And a means to do so
On this day before July 4th and celebration of our suddenly wobbly Independence, I’m struggling to look at the bright side of last week’s U.S. Supreme Court decisions. There is much to do and say about the politics and civics of eastern Washington, my usual topics, but right now we all seem focused on the recent vile decisions of the Supreme Court, a Supreme Court speaking for corporations and a minority of voters, a Court made possible by Leo Leonard, the Federalist Society, Donald Trump (who loves to take credit for it), and Mitch McConnell’s duplicity.
Taken in no particular order, in the last two weeks this U.S. Supreme Court’s reactionary majority 1) ruled that the U.S. President is above the law in the aptly named Trump v. United States, 2) legalized bribery, as long as it is given after the fact and called a “gratuity” Snyder v. United States, 3) gave themselves and the lower courts the power to overrule federal agencies’ regulations even in areas in which lawyers and judges have little or no expertise, e.g. fishing regulations, clean air standards, and drug safety, by reversing the precedent of Chevron Deference in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, 4) and strategically punted an abortion/women’s health decision until after the fall election in Moyle v. United States, leaving aside the question of federal health regulations vs. a state’s (Idaho’s) draconian abortion laws. (Does anyone doubt on which side they’ll come down on this issue once they get another crack at it after the election?)
And, of course, this same SCOTUS reactionary majority infamously robbed women of the right to manage their own reproductive health in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, relegating women to second class citizens subservient to a fertilized egg.
Do not be tempted to “lie back and enjoy” all this as the new depressing, unalterable reality (as was once infamously recommended to women facing a rapist). We have been in like places with U.S. Supreme Courts before this (although the sheer number of shameless decisions of this current SCOTUS is unprecedented). Robert Hubbell nails it:
Trump v. United States will be overruled. The decision is so bad it will not stand. Like Dred Scott [1857] (holding that enslaved people are not citizens entitled to judicial protections), Plessy v. Ferguson [1896] (upholding segregation), Koramatsu v US [1944] (upholding the Japanese internment camps), today’s decision will be overturned by the acclamation of history in due course. It will be remembered as a mark of shame for the Roberts Court just as Dred Scott tarnishes Chief Justice Taney’s legacy to this day.
We are not powerless against the current reactionary majority on SCOTUS. We can still vote (even as Republicans try wherever they can to restrict that right and/or negate results of votes they don’t like). Just as the SCOTUS decision in Dobbs is still producing a voting backlash this new plethora of outrageous decisions properly explained to voters should drive voter turnout. Donald Trump returned to the White House, empowered by the Supreme Court’s recent decisions would, indeed, be a “dictator on day one” immune from law. And this time with the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025’s recipe for autocratic takeover of the federal government there will be nothing to stand in his way. This scenario should give even the most loyal of Republican voters second thoughts on voting for an imperial Trump—or for any U.S. Rep or Senate candidate that supports him. A Democratic federal trifecta (control of both houses of Congress and the Presidency)—as blowback to this autocratic power-grab by corporate-backed Republicans—is the healthy and necessary solution. The SCOTUS can—and should be—expanded by an act of Congress.
I remember local and state Republican candidates of the recent past side-stepping questions on abortion and climate change, for example, by claiming that as local officials their personal views on such things were irrelevant because they were controlled at a higher level of government. Therefore, supposedly, they could not be called upon to affect such issues. That bandaid has been ripped off by the Supreme Court’s reactionary SCOTUS majority in Dobbs, Snyder, Loper Bright, Moyle, and Trump v. United States. Unless the Republican Party once again changes its stripes (it was, once upon a time, the party of civil rights) anyone who votes for a “Prefers Republican” for any office is deluded.
Keep to the high ground,
Jerry
P.S. Enjoy Independence Day. Renew your faith in our country’s fundamental reach for fairness, inclusion, tolerance, and freedom that Republicans now seem intent on destroying. I plan to take off this Friday and return on Monday to resume concentration on issues pertinent to eastern Washington.
P.P.S. I want to leave you with the final words about Trump v. United Statesfrom Joyce Vance’s excellent (but lengthy) commentary:
We each have the opportunity to join Justice Sotomayor in dissenting when we vote in November. The Court’s decision means that the only force that can hold Trump accountable for trying to interfere in the last election is the voters in the coming one. It’s up to us, because the Supreme Court has said the rule of law no longer applies to the President. We held Trump accountable at the polls in 2020 and must do it again in 2024, because the Supreme Court won’t. So, I will dissent too.