Neil Gorsuch Confirmation Process Discussion (confirmed 54-45)

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

     Judicial filibuster is a dumb idea anyway, alongside the politicization of the judiciary. Also this:

tbh non-talking filibusters should be abolished for everything.

Agreed. Make em work for their filibuster.

It gets more politicized with each new vacancy and at this point, I don't think further escalation is avoidable.  It is probably time to explicitly elect federal judges.  Absent a constitutional amendment, the closest we can get to that is having a norm where, upon taking office, each incoming one-party government packs SCOTUS and the federal circuits so that they control them by a wide margin.  If court nominations are going to be inherently political, this is the best way to reflect the will of the voters.

I'm beginning to think the best thing would be for the country to just start over.  Get rid of the president, get rid of the Congress, get rid of the Supreme Court.  Get rid of the goddamn states for all I care and redraw them or something.  Write up a new Constitution for a new government and ban everyone in the current government from reentering it.  Keep the civil rights and social programs obviously but do a total reset on everything else.  We've reached the point of no return at this chapter.
 Things are not going to get better by themselves.

Haha, I come up with the best ideas after I smoke some green.

Always knew it impaired judgement.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/04/donald-trump-supreme-court-236925

I bet that there will be a second vacancy soon ;-)

The interesting thing will be how the loss of the filibuster affects Kennedy's thinking. Perhaps he will wait until after the 2018 elections in the hopes that the Dems take a majority and then retire.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

(Lewis and Clark were given air rifles as well to use on the adventures)

"Were given" is kind of misleading. Clark was given basically a blank check by Jefferson with which to requisition stuff from Harpers Ferry and Pittsburgh and that included the air rifles. It is not like they were "issued to them" as if by command. Clark selected them, as well as most all of the other equipment.

And they were illegal in France and Britain. In Britain because poachers used them, in France because they were used by snipers against Napoleon's Army.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

(Lewis and Clark were given air rifles as well to use on the adventures)

"Were given" is kind of misleading. Clark was given basically a blank check by Jefferson with which to requisition stuff from Harpers Ferry and Pittsburgh and that included the air rifles. It is not like they were "issued to them" as if by command. Clark selected them, as well as most all of the other equipment.

And they were illegal in France and Britain. In Britain because poachers used them, in France because they were used by snipers against Napoleon's Army.

Fine, but they were not available to the common person to be bought.  They weren't illegal, they just were impossible to manufacture in great quantity.

Every musket was hard to manufacture in great quantity until the introduction of standardized parts. One of the things Clark also made sure of was, that all the rifles he requisitioned were built according to the new interchangeable standards.

The Industrial Revolution, also made manufacture much quicker and cheaper over the following decades.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

(Lewis and Clark were given air rifles as well to use on the adventures)

"Were given" is kind of misleading. Clark was given basically a blank check by Jefferson with which to requisition stuff from Harpers Ferry and Pittsburgh and that included the air rifles. It is not like they were "issued to them" as if by command. Clark selected them, as well as most all of the other equipment.

And they were illegal in France and Britain. In Britain because poachers used them, in France because they were used by snipers against Napoleon's Army.

Fine, but they were not available to the common person to be bought.  They weren't illegal, they just were impossible to manufacture in great quantity.

Every musket was hard to manufacture in great quantity until the introduction of standardized parts. One of the things Clark also made sure of was, that all the rifles he requisitioned were built according to the new interchangeable standards.

The Industrial Revolution, also made manufacture much quicker and cheaper over the following decades.

That was subsequent though to the writing of the Constitution in 1789 (or, at best concurrent) and the Framers of the Constitution had no real ability to know of the technological progress that would ensue in the years following their writing of the Constitution.

Edit: the Constitution was ratified in 1789 but written in 1787.

That wasn't what I was responding to though. You said the air rifles were difficult to make and thus out reach. They were legal and available, though. And my point was that all rifles were relatively expansive and difficult to make, until technology changed that.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

51-44

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Will Isakson vote?

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Why did a bunch of Republicans vote last?


Blunt, Burr, McCain, Portman all in a row.


55-44 now.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

I guess Isakson voted.

Last vote was Johnson.


56-44.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

I am assuming McConnell switched to no so he could bring it up again?

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

C-span lists this as a revote of cloture with 60 votes required.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

So Bennet hoped off the train.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

C-span has been making a lot of lazy mistakes lately it seems. They that as a revote.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

I suspect it will be party line votes from here on.


48-52 on postponning

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

https://youtu.be/4r-YtrYGAIQ?t=154

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

There are not enough words to describe how much I hate this situation.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Hatch took the chair.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Senate Tradition dying

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Hatch looks about ready to keel over.

He has been in the Senate 40 years. A lot of changes over that time. I don't think he ever anticipated this though.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

I can forgive Democratic Senators in Republican states voting for cloture and confirming Gorsuch, but I cannot forgive a Senate Democrat who votes to nuke the filibuster.

None will.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Collins Aye
Murkowski Aye
Heller Aye
McCain Aye


well nay technically.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Collins Aye
Murkowski Aye
Heller Aye
McCain Aye


well nay technically.

Are they voting for or against the nuclear option? From my understanding, they voted against by voting "Aye." If so, bless their hearts.

Aye for the Nuke, which means they voted nay on the question.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Where is the ticker?

C-span getting lazy and stupid.

Fox is talking about nukes too, North Korea nuking Seattle.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

52-48  Party line

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Revote on cloture - 51 votes needed.