SCROTUS Raises Its Ugly--Er--Head

I don't know about you, but I was really just getting comfortable with the acronyms POTUS (President Of The United States) and SCOTUS (Supreme Court Of The United States) as briefly describing those two branches of our government.  Now comes those cutting-edge Repugnicants with yet another term for every schoolkid to learn:  SCROTUS (Supreme Court [Republican Only] Tramples United States).  Trust them to add a new wrinkle (all puns and innuendo intended) to an already-ugly situation.

During a week in which Drumpf realized that some situations called for a more complicated answer than "NO!" or a flat-out-lying-tweet, Bashar al-Assad provided invaluable cover for the swearing-in of Neil Gorbasuch (He must be a Rooskie, right?  That's who we deal with now, after all), which went by almost unnoticed in a hail of Tomahawk missiles.  Which will be the more important event in two weeks, let alone twenty years?

A position on The Supreme Court is essentially, of course, a lifetime appointment, which is why Mitch McConnell (R-Obstructionist) considers as his greatest achievement the fact that he was able to deny President Obama's nominee, Merrick Garland, even a meeting, let alone a hearing, in one of the most egregious abuses of power  in US history.  So we get Gorbasuch, who will likely take a position to the right of the Thomas/Alito/Roberts wing of the Court, which is to say that they'll have to add on to the room in order for him to be able to sit far enough to the right.  If The Heritage Foundation lobbied for him he's no Louis Brandeis, or even Henry David Souter.

We must find a better system of appointing Justices to, and removing them from, the Court.  Rick Perry, of all people, has proposed what seems to me a great idea:  Justices would serve 18-year terms, and there would be a turnover at two year intervals.  That way every POTUS would get to seat at least two Justices on the SCOTUS, and there would be less of a chance of a SCROTUS, having to wait till death do us part in order to make change.  It would also likely skew the Court younger, which would not be a bad thing.  Rick Perry suggested that!  Hey, take it where you find it....

In the meantime we're left with a seriously flawed system whereby, now that the so-called "nuclear (or nucular, to Repugs) option" has been employed will ensure an ever more partisan court, totally politicized.  There is no need for the parties to work together, as the party with the most votes in the Senate will always run their nominee through, with no need for any bipartisan cooperation or dealing.  No longer are 60 votes required for confirmation. 51 will do, with the Vice president of the party in power casting a tie-breaking vote as necessary.  Drumpf could conceivably get to appoint two or three more Justices, changing the course of history for a generation, and there's nothing to be done about it.  Which leads me to one last acronym:  SCREWEDUS.  Senate Court Regulators Easily Wasted Endless Days Undermining Society.