Lindsey Graham Attempts A Court-Packin'

Someone's not seeming too confident about November.

With 193 Senate confirmations , Donald fucking Trump has already appointed 51 (nearly 30 percent) federal circuit court judges, 141 district judges, and two Supreme Court justices. All in all, Trump appointees account for more than 20 percent of the entire federal bench to lifetime appointments.

But wait, there's more! The fact that the three-man team of Trump, McConnell, and Graham have already destroyed the federal judiciary for probably the rest of my life just isn't enough for these assholes. So yesterday, Trump fanboi Lindsey Graham went on right wing nutjob Hugh Hewitt's show to tell older, conservative judges that now is the time to retire!

Just when you think things can't get any worse than they already are, here comes Lindsey Graham to save the day.

As Graham explained to Hewitt, older judges are eligible to take senior status, a form of semi-retirement that would allow Trump to appoint their replacements. So why not do it now and swear fealty to Our Dear Leader?!

Well, so the point is, and this is an historic opportunity. We've put over 200 federal judges on the bench. I think one in five federal judges are Trump appointees. If you can get four more years, I mean, it would change the judiciary for several generations. So if you're a Circuit judge in your mid-60s, late 60s, you can take senior status, now would be a good time to do that if you want to make sure the judiciary is right of center. This is a good time to do it.

 Remember when Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said that grandparents should totally be willing to get COVID-19 and die, to save the stock market for their grandchildren? This is kind of like that, except with retirement instead of dying a painful death, alone in a coronavirus ward. And instead of dying for the sake of the holy stock market, you'll be retiring for the sake of ensuring our federal judiciary is a fascist hellhole for decades to come!

But don't wait too long, or Lindsey won't have time to put your young, bootlicking replacement on the bench!

Hugh Hewitt: If they are an originalist eligible right now and they are listening to Lindsey Graham, chairman, can you assure them that their successor will indeed be confirmed before the election?

Lindsey Graham: Well, if you wait, you know, November the 1st, no. So do it now.

And, just to make it totally clear what lying hypocrites Senate Republicans are, Graham also talked about how all of their excuses for refusing to even hold hearings on Merrick Garland's nomination were actually complete bullshit, and if Trump were to get the chance to appoint one — or even two! — SCOTUS justices before leaving office, he and McConnell would happily oblige.

I think that would be the goal. I mean, you know, the Merrick Garland situation was a party in the White House and a different party in the Senate. That doesn't lie here. Election year confirmations would be contentious, but you know, the Democrats changed the rules so they could pack the Circuit Court. They did away with the blue slips requiring a majority vote for Circuit Courts. We changed the rules for the Supreme Court. So if a vacancy did occur, and I don't expect one to, I hope everybody has a long, healthy 2020 on the Court, that you would see an effort by Republicans, I'm sure, to fill the vacancy.

REMEMBER WHEN MITCH MCCONNELL, LINDSEY GRAHAM, AND THE ENTIRE REPUBLICAN PARTY INSISTED THAT IT WAS UNDEMOCRATIC TO CONFIRM A SUPREME COURT JUSTICE IN AN ELECTION YEAR??? WE SURE DO.

But, like we all knew at the time, McConnell's refusal to give Merrick Garland a fair hearing had absolutely nothing to do with an actual principle. The only thing McConnell cares about is solidifying his own power and the power of other shitty, fascist, evil, rightwing white men.

The only bright side in all of this is that it shows, once again, that Republicans are scared Trump is going to lose to Joe Biden in November. If they were confident of a win, they wouldn't be trying to pressure federal judges into retiring so they can appoint replacements.

After 2016, however, it's hard to have a lot of faith in knowing where things will land on election day. The damage the Trump regime and Mitch McConnell's mafioso fuckery have already done to the federal judiciary is nearly unthinkable. Another four years of appointing young, authoritarian white dudes handpicked by the Federalist Society and it's hard to see a way out of this that doesn't involve our entire federal court system screwing over the people for at least the next half-century.

Let's not let Trump win again, k?

[ Hugh Hewitt ]

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