- Jun 6, 2007
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Democrat leadership is saying "all things are on the table" in response to the Republicans filling Ruth Bader Ginsburg's seat on the Supreme Court and well respected Democrats are saying the next time the Democrats have both the White House and Congress they should expand the size of the Supreme Court and do away with the sixty vote threshold to override Senate filibusters as a response; this type of reaction is really worrisome because it will hurt America long-term! If America increases the number of seats on the Supreme Court over the long-term it will make the Court's rulings more volatile and dramatically so causing major reverberations throughout American society. The best Supreme Court system is to have Justices that are largely mainstream that balance the affected interests on issues and that are not idealogues expanding the size of the Court increases the chances for Justices to get on the Court that violate this desirable standard. For doing away with the Senate's "sixty vote" threshold this standard was established because our forefathers recognized that laws have a major impact on American society and so great care in enacting them, to effectuate this great care they reasoned that requiring sixty out of the hundred Senators (much more than a majority) to bring about a bill's passage to law provided this needed protection - prudence dictates that this great care is still needed to protect America from harm so this standard should not be disregarded. I am not saying that Democrats should ignore what is going on here it is an "outstandingly" bad development for the country that Amy Coney Barrett will be confirmed to the Court, her addition will move the Court to the far-right and so the Supreme Court's opinions. What I do think is that Democrats and all the American people should keep perspective about this stacking of the Supreme Court by the Republicans let good thoughtful judgment assess how bad it will be, how bad it becomes and the actions that need to be taken as a result!
Take for instances if this Far-Right Wing Court overturns the Roe v. Wade decision, the Roe decision essentially says that if you take the entirety of the U.S. Constitution then it establishes a right of privacy and in that right of privacy there is a right to an abortion (the right of a woman to abort a fetus during her pregnancy). If Roe is overturned it won't make abortion against the law in America, individual states will have to enact such laws and there will only be five to ten states that will do this in the subsequent two years, strongly Republican states being such states. And what will happen in these five to ten states when they make abortion illegal, many women of those states will travel to neighboring states to have their abortion, many women will break the law and have their abortion in the respective state by unqualified providers where many women will suffer serious health problems a lot of such problems being permanent and a lot being fatal and, thirdly, many young women will be forced to give birth to a child which will require them to leave high school or college, permanently derailing them from getting valuable education degrees, and get a job to support themselves and their child permanently leaving them in poverty. All these negative repercussions will cause a societal backlash that will cause the clear majority of the American people to call for and support a constitutional amendment that establishes a right to an abortion for a women in the early stages of her pregnancy; polls of the American people indicate that clearly the majority of the American people support this right for a women. If the Far-Right in America wants to take America down this path they will not succeed for very long, this issue will become a litmus test issue for candidates in elections, whether they support such an amendment, Congress and the President will do their part relatively quickly and a good assessment will conclude it will be ratified within two decades of abortion being made illegal in America! Of course, if this journey could be avoided for America one would absolutely wish it because there will be a lot of innocent severely hurt victims as alluded to but if this is the path America is forced to go down then so be it "good" will come from this it will permanently remove the abortion issue from having such a profound effect on America's history it will end the perpetual contest in America's elections to elect candidates to national office that will stack the Supreme court to overturn the Roe vs. Wade decision. Further, a Constitutional amendment resolution to this issue would put what goodness in the world could really use here which is pressure on religious leaders especially Christian leaders to stop taking the easy road on the abortion issue and confront their flocks and appropriately consider the interests of the women that have to make the hard decision to have an abortion so their life isn't devastatingly blown apart and recognize that a pregnant women in the early stages of her pregnancy is although carrying human life is not carrying a human being and that is the relevant consideration because the natural right to life only applies to human beings not to a collection of human tissue and stand up for abortion rights, and thereby fully use the intellect and conscience God gave them to lead their people!
The other major issue is the Affordable Care Act, President Obama 2010 Healthcare Reform Law, people fear President Trump's pick to replace RBG will stack the Court with Justices that will eliminate the law by finding enough provisions in the law unconstitutional that make the entire law unconstitutional this assessment is just out of control fear the Supreme Court's standard is that even if they find provisions of a law unconstitutional they try to avoid finding the entire law in violation of law because they do not want to infringe on the Congress's and the President's joint power to make law they want to stay within the constitutional framework of what their role is in our democracy. Right wing Justices like Kavanaugh, Alito and Roberts have made statements that they are on board with this standard that being said the ACA individual mandate is probably dead because a week after this November election the Supreme Court will hear a challenge to the ACA and the individual mandate, right wing states brought the constitutional challenge because in an earlier Court challenge the individual mandate was found not supported by the Commerce clause (personally I think the Court was wrong on this finding) but the Court did find it constitutional through the Congress's taxing power because there was a penalty provision in the law that fined people that did not follow the mandate Congress later removed the penalty to raise revenue for the 2017 tax reform act the analysis being eliminate the fine which will reduce the insurance rolls and thereby eliminate the federal insurance subsidies for people that would have been on the rolls but for the fine removal. What will probably happen when Barrett gets put on the Supreme Court the Republican states will win this limited issue the individual mandate will be gone but that will be the limit of the elimination of the ACA because although the purpose of the individual mandate was to maximize the number of people in the individual insurance pool to spread out the high cost of paying claims for people with preexisting conditions even without the pressure of the individual mandate Americans in very high numbers are signing up for individual insurance because of the federal subsidies and because the insurance is good insurance you have peace of mind if you get real sick you will have good insurance to pay for the needed treatment; so even without the mandate the Congress's intent behind the exchanges of spreading the cost of people with pre-existing conditions in large pools of enrollees is still working.
People really need to be reserved about the outcome of this case because it could turn out to be not that bad at all. Supreme Courts have a history of being very practical if they were in this case they would recognize that on healthcare America is at a big cross roads America can either go one of two ways it can take the fork of Medicare for all, socialized medicine, which offers a lot of poor health care providers and long wait times and increases corruption in our Democracy as it creates a permanent temptation for political parties to win elections by increasing expenditures in the government sponsored healthcare system (look at the United Kingdom!)or it could take the fork where it makes the ACA system succeed the ACA is the best fundamentally designed system for America because the crux of the challenge on healthcare is what to do with the really sick people a government either has a separate insurance program for these sick people or has the ACA exchanges where as stated the cost is spread in large insurance pools; the separate insurance program is an idea doomed to fail because the cost to care for these sick people rises to quickly the states or national government will never be able to keep up over the long-term. Sensibleness compels the conclusion that the Exchange spreading the cost in insurance pools is the best idea the only thing that is need is Federal government help to pay for the sick people, like the Senate Alexander/Murray bill and turn over control of the insurance mandates to a small bipartisan board and give the chambers of Congress and the President veto power over the Board's mandate changes -but having the current system which expects the 535 members of Congress to agree to mandate changes is absurd and completely unworkable the country will never get timely agreements. The bottom line is the Supreme Court holding the individual mandate unconstitutional will make it significantly harder for Congress and the President to get the ACA to succeed which means it will increase the likelihood of the Medicare-for-all system being implemented in America and I don't think a bunch of Right-wing Justices want this outcome on their hands; don't underestimate a Supreme Courts ability to keep themselves out of national controversy which is probably the prudent play for them in this case!
It is not being advocated here for the American people to be a bunch of fools about what is transpiring, the Republicans should have been fair and applied the same standard they did in 2016 with the Garland nomination to the current times let the winner of that year's election fill the post because the consequences are humongous here. As stated this development is outstandingly bad for the American people; the independence of federal agencies from the President, taking corrupt money out of elections, sensible gun regulation and many other important issues are in play with Republicans stacking the Court. Although I caution against an extreme response that long-term hurts America, I do think the Democrats have an option to open and fill a seat on the Court should they win the Presidency and the Senate. In the Brett Kavanaugh confirmation I do not think that a reasonable and fair court would find the President and the U.S. Senate satisfied the constitutional obligation that the Senate "advise" and "consent" on the nomination specifically the problem is with the "advise" element there was allegations of sexual impropriety on Mr. Kavanaugh's behalf during the confirmation process that was not fully investigated before the Senate held their "confirming" vote. It is not enough that the FBI did not conduct a thorough investigation to get the confirmation voided from a practical standpoint but if Joe Biden becomes President in 2021 and charges the FBI to fully investigate these allegations and they find things like compelling evidence that Christine Blasey Ford was telling the truth about her attempted rape accusations against Brett Kavanaugh I don't think the system can allow Mr. Kavanaugh to hold the seat from a practical standpoint the situation will be dramatically changed! I don't think Mr. Kavanaugh is a bad human being if the accusation is true he was very young and he was intoxicated at the time it is completely understandable things like this happen widespread in America but the relevant issue is should it be a consideration in his evaluation process to sit on the Supreme Court and it definitely should the Supreme Court is the ultimate arbiter of law for the nation of over 300 million people Justices should have sterling reputations so their votes on the Court are above reproach, the Supreme court hears gender discrimination cases a women who is a victim of gender discrimination and brings that case to the Supreme Court and women across America that foreseeably would be affected by the outcome of the case should not have to be in a situation where they legitimately believe one of the Justices hearing the case has a history of viewing women as having lesser rights than a man that she can be forced to have sex against her will, such a nominee for the Court doesn't pass the character threshold!
Take for instances if this Far-Right Wing Court overturns the Roe v. Wade decision, the Roe decision essentially says that if you take the entirety of the U.S. Constitution then it establishes a right of privacy and in that right of privacy there is a right to an abortion (the right of a woman to abort a fetus during her pregnancy). If Roe is overturned it won't make abortion against the law in America, individual states will have to enact such laws and there will only be five to ten states that will do this in the subsequent two years, strongly Republican states being such states. And what will happen in these five to ten states when they make abortion illegal, many women of those states will travel to neighboring states to have their abortion, many women will break the law and have their abortion in the respective state by unqualified providers where many women will suffer serious health problems a lot of such problems being permanent and a lot being fatal and, thirdly, many young women will be forced to give birth to a child which will require them to leave high school or college, permanently derailing them from getting valuable education degrees, and get a job to support themselves and their child permanently leaving them in poverty. All these negative repercussions will cause a societal backlash that will cause the clear majority of the American people to call for and support a constitutional amendment that establishes a right to an abortion for a women in the early stages of her pregnancy; polls of the American people indicate that clearly the majority of the American people support this right for a women. If the Far-Right in America wants to take America down this path they will not succeed for very long, this issue will become a litmus test issue for candidates in elections, whether they support such an amendment, Congress and the President will do their part relatively quickly and a good assessment will conclude it will be ratified within two decades of abortion being made illegal in America! Of course, if this journey could be avoided for America one would absolutely wish it because there will be a lot of innocent severely hurt victims as alluded to but if this is the path America is forced to go down then so be it "good" will come from this it will permanently remove the abortion issue from having such a profound effect on America's history it will end the perpetual contest in America's elections to elect candidates to national office that will stack the Supreme court to overturn the Roe vs. Wade decision. Further, a Constitutional amendment resolution to this issue would put what goodness in the world could really use here which is pressure on religious leaders especially Christian leaders to stop taking the easy road on the abortion issue and confront their flocks and appropriately consider the interests of the women that have to make the hard decision to have an abortion so their life isn't devastatingly blown apart and recognize that a pregnant women in the early stages of her pregnancy is although carrying human life is not carrying a human being and that is the relevant consideration because the natural right to life only applies to human beings not to a collection of human tissue and stand up for abortion rights, and thereby fully use the intellect and conscience God gave them to lead their people!
The other major issue is the Affordable Care Act, President Obama 2010 Healthcare Reform Law, people fear President Trump's pick to replace RBG will stack the Court with Justices that will eliminate the law by finding enough provisions in the law unconstitutional that make the entire law unconstitutional this assessment is just out of control fear the Supreme Court's standard is that even if they find provisions of a law unconstitutional they try to avoid finding the entire law in violation of law because they do not want to infringe on the Congress's and the President's joint power to make law they want to stay within the constitutional framework of what their role is in our democracy. Right wing Justices like Kavanaugh, Alito and Roberts have made statements that they are on board with this standard that being said the ACA individual mandate is probably dead because a week after this November election the Supreme Court will hear a challenge to the ACA and the individual mandate, right wing states brought the constitutional challenge because in an earlier Court challenge the individual mandate was found not supported by the Commerce clause (personally I think the Court was wrong on this finding) but the Court did find it constitutional through the Congress's taxing power because there was a penalty provision in the law that fined people that did not follow the mandate Congress later removed the penalty to raise revenue for the 2017 tax reform act the analysis being eliminate the fine which will reduce the insurance rolls and thereby eliminate the federal insurance subsidies for people that would have been on the rolls but for the fine removal. What will probably happen when Barrett gets put on the Supreme Court the Republican states will win this limited issue the individual mandate will be gone but that will be the limit of the elimination of the ACA because although the purpose of the individual mandate was to maximize the number of people in the individual insurance pool to spread out the high cost of paying claims for people with preexisting conditions even without the pressure of the individual mandate Americans in very high numbers are signing up for individual insurance because of the federal subsidies and because the insurance is good insurance you have peace of mind if you get real sick you will have good insurance to pay for the needed treatment; so even without the mandate the Congress's intent behind the exchanges of spreading the cost of people with pre-existing conditions in large pools of enrollees is still working.
People really need to be reserved about the outcome of this case because it could turn out to be not that bad at all. Supreme Courts have a history of being very practical if they were in this case they would recognize that on healthcare America is at a big cross roads America can either go one of two ways it can take the fork of Medicare for all, socialized medicine, which offers a lot of poor health care providers and long wait times and increases corruption in our Democracy as it creates a permanent temptation for political parties to win elections by increasing expenditures in the government sponsored healthcare system (look at the United Kingdom!)or it could take the fork where it makes the ACA system succeed the ACA is the best fundamentally designed system for America because the crux of the challenge on healthcare is what to do with the really sick people a government either has a separate insurance program for these sick people or has the ACA exchanges where as stated the cost is spread in large insurance pools; the separate insurance program is an idea doomed to fail because the cost to care for these sick people rises to quickly the states or national government will never be able to keep up over the long-term. Sensibleness compels the conclusion that the Exchange spreading the cost in insurance pools is the best idea the only thing that is need is Federal government help to pay for the sick people, like the Senate Alexander/Murray bill and turn over control of the insurance mandates to a small bipartisan board and give the chambers of Congress and the President veto power over the Board's mandate changes -but having the current system which expects the 535 members of Congress to agree to mandate changes is absurd and completely unworkable the country will never get timely agreements. The bottom line is the Supreme Court holding the individual mandate unconstitutional will make it significantly harder for Congress and the President to get the ACA to succeed which means it will increase the likelihood of the Medicare-for-all system being implemented in America and I don't think a bunch of Right-wing Justices want this outcome on their hands; don't underestimate a Supreme Courts ability to keep themselves out of national controversy which is probably the prudent play for them in this case!
It is not being advocated here for the American people to be a bunch of fools about what is transpiring, the Republicans should have been fair and applied the same standard they did in 2016 with the Garland nomination to the current times let the winner of that year's election fill the post because the consequences are humongous here. As stated this development is outstandingly bad for the American people; the independence of federal agencies from the President, taking corrupt money out of elections, sensible gun regulation and many other important issues are in play with Republicans stacking the Court. Although I caution against an extreme response that long-term hurts America, I do think the Democrats have an option to open and fill a seat on the Court should they win the Presidency and the Senate. In the Brett Kavanaugh confirmation I do not think that a reasonable and fair court would find the President and the U.S. Senate satisfied the constitutional obligation that the Senate "advise" and "consent" on the nomination specifically the problem is with the "advise" element there was allegations of sexual impropriety on Mr. Kavanaugh's behalf during the confirmation process that was not fully investigated before the Senate held their "confirming" vote. It is not enough that the FBI did not conduct a thorough investigation to get the confirmation voided from a practical standpoint but if Joe Biden becomes President in 2021 and charges the FBI to fully investigate these allegations and they find things like compelling evidence that Christine Blasey Ford was telling the truth about her attempted rape accusations against Brett Kavanaugh I don't think the system can allow Mr. Kavanaugh to hold the seat from a practical standpoint the situation will be dramatically changed! I don't think Mr. Kavanaugh is a bad human being if the accusation is true he was very young and he was intoxicated at the time it is completely understandable things like this happen widespread in America but the relevant issue is should it be a consideration in his evaluation process to sit on the Supreme Court and it definitely should the Supreme Court is the ultimate arbiter of law for the nation of over 300 million people Justices should have sterling reputations so their votes on the Court are above reproach, the Supreme court hears gender discrimination cases a women who is a victim of gender discrimination and brings that case to the Supreme Court and women across America that foreseeably would be affected by the outcome of the case should not have to be in a situation where they legitimately believe one of the Justices hearing the case has a history of viewing women as having lesser rights than a man that she can be forced to have sex against her will, such a nominee for the Court doesn't pass the character threshold!
