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NYT: Kavanaugh Makes SCOTUS History With Clerk Appointments
Hotair ^ | 10/08/2018 | Ed Morrissey

Posted on 10/08/2018 8:18:28 AM PDT by SeekAndFind

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To: SeekAndFind
Is it not time for American citizens to review Justice Story's Commentaries on the Constitution. . . .?

Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States (1833) - by Joseph L. Story - BOOK 3, CHAPTER 45 - Concluding Remarks

Sec. 1903. We have now reviewed all the provisions of the original constitution of the United States, and all the amendments, which have been incorporated into it. And, here, the task originally proposed in these Commentaries is brought to a close. Many reflections naturally crowd upon the mind at such a moment; many grateful recollections of the past; and many anxious thoughts of the future. The past is secure. It is unalterable. The seal of eternity is upon it. The wisdom, which it has displayed, and the blessings, which it has bestowed, cannot be obscured; neither can they be debased by human folly, or human infirmity. The future is that, which may well awaken the most earnest solicitude, both for the virtue and the permanence of our republic. The fate of other republics, their rise, their progress, their decline, and their fall, are written but too legibly on the pages of history, if indeed they were not continually before us in the startling fragments of their ruins. They have perished; and perished by their own hands. Prosperity has enervated them, corruption has debased them, and a venal populace has consummated their destruction. Alternately the prey of military chieftains at home, and of ambitious invaders from abroad, they have been sometimes cheated out of their liberties by servile demagogues; sometimes betrayed into a surrender of them by false patriots; and sometimes they have willingly sold them for a price to the despot, who has bidden highest for his victims. They have disregarded the warning voice of their best statesmen; and have persecuted, and driven from office their truest friends. They have listened to the fawning sycophant, and the base calumniator of the wise and the good. They have reverenced power more in its high abuses and summary movements, than in its calm and constitutional energy, when it dispensed blessings with an unseen, but liberal hand. They have surrendered to faction, what belonged to the country. Patronage and party, the triumph of a leader, and the discontents of a day, have outweighed all solid principles and institutions of government. Such are the melancholy lessons of the past history of republics down to our own.

Sec. 1904. It is not my design to detain the reader by any elaborate reflections addressed to his judgment, either by way of admonition or of encouragement. But it may not be wholly without use to glance at one or two considerations, upon which our meditations cannot be too frequently indulged.

Sec. 1905. In the first place, it cannot escape our notice, how exceedingly difficult it is to settle the foundations of any government upon principles, which do not admit of controversy or question. The, very elements, out of which it is to be built, are susceptible of infinite modifications; and theory too often deludes us by the attractive simplicity of its plans, and imagination by the visionary perfection of its speculations. In theory, a government may promise the most perfect harmony of operations in all its various combinations. In practice, the whole machinery may be perpetually retarded, or thrown out of order by accidental maladjustments. In theory, a government may seem deficient in unity of design and symmetry of parts; and yet, in practice, it may work with astonishing accuracy and force for the general welfare. Whatever, then, has been found to work well in experience, should be rarely hazarded upon conjectural improvements. Time, and long and steady operation are indispensable to the perfection of all social institutions. To be of any value they must become cemented with the habits, the feelings, and the pursuits of the people. Every change discomposes for a while the whole arrangements of the system. What is safe is not always expedient; what is new is often pregnant with unforeseen evils, and imaginary good.

Sec. 1906. In the next place, the slightest attention to the history of the national constitution must satisfy every reflecting mind, how many difficulties attended its formation and adoption, from real or imaginary differences of interests, sectional feelings, and local institutions. It is an attempt to create a national sovereignty, and yet to preserve the state sovereignties; though it is impossible to assign definite boundaries in every case to the powers of each. The influence of the disturbing causes, which, more than once in the convention, were on the point of breaking up the Union, have since immeasurably increased in concentration and vigour. The very inequalities of a government, confessedly founded in a compromise, were then felt with a strong sensibility; and every new source of discontent, whether accidental or permanent, has since added increased activity to the painful sense of these inequalities. The North cannot but perceive, that it has yielded to the South a superiority of representatives, already amounting to twenty-five, beyond its due proportion; and the South imagines, that, with all this preponderance in representation, the other parts of the Union enjoy a more perfect protection of their interests, than her own. The West feels her growing power and weight in the Union; and the Atlantic states begin to learn, that the sceptre must one day depart from them. If, under these circumstances, the Union should once be broken up, it is impossible, that a new constitution should ever be formed, embracing the whole Territory. We shall be divided into several nations or confederacies, rivals in power and interest, too proud to brook injury, and too close to make retaliation distant or ineffectual. Our very animosities will, like those of all other kindred nations, become more deadly, because our lineage, laws, and language are the same. Let the history of the Grecian and Italian republics warn us of our dangers. The national constitution is our last, and our only security. United we stand; divided we fall.

Sec. 1907. If these Commentaries shall but inspire in the rising generation a more ardent love of their country, an unquenchable thirst for liberty, and a profound reverence for the constitution and the Union, then they will have accomplished all, that their author ought to desire. Let the American youth never forget, that they possess a noble inheritance, bought by the toils, and sufferings, and blood of their ancestors; and capable, if wisely improved, and faithfully guarded, of transmitting to their latest posterity all the substantial blessings of fife, the peaceful enjoyment of liberty, property, religion, and independence. The structure has been erected by architects of consummate skill and fidelity; its foundations are solid; its compartments are beautiful, as well as useful; its arrangements are full of wisdom and order; and its defences are impregnable from without. It has been reared for immortality, if the work of man may justly aspire to such a title. It may, nevertheless, perish in an hour by the folly, or corruption, or negligence of its only keepers, THE PEOPLE. Republics are created by the virtue, public spirit, and intelligence of the citizens. They fall, when the wise are banished from the public councils, because they dare to be honest, and the profligate are rewarded, because they flatter the people, in order to betray them."


21 posted on 10/08/2018 8:35:58 AM PDT by loveliberty2
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Comment #22 Removed by Moderator

To: SeekAndFind

Kagan’s remarks are so typical of a leftist elitist. If she is so concerned that there will be a shortage of moderate voting maybe she should consider moving to the center.


23 posted on 10/08/2018 8:38:49 AM PDT by Kahuna
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To: Snickering Hound
They possess some experience that might be considered legal.

Barely legal.

24 posted on 10/08/2018 8:39:37 AM PDT by Mr Ramsbotham ("God is a spirit, and man His means of walking on the earth.")
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To: SeekAndFind

I support Justice Kavanaugh selecting female SCOTUS Clerks
as long as they are not Feinstein style Gynocrats.

I would hate to see a leaker in Justice KAvanaugh’s office.


25 posted on 10/08/2018 8:40:58 AM PDT by Candor7 ((Obama Fascism)http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2009/05/barack_obama_the_quintessentia_1.html)
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To: shelterguy

Well, remember, the news reported that he had female clerks and added that he made them “wear sexy clothes”.


26 posted on 10/08/2018 8:41:17 AM PDT by BunnySlippers (I love Bull Markets!)
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To: Candor7

I support his decision too. He will do fine.

They are carefully chosen.


27 posted on 10/08/2018 8:42:37 AM PDT by buffaloguy (MSM: Wind up dolls of the DNC.)
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To: SeekAndFind
"Elena Kagan appeared to go out of her way to make it awkward on Friday night"

OF course she did...


28 posted on 10/08/2018 8:42:43 AM PDT by Paladin2
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To: ground_fog
This guy better stick to the constitution. He is already virtue signaling

Seems so. It will not buy him anything with anyone.

29 posted on 10/08/2018 8:44:18 AM PDT by DungeonMaster (If your church believes in evolution it is not a Christian church.)
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To: Mr Ramsbotham
There are other temptations at the Supreme Court...


30 posted on 10/08/2018 8:44:44 AM PDT by Covenantor (Men are ruled...by liars who refuse them news, and by fools who cannot govern. " Chesterton)
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To: SeekAndFind

[img]https://i.postimg.cc/vTHJqhzn/x_T626_Q1.png[/img]


31 posted on 10/08/2018 8:47:16 AM PDT by Cyclops08
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To: SeekAndFind; BenLurkin; shelterguy; Buckeye McFrog; Huskrrrr; Right Brother; JimRed; ground_fog; ...
My dear old mother pointed out something yesterday that I didn't realize - Brett Kavanaugh's wife Ashley Estes was George W. Bush's personal secretary.

Turns out Ashley was Dubya's secretary for 3 years when he was Texas governor, through his presidential campaign, and then was Personal Secretary To The President till future Justice Kavanaugh scooped her up in 2004.

In a word, she's FAMILY, and by extension, so is Brett Kavanaugh.

The Lefties just attacked George W. Bush's PERSONAL family, and tried to destroy them in the public square, and Trump led the charge to save them.

President Trump just gained a bunch of Bushee troops that were formerly anti- Trump...

There's some "downside" for ya - and the idiots don't even know what they did.    winking face

 face with tears of joy face with tears of joy face with tears of joy face with tears of joy

In other news today, one of the Twitter "Republican" NeverTrump biggies has come out as a TrueDemocrat: Tom Nichols aka @RadioFreeTom [I call him @FactFreeTom]

32 posted on 10/08/2018 8:47:21 AM PDT by kiryandil (Never pick a fight with an angry beehive)
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To: SeekAndFind
Justice Kavanaugh said in his testimony last month that he had started to take action to address the underrepresentation of women among law clerks after reading a 2006 article in The New York Times noting that only seven of 37 Supreme Court clerks were women.

A Supreme Court Justice hiring based on affirmative action?

Geez, no.

33 posted on 10/08/2018 8:48:10 AM PDT by FreeReign (Rudy: Sessions is recused from everything)
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To: SeekAndFind
p22

Another Tuesday morning clerking for Kavanaugh.

34 posted on 10/08/2018 8:48:13 AM PDT by Snickering Hound
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To: Covenantor; Paladin2

35 posted on 10/08/2018 8:48:33 AM PDT by kiryandil (Never pick a fight with an angry beehive)
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To: ground_fog

This guy better stick to the constitution. He is already virtue signaling

*************

Despite all the euphoria over his appointment, there a potential for him to overcompensate. This virtue signaling is a little ominous.


36 posted on 10/08/2018 8:48:44 AM PDT by Starboard
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To: SeekAndFind

Justice Kavanaugh said in his testimony last month that he had started to take action to address the underrepresentation of women among law clerks after reading a 2006 article in The New York Times noting that only seven of 37 Supreme Court clerks were women.

Exactly what I didn’t like about him.
People should be given a position because of their qualifications, not what’s between their legs - and you’d think ANY rational person interested in fairness would realize that.


37 posted on 10/08/2018 8:49:57 AM PDT by Pravious
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To: Right Brother

Oldest daughter looks like wife, while youngest looks like BK imo.


38 posted on 10/08/2018 8:50:13 AM PDT by gcparent (Justice Brett Kavanaugh)
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To: SeekAndFind

Genteel bigotry.

I don’t like it.

This is just as sexist as intentionally bringing in only males.

So much for balance and diverse viewpoints.


39 posted on 10/08/2018 8:50:31 AM PDT by Iron Munro (If Illegals Voted Republican 66 Million Democrats Would Be Screaming "Build The Wall !")
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To: goldstategop

This is an easy one: prospective victims.


40 posted on 10/08/2018 8:51:41 AM PDT by all the best
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