Ricochet is the best place on the internet to discuss the issues of the day, either through commenting on posts or writing your own for our active and dynamic community in a fully moderated environment. In addition, the Ricochet Audio Network offers over 50 original podcasts with new episodes released every day.
Leak from the Supreme Court: Why Are We Surprised?
Is anyone really surprised about the violation of confidentiality and secrecy that has emerged from the Supreme Court? Certainly, the Supreme Court might have been seen as the last bastion of virtue in our government, where no one would have expected this kind of devastating assault on the most respected division of our federal government. But I would like to suggest that only the most naïve would believe that SCOTUS was immune to this type of attack, given the prevalence of criminal leaks, particularly over the last six years.
A person only needs to look at the record of leaks against the Trump administration during only the first two years:
The number of leaks of classified information reported as potential crimes by federal agencies reached record high levels during the first two years of the Trump Administration, according to data released by the Justice Department last week.
Agencies transmitted 120 leak referrals to the Justice Department in 2017, and 88 leak referrals in 2018, for an average of 104 per year. By comparison, the average number of leak referrals during the Obama Administration (2009–2016) was 39 per year.
In spite of Trump’s first AG, Jeff Sessions’ assurance that the DOJ would investigate and they would make sure the leaks didn’t continue, they did.
The facts tell us that few criminal investigations are opened, and those that are completed provide insufficient information to prosecute. And those that were investigated were clearly retaliation against the Trump administration:
Two examples include the leaking of transcripts of Trump’s phone calls with foreign leaders to the Washington Post, and the disclosures about irregularities in the way the White House processed senior presidential adviser Jared Kushner’s security clearance to NBC News. It’s not clear whether either case was referred to the Justice Department by a federal agency, although U.S. Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., then chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said he filed his own referral on the transcripts.
The transcripts highlighted what many believed was bizarre and unsettling behavior on Trump’s part, and the security clearance disclosures showed that career officials had been overruled, something that rarely happens.
Since the odds of getting into hot water are minimal, the Left is willing to risk being identified, given that they perceive the stakes to stop the forces of the enemy are daunting. And, of course, integrity, truth, and tradition play no role in their decisions.
But, you say, the Supreme Court has a whole different history. Indeed, it does. And the Left repeatedly criticizes SCOTUS for decisions that don’t support its agenda. It feels threatened by the number of Conservative justices, even though they are not in lockstep for every decision. The Left fears that these justices will delegitimize its goals, and that they pose a danger to our democracy. So, whoever provided the leaked information probably sees himself or herself as a savior to the country, stopping SCOTUS in its tracks.
It is a tragic commentary on the state of our government, our citizenry, and the nation.
Published in Domestic Policy
This is another example of conservatives always playing catchup. The left respects institutions only insofar as they are useful in promoting progressive causes. If the left thinks something as sacred as abortion rights is in danger by the Court, it’s not going to respect institutional rules or norms if they get in the way of preventing an undesired outcome. Conservatives are still shocked at the latest leftist outrage because they still give the benefit of the doubt to the left – that the latest outrage is the last, and the left will respect the remaining institutional norms. It isn’t and they won’t, not any of them.
So true, J Climacus! Will there ever be a time when Conservatives will realize that the Left has no limits to the destructive strategies they will take to meet their agenda? What will it take for the Conservatives to step into the real world of ugly politics and fight back? Thoughts?
It’s part of the conservative mindset, I think, to give people the benefit of the doubt. My comment was directed at myself as much as anyone. I’m shocked by this, but I shouldn’t be.
I think the lesson going forward is to take nothing for granted. Don’t assume that an institution is going to do its job or “play fair” because it always has in the past. If leftists are involved in the organization, they are actively subverting it right now. This is obviously the case with voting. I’m sure the left has learned from 2020 and has worked up new ways to corrupt the process.
If “fighting back” means leaking an opinion, count me out. In other areas, there are signs that conservatives are starting to get it. See Florida.
Count me out on that, too, Hoyacon. Florida is a good example on so many levels. But we need to see more of that kind of pushback in Congress, too. And not just speaking out, but taking action.
John Daniel Davidson, writing at The Federalist, sums it up thusly:
“Whenever the left feels they have lost control of an institution, they try to destroy it.”
And the “impressive” thing is that they believe they hold the moral high ground. The president just said abortion is killing children and he’ll defend it. You can only be that morally incoherent and believe you’re morally superior to those who disagree with you if you’re under the influence of demons.
The President went on to say screwy stuff like “Next Republicans are going to ban LGBTQ kids from the classroom!” And Chinese Spy-diddler Eric Swalwell claimed that Republicans would next ban interracial marriage.
Democrats will deploy any slander to whip up their crazed minions to flood the streets. And there will be riots. And there will be destruction. And there will be deaths.
And they don’t care.
They do care.
They want it.
Did we need any more evidence of the corrosive, cancerous affect that the Roe v. Wade ruling by the Supreme Court, trying to “resolve” the abortion question, has had on our government and politics? For those who believe that a woman’s rights rest on her ability to terminate an innocent human life, there is no act so immoral that they will not do it in service to that original evil. Unprecedented? Not anymore…
Edgy! A risk-taking iconoclast.
Or this option:
Ironically, opposition to a decision that allows for the taking of a life results in the mob desiring to take lives in order to restore it.
I must quibble! I don’t think that’s irony. I think that’s right in line with their worldview: violence and death to achieve their ends. /quibble
The Democrat response:
Schumer Will Hold Another Vote on Radical Abortion Bill
You gotta read this piece to see just how radical this is. If we had a worthwhile media, they’d stick a microphone in Schumer’s face and ask him point blank if it’s okay to kill a baby as it emerges from the womb. Because that’s what would be allowed. There is no language in this bill that would protect a child from that kind of murder.
Unbelievable. Clearly nothing at all is sacred.
There seems to be evidence that this is happening…..finally. There has to be an effective strategy for fighting between the dignified non-responsiveness of GWB and constant aggression without focus and discipline of Trump.
This is a great illustration of the bubble so much of the Left live in. They think this will help them in November, but they are so incredibly radical on abortion that they don’t know how this will turn off huge swaths of the country.
Setting aside the obvious evil of this bill, it is also remarkably dumb politics.
CA is putting working on a law to over look any natal death up to 7 days after birth. That means a live birth abortion would be cool depending on the wording.
The Democrats are the party of Baal.
Progressivism is the politics of putrescence. Death served hot or cold; near term or long term; quickly or protracted. Their symbol should be the skull.
What will be funny is if the SCOTUS overrules as stated but the Biden administration just ignored it and goes on as the want, like nothing changed.
If so, they will claim they are protecting “democracy”
Your cynicism is contagious. I wonder if there is a vaccine against it. Probably no use against those already infected, though.
I have heard that before. It is a perspective of seeing the world as it is. Once you start seeing the world as it is it is hard to go back to your other filters. Especially as you see it be more right than wrong.
I think it comes more from observing Democrats than from observing the world in general. Not everyone is as bad as Democrats.
I started to comment that we should distinguish between individual Democratic voters and party operatives in or out of government offices, but then I thought of Brandon Straka. If there is anyone who represents the current moment it is he. Brandon was (is) a J6 martyr. He lost his liberty because he called for people to leave the Democratic Party. He became the face of grass roots political opposition of the scariest kind: a member of an identity group that was supposed to see the Democratic Party as their one and only hope, he could no longer abide their politics and sought to recruit others to leave as well. This made him a high value target. He never went into the Capitol Building and organized no violations of law and yet he was arrested and imprisoned. Yes, there are J6er that suffered (and continue to suffer) more than Brandon. And each one of these cases is an outrage. But Brandon was the purest case of arresting “political opposition” to deter opposition lawfully exercised. And for this, I cannot amend the statement just preceding my comment.