Matt

Imagine how much we could get done with a Sanders-led Senate Budget Committee under a Democratic president who has already been forced to adopt most of his domestic policy in exchange for his endorsement.

If you really want to see the change we got behind Bernie for, get Clinton into the White House, and get Democrats into the House and Senate.

People of color’s right to equal educational access? Which president decided that should happen? DING DING DING, that wasn’t a president, it was Brown Vs Board of Education. That’s a Supreme Court Decision that changed the nation, in part because it overruled the previous Supreme Court Decision that denied black people equal access to rights. Do you know what president was in charge in that term? Does it even matter?

Same-sex marriage? Supreme Court.

Interracial marriage? Supreme Court.

Miranda rights? The thing that police officers have to say to you, and which protects some of the rights of the arrested person? That’s a Supreme Court ruling.

The decision that Bush won the 2000 election? That was the Supreme Court case Bush v. Gore.

The Supreme Court is literally a time bomb that is ready to explode and change the country, and people are pissing around whining about whether Hillary is too bitchy and how maybe Uncle Bernie will descend on a fairy cloud and give them pancakes.

IT DOESN’T MATTER IF YOU HAVE TO SPEND THE NEXT FOUR YEARS OF YOUR TINY PISSANT LIFE UNDER THE MOST BASIC BITCH IN BITCHDOWN. THE NEXT FOUR YEARS OF YOUR PISSANT LIFE ARE HISTORICALLY MEANINGLESS.

HISTORY DOESN’T GIVE A SHIT IF YOU THROW YOUR TOYS OUT OF THE PRAM BECAUSE YOU’RE 24 AND ANGSTY. THAT CHANGES NOTHING BECAUSE CLEARLY YOU DON’T EVEN KNOW WHAT THE SUPREME COURT IS, AND ARE THUS  NOT RESPONSIBLE ENOUGH TO MAKE POLITICAL DECISIONS, LET ALONE HOST A WELL-ATTENDED REVOLUTION.

RUTH BADER GINSBURG IS DROPPING IN HER FUCKING TRACES TO SAVE YOUR UNGRATEFUL FUCKING SKINS AND NOT ONE OF YOU UNGRATEFUL CHILDREN KNOWS HER FACE.

Want more reproductive rights? BERNIE CAN’T HELP YOU AND HE NEVER COULD. A REVOLUTION WON’T SAVE YOU. THAT’S A SUPREME COURT PROBLEM.

Want more of literally anything relating to social justice? PRESIDENTS CAN’T DO SHIT FOR YOU. GO AHEAD, TRY TO NAME THE MECHANISM BY WHICH THEY CAN DO SHIT FOR YOU. ARE THEY GOING TO ~*~WRITE A BILL~*~ ABOUT BEING NICE TO PEOPLE? NO, THAT’S THE SUPREME COURT.

Want different regulations on immigration? SUPREME COURT. IF THE SUPREME COURT DECIDES THAT OUR CURRENT SYSTEM OF IMMIGRATION IS “UNCONSTITUTIONAL,” IT WILL CHANGE. OTHERWISE, HEAVEN AND EARTH WON’T MOVE IT.

Want - SUPREME COURT. IT’S THE SUPREME COURT. THAT’S WHERE THESE DECISIONS GET MADE.

The President of the United States of American has no actual power to give everyone fairy pancakes and legal marijuana because they are the leader of a democracy, and the built-in nature of democracy says that on any given issue, half the people in the democracy are working against POTUS. We deliberately set POTUS up to be hamstrung by the Congress and the Senate, and they must ALWAYS abide by the Constitution as defined by the Supreme Court. We didn’t want a nation of 320 million people to be led to slaughter by the whims of a random monarch, so we did this on purpose.

Now, if you look at your shiny POTUS trading card, you can see that despite having no Attack or Movement points, they still have two very interesting powers: 

they can press the Big Red Button (i.e. as Commander in Chief, they can dispatch military troops by themselves, without waiting for Congressional approval to declare war)

They appoint the Justices of the Supreme Court.

Everyone who lives in America abides by the Supreme Court’s decisions, and the great groundshaking social changes of America were decisions made by the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court is a panel of the most brilliant lawmakers in the land, appointed by the President alone, and answerable only to themselves. IT IS A POSITION FOR LIFE, YOU FOOLS, YOU RUBES. The United States is a nation ruled by a Constitution and that Constitution lives, breathes and governs the lives of Americans through the interpretation of the Supreme Court.

If you want to change the nation - well, three of the Supreme Court Justices are over the age of 77. It’s a position for life, and they’re all hanging on, but how many 77-year-olds do you know who are in perfect health and sharpness? Two of them are Clinton appointees, and one is a Reagan appointee. Ginsburg, the eldest, is 83 (appointed by Bill Clinton in 1993). In her 24 years on the SCOTUS, she’s shaped everything from LGBT+ rights, to environmental policy, to the role of women. She’s interpreted, enforced and defended the Constitution. And for years, all of the parties represented in the SCOTUS have been licking their lips over her, because they assume she’ll die in the next 4 years, allowing the next President to plant a political successor that will shape the nation for generations. She could bloody well last (and she intends to - does anyone else remember how she POWERED THROUGH COLON CANCER in 99? jesus FUCK) but instead of pinning your hopes for the future directions of the nation on an elderly woman fighting your corner out of sheer cussedness, YOU COULD ALSO VOTE FOR A PRESIDENT WHO COULD FIND HER A GOOD SUCCESSOR. 

The careful balance of political parties embodied in the current SCOTUS can just about absorb one replacement without tipping the country into chaos… and there is a high likelihood of three replacements in the next 4-8 years. Three Trump-nominated SCOTUS Justices, to replace the sheer fighting ferocity of Ginsburg, who has kept this country reasonably on the left for the past 24 years? Three Justices who - if Trump picks reasonably perky 30-year-olds - will interpret the Constitution and inform the next 50 years of Supreme policy? That SCOTUS could overturn Roe vs Wade without a single peep of argument. dear god. let’s just get back into the sea.

It doesn’t matter if you dislike your Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher if the Wizengamot is composed entirely out of Death Eaters, YOU FOOLS.

however: nominations only go so far. since we’ve seen an unprecedented level of partisan bullshit in the past eight years–remember that time the government literally shut down in 2013 because congress wouldn’t play nice and do their fucking jobs?–this also makes the senators on your 2016 ticket very, very important.

this article shows, in a handy-dandy graphic, how the nomination to confirmation process works for a supreme court justice–based, in fact, on the man that Barack Obama already nominated for the vacancy left after Antonin Scalia passed in fucking FEBRUARY, and yet still sits empty. why? because the republican majority in the senate has LITERALLY REFUSED TO VOTE ON A NOMINEE BECAUSE IT’S AN ELECTION YEAR. as of october 26th, Merrick Garland’s nomination has remained before the senate for 224 DAYS, THE LONGEST EVER.

the republicans in the senate are defying the Constitution based on the willfully misguided idea that an out-going president shouldn’t be able to nominate a new justice–which is the kind of bullshit that has their champion, antonin scalia, rolling in his grave. (he was many things, but he was NOT one to twist the law to suit his politics when it came to the express powers granted by the Constitution–barack obama has the RIGHT and POWER to nominate any person for the court UP UNTIL HIS LAST GODDAMN DAY IN OFFICE, and that nomination should be put to the proper vote by the judiciary committee and full senate. even if the committee doesn’t like the nominee, tradition says you put them forward to the full senate and just suggest the senate reject the nominee, and they haven’t even done that.) 

the fact that eight justices can decide on the cases they decide to hear doesn’t mean it’s a good thing. though you may hear arguments about the arbitrariness of the number–congress can decide how many they want, it’s been anywhere between 6 and 10 throughout history–the “swing vote” 5-4 decision making that has occurred more and more in the last 20 years is incredibly important in establishing a national consensus when there is a regional divide in court rulings. the SCOTUS literally exists to function as the final say when courts in texas, california, wisconsin, colorado, florida, iowa, ohio, virginia, maine, new jersey, and new york–representative of the 11 circuit courts of appeal–can’t agree on an interpretation of federal or constitutional law. 

(those that say the court shouldn’t be the deciding factor in such landmark issues such as abortion, gun control, or gay marriage ought to take a fucking look at the piss poor job congress has done of coming to any kind of consensus on legislating issues of import since the first clinton presidency and get back to me. and in case you didn’t know: when the court deadlocks 4-4, the lower court’s decision stands, and any circuit split remains unresolved. if you’re thinking to yourself that this sounds bad, you’re right.)

the point is: republicans are banking on a Trump presidency for nominations of far more right leaning jurists, but they are also banking on keeping their majority in both the judiciary committee and the senate as a whole. your vote in 2016 may well shape the political and legal landscape of this country for the next 30 or 40 years, not only for who is nominated to the SCOTUS, but who votes on those nominees.

if you doubt me, consider this: if Chief Justice John Roberts serves until he’s RBG’s age today, he’ll still be sitting on the bench FIVE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS AFTER THIS ONE. for the cheap seats, that’s not until 2036, and he’d still have two years to go to match ruth’s age of 83.

a) honestly be too upsetting for tumblr

and b) I had to gently prise several paragraphs of rant out of my own hands and place them carefully in a drafts folder, like “shhh elodie shhh these were VERY good words, there’s just too many of them, so we’re putting THESE ones somewhere safe now”

but THIS HAS SET ME OFF SO HARD

it’s like THE WHOLE POINT OF AMERICA IS THIS … THIS RING-FENCED LAYER UPON LAYER OF LAW AND ORDER, THIS ENTIRE BALANCED ECOSYSTEM THAT KEEPS ANY ONE PERSON FROM BECOMING TOO POWERFUL

WE HAD A REVOLUTION FOR THIS

WE DID THIS ON PURPOSE

WE SAID “NO MORE KINGS”

WE SAID “THE LAW IS HERE TO SERVE US”

WE SAID “WE THE PEOPLE”

WE SAID THESE WORDS  AND WE WROTE IT ALL DOWN IN THE BELIEF THAT IT WOULD LIMIT THE POWERS OF MADMEN AND FOOLS

AND ALL PEOPLE CARE ABOUT IS THE ONE DECORATIVE FAKE-KING FIGUREHEAD THEY VAGUELY HALF-ASSEDLY ELECT EVERY 4 YEARS

AND WHETHER THEY LIKE THEIR HAIR COLOR

AND THEY DON’T NOTICE THE ECOSYSTEM

THEY DON’T NOTICE RBG

OR THE COURTS

ANY OF THE COURTS

BUT THAT’S LITERALLY THE SELLING POINT OF AMERICA, AND THE WHOLE FUCKING POINT

it was never about the President

even fucking Washington was like “you people are making this waaaaaay too much about the President (and you’re creeping me out)”

it was ALWAYS about the LAW