Before I get into this, I was honestly busting your balls jokingly with my last post. I didn't mean to offend, and I apologize to you and your friends if I did. However, you are still wrong or at a minimum, misunderstanding.
Well, at least they admit that I'm authoritative about insurance. Lol. Finding lawyers who disagree with me on something isn't hard. I'm a conservative plaintiffs' attorney and a strict constructionist and outspoken and unapologetic about all of it. There are like 3 of us on the planet. We're used to being disagreed with, told that we're wrong, and sometimes ridiculed.
That's fine. You don't have to think I'm a lawyer. My professed credentials don't make me right. A one-armed, illiterate donkey show fluffer in Nuevo Laredo saying the same thing would be just as right.
If you found one who disagrees with me on the 14th, he is the black sheep. That's probably a 90-10 issue in the legal community. And yes, I can be a jackass. I try to be respectful, but there are definitely times when I'm not.
Furthermore, at least around here, I hold conservatives to a higher standard. There's crap that I'll take from OUBubba that I won't take from you, because you should know better. To invoke Chris Rock, calling a guy like him out everytime he's wrong is like playing one on one with a retarded kid and calling him for double dribbling. You have to let some **** slide. Otherwise, I'd be correcting him all day long. You're in a different boat. I can afford to nitpick and hassle you when you're wrong, because you're not wrong several times each day.
Was it only one time?? That ball licking reference really rubbed you the wrong way. In recent years you've brought it up more than I have - makes me wonder if you've got an issue on that practice. Either way, whether you've noticed it or were too preoccupied with the thought of ball licking (either giving or receiving) I've walked back the Putin stuff in recent years and even defended Trump on it a few times. It's not because he didn't rhetorically lick his balls. He said what he said. However, his policy (fortunately) hasn't been consistent with the rhetoric. Nevertheless, if you polled the legal profession (since you're playing that card to try to discredit me), I'm willing to bet that far more agreed with me that that an investigation was justified even if not handled correctly or fairly.
I stopped practicing after ten years and became a stay at home dad. I hope they're more accomplished. If legal accomplishment was priority 1 for me, I'd still be in Austin practicing. I enjoyed doing it, but I valued something else more and don't apologize for that or care if anyone thinks I'm unaccomplished or less of an authority because of it.
I called Laurence Tribe the "Paul Krugman of Constitutional Law." That's not a compliment or praise. Quite the contrary. I give Tribe's opinions very little weight.
You don't get it. My view (which would be commonly known as textualism) isn't inconsistent with original intent. It means that the text is supreme when ascertaining original intent. It doesn't mean you let the definition evolve with the times. You follow the ordinary meaning of the words used in the law at the time they were written. So no, we don't apply the 21st century definition of "regulate" when looking at the Second Amendment or the interstate commerce clause. We apply the 18th century definition.
However, the key factor is that we don't let one member of Congress say "we enacted X but we meant Y" and then pretend that has more authority than the actual words Congress passed into law. If Congress wants a different definition applied (whether it's narrower, broader, or just different), they can say so by including a definitions section in the law they pass, or they can change the law. However, one guy's comment isn't going to trump the words used and shouldn't induce the judiciary to set aside the ordinary meaning of the words to suit his intent. If we do, then we're effectively making that one lawmaker the true legislative authority rather than Congress as a whole. If you prefer to be governed by the mindless ramblings of people like Maxine Waters or Ilhan Omar, that's up to you. I prefer something a little more objective. It's not perfect, but it's much better and less prone to tyranny.
Last edited: Mar 12, 2020