MSNBC's Joy Reid kicked off Wednesday's edition of The ReidOut with a long-winded, fact-free diatribe against the Supreme Court that featured plenty of projection as she mourned that the conservative justices have lost the ability to surprise.
Reid claimed, “And unlike the courts of the last century, this Court has completely given away the capacity to surprise. You know how each of these right-wing justices are going to rule and they do exactly what you think they're going to do, most of the time.”
Really? The allegedly ultra-conservative Supreme Court, just in this last term, ruled that Alabama must draw a second majority-black congressional district, refused to accept North Carolina Republicans’ argument that their congressional map was beyond state judicial review, and ruled against Texas and Louisiana 8-1 in an immigration-related suit against the Biden Administration.
As it was, Reid then proceeded to list of justices who gave surprising or allegedly surprising rulings. Mostly, they were Republican-appointees doing what liberals wanted:
Or Justice Harry Blackman, nominated by Richard Nixon who wrote the majority opinion enshrining abortion protections in Roe v. Wade and it was two Reagan nominees and Bush nominee who joined with the majority upholding reproductive rights 20 years later during the Court presided over by Chief Justice William Rehnquist. Another Republican nominee on the court took his conservative colleagues to task for their decision in Bush v. Gore, Justice John Paul Stevens.
How many liberal justices voted with conservatives on abortion, Bush v. Gore, or any other landmark case in recent years. Who is the Democratic-appointed equivalent of Stevens or David Souter? Naturally, Reid didn’t answer these because that would her to some uncomfortable conclusions.
Instead she alleged, “The right has since succeeded in making a Court that will never surprise them again. Thanks to its bench of hard-right ideologues served up by the Federalist Society. They have just in the last year, on the John Roberts Court, succeeded in erasing 70 years of protected rights for women, black Americans LGBTQ people and not just because the people who put them on the Court are ideologues but because they themselves are ideologues.”
Singling out Justice Amy Coney Barrett lamented that some Christians have decided go into the legal profession, “Donald Trump put his stamp on the Court with three justices, including Amy Coney Barrett. Before Justice Barrett was picked for the federal courts and jammed on to the Court despite an impending election, she was a paid speaker five times at the Blackstone Legal Fellowship, a summer program established ‘to inspire 'a distinctly Christian worldview in every area of law.'"
Reid then explained that Blackstone is run “by Alliance Defending Freedom. Now if you're not familiar with the Alliance Defending Freedom or ADF, you are familiar with their work. They've been designated an anti-LGBTQ hate group. The ADF represented the Colorado baker who refused to make a cake for the gay couple and they’ve been involved in the barrage of anti-transgender bills being considered in states across the country.”
In Reid’s world, forcing someone to bake a cake with a message they do not believe in is tolerance, but standing for the First Amendment makes you a hate group.
This segment was sponsored by CarShield.
Here is a transcript for the July 5 show:
MSNBC The ReidOut
7/6/2023
7:02 PM ET
JOY REID: And unlike the courts of the last century, this Court has completely given away the capacity to surprise. You know how each of these right-wing justices are going to rule and they do exactly what you think they're going to do, most of the time.
That wasn't always the case. During the Court presided over by Chief Justice Earl Warren from 1953 to 1969, Americans could genuinely wonder how the justices might rule on any given case. And you couldn't guess based on who nominated them or how conservative they were. Take Associate Justice Hugo Black, who had been a member of the KKK as a younger man. Yet was part of a unanimous -- was part of unanimous rulings in favor of school desegregation and legalizing interracial marriage.
Or Justice Harry Blackman, nominated by Richard Nixon who wrote the majority opinion enshrining abortion protections in Roe v. Wade and it was two Reagan nominees and Bush nominee who joined with the majority upholding reproductive rights 20 years later during the Court presided over by Chief Justice William Rehnquist.
Another Republican nominee on the court took his conservative colleagues to task for their decision in Bush v. Gore, Justice John Paul Stevens.
The right has since succeeded in making a Court that will never surprise them again. Thanks to its bench of hard-right ideologues served up by the Federalist Society. They have just in the last year, on the John Roberts Court, succeeded in erasing 70 years of protected rights for women, black Americans LGBTQ people and not just because the people who put them on the Court are ideologues but because they themselves are ideologues. Donald Trump put his stamp on the Court with three justices, including Amy Coney Barrett. Before Justice Barrett was picked for the federal courts and jammed on to the Court despite an impending election, she was a paid speaker five times at the Blackstone Legal Fellowship, a summer program established "to inspire 'a distinctly Christian worldview in every area of law.'"
The Blackstone program is run by Alliance Defending Freedom. Now if you're not familiar with the Alliance Defending Freedom or ADF, you are familiar with their work. They've been designated an anti-LGBTQ hate group. The ADF represented the Colorado baker who refused to make a cake for the gay couple and they’ve been involved in the barrage of anti-transgender bills being considered in states across the country.
The ADF also wrote the Mississippi law behind the supreme court's decision throwing out 50 years of reproductive freedom in Dobbs v. Jackson's Women's Health. And now they're behind the current case to kill the abortion pill mifepristone, an effort funded by billionaires whose names you have heard or who don't want you to hear them. The shadowy DonorTrust and the Charles Koch and the Charles Koch Institute.
