Timex
4991
A good breakdown of the McGirt v. Oklahoma decision.
Highlighting this section of the abstract:
Part III examines the Supreme Court’s contributions to the degradation of American democracy. The Court’s conservatives abrogated the preclearance provision of the Voting Rights Act, enabling Republican governments in the South to enact voting restrictions enabling the party to maintain political power in rapidly diversifying states such as Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, and Texas. The Court’s Republican Justices have also upheld stringent voter-identification laws and purges of the voter rolls, both of which purport to address the largely non-existent problem of voter fraud, while disfranchising Democratic-leaning constituencies, such as persons of color, the poor, and the young. Most recently, the conservative Justices have declined to intervene against partisan gerrymandering, which has mostly benefitted Republicans in recent years.
The Court’s campaign finance decisions, dating back to 1976 but becoming increasingly extreme over the last decade, have created a political system dominated by money, which advantages Republicans who disproportionately benefit from the political spending of the most affluent Americans. In Bush v. Gore (2000), the Court helped to elect a Republican president, who appointed two conservative Justices, without whose participation none of the recent rulings undermining democracy would have been possible.
In 2019, the conservative Justices fell one vote short of enabling Republicans to entrench themselves in power for another decade by ensuring that persons of color would be undercounted in the 2020 census. Only a last-minute change of heart by the Chief Justice stymied that effort. The conservative justices have also abjured the Court’s traditional role in protecting vulnerable racial and religious minorities from discrimination by validating the Trump administration’s thinly veiled ban on Muslim travel to the United States. Part III concludes by discussing how constitutional interpretation works in general and why the Republican majority’s rulings on issues of democratic governance nearly always benefit the Republican Party.
SCOTUS has been brokenly political for a while, and the Garland sidelining torpedoed much of its remaining structural integrity. Justices as well as federal judges at all levels have become pure political appointees (for life, no less) that depend on having one party control both the White House and the Senate.
RichVR
4996
Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck!
ChrisPal
4998
This is absolutely fucking terrible news. I’m despondent.
arrendek
4999
My ability to enjoy anything for the next (insert timeframe here) just evaporated.
Strollen
5000
I seldom agreed with her opinions, but what a giant of the court. I hope the Democrats know all the slow down tricks, because they are going to need them.
RichVR
5001
Fuck 2020. We are so screwed.
arrendek
5002
Within a month we’ll have a new dude bro fuckhead conservative on the court, for sure.
CraigM
5004
Not good. Both on a human level, and a Cocaine Mitch is gonna try and ram someone through level.
Under no circumstances should Trump be allowed an appointment.
If Mitch were to meet a baseball bat in a back alley I wouldn’t even be upset.
Supreme Court Justice Tom Cotton.
lordkosc
5006
Sad to hear of her passing, what an amazing life to have lived.
Regardless of whether they try to replace her immediately, an open seat can have a huge effect on the election.
If they ram someone through, Dems better be ready to expand the court.
