https://twitter.com/toddalcott/status/1527966904760954880?s=21&t=HxP2VLVWZlL5vlpAlWCnCA
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Finality is not something the American criminal-justice system has much trouble with. Fans of Law & Order might have the impression that wily defendants and their corrupt lawyers are constantly getting away with crimes, but in practice, trials are extremely rare; upwards of 90 percent of state and federal prosecutions are settled by plea bargain, a process that did not exist at the time of the founding. Originalists know that but tend to accept plea bargains because trials in every case would render the system nonfunctional, and unlike environmental regulations or voting-rights laws, the conveyor belt of mass incarceration is one aspect of government they donât want to toss a wrench into.
Does anyone know what would have happened if RBG died in the lame duck period? I assume they would have still been able to push ACB through?
Mitch wouldâve found a way to push ACB through if RBG died on New Yearâs Day.
I kinda wonder what the absolute latest they could have gotten it done actually would be. January 10th? 15th?
It would have to have been before January 3, when they swore in the new Senate.
So maybe not New Yearâs Day, but probably Christmas.
Democrats didnât have majority until January 20, when the two GA winners were sworn in and Harris took over as tiebreaker.
Could the GOP have confirmed someone with only 50 votes, though?
Yeah, Pence was still VP til 1/20 or whenever.
True, but he could only cast a tie breaking vote and it wouldnât have been a tie at 50-48.
You only need a majority of senators present, not a majority of 100.
post jan 6 they couldnât
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The symmetry between Ginni and Clarence Thomasâ work has never been more obvious. While Clarence fought to give state legislatures the constitutional authority to reject election results, Ginni lobbied state legislators to do exactly that. A casual observer might assume they were working in tandem, with Clarence handling the law and Ginni working on the political side. They arenât particularly subtle about it. You need only read Ginniâs emails and Clarenceâs opinions to see exactly how the 2024 coup attempt will go down because itâs identical to the 2020 coup attempt: If a Democrat prevails, red state officials will question the legitimacy of the results, giving state legislatures an opportunity to throw them out and declare the Republican to be the real winner. This has nothing to do with liberals squelching Ginni Thomasâ feminist drive to have a separate and distinct political life apart from that of her spouse. More power to her. This has everything to do with two public actors working together to ensure that red state legislatures decide future elections in lieu of the voters.
The question remaining isnât whether itâll happen; the question is whether itâll succeed. The Thomases tried this approach in 2020, but like Trumpâs other allies, they developed their strategy a bit too late and didnât buff out the crackpot edges until recently. But this time theyâre putting in the work with plenty of time to spare. If Republicans succeed in pulling off a much more respectable coup in 2024, Americans will have every right to be furious and appalled. But no one will have any excuse to be surprised, because Clarence, Ginni, Eastman, Clark, and their many powerful friends are currently laying out the game plan right before our eyes.
Anyone? Try everyone. Even you know exactly what would have happened.
Well I was looking for any kind of hard stop, like the new Senate being sworn in on Jan. 5th (which I wasnât thinking about) or other lawbro reason why they couldnât after a certain point.
do you mean politically or legally?
politically they lost like 20 senators for a few weeks
they would have voted for a scoutus vacancy though
i donât think so. it only takes one or two weak hearted senators to go to cancun for the weekend, and proceedings can be ground to a halt. i donât know if minority had a chance to filibuster for a couple of days. iâm saying for a brief moment there were republicans thinking theyâd have to defect. before they saw that they could have gotten away with it.