(Photo credit: Flickr user DonkeyHotey)
During tonight’sAi??MassachusettsAi??Senate debate, moderator David Gregory asked the candidates who their “model” Supreme Court Justice is. Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA) replied by saying that his model was far-right justice Antonin Scalia.
The crowd began booing, which prompted Brown to start naming off other justices he also favored, most of them conservatives. Watch it:
- He Loves Money In Politics: Scalia was the deciding voteAi??in the Citizens United case to open new floodgates of corporate money in our elections. In a television appearance discussing the case, he compared billionaire spending in our elections to free speech. Brown helped kill the DISCLOSE Act, which would’ve exposed some of the corporations and billionaires buying our elections.
- He Has Extreme Views On Immigration: Scalia was a huge backer of Arizona’s draconian anti-immigration law, and even cited Southern slavery laws in his court defense of Arizona’s measure. Perhaps Brown was taking after Scalia when he voted to kill the DREAM Act.
- He Is Stridently Against Ai??Womens Rights: Scalia voted with the court’s conservative justices in the Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. case to limit discrimination suits over equal pay. He is also tirelessly opposed to abortion rights. Keep in mind that Brown voted against women and with lobbyistsAi??by voting against the anti-discrimination Paycheck Fairness Act.
- He’s An Apologist For Torture:Ai??During a 2008 radio interview, Scalia said it’s “absurd” to say the government can’t hit prisoners “in the face.”
- He’s Anti-Gay: Scalia was the dissenting opinion in Lawrence v. Texas,Ai??which invalidated America’s last sodomy laws (focusing on Texas). Remember that Brown has refused to endorse marriage equality.
- He Has Said It Isn’tAi??UnconstitutionalAi??To Execute The Innocent: A fervent advocate for the death penalty, Scalia has even said there’s nothing unconstitutional about executing innocent people.
Scalia is one of the most hard-right justices in the modern history of the court. It’s telling that Brown names him as his “model,” and his state’s voters should remember that.
Scott Brown gave his instinctive, honest response, paused a moment and noticed the negative audience reaction … and immediately channeled his inner Palin: “What magazines do you read? Who’s your favorite Founding Father?”
The Voting Rights Act (VRA) must be upheld by the supreme court: Discrimination is alive today unfortunately; Liberty and justice for all is openly sabotaged and the Supreme Court is inviting trouble of great magnitudnal proportions if it dares to fail its ultimate mandate: to uphold everyone’s constitutional rights.
We not only need to keep the protections in the current Voting Rights Act (VRA), it should be expanded. The numerous despicable attempts to restrict voting made during the last election cycle are proof of that. Anyone who truly believes the VRA is obsolete needs to recognize, given last year’s voter suppression efforts, the Jim Crowe era is biding its time, lurking in the shadows waiting for an opportunity to rear its head once again.
If properly educated and aroused to stand up against Supreme Court activism from the bench the entire nation will speak against it because the Voting Rights Act (VRA) is not about political parties; the Voting Rights Act (VRA) is about individual rights protection. Bank on it! it is time to review; the Supreme Court’s Justice Scalia’s attack on VRA as ” racial entitlements” will not stand the test of time. If the Supreme Court does not uphold the Voting Rights ACT it is no longer acting as an unbiased institution and that, its Justices, can be challenged in public. Supreme Court Justices, get up and do your job or we will make it happen! Count on it!
Now Even if you are dumb enough to believe that all is OK with the world and there are no reasons to have the voting rights act on the books. Then why are the the parties at opposite end’s on this ? Why are the Republicans in America trying to keep people from the poles ? Well I will tell you what I think. I think there may be a dozen or two, man and women (Billionaires) in America that have the means to buy the power it wants to call all shots in this Country. The only way they can obtain this right now is get the people they want in office. To buy them so to say. But they know they can be stopped at the voting polls as proven in the 2012 election. They know the more that get out and vote there chances are reduced substantially.
Commentator George Will knows this and should be ashamed of his views on VRA. He says VRA is 47 years old. Is that old ? I don’t think so. Look at the constitution, at that II Amendment a lot older right. SS, Medicare, still very new in the big picture. But look at who wants to change them. Not working men and women, no the big bosses. They do not like to match payments that is what this is all about. They did not like it back in the 1930s and they do not like it now. So Americans do not be fooled by the right wing opposition and all of you older people that now have this little benefit fight like h— to keep it just as it is. It just might be all there is between eating and striving !!
The argument is that VRA is discriminatory against Southern states to require them but not other states to seek pre-clearance for voting laws; I actually agree. The Voting Rights Act should require *all* states to seek pre-clearance. After what we’ve seen the GOP try to pass in states all across the nation prior to the last 2012 election, I see no reason this safeguard against voter suppression should be limited to just Southern states as suggested by VRA of 1965 but now should be expanded to apply to ALL 50 states.
It is urgent that whoever can go to the Supreme Court and organize peaceful, non-violent civil disobedience protests in front of the Supreme Court ASAP to do so right away before Supreme Court Justices like Antonin Scalia will vote against the Voting Rights ACT of 1965!
At least he knew one, and right off the top of his head too. The idea that Brown is a moderate Repulican can be disproved by his voting record. It is only news to those who have not been paying attention that Scalia is a role model for Brown.
I watched the debate and when the question about his favorite Supreme Court Justice came up, I was thinking he wouldn’t dare name Scalia as his favorite and then HE DID. I almost choked as the crowd booed. I think Elizabeth smiled as if to say, ‘you just clinched the race for me’. It was a stunning moment.
He also said something like, “As an Independent, I vote about half the time with the Republicans, and half the time with the Democrats”.
Since when is he an “Independent”?
And since when does his 98% voting record that’s in alignment with the GOP represent “about half” of his votes?
SCOTT BROWN HAS A BLACK BELT IN “FLIP-FLOPPING” & “WHOPPER TELLING” AND BROWN NOSE FROM “KISSING SCALIA’S ASS” !!! HE THUS FITS NICELY WITH MITT “WITT-LESS” & “LYIN’ RYAN” !!!
Wanted to make another contribution & tried to change to my new AMEX #, a recent replacement card. When I couldn’t type in the new # I proceeded with the contribution & was informed that AMEX had denied approval.
L.S.