Limited government: One Supreme Court justice down, two to go

The wrong one is down, mind you, but the Founders' Court had only six members, not nine (eight) as now, according to The Weekly Standard in "Eight is Enough (for Now)".

A Donald Trump administration, in addition to closing the Department of Education, could easily save some dough and restore some probity to the court by not appointing a ninth justice, nor an eighth nor a seventh should the opportunity arise, er .... fall:

"An even-numbered Court seems to be more conducive to judicial restraint."

He'd just have to make sure to appoint if another justice with common sense dies.

Ten Senate Republicans got Loretta Lynch confirmed as Attorney General, maybe to SCOTUS too?

Without these ten Republican traitors, Loretta Lynch never would have been confirmed to the post of Attorney General (Roll Call Vote: 56-43 here, April 23, 2015):

Ayotte, New Hampshire !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Cochran, Mississippi

Collins, Maine

Flake, Arizona

Graham, South Carolina

Hatch, Utah

Johnson, Wisconsin !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Kirk, Illinois !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

McConnell, Kentucky

Portman, Ohio !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!: vulnerable to defeat in election 2016)

Ted Cruz was too busy to vote, but Marco Rubio did.

From a story about Lynch here:

Lynch would be the first black woman ever nominated to the nation's highest court — and the GOP would have a political problem during an election year if the Republicans refused to even consider her nomination, Goldstein wrote.

"I think the administration would relish the prospect of Republicans either refusing to give Lynch a vote or seeming to treat her unfairly in the confirmation process," Goldstein wrote. "Either eventuality would motivate both black and women voters." 

Ted Cruz was all in for John Roberts in 2005, but Ann Coulter, who now supports Trump, wasn't. Any questions?

Ann Coulter, July 20, 2005, here:

But why on earth would Bush waste a nomination on a person who is a complete blank slate when we have a majority in the Senate! 

We also have a majority in the House, state legislatures, state governorships, and have won five of the last seven presidential elections -- seven of the last 10! 

We're the Harlem Globetrotters now. Why do we have to play like we're the Washington Generals every week? 

Conservatism is sweeping the nation, we have a fully functioning alternative media, we're ticked off and ready to avenge Robert Bork ... and Bush nominates a Rorschach blot. ...

Maybe Roberts will contravene the sordid history of "stealth nominees" and be the Scalia or Thomas that Bush promised us when he was asking for our votes. Or maybe he won't. The Supreme Court shouldn't be a game of Russian roulette. 

Trump was right: While solicitor general of Texas Ted Cruz wrote on behalf of John Roberts' nomination to the Supreme Court

You know, on behalf of the guy who TWICE had the chance to deep six Obamacare, but didn't.

Here, in National Review, July 20, 2005.

Timeline of the 7-month Lewis Powell vacancy

Justice Lewis Powell retired June 26, 1987.

President Reagan nominated Robert Bork on July 1, but he was not confirmed by the Senate on October 23.

Douglas Ginsburg was nominated in turn on October 29, but subsequently withdrew.

Anthony Kennedy was nominated on November 30, and confirmed on February 3, 1988, with just under a year left in Reagan's presidency.

Fake conservatives Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz both voted to confirm Sri Srinivasan AFTER he led the charge against DOMA

Freshman Senators Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio both voted to confirm Sri Srinivasan, the most likely successor to Antonin Scalia, to the DC Circuit in May 2013 JUST TWO MONTHS AFTER Srinivasan helped lead the Obama regime's charge against the Defense of Marriage Act in March 2013 (US v Windsor) as Deputy Solicitor General. Cruz and Rubio are both fake conservatives.

From the discussion here:

As deputy solicitor general, Srinivasan led the Obama administration’s case against the Defense of Marriage Act, which resulted in same-sex marriage becoming constitutional throughout the country, as well as cases in favor of affirmative action policies and opposing restrictive voting laws. ... Srikanth “Sri” Srinivasan would not be the first Supreme Court justice to be nominated in an election year. In 1988, the last year of his second term, President Ronald Reagan nominated Anthony Kennedy to the court.

And that didn't work out so well, either, did it: Kennedy led the charge overturning sodomy laws in 2003 and wrote for the majority making same sex marriage legal nationwide under Obama in 2015.

Here's Marco Rubio lying in the South Carolina debate about marriage:

If you elect me president, we are going to re-embrace free enterprise so that everyone can go as far as their talent and their work will take them. We are going to be a country that says that, "life begins at conception and life is worthy of the protection of our laws." We're going to be a country that says. "that marriage is between one man and one woman."

And here's Ted Cruz lying:

And today, we saw just how great the stakes are, two branches of government hang in the balance. Not just the presidency but the Supreme Court. If we get this wrong, if we nominate the wrong candidates, the Second Amendment, life, marriage, religious, liberty - everyone of those hangs in the balance.

Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz both voted to advance our enemy, but claim to be on our side.

They're both fakes whom conservatives shouldn't trust as far as they can be thrown.

David Assholerod claims Scalia requested Kagan be nominated

Story here.

Three Supreme Court vacancy precedents have averaged 550 days: We need only 340

From the story here:

President John Tyler had a particularly difficult time filling vacancies. Smith Thompson died in office December 18, 1843. His replacement, Samuel Nelson, was in office starting February 14, 1845. That’s a vacancy of 424 days. Henry Baldwin died in office April 21, 1844. His replacement, Robert Cooper, was in office starting August 4, 1846. This vacancy lasted 835 days because Tyler could not get the Senate to work with him. During Tyler’s presidency, the Senate rejected nine separate Supreme Court nominations!

Most recently, Abe Fortas resigned May 14, 1969. His replacement, Harry Blackmun, was in office starting June 9, 1970, making the gap just longer than a year.

Everything's fine one minute . . .

. . . and the next you're in the car on an errand and suddenly hear on the radio that Antonin Scalia has died.

When you get home you learn your kid has just come down with a cold.

Then you go into the bedroom to get something and discover the cat has barfed up a hairball on the bed!

Arghhhhh.

Paw said there'd be days like this.

Supreme Court decision staying EPA power emissions rule means states likely to win in court

So reports The Hill, here:

The decision means that the EPA cannot enforce the rule until the litigation against it is finished.

It also means that the court believes that the states, companies and groups suing the EPA are likely to win their case when its merits are considered.

A big victory for electricity from coal and for Laurence Tribe: Supremes stay EPA rule implementation shutting down 53 plants

The New York Times reports here:

WASHINGTON — In a major setback for President Obama’s climate change agenda, the Supreme Court on Tuesday temporarily blocked the administration’s effort to combat global warming by regulating emissions from coal-fired power plants. ... “We are thrilled that the Supreme Court realized the rule’s immediate impact and froze its implementation, protecting workers and saving countless dollars as our fight against its legality continues,” said Patrick Morrisey, the attorney general of West Virginia, which has led the 29-state legal challenge. ... In a second filing seeking a stay, coal companies and trade associations represented by Laurence H. Tribe, a law professor at Harvard, said the court should act to stop a “targeted attack on the coal industry” that will “artificially eliminate buyers of coal, forcing the coal industry to curtail production, idle operations, lay off workers and close mines.” ... Mr. Tribe added that the plan “will cause the closure of 53 coal-fired plants in 2016 and another three in 2018.”

Cornered like a rat, Ted Cruz last night resorted to a straw man argument to defend his presidential eligibility

From the transcript here:

"At the end of the day, the legal issue is quite straightforward, but I would note that the birther theories that Donald has been relying on -- some of the more extreme ones insist that you must not only be born on U.S. soil, but have two parents born on U.S. soil. Under that theory, not only would I be disqualified, Marco Rubio would be disqualified, Bobby Jindal would be disqualified and, interestingly enough, Donald J. Trump would be disqualified."

No one is arguing that to be eligible both parents must have been born on US soil, only that both parents must be citizens at the time of the candidate's birth in a US jurisdiction.

The extreme non-existent standard propounded by Cruz isn't necessary to exclude him, Rubio and Jindal (and Obama), only the constitutional one which defines natural born citizenship as beyond the reach of statute. Cruz' citizenship is statutory, not constitutional, and that is why he is excluded from eligibility. He acquired citizenship through the law, not through the Constitution: 

'Because Cruz's citizenship comes from the law, not the Constitution, as late as 1934, he would not have had "any conceivable claim to United States citizenship. For more than a century and a half, no statute was of assistance. Maternal citizenship afforded no benefit" -- as the Supreme Court put it in Rogers v. Bellei (1971). 

'That would make no sense if Cruz were a "natural born citizen" under the Constitution. But as the Bellei Court said: "Persons not born in the United States acquire citizenship by birth only as provided by Acts of Congress." (There's an exception for the children of ambassadors, but Cruz wasn't that.)'