07-13-2023, 12:23 AM
(07-12-2023, 08:47 PM)hollodero Wrote: Phew, this seems like a tough stance to take. What constitutes undermining faith is a vague term to begin with, and to call it more egregious than rioting in the Capitol to overthrow an election? Imho, that is a stretch.
And it's not a given all branches of government deserve full faith from every non-subversive individual at all times. As a principle that seems like giving them carte blanche and shield them from all scrutiny, which does not seem quite right. It's also hardly a stance many people take on the other two branches, how often is faith in the POTUS undermined? Does anyone have faith in Congress? And as for the current SCOTUS, well all the stories about gifts and donations and so on are getting a bit much to just overlook. And at some point, assuming all alleged deeds were true, I could not fault anyone for losing faith in the institution and say so.
There's a huge difference between the public not having faith in an institution and major figures of two of the three branches of government labeling the third as illegitimate. Criticism is one thing, disagree with a particular decision all you want. But to publicly attack the integrity of the court is beyond the pale. Schumer even directly threatened justices by name in a press conference. So yes, while I don't, and never have, downplayed the events of January 6th, the constant, and public attacks on a bedrock branch of our government by the other two is just as bad, if not worse in regards to long term damage.
Did we not hear about how declaring our elections as illegitimate is a danger to our democracy? How can these attacks be construed differently?
(07-12-2023, 08:49 PM)Belsnickel Wrote: The justices are undermining faith in their branch, themselves. The intention of checks and balances and separation of powers is that there is oversight between the branches of each other. If there are red flags with regards to ethics and impartiality in the judiciary that is 100% the purview of Congress and it is their responsibility to look into that. Far from being an attack on our system it is upholding their constitutional responsibility. As the power of impeachment lies with Congress, it is their responsibility to enact this oversight.
Similar to my answer to Hollo above, there is a massive difference between enacting oversight as a branch of the government, i.e. functioning as intended, and a prolonged, planned and deliberate smear campaign against the judicial branch. The thing is, you're a smart guy you know exactly why it's being done. It's both testing the waters and prepping the public to pack the court with liberal justices to "restore integrity" or whatever bullshit talking point will be used to justify such a naked power grab. It's an especially bad look, considering the court trended liberal for a very long time, with no such advocation for extreme action from the GOP. But the minute the court trended strongly conservative all of the sudden its alarm bells time and there's a need for dramatic action.
Both of you are intelligent and able to see beyond the present. I'd be utterly shocked if you didn't both see the final intent inherent in the current attacks on the SCOTUS.
