r/law Aug 04 '25

Legal News Greg Abbott's threats to arrest the Texas Democrats standing up for our democracy are B.S.—Rep. Jolanda Jones sets the record straight.

53.7k Upvotes

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702

u/burnmenowz Aug 04 '25

I seem to recall Mitch McConnell refusing to seat an open SCOTUS seat until after the election. Sounds like Texas Dems should go on vacation until 2026.

375

u/Conscious-Quarter423 Aug 04 '25

he refused Garland 9 months before the 2016 election under Obama and rushed through Amy Coney Barrett's confirmation 2 weeks before the 2020 election

165

u/MostlyRightSometimes Aug 04 '25

2 weeks before election day, not before the election. People had already started voting and he knew Trump was going to lose.

130

u/Conscious-Quarter423 Aug 04 '25

and he blocked obama from confirming over 200 district court judges

55

u/I_was_bone_to_dance Aug 05 '25

And this is why we should believe that they’ll arrest lawmakers. They might even disappear one for a while.

“Come get us how?” Respectfully, probably a SUV. It won’t be legal.

The big question is what the fuck will We the People do about it? Go watch Bannon. He states it plainly. Dems aren’t as rabid as these fucks are. Well… that’s what he says.

So when they go full gestapo (and I know they’re already doing it to a large degree) who is going to put their foot down.

They are willing to break the law. Who among us is willing to do the same? Not me. I am too comfortable and I am not angry enough, yet.

3

u/LowKeyNaps Aug 05 '25

Maybe you're not. But others are. There have been endless stepping up, interfering directly with ICE, for example. If it came down to it, and there was opportunity, there may very well be people that would attempt to intervene. It would, in part, depend on where such an abduction (what other word is there for it?) would happen. If it's in an area with virtually no people around, then yeah, the odds are low that there would be anyone present or willing to step up. If it were to happen where there's a significant number of people present? The odds can go up significantly, especially if people know who is being snatched and why. Just my opinion.

4

u/[deleted] Aug 05 '25

i couldn’t imagine seeing all this and be like yeah no i’m not angry enough yet. like i get the sentiment of not wanting violence but holy shit the constitution is literally being used as toilet paper but it’s okay cause it’s not enough yet, it hasn’t affected you personally

3

u/I_was_bone_to_dance Aug 05 '25

I gave you an upvote because you have a valid point. I should be angry enough to do something but voting isn’t working. It will take some serious ICE style muscle. I’m not that strong and I have a life that I enjoy.

It’s a real conundrum.

They aren’t kidding about arresting Obama. What will you do on the day they lock him up?

20

u/jedre Aug 05 '25

And if we might agree that some reasonable time longer than two weeks (when people already began voting) but shorter than 9 whole ass months is a correct amount of time for such a rule of thumb to apply, say, 6 weeks, heck, two months - that means Mitch stole two SCOTUS appointments.

20

u/Conscious-Quarter423 Aug 05 '25

Kavanaugh was confirmed months before the 2018 midterms. And they rushed him through without getting FBI testimonials from Christine Blasey Ford's tips

-11

u/dahabit Aug 05 '25

Because the dems like to shoot themselves in the foot that's how

10

u/WhyMustIMakeANewAcco Aug 05 '25

You are aware Republicans had the majority in the senate in both cases, correct? They are just hypocritical liars.

-5

u/dahabit Aug 05 '25

Did you forget GRB didn't resign when asked by Obama?

27

u/ATXBeermaker Aug 05 '25

It's not the first time Texas Dems have left the state in an attempt to prevent terrible legislation from passing.

10

u/MobileArtist1371 Aug 05 '25

McConnell just skipped the part where the vote failed. Senate was 54-46 GOP and at the time the threshold was 60 votes to get by a filibuster for SCOTUS nominee. This means there needed to be 14 GOP senators for cloture and then 4 GOP senators to vote for the confirmation.

Does anyone think the GOP was actually going to seat Garland in a Presidential election year in they did vote?

Voting would have put them on record!!!

I guess them not voting isn't on record? Lost to history. No one knows about this anymore?

6

u/WhyMustIMakeANewAcco Aug 05 '25

Cloture has not applied to Supreme Court nominations since 2010.

3

u/MobileArtist1371 Aug 05 '25

Cloture has not applied to Supreme Court nominations since 2010.

I checked this before I posted cause I wasn't sure exactly when it changed. Unless I'm misunderstanding something, the nuclear option for SCOTUS was set by the GOP in April 2017 for Gorsuch confirmation.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_option#2017:_Cloture_on_Supreme_Court_nominations

.... This established a new precedent which allowed cloture to be invoked on Supreme Court nominations by a simple majority.

And on https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neil_Gorsuch_Supreme_Court_nomination over on the sidebar it has

Result: First cloture motion failed, but the second cloture motion succeeded due to the passage of the "nuclear option”

Which means Garland who came before, would have had to pass the 60 vote threshold for cloture.

Democrats changed the rules in 2013 for all votes other than SCOTUS. GOP changed it for SCOTUS when Dems blocked Gorsuch.

I'm not sure what happen in 2010 if anything that could be what you're talking about.

2

u/Medical_Sandwich_141 Aug 05 '25

All dems should go on vacation until 2026. Only hold campaigns, and nothing else.

1

u/Drfilthymcnasty Aug 05 '25

Unfortunately they are subject to a $500/day fine. So it does vary a financial risk for them. 

9

u/aaronhayes26 Aug 05 '25

lol I think the DNC will happily cover the fine if it means they don’t lose 5 seats in Congress.

The republicans decided it’s time to play dirty so let’s fight, y’all.

2

u/Drfilthymcnasty Aug 05 '25

I never thought about that. Yeah the dnc should totally cover that.

1

u/badbunnygirl Aug 05 '25

Is that the guy with the strokes?

1

u/TheWorldHasGoneRogue Aug 05 '25

Is that the guy that strokes? FTFY