Maybe I was too politically cut-throat and cynical in my view of the Supreme Court. But, it seems transparent to me that this is a very powerful set of people and pretending they aren't partisan is silly.
If the right people had pressured RBG she might have come around. You can bet that is happening with Thomas and Alito now!
The fact the even they are resistant to doing this makes me wonder what I'm missing.
@futurebird Power is a helluva drug.
Well I hope Thomas and Alito stay put. After all, what would the court be without their guidance? They aren't sick, just old. And it would be so disgraceful to their legacy to resign in such an obviously partisan way I suppose.
The Republicans are anticipating getting shot or something
Apr 22, 2026, 11:39 AM@futurebird i feel like people not wanting RBG to retire was kind of the fault of people who think of politicians as celebrities and they didn't want to see their fave be forced to leave
That was a factor too. Some people really idealize her. And as justices go? She was OK. Which is better than most.
So those of us being pragmatic were seen as not loving her enough.
But I love NONE of these people. They are public servants. They have work to do and we have people in this country who want to break everything and too few people in a position to stop them.
We don't have time to be fangirls of political and judicial figures.
@futurebird Maybe they're on the take, like Thomas? Maybe there's dirt out there on them and they want or need to stay in post for some level of protection? Maybe they just plain don't want to let go of the power.
Of course they aren't going to resign. They are narcissistic people motivated by power (no non-narcissist would have gone along with an attempted personality cult like RBG's) and they don't believe that they will ever die, or if they do they believe they can somehow control when it happens.
@futurebird I thought Thomas wanted to retire and definitely planned to retire during Trump’s term.
I know they don’t believe Dems will take the Senate or if they do they won’t have the spine to not confirm anyone. But they are definitely playing with fire by not resigning now and having a new person confirmed before Nov.
Apr 22, 2026, 2:17 PM@futurebird They like the power and probably don't have any hobbies.
Perhaps if we got them interested in raising ant colonies . . .
@futurebird If I had a dollar for every time some lawyer condescendingly lectured me between 2000 and 2015 about how judges (including SCOTUS justices) don’t have any power, and are simply applying the law in a non-partisan, strictly logical way, well I’d only have about five dollars, but that’s still 5 times too many.
I so wish I had tape recordings I could shove in their faces today.