3 ms·
The idea that the conservatives on the court are "originalists" is a complete farce. Kavanaugh just wrote an opinion last week that it is critical that election
by wycy 6y ago
The idea that the conservatives on the court are "originalists" is a complete farce. Kavanaugh just wrote an opinion last week that it is critical that election results must be called by TV networks on the night of the election. This is of course despite the fact that (a) there is no such law, (b) none of the founding fathers could have ever imagined TV networks calling elections day-of, (c) and election results are routinely not known for many days/weeks after an election. This bizarre opinion is just one of countless that disproves the "originalism" myth.
And as for legislating from the bench, few are more guilty of that than Alito and Thomas.
- fastball 6y agoUm. What? The case I think you're talking about (DNC v WSL) was literally about whether or not state legislatures can decide when to require ballots. Wisconsin's legislature decided election day. A lower court said this was unconstitutional, but it's not, so the majority opinion was for WSL. Please show me where in this opinion the assertion was made that election results must be called by TV networks on election night.
- wycy 6y agohttps://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/27/us/kavanaugh-voting-rights.html https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/27/us/kavanaugh-voting-right... Also funny about his opinion is that he doesn't seem to understand that states rarely (never?) "definitively announced results on election night." States typically don't certify their results for weeks. Only TV networks call elections on election night based on projections of what the final results might be after states count all their legally cast ballots. Kavanaugh either doesn't understand or has a problem with how elections in this country have always worked.
- fastball 6y agoHuh, literally nothing about announcing results on TV. How can you straight-facedly opine on the opinion when you clearly haven't read it? Instead of reading a NYT article, which is basically a partisan rag at this point, try reading the actual opinion. And then you can quote back to me the parts about television. Except you can't, because they're not there. > Kavanaugh just wrote an opinion last week that it is critical that election results must be called by TV networks on the night of the election. This is a lie. Stop lying.
- wycy 6y agoMedia networks are the only entities that can call an election on election night. States can't and don't do that. Therefore, Kavanaugh is either talking about (1) the networks "calling" the election or (2) he's talking about some fantasy world in which states certify their elections night-of. Either is lunacy and either flies in the face of originalism. I have a lot of problems with NYT, including ideological problems, but to say it's just a partisan rag tells me all I need to know about this conversation.
- fastball 6y agoHow can you say that and not agree that it is a partisan rag? A reputable news org shouldn't have a handful of problems, much less "a lot". And certainly not blatantly obvious ideological / bias problems. Back to SCOTUS, the quote was: > Those states also want to be able to definitively announce the results of the election on election night, or as soon as possible thereafter. Emphasis mine. Nowhere did the majority opinion say "certify" the results. States (or to be more precise, the districts within them) absolutely do start reporting their results on election night.
- wycy 6y agoNow that we're 2 weeks after the election, zero states have reported final results, and all of our understanding is based on TV networks calling the results, have you changed your tune on this?