From Jamelle Bouie’s Saturday morning newsletter: “I mentioned it in passing in my Friday column, but I was struck — disturbed, really — by one specific point made by Justice Samuel Alito during Thursday’s oral arguments in Trump v. United States. “Alito began innocuously enough: “I’m sure you would agree with me that a stable democratic society requires that a candidate who loses an election, even a close one, even a hotly contested one, leave office peacefully if that candidate is the incumbent.”
As Sarah Longwell pointed out in a podcast yesterday, Alito has MAGA brain rot. That's pretty harsh from her, but also accurate. Amazing that we have a man with such low caliber reasoning skills on our highest court; his analogy would flunk him out of the SATs.
Thanks for sharing the wonderful Jamelle Bouie's commentary on Samuel Alito, whom I cannot call Justice, who would not be in office if some lefties hadn't decided that Al Gore and George W. Bush were alike, and who would be in prison for treason by now if Merrick Garland were alive.
But something else came to mind. Let's make believe that the accused in this was not Pol Potbelly, but instead was President Joe Biden or Barack Obama. The vote against any--and I do mean any--claim of immunity would be 9-0.
When Richard Nixon tried to avoid his fate, the court voted 8-0. One justice recused: William Rehnquist, not because he was a Nixon appointee, but because he was close to so many of the people mentioned in the case. That closeness, and that decision to recuse, spoke volumes about Rehnquist, good and bad.
Alito is an amoral, misogynistic, bigoted hack that has had an original thought in decades. His every opinion goes back in time to where only white, landowning men had a say about how things got done. The glory days in his mind.
I suppose he somehow thinks that if he gives that bloated orange gasbag what he wants he'll somehow be spared from the pogrom if the gasbag returns to the presidency. Which only serves to prove he's a self-delusional idiot as well. My contempt for him and his federalist society overlords could fill several oceans.
Alito thinks he’s so goddamned smart, he uses his seat to hoodwink others with bogus “hypotheticals” as if they were valid. Tell us again how “corporations are people” because I would shoot that down so fast, HIS head would spin. He is a liar, playing semantics and asserting his twisted bias into the law. He needs to be yanked off the court.
I'm sure I'm not the only one who studied the writings of Thomas Hobbes and John Locke along the way to where we are now. Thomas Hobbes had a very low opinion of human nature (he, like virtually all of his contemporaries, was referring to men). Left to our own devices, our lives would be "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short." In his view, humans should give up their freedoms to a strong central authority that would protect them from each other.
The Founders, however, led by Jefferson et al. were fans of Locke and the Enlightenment he helped inspire. Their view of human nature was considerably more optimistic: they believed that humans (meaning, once again, mostly men) were capable of self-government -- but they did devise a system that would make it hard for an autocrat to take control.
You see where I'm going with this, right? Justice Alito uses the phrase "stable democratic government," but he's no small-d democrat. His view of human nature is Hobbesian. He's more blatant about it, but that view is widely shared by the current crop of Republicans, the Federalist Society, and their wealthy backers. This tendency has been around a long time, but only in the last few decades has it become mainstream in the GOP. Alito's hypothetical says, more or less, "See? Hobbes was right. It took Trump to prove it, but there you are."
An astute and often wry commentator once wrote, “if my thoughts could be seen…” —oh, yeah, you know the rest of the quote. How apt in this circumstance.
Sickening, infuriating, and leaves me speechless at the depth of soullessness exhibited by Alito in his suggesting that a future president without immunity would be motivated to NOT leave the office peacefully after losing the election. Alito's hypo leads one to think that he is preparing the way for a second and forever term for tffg who lacks a moral compass and has already demonstrated that he wishes to be a dictator and escape any consequences for his crimes.
Of course,Alito is willing to cut trump some slack, but would he have done the same if trump were a Democrat? The bias here is overwhelming and there are other so-called justices who would willingly give trump the benefit of the doubt, but not Biden? This stinks…
Thank you for bringing this article to our attention.
When we read "the president may be criminally prosecuted by a bitter political opponent" we don't connect the same dots Alito is implying for his intended audience. Every MAGAT out there hears "as in Donald Trump's case". The point that it has never happened escapes them because in their minds, in Trump's bitter whiney Xeets and interviews, according to FOX "news" commentraitors, that is what is happening right now to Trump.
We live in two different worlds, and comments that we hear in one way, they hear in another.
A tragedy beyond personal or even collective tragedy: this is global, human, tragedy -- all we can do is to mitigate it through individual and collective action. None of us are off the hook in these times.
It's now a 4-4 decision & apparently, the Chief Justice will give us a dissertation on his "hypothetical" that being of a "hypothetical" President who does an "official act" like appointing an Ambassador but, then sells the official act appointment for 1 Millions dollars.
The answer holds no weight because such BS does not answer the the "question precedented" by the unanimous 3 Judge Appellate Panel. In legal terms, the answer would be dicta with no case-law value for "years to come".
Appallingly, Alioto would not discuss the facts of the case upon which CERT was granted.
Alito is transparent - he is a soulless monster without any moral compass. In short, he is exactly like his Dear Leader.
As Sarah Longwell pointed out in a podcast yesterday, Alito has MAGA brain rot. That's pretty harsh from her, but also accurate. Amazing that we have a man with such low caliber reasoning skills on our highest court; his analogy would flunk him out of the SATs.
Thanks for sharing the wonderful Jamelle Bouie's commentary on Samuel Alito, whom I cannot call Justice, who would not be in office if some lefties hadn't decided that Al Gore and George W. Bush were alike, and who would be in prison for treason by now if Merrick Garland were alive.
But something else came to mind. Let's make believe that the accused in this was not Pol Potbelly, but instead was President Joe Biden or Barack Obama. The vote against any--and I do mean any--claim of immunity would be 9-0.
When Richard Nixon tried to avoid his fate, the court voted 8-0. One justice recused: William Rehnquist, not because he was a Nixon appointee, but because he was close to so many of the people mentioned in the case. That closeness, and that decision to recuse, spoke volumes about Rehnquist, good and bad.
Alito is an amoral, misogynistic, bigoted hack that has had an original thought in decades. His every opinion goes back in time to where only white, landowning men had a say about how things got done. The glory days in his mind.
I suppose he somehow thinks that if he gives that bloated orange gasbag what he wants he'll somehow be spared from the pogrom if the gasbag returns to the presidency. Which only serves to prove he's a self-delusional idiot as well. My contempt for him and his federalist society overlords could fill several oceans.
Alito thinks he’s so goddamned smart, he uses his seat to hoodwink others with bogus “hypotheticals” as if they were valid. Tell us again how “corporations are people” because I would shoot that down so fast, HIS head would spin. He is a liar, playing semantics and asserting his twisted bias into the law. He needs to be yanked off the court.
I'm sure I'm not the only one who studied the writings of Thomas Hobbes and John Locke along the way to where we are now. Thomas Hobbes had a very low opinion of human nature (he, like virtually all of his contemporaries, was referring to men). Left to our own devices, our lives would be "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short." In his view, humans should give up their freedoms to a strong central authority that would protect them from each other.
The Founders, however, led by Jefferson et al. were fans of Locke and the Enlightenment he helped inspire. Their view of human nature was considerably more optimistic: they believed that humans (meaning, once again, mostly men) were capable of self-government -- but they did devise a system that would make it hard for an autocrat to take control.
You see where I'm going with this, right? Justice Alito uses the phrase "stable democratic government," but he's no small-d democrat. His view of human nature is Hobbesian. He's more blatant about it, but that view is widely shared by the current crop of Republicans, the Federalist Society, and their wealthy backers. This tendency has been around a long time, but only in the last few decades has it become mainstream in the GOP. Alito's hypothetical says, more or less, "See? Hobbes was right. It took Trump to prove it, but there you are."
An astute and often wry commentator once wrote, “if my thoughts could be seen…” —oh, yeah, you know the rest of the quote. How apt in this circumstance.
Sickening, infuriating, and leaves me speechless at the depth of soullessness exhibited by Alito in his suggesting that a future president without immunity would be motivated to NOT leave the office peacefully after losing the election. Alito's hypo leads one to think that he is preparing the way for a second and forever term for tffg who lacks a moral compass and has already demonstrated that he wishes to be a dictator and escape any consequences for his crimes.
Alito uses hypotheticals to assert BULL SHIT CONSPIRACIES, and that’s just flagrant bias.
Ask him how many angels dance on the head of a pin, since he bases his beliefs on unknowable suppositions.
Good stuff. A point better made than that which I attempted a couple days ago. Thanks for reposting.
And yes, Alito is a goon.
Of course,Alito is willing to cut trump some slack, but would he have done the same if trump were a Democrat? The bias here is overwhelming and there are other so-called justices who would willingly give trump the benefit of the doubt, but not Biden? This stinks…
Thank you for bringing this article to our attention.
When we read "the president may be criminally prosecuted by a bitter political opponent" we don't connect the same dots Alito is implying for his intended audience. Every MAGAT out there hears "as in Donald Trump's case". The point that it has never happened escapes them because in their minds, in Trump's bitter whiney Xeets and interviews, according to FOX "news" commentraitors, that is what is happening right now to Trump.
We live in two different worlds, and comments that we hear in one way, they hear in another.
A tragedy beyond personal or even collective tragedy: this is global, human, tragedy -- all we can do is to mitigate it through individual and collective action. None of us are off the hook in these times.
all true and well said. But the 30% who apparently agree a president SHOULD be immune from prosecution really scare me.
Thank you. JAMELLE BOUIE!
It's now a 4-4 decision & apparently, the Chief Justice will give us a dissertation on his "hypothetical" that being of a "hypothetical" President who does an "official act" like appointing an Ambassador but, then sells the official act appointment for 1 Millions dollars.
The answer holds no weight because such BS does not answer the the "question precedented" by the unanimous 3 Judge Appellate Panel. In legal terms, the answer would be dicta with no case-law value for "years to come".
Appallingly, Alioto would not discuss the facts of the case upon which CERT was granted.
Thank you Tom for sharing Jamelle's post.
The minute Alito started his
hypothetical, I figured that
was it. I am so sick to my
stomach of him and his
hypotheticals. Of his 16th
century reasoning. I can't
imagine what it must be like
being married to this worm
and having to listen to his
slimy pontificating. I'd stab
him with my dinner fork,
repeatedly, till he was
perforated all over.
This court has done more
damage to the Constitution
and people's rights in the last 12 years, then in 236 yrs.