If you are at all familiar with media trends online, one you will know about is “Republicans Pounce.”  The best single description of Republicans Pounce comes from (of all places) Urban Dictionary:

A headline in a newspaper or other article that describes Republicans (or other right-leaning individuals) attacking a Democrat (or other left-leaning individual) when that Democrat commits a misdeed. Always written by a reporter with left-wing political views, it will attempt to frame the Republicans as overzealous, and will either downplay, ignore, or excuse the Democrat’s misdeed. Commonly done by the New York Times or Washington Post, it is often viewed as a sign of the bias within the media.

“Republicans pounce! On Democrat caught murdering young woman.”

Both Commentary Magazine and the Washington Examiner have good pieces on this media phenomenon.

A few weeks ago, I wrote a post about a ridiculous brief that several Senate Democrats wrote to the Supreme Court, in which they basically threatened it over a New York City gun rights case.  The brief, which was so bad that the Wall Street Journal called it “an enemy of the court” brief as a parody of it being an amicus curiae (Latin for “friend of the court) brief, pretty much said that SCOUTS has become too partisan and if they decided for gun rights that the Democrats would pack the court or send all the Republican-appointed justices to lower courts.

Recently the Republicans sent a letter to the court as a response to the Democrats threat.  The Republicans had the temerity to remind the court that the judiciary is independent of politics and that the Republicans won’t let the Democrats threaten the Court.

The Republicans are right and that they ended with an RGB quote is icing on the cake.

Keep in mind, Republicans pounce.  This is how this was reported on by the media:

Republican senators just sent the US Supreme Court a strange letter

US senators, Democrats and Republicans alike, are in a huff over a Second Amendment case in the Supreme Court. The gun-rights matter, raised by the New York Rifle and Pistol Association and stemming from a New York City law, is inspiring unusual writing from both sides of the political aisle.

The latest missive to the court, submitted yesterday, comes in the form of a letter from Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell and 52 colleagues. It is basically about politics, not the law.

No, the letter is exactly about the law and the Court should follow the law and not worry about politic.

In fact, McConnell expresses no opinions about the issues in the case but reminds the justices that they are an independent body, not subject to pressure from politicians (a fact that they are surely aware of and an assertion that seems suspect coming from that particular writer).

Which is the job of the Supreme Court and which McConnell was affirming.

McConnell’s letter isn’t so much to the justices, however, despite being addressed to the court. It’s really a response to an amicus brief filed earlier in the month by five Democratic senators who believe the high court should consider the case moot.

This is how the Democrats amicus brief is introduced in the article.  You know, the brief that was a partisan smear of five of the nine Justices on the bench, questioning the integrity of the Court, and threatening the Court if it decides against the Democrats in NYC.

That brief wasn’t strange or political in any way.  The Republicans telling the Court to ignore that brief and to do their job as an independent third branch of the government is strange.

The filing from the Democrats noted poll results showing that many Americans believe the justices are political actors, which undermines the legitimacy of their decisions. It alluded to restructuring the bench and asserted that the court “is not well.”

“The implication is as plain as day,” McConnell’s letter states, “Dismiss this case or we’ll pack the court.” His letter goes on to express fear that Americans will be unable to trust the court—a claim not so different from the ones Democratic senators made in their brief—if the justices seem to be responding to politicians’ concerns.

So the Democrats say that every conservative victory is proof that SCOTUS is biased, and the court is illegitimate and needs to be restructured.

The Republicans say that they still have faith in the court the and the court bowing to a threat of restructuring will destroy its credibility.

The media doesn’t condemn the Democrats for their smears or threat but does condemn the Republicans for telling the Court not to worry about threats.

Damn the Republicans are pouncing hard on Democrat attacks on the checks and balances of the Constituion.

McConnell and his colleagues only expose their own distrust of the justices, as well as an inflated sense of self-importance, by urging the justices to “fulfill their oaths to faithfully and impartially follow the law.” In this sense then, signatories to the letter committed perhaps an even more egregious sin than the brief they discredit.

The Democrats “only expose their own distrust of the justices, as well as an inflated sense of self-importance, by urging the justices to” do what the Democrats want or suffer the wrath of the Democrats with an unprecedented upheaval of the Court.

In no rational universe is what the Republicans did a worse sin than what the Democrats did.  I’ve seen lawyers (one was mentioned in the WSJ article) say that if they were not Senators and wrote such a brief to the Court, they would be removed from the Federal Bar.

The Republicans’ letter didn’t even claim an interest in the case and so made no legal arguments—thus, their missive simply wastes court time and resources.

Yeah, that’s a waste of the court’s time and not the Democrat’s threat.

As this case moves forward, the narrative has been set.  Any victory for gun rights will be proof that the Court is biased and political and needs to be punished by the Democrats.

Any counter-argument to such threats to the checks and balances of our system will be Republicans pouncing.

And they wonder why “fake news” resounds so much with the Right in this country.