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Comment by sanderjd | Hacker News Reader

There is a big difference between partisan and ideological. In fact, I've come to see them almost as opposites over the last couple years: people who are ideologically Republican-circa-2015 have largely found themselves without a party in 2018, while most people who were Republican partisans in 2015 remain staunchly so today, just with a different ideology. In this way, it seems easier to be partisan if you aren't very ideological. (I believe there are also people who are neither.)

I would agree that Justice Gorsuch is ideological, but he does not seem particularly partisan.

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I voted for trump. I voted for him specifically because he published a list of justices that I was more or less OK with, and chose to hold my nose over a lot of other stuff - I think he's kind of a sleaze (in the locker room sense) - but the Supreme Court is so much more important than the presidency.

I am happy about Gorsuch. I am appalled that Trump has continued Obama's use of executive orders to get his way (I was equally appalled when Obama did it). I'm disgusted by the continued irresponsible deficit spending. I'm pleased by the burning pile of regulations that have been axed from the federal register. I'm annoyed by the tariffs, but I will tolerate them -- the aerospace company I work for recently transferred nearly $1Bn in IP to a Chinese JV as a precondition to gain access to the Chinese market. Trump is actually correct about that problem. The border separations were reprehensible, but 'catch and release' encouraged human trafficking of children (a child, any child, was a ticket into the USA) and was an equally bad plan. Would I say that I don't have a party? Well, I do -- the Libertarian party -- but I don't think they'll ever win so I usually vote Republican.

I guess my point is, nobody will ever be completely happy with any president or any political party, and even people with ideologies tend to be pragmatic when it comes time to vote. I think that includes supreme court justices, when they must vote on the outcome of a case.

Sure yeah, I understand your vote, and your slightly positive leaning ambivalence. But in a couple cycles or so when the ideology of the elected officials more closely matches the current ideology of the party's voters, you will find your views unrepresented by either party. Put another way: if (in my opinion, when) President Trump starts chafing at the Federalist Society's dictates on judges and begins nominating authoritarians, it will not be so much as a blip in his support amongst the current Republican voting coalition. That's no longer part of the ideology, it's a transitionary hold-over from the previous ideology.

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