Nonesuch as Gorsuch: Epstein’s Little Professor Speaks Out

() wisecatI know I should not blame Trump for this since he had to do what he believed to be right which is to name a conservative like Scalia to Scalia’s vacant seat on the Supreme Court. But having done he’s brought back to light the friend of Alan Epstein the sexual abuser of little girls, the little professor (little P) , accused himself by one young girl to be a dirty little old man. To think he was assaulting the impeccable reputation of Bill Bulger while he was getting massages at Alan Epstein house of horror.

So Little P is back without shame even though he should be off hiding somewhere thanking his lucky stars he is still on the street. He wrote about Trump’s appointment of Gorsuch. He says that Gorsuch should be asked if he thought the treatment of Merrick Garland by the Senate was “constitutionally and properly” in not putting Garland up for a vote.

He didn’t tell us what the Constitution said about appointments so let me. It reads: ” [The President] shall have Power, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, to make Treaties, provided two thirds of the Senators present concur; and he shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint  . . . Judges of the Supreme Court, . . . “

It has nothing to do with proper. It is simple that without the consent of the senate the president cannot appoint a judge to the Court. Little P imputes into that the idea that the Senate has to vote on the appointment. It doesn’t. It can ignore it as it did. That is consistent with its constitutional obligation.

He went on to suggest there was no reason not to vote for Gorsuch stating he was  in the mainstream. He belongs to “part of a growing school of constitutional scholarship, as represented by the Federalist Society.” He noted his appointment  “is unlikely to tip that balance” of the Supreme Court. He warns though that: “The next vacancy, if it were of a liberal seat, might well change the jurisprudence of the Supreme Court in a way that denied fundamental rights to the most vulnerable Americans. If the nominee to fill that vacancy would dramatically shift the current balance, an ideological confirmation battle might well be justified — and would likely occur.”

In other words Gorsuch won’t do anything other than Scalia would have done but if a liberal judge steps down or dies and Trump tries to appoint a conservative that might deny “fundamental rights to the most vulnerable Americans.”  Which, of course, is nonsense.

He then tells a story of how President Hoover was thinking of making an appointment to the Supreme Court and was hesitant to appoint Benjamin Cardoza because he was from New York and Jewish. There was one Jewish judge on the court at the time. A senator told Hoover: “the question of race is unfit to advise you concerning so important a matter.” Cardoza was nominated and appointed. The little professor said: “there is much to be said for the approach taken by President Hoover and Senator Borah.”

I disagree with him on that. I think the appointments have to consider other factors than mere legal scholarship since there is no one brilliant person who must be nominated. Many men and women are eminently qualified for that position and the balance of race and religion on the Court is important. It now has five Catholics and three Jews; to appoint another from that group would be a disservice. I was pleased to see Gorsuch is from neither group.

I expect that Gorsuch’s actions as a freshman in high school in having founded the Fascism Forever Club will be raised at his nomination hearing. One reason I never wanted a judicial position is that I did not want anyone going back through my high school days. It would not be pretty. No one should have to account for actions back then unless they resulted in criminal charges.

I’m happy with Trump’s appointment. I would not vote for Hillary because I did not want a liberal into Scalia’s seat. That would have brought drastic changes to America. I prefer judges who are not activists and feel bound by precedent and not their feelings.

I read that the last time Gorsuch was before the Senate was in 2006 and he was confirmed unanimously to the Court of Appeals. Nothing has changed since then other than he has become wiser.

Little P wrote: “It is tragic that the constitutional process for nominating and confirming Supreme Court justices has become so politicized.” It is interesting to see how it developed in the votes. Thomas is an outlier because he was a black conservative and black appointments were supposed to be liberal and Ted Kennedy was acting up about pubic hairs.

Anthony Kennedy (1988) 97 – 0; Clarence Thomas (1991) 52 – 48; Ruth Ginsburg (1993) 96 – 3; Stephen Breyer (1994) 87 – 9; John Roberts (2005) 78 – 32; Samuel Alito (2006) 58 – 42; Sonia Sotomayor (2009) 68 – 31; Elena Kagan (2010) 63 – 37. The last four had significant opposition from the other side. I have to say that is how it will be for the near future considering each major party is slipping to its extreme edges.

As far as Gorsuch, as I said there is nonesuch as him and even so he will be lucky if he squeaks by.

 

19 Comments

  1. The types of troops being shipped to Iraq indicate that “vertical envelopment” will be be a big part of the plan of attack. Airborne will work in concert with the amphibious element crossing the Euphrates. There’ll be all sorts of rules of engagement designed to protect civilians, but, that will all be dropped once casualties reach a certain level. In the end, Mosul will be destroyed in order to save it. Tens of thousands of civilians will be killed.

    I hope Glorious leader is thinking about the cost of exterminating DAESH. It might be more than most Americans want to pay.

  2. wa-llahi! Airborne troops are shock troops. They are going be employed at the tip of the spear in the up-coming battle of west Mosul. Iraqi CT is played out. Don’t be surprised if there’s a complement of Marines shipped over there, too. Crossing the Euphrates under fire is going to be hairy. It’ll probably be a night attack. Iraqi CT doesn’t have the training, and, equipment, to pull that off. Americans will be out front taking heavy casualties. DAESH has had a lot of time to prepare their defenses, and, they are prepared in depth. DAESH engineers knocked tunnels through many houses and buildings on the west side of the river so they can run their mortar teams around out of sight from the air. Everything is mined. They are ready. They are waiting.

    Bill, do you think the American public could take 10,000 causalities, over the course of a month, or, two, trying to conquer Mosul?

  3. Washington Times: November 14, 2016,
    “Roughly 1,700 U.S. Army paratroopers are headed to Iraq to assist security forces in their fight against the Islamic State group.
    The 82nd Airborne’s 2nd Brigade Combat Team from Fort Bragg, North Carolina, will soon deploy in support of Operation Inherent Resolve. The troops will replace members of the 101st Airborne Division from Fort Campbell, Kentucky.”

  4. Wrong thread. My bad.

  5. Khalid: I posted this response to your response about yesterday’s issue:
    Khalid, I didn’t forget. I mentioned Hezbollah. I remember the Marine barracks. A friend’s cousin was killed there. His name and that of 8 other Massachusetts men killed in Beirut are on Memorial in Boston’s North End waterfront park.
    So, let’s say, Shia have killed a couple of hundred Americans. Sunnis killed 3,000 and wounded 6,000 on 9/11. Sunnis were behind all other terrorists attacks in America (Boston, Bernardino, Orlando etc) and Europe that I know of. Sunnis gave us Al Qaeda and ISIS. The terrorist horrors perpetrated by Sunnis worldwide dwarf others acts of terror. Sunnis killed 95% of American soldiers in Iraq and 100% of American soldiers in Afghanistan.
    Yes, Iran has supplied some IEDs that killed Americans. But, as I’ve said, 95% were killed by Sunnis in An Bar Province.
    As for State-backing of terrorists, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, UAE and Kuwait (the Oil Sheiks) have funded and armed Al Qaeda and ISIS for years. (According to Rand Paul and Tulsi Gabbard, and others)

    • wa-llahi! Bill, the Marine barracks bombing,alone, was more than two hundred KIA.
      When the Special Security Apparatus (Hezbollah intel-counter-intel) blew up the US Embassy, they took out the whole Lebanon team. The killed included the station chief. Among the seventeen American dead, were some of our brightest people working on Mideast matters. SSA , also, kidnapped a number of Americans. Some they executed (US Marine embassy attache), others, they held for years.
      Hezbollah is a Shia organization. Imami Iran controls Hezbollah. Hezbollah and Iran share the same faith, 12-ver Imami Shi-ism.

      Bill, America has been fighting an undeclared war against Iran, since, their revolution overthrew the Shah. Iran has a world-wide network of agents who are, and, have been, hard at work at the business of terrorism. Google Press TV, read the whole article.

      If you want to understand a little about Imami Shi-ism get this book:

      “The Mantle of the Prophet: Religion and Politics in Iran” by Roy Mottahedeh, Pantheon Books:New York, 1985.

      Don’t take alt-facts as true, especially, about something as complex as the interface between religion and politics in the Mideast.

  6. Matt:

    There’s already 1700 airborne guys (101) fighting over there. Get a head of the curve, man.

  7. John King McDonald

    Yep . Little P is indeed a slighting reference to Professor Alan Dershowitz. Such orthographic slang on the morning after another one of the moderator’s pet peeves happened to play a historic game and win it , which left him, his new comrades in arms at the Boston Globe, and Dems nationwide in a burning snit, was worth an elbow. I refer of course to the Patriot’s . Precious snarks , nationwide , aside, Matt’s Dershowitz mania borders on slander. Bubba Clinton was an Epstein frequent flier, and for the uninitiated, his perversions are well documented , not the stuff of yellow journalism . Tedium Tee Dee Do … GO PATS! 🙂

  8. I understand who you mean by Alan Epstein and Little P.

    But if I read this right, it’s Jeffrey Epstein, not Alan Epstein. And Little P, for the uninitiated, is Alan Dershowitz.

  9. John King McDonald

    TRUE THAT! ….Dr. Freud 🙂 LOL

  10. Dems must block this nomination regardless who the pick was. The seat was stolen by the GOP in 2016. If the GOP senate invokes the nuclear option to get rid of the filibuster so be it, if the Dems don’t filibuster the same result will occur, Gorsuch gets nominated. If the Dem’s don’t filibuster they might as well just disband as a political party because that will prove they are truly spineless and worthless.

  11. wa-llahi!There’s always the hope he could be another Earl Warren. Conservative isn’t necessarily synonymous with fascist.

    Comey’s got the goods on Manafort. His arrest will be the death knell of the Trumpsovki clique. According to the Constitution, Glorious Leader must be impeached to be removed. When it comes to light that he collaborated with the Kremlin to gain the Presidency, he will have to be isolated from the levers of power. Perhaps, the alphabet people will put him under house arrest, and, cut off all lines of communication to the WH, until, the impeachment process is completed. Sounds too messy. It would probably be better to have the white coats throw a net over him, and, rush him away by ambulance. Give him a nice rest over at St. Elizabeth

  12. John King McDonald

    The PATRIOT’S …….. let’s call them ….
    THE BIG “P” … in the gracious spirit of your post, your quiet pride and pleasure in their victory evident in your upbeat comments, sure played a great game, huh? 🙂

  13. The Supreme Court is not working as intended. it needs reform. Constitutional reform.

    First, originally the Justices rode circuit. It was not attractive. They did their own writing. The Court did not have a Clerk until the late 19th century. Now each judge has four clerks. As a consequence you cannot dynamite a Justice out.

    All those clerks are bad for two reasons. Work has to be found for them. This leads to too many long, complex decisions and far too many dissents. The law would be clearer without them. The clerks are part of a feeding system to higher positions. This is an oligarchic escalator that has to have pernicious effects.

    Judges are being appointed too young in order assure a long career expounding their prejudices. This is profoundly anti-democratic and debilitating to a functioning republic. Kagan may well be the least qualified appointment ever, as an example.

    Congress has failed miserably in overseeing the Judiciary. It does damn near nothing. Judges are appointed to serve “during
    good behavior”. Constantly being in the minority and constantly being overturned for a lower level judge is not “good behavior”. Judges should be brought before the Senate every, say, 6 or 8 years for reconfirmation. Failure to be reconfirmed would be removal for lack of “good behavior”.

    Advances in health management has extended the life span of all. One undesirable side effect is that judges live too long in far too posh circumstances for the public good. The Constitution needs to be amended.

    Any other ideas?

    One pet idea of mine is that at the highest level, that is, the Supreme Court should be open to wise and experienced men who are not lawyers. Each case has top notch attorneys on each side to explicate the law. What is needed is wisdom on the bench. A law school degree is not necessary to acquire wisdom and too often is a hindrance to attaining it.

  14. Good post, Matt.