No, it's the judges, stupid

Speaking about Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Marion Teniade tweeted:

That woman died with so much pressure on her shoulders, and she won’t even be mourned like a human. She’ll be mourned like a defense wall that crumbled.

This morning on NPR’s Weekend Edition Sunday host Lulu Garcia-Navarro talked to political correspondent Mara Liasson about the battle over the Supreme Court seat Ginsburg left empty. Here’s a few things Liasson said, first with a response to Moscow Mitch’s differing rules about confirming a Supreme Court nominee in 2016 and now:

But this isn't about principle or consistency or avoiding charges of hypocrisy. This is about power. … Remember changing the - cementing a conservative majority on the court has been a 40-year project for Republicans. So this isn't a Trump thing. This is a Republican conservative thing. And that's why it's an advantage for the president because all of a sudden, the presidential campaign is no longer about COVID and his leadership. It's about the courts, and it can potentially remind many Republican voters of why they held their noses and voted for Trump in 2016. No, it's the judges, stupid. So they can do it again. For Democrats, this could also be a rallying cry for younger women who idolized Ruth Bader Ginsburg. It could energize suburban female voters because the ACA, Obamacare, is in the balance. Democrats have already broken fundraising records since Ruth Bader Ginsburg died. So we'll see who this energizes more. … Well, this will have a major impact on American life if we have a 6-3 conservative majority. They - in the short term, they can overturn the ACA. They can eviscerate Roe. Also, it has the potential to put the court at odds in the long term with majority public opinion on many issues - climate change, school prayer, gun safety, the structure of government, voting rights. And then you have the big debate about minority rule - you know, president elected without the popular vote majority, Senate where 53 Republican senators represent less than 50% of Americans. I mean, these are the kinds of debates that this will spark.

Mark Sumner of Daily Kos started a post showing the vigil at the Supreme Court building last night. Then he reviewed the three part plan Hillary Clinton offered to keep another nasty guy nominee off the Court. 1. Win over the senators who talked a lot back in 2016 about not confirming a nominee in an election year. 2. Pressure senators in tight re-election bids. A solid majority of Americans want to wait until after the inauguration. 3. Grind Senate business to a snail’s pace. There are various ways senators can do that. Speaker Nancy Pelosi says Democrats have options, though she won’t divulge most of them. She did reveal one: Vote to impeach the nasty guy (or William Barr of the Department of No Justice) which would preempt confirmation hearings. There are plenty of reasons to impeach both of them. Marissa Higgins of Kos reported there are now two murals in Washington, DC showing Ginsburg. One was painted in 2019, the other painted in the 24 hours after Ginsburg died. Higgins has pictures, plus a few more of the vigil at the Supreme Court building (which was huge) and one in San Francisco. I had mentioned yesterday the huge amount of money donated to Democrats since Ginsburg’s death. Walter Einenkel of Kos reported that has now passed $100 million. The article says it was raised in less than 72 hours. It’s actually less than 48.