Thursday, March 31, 2022

House Republicans block naming of federal courthouse in honor of Joseph Hatchett

In the last post, I said how rare it was for a bill to get bipartisan support.  This is a good example.  Even though Florida Senators Rubio and Scott pushed naming the federal courthouse in Tallahassee after Judge Hatchett, House Republicans shot it down.  Hatchett was an unbelievable trailblazer: veteran, first black federal appellate judge in the South, 5th Circuit judge, 11th Circuit judge, Florida Supreme Court Justice, etc.  I don't get it. 



From Politico:

The U.S. House on Wednesday blocked consideration of a bill pushed by Sen. Marco Rubio that would rename the federal courthouse and federal building located in downtown Tallahassee after Judge Joseph Woodrow Hatchett. Hatchett, who died in 2021, was the first Black person appointed to the Florida Supreme Court and eventually became a federal appeals court judge.

Both Rubio and Florida Sen. Rick Scott backed the effort to rename the courthouse after Hatchett with Rubio saying back in December that “his story is worthy of commemoration.” But it took a two-thirds vote — a process setup for legislation considered uncontroversial — for the House to take up the Senate bill and the effort failed largely due to opposition from House Republicans.

Ten of the 16 Republicans from Florida voted against Rubio’s bill: Reps.. Dunn, who is from Panama City, Gus Bilirakis, Vern Buchanan, Kat Cammack, Byron Donalds, Neil Dunn, Scott Franklin, Matt Gaetz, Brian Mast, John Rutherford and Greg Steube, who represents part of Tallahassee and in the most recent map vetoed by Gov. Ron DeSantis would have represented the entire city. Axios reported that Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-Ga.) was “behind the defeat of the bill because Clyde said he ‘let it be known’ to colleagues that Hatchett authored a 1999 opinion banning prayer at public school graduations."

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

wow, let's dishonor the memory of a court of appeals judge because he followed the principle that Supreme Court decisions are binding

Anonymous said...

This is racist pure and simple

Anonymous said...

Clyde has described the 2021 United States Capitol attack as "no insurrection" and said the attack resembled a "normal tourist visit."


https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/republican-loyal-trump-claims-capitol-riot-looked-more-normal-tourist-n1267163

Cathal Brugha said...

There’s a phrase, “to get my Irish up.” The phrase alludes to words or actions which cause the receiver to go into a blinding, seething, often-homicidal rage. These fucking Protestants.

These Protestants are seriously messing with our political system, messing with it to the point where it is on the edge of collapse. My rational side tells me that irrational zealots are a feature of almost every religion; the evangelicals are no more representative of Christianity than the Taliban are of the Muslim faith.

One of the beauties of the United States is that our government is independent of religion. But, these fucking Prods, they can’t abide that. They are changing a free nation into Afghanistan. They want to cram their wacky religion down our throats. This wacky bible they waver around? It is full of mistakes. It was written by humans, and if you have looked at humanity over the years, we tend not to hear what God is telling us, even when he’s speaking directly from a burning bush. Inerrant my ass!

So, we have a choice. Either we get these evangelical so-called “Christians” to sit the fuck down and shut up, or watch “the Troubles” come to America.

Anonymous said...

As Stephen Hawking said " the bible is a good fairy tale". A virgin birth? sea parting against the laws of physics? Dis is Bullsheet.

Anonymous said...

Insane yes but its nothing compared to what is yet to come when this crazed party takes control next year. Look what the governor is doing with culture wars. On another note, a N/FL judge ruled today several GOP FL voting laws unconstitutional. The appeals court will over rule him? Seems likely the way we are going. Its hard for even the courts to stand up for voting rights these days. I ask these republican judges imagine if democrats took control of Alabama and Florida. Suddenly democrats found where republicans vote and stopped them from Sunday after church voting and removed voting machines from Cuban republican Westchester library. Of course the courts would rule this unconstitutional since one party is being targeted. Yet there is no shame in proud republican judges and Supreme Court justices to say ONLY the GOP can limit voting. There are cases where Alito has switched sides simply because the law was drafted by his party. Yet this is not even a news story.

Anonymous said...

Can't blame Protestants for what's happened to SCOTUS--7 out of the 9 Justices presently dismantling a Constitution (written by Protestants) to keep government and organized religion apart are practicing Roman Catholics.

Anonymous said...

I wonder if they will name the building after Judge Gerald B. Tjoflat. But, then again, Gerald B. Tjoflat once filed an amicus brief (apparently on behalf of himself) arguing that Brown v. School Board was not binding on the states, since "The decision of the Brown case does not rise to the quality of `Law of the Land.'" Kelly v. Bd of Education., 270 F.2d 209, 231 (5th Cir. 1959), https://casetext.com/case/kelley-v-bd-of-educ The district judge rejected Tjoflat's rebellious contention as being "without merit in law." But the current Congress probably finds his thinking more acceptable than Chief Judge Hatchett's adherence to Supreme Court precedent.

Unknown said...

This is disgusting, but to be expected from the Trump party of white supremacy.

Anonymous said...

Kinda surprised (not really) that you allowed this type of nasty religious bigotry, David. You would have never printed a hateful comment like that about certain other religions and you know it.

Anonymous said...

I suspect the vehemently anti-evangelical post was not really written by Mr. Brugh. He died in 1922.

However he makes a point. The far right’s calls to violence are deeply troubling. Do you really think the second amendment slope-heads stand a chance against the united crips and bloods? Keeping a strict wall of separation between church and state is necessary to keep the US out of the bloody sectarian wars that have plagued humanity throughout recorded history. Ireland’s “troubles” demonstrate that Christians can match, if not exceed, the Muslims when it comes to ignorance and bloodthirsty violence.

Anonymous said...

Word on the street is that the Republicans are all in agreement in naming the building the David Duke federal courthouse.

Anonymous said...

Easy to get: institutional racism

Anonymous said...

Without cutting my caseload, I could run two sock puppets who would be better U.S. Senators than we have here. But I wanted to mention that, before the Torah was translated and made into the Old Testament of the Bible, it was handed down as a memorized, verbally transmitted document. (Like in Farenheit 451.) So except for the very very high points, you should not expect that what we have now is an exact copy of the original.

Anonymous said...

Word in street show Rubio and Scott have no pull …. Or didn’t bother to try… same old Florida racism… it’s everywhere…. Good ole boys weren’t having it!!