The actual text of the Constitution, the intent of its drafters, 2,000 years of western civilization, logic, common sense, and the previously accepted rules of statutory construction are all now utterly irrelevant.
The Constitution now says whatever the Hell five out of nine Supreme Court Justices currently want it to say. IMHO, this is the primary issue in the election.
Four sitting Supreme Court Justices will be over 80 years old this year (Kennedy, Scalia, Ginsburg and Breyer). Of the remaining five Justices, two are young far left-wing Obama appointees who will be legislating from the bench for the next 30 years (Sotomayor and Kagan), two are reliable conservatives (Thomas and Alito) and the other is a flipper (Roberts).
I am betting that Obama will get to replace at least one of the octogenarian Justices (Ginsburg) and possibly two (Breyer) before he leave office. Ginsburg will step down immediately after the current Court term and if at least a couple of RINOs join with the Democrats to confirm Obamaâs far left-wing replacement then Breyer will announce his retirement so that Obama will get to pick his far left-wing replacement as well. That would leave only two octogenarian Justices (Scalia and Kennedy) for the next President to replace, and four young, reliable far left-wing Justices firmly planted on the Court.
If any three of the four octogenarian Justices are replaced with liberals then a far left-wing oligarchy of Supreme Court Justices will rule over every aspect of our lives for the next generation to come. Say goodbye to the Second Amendment, free speech, and every other right that is currently hanging on by a 5 to 4 thread.
On the other hand, if any three of the octogenarians are replaced with strict construction conservatives, then they can join with Thomas and Alito and reverse Roe, homosexual marriage, Obamacare, and every other liberal Supreme Court decree over the past 40 years.
So, our only chance is for the Republicans to hold on to the Senate AND for us to elect a Conservative President who will only nominate Conservative judges. If Chuckie Schumer controls the Senate OR if we elect a President who appoints liberal or moderate judges, then our nations is well and truly screwed.
Bubba, I agree with your comments—except in one area...You state:
So, our only chance is for the Republicans to hold on to the Senate AND for us to elect a Conservative President who will only nominate Conservative judges. If Chuckie Schumer controls the Senate OR if we elect a President who appoints liberal or moderate judges, then our nations is well and truly screwed.
Well, first of all, if Hillary or Bernie are elected, all bets are off, so we have to elect SOMEONE OTHER THAN THEM.
Secondly, you do not know exactly who Trump (and I am assuming you are directing your scenario above to him) will nominate, but whoever he nominates would be 100% better than Hillary’s nominees.
I won’t even get into the selections of the other GOP candidates, because I don’t think any of them can beat the Dems.