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Culture War Roundup for the week of December 18, 2023

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It just kicks the can down the road til the (deadlines for the) general election. Which is kinda a joke, but it's also kinda not.

There's one extent where the decision doesn't matter, because the Colorado primary and even general vote doesn't matter, and steps made here on the primary ballot will be swamped by actions taken for the general ballot here and elsewhere.

But there is absolutely an army of progressive twitterati champing at the bit, from Whitehouse or the White House on down, to take the acceptance or even delayed denial of an appeal -- which is discretionary! -- as evidence that the conservative side of the court -- did you know that Gorsuch is the justice assigned to the 10th Circuit, which includes Colorado? -- has been utterly compromised and is willing to sell out the Constitution to defend and promote the unlawful and doomed campaign of a monster, an insurrectionist, and a Republican. Punting at least avoids attacks on the 'shadow docket'; having months rather than weeks buys a lot of opportunity to have genuine arguments or, in the best case, to produce a per curiam opinion.

((Unfortunately, I think a lot of legal eagles are only considering it in these frameworks, while worse risks bubble under the surface. And there are probably a good many more tactics going on that I am not aware of or able to consider with five minutes of a novice's thought.))