Monday Reading

As always, please go to the links for the full articles/ op eds.

Laura Bassett writes that the impact of Ruth Bader Ginsburg's legacy went beyond her trailblazing fight for women's rights and reproductive freedom:

It’s true that many women are grieving the loss of a feminist hero, particularly at such a bizarre and difficult time in American history. And the prospect of this legendary trailblazer being replaced by an openly misogynist president, which could threaten Roe v. Wade, is almost unfathomable for people who understand on a very personal level what it would feel like to lose the rights that Ginsburg spent her life defending.

But framing Ginsburg’s legacy as only a hero to women is a disservice to her life’s work. Men can and should grieve her, too — and not just out of care and respect for the women in their lives, but because she fought for a more equitable society for everyone.

As a lawyer, Ginsburg successfully argued before the Supreme Court on behalf of a man who was denied Social Security benefits after his wife died in childbirth because they had previously been given to widows only. In fact, many of the cases she argued involved sex discrimination against men. Then, as a Supreme Court justice herself, Ginsburg forcefully fought for same-sex couples to marry and wrote the majority opinion that allowed people with disabilities to be integrated into their communities.

Similarly, Ginsburg’s fans created her “Notorious R.B.G.” moniker after she wrote a scathing dissent when the Supreme Court significantly weakened the Voting Rights Act. She wrote that removing restrictions on states that had previously discriminated against Black people “is like throwing away your umbrella in a rainstorm because you are not getting wet.”

And then there's the Affordable Care Act, immigration rights, etc., etc.

Scott Lemieux argues rightfully that the trampling of democratic norms by COVID Donnie and his Republican accomplices -- most recently relating to the Supreme Court vacancy -- can and should be rectified by a Democratic Congress and Biden Administration:

The Republican argument for confirming a last-minute Trump nominee ultimately boils down to a question of power and the letter of the law: The president and Senate control the nomination process, and nothing in the U.S. Constitution prevents them from filling a vacancy, no matter when it occurs. They can, and seemingly will, ignore the dying wishes of Ginsburg, the norms they themselves established and any remaining idea of interparty comity and fill it.

The problem Republicans will face after they do so is that expanding the size of the Supreme Court is exactly as legal as a last minute or lame-duck Supreme Court confirmation — and it’s hardly an unprecedented action. Plus, the same can be said for other measures within the power of the next, possibly Democratic Congress to restore the balance of American democracy, including eliminating the legislative filibuster to stop Republican obstructionism or granting statehood to Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico. (In sharp contrast to McConnell’s norm-breaking, these measures would additionally make American government more democratic and representative of its people, rather than less.)

Norms once broken cannot be unilaterally restored. So if Republicans firmly establish “anything that is not strictly forbidden by the Constitution is permitted” as the de facto norm of governance, Democrats should act in kind should they win in November. This will not be an easy path for the clearly norm-loving Democratic establishment to follow, but constitutional hardball is a much better alternative for the people they represent than the Supreme Court being under the decades-long control of a political faction that has given up even trying to appeal to the majority of the American people.  (our emphasis)

Speaker Nancy Pelosi has some "arrows in our quiver" to derail a Republican hijacking of a second Supreme Court seat:

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi paid tribute to the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg Sunday, calling her a "powerful, brilliant brain on the court" in an appearance on ABC's "This Week," while refusing to take another impeachment inquiry off the table in order to block President Donald Trump's upcoming nominee to the Supreme Court.

"We have our options. We have arrows in our quiver that I'm not about to discuss right now but the fact is we have a big challenge in our country. This president has threatened to not even accept the results of the election," Pelosi told ABC News Chief Anchor George Stephanopoulos. "Our main goal would be to protect the integrity of the election as we protect the people from the coronavirus."

An impeachment inquiry -- of, say, COVID Donnie or William "Low" Barr -- would take precedence over hearings for a Supreme Court justice.  That would be the equivalent of bringing a gun to a gunfight for once.

The Reuters/Ipsos poll reveals out out- of- step COVID Donnie and his rotted out party are over filling the Supreme Court vacancy:

The poll found that 62% of American adults agreed the vacancy should be filled by the winner of the Nov. 3 matchup between Trump and Democratic former Vice President Joe Biden, while 23% disagreed and the rest said they were not sure.

Eight out of 10 Democrats - and five in 10 Republicans - agreed that the appointment should wait until after the election.

A little more polling, from gold standard NBC News/WSJ, indicates this election may be baked in, with 43 days to go until election day (but vote early/ by mail if you can):

After a month of political conventions, fresh controversies, more protests and additional deaths from the coronavirus, the 2020 presidential race remains where’s it’s been for months — with Joe Biden leading President Trump nationally by nearly double digits, and with a majority of voters opposing the president.

Those are the results of a new national NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll, which finds Biden ahead by 8 points among registered voters, 51 percent to 43 percent, with more than 50 percent of voters disapproving of Trump’s job performance and with Trump holding the advantage on the economy and Biden holding the edge on the coronavirus.

What’s more, the poll shows that close to 90 percent of voters have firmly made up their minds, and that seven-in-10 believe the upcoming debates aren’t that important in deciding their vote. (our emphasis)

It should go without saying by now that we can never be complacent.  We need to go full steam ahead and get this done.

We close with our strong recommendation that you pay a visit to Infidel 753's link round-up, where you can find dozens and dozens (we're too lazy to count) of links to interesting posts from around the Internet. While you're at it, and especially if you're still not ready to crawl through hot coals to vote for Biden-Harris, you must read his post "The Choice."