Courting Disaster and Other Things to Avoid

Now that Trump has nominated Brett Kavanaugh to sit on the Supreme Court I don't have any much to add to what I wrote here on June 28, the day after Justice Anthony Kennedy announced his resignation  Feel free to read it if you missed it the first time around.

The only thing I'll add is that, no, I don't like much of what I've heard discussed about Mr. Kavanaugh -- but I don't particularly like much about any of the people on Trump's short list, or long list, and for all I know if he had to nominate someone else that person would be worse.

Which leaves us with the various points of my original article.  The very short version is -- so, what is the end game if you're a Democrat, liberal, progressive or non-fascist?  The only three options I can see are 1) block the nomination, fight it off until the mid-term election, hope you win the majority of the Senate (which is a long-shot), and keep blocking Supreme Court nominees for two more years, 2) block the nomination, don't take over the Senate and the Trump nominee will eventually get approved, or 3) try your best to block the nomination, but he gets approved despite your best efforts.

None seem very appealing.  And unfortunately the latter two worst are the most likely.

I hate that, gallingly so, but I'm not depressed by it.  There are two reasons for that (which I discuss at length in the original article):  one is that this nomination (whether or not Kavanaugh gets approved) will energize Democrats at the mid-term polls even more than they are.  And it will do so far more than it will energize Republicans, since they already got their nomination.  And the other reason is that if Roe v. Wade gets ripped apart or reversed, horrible though that will be, abortions will still be available in most states, and the states where it isn't, women voters of both parties will likely be outraged, and it risks destroying the Republican Party at the next election, which is 2020 that is a census year.  

I completely understand that a situation where "most states" still have legal abortion is filled with problems and not even remotely A Good Thing.  But for a terrible situation, it shows that there are seriously strong positives that can came from it, which is far more than one usually gets in most terrible situations.

Oh, okay, there's a third reason I'm not depressed -- it doesn't do me any good.  There's too much focus that has to be put on the mid-term elections.  And besides, the Supreme Court doesn't write and pass laws, it determines the constitutionality of laws.  Which is all the more reason to focus on the mid-terms -- not just nationally but in state elections, as well.

The Republican Party will likely get what they want with this nomination.  As the old adage goes, be careful what you wish for...  Because there is another adage -- the Law of Unintended Consequences.

The original article says it here in far more detail and much better.

​Oh, and here's wishing good health to Ruth Bader Ginsberg.