Daily Verse | Job 37:23
“The Almighty is beyond our reach and exalted in power; in his justice and great righteousness he does not oppress.”
It’s Tuesday and the honeymoon with June is over.
Every now and then I get surprised by someone in the ruling class who goes against stereotype. As a for instance: Bill Maher, who seems to regularly hew left-of-center, defending Israel’s right to defend itself from Hamas rockets. That’s not the official narrative of the progressive or liberal Left. The official narrative is that Israel commits war crimes and is an apartheid state. Bill Maher says, “One of the frustrations I had […] is that I was watching this war go on in Israel … and it was frustrating to me because there was no one on liberal media to defend Israel, really.”
But I’m pleasantly surprised by two that I read yesterday. First, Associate Justice Elena Kagan, an Obama appointee, wrote the unanimous Supreme Court opinion that “rejected an illegal immigrant’s attempt to twist immigration law and create a loophole that would allow thousands of illegal immigrants to become lawful permanent residents.” More to the point, I was surprised that the decision was 9-0 with even Associate Justice Sonia “Wise Latina” Sotomayor agreeing. Here was the question before the court:
“Petitioner Jose Santos Sanchez entered this country unlawfully from El Salvador. Years later, because of unsafe living conditions in that country, the Government granted him Temporary Protected Status (TPS), entitling him to stay and work in the United States for as long as those conditions persist,” Associate Justice Elena Kagan, an Obama appointee, wrote in the opinion. “Sanchez now wishes to become a lawful permanent resident (LPR) of the United States. The question here is whether the conferral of TPS enables him to obtain LPR status despite his unlawful entry. We hold that it does not.”
In Sanchez v. Mayorkas, Kagan noted that U.S. immigration law, “applied according to its plain terms,” “prevents Sanchez from becoming an LPR. There is no dispute that Sanchez ‘entered the United States in the late 1990s unlawfully, without inspection.’”
This is very good news because the entire court agreed to apply the law “according to its plain terms.” How refreshing.
The other example I read about has to do with the Democrats trying to nuke the filibuster so that they can pass their radical agenda, such as the so-called “For the People Act.” Senators Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) have both publicly stated that they will not vote to do away with the filibuster, and Manchin has said he will vote “No” on the FTPA.
Democrats in Congress have proposed a sweeping election reform bill called the For the People Act. This more than 800-page bill has garnered zero Republican support. Why? Are the very Republican senators who voted to impeach Trump because of actions that led to an attack on our democracy unwilling to support actions to strengthen our democracy? Are these same senators, whom many in my party applauded for their courage, now threats to the very democracy we seek to protect?
The truth, I would argue, is that voting and election reform that is done in a partisan manner will all but ensure partisan divisions continue to deepen.
With that in mind, some Democrats have again proposed eliminating the Senate filibuster rule in order to pass the For the People Act with only Democratic support. They’ve attempted to demonize the filibuster and conveniently ignore how it has been critical to protecting the rights of Democrats in the past.
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Yes, this process can be frustrating and slow. It will force compromises that are not always ideal. But consider the alternative. Do we really want to live in an America where one party can dictate and demand everything and anything it wants, whenever it wants? I have always said, “If I can’t go home and explain it, I can’t vote for it.” And I cannot explain strictly partisan election reform or blowing up the Senate rules to expedite one party’s agenda.
These are pragmatic Senators, both from “Red” states. Both want to keep being elected, and they know they represent more conservative constituencies that they have to listen to.
I don’t care why they plan to vote the way they have pledged to vote. I only care that they make it impossible for the Democrats to implement their terrible plans for the United States. The Senate is evenly divided, and these are two Democrats who are bucking the momentum. They are like the little Dutch boy who stuck his finger in a leaking dike to save his country.
Yes, Manchin and Sinema are still Democrats. But even a stopped clock is right twice a day.