Well Waddaya Know? Shame And Scorn DO Work!

Well that was almost anticlimactic. With all of the media hype about this ruling on the abortion pill case, I had expected either angels with horns and cherubs, or demons with fire and brimstone. And instead it turned out to be nothing more than the dog bringing in the paper from the porch.

I wrote a day or so ago, when Alito’s stay was extended for a measly two days that apparently the court already had five judges to vote to extend the stay, and wanted the extra time to work on the messaging in the ruling to the 5th Circuit Court. It was better than I thought. In the end, only Slapsy Sammie Alito and Clarence Gimme Thomas dissented, and each with a single sentence dissention, making the final tally 7-2.

This decision, as basically legally insignificant as it is, speaks volumes. In reality all the ruling does is exactly what I predicted it would. It permanently stays Texas Judge Dungstomper’s decision from going into effect while the case weaves its way through the 5th Appellate Circuit Court. And if the original ruling survives the 5th Circuit, the stay remains in place while the SCOTIS decided whether or not to take up the case.

But it’s actually much more nuanced than that. As I wrote earlier, I believe that the Supreme Court wanted those extra two days to work on the messaging of their ruling. I still believe that is true. I haven’t had the chance to actually see or read the ruling, but I think I have a pretty good idea of what it says under the surface.

Let’s be clear. The Supreme Court isn’t going to tell the 5th appellate court to do anything. That court is autonomous. But it is well within the writing skills of a bunch of Ivy League educated lawyers to make the inference perfectly clear that they don’t want this mega turd landing on their doorstep. And since every judge’s nightmare is getting spanked by the Supreme Court, this ruling may put a slightly different bent to the considerations.

Now let’s move on to the ruling itself. What impresses me is the breadth of the decision vote. If the ruling had been 5-4, that would indicate to me that most likely Justice Brewski Brett had his panties in a bunch about state legislatures tromping all over his assurances that Rights of free interstate travel would not be infringed. And judicial vampire that he is, Kavanaugh wanted more time to find some kind of conservative legal word salad to justify taking reproductive rights away from 52% of the population.

But this isn’t that, not by a long shot. There were four conservative judges who came to the same conclusion that Judge Cowpoke in Texas jumped the shark. But why would they care? Which tells me that these justices were thinking about their image, their reputation, and their legacy. And here’s why that matters. If it was a 5-4 decision, and the case came to SCOTUS, then all the plaintiffs would have to do is to convert the probably malleable Kavanaugh back over to their side. But if it gets to the SCOTUS, the plaintiffs are confronting four conservative judges that have already voted against them, and they have one 30 minute oral argument in which to bring three of them around. Not good odds.

And now for the fun part. For every man, woman, and child that flooded the Supreme Court and surrounding street during the Dobbs deliberation, making it almost impossible for the Justices limos to get out of the building and away to safety. Stand up and take a bow!

And for every man, woman and child who took to the streets in cities across America for months on end following the Dobbs decision, Stand up and take a bow!

And for all of you who came out and peacefully stood in the streets across from the homes of conservatives’ Supreme Court Justices, who heckled them in stores, and restaurants where they were eating with their families and friends? stand up and take a bow!

Because public pressure works. And public shaming works. And public humiliation works! These fat, pompous conservative *ss clowns thought that they could safely and comfortably ride out the outrage because they were privileged, they were protected. But then The Great Unwashed started serenading them over breakfast through the windows, mobbing the streets, not only to delay their wheels, but also the wheels of their neighbors. And ruining the dinners of everybody in that $500 restaurant when they’re in there. I believe it was Brewski Brett who had the owner of a fancy restaurant ask him to stop coming until it blew over, because he was losing reservations.

And from where I’m sitting, that’s what had at least a peripheral effect on the ruminations of those four conservative justices. They went through this once, and the last thing they want to have to do is to go through it again. My personal guesstimate is that it’s 50-50 that the 5th Circuit Appellate Court shoots down the original Texas ruling. And if they do, and the plaintiffs apply to the Supreme Court, I find it highly likely that the court will decline to take the case, and let the appellate court ruling stand. Remember, the vote was 7-2, and it takes four justices to put a case on the docket. I think the kiddies learned the first time from touching the hot stove burner.