Discover and read the best of Twitter Threads about #KBJ
Most recents (18)
The first Black woman vice president, @VP @KamalaHarris presides over the vote confirming Judge #KetanjiBrownJackson to the Supreme Court. What a moment in Black history and American history! 🙅🏿♀️🎉
Every no vote will be remembered. Trust. And the Republican Party will pay for it for a generation.
Watching all the bitter old white guys on the Republican side as #KBJ makes history is making me strangely giddy, honestly. May their Dixiecrat anger burn deep and long. History has defied their precious founders, who never, ever intended this day to be. We will revel in our joy!
A sobering read: @ProfMMurray on what the #KBJ confirmation hearings presage about the coming conservative jihad to strip us of our rights, backed by a court majority that scoffs at precedents… washingtonpost.com/outlook/2022/0…
A clip-and a reminder that the only federal rights enumerated in the original U.S. constitution belonged to land-owning white men. Women had none. Black people were slaves. The indigenous, disabled, LGBT etc had zip. So “originalism” essentially means states can exclude them all. 
That logic could undo everything from Brown v Board to Loving, to the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts to Roe to the rulings affirming legalized contraception, same sex marriage, affirmative action, and on and on. Hard to argue that’s not the slope we’re on. One more clip:
The dark money/court capture group @judicialnetwork just announced a $1.5M ad buy. The ad takes a jab at #KBJ, but mostly peddles a vanity project/film about Clarence Thomas.
The story behind this hagiography + ad campaign is what’s really revealing.
Let’s follow the $$$. 🧵
The story behind this hagiography + ad campaign is what’s really revealing.
Let’s follow the $$$. 🧵
First, the ad buyer:
JCN is part of Leonard Leo’s web that has raised nearly $600M in recent years to capture the Supreme Court + reshape the law. The ultimate goal: reverse a century of legal precedents disliked by Leo and his super-rich secret funders.
truenorthresearch.org/2022/03/leonar…
JCN is part of Leonard Leo’s web that has raised nearly $600M in recent years to capture the Supreme Court + reshape the law. The ultimate goal: reverse a century of legal precedents disliked by Leo and his super-rich secret funders.
truenorthresearch.org/2022/03/leonar…
JCN’s ad directs viewers to a seemingly revamped site: clarencethomas.com, listing Clarence Thomas as its copyright holder. There you can see the “documentary” “Created Equal.” Here are some of its funders, which we’ll take up one by one.
Over & over in the #KBJ hearings, we’ve heard Republicans make accusations about “left-wing dark money.”
There's a big problem with those attacks:
When they had a chance to vote for financial disclosure/transparency for dark money groups, those Republican Senators opposed it.🧵
There's a big problem with those attacks:
When they had a chance to vote for financial disclosure/transparency for dark money groups, those Republican Senators opposed it.🧵
In 2010, @SenWhitehouse introduced the DISCLOSE Act to combat dark money in response to the Court’s Citizens United decision, which struck down bipartisan fair election rules.
Senate Republicans, with @LeaderMcConnell at the helm, filibustered it.
washingtonpost.com/blogs/2chamber…
Senate Republicans, with @LeaderMcConnell at the helm, filibustered it.
washingtonpost.com/blogs/2chamber…
In 2019, Dems introduced the For the People Act to require disclosure of sources of dark money spent to influence elections.
Charles Koch's “Stand Together” had a secret call with GOP aides to sink the popular bill.
Again, Senate Rs blocked the reform.
newyorker.com/news/news-desk…
Charles Koch's “Stand Together” had a secret call with GOP aides to sink the popular bill.
Again, Senate Rs blocked the reform.
newyorker.com/news/news-desk…
Senator Blackburn's appearances in today & yesterday's SCOTUS hearings delve into a host of culture war issues out of the blue. It’s worth interrogating the origins of these attacks on #JudgeJackson 🧵nytimes.com/2022/03/21/us/…
Blackburn has close ties with a right-wing culture war group that calls itself the “Independent Women’s Forum,” which backed controversial Trump nominees to the Court and has touted its ability to appear neutral.
This week, True North released a report highlighting talking points IWLC, IWF’s legal center, sent to GOP Senators in advance of the hearing. truenorthresearch.org/2022/03/dark-m…
On Cornyn's claim that Judge Jackson called President Bush and Secretary Rumsfeld "war criminals": While a public defender, she filed a habeas petition on behalf of a #GTMO detainee alleging that he had been tortured in violation of int'l law; Bush and Rumsfeld were respondents.
Here's the petition:
scribd.com/document/55663…
Needless to say, the implication that, by filing this brief on behalf of her client, #KBJ *specifically* called Bush and Rumsfeld "war criminals" is, at the very least, misleading.
scribd.com/document/55663…
Needless to say, the implication that, by filing this brief on behalf of her client, #KBJ *specifically* called Bush and Rumsfeld "war criminals" is, at the very least, misleading.
It's also worth noting that allegations of government torture of detainees like the ones in the petition have been to a significant degree borne out by subsequent investigations, including the Senate Intelligence Committee's report on the CIA RDI program:
feinstein.senate.gov/public/_cache/…
feinstein.senate.gov/public/_cache/…
When asked about her judicial philosophy, #KBJ talks about all the right things—neutrality, judges staying in their lane, rejecting a living Constitution, looking at original public meaning. But talk is cheap and her record shows otherwise. /1 foxnews.com/opinion/suprem…
Jackson is trying to sound like an originalist/textualist because that’s what Americans want from their judges.
They don't want judges who are going to be politicians in robes rubber-stamping radical left-wing policies. /2
They don't want judges who are going to be politicians in robes rubber-stamping radical left-wing policies. /2
Jackson also tries to have it both ways when she makes such statements while saying she has no clear approach to judging. /3
Wondering where the misleading narrative about #JudgeJackson pushed by Sen. Hawley yesterday — re criminal sentences — comes from? Spoiler: it has dark money origins 🧵
It appears this line of attack originated via the American Accountability Foundation, an outfit with clear links to Conservative Partnership Institute that was launched in 2021 to oppose Biden’s nominees.
It was then promoted in a separate “report” by the Article III Project (A3P), another right-wing outfit that received almost all its known funding from the dark money Concord Fund in 2019.
🧵 It's on. Day #2 of the nomination hearing.
Today the members of the Senate Judiciary Committee will have 30 minutes each to question Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson.
#KBJ
1/
Today the members of the Senate Judiciary Committee will have 30 minutes each to question Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson.
#KBJ
1/
Chair Durbin welcomes KBJ and warns her that today is a "trial by ordeal." Addressing his colleagues, he said, "Speeches don't have to be eternal to be immortal."
She smiled
2/
She smiled
2/
Durbin begins by referencing critics who ask about her judicial philosophy. No one is questioning her credentials or ability. "Would you like to comment for those looking for a label" on your judicial philosophy.
3/
3/
“President* Trump is wrong. I had no right to overturn the election… Frankly there is almost no idea more un-American than the notion that any one person could choose the American president.”
@Mike_Pence (on Feb 4, 2022) #LegitimatePoliticalDiscourse?
@Mike_Pence (on Feb 4, 2022) #LegitimatePoliticalDiscourse?
“If I run and if I win we will treat those people from January 6 fairly. And if it requires pardons, we will give them pardons because they are being treated so unfairly.”
Donald Trump dangling pardons for insurrectionists, 1/29/22
Donald Trump dangling pardons for insurrectionists, 1/29/22
“Lincoln said those who embrace sedition and turn backs on the Constitution threaten to ‘destroy the only democracy in existence and prove for all time — to both future Americans and the world — that a government of the people could not survive.’”@tribelaw
“727 insurrectionists arrested… Who else should be jailed for this unsuccessful coup?” @colbertlateshow
“The threat to our democracy is so grave that we must find a way to pass these voting rights bills. Debate them, vote… If that bare minimum is blocked, we have no option but to change the Senate rules, including getting rid of the filibuster.” @JoeBiden
“[President* Trump] was in the dining room, gleefully watching on his TV as he often did — ‘look at all of the people fighting for me’ — hitting rewind, watching it again…”
former White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham to CNN
former White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham to CNN
“We must decide what kind of nation we [will] be. Are we going to be a nation that accepts political violence as a norm? Are we going to be a nation where we allow partisan election officials to overturn the legally expressed will of the people?” @JoeBiden
“727 insurrectionists arrested… Who else should be jailed for this unsuccessful coup?” @colbertlateshow
"We've seen a lot in these last 4.5 years of Donald Trump and nothing, in my experience, was more serious than this attempt to overthrow a lawful election, corrupting and weaponizing the Department of Justice. Absolutely horrifying."
@SenBlumenthal @maddow
@SenBlumenthal @maddow
"The very purpose of this law is to chill people. Not just abortion providers in Texas, but to chill the entire community of people who want to help women right now into second guessing whether they’ll be on the hook."
Dahlia Lithwick @maddow #WHPA #Bounty
Dahlia Lithwick @maddow #WHPA #Bounty
“What I believe is unprecedented is for a member of House leadership of either party to be unable to condemn incitement of violence against a member of this body… What is so hard about saying that this is wrong?”
@AOC House speech, November 17, 2021
@AOC House speech, November 17, 2021
“What is it that caused thousands of people to assault this building and try to overturn the Constitution? …What is wrong with having some situational understanding about the country for which we are here to defend?”
Joint Chiefs Chair General Mark Milley
Joint Chiefs Chair General Mark Milley
“Guaranteeing the right to vote and ensuring every vote is counted has always been the most patriotic thing we can do… John Lewis said, ‘Freedom is not a state; it is an act.’ …We WILL act… For our democracy, for America itself, we MUST act.” @JoeBiden
Tom Brady: “Not a lot of people think that we could have won. And in fact I think about 40% of the people still don't think we won.”
President Biden: “I understand that.
President Biden: “I understand that.
"You can be in favor or against more government regulation and still have home in the Republican Party… The ONLY thing you cannot be is in FAVOR of VOTING RIGHTS and against #TheBigLie." @marceelias @DeadlineWH
PLEASE FOLLOW @DemocracyDocket for updates.
PLEASE FOLLOW @DemocracyDocket for updates.
Our United States leadership struggle is no longer Left versus Right.
Our choice is now DEFEND DEMOCRACY or enable DICTATORSHIP.
To DEFEND DEMOCRACY, reject the radicalized Republican Party.
#DemocracyOrDictatorship #ResignRepublican @MeidasTouch
Our choice is now DEFEND DEMOCRACY or enable DICTATORSHIP.
To DEFEND DEMOCRACY, reject the radicalized Republican Party.
#DemocracyOrDictatorship #ResignRepublican @MeidasTouch
“We need TWO political parties in this country that are both LIVING IN REALITY and you (Republicans) ain’t one of them!!“ @TimRyan
#TimRyan @RepTimRyan #TimRyanForSenate
#TimRyan @RepTimRyan #TimRyanForSenate
January 6 was a failed attempt to overthrow American democracy.
By purging Liz Cheney, the Republican Party completed its transformation into a fascist, Authoritarian cult.
OUR DUTY as Americans is to DEFEND DEMOCRACY and #RejectGOPFascism. @MeidasTouch
By purging Liz Cheney, the Republican Party completed its transformation into a fascist, Authoritarian cult.
OUR DUTY as Americans is to DEFEND DEMOCRACY and #RejectGOPFascism. @MeidasTouch
“I am sure Matt Gaetz is not feeling very comfortable today.”
That evergreen sentence was uttered by Fritz Scheller, lawyer for Joel Greenberg, associate of Matt Gaetz (Q-FL), on April 8, 2021:
That evergreen sentence was uttered by Fritz Scheller, lawyer for Joel Greenberg, associate of Matt Gaetz (Q-FL), on April 8, 2021:
“One of the most influential Dark Money groups in Republican circles is WRITING VOTER SUPPRESSION LAWS IN SECRET to make it harder for Black, Brown, and Young people to be able to VOTE.” @AriBerman to @chrislhayes
“Keep pointing this out.” @brooklynmarie
“Keep pointing this out.” @brooklynmarie
NEW: Legal insiders are buzzing about Ketanji Brown Jackson's chances of becoming Biden's first Supreme Court nominee - by the triple-reporting threat of @rbravender @cdechalus & @cryanbarber ($) @thisisinsider businessinsider.com/judge-ketanji-…
The legal world is abuzz over Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson and her potential for soon becoming the first Black woman on the US Supreme Court.
The 50-year-old judge is reportedly the frontrunner to be President Joe Biden's pick to replace Attorney General Merrick Garland on a powerful appeals court that's long been a launch pad to the Supreme Court.
