devondevoff.bsky.social
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Had Humphrey won in 1968 and got the 4 appointments that went to Nixon that term, his legacy is a 7-2 Court whose only conservatives are Byron White & Potter Stewart. Republicans would probably still be digging out of that hole, like we are in our timeline. That scenario is basically the Upside Down
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Sure, but does this lead them to question their own media diet and how it led them so wrong? Or are they listening to the same people in 2025 who led them to vote for Trump in 2024, and reflexively hate media that says otherwise? We need self reflection from people and that’s not the response
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2026 Democratic governor and senate candidates please
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They literally are. Replacement is probably Kweisi Mfume, 76: www.politico.com/live-updates...
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4) It's driving me a little crazy the idea that the Democratic party has something it has to answer for when, in fact, the party undertook a totally unprecedented, wrenching, brutal, difficult effort to PUSH OUT THEIR OWN NOMINEE just a few months before election day!
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Hindsight makes some of these stories around Ginsburg so extraordinary. I think constantly of these two, from Joan Biskupic in 2014 and Nina Totenberg in 2009, respectively:
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Her term almost certainly would’ve ended with 2 vacancies, Scalia’s for 4 years and Ginsburg unfilled in 2020, had she not retired sooner. Unless Clinton wins reelection with coattails strong enough to flip the senate in 2020, we still end up in this 6-3 hole. The Court was lost long ago, it’s grim.
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Jackie Calmes’ “Dissent” and Linda Greenhouse’s “Justice on the Brink” are also good and worthwhile reads on Republicans’ capture of the Court, but both are written in the wake of Kavanaugh’s confirmation so they have more emphasis on him than Thomas or Marshall. Easier to find than these recs:
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That’s not to say his situation was as obvious as Ginsburg’s decision not to retire. Or that these liberals deserve more blame than the conservatives actually authoring awful decisions. But if we don’t learn lessons from how we got here, then I think we’re gonna be stuck with a Court this extreme.
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I won’t speak for Jay but I say yes. It would’ve been a “short” 15-year tenure but if he retired in 1980, he’d have been 72. Instead he rolled the dice & the country didn’t elect a Democrat for 12 years. And the 1980 loss was more foreseeable, when he retired in 1991 most thought Bush would win 1992
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I’ve tried to think about when else the Court could’ve been course-corrected, and I think the only answer is winning in 1984 or 1988 when Reagan then Bush had multiple SCOTUS appointments. No Democratic appointees from 1968-1993 might’ve been the kill shot for American democracy
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The world where we didn’t luck into Souter & Stevens is a grim one. The problem with liberals not retiring strategically seems to date back to the Warren Court. Warren himself tried to retire in time for LBJ to replace him but they fumbled that; combined w/ the loss in 1968, Court’s been lost since
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After Ginsburg, which liberal justices have fault here? Stevens & Breyer waited too long but didnt hand their seats to Republicans. Is the lesson that Thurgood Marshall should’ve stayed until his death under Clinton or seen the writing on the wall in 1980 retiring under Carter? Genuine Q, I say 1980
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Is there a way to tell which state is taking the lead on the suit? Meaning which solicitor general/AG’s office will do the arguing?
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It’s who he always was. Kavanaugh was radicalized in the 90’s as a member of Ken Starr’s staff. He was on his best behavior for a few years after his confirmation hearing because he wanted to be able to go out in public in DC and coach girls basketball again.