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Texas Governor Abbott calls for amendments to U.S. Constitution

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and re: "states' rights"

Lee Atwater said:
You start out in 1954 by saying, “Nigger, nigger, nigger.” By 1968 you can’t say “nigger”—that hurts you, backfires. So you say stuff like, uh, forced busing, states’ rights, and all that stuff, and you’re getting so abstract. Now, you’re talking about cutting taxes, and all these things you’re talking about are totally economic things and a byproduct of them is, blacks get hurt worse than whites.… “We want to cut this,” is much more abstract than even the busing thing, uh, and a hell of a lot more abstract than “Nigger, nigger.”
 

jblank83

Member
So he wants to weaken every part of the government except the Senate, allowing US law to be dictated by a non-representative minority of the government (The Senate) and of the people.
 

TAJ

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.
Every one of these is obviously designed to let the majority shit on minorities with impunity.
I have family who would eat this shit up, though. They've literally said, "They can't keep getting away with it! /cry" about the higher courts.
 
Everyone knows what the "state's rights" issue is all about. Conservatives want to be able to make their states like the ones in their fantasies. That is: fucking nutjob levels of conservative, white, Christian and straight, with no accountability upwards for any of the crazy, backwards shit they'd do to try and achieve that.
 
Expected of the tea party nutcase the voters put in office there. It's basically a desire to return to articles of confederation style government, with no real understanding of why that didn't work in the first place. All this woudl do is screw all minorities out of civil rights or restitution, cripple any regulations (allowing unlimited pollution and robber barons, no workplace safety, etc), create 50 easily gerrymandered tinpot dictatorships/despots, and make it basically impossible to function as a nation.
 

RPGCrazied

Member
Ahhh, this doesn't sound good. The things he could do that could hurt people.

And I'm a Texan, so it makes it worse.
 

Big Blue

Member
I think ending lifetime terms could be a start.

As for these proposals, I don't think it is the best course of action either. You render the court system quite useless. Granted, 2/3 majority of presumably state legislatures is a pretty high test, it just doesn't seem like a good idea.

What's the percentage of low population conservative flyover states?
I disagree. The danger of allowing justices to potentially cave in to political pressure is very real if you do that.
 

appaws

Banned
The statements on trying to limit the Supreme Court's power frustrates me. The whole point of the Judicial branch is for there to be impartial, legal analysis of the country's laws and the Constitution. The day you allow the popular vote to override the court is the day this country is finally and truly finished.

The real problem, I think, is that it's solely a presidential duty to nominate new justices. Why isn't this a process of the bar association? The bar association should be able to determine the pool of justices from which the president can make their choice, instead of trusting that the president would nominate a justice on their legal merits alone.

Bar associations are collections of great idiots. And they would never pick based on "legal merits alone" any more than Presidents do. And there is no rule that says justices have to be lawyers. Actually, more of them should not be lawyers.

As for the proposal as a whole. It's a pipe dream of some starry-eyed so-called "conservatives" who believe the United States can somehow be saved. It is way too late for that. We are already multiple nations, and eventually we will be separate states to match.
 

Alchemy

Member
Reads like a bitchfest from someone pissed off that minorities can have equal rights. If we asked the majority to vote in the best interests of minorities/women none of those groups would have the rights they do now.
 

johnny956

Member
I disagree. The danger of allowing justices to potentially cave in to political pressure is very real if you do that.

We're having this exact issue in Missouri as we have term limits. They all become lobbyists immediately after and are even more cosy to our state legislatures.
 
Allow a two-thirds majority of the States to override a U.S. Supreme Court decision.

So we can overrule a judgement if we don't like it? Can we vote to send someone to jail even if a jury rules them innocent?
 

GnawtyDog

Banned
I love that he seems to think states are like levels in a videogame, wholly self-contained within those magic borders and their actions and policies don't affect their neighbors in the slightest.

I really feel bad for my relatives in Texas having this loon as a governor.

It's not just Texas dealing with loons known as GOP governors. Ricky Scott is another nut.
 

SapientWolf

Trucker Sexologist
Reads like a bitchfest from someone pissed off that minorities can have equal rights. If we asked the majority to vote in the best interests of minorities/women none of those groups would have the rights they do now.
Yeah, I don't think they have a good argument for limiting the Supreme Court's powers until their own state's judicial system gets its act together.
 

Slavik81

Member
K: Why can't we just make a law against flag-burning?
A: Because that law would be unconstitutional. But, if we changed the Constitution...
K: Then we could make all sorts of crazy laws!


5) Allow a two-thirds majority of the States to override a U.S. Supreme Court decision.
9) Allow a two-thirds majority of the States to override a federal law or regulation.
This seems really pointless. Constitutional amendments can already do those things, though they do require a three-quarters majority to ratify.

So we can overrule a judgement if we don't like it? Can we vote to send someone to jail even if a jury rules them innocent?
Yes.
 
I disagree. The danger of allowing justices to potentially cave in to political pressure is very real if you do that.

Yeah I'm not too sure on this either. But I would not allow any sort of re-appointment or anything. One term and done forever. Maybe instead of a set term, a forced retirement at a certain age?

IDK, I do think it's worth looking into the indefinite appointment of SCOTUS justices.
 

Stinkles

Clothed, sober, cooperative
The blackness of the president made people way crazier than I ever imagined. Republicans to some watching a hard reset.
 
I thought republicans looked at the Constitution like it was a holy document that should never EVER be amended because we'd be stomping on our god-given precious rights.

Oh right, only when it comes to guns and the 1st amendment when it comes to someone's right to be an asshole.
 

AntoneM

Member
Bar associations are collections of great idiots. And they would never pick based on "legal merits alone" any more than Presidents do. And there is no rule that says justices have to be lawyers. Actually, more of them should not be lawyers.

As for the proposal as a whole. It's a pipe dream of some starry-eyed so-called "conservatives" who believe the United States can somehow be saved. It is way too late for that. We are already multiple nations, and eventually we will be separate states to match.
Ahh yes, the people who are experts on law and jurisprudence don't know shit about law and jurisprudence. If only they had google and could become an expert like you.
 

besada

Banned
Dumb Texas politician talks about dumb things that are never going to happen.

We couldn't pass a constitutional amendment right now stating that the sun was bright. We've never been less close to passing any amendment, much less nine of them.

This is posturing, mixed with a little pissing in the wind.
 
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