4 ms·

> Republicans won a majority of the Congressional popular vote in 2016 And then lost the popular vote in 2018 and 2020. Not sure why 2016 would be particularly

by comrh 4y ago

> Republicans won a majority of the Congressional popular vote in 2016 And then lost the popular vote in 2018 and 2020. Not sure why 2016 would be particularly relevant

tablespoon 4y ago
> And then lost the popular vote in 2018 and 2020. Not sure why 2016 would be particularly relevant Because those 2016 results dispute the meme that Republicans are some kind of obvious and permanent minority with no democratic legitimacy whatsoever.
rajup 4y ago
Not that I support this ruling in any way or form, but the 2016 election led to the current slate of justices who came up with this ruling. It is probably good and by design that we don’t change justices with the popular vote.
- comrh 4y ago
  The 2̵0̵1̵8̵ election of Trump led to these judges as he appointed three of them.
  - tablespoon 4y ago
    > The 2018 election of Trump led to these judges as he appointed three of them. Trump was elected in 2016.
    - comrh 4y ago
      Ooof, no HN comments before coffee. Thanks.
- InitialLastName 4y ago
  The House of Representatives is fully inconsequential to the selection and confirmation of Supreme Court justices, and the only Republicans on the ballot nation-wide lost the popular vote by a substantial margin.
  - rayiner 4y ago
    As a legal matter, the Presidential popular vote is also “fully inconsequential” to the selection of Supreme Court Justices, or anything else. We’re only talking about the popular vote insofar as Democrats try to delegitimize Republican administrations by insisting that they are a minority party that can gain power only through the quirk of our voting system. But in doing so they conveniently ignore the House popular vote, which Republicans routinely win. You shouldn’t drink your own Kool-Aid. This Nixonian “Silent Majority” thinking is bad for Democrats, insofar as it causes them to get over their skis. In 2010, Democrats lost the House popular vote by almost 6 million votes. They lost it by 5 million in 2014 and 1.5 million in 2016. The House popular vote is a far better proxy for where the parties stand with the electorate.
- hellojesus 4y ago
  The entire point of life appointments is to remove partisanship from judicial decisions. If the judges were up for election, their performance would most certainly suffer. For example, look at the Federal Reserve. They are supposed to be independent from politics, but their head is appointed by the president every X years, and so they naturally make the decisions that guarantee them reelection and not the decisions which would maximize economic stability/utility.

by comrh 4y ago

> Republicans won a majority of the Congressional popular vote in 2016 And then lost the popular vote in 2018 and 2020. Not sure why 2016 would be particularly relevant

tablespoon 4y ago

> And then lost the popular vote in 2018 and 2020. Not sure why 2016 would be particularly relevant Because those 2016 results dispute the meme that Republicans are some kind of obvious and permanent minority with no democratic legitimacy whatsoever.

rajup 4y ago

Not that I support this ruling in any way or form, but the 2016 election led to the current slate of justices who came up with this ruling. It is probably good and by design that we don’t change justices with the popular vote.

comrh 4y ago
The 2̵0̵1̵8̵ election of Trump led to these judges as he appointed three of them.
- tablespoon 4y ago
  > The 2018 election of Trump led to these judges as he appointed three of them. Trump was elected in 2016.
  - comrh 4y ago
    Ooof, no HN comments before coffee. Thanks.
InitialLastName 4y ago
The House of Representatives is fully inconsequential to the selection and confirmation of Supreme Court justices, and the only Republicans on the ballot nation-wide lost the popular vote by a substantial margin.
- rayiner 4y ago
  As a legal matter, the Presidential popular vote is also “fully inconsequential” to the selection of Supreme Court Justices, or anything else. We’re only talking about the popular vote insofar as Democrats try to delegitimize Republican administrations by insisting that they are a minority party that can gain power only through the quirk of our voting system. But in doing so they conveniently ignore the House popular vote, which Republicans routinely win. You shouldn’t drink your own Kool-Aid. This Nixonian “Silent Majority” thinking is bad for Democrats, insofar as it causes them to get over their skis. In 2010, Democrats lost the House popular vote by almost 6 million votes. They lost it by 5 million in 2014 and 1.5 million in 2016. The House popular vote is a far better proxy for where the parties stand with the electorate.
hellojesus 4y ago
The entire point of life appointments is to remove partisanship from judicial decisions. If the judges were up for election, their performance would most certainly suffer. For example, look at the Federal Reserve. They are supposed to be independent from politics, but their head is appointed by the president every X years, and so they naturally make the decisions that guarantee them reelection and not the decisions which would maximize economic stability/utility.