Politics

As I said in another post, I believe Justice Roberts is trying to haul the reins back from the stampeding conservafascists. Not that his own tendencies don't lie that way, but he's widely reported as caring about his legacy, and right now the reputation of SCOTUS for corruption and poor decisions seems to me to be at an all time high. (That is to say, I'm not a deep SCOTUS scholar, just an observer -- there might be a time when the organization was worse.)

I agree that Roberts might be worried about reputation, but I am worried they are just holding back for the next election. I think he realizes Dobbs hurt them last time around and are keeping their powder dry to try and help Republicans. If an R wins in 24 it will be pedal to the metal for christian nationalists.

It was probably a pretty devious and purposeful move. Boil the frog slowly.

yeah I was honestly terrified that starting 2024 we were just fucking doomed, but now it seems like things are finally looking up. DeSantis' approval rating is in the shitter, and a lot of the anti-trans bills are being blocked throughout the country.

What you call "Christofascism" isn't a special variety of Christian ideology. It is simply the political ideology which says that Christianity should rule. By a fairly precise analogy with Islamism, it should be called Christianism.

They do one to achieve the other. Always pushing the line as close as they can. Don't pretend they aren't theocratic fascists for a moment.

No just no ethics or qualms about destroying America as long as he comes out on top.

Don't you mean democracy?

Direct democracy means no elected representative. The US system is representative democracy instead.

There hasn't been direct democracy for decades. Every major party candidate for federal office has absolute allegiance to the ruling plutocrats. You literally cannot vote against the interests of Goldman Sachs and the oligarchs.

Yep, today was a good day somehow. 🤷‍♂️

I'm surprised that this isn't getting more attention. All my parents ever talk about now is the stupid fight against trans people, and yet we were a hair's width away from polling stations being surrounded by armed guards at every election like what happened with Bolsonaro in 2022.

SCOTUS just soundly rejected an idea called "independent state legislature theory" in a case called Moore v. Harper. Here's a good summary of the implications if it had been upheld:

"Proponents of the independent state legislature theory reject this traditional reading, insisting that these clauses give state legislatures exclusive and near-absolute power to regulate federal elections. The result? When it comes to federal elections, legislators would be free to violate the state constitution and state courts couldn’t stop them."

https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/independent-state-legislature-theory-explained

My understanding is that Gorsuch took issue with standing or some other more technical issue. Thomas and Alito are little more than partisan hacks, but Gorsuch generally maintains consistent principles. He was also a key vote in guaranteeing federal employment protections for LGBT people.