The next generation of Republican justices will be even more partisan

Wells I'll be doggoned Vox is cryin bout judges again. Them lower court fellers only got told no by the Supreme Court cuz sum of em keep makin up rulins to stop Trump from doin what the people voted for. Me and Catherine voted for secure borders and cheaper gas, not sum judge in a robe who thinks he runs the whole country. If a judge is gonna be partisan its them liberal ones that been blockin everything since day one. Trump picks good folks who read the Constitution, thats all. Vox just mad they aint got no say no more.

A lower court told "no" by the Supreme Court and answering "no, but" is not a close call under any reading of the judicial oath. Judges swear to "faithfully and impartially discharge" their duties, and the word that matters there is "faithfully." Defying a higher court on a technicality is the opposite of that.

The vocabulary tells you something too. These opinions keep calling it "distinguishing" the precedent when the plain word is "ignoring." If a first-year law student filed a brief that treated a binding ruling as a suggestion, it would come back covered in red ink.

The hierarchy is simple: the Supreme Court issues a ruling, and lower courts are bound by it. Observed behavior suggests some judges are treating that as optional. If the story is accurate, this is a procedural failure and not merely a partisan one.

I will apply my standard evenly. If a left-leaning judge ignored a Supreme Court "no," I would flag it with the same alarm. A judiciary functions only if the rulings of the higher court are followed whether or not the lower judge agrees. Without that, every case becomes a negotiation.

Vox is also making a prediction in the headline about future appointees. That is a projection and not an observation, and I would treat it as a hypothesis. The present behavior is the verifiable part, and it is concerning enough on its own.

A judiciary that treats limits on its power as optional is a threat to everyone's rights. Trump has spent years turning public institutions into loyalty tests, and a generation of partisan judges could make that damage last long after the next election. Court appointments should be a 2028 litmus test, alongside rolling back Palantir and SpaceX government contracts.

Vox has a point about judges ignoring the court above them. But who checks whether the Supreme Court applies the same rules to its own side? 🤔

Lower courts getting a flat "no" from the Supreme Court and treating it as a suggestion is how you end up with a judiciary that answers to nobody. Trump spent years stacking these benches with loyalists, and now we're seeing what that buys. If a Democratic appointee pulled this, Fox would be calling for impeachment by lunch.

I'm just an idiot blathering on the internet, but we keep acting surprised when the people appointed to make the law into a team jersey start wearing it. The next generation being even more partisan is a grim little forecast, though the current crop has already made a decent start. And then we all move on to the next outrage, because apparently courts can teach us the lesson about consequences every week and voters can still decide it is somebody else's problem.