Posted on 12/11/2018 1:01:49 PM PST by Liberty7732
New U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh has been exactly what many of us who preferred other potential high court nominees, such as Amy Coney Barrett, thought he would be — avoiding controversy and hewing too closely to stare decisis, making legal decisions based on previous legal rulings rather than the wording of the law.
And it’s possible that the dirtiest, meanest, most reprehensible of all confirmation hearings may have made him even more hesitant to take on the most controversial issues of our time — particularly the kingpin of them all: abortion.
This was revealed again Monday when the Supreme Court declined to accept two lower-court rulings that blocked states from cutting off funding to Planned Parenthood — what seems like an eminently states’ rights issue. In that decision, Kavanaugh joined one moderate justice and all of the Court’s liberal justices in letting the lower court ruling stand.
It kind of makes a farce of all the shrill hysteria about how Kavanaugh was going to return women to back-alley, coat-hanger abortions. Of course, the whole hearing and surrounding leftist circus was a sham from beginning to bitter end — including threats to try to impeach Kavanaugh.
The Washington Post reported:
New Justice Brett Kavanaugh did not join the court’s three most conservative members in calling to accept the cases. Justice Clarence Thomas rebuked his colleagues for what he said was a dodge, attributing it to their aversion to taking up the issue of abortion that lurked in the case.
“Some tenuous connection to a politically fraught issue does not justify abdicating our judicial duty,” Thomas wrote. “If anything, neutrally applying the law is all the more important when political issues are in the background.”
Thomas’s dissent from the court’s decision to pass on the case revealed a split among the court’s five conservatives: Justices Samuel Alito Jr. and Neil Gorsuch signed on to the statement. Kavanaugh and Chief Justice John Roberts Jr. did not.
Four justices are required to vote in favor of accepting a case. So essentially, Kavanaugh was the deciding vote, and he went with moderate Roberts and the liberals on the court.
So much hysteria in September. So little need.
Louisiana and Kansas announced plans to end funding for Planned Parenthood through Medicaid after an anti-abortion group released videos in 2015 that revealed Planned Parenthood executives laughingly discussing the sale of baby parts. Both were challenged in Gee v. Planned Parenthood of Gulf Coast and Andersen v. Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri.
The two cases raise the issue of whether individuals receiving Medicaid — which is dispensed through each state — have a right to challenge a state’s decision to cut off funding to Planned Parenthood. Five lower courts said the recipients of Medicaid do, while one said they do not.
Typically when there is a split at the appeals court level, the Supreme Court will take the case to make the final ruling. Justice Clarence Thomas was clearly frustrated when he wrote his dissent on the decision.
“What explains the court’s refusal to do its job here? I suspect it has something to do with the fact that some respondents in these cases are named ‘Planned Parenthood,” he wrote. “It is true that these particular cases arose after several states alleged that Planned Parenthood affiliates had, among other things, engaged in ‘the illegal sale of fetal organs’ and ‘fraudulent billing practices,’ and thus removed Planned Parenthood as a state Medicaid provider.”
But Thomas went on to explain this was not an abortion issue. At stake are the rights of individuals under a major federal law.
“…these cases are not about abortion rights. They are about private rights of action under the Medicaid Act. Resolving the question presented here would not even affect Planned Parenthood’s ability to challenge the states’ decisions.”
Still, Roberts and Kavanaugh ducked it. There will be more opportunities. But the trendline is not good.
If the Democrats takeaway is that even when they cannot stop a nominee they can scar the person into less conservative action, nominations will become even worse — if possible.
jump, like a kangaroo,
= = =
We have Elephants and Donkeys
On the continuum from Elephant to Donkey, where does Kangaroo fit?
“And it’s possible that the dirtiest, meanest, most reprehensible of all confirmation hearings may have made him even more hesitant to take on the most controversial issues of our time — particularly the kingpin of them all: abortion.”
Nope, the #1 issue is protecting the 2nd Amendment.
Tbis was not a court ruling, it was a procedural decision not to hear a case.
If people now think that Kavanaugh is too liberal, based on this one specific procedure,I’m speechless. Let’s see his opinions on actual cases. His lower court opinions were quite conservative weren’t they?
We all want states rights to be the law, right? Well, sometimes some states are going to rule in favor of left wing views. That’s the way the ball bounces sometimes, unfortunately.
I’m not the sharpest knife in the drawer, but this website is filled with ‘effing morons.
There are no law schools that don’t teach the Elastic Constitution Theory. Any actual Originalists have to be self-educated and better obscure their opinions in careful language if they intend to move up as judges.
P.S. — Not YOU, of course. LOL.
I will wait a few more ruling’s to judge the situation. All of this is about him not using the case to make a ruling on the constitution. This Might of dealt with funding abortion but its constitutional issue had nothing to do with abortion. What would of been ruled on if it was taken up by the court was the constitutionality of the state banning the use of state money in a fedral program. the justices have to look at that issue if it is taken up not the morality of the abortion... Here is to hoping That this justice ends up not being a big disapointment
Yeah, that's where I'm at.
“Maybe Democrats Won On Brett Kavanaugh After All”
N absurd title that reminds me why I dont read conservative blogs anymore than I read leftist ones.
“If people now think that Kavanaugh is too liberal, based on this one specific procedure,I’m speechless. “
Dont be.
I learned in the past few years that our side has many stupid knee-jerkers as the other.
Roberts was never an originalist. I remember that he was called a “minimalist”, which meant that he liked narrow decisions. It didn’t say anything about his faithfulness to the Constitution.
Justice White wasn’t so bad. He was consistently against abortion. But he was an exception.
the GOP congress should have defunded Planned Parenthood
**************
The GOP congress could have done lots of things. But they didn’t. They’re not there for us; they’re there for themselves.
Sadly, we keep electing and re-electing these bums. They play us every election cycle. Maybe one day voters will start voting on the basis of results instead of lies. Maybe.
It may take some time to discern what his trajectory will be--an unreliable Kennedy or a trustworthy Alito. I do not see him as another Thomas. But then there will only be one Justice Thomas anyway.
The whole tactic wasn’t to derail his nomination (although they would have gladly accepted that). It was to neuter him for the future. That didn’t take long at all. Mission accomplished!
No. Everyone is running around with their hair on fire. The injunction is a preliminary. Justice Thomas is most likely correct. That does not mean the court will never take this up. Roberts (phew) and Kavanaugh maybe waiting to see what loser court does
Planned Parenthood was founded for the purpose of controlling poor/minority populations. The white people who run the GOP consider PP funding one of the best investments the U.S. government can ever make.
No need to give up on the guy just because of 1 decision we don’t like. He’ll still be much better than Kennedy.
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