Minority rule

Think the Senate is undemocratic now? Wait until 2040. https://t.co/diWvfLXHPn

— Philip Bump (@pbump) July 12, 2018

I want to repeat a statistic I use in every talk: by 2040 or so, 70 percent of Americans will live in 15 states. Meaning 30 percent will choose 70 senators. And the 30% will be older, whiter, more rural, more male than the 70 percent. Unsettling to say the least https://t.co/EGPD5nE4qG

— Norman Ornstein (@NormOrnstein) July 10, 2018

In the age of minority rule, a Supreme Court justice appointed by a president who got fewer votes is confirmed by a party in the Senate that got fewer votes, to validate policies opposed by most Americans: https://t.co/HoCoFnXnZV

— Paul Waldman (@paulwaldman1) July 10, 2018

America’s electoral system is skewed in favour of rural Republicans. To maintain the trust of the people, the world’s oldest constitutional democracy needs reform. Our cover this week https://t.co/mfCZfNED5u pic.twitter.com/OLxN96sDsA

— The Economist (@TheEconomist) July 12, 2018

"Our Constitution is under attack from within. Voter suppression and gerrymandering have made it possible for a minority of voters to elect a majority of representatives at both state and federal levels." #NHpolitics https://t.co/XqNCxSupkm

— Let America Vote (@letamericavote) July 21, 2018

Excellent satire on the Supreme Court pick

This was a funny column posted before the nomination,

.@BorowitzReport: Putin Reportedly Has Made Final Supreme Court Choice https://t.co/INtMUd4Ieh pic.twitter.com/ixDpgoggpB

— The New Yorker (@NewYorker) July 10, 2018

Never forget how Republicans treated Garland

Republicans stole a Supreme Court seat. That has permanent ramifications.

Don’t worry @SenateMajLdr.

So long as Brett Kavanaugh is treated with the same courtesy and respect that Merrick Garland was given, everything will work out just fine. https://t.co/awvuJyzBwh

— Andrew Weinstein (@Weinsteinlaw) July 10, 2018

White House: "The last Supreme Court nominees, the last two, one from this president and one from the last president, went from nomination to confirmation in 66 days. We think that's a pretty good benchmark."

Merrick Garland was nominated from March 2016 until January 2017. pic.twitter.com/F7CEBnDbrw

— MSNBC (@MSNBC) July 10, 2018

McConnell announced his opposition to confirming any Obama nominee within an hour or so after news broke of Justice Scalia’s death on February 13, 2016, 32 days before Judge Garland was nominated. https://t.co/2ehDLfZw0i https://t.co/bFH0m70vwG

— southpaw (@nycsouthpaw) June 28, 2018

The Republicans kept a Supreme Court seat vacant for nearly a year, refusing to give Merrick Garland a hearing. Yet Trump claims voting “no” is unprecedented? https://t.co/prIo0tLQBp

— Renato Mariotti (@renato_mariotti) April 23, 2018

I wonder who said this in 2016 while refusing to hold a vote on Merrick Garland: "The American people deserve to have a voice in the selection of their next Supreme Court Justice."

Nov elections are in only 4 months. There should be no confirmation vote until after the elections https://t.co/Byh7pgUCvy

— Ted Lieu (@tedlieu) July 10, 2018

Hatch voted against Kagan and Sotomayor, and then said Garland shouldn't get a hearing. https://t.co/LtZzPWTIGs

— Adam Smith (@asmith83) July 10, 2018

"In his forthcoming memoir, President Obama will reflect on his 'no drama Obama' governing style, so radically different from that of his successor," writes @EleanorClift. "But will he acknowledge the limits of his signature restraint?" https://t.co/ZAMw81X7O6

— The Daily Beast (@thedailybeast) July 10, 2018

Politics and Trump’s Supreme Court pick

The opposition party has been much less likely to back SCOTUS nominees of late, and Trump has the smallest majority of any president in decades. https://t.co/Md6Lm9r240

— Philip Bump (@pbump) July 9, 2018

“Republican-appointed justices have now constituted the majority of the Court for five decades in a row”

I will be 65 later this year. There has never been a Chief Justice appointed by a Democrat in my lifetime.

Although the ideology of the Supreme Court has shifted quite a lot since the 1930s, its partisanship can be separated pretty neatly into two eras. Republican-appointed justices have now constituted the majority of the Court for five decades in a row. pic.twitter.com/1ZjS2jEhF4

— Patrick Egan (@Patrick_J_Egan) July 7, 2018

The difference between a conservative court and a court with a right-leaning agenda

This is a very thoughtful analysis by a conservative.

It states “In several of the most controverted areas that the Court has entered and in which its decisions have had a profound effect on law and on our national life—voting rights, gerrymandering, affirmative action, abortion, campaign finance, and most recently mandatory agency fees to public sector unions—the Court has undermined or overturned precedents that embodied longstanding and difficult compromise settlements of sharply opposed interests and principles. These decisions are not the work of a conservative Court.”

Worth reading from Ronald Reagan’s Solicitor General, Charles Fried, on the confusion between a conservative Court and a Court with a right-leaning agenda: https://t.co/65LpiJVFLa

— Laurence Tribe (@tribelaw) July 7, 2018

Prior Democratic votes on Supreme Court finalists

They have already been voted on by the Senate for lower judicial positions. I expect Trump’s nominee to be approved by a small margin.

Of the five most talked-about SCOTUS finalists:
–Three Dems voted for Barrett (Kaine, Manchin, Donnelly)
–One Dem voted for Kavanaugh (Carper)
–No Dems voted against Hardiman (95-0)
–No Dems voted against Kethledge (voice vote)
–All Dems voted against Thapar

— Seung Min Kim (@seungminkim) July 2, 2018

Five Supreme Court facts

The average tenure of a Supreme Court justice is nearly 17 years https://t.co/qd0xkN2qX3 pic.twitter.com/RC8K3kiF9N

— Pew Research Center (@pewresearch) July 1, 2018

An explanation of the Supreme Court ruling against unions

The Supreme Court's decision is a major blow to the unions that represent teachers, firefighters, police officers, and other public employees throughout the United States.

But it also threatens the entire labor union movement. https://t.co/1jmH0cTbIx

— Vox (@voxdotcom) July 1, 2018