Donald Trump has released a list of potential Supreme Court picks, andBush administration torture enabler John Yoo has already announced at National Review that he's over the moon:
Everyone on the list is an outstanding legal conservative. All are young, smart, and committed. They would excel in any comparison with anyone whom Hillary Clinton would appoint to the Supreme Court.
... These names are a Federalist Society all-star list of conservative jurisprudence. In the interest of full disclosure, I will note that I count several of them as colleagues and friends. It is a good sign that, on one of a president’s most important decisions, Trump clearly turned to the Federalist Society and the Heritage Foundation for advice.
... Many have run for office and already know what it is like to be attacked by the Left. They may prove more immune to the pressure from the New York-Washington liberal media/academic elite that has managed to sway Justice Anthony Kennedy and other Republican appointees.
... I am thrilled by this list.
Have you decided that you're going to sit out a Trump-Clinton general election -- or maybe even vote for Trump in order to help "heighten the contradictions" -- because you think Clinton is so awful and hey, what's the worst that can happen in a Trump presidency? Well, what can happen is that Trump could seat two, three, or even four High Court justices from a list that has "thrilled" a man who said the president of the United States (back when the president was a Republican) has the legal right to order the testicles of a child crushed in order to persuade the child's terror-suspect father to talk.
Yoo has only one reservation:
But that being said, I cannot trust Trump to keep his word. He has already flip-flopped on so many issues, before, during, and after the primary campaign. How do we know he would not start wheeling and dealing on judicial appointments if he were to win the Oval Office?
RedState's Leon Wolf raises the same concern, a bit more pungently:
Look, if you’re an absolute sucker who’s decided to defenestrate your discernment in order to ease your conscience about pulling the lever for a mentally unstable person in November, you might believe this. If, however, you have a functioning long term memory, you will remember that Trump has lied or flip-flopped about literally everything during the course of this primary.
... Doing this stuff comes as easily as breathing to Donald Trump. His unrelenting dishonesty and malleability even puts Bill Clinton to shame. And we are supposed to believe that this list, which costs Donald Trump nothing at all, is an iron clad promise and we can totally believe that this list isn’t just a “suggestion” or an “opening bargaining position” with Democrats, and that he won’t end up nominating another Souter.
Sorry, pass. I didn’t fall off the turnip truck yesterday.
Why would Trump flip-flop on this? He doesn't give a crap about the Supreme Court. Sure, he'll want justices who won't overturn his Muslim ban, or prevent him from building the wall, or declare that he's overstepped his bounds by ordering U.S. interrogators to torture. He'll want justices who'll decide cases in ways that won't hurt him financially. Beyond that, he doesn't care. These folks, I'm sure, will be extremely accommodating.
If Trump is elected president, that will mean that voters rejected the Democratic Party and kept the Senate in Republican hands. A GOP Senate will rubber-stamp any of these picks. The minority's right to filibuster Supreme Court justices might have to be abolished first, but that'll be a formality.
So relax, John and Leon. Trump will give you your dream Court. And anyone on the left who thinks that's a small price to pay in order to punish that evil neoliberal corporate shill Hillary, well, don't come crying to me about the godawful rulings that result.
(Crossposted at No More Mr. Nice Blog)
