Stephen Hammer is Clerking for CJ John Roberts

[hoipolloi]

Posted this in the archived threads, but thought it might merit wider visibility & discussion. 

A number of us noticed that Stephen & Meredith seem to have removed their FB accounts. This may be why they did so:

He had the highest score on the July 2019 TX bar exam & was sworn into the TX bar in November 2019. 

Do you supposed home boy is helping the Roberts court fuck over voters and generally conspire to cheat the American people out of free and fair elections?

Edited November 2, 2020 by Coconut Flan

[bal maiden]

Scary scary. He has long been on my Very Scariest Fundies mental list.

[Black Aliss]

1 hour ago, hoipolloi said:

Do you supposed home boy is helping the Roberts court fuck over voters and generally conspire to cheat the American people out of free and fair elections?

He's definitely in a position to keep Roberts on the Right path. We are all so fucked.

[hoipolloi]

2 hours ago, Black Aliss said:

He's definitely in a position to keep Roberts on the Right path.

Agree though considering Roberts is a fake Christian Catholic, you'd think Stephen would be more cautious.

OTOH, Stephen Hammer has so obviously been playing the long game that I'm sure it's not hard for him to overlook Roberts' mistaken religious beliefs. Perhaps he hopes to convert him to true Christianity.

2 hours ago, Black Aliss said:

We are all so fucked.

I hope not and if Ds can take the Senate, House & WH, perhaps the evil influence of Stephen Hammer, the Roberts court, and their fellow travelers can be offset or overcome.

Also, just in case Stephen or his fellow clerks read here, the internet is forever -- and for those rare occasions when it isn't, there are always screenshots & downloads:

Quote

...In early Sept. 2009, I received an email from a reader of my online ministry blog: www.strivingtoserveathome.blogspot.com intended to encourage younger girls who, I later learned, stumbled upon my blog through a fairly random Google search. He wrote about how he was struck by my life choices in regard to living at home and desiring to be a homemaker instead of pursuing our culture’s more typical path of a college degree and full-time career....I am so blessed to be marrying a man with a desire for us to carry out our biblical roles in our future home. He encourages me and is proud that I want to be a homemaker and helper to him and a dedicated mother to our children. I could not possibly be any more proud to be the girl at his side. I can’t wait to be his wife! Stephen prays the sweetest prayers over us and will be such a wonderful spiritual leader for our future family. We both pray that the Lord will use us mightily as a couple; that we may be a Jonathan and Sarah Edwards of our generation. I pray nearly daily that the Lord will mold me into an excellent wife for such a godly man....

 

[Hane]

@hoipolloi

Edited November 3, 2020 by Hane
Never mind—phone glitch.

[Hane]

@hoipolloi, Steven has indeed been playing the long game for a looooooong time. He scares the crap out of me. The fact that he was born and raised Unitarian Universalist and turned to a very conservative strain of Christianity is creepy in its calculation—as creepy as his online job search for the perfect beyond-reproach wife. 
Military background? Check. 
Law degree? Check. 
Religion in line with the current administration? Check. 
Wife with a pure-as-snow background and no pesky education or career? Check. 
Large but not crazy-large number of kids? Check.

Note: I have several UU friends who have left UUism for other denominations—Episcopalianism, United Church of Christ Congregational, Reform Judaism—but these are theistic faiths with a strong social justice component. I will believe that Steve is a genuine conservative Christian when Jesus himself shows up at my door and tells me so.

[Bluebirdbluebell]

could we move this to politics? 

Also clerking for any SC is a big career move. I doubt it has as much to do with how he personally feels abouts Roberts and more a stepping stone to bigger things in the future. 

[nausicaa]

12 minutes ago, Bluebirdbluebell said:

could we move this to politics? 

Also clerking for any SC is a big career move. I doubt it has as much to do with how he personally feels abouts Roberts and more a stepping stone to bigger things in the future. 

We've been following Stephen and Meredith Hammer for years, before he embarked on a political career. Updates on this family are not purely political. 

It's strange that you've been here only a few weeks and think you tell mods where to put threads. I can't tell from your posts if you're trying to troll or just can't get the hang of how a discussion forum works. 

Edited November 3, 2020 by nausicaa

[hoipolloi]

43 minutes ago, Bluebirdbluebell said:

could we move this to politics? 

The Hammers have been of great interest here and have been discussed for nearly 10 years. Meredith comes from a fundie wack family and, as others have noted on this thread, Stephen -- though raised UU -- made a hard right turn in college & converted to fundie Christianity before he met Meredith after stalking her online. 

 

Edited November 3, 2020 by hoipolloi

[FilleMondaine]

@hoipolloi pretty please...can you give us a quick recap?

Although, since you were so kind to link the threads, maybe it will be a welcome distraction from the election drama to go back and read through.

[anjulibai]

Stephen is definitely one of the scariest fundies around. The man wants power and has thought long and hard about gettingit. 

[hoipolloi]

1 hour ago, FilleMondaine said:

@hoipolloi pretty please...can you give us a quick recap?

Although, since you were so kind to link the threads, maybe it will be a welcome distraction from the election drama to go back and read through.

I definitely recommend reading through the archived topics -- lots of snark and nutwaddery in there. 

Not so quick recap: Meredith was a SAHD and probably an economic mainstay of her family. We followed her through her classic SAHD blog (Striving to Serve at Home) before Stephen came into her life. Although she had a SOTDRT education, she was a go-getter with a number of successful home businesses, from selling cheesecakes to bush-hogging vacant land. She may also have been involved in her parents' real estate activities. She also had effectively raised her younger sister, Sheridan, since her mother seems to have had a lot of of health issues since the child's birth. Sheridan was absolutely devastated when Meredith married and left -- small blame to Sheridan since she was maybe 3 or 4 years old and had never spent any time apart from her older sister.

In the FJ hive's opinion, Stephen began sniffing around for a suitable wife after his conversion to fundie Christianity. He "happened to find" Meredith's SAHD blog (hidden or deleted shortly after their marriage in 2010) and then set about getting his foot and other body parts in the door of the Alexander home. The archived article I linked to above is a good recap of that effort. The wedding -- planned by Meredith -- was quite the discussion topic here in and of itself. Apart from Sheridan and her flower girl dress, there were, what, two dozen little girls who were bell ringers? I forget the exact number but this was in addition to Sheridan and 7-8 attendants. Also, lots of home made food & favors -- really, quite an effort and mostly due to Meredith's work.

After their wedding, Stephen and Meredith returned to Oxford University in the UK where Stephen finished out his Rhodes Scholarship. They then came back to the US where he completed his US Army active duty tour, then got accepted to and went through Harvard Law. At last count, they had six kids, and as noted above, Stephen is now on his third federal clerkship, this time with SCOTUS.

So, you (and anyone else who's concerned) can see that the basis of our discussions has been the fundie stuff. Does it include politics? Of course, because fundie Christians in the US -- including Stephen Hammer -- have decided they're going to make their religion political. Not only that, without pushback, they won't stop till the rest of us either follow their religion or are dead or exiled or something.

Stephen and Meredith believe in a theocracy. It's right there in her "how we met" story with the bullshit about Jonathan and Sarah Edwards. They have been drinking the talibangelical kool-aid for a long time. For example -- and it's probably not a coincidence that this example has disappeared from the web*-- during their engagement in 2010 they went with Meredith's family to attend Doug Phillips' infamous Baby Conference, complete with the Mother of the Year award given to Michelle Duggar.

Probably more than you wanted. All -- feel free to correct & add where needed.

I need 

*Attention to Whom It May Concern: I have screenshots of the Alexanders' blog account. Just saying.

Edited November 3, 2020 by hoipolloi
Adding info

[hoipolloi]

Found the "Thank you, Michelle" video from the Bay-bee Conference. It's been set to private on Dougie's Vimeo channel but you can still see it on YouTube.

Start at the 2:35 mark for the tribute. 

 

[gustava]

OMG

[Howl]

16 hours ago, bal maiden said:

Scary scary. He has long been on my Very Scariest Fundies mental list.

So......I'd have to wonder about his need for control.  Super duper smart guy, brilliant even, maybe genius?  Marries a woman with no education, to keep house and bear children.  Definitely not a woman who is his equal in the professional sphere.  I do have to wonder what a day is like in their household. 

And he has an ultimate strategy, I'm presuming to be a Supreme or senator or higher (president of the US).  Yeah, this guy is scary creepy. 

 

[nelliebelle1197]

I am actually quite upset about this.  This only upside is the Hammer is emerging at a time when his brand of crazy is on the down trend. If this was 5 years ago, I would terrified. Now I am just upset. Big difference, right?
 

I am sure Hammer is prepping to be president one day. Good luck with that. Meredith, with her low level of education and sophistication, will not be the partner a successful politician actually requires. And as long as screenshots and summaries of blog are around she could be a liability in a rational word.

@Bluebirdbluebell you obviously don’t know who the Hammers are. You are welcome to read back and learn but I am confused as to why you felt the need to comment. This topic does NOT belong in politics and it will not be moved there.

[JermajestyDuggar]

I wonder when they will stop the baby train. Right now they have 6. That’s an acceptable number for someone eyeing the White House. But people will think it’s weird that a guy wanting to be president has 10 or so kids. Most people don’t have giant families like that and may see it as strange. 

[tabitha2]

To be fair Melania Trump is a silent plastic Grim looking mannequin/ arm candy For expensive clothes who rarely if ever displays whatever education or Sophistication she has. She is frankly depressing. As long as Meredith Hammer keeps her mouth shut and smiles on cue, trots out the children for photo ops she can’t be any worse. 

[nelliebelle1197]

6 minutes ago, tabitha2 said:

To be fair Melania Trump is a silent plastic Grim looking mannequin/ arm candy For expensive clothes who rarely if ever displays whatever education or Sophistication she has. She is frankly depressing. As long as Meredith Hammer keeps her mouth shut and smiles on cue, trots out the children for photo ops she can’t be any worse. 

She, like her husband, is the poor person’s idea of a glamorous rich person. Meredith, who will have 200 kids soon, won’t have that panache.

[Howl]

9 minutes ago, JermajestyDuggar said:

But people will think it’s weird that a guy wanting to be president has 10 or so kids. Most people don’t have giant families like that and may see it as strange. 

Amy Coney Barrett, the female Stephen Hammer, has 7.

[tabitha2]

The image of doting motherhood and maternity and the “good ole days” still has huge cache with plenty of people this country. Anyway if this guy has Political savvy  And aspirations he will see they stop at enough kids so it’s not considered really bizarre so as to remind people of Duggar’s.

[JermajestyDuggar]

17 minutes ago, Howl said:

Amy Coney Barrett, the female Stephen Hammer, has 7.

Exactly. She stopped at 7. That’s ok for large christian families. 10 or more is just seen as weird. That’s why there were shows about families that large on TLC. 

[Destiny]

Does anyone remember roughly how old he is? I'm curious about how many years he has left in his political career, because if my memory serves, he always planned on one. I think that will be telling of his future plans. My math puts him at very late 30s or early 40s, but I honestly don't remember how long ago the Meredith saga even was to be 100% sure. 

[Zebedee]

13 hours ago, hoipolloi said:

After their wedding, Stephen and Meredith returned to Oxford University in the UK where Stephen finished out his Rhodes Scholarship.

Argh, I studied, and then taught at Oxford Uni from 1997 to 2017. Though, of course, they would never set foot in the ungodly astrophysics buildings! I kind of wish they had, they've been demolished. I really can't imagine how he managed in Ox with his dumb beliefs and an uneducated wife. Oxford has plenty of religion, though mostly of the high Anglican, pro women, pro SSM variety, not much in the way of his stuff, bar the very right wing Catholic oratory (even the happy-clappy evangelicals here are waaaaay more liberal than he is). Also, a lot of chapel services in colleges here are because a) the buildings are beautiful, b) many of them have world famous choirs, c) the ones who have normal choirs are usually attended only by people who like Byrd and Tallis, and cheesy Victorian Anglican music, whether the choir, or our friends.

Many people have spouses or partners who are also academics, even a physicist with a theologian in our department. Faculty parties do not end up with the wives & mothers making small talk, while the men discuss serious things. With the booze, he would have seen it as an alien gathering. I suspect he would have been seen as an alien, and Meredith would have had plenty of sympathy, at least at first - because he sounds exactly like the self-righteous little prig that the law faculty would have enjoyed teasing and pushing into logical fallacies for a laugh.... 

Oxford is also a notoriously liberal area - lots of traditions, which have, however, been altered to keep up with the times (often later than they should have been, but nonetheless, updated); we - especially the junior/middle members, i.e. undergraduates/grads - strive to be "woke", inclusive, anti all of homophobia, transphobia, xenophobia, misogyny, etc. And they get to make their cases to the senior members, and in many colleges the senior members accept these recommendations. We're not perfect, but the vision most people at Oxford see for Oxford is a prejudice free, accepting utopia for study, friendship and research - so, a Fundie's vision of hell.

Also, we are a famously hedonistic and drunken bunch, so... I bet that went down well! I religiously read all student media during those years, he certainly didn't make much impact here, especially compared to some Rhodes scholars. I wish he had, it would be nice to read the Cherwell or OxStu takes on him - but he clearly wasn't involved enough for that. Shame. Might still have a quick search though!

Edited November 3, 2020 by Zebedee
ETA Nope, nowhere except for lists of Rhodes students.

[hoipolloi]

4 hours ago, JermajestyDuggar said:

Exactly. She stopped at 7. That’s ok for large christian families.

Actually, she apparently stopped at 5 biological children and then adopted 2 from Haiti, something that's also very OK in fundie Christian circles. 

2 hours ago, Destiny said:

Does anyone remember roughly how old he is?

He graduated from Princeton in 2009. Assuming he would have been about 22 then, he's around 33 now.

1 hour ago, Zebedee said:

I religiously read all student media during those years, he certainly didn't make much impact here, especially compared to some Rhodes scholars.

Don't think I've read anything about his Oxford time so if you find something that would be interesting. TIA!