The US Senate just voted 52-48 to confirm Amy Coney Barrett as the next Associate Justice of the Supreme Court.
Closest #SCOTUS confirmation votes:
— Steve Vladeck (@steve_vladeck) October 26, 2020
1. Kavanaugh (2018): 50-48
2. Matthews (1881): 24-23
3. Thomas (1991): 52-48
4. Clifford (1857): 26-23
5. L.Q.C. Lamar (1887): 32-28
6. Gorsuch (2017): 54-45
7. Alito (2006): 58-42
We’re about to have a majority of current Justices in top 8.
Of course I have a lot to say, but I'm too overwhelmed by disgust at the moment to write everything that's swirling around in my head, so here's something I wrote two years ago, when I was also overwhelmed by disgust as another controversial nominee (Brett Kavanaugh) was confirmed as the last Associate Justice, also immediately before a national election:
It seems more and more obvious that the Kavanaugh confirmation battle is about more than a conservative majority on the Supreme Court. Yes, they could withdraw Kavanaugh and nominate Amy Coney Barrett and she would be confirmed before election day and they'd get a Justice who's just as conservative on social issues, if not more.
This isn't really about that. This is just high-SES cishet white Christian men making a stand. Kavanaugh is the culmination of every member of every privileged group's anxieties about change and social progress in our country. The zenith of all of their fears about losing their power and being replaced.
Forcing Kavanaugh through is their way of saying "fuck you" to every member of every oppressed group, and everyone who's been working so hard for social progress for years. It's their way of asserting their power and proving to everyone else (and to themselves) that they still control the world (at least for now)
I'll try to write some more after she's confirmed in another public event that flies in the face of COVID best practices (the week after the US saw the highest number of cases since the pandemic began)
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