Eyeing second Supreme Court seat

[struggle4progress]

BY LYDIA WHEELER - 04/23/17 10:30 AM EDT 3,099

... Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) said this week that another opening could come as soon as this summer, and there have been rumors that Justice Anthony Kennedy, often a swing voter on the court, could retire soon ...

http://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/329981-trump-eyeing-second-supreme-court-seat

[Hoyt]

1. Before his term is over, I think Trump might get as many as 4 picks. A real long-term problem.

[NurseJackie]

2. Susan Sarandon doesn't think so. As far as she's concerned, it's all good.

#FuckYouSusanSarandon

[CrispyQ]

3. How can it be anything but the end of the country as we know it?

And if President Pence is the one making the selection, is that any better? If what you state happens, they get four picks, we are fucked forever.

[Igel]

4. You know, almost every news story--and I use the term lightly--

has one of two things going for it. The same is true for posts.

This is NYT, Guardian, ad-hoc discussion threads, the WP ...

They make heavy use of modality, "could, would, might, may". It's not reporting what is or even making an assertion about what is very likely, or even merely probable. It's making an assertion about what is possible.

It's possible that all the air in the room I'm in, through random motion, will momentarily all wind up located in the upper NW corner. The odds are very, very much against it, however. Still, it's possible.


The other is to write about emotions such as fear, dread, terror, disappointment about such possibilities. These aren't news. These are responses to possibilities. It's nice to read about other people living in terror, but when fear-reinforcing and preaching is the lifeblood of a press, it's mostly not just an echo chamber, but an emotional echo chamber.


The problem is when you start seeing the possibilities elevated to probabilities elevated to almost certain outcomes, then you see the reaction to these possibilities taken as responses to fact. They're not fact. I can be afraid of what-ifs all day. While I understand a lot of that is a harebrained motivational technique to get people out and protesting or organizing, at the same time I like evidence- and reality-based emotions.

[Hoyt]

5. Fact is, he hasn't even completed 10% of term. It is quite likely, he'll get 3 or 4 picks.

As to "could, might, etc.," he might only get Gorsuch. But I think he'll get Kennedy, Ginzburg, and will bet on one more we don't suspect right now.

One was too many.