreaks)

batmagadanleadoff Jul 09 2021 11:47 AM Re: Of course it's the courts!

=Ceetar post_id=70761 time=1625837483 user_id=102] no fucking kidding. Though Democrats never built an equal and opposite infrastructure for installing progressives on the federal bench.

I'm not so sure that failing to build that infrastucture is the Dems big problem. Their big problem, I think, is simply that they're not in position to nominate and then confirm as many judges and justices as the GOP does because the system, structurally, is against the Dems. The Electoral College favors the GOP, as does equal rather than proportional representation in the Senate in which the Senate essentially represents states instead of people. That and that the GOP gets the importance of the courts and is willing to go all ruthless to get their judges on the bench.



What the hell would infrastructure do for the Dems when they haven't had a comfortable margin in the Senate in more than 10 years?



The Dems are now so far behind on the judiciary issue and democracy is so imperiled that the Dems only play now is to go humongous with big, bold, audacious moves. That's all they can do. I'm not sure they get that, at least not in the collective sense.

Ceetar Jul 09 2021 12:18 PM Re: Of course it's the courts!

well the actual progressives get it. But the Democrats aren't that, and mostly just laugh at their members that are actually pushing for real change. This will obviously change ,but by the time it does it might be too late, plus what passes for progressive now might drift back to the center by then, though not if the other guys have their way.

batmagadanleadoff Jul 09 2021 12:22 PM Re: Of course it's the courts!

=Ceetar post_id=70805 time=1625854680 user_id=102] well the actual progressives get it. But the Democrats aren't that, and mostly just laugh at their members that are actually pushing for real change. This will obviously change ,but by the time it does it might be too late, plus what passes for progressive now might drift back to the center by then, though not if the other guys have their way.

Well then they can mock and marginalize the progressives and then ... what? ... Wait 35 years and hope that when Neil Gorsuch finally decides to retire half a lifetime from today, he'll retire under a Dem administration? That's the strategy?

batmagadanleadoff Jul 09 2021 12:24 PM Re: Of course it's the courts!

=batmagadanleadoff post_id=70806 time=1625854952 user_id=68] =Ceetar post_id=70805 time=1625854680 user_id=102] well the actual progressives get it. But the Democrats aren't that, and mostly just laugh at their members that are actually pushing for real change. This will obviously change ,but by the time it does it might be too late, plus what passes for progressive now might drift back to the center by then, though not if the other guys have their way.

Well then they can mock and marginalize the progressives and then ... what? ... Wait 35 years and hope that when Neil Gorsuch finally decides to retire half a lifetime from today, he'll retire under a Dem administration? That's the strategy?


You're right. They'll finally find the proper motivation only when it's too late. Just like they didn't get motivated to even bother to vote in the first place until after Trump beat Hillary. When it was too late.

Ceetar Jul 09 2021 12:30 PM Re: Of course it's the courts!

like any of the democratic leadership is gonna be around in 35 years?