The Trumpian assault on the rule of law has been unremitting. With the assistance of Mitch McConnell, Trump turned the highest court in the land into his personal lapdog, and now he is aiming to pollute the lower courts that have valiantly opposed his unconstitutional efforts.
The most recent and most blatant effort to replace dispassionate jurists with biased and unqualified sycophants was the nomination of a slimy creature named Emil Bove to a federal judgeship–a lifetime appointment.
Charlie Sykes, among others, reports. He begins with a quote.
Tonight Senate Republicans cast away their Constitutional obligations to rubber stamp [Emil Bove] an outrageously unfit nominee to the Third Circuit. The Senate, the country, the judiciary will suffer for this. And the conservative legal movement will not recover.” — Gregg Nunziata, Exec Dir, Society for the Rule of Law.
Last night, the US Senate blithely ignored the pleas of the legal community, the evidence of multiple whistleblowers, and whatever tattered remnants of self-respect they had, to confirm Emil Bove to a lifetime position on the Court of Appeals. As I wrote a few days back: It’s not easy these days to single out the worst of the worst appointments, but certainly the elevation of the thuggish Bove to the federal appellate bench has to rank right up there. Other churls and chodes will come and go, but federal judges are forever.
The Senate’s surrender came the same day the Wapo reported: “Whistleblower evidence suggests Trump judicial nominee Emil Bove misled Senate.”
The vote was 50-49, indicating that J.D. Vance once again had to break the tie. Two Republicans defected. But not Indiana’s GOP Senators. If there was any lingering doubt about the lack of integrity–and the lapdog status–of these two “law and order” Republicans, this inexcusable vote certainly erases it. Their fuhrur told them to vote for a demonstrable liar who has made it clear he will support whatever his fuhrur wants, irrespective of the Constitution or legal precedent–and they obeyed.
Banks, of course, is a gung-ho member of the SS. Young, it appears, is just a feckless, integrity-free “Good German.” Neither of them deserves public office or respect.
What else would we expect from Republicans? But why aren’t Democrats fighting back and loudly. The somnolent public that voted for the bombastic liar, pedophile, convicted felon and tax cheat NEED to hear loud voices. It’s what drowns out the sound of the jukebox in their heads. Loudness, constantly, will awake those snoozing non-voters too.
Vernon, perhaps the reason that Democrats are not loudly fighting back is because, unlike their counterparts in the Republican Party, they see the futility of it all. They understand our history of greed and corruption and what has brought us to this point in history where the comfort of selfishness has become the goal of the majority, a goal for which they are willing to sacrifice the future, even their own.
If I sound cynical it is because I am. I’ve lived too hard and long with my eyes wide open to be otherwise.
I called Young’s office and protested the Bove vote. James Briggs had a column essentially excusing Young’s “balancing” act -no. I write to Young and get pablum back explaining what his duty is under the Constitution. The letters NEVER respond to the specifics of my email. Trump’s postings on social media – his own media btw -truthsocial (should be PRAVDA social) look like something an adolescent would post or repost. His followers don’t even understand he is insulting them with this language – and why does he have to post and react to EVERYTHING? We need more folks doing what the Scots did -I say …more bagpipes
Sadly, your issues with your senators is like mine with men, here in Florididia. Scott, and Rubio’s hand-picked replacement are useless. I no longer bother to petition either, knowing that from Scott I’ll get, in return, a pablum laced piece about how much of an honor it is to serve Florididia.
We are up shi*’s creek, and the paddle is broken!
Every single prediction made during Trump’s endless campaign by Democrats was predictable then based on his locked-in personality, denied by his cheering section, and is now codified into law.
Why was all that true? Authoritarians adopted the disguise of “conservatism” many decades ago. Over a long, long time, those who think of themselves as conservative have been slowly trained to be a minority of voters who are authoritarian now.
Trump and his cabinet are center-ring clowns who serve only to distract public scrutiny by entertaining those glued to screens with their daily headlines. Steven Miller and JD Vance are backed by corporate America through a group of plotting billionaires who socialize in Silicon Valley and share a vision of a better country, one that’s organized as a military, with the club serving as the Pentagon. They can fund themselves in.
They would be better served by the rest of us in our roles as their subordinates, given their good fortune to have been in the right place at the right time, which entitles them to own the rest of us in the sense that the military owns its soldiers.
The Constitution be damned, they have Project 2025.
They believe the country would be better off with them as the Joint Chiefs of Staff, issuing orders to the rest of us as AI robots instead of humans.
Even with a fractured vertebra you have way more spine than those two.
that changes the subject again,and again,and again..America cant even grasp a good gripe about anything. its all noise,while its all a takeover.
Bo’Ve sounds like a Do’Ge and anther piece of trash on the mcconnels court,s.
Every senator swore to protect and defend the constitution and bear true faith and allegiance to it. They’re out and proud. If Indiana re-elects Young it’s game over and time to find a new country where the public officials do their jobs.
Our days drag through the current refuse of democracy, Rule of Law and the Constitution now but the months seem to fly by with the end of our beginning of the United States of America’s 250 years of progress. Called an “experiment” by some but recognized as life in America by billions of Americans through the centuries as we struggled through global and internal wars to resolve our problems, sometimes succeeding, sometimes failing, only to reach this point where we are further behind in resolving them than we were at our beginning. One man, born on American soil but unAmerican in his soul, teamed up with a South African to move us deeper into apartheid in only a matter of months than we were during our slavery years. The addition of other races and ethnic groups and the stronger regrouping of antisemitism is turning the United States of America into the wealthiest Third World Country on the globe.
“Last night, the US Senate blithely ignored the pleas of the legal community, the evidence of multiple whistleblowers, and whatever tattered remnants of self-respect they had, to confirm Emil Bove to a lifetime position on the Court of Appeals. Last night, the US Senate blithely ignored the pleas of the legal community, the evidence of multiple whistleblowers, and whatever tattered remnants of self-respect they had, to confirm Emil Bove to a lifetime position on the Court of Appeals.”
We cannot and we must not place the entire blame on the Senate at the federal level; none of our sitting home-grown terrorists began at the top; they all began here at home within our families and our neighborhoods and within ourselves. Look within the states who sent the U.S. Senate and U.S. House members to the ruling level and remember the wise words of Pogo. “We have met the enemy and he is us.” Indiana is always at the top of that list but at or near the bottom of all other lists of progression at state levels, it has always been a member of the Confederacy at heart.
We need to join Senator Booker in his hell-raising rant and 24+hours of truths fighting for all of us. Indiana’s Senate has again lowered the Public Employee Retirement Fund annual amount for our own senior and disabled Republicans who make up the majority of Indiana retirees along with others of us who are struggling just to survive in Trump and Musk’s economy.
I knew that he would try to get a newer, younger member to the bad jurisprudence guild. Bove will muck around on that bench for about one year, then Clarence Thomas will be encouraged to retire. Note that the “or else” is silent. Basically, what our state, Florida, and yours, Indiana have wrought is another forty years of questionable rulings favoring MAGATS on every issue, regardless of any Constitutional prohibitions.
I’m crossing my fingers that Bove will be himself and make an outrageous ruling that will be impeachable. I would want it to be handled quickly and judicially by both House and Senate.
All I can say is that it is sickening. I once had hope for Young. He has taken every opportunity to stand for the Constitution and mooned us all instead.
This is what happens when one party has control over the legislative, judicial, and executive branch. The fight should not be now, it should have been ramped up in 2012 at the very least. There could have been a different outcome. Instead of declaring absolute Democrat victory and an evisceration of the GOP, it’s been exactly the opposite. How could that have happened? And how could anyone put their faith, hope, and trust, in an organization that doesn’t possess a modicum of foresight. You have to be adept in the riggers of human conduct and history to possess any sort of foresight. That in itself is pathetically lacking.
HCR spoke about people like Young in a video chat a day or so ago. He seems to be among the opportunists she described, who stand on the sidelines, not doing anything to incur dump’s wrath, just waiting to see what happens. He has no commitment to his constituents at all, waiting and watching, offering pablum when heartier fare is needed, just to keep his name in front of voters in MAGA. He social media shows him in carefully selected venues, limited to small groups of trade associations or very young people, never facing a town hall. His is a coward at the core, faithless to his oath of office and to the Corps. Banks is even worse as he had taken an oath he swore as a military officer and defiled the Constitution twice over in his obviously corrupt words and actions. A true believer.
HCR chat: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uAcsY8M8ugw
I wish the feckless Democratic Party leaders in Congress had –before the confirmation vote –clearly stated their intent to impeach Bove as soon as they have the votes in the House and Senate. While this may or may not be a politically astute tactic, it would at least have put down a marker that the Democrats are committed to creating their own norms one they regain power.
I predict that Bove will be on SCOTUS before Trump’s time on the throne is done.