Injustice
The night that Ruth Bader Gisberg died, I re-read my blog from October of 2016 entitled “The True Prize.” https://www.goodreads.com/author_blog...
I imagined Hillary Clinton’s presidency foiling Mitch McConnell’s “Garland Gambit” and building up a 6-3 progressive majority on the Supreme Court. This would have put abortion rights and the rights of LGBT+ to marry out of reach for decades. It would have also given us a shot at overturning Citizens United, the disastrously misguided decision which deems corporate and billionaire campaign cash donations as “free speech.”
Instead, four years later we have the nightmare mirror image of that hopeful vision. Not only was McConnell successful in trading Merrick Garland for Neil Gorsuch, but he swapped centrist Anthony Kennedy for right wing partisan Bret Kavanaugh. Now for the hat trick, he can replace the notorious RBG for her judicial polar opposite, Amy Coney Barrett.
Making matters worse, McConnell had blockaded hundreds of federal court nominations which opened during President Obama’s tenure. During these last four years, he and President Trump have been stocking the judicial branch all over the country with extremist judges, some who had never even tried a case prior to being made a judge.
All of these judges are lifetime appointments, and most of them are young enough that they are expected to serve for several decades. McConnell’s intentions are clear. He knows that his views are not widely held, that only gerrymandering and the peculiarities of the Senate and the Electoral College keep the Republicans in power.
McConnell is attempting to impose his will onto the American people, not for the next four years, but for the next forty. Long after both he and Trump have passed, these judges will be on the bench, holding back our nation’s progress. Even from the grave, McConnell will be dictating to our country what we can and cannot do.
What does this mean in real terms? Womens’ access to abortion services, and health services in general, will be severely threatened in the coming years, even if the Supreme Court does not outright overturn Roe v Wade. Obergefell, the decision which gave gays and lesbians the right to marry, may also be imperiled.
You want to pass an assault weapons ban? There are judges up and down the Federal court system now who can stop it, and a Supreme Court with a 6-3 conservative majority will be no help. How about a wealth tax? Climate change legislation? Voting rights? Racial justice? Workers rights? These judges are in position to block the entire progressive agenda.
If we go through regular channels, it will take decades to undo McConnell’s poisoning of the judiciary. The problem is, we don’t have the time. The needs of our country, of our planet, are urgent. We won’t be able to wait forty years to begin to address them. A measured approach will not be sufficient to undo the damage, but I fear what drastic action will do to our already polarized nation.
I imagined Hillary Clinton’s presidency foiling Mitch McConnell’s “Garland Gambit” and building up a 6-3 progressive majority on the Supreme Court. This would have put abortion rights and the rights of LGBT+ to marry out of reach for decades. It would have also given us a shot at overturning Citizens United, the disastrously misguided decision which deems corporate and billionaire campaign cash donations as “free speech.”
Instead, four years later we have the nightmare mirror image of that hopeful vision. Not only was McConnell successful in trading Merrick Garland for Neil Gorsuch, but he swapped centrist Anthony Kennedy for right wing partisan Bret Kavanaugh. Now for the hat trick, he can replace the notorious RBG for her judicial polar opposite, Amy Coney Barrett.
Making matters worse, McConnell had blockaded hundreds of federal court nominations which opened during President Obama’s tenure. During these last four years, he and President Trump have been stocking the judicial branch all over the country with extremist judges, some who had never even tried a case prior to being made a judge.
All of these judges are lifetime appointments, and most of them are young enough that they are expected to serve for several decades. McConnell’s intentions are clear. He knows that his views are not widely held, that only gerrymandering and the peculiarities of the Senate and the Electoral College keep the Republicans in power.
McConnell is attempting to impose his will onto the American people, not for the next four years, but for the next forty. Long after both he and Trump have passed, these judges will be on the bench, holding back our nation’s progress. Even from the grave, McConnell will be dictating to our country what we can and cannot do.
What does this mean in real terms? Womens’ access to abortion services, and health services in general, will be severely threatened in the coming years, even if the Supreme Court does not outright overturn Roe v Wade. Obergefell, the decision which gave gays and lesbians the right to marry, may also be imperiled.
You want to pass an assault weapons ban? There are judges up and down the Federal court system now who can stop it, and a Supreme Court with a 6-3 conservative majority will be no help. How about a wealth tax? Climate change legislation? Voting rights? Racial justice? Workers rights? These judges are in position to block the entire progressive agenda.
If we go through regular channels, it will take decades to undo McConnell’s poisoning of the judiciary. The problem is, we don’t have the time. The needs of our country, of our planet, are urgent. We won’t be able to wait forty years to begin to address them. A measured approach will not be sufficient to undo the damage, but I fear what drastic action will do to our already polarized nation.
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