GUNS AND NOSES

A Trifecta of Killers

Buy me a coffee!

Today is a good day to call your senators (and Thune) and demand they block FISA section 702 until Pulte is withdrawn.

And prepare to fix the Court.

Citing this excellent summation by Robert Hubbell:

“… Of course, we should not look for logic or consistency in the reactionary majority’s opinion. They chose a side—white supremacy—and did what was needed for white supremacy to prevail.

Those are blunt words chosen deliberately—because they frame the challenge we will face when we win a trifecta in 2028. Will we have the honesty and courage to acknowledge that reforming the Supreme Court is not enough? If we are to reclaim the full citizenship of Black Americans (after Callais) and women (after Dobbs), reforming the Court is not enough.

We must strip the Court to the barest constitutional minimum and rebuild it anew. It must be substantially larger (e.g., the size of the 9^thCircuit at 27 judges), the justices’ terms must be limited by age and length of service; the justices must be subject to mandatory ethics and disqualification rules enforced by someone other than the justices; the Court’s ability to use an opaque “shadow docket” with no appellate record must be eliminated; the justices cannot accept gifts, gratuities, book contracts, bribes, subsidies, or vacations masquerading as speaking appearances; and the use of the law clerk program as a breeding ground for political extremists must come to an end.

There are many more good ideas. We must focus on those ideas that can be implemented immediately with a majority vote in Congress—expansion of the Court, term limits based on age, mandatory ethics and disqualification codes enforced by someone other than the justices.

I understand that many readers will be anxious and outraged by the Supreme Court’s elimination of yet another Black majority district in the South. If there is any consolation, it is that the efforts of Democrats to push back against Republican mid-census redistricting have limited the damage.

As Stephen Wolf (@stephenwolf.bsky.social) noted, of the 16 seats that Republicans affected by mid-census gerrymandering, the median “shift” in the political lean in those districts was from R+3.1 to R+4.9—for a median shift of 1.8 percentage points.

While that additional advantage is unfair, Democrats can overcome an additional Republican 1.8-percentage-point cushion in a wave election. Indeed, at the moment, the Democratic lead in the “generic” congressional ballot is D+7. FiftyPlusOne - Generic Ballot Polls and Average for 2026.

In short, the Supreme Court’s decision was despicable, but we can overcome the damage by showing up in record numbers. That’s the plan. Let’s stick to it.”