Meanwhile, count on more rulings that, like Monday’s decision upholding racial gerrymandering in Texas, give states the green light to cut back on voting rights, promote the rights of corporations over individuals, further erode the wall between church and state and look the other way when states cut corners and evade constitutional requirements in order to execute their citizens.
The Supreme Court is designed as a counter majoritarian institution, and operates as a crucial check in a democracy based on majority rule. Still it is hard to swallow that this court is about to solidify a deeply conservative majority, despite the fact that in six of the last seven presidential elections, more Americans have voted for a Democrat than for a Republican.
Under the arrangement that sustained the legitimacy of the court for generations, until last year, the replacement of a swing justice would trigger a battle in the Senate, as the minority party wielded the threat of a filibuster to head off any ideologically extreme nominee. That won’t be happening this time. Senate Republicans killed the filibuster for Supreme Court justices last spring on their way to installing Neil Gorsuch, the ideologue for whom they had already stolen a seat that rightly should have been filled by President Barack Obama, and who could sit on the court for 40 years.
Mitch McConnell, the Senate majority leader, who put up that blockade despite the damage it inflicted on two branches of government, is celebrating now. He knows he has an open road to confirming whomever he and the Federalist Society want on the bench.
thanks to Mr. McConnell’s nakedly cynical ploy, any remaining sense that the court can exist apart from partisan politics is gone.
By The Editorial Board
The editorial board represents the opinions of the board, its editor and the publisher. It is separate from the newsroom and the Op-Ed section.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/27/...-left-region&WT.nav=opinion-c-col-left-region
The Supreme Court is designed as a counter majoritarian institution, and operates as a crucial check in a democracy based on majority rule. Still it is hard to swallow that this court is about to solidify a deeply conservative majority, despite the fact that in six of the last seven presidential elections, more Americans have voted for a Democrat than for a Republican.
Under the arrangement that sustained the legitimacy of the court for generations, until last year, the replacement of a swing justice would trigger a battle in the Senate, as the minority party wielded the threat of a filibuster to head off any ideologically extreme nominee. That won’t be happening this time. Senate Republicans killed the filibuster for Supreme Court justices last spring on their way to installing Neil Gorsuch, the ideologue for whom they had already stolen a seat that rightly should have been filled by President Barack Obama, and who could sit on the court for 40 years.
Mitch McConnell, the Senate majority leader, who put up that blockade despite the damage it inflicted on two branches of government, is celebrating now. He knows he has an open road to confirming whomever he and the Federalist Society want on the bench.
thanks to Mr. McConnell’s nakedly cynical ploy, any remaining sense that the court can exist apart from partisan politics is gone.
By The Editorial Board
The editorial board represents the opinions of the board, its editor and the publisher. It is separate from the newsroom and the Op-Ed section.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/27/...-left-region&WT.nav=opinion-c-col-left-region
