I like the your use of drift. Conservatives have use small, tiny increments of drift for 50 years now. They have gamed the judiciary system at all levels. McConnell technically was legal holding Obama’s pick for 10 months, then technically correct pushing though unqualified AmyBarrett in three weeks. But this was an afront to norms and guardrails of the precedents of previous 240 years. Trump 1st put the nail in the coffin for Norms and Guardrails, Trump 2nd is now they are finishing off the Rule of Law and independence between the branches. The question is simple, can we make to the mid terms and if so, is there any way we can overcome the cheating that is in already be installed? Thanks for a great article
Eric, thank you, and you caught the load-bearing idea. Fifty years of small increments is exactly how a pin comes loose. Litman's piece in the five picks traces it on one case: groundwork in 2010, first cut in 2020, hammer this week. Nobody pulls a pin in one motion. They loosen it for decades while everyone insists it still holds.
Your McConnell example runs on a magnet word: "the rules." The word covers two rulebooks. The written one allowed both the ten-month hold and the three-week confirmation. The unwritten one allowed neither. Both moves were legal and both broke something, because "the rules" meant different books to different rooms. You dated the split.
On the midterms, I won't predict. I can offer one receipt from Monday that cuts against despair. In Watson, the ballot-deadline pin held. Postmarked by Election Day counts, and the Court said the power to redefine that was never lodged with the justices. The election words survived this round. "Already installed" is a forecast; the record shows these fights stay live and get won by whoever shows up to hold the definition. Guardrails are unwritten definitions. They held this week the way every pin held: because specific people chose to hold them. The midterms are next.
I like the your use of drift. Conservatives have use small, tiny increments of drift for 50 years now. They have gamed the judiciary system at all levels. McConnell technically was legal holding Obama’s pick for 10 months, then technically correct pushing though unqualified AmyBarrett in three weeks. But this was an afront to norms and guardrails of the precedents of previous 240 years. Trump 1st put the nail in the coffin for Norms and Guardrails, Trump 2nd is now they are finishing off the Rule of Law and independence between the branches. The question is simple, can we make to the mid terms and if so, is there any way we can overcome the cheating that is in already be installed? Thanks for a great article
Eric, thank you, and you caught the load-bearing idea. Fifty years of small increments is exactly how a pin comes loose. Litman's piece in the five picks traces it on one case: groundwork in 2010, first cut in 2020, hammer this week. Nobody pulls a pin in one motion. They loosen it for decades while everyone insists it still holds.
Your McConnell example runs on a magnet word: "the rules." The word covers two rulebooks. The written one allowed both the ten-month hold and the three-week confirmation. The unwritten one allowed neither. Both moves were legal and both broke something, because "the rules" meant different books to different rooms. You dated the split.
On the midterms, I won't predict. I can offer one receipt from Monday that cuts against despair. In Watson, the ballot-deadline pin held. Postmarked by Election Day counts, and the Court said the power to redefine that was never lodged with the justices. The election words survived this round. "Already installed" is a forecast; the record shows these fights stay live and get won by whoever shows up to hold the definition. Guardrails are unwritten definitions. They held this week the way every pin held: because specific people chose to hold them. The midterms are next.