Confirmation Hearing for PiT (The Physicist) for Associate Justice (South)

[TheSaint250]

As Acting Southern Governor, I have nominated PiT (The Physicist) to be the next Associate Justice to the Supreme Court of the Republic from the South.  Starting now, there will be 72 hours for questions, and Delegates will vote in favor or against after that period.

[tmthforu94]

I am proud to have recommended PiT for this position. He has been involved in the game for many years and brings a wealth of experience at both the regional and federal level. He has a reputation for being level-headed and is widely respected in the game. I think he will be a welcome addition to the court and will provide a unique perspective that is needed.

I urge the Chamber to confirm this highly qualified nominee.

[Attorney General, Senator-Elect, & Former PPT Dwarven Dragon]

I understand that as I am a member of the Lincoln Assembly the nominee is not required to answer my questions , but given the great importance of this nomination I would hope that the nominee takes the time to do so regardless.


1. What assurances can you give me that you will not come to a position on a case prior to submission of briefs by the parties, and that your rulings will not be easily predictable - i.e. why should all parties believe you will give honest consideration to their side and not just fall into an ideological box?

2. Do you consider yourself to be an originalist and/or textualist, and if so, what do these terms mean to you?

3. In your view, when is it appropriate for the Atlasian Supreme Court to overturn its own precedent?

[Associate Justice PiT]

     I would like to thank the members of this body for their consideration, as well as Governor tmthforu for his support.

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     I am strongly of the opinion that justice can only be served when its ministers adhere to the process required of them. The rule of law is instituted to protect the citizens from the government running amok, and the enforcement of those rules and the system as created is critical to that protection. An independent judiciary that stands above partisan or ideological interests and serves only justice is what the institutions of Atlasian government demands, and that expectation is something that I believe must be the Associate Justice's duty to fulfill.

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     In general I consider myself originalist, in the sense that I see a doctrine of "original meaning" as important to maintaining a stable understanding of the Constitution and therefore a stable continuity of respect for the rights of the people to the present day and into the future. The textualist approach differs in that it seeks to derive understanding of the law from a reading of the plain text of the law itself.

     While this difference is important in the context of the United States, a short enough time has passed in Atlasia that I do not see these approaches as being markedly different. Nevertheless, I see an originalist approach as implying reference and deference to the philosophical principles that underlie the Constitution and that give it meaning as a foundational document. The concept of textualism carries no such implication, and as such I have less confidence in it as a practice of jurisprudence.

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     The principle of stare decisis becomes quite weak where it threatens the rights of the people of Atlasia. Above I referred to a stable continuity of respect for the rights of the people, but the flipside of this is that there is no place for the courts to assist in attacking those rights. The classic example of this is the IRL case of Brown v. Board of Education. The Supreme Court made the correct decision and overturned the precedent of Plessy v. Ferguson, because it recognized that the practice of school segregation denied African-Americans equal protection under the law. In such instances, upholding precedent is little more than a plaintive cry, and not a position to be seriously entertained.

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     My understanding is that the Constitution is mum on the issue, though this is something that has seen little litigation in the Atlasian courts and I would be very open to arguments on the matter. The traditional argument invoked with Griswold v. Connecticut and Roe v. Wade would be that abortion rights fall under the liberties guaranteed by Article I, Section 5, though I find such an argument less than convincing considering that the crux of the matter, the question of whether a fetus should be granted the protections of human life, is left unaddressed by the Constitution and is a hotly contested issue among the citizenry.

     In short, I do not believe that the Constitution either provides for or denies a woman's right to choose.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

In the pursuit of originalist understanding would you for instance use statements and posts made in the Constitutional Convention as a guide for understanding particular provisions of the constitution? 

[Southern Delegate matthew27]

I oppose conservatives on any bench.

They don't believe in human rights and "somehow" believe that turning back the clock to a time when women, minorities and lbgt people had very little rights and no liberty is somehow the right time period to dictate current affairs.

Our founders were forward thinkers that wanted to advance human rights and human liberty. Most of them wouldn't want that stalled for hundreds of years and would be in shock to see so many people opposed to basic rights for all. Do you realize that we'd still have slavery today if people didn't fight to change what was considered constitutional? Same could be said about woman's right to vote and basic rights for all.

I respect the constitution as it is a master piece, but realize that its framers wanted to keep progress moving forward. If not, why did they fight against the concept of having a king? and instead chose something very different.
 

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

I have no reservations with this nominee and I plan to vote in favor of confirming him. PiT is highly qualified and suited to serve on the court.

[Terry the Fat Shark]

I oppose conservatives on any bench.

They don't believe in human rights and "somehow" believe that turning back the clock to a time when women, minorities and lbgt people had very little rights and no liberty is somehow the right time period to dictate current affairs.

Our founders were forward thinkers that wanted to advance human rights and human liberty. Most of them wouldn't want that stalled for hundreds of years and would be in shock to see so many people opposed to basic rights for all. Do you realize that we'd still have slavery today if people didn't fight to change what was considered constitutional? Same could be said about woman's right to vote and basic rights for all.

I respect the constitution as it is a master piece, but realize that its framers wanted to keep progress moving forward. If not, why did they fight against the concept of having a king? and instead chose something very different.
 

PiT is pro choice, so woke assuming everything about a person based on their avatar.

[windjammer]

What is your opinion of the current supreme court, how would you describe the ideology of each justice?

I obviously recommend Pit. And I want to thank tmth d'or having consulted the Supreme Court before making this appointment.

[fhtagn]

I oppose conservatives on any bench.

They don't believe in human rights and "somehow" believe that turning back the clock to a time when women, minorities and lbgt people had very little rights and no liberty is somehow the right time period to dictate current affairs.

Our founders were forward thinkers that wanted to advance human rights and human liberty. Most of them wouldn't want that stalled for hundreds of years and would be in shock to see so many people opposed to basic rights for all. Do you realize that we'd still have slavery today if people didn't fight to change what was considered constitutional? Same could be said about woman's right to vote and basic rights for all.

I respect the constitution as it is a master piece, but realize that its framers wanted to keep progress moving forward. If not, why did they fight against the concept of having a king? and instead chose something very different.

I recommend taking this ignorance elsewhere. Clearly you know absolutely nothing about PiT. He's highly respected by other posters of all ideologies, and not a single thing you are claiming he supports is true.

All that ridiculousness aside, PiT is incredibly qualified to serve on the court, and is an excellent choice. I hope that our region's delegates can see the same things everyone else in Atlasia sees in him.

[President of the great nation of 🏳️‍⚧️]

If not, why did they fight against the concept of having a king?

They didn't. You see, this current constitution was also ratified in 2016.

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

I oppose conservatives on any bench.

They don't believe in human rights and "somehow" believe that turning back the clock to a time when women, minorities and lbgt people had very little rights and no liberty is somehow the right time period to dictate current affairs.

Our founders were forward thinkers that wanted to advance human rights and human liberty. Most of them wouldn't want that stalled for hundreds of years and would be in shock to see so many people opposed to basic rights for all. Do you realize that we'd still have slavery today if people didn't fight to change what was considered constitutional? Same could be said about woman's right to vote and basic rights for all.

I respect the constitution as it is a master piece, but realize that its framers wanted to keep progress moving forward. If not, why did they fight against the concept of having a king? and instead chose something very different.

I recommend taking this ignorance elsewhere. Clearly you know absolutely nothing about PiT. He's highly respected by other posters of all ideologies, and not a single thing you are claiming he supports is true.

All that ridiculousness aside, PiT is incredibly qualified to serve on the court, and is an excellent choice. I hope that our region's delegates can see the same things everyone else in Atlasia sees in him.

[Wisconsin+17]

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It's good to see that leftists are so tolerant and open-minded these days!

[Mr. Reactionary]

[Associate Justice PiT]

In the pursuit of originalist understanding would you for instance use statements and posts made in the Constitutional Convention as a guide for understanding particular provisions of the constitution? 

     I do think there is a place for original intent, but it is necessarily limited. The problem that conservative jurists ran into with the doctrine of original intent was that it was often difficult to ascribe a singular intent to the framers, who were a large group of people with varying interests and goals. Likewise, the Atlasian Constitution and any bills passed by its legislative bodies did so with the assent of a group of people who carry varying ideologies and who may have had different reasons for supporting the bill.

     In short, yes I would use specific statements and posts to better understand relevant law, but these generally won't be the items that I place the greatest weight on in building my opinion.

What is your opinion of the current supreme court, how would you describe the ideology of each justice?

     I think the court runs very well, and does its job when called upon. Of its current membership, you as the Chief Justice have been the most visible by far in the cases that have come before the court, so I can comment most concretely on your ideology, or the court as a whole (for the demarcating line is often not clear). In the case TimTurner v. Peebs, the court was faced with a difficult decision of balancing voter rights with practical application. In this case the stare decisis opinion proved to be the correct one, because it was arrived at with an eye to smoothly administering elections while also preserving the rights of the voters. Looking at both this and the more straightforward case Poirot v. Peebs, I would characterize the court's approach as a reasonably textualist one, lending due weight to concerns of enforceability and application.

[Sestak]

As I'm only a citizen, I have no say in this, but would like to state that the nominee has my full support, and would, if I were in a position to give it, have my vote.

[Attorney General, Senator-Elect, & Former PPT Dwarven Dragon]

I hereby endorse confirming this nominee.

[TheSaint250]

Less than 24 hours left to ask your final questions.

[Sirius_]

I oppose conservatives on any bench.

They don't believe in human rights and "somehow" believe that turning back the clock to a time when women, minorities and lbgt people had very little rights and no liberty is somehow the right time period to dictate current affairs.

Our founders were forward thinkers that wanted to advance human rights and human liberty. Most of them wouldn't want that stalled for hundreds of years and would be in shock to see so many people opposed to basic rights for all. Do you realize that we'd still have slavery today if people didn't fight to change what was considered constitutional? Same could be said about woman's right to vote and basic rights for all.

I respect the constitution as it is a master piece, but realize that its framers wanted to keep progress moving forward. If not, why did they fight against the concept of having a king? and instead chose something very different.
 

With due respect sir, the supreme court was not intended to be a partisan institution and this hearing is not an appropriate place for partisan politics and ideological bickering.

[thumb21]

I don't have much to say to this except the nominee is highly qualified and I'll be voting to confirm.

[TheSaint250]

The questioning period has closed. Due to Delegates being in the process of swearing in, I will hold off for a little bit more before formally calling a vote.

[Wisconsin+17]

PiT has my support. It's rare that we have such a qualified applicant. I have worked with him in the past and believe that he will be one of our best court justices.

[TheSaint250]

Once again, just to clarify, I will leave calling for this vote to (hopefully) tomorrow when the new Speaker will be sworn in.

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

This nomination is henceforth being given a final vote.
[] aye
[] nay

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

Aye