Roe v wade
Posted on 06/13/2023 8:45:55 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
Hugh Hewitt’s interview with Ron DeSantis includes this exchange about the Supreme Court:
HH: Now in terms of the judges that you will bring to bear on this, former President Trump hit three home runs with his Supreme Court appointments. Are you going to make the same kind of pledge to the Republicans as you go around the country that your judges will be like the Trump judges?
RD: Well, actually, I would say we’ll do better than that. I mean, I respect the three appointees he did, but none of those three are at the same level of Justices Thomas and Justice Alito. I think they are the gold standard, and so my justices will be along the lines of a Sam Alito and a Clarence Thomas. And in Florida, I inherited a very liberal state supreme court, maybe the most liberal in the country, very activist. But I was able to replace three of the four liberals my first month in office with conservative justices. I’ve since been able to make a number of appointments since then. So we now have the most conservative state supreme court in the country. And so I think we have a really good track record on doing that. And in fact, two of my supreme court picks in my first year of office were elevated to the 11th Circuit by President Donald Trump.
(Emphasis added)
If anything, DeSantis’ answer is too respectful to Trump’s appointees. Neil Gorsuch, probably the best of the three, reached the bizarre conclusion that Congress, in 1964, banned employment discrimination against gays, lesbians, and transgendered individuals. He reached the equally bizarre conclusion that much of Eastern Oklahoma belongs to Indian tribes for purposes of the Major Crimes Act.
Brett Kavanaugh, the worst of the three, is very far from a “home run.” I’m not sure he’s even an extra-base hit.
Kavanaugh does not vote consistently with Alito and Thomas in the tough cases. Instead, he’s apt to join the three liberal Justices.
He did so recently in two major cases. In the Alabama redistricting case, he joined the three libs and the Chief Justice to reject a plan that didn’t carve out a “safe” congressional district for a black to win. George Will attacks the decision here.
And in a recent environmental law case challenging the EPA’s regulatory authority, he broke with all five Republican-appointed Justices to disagree with their standard for limiting the scope of the Clean Water Act’s definition of wetlands. Here’s Hugh Hewitt on the subject.
When Trump ran for president in 2016, he criticized George W. Bush for appointing John Roberts to the court, and Ted Cruz for backing Roberts. It’s true that, in his present incarnation, Roberts is a disappointment to conservatives. But Roberts was a solidly conservative Justice for his first six years on the bench, and remained pretty reliable for several more years after his Obamacare ruling in 2012.
Kavanaugh has been on the Court for less than five years. He’s already voting as a center-right jurist, not a conservative.
There’s little doubt that if Trump were in DeSantis’ position and DeSantis in Trump’s, Trump would be ripping DeSantis over the Kavanaugh nomination. But I’m fine with the way DeSantis is playing this.
There’s nothing much to be gained by attacking Kavanaugh, who still garners sympathy from Republicans due to the vicious last-minute attacks Senate Democrats launched against him during the confirmation process. And Kavanaugh did vote with the four solid conservative Justices in the abortion case. (Let’s see what he does in the term-defining Harvard race-based preferences case.)
Thus, DeSantis’ answer to Hewitt is a good one. Rather than attacking one or more Trump appointee, it’s enough to inform voters that the three don’t measure up to “gold standard” Justices Thomas and Alito, and to tout the strong conservatism of the Florida Supreme Court justices he has appointed.
I wonder why the author stopped at Kavanaugh and never even mentioned Amy Coney Barrett....
Hugh Hewitt’s interview …Pass.
I wonder why the author stopped at Kavanaugh and never even mentioned Amy Coney Barrett...
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I’m more amused at DeSantis thinking he’ll get the opportunity to nominate anyone.
“Hope Runs Eternal.”
The abortion decision was certainly a good one.
Beyond that some folks stray like Gorsuch on an issue or Kavanaugh on an issue along the way.
This analysis is fair, but none of them are strike-outs either.
They overturned Roe versus freakin’ Wade.
Let me repeat that.
They overturned Roe versus freakin’ Wade... something many of us thought we might never see in our lifetimes.
For Scotus appointments, Trump defeats all GOP predecessors for the last 75 years. Every damned one of them put a loser turn-coat on the court.
Ike gave us Brennan.
Nixon gave us Blackmun.
Ford gave us Stevens.
Reagan gave us O’Connor and Kennedy
Bush 41 gave us Souter
Bush 43 gave us Roberts.
Trump wins. Again.
Stupid article because they overturned Roe vs Wade.
They overturned Roe versus freakin’ Wade.
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“Works for me.”
Roe vs Wade was an idiotic ruling from day one.
Don’t forget, Bush 41 gave us Thomas and Bush 43 gave us Alito. And of course, Reagan gave us Scalia for 30 years !!
Good article although I don’t know why they crapped out on the decisions of ACB. But Kavanaugh is terrible. Thomas is the gold standard. Alito is very good. The other gold standard was taken out by a pillow.
Thank you for good laugh before hitting the sack.
The Bushes nor any establishment Republican would have put judges on SCOTUS that overturned Roe. Overturning Roe is most consequential decision made by SCOTUS in more 60 years.
DeSnakis supported Trump’s nominees on his twitter account in glowing terms.
No, not if you actually measure them based on whole body of work.
I think the justices are probably pretty good, overall. They’ve had some flaws and some “home runs”, but the average is what should define them. I think pretty good.
Yes, and lucky Trump that he got to pick 3 “conservative” justices in his measly 4 years. Partly aided by the much-maligned McConnell, including the fact he got to pick that first one.
If Trump didn’t get the opportunity to pick more than 1, which would be much more typical if a 1-term, then this would be moot.
I haven’t forgotten their home runs, but their whiffs can’t be forgotten either.
“I wonder why the author stopped at Kavanaugh and never even mentioned Amy Coney Barrett....”
Maybe because she has been absolutely 100% conservative on 2A cases, she voted to overturn Roe v Wade, she voted 100% against the EPA in the wetlands case, she voted in favor of state of Alabama and against creating another black Alabama House district.
I guess she doesn’t meet some impossible FR Purity Test, but she’s been a good Justice. Thank God we got her instead of Merrick Garland. Imagine him with a lifetime appointment to the Court.
Reagan would have given us Bork if not for the deep state Borking him.
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