Current Affairs General US politics (ie, not POTUS related)

[Tin-Tin]

Honestly, I'd forgotten about this due to focus on the national/state races. Puerto Rico has voted for formal request to become a US state.

This'll be interesting!!

Will that swing heavily Democratic?

 

[Tin-Tin]

 

[Tin-Tin]

 

[BlueTX]

Will that swing heavily Democratic?

That's the expectation but I'm not sure it is a given.

 

[TN Toffee]

That's the expectation but I'm not sure it is a given.

At the present moment aren’t they generally very anti-Trump based on his disastrous handling of the hurricane relief a few years ago?

 

[BlueTX]

At the present moment aren’t they generally very anti-Trump based on his disastrous handling of the hurricane relief a few years ago?

Yes. Long-term, tho, I wouldn't consider it a given PR will always be lefty.

 

[tsubaki]

Honestly, I'd forgotten about this due to focus on the national/state races. Puerto Rico has voted for formal request to become a US state.

This'll be interesting!!

this (and DC) are absolutely what Biden should do instead of inflating the Supreme Court

 

[BlueTX]

this (and DC) are absolutely what Biden should do instead of inflating the Supreme Court

Not getting control of the Senate is going to make this near-impossible.

 

[tsubaki]

Not getting control of the Senate is going to make this near-impossible.

true, though statehood for PR if they want it was (IIRC) in both the 2016 and 2020 GOP manifesto for the Presidency

 

[catcherintherye]

this (and DC) are absolutely what Biden should do instead of inflating the Supreme Court

What's DC?

 

[tsubaki]

What's DC?

the District of Columbia (ie: Washington DC)

 

[catcherintherye]

the District of Columbia (ie: Washington DC)

Ok and you would give them statehood and votes?

 

[tsubaki]

Ok and you would give them statehood and votes?

they should be given statehood and two senators, yes.

 

[TN Toffee]

Not getting control of the Senate is going to make this near-impossible.

Obviously figuring out a way to balance the Supreme Court in the short term is a priority, but do you know if of any workable suggestions for depoliticizing it in the long term? If we can’t get it back to a place where you just have justices who are above partisan politics and trying to legislate from the bench, sure Democrats can balance it at their first opportunity, but it will just set off a tit for tat cycle where eventually you end up with some obscene number on the court. As for how to make this happen, I’m at a complete loss.

 

[BlueTX]

Obviously figuring out a way to balance the Supreme Court in the short term is a priority, but do you know if of any workable suggestions for depoliticizing it in the long term? If we can’t get it back to a place where you just have justices who are above partisan politics and trying to legislate from the bench, sure Democrats can balance it at their first opportunity, but it will just set off a tit for tat cycle where eventually you end up with some obscene number on the court. As for how to make this happen, I’m at a complete loss.

There's a proposal out there supported by some folks, not electeds, right and left where the members of the SCOTUS would not have life terms. They would be on the court for 18 years and staggered for replacement 2 each POTUS term. It doesn't guarantee ideological balance and I'm not sure how it deals with untimely departures from the Court but it seems an idea worth exploring.