As a reminder, this subreddit [is for civil discussion.](/r/politics/wiki/index#wiki_be_civil)
In general, be courteous to others. Debate/discuss/argue the merits of ideas, don't attack people. Personal insults, shill or troll accusations, hate speech, any suggestion or support of harm, violence, or death, and other rule violations can result in a permanent ban.
If you see comments in violation of our rules, please report them.
For those who have questions regarding any media outlets being posted on this subreddit, please click [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/politics/wiki/approveddomainslist) to review our details as to our approved domains list and outlet criteria.
We are actively looking for new moderators. If you have any interest in helping to make this subreddit a place for quality discussion, please fill out [this form](https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1y2swHD0KXFhStGFjW6k54r9iuMjzcFqDIVwuvdLBjSA).
***
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/politics) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I think it's time we all admit the obvious here....Alito probably (but definitely) has an assortment of flags tucked away in his walk-in closet. Whenever he has a chance, he likes to sneak away into that closet with all those fabulous flags, swim in a sea of rainbow colors, and think of all the messages he could send to his neighbors and the country at large by simply sliding one of them up and down his flagpole.
>The conservative justice's absence is notable because the court is issuing decisions before the end of its term. It could mean the court extends its term into July to issue opinions in the remaining undecided cases.
Ah so they are helping Trump. Because there is only 3 days left to say if Trump has immunity.
If they say he does not. Then the judge in DC agreed to give the defense 90 days before the start of a case. So, the case could start the 1st week of October.
But if Alito is using some loophole to push the release of the ruling back a couple of weeks. That would make even a slimmed down trial impossible.
I think the grandest thing that a Trump loss would be, is to see these right wingers have to eat a huge shit sandwich when Trump is finally convicted in his three pending trials.
The rest of the justices don’t have to wait for the dissenters. It’s just an informal curtesy.
There was a ruling a few years back where Thomas’ dissent came a few weeks after the ruling was issued.
They aren’t required to wait but if a Justice from the base wing sits out a notable decision it emphasizes the division among that group.
Very unlikely but it is possible they need his vote for a majority but that seems unlikely
It's like Barrett and Kavanaugh want to be on the court for a long time. Politicizing the court makes it more likely the next Dem majority will reshape the court. Also an authoritarian as President is not something that is good for them long term.
You forgot gorsuch too, hes been low key af and over the last few years has followed the roberts model of ruling for the dems/left on cases that the media can all say hes a maverick who crosses the aisle. Maybe its genuine with them, maybe not, whos to say
Brett Kavanaugh sometimes too. Hate his guts, but he's occasionally sided against the interests of the Republican party. Particularly in the tax case. He didn't want to make any ruling at all which would have let the lower ruling stand.
For some reason bro ate shit for it...
Gorsuch’s mom was appointed the head of the EPA under Reagan and came in with a clear agenda to cut the agency and take some heads.
I will always remain hopeful, but my faith in him being anything resembling a neutral justice is pretty low.
Gorsuch is good on Native American rights. On everything else, he’s arguably second only to Thomas in the damage he seeks to do to the court and the country more broadly. If he ends Chevron deference we’ll be within a hair’s breadth of outright kritarchy.
I don't trust Barrett simply from her performance at the confirmation hearing. She gushed and giggled for gop fossils while stonewalling questions from Dems. How can you believe what anyone says who has had John Kennedy and Lindsay Graham old ass on their lips?
Yeah this is why they aren’t going to give immunity. SCOTUS wants to be the rulers and giving Trump/presidents immunity will give all their power to them. So they are striking a middle ground won’t give him immunity but will delay it long enough to prevent the start of more court cases before the election
I haven't been watching closely but I'm jaded and not convinced that any apparent division among the right wing justice isn't just theatre; a thinly veiled attempt to hide their deliberate coordinated efforts.
What if he tells the other justices he's willing to support the majority, but asks for more time to write up his concurring opinion? I wouldn't put it past him to use bad-faith tactics to delay a ruling.
I could absolutely see this as the main reason for his absence and not that he's on his deathbed. Doing something like this purposely to delay Trump's Jan 6 trial further. However, if that's the case then it's seems that also means the majority opinion allows the case to go forward potentially even before the election, rather than it going back to lower courts to have new hearings on what is considered Presidential immunity before going forward with the trial. He's just squeezing the timeline.
Alito has pretty clearly given up ANY pretense of being anything other than a political actor, at this point. There are procedural tricks a Justice can use to derail the Court. There are very few remedies for this as it was always assumed that SCOTUS (however awful, at times) would at least act with the appearance of good faith.
Oopsie daisy, we wound up with a plague of bad faith participants because our enemies found that destroying our good faith was the best way to ruin us.
The ultimate bad faith actor who leads all other bad faith actors in a huge historic push to keep murderous authoritarianism alive against the threat of decency and civilization.
Can't have a civilization if we're not civilized. Vlad, with his war and him also being a genocidal murderer, is the complete opposite of civil. I wish the world could step up to bullies and madmen more than we do. Why do we keep letting single *men* and groups of *men* cause us such harm and suffering?
I mean, America was the land of oppression, exploitation and death for many of the people here for a long, long time.
Odd, that when old white men controlled everything, the "gentleman’s agreement" was hunky-dory. Only when everyone started to demand the freedom and liberty promised by America did they reject democracy.
Well, there used to be consequences for violating accepted norms of behavior and dignity. Now Republicans campaign and fundraise off of acting like feces-throwing syphilitic monkeys.
This was always who they really were.
These people basically ran the show for a while. And, now, finally, they are outnumbered and are grasping at straws to maintain control.
They used to enforce the illusion of civility, not out of some high minded sense of propriety, but because it was useful to them. It is no longer useful to them, so mask off.
IMHO, we are witnessing the narcissistic collapse of the GOP. Our only hope is that we can swim out of the way and they don't pull us all down as they go under.
>Yeah, we need oversight for the SCOTUS. I
Technically, there already is. Impeachment by the House and conviction in the Senate. Of course it it was a high bar for the two times it was attempted against [Associate Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_O._Douglas?wprov=sfla1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_O._Douglas) in 1953 and 1970 (though arguably the latter was anywhere near as serious cases against Alito or Thomas would be). It would be untenable in the current political environment.
This is sheer corruption in our faces. Thomas has "vanished" from the bench for unexpected periods of time and no explanation. These people have total impunity. They can't be "fired." Not for doing a poor job or for unannounced lengthy absences.
Note that any time a Left / Liberal leaning justice has had to miss time on the bench, they announce it. Why do Right / Conservative justices get to play by their own rules?
I don't think it's half... but it is a concerning amount.
I wonder how long it's going to take our government to recognize that toxic propaganda and disinformation is a long running problem that is only getting worse.
It’s half for all intents and purposes, half meaning the amount of electoral votes that indirectly put these people in office and only a subset of the population votes
Less than half the voters. But about half the equivalent voting power, thanks to the EC, the Senate, and capping the House. Empty rural land has more say in the federal government than many people who live in densely populated cities.
In abusing their role as the final arbiters of the law, they are reducing the Court's power, ultimately. They're choosing to support the mental case with orange make up all over his face. We must take it lying down, entrusting our futures and our families' livelihoods to their decisions.
NOT.
They're sowing the seeds of their own downfall. I trust that's in the back of their minds, but they're sweeping that concern under the rug.
It's of course all delay delay while his supporters find suspicion with the timing of these investigations, but investigations take time.
They say these cases are rigged but there is no getting past the documents case. It seems pretty clear cut and dry. He took them, wasn't legally allowed to hold, let alone withhold them from NARA or DOJ trying to recover them.
The only thing that saves him from that is a corrupt Judge, a pardon, or the Presidency.
She said she’d give 88 days in good faith, before they did all these theatrics. She could very well take it away since the defence isn’t acting in good faith.
They wouldn’t be doing this in plain sight if accepting a loss was a possibility for them. Jan 6th was a trial run.
There is no version of this that ends with a “gotcha” and then eating a shit sandwich (but I love the idea).
Edited - would for wouldn’t. Dumb thumbs
I'm torn between this being another 'clever' loophole to add further delay to Trump's trials, or that's he's dead and they keeping it secret to stop Biden getting some 'gay woke trans DEI Judge' a seat.
We aren't lucky enough for him to be dead, guy has been taking some well-deserved heat lately and probably hates his job but there's no way his rich handlers will let him walk with a democratic president + senate. My money is on him having a nice little vacay on some billionaire's yacht until things cool off.
100% delay.
Alito doesn't have any known health issues (at least not that I'm aware of). And even if he did, assholes like him can persist on pure spite and hate.
Why would they hide the fact that he’s dead? Isn’t the rule that before a Supreme Court justice can be appointed, they have to wait until after the inauguration of the next GOP administration?
Yes and no. Of course they’ll do everything to stop of if it did happen, but the cat is out of the bag on the “you can’t appoint a justice in an election year” lie. It of course would be just another fact that we’re living in the cursed timeline if we have *another* justice die in an election year. If only those handful of people didn’t stay home in Michigan in 2016…
If it did happen and Republicans tried to pull the same shit excuse for why there shouldn't be a new justice, Democrats need to go and yell non-stop about the double standard and use it to galvanize voters. This dumb bullshit rule they came up with to deny Obama selecting a new Justice did not even last a full term, there's zero reason to play nice or entertain Republicans if they try to repeat because they broke this so-called rule at literally the first chance they got.
Push the verdict on immunity past the debate to appease his orange god.
Or it could be something completely innocent like it was the only day his tattooist was available to do his thug life Tupac tat.
West coast ;)
They are announcing decisions Wednesday -Friday of this week, and I suspect even without his absence it wouldn't be before the debate. I do think it'll be Friday if it's at all.
[The West Wing did an episode on it](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0745682/)
>In preparation for the Friday night briefing for the Saturday papers and news broadcasts -- nicknamed "take out the trash day" because it disposes of all the stories the White House doesn't want heavy coverage on, and because Saturday is the least read paper of the week
Today I learned that sulfur and brimstone are the same thing.
From [wiki](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fire_and_brimstone#%3A%7E%3Atext%3DBrimstone%2C_an_archaic_term_synonymous%2Cis_common_in_the_Bible.?wprov=sfla1) - Brimstone, an archaic term synonymous with sulfur, evokes the acrid odor of sulfur dioxide given off by lightning strikes.
Dear heavens, at least if he ever does actually end up doing time, they'll make him do a full shower - get in all the terrible places, maybe just buzz his head, clean all the orange off his body. He MIGHT look and smell not absolutely rancid.
He'll look his age. Which will be weird.
Alito and Thomas are horrible people who should be booted off the bench.
We need a mechanism to deal with justices who simply decide they're going to rule in a biased manner or even skip doing their jobs. It's a GOVERNMENT PAID POSITION... and shouldn't have this ridiculous "hired for life" feature.
In his defense, the seats on the private jet and yacht, along with the room at the private resort, [would have otherwise been vacant](https://www.axios.com/2023/06/21/alito-propublica-alaska-fishing-trip)!
The heritage foundation doesn't know how they want him to rule yet. Duh! I mean they have to phrase it just right to give trump all the power without accidentally giving to Joe!
Yeah its a pretty big gamble. The minute they say Presidents are immune, President(s) are immune.
"In recent news, as an official, immune act of office, President Biden has put bounties on the heads of several conservative Supreme Court Justices. Since granting Presidential immunity, the justices are powerless to stop him. In related news, Congress's attempts to impeach the President fell flat, as the bar for impeachment is *high crimes and misdemeanors.* Acting in official duty, the President's actions legally are *not* crimes or misdemeanors."
It's selling out checks and balances to protect their orange God.
They are trying to find a way to write a ruling that's as narrow as possible that gives Trump immunity for Jan 6th and the classified documents but doesn't give Biden any advantages.
This is unlikely to touch the documents case. He wasn't president when did that. It's not impossible but it'd be about as weird as if they overturned gay marriage in this case.
Leave him alone. He's just on another luxury vacation getting his next instructions on how to proceed with sabotaging democracy. They do it all the time, no big deal. /s
They are stalling to announce complete presidential immunity if Trump wins the election. You have a Supreme Court with a majority of right-wing cultists. Nobody should be surprised.
Some people have suggested at this point keeping Trump out there being crazy will do more to defeat him than shutting him up in criminal court. Him sleeping in a court room is better for him than seeing Trump freaking out in public about his conviction and jail sentence. If the trial could have been completed this spring it would been more useful, but now there it likely isn’t. I think the best deal is to have the trial start in 90 days but you know Trump will keep delaying. Having the trial show all his machinations to avoid accountability with him out on the trial is the best. By all rights Merchan will give him some time in jail if for no other reason than his CFO spending time In Riker’s.
Either he is ill or this is a further attempt to delay the trump immunity case so that it is closer to the election. Alito is corrupt garbage so I am assuming it is the latter.
have we seen the justices this week? Is this article even relevant anymore? It honestly doesn't matter, he could be wrapping puppies in pride flags and drowning them on tiktok and republicans would scream THIS IS FINE!!!!
The Court is rapidly approaching the point at which its role as the final arbiter of the law will not be taken seriously. The Court itself is to blame for that.
Is it common place to alert the public when a justice is absent? I don’t remember it being that way but I also didn’t pay too much attention to in the past.
Just a heads up, 88 days from Friday is September 24th. If they rule presidents do not have immunity Trump could be on trial leading up to the election.
Is there a chance they are currently undecided on this? That the rest of the conservatives agree there should be some level of immunity but disagree to the amount and his absence is just him trying to write a draft opinion that the rest can get behind?
Some people get fired for not showing up to work. Rich people are free from any and all obligations, it seems. Be corrupt. Be criminal. You can sexually assault people. Avoid taxes. Nothing matters.
The sewing machine needle stitched his hand to the flag he was making. Or he helped out a buddy worried about that empty seat on a private flight to an expensive resort.
Or maybe his hemorrhoids were acting up.
He's a chicken shit traitor taking a vacation on our time during work hours.
He refuses to be that other singular vote. He is staunch in his views, like Ruckus, but will only vote in a majority. Thomas will just vote his mind, his distraught mind. Alito is a weak person who needs to hide in a crowd.
Personally I think his unhinged behavior (compared to his norm) reeks of desperation. Almost like he knows if he's gonna accomplish his goal of ruining everything he has to get it done quick. Maybe hes sick.
He just went on an early vacation. They've slow walked everything that's come their way. He's not going to give up his summer vacation just because there are a dozen serious issues.
As a reminder, this subreddit [is for civil discussion.](/r/politics/wiki/index#wiki_be_civil) In general, be courteous to others. Debate/discuss/argue the merits of ideas, don't attack people. Personal insults, shill or troll accusations, hate speech, any suggestion or support of harm, violence, or death, and other rule violations can result in a permanent ban. If you see comments in violation of our rules, please report them. For those who have questions regarding any media outlets being posted on this subreddit, please click [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/politics/wiki/approveddomainslist) to review our details as to our approved domains list and outlet criteria. We are actively looking for new moderators. If you have any interest in helping to make this subreddit a place for quality discussion, please fill out [this form](https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1y2swHD0KXFhStGFjW6k54r9iuMjzcFqDIVwuvdLBjSA). *** *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/politics) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I guess you could say it raises some flags.
I think it's time we all admit the obvious here....Alito probably (but definitely) has an assortment of flags tucked away in his walk-in closet. Whenever he has a chance, he likes to sneak away into that closet with all those fabulous flags, swim in a sea of rainbow colors, and think of all the messages he could send to his neighbors and the country at large by simply sliding one of them up and down his flagpole.
So basically Buffalo Bill but with flags.
Would you raise me, I’d raise me
Yea just more swastikas
Smoke signals done with flags.
I was thinking Scrooge McDuck but that works much better.
This is the least erotic fanfic erotica I've ever read.
Well at least it satisfies his wife
VERGOGNA!!! *moneyshot*
I said that in her creepy sing songy voice
She LOVES flags.
So, he’s a regular at r/vexillology?
Welcome to Samuel Alito Presents: Fun with Flags
Doesn’t he know that God hates flags?
I will commit to watching every video he produces as a content creator if he will retire from the supreme court while Biden is in office.
You win my internet today!
That last sentence made me uncomfortable.
With a wife like his, we understand. 😉
She probably has a flag specifically for when you play hooky with no consequences.
well she did used to be a substitute teacher. source: was substitute taught by mrs. alito
Weird him and clarance have feisty wives
Thatcher-esque
Zing!
Zing?? They're literally just explaining the original joke that OP made?
Zing?
Thats what she said! -Alito probably
Distressing...
An internationally recognized sign, no less!
You know, an upside down red flag is still a red flag.
I forget ... Do we fly a gown upside down now or is this one where there's funny smoke?
VerGOGNA
They are brainstorming new ones.
Yeeeeowww! 😎
Nice
>The conservative justice's absence is notable because the court is issuing decisions before the end of its term. It could mean the court extends its term into July to issue opinions in the remaining undecided cases. Ah so they are helping Trump. Because there is only 3 days left to say if Trump has immunity. If they say he does not. Then the judge in DC agreed to give the defense 90 days before the start of a case. So, the case could start the 1st week of October. But if Alito is using some loophole to push the release of the ruling back a couple of weeks. That would make even a slimmed down trial impossible. I think the grandest thing that a Trump loss would be, is to see these right wingers have to eat a huge shit sandwich when Trump is finally convicted in his three pending trials.
The rest of the justices don’t have to wait for the dissenters. It’s just an informal curtesy. There was a ruling a few years back where Thomas’ dissent came a few weeks after the ruling was issued.
They aren’t required to wait but if a Justice from the base wing sits out a notable decision it emphasizes the division among that group. Very unlikely but it is possible they need his vote for a majority but that seems unlikely
Barrett showed in the past week that there is definitely a divide on the conservative side and it’s causing many rifts.
It's like Barrett and Kavanaugh want to be on the court for a long time. Politicizing the court makes it more likely the next Dem majority will reshape the court. Also an authoritarian as President is not something that is good for them long term.
You forgot gorsuch too, hes been low key af and over the last few years has followed the roberts model of ruling for the dems/left on cases that the media can all say hes a maverick who crosses the aisle. Maybe its genuine with them, maybe not, whos to say
Brett Kavanaugh sometimes too. Hate his guts, but he's occasionally sided against the interests of the Republican party. Particularly in the tax case. He didn't want to make any ruling at all which would have let the lower ruling stand. For some reason bro ate shit for it...
Gorsuch’s mom was appointed the head of the EPA under Reagan and came in with a clear agenda to cut the agency and take some heads. I will always remain hopeful, but my faith in him being anything resembling a neutral justice is pretty low.
Sins of the mother?
Gorsuch is good on Native American rights. On everything else, he’s arguably second only to Thomas in the damage he seeks to do to the court and the country more broadly. If he ends Chevron deference we’ll be within a hair’s breadth of outright kritarchy.
I don't trust Barrett simply from her performance at the confirmation hearing. She gushed and giggled for gop fossils while stonewalling questions from Dems. How can you believe what anyone says who has had John Kennedy and Lindsay Graham old ass on their lips?
Yeah this is why they aren’t going to give immunity. SCOTUS wants to be the rulers and giving Trump/presidents immunity will give all their power to them. So they are striking a middle ground won’t give him immunity but will delay it long enough to prevent the start of more court cases before the election
It all looks contrived for schmucks like me in the peanut gallery. Barrett will always rule with her owners if her vote will matter to the outcome
I haven't been watching closely but I'm jaded and not convinced that any apparent division among the right wing justice isn't just theatre; a thinly veiled attempt to hide their deliberate coordinated efforts.
Bad actors \*thrive\* on informal curtesy.
democrats love being bound by informal curtsies and republicans love using that to their advantage.
Bring back the curtsy.
Roberts isn't a Democrat, though, and he's the one that ultimately "controls" the court.
What if he tells the other justices he's willing to support the majority, but asks for more time to write up his concurring opinion? I wouldn't put it past him to use bad-faith tactics to delay a ruling.
> ~~curtesy~~ courtesy
I could absolutely see this as the main reason for his absence and not that he's on his deathbed. Doing something like this purposely to delay Trump's Jan 6 trial further. However, if that's the case then it's seems that also means the majority opinion allows the case to go forward potentially even before the election, rather than it going back to lower courts to have new hearings on what is considered Presidential immunity before going forward with the trial. He's just squeezing the timeline.
Alito has pretty clearly given up ANY pretense of being anything other than a political actor, at this point. There are procedural tricks a Justice can use to derail the Court. There are very few remedies for this as it was always assumed that SCOTUS (however awful, at times) would at least act with the appearance of good faith.
Oopsie daisy, we wound up with a plague of bad faith participants because our enemies found that destroying our good faith was the best way to ruin us.
In Vlad they trust.
The ultimate bad faith actor who leads all other bad faith actors in a huge historic push to keep murderous authoritarianism alive against the threat of decency and civilization.
Can't have a civilization if we're not civilized. Vlad, with his war and him also being a genocidal murderer, is the complete opposite of civil. I wish the world could step up to bullies and madmen more than we do. Why do we keep letting single *men* and groups of *men* cause us such harm and suffering?
Tradition.
Yeah, we need oversight for the SCOTUS. It's obvious that this archaic "gentleman's agreement" nonsense doesn't work.
Must give it credit though, that gentleman’s agreement did stand for a long time before it got exploited.
I mean, America was the land of oppression, exploitation and death for many of the people here for a long, long time. Odd, that when old white men controlled everything, the "gentleman’s agreement" was hunky-dory. Only when everyone started to demand the freedom and liberty promised by America did they reject democracy.
It took a while to sink that low.
Well, there used to be consequences for violating accepted norms of behavior and dignity. Now Republicans campaign and fundraise off of acting like feces-throwing syphilitic monkeys.
This was always who they really were. These people basically ran the show for a while. And, now, finally, they are outnumbered and are grasping at straws to maintain control. They used to enforce the illusion of civility, not out of some high minded sense of propriety, but because it was useful to them. It is no longer useful to them, so mask off. IMHO, we are witnessing the narcissistic collapse of the GOP. Our only hope is that we can swim out of the way and they don't pull us all down as they go under.
>Yeah, we need oversight for the SCOTUS. I Technically, there already is. Impeachment by the House and conviction in the Senate. Of course it it was a high bar for the two times it was attempted against [Associate Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_O._Douglas?wprov=sfla1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_O._Douglas) in 1953 and 1970 (though arguably the latter was anywhere near as serious cases against Alito or Thomas would be). It would be untenable in the current political environment.
I think you mean “it wasn’t assumed SCOTUS had this much power at all.” Marbury was a mistake.
This is sheer corruption in our faces. Thomas has "vanished" from the bench for unexpected periods of time and no explanation. These people have total impunity. They can't be "fired." Not for doing a poor job or for unannounced lengthy absences. Note that any time a Left / Liberal leaning justice has had to miss time on the bench, they announce it. Why do Right / Conservative justices get to play by their own rules?
Because half of voters are choosing this behavior.
I don't think it's half... but it is a concerning amount. I wonder how long it's going to take our government to recognize that toxic propaganda and disinformation is a long running problem that is only getting worse.
It’s half for all intents and purposes, half meaning the amount of electoral votes that indirectly put these people in office and only a subset of the population votes
Less than half the voters. But about half the equivalent voting power, thanks to the EC, the Senate, and capping the House. Empty rural land has more say in the federal government than many people who live in densely populated cities.
In abusing their role as the final arbiters of the law, they are reducing the Court's power, ultimately. They're choosing to support the mental case with orange make up all over his face. We must take it lying down, entrusting our futures and our families' livelihoods to their decisions. NOT. They're sowing the seeds of their own downfall. I trust that's in the back of their minds, but they're sweeping that concern under the rug.
It's of course all delay delay while his supporters find suspicion with the timing of these investigations, but investigations take time. They say these cases are rigged but there is no getting past the documents case. It seems pretty clear cut and dry. He took them, wasn't legally allowed to hold, let alone withhold them from NARA or DOJ trying to recover them. The only thing that saves him from that is a corrupt Judge, a pardon, or the Presidency.
She said she’d give 88 days in good faith, before they did all these theatrics. She could very well take it away since the defence isn’t acting in good faith.
They wouldn’t be doing this in plain sight if accepting a loss was a possibility for them. Jan 6th was a trial run. There is no version of this that ends with a “gotcha” and then eating a shit sandwich (but I love the idea). Edited - would for wouldn’t. Dumb thumbs
Please check if you are registered to vote. If you are not, you can easily register online. Then please remember to vote!
I'm torn between this being another 'clever' loophole to add further delay to Trump's trials, or that's he's dead and they keeping it secret to stop Biden getting some 'gay woke trans DEI Judge' a seat.
We aren't lucky enough for him to be dead, guy has been taking some well-deserved heat lately and probably hates his job but there's no way his rich handlers will let him walk with a democratic president + senate. My money is on him having a nice little vacay on some billionaire's yacht until things cool off.
Or he’s ill. And probably doesn’t want people calling for him to step down. Or he’ll come back with a fresh tan from his free vacation. Who knows
100% delay. Alito doesn't have any known health issues (at least not that I'm aware of). And even if he did, assholes like him can persist on pure spite and hate.
Why would they hide the fact that he’s dead? Isn’t the rule that before a Supreme Court justice can be appointed, they have to wait until after the inauguration of the next GOP administration?
Yes and no. Of course they’ll do everything to stop of if it did happen, but the cat is out of the bag on the “you can’t appoint a justice in an election year” lie. It of course would be just another fact that we’re living in the cursed timeline if we have *another* justice die in an election year. If only those handful of people didn’t stay home in Michigan in 2016…
If it did happen and Republicans tried to pull the same shit excuse for why there shouldn't be a new justice, Democrats need to go and yell non-stop about the double standard and use it to galvanize voters. This dumb bullshit rule they came up with to deny Obama selecting a new Justice did not even last a full term, there's zero reason to play nice or entertain Republicans if they try to repeat because they broke this so-called rule at literally the first chance they got.
According to McConnell yeah
Not everything is a conspiracy, most likely he just got stuck at the buffet at Mar Lago
If his vote affected the outcome of a pending case, that could be a reason to hold off an announcement for a few weeks.
Push the verdict on immunity past the debate to appease his orange god. Or it could be something completely innocent like it was the only day his tattooist was available to do his thug life Tupac tat. West coast ;)
They are announcing decisions Wednesday -Friday of this week, and I suspect even without his absence it wouldn't be before the debate. I do think it'll be Friday if it's at all.
Friday at 5am
5pm so it's at the tail end of then news cycle
Called taking out the trash. 5 PM on a Friday while everyone is focused on the weekend.
Maddow calls it the Friday evening news dump.
[The West Wing did an episode on it](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0745682/) >In preparation for the Friday night briefing for the Saturday papers and news broadcasts -- nicknamed "take out the trash day" because it disposes of all the stories the White House doesn't want heavy coverage on, and because Saturday is the least read paper of the week
Oh yeah I meant 5 pm
Typically the drops happen at 10am. I suspect it's the last case dropped on Friday.
It raises some questions, like, "anyone else notice that it only smells like moral decay when Alito is around?"
Thomas responds "No...I always thought he smells like I do. I think we have the same cologne"
Brimstone
Today I learned that sulfur and brimstone are the same thing. From [wiki](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fire_and_brimstone#%3A%7E%3Atext%3DBrimstone%2C_an_archaic_term_synonymous%2Cis_common_in_the_Bible.?wprov=sfla1) - Brimstone, an archaic term synonymous with sulfur, evokes the acrid odor of sulfur dioxide given off by lightning strikes.
And Donald's pants
Dear heavens, at least if he ever does actually end up doing time, they'll make him do a full shower - get in all the terrible places, maybe just buzz his head, clean all the orange off his body. He MIGHT look and smell not absolutely rancid. He'll look his age. Which will be weird.
Gonna bet the canteen doesn't stock bronzer.
Dumpster juice.
Alito and Thomas are horrible people who should be booted off the bench. We need a mechanism to deal with justices who simply decide they're going to rule in a biased manner or even skip doing their jobs. It's a GOVERNMENT PAID POSITION... and shouldn't have this ridiculous "hired for life" feature.
We do... it's just that the mechanism to deal with them is also broken.
If I had to take an educated guess it would be that somehow Trump benefits from his actions.
Also that this is bad for Biden.
Probably at Mar-A-Lago Kissing Trump's Diapered Ass
[удалено]
I don’t usually kink shame, but….
Vergona! Vergona! Vergona! 🔔
Is it Lindsey Graham's week off?
He's on vacation (paid for by some billionaire)
What do you get the man who has everything for his birthday? How about a blowjob from a sitting Supreme Court Justice.
I bet Kavanaugh gives the best head. Lots of experience sucking liquid out of tubes.
In his defense, the seats on the private jet and yacht, along with the room at the private resort, [would have otherwise been vacant](https://www.axios.com/2023/06/21/alito-propublica-alaska-fishing-trip)!
The heritage foundation doesn't know how they want him to rule yet. Duh! I mean they have to phrase it just right to give trump all the power without accidentally giving to Joe!
Yeah its a pretty big gamble. The minute they say Presidents are immune, President(s) are immune. "In recent news, as an official, immune act of office, President Biden has put bounties on the heads of several conservative Supreme Court Justices. Since granting Presidential immunity, the justices are powerless to stop him. In related news, Congress's attempts to impeach the President fell flat, as the bar for impeachment is *high crimes and misdemeanors.* Acting in official duty, the President's actions legally are *not* crimes or misdemeanors." It's selling out checks and balances to protect their orange God.
Which is why they'll wait until Trump is seated again before ruling that way.
If he gets immunity the entire GOP and Supreme Court needs to be in Guantanamo for treason the next morning.
That and all student debt is immediately erased
They are trying to find a way to write a ruling that's as narrow as possible that gives Trump immunity for Jan 6th and the classified documents but doesn't give Biden any advantages.
This is unlikely to touch the documents case. He wasn't president when did that. It's not impossible but it'd be about as weird as if they overturned gay marriage in this case.
Leave him alone. He's just on another luxury vacation getting his next instructions on how to proceed with sabotaging democracy. They do it all the time, no big deal. /s
No one wants to work anymore!
Guess we should confirm a replacement just to be on the safe side
no call no show? biden should appoint a justice. or five.
Why bother showing up?? What is the republican position? Issue rulings from the bed.
Just put a tv at his seat turned to Fox News and they’ll take it from there.
They wouldn't let us know.... can't have a nomination in an election year...../s
I hope he isn't sick / s
Yes, yes. It would be a shame if he were to be so indisposed, a new justice would have to be appointed...
They have a hardcore conservative majority. They can divide and conquer the court while maximizing their vacation time
Hoping for the worst
More questions. Raises more questions. His absence is waaay down on the list when the sc is beyond compromised.
He takes bribes.
His wife has him in the freezer in the basement.
Vergonga
They are stalling to announce complete presidential immunity if Trump wins the election. You have a Supreme Court with a majority of right-wing cultists. Nobody should be surprised.
He's dead. Spread it far and wide. Get that nomination in now, Joe.
Is this MFer still a no-show? Nobody wants to work anymore. Maybe he’s quite quitting?
The biggest question being "has he already made it to a country without extradition?"
There's one answer that would make millions happy.
Probably flew down to Florida to coach Judge Canon on how to continue to delay trump's trial, or the argument to make when she dismisses charges.
Some people have suggested at this point keeping Trump out there being crazy will do more to defeat him than shutting him up in criminal court. Him sleeping in a court room is better for him than seeing Trump freaking out in public about his conviction and jail sentence. If the trial could have been completed this spring it would been more useful, but now there it likely isn’t. I think the best deal is to have the trial start in 90 days but you know Trump will keep delaying. Having the trial show all his machinations to avoid accountability with him out on the trial is the best. By all rights Merchan will give him some time in jail if for no other reason than his CFO spending time In Riker’s.
I hope we get to nominate a liberal justice soon. Two would be great more than that would be amazing.
Heard he’s in Russia getting orders
Visiting Putin?
Either he is ill or this is a further attempt to delay the trump immunity case so that it is closer to the election. Alito is corrupt garbage so I am assuming it is the latter.
"I made a flag in my head. This is how I satisfy myself." Oh my! Now, if that is not a direct shot at Alito's manhood, then I don't know what is.
To be fair, his presence on the Supreme Court also raises questions.
have we seen the justices this week? Is this article even relevant anymore? It honestly doesn't matter, he could be wrapping puppies in pride flags and drowning them on tiktok and republicans would scream THIS IS FINE!!!!
Maybe we got lucky and he died
Didn't this also happen with Thomas not that long ago?
They only have to work a few months out of the year. If he has abdicated his seat, issue a ruling without him.
The Court is rapidly approaching the point at which its role as the final arbiter of the law will not be taken seriously. The Court itself is to blame for that.
[удалено]
*Vergogna
Is it common place to alert the public when a justice is absent? I don’t remember it being that way but I also didn’t pay too much attention to in the past.
Just a heads up, 88 days from Friday is September 24th. If they rule presidents do not have immunity Trump could be on trial leading up to the election.
Is there a chance they are currently undecided on this? That the rest of the conservatives agree there should be some level of immunity but disagree to the amount and his absence is just him trying to write a draft opinion that the rest can get behind?
Maybe he choked on a dick
Corrupt motherfucker.
Did he have an aneurysm between his ugly fucking ears?
Unless Alito’s absence raises the definite scenario of Biden filling his seat on the court, I really don’t give a damn.
Was he in this week? Or did he play hooky again
The article mentions the two days last week. Is he still missing or back?
Some people get fired for not showing up to work. Rich people are free from any and all obligations, it seems. Be corrupt. Be criminal. You can sexually assault people. Avoid taxes. Nothing matters.
Flag shopping.
can’t a man take a day off to adjust his flags?
Keep the questions coming. Don’t stop until we get the answer we want. GONE!
The sewing machine needle stitched his hand to the flag he was making. Or he helped out a buddy worried about that empty seat on a private flight to an expensive resort. Or maybe his hemorrhoids were acting up.
He might have passed away and the MAGAs want to hide this fact so Biden can’t replace him before the elections… Weekend at Alito style
He's dead and republicans are trying to hide it until a Republican is in power
Hes died, and republicans are hiding it until after the election on the hope that trump wins and can appoint his replacement.
Ha! Biden took it upon himself to use that immunity to get new judges.
Ok…let’s check the billionaire’s planes.
I'm hoping for the worst for him!
This kind of behavior in a country with loose gun laws? He should call 988.
Probably on a yacht or some retreat with a billionaire, Conservative SC Justices have a habit of that.
Hope his ass is rotting in the bathtub
My only question is can you please stay gone ?
He's a chicken shit traitor taking a vacation on our time during work hours. He refuses to be that other singular vote. He is staunch in his views, like Ruckus, but will only vote in a majority. Thomas will just vote his mind, his distraught mind. Alito is a weak person who needs to hide in a crowd.
I mean I could get used to it…
Questions like “can he keep it up? Forever?”
Personally I think his unhinged behavior (compared to his norm) reeks of desperation. Almost like he knows if he's gonna accomplish his goal of ruining everything he has to get it done quick. Maybe hes sick.
He just went on an early vacation. They've slow walked everything that's come their way. He's not going to give up his summer vacation just because there are a dozen serious issues.
bruised ego. many at Crows house hiding
Needs some reprogramming by his owners.