The Norms Respecters Have To Be Stopped:

We already tried the Return To Norms thing. The Biden years were one long wish that American politics could normalize with a Washington lifer in charge of shit for a while. The plan was to try to make some progressive gains, get stymied by John Roberts at every turn, and never, ever lose another presidential election. It wasn't much of a plan.

These folks are saying the left should play by rules that no longer exist. They say we should not tie one hand behind our back, but two, while our opponents create evermore destructive brass knuckles in this one-sided fistfight.

Pack SCOTUS during a congressional recess; presidents have seated federal judges this way. Be underhanded. Be outright dishonest. Bury that shit in a budget bill somewhere and pass it and say, oh by the way, we have seven new Supremes and they’re going to undo every right-wing, anti-American ratfuck policy Roberts and Clarence Thomas and Sam Alito have put into place. And also, fuck you.

My hope is that all avenues to accomplishing this – even the sneaky ones – are considered the next time pro-democracy forces have their hands on the levers of power, assuming those levers haven't been snapped off.

In no way is the current Supreme Court sustainable if the US is to beat back autocracy. The right's worst impulses have been approved and validated again and again by justices who have helped create an unreality in which far-right solutions are the only answer. All other issues pale in comparison to making the Court a legitimate, law-abiding institution again. It has mutated into an anti-democracy monstrosity only through norms-breaking, and it can only be molded into something viable through norms-breaking. The norms respecters have to stand down if we are to have any chance.