if this SCOTUS pick is really just to protect Trump, then

[garybeck]

i suggest the best way out of this is to take control of congress, block everything he tries to do for 2 years, and in the meantime let Mueller build all the evidence, and the day he leaves office, hand him a long list of indictments, with no SCOTUS to protect him.

[CincyDem]

1. It's not whether Kavanaugh will protect Trump - that's given...

...even without the writings about executive protections, you damn weil know that ANY pick was going to be quizzed about his/her leanings in a Mueller vs. Trump SCOTUS cage match. He could pick Wilie Coyote but only after Wiliie put his little paw on The Art of The Deal and pledged his loyalty to Trump.

To me, this is going to hinge on that little noticed four letter word that defines our laws - FIVE. As a result, the only Justice who matter is the ideological center justice because he/she makes FIVE.

With Kennedy's ignoble retirement, Roberts becomes the ideological center of the court and, as a result, he who defines the outcome. He becomes FIVE in any decision. As goes Roberts so goes the Court because Roberts is now the middle, not because he's Chief. It had been Kennedy, it's now Roberts, and at some point (likely with the next vacancy if in Trump-era) it will be Alito. Let that sink in...Samuel Alito could be defining voice in our Judiciary.

Kavanaugh can believe all he wants about presidential protections but he's got to convince Roberts...and that's no more a sure thing than convincing Kennedy. If fact, knowing what we now know about Kennedy's familial relationship with Trump's money, Roberts could actually be a more impartial judge toward Trump than Kennedy. Wouldn't that be a classic screwing if (please by the grace all that is holy) Roberts becomes the deciding vote against Trump when it's likely in the day of "he's a great kid", Kennedy might have sided with Trump. From my lips to God's ears - please.

There's a chart somewhere showing how the middle of the court has moved over time and it shows that a justice actually does move more to the center (on some scale that's generally accepted as representative of an individual's leanings). Kennedy, Day, White - they all moved once they were the middle.

This one hurts but RGB or Breyer...that's the one that's going to change the next 40 years because I can see Roberts moving center but Alito's feet are nailed to the floor out there in right which f'ckistan...it's the next move that takes us from the potentially reasonable Roberts to the insanity of Alito...fasten seatbelts.

All IMHO opinion of course.

PS - that same chart shows how brilliant, albeit uninspiring, Garland was because he moved the middle to Breyer. Imagine all those 5-4 decisions against labor, women's health, the commons...image if Breyer was the guiding opinion vs. Kennedy. Ahhhhh...we can dream.

And "F'ck Mitch".

[duforsure]

2. What I wonder is

Was Justice Kennedy blackmailed, using his son's trump connections for loans for trump, to replace him after they couldn't depend on his vote. Was this their plan to protect trump with all along by forcing Kennedy out?

[dansolo]

3. I feel like Kennedy was influenced with more than just his retirement timing

I realize that Kennedy is firmly conservative, but the decisions is his last term seemed to swing further to the right, and then his retirement timing. I think they got to him and convinced him to not only retire now, but to keep these most recent decisions decided in favor of the more conservative opinion.