Martin Longman is the web editor of the Washington Monthly.
He is also the founder of Booman Tribune and Progress Pond. Before joining the Monthly, Martin was a county coordinator for ACORN/Project Vote and a political consultant. He has a degree in philosophy from Western Michigan University.
I hope you’re right, Martin. I wonder if many people will engage around restrictive court rulings. Certainly a lot of people will be outraged, but those are mostly the folks who are already active. Will those who aren’t reliable Democrats get activated to support our candidates? We’ll see.
In theory, quite correct. But other than the abortion jackpot, I wonder if (expected) “conservative” rulings on any of these will outrage the generally oblivious non-“conservative” electorate. It would be surprising for Team Conservative head coach Roberts (and now preposterously the “swing” vote) to intentionally incite the sane secular wing of the electorate in a prez election year. And Roberts is much more a “conservative” activist than a legitimate federal judge. The Court takes almost all its cases on its own discretion. 4 Justices have to vote to take a case in order for it to be heard. There are… Read more »
I’ll just register the view that overturning DACA isn’t (or at least, may not be) a “win-win” for the Right. Ruling against “innocent kids” could/will also outrage some centrist voters who think “illegal immigrants” should be sent back because they didn’t “wait their turn”, but who also think it’s not fair to deport adults who were brought here as young kids and have known no other country.
Abortion is another issue where centrists could react against the extremists taking control of national policy. Ditto for gay rights, and criminal justice issues.
I think Roberts wants another conservative seat on the Supreme Court first. Ideally he would be able to dissent from the majority for some technical reason, protecting his status as impartial and scrupulous, while getting the conservative rulings he really wants. He may therefore postpone any big decisions until after the election, obviously hoping for another GOP president, and then another new appointment. In the meantime, he will go for narrow rulings that keep the prospects alive for bigger decisions, and wait until it is a 6-3 court before completely revamping American law.
I hope you’re right, Martin. I wonder if many people will engage around restrictive court rulings. Certainly a lot of people will be outraged, but those are mostly the folks who are already active. Will those who aren’t reliable Democrats get activated to support our candidates? We’ll see.
In theory, quite correct. But other than the abortion jackpot, I wonder if (expected) “conservative” rulings on any of these will outrage the generally oblivious non-“conservative” electorate. It would be surprising for Team Conservative head coach Roberts (and now preposterously the “swing” vote) to intentionally incite the sane secular wing of the electorate in a prez election year. And Roberts is much more a “conservative” activist than a legitimate federal judge. The Court takes almost all its cases on its own discretion. 4 Justices have to vote to take a case in order for it to be heard. There are… Read more »
Interesting comment, thanks.
I’ll just register the view that overturning DACA isn’t (or at least, may not be) a “win-win” for the Right. Ruling against “innocent kids” could/will also outrage some centrist voters who think “illegal immigrants” should be sent back because they didn’t “wait their turn”, but who also think it’s not fair to deport adults who were brought here as young kids and have known no other country.
Abortion is another issue where centrists could react against the extremists taking control of national policy. Ditto for gay rights, and criminal justice issues.
I think Roberts wants another conservative seat on the Supreme Court first. Ideally he would be able to dissent from the majority for some technical reason, protecting his status as impartial and scrupulous, while getting the conservative rulings he really wants. He may therefore postpone any big decisions until after the election, obviously hoping for another GOP president, and then another new appointment. In the meantime, he will go for narrow rulings that keep the prospects alive for bigger decisions, and wait until it is a 6-3 court before completely revamping American law.