Todd on Ricci: "[T]he majority actually, well, to put it bluntly, legislated from the bench"

Yes, the majority of the Supreme Court, not the majority of the appellate court.

That was great! Scarborough didn't know what to say when confronted with the traditional conservative accusation of "legislating from the bench"! Todd literally shut him up!

Chuck Todd is one of the best analysts around, and the only prominent pundit so far to honestly assess the ruling. Not only that, they also set policy with this ruling, right? T

The ruling will force organizations of all types to review and modify existing affirmation actions policies. Ergo, they've just set policy, something the right assailed Sotomayor for admitting at a conference.

I think Joe was none too happy with Todd's analysis on this story.

Scarborough sees the Supreme conservatives called out for "legislating from the bench" and sits there in total silence, as opposed to trying to form some argument about how they didn't. Then he gets all snarky with Todd for offering a "legal opinion," whatever the heck that means. They should put this clip on display so school children can see for themselves how conservatives react when the facts don't line up with their worldview: stammer and change the subject. I guess Todd is lucky that no one suggested that his soul needs praying for.

Okay Joe... I get it... you didn't want to spend 30 minutes looking like a fool, so you decide to be in stunned silence for 8 seconds before deciding that he had no leg to stand on.

This is what happens when there are no Republican Talking Points to guide them.

This is almost an historic moment. Well maybe not but I don't remember it happening before on a major news network. The standard meme has always been that only liberal judges can be activists.

The very clear implication here is that since the Supremes ruled against her, Sotomayor is not an activist judge. Not only that, but the Bush-appointed 'conservative' majority ruled in an activist way, adding to the legislation.

So therefore, Mika says: Wow, you were putting us to sleep over here. Joe says: You're off in the weeds. Instant criticism having nothing whatsoever to do with the analysis. "Go away, you're making us think, and even worse, you're wrecking the narrative!"

I actually thought the sound cut out. Awesome.

It seems unlikely that either Chuck Todd or Joe Scarborough could give a concrete definition of what "legislation from the bench" really means or even "judicial activism" for that matter. This sort of attack against the judiciary has been going on since Jefferson and Marshall. One scholar, John Dillon, said in 1887, "it is no longer anywhere denied...that the judges [are]...engaged in legislating, since they frame the rules which they apply to the transgressions at hand, and which constitute the basis of the judgments they pronounce." Then there was FDR who, when faced initially by opposition to New Deal policies by the Supreme Court, pledged he would "appoint Justices who will act as Justices and not legislators."

With all that said, the conservatives act like they have some sort of moral high ground here and it was just fun to watch Chuck "tweak" Joe for the fun of it.

I love how Joe tries to dismiss Todd's comments as "a legal opinion." As if that is somehow inappropriate for a story about a Supreme Court ruling. What a complete cobag...