Last month I joined a Democracy Docket online discussion between founder Marc Elias and Congressman Jamie Raskin (D-MD, top-ranking Dem on House Judiciary Committee), both Constitutional scholars with more integrity—and legal experience—in their pinky fingers than six alt-right supremacists justices who have so gracelessly rendered the Supreme Court no longer credible, and wholly deserving of contempt. Because these are six very sick tickets wrecking the rule of law, their unabashed injustice no laughing matter.
During the discussion, I jotted down two takeaways, now more critical than ever after last week’s unsigned shadow docket “opinion,” wherein the seditious six literally reversed themselves within mere weeks. Inexplicably deciding that even deliberate and blatant racist gerrymandering is quite alright with them, and ensuring that red states run by rabidly racist Republicans can do any corrupt thing they can conjure—and do it in a breakneck hurry—to hold onto their pathetic white-supremacist power grab.
All the more fitting after Marc Elias advised that we should “fall out of love with the Supreme Court” and instead focus on embracing the Constitution itself. At the time I nodded, thinking, oh I’ve definitely already done that. But since then, I’ve had time to ponder. Because have I really?
After all, twenty-six years ago was when I should have become irrevocably no longer enamored with, or impressed by, those who are supposed to serve our highest court in the nation. That’s when Justice Scalia was given free rein to determine the result of the 2000 presidential election—as opposed to we the peoples’ votes rendering the result—in an opinion known as Bush v. Gore.
That was when the plan—now in full execution today by the Federalist Society and other fascist groups like the Heritage Foundation—actually began. Election Day corruption in Florida was too easily pulled off by turning thousands of Black voters away at the polls, where they had no time to prove that they weren’t the felons Republicans claimed via a fake list. Leading to a convenient SCOTUS decision that kept Republicans in power by mere votes per the Electoral College.
Once Democrats didn’t fight back, the die was cast, because Republicans had figured out a way to scam the system despite the will of increasingly diverse American voters. Until too many folks began to vote by mail and they needed to target that too, because it would prevent a repeat scheme like that used in Florida on Election Day in November 2019. Lest anyone wonder why voting by mail or early voting of any kind is such a pervasive “problem” for Republicans.
But before all of that, thirty-five years ago while I was in law school, I often awoke in a cold sweat from reading opinions penned by Antonin Scalia. I used to think he was the worst of the worst, and then knew for sure that he was after Bush v. Gore. But then Samuel Alito and Brett Kavanaugh said to hold their beers. Not to mention Clarence Thomas, who I knew was corrupt to his core from the get-go. It didn’t help that he subsequently voted 98 percent with Scalia and it took him ten years on the bench to ask an actual question. We now know he was too busy grifting to do his actual job. Because greed-mongering and election schemes undermining democracy (Jan 6) are a way of life for Thomas and his wife.
Despite writing a local newspaper column in Nevada about the erosion of integrity of the Supreme Court seven years ago, part of me still held out hope, mostly because of the incomparable Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. And the three women justices now struggling to hold our democracy by a thread, Elena Kagan, Sonia Sotomayor, and Ketanji Brown Jackson. They don’t deserve the contempt that is now directed at the Court, but they know better than the rest of us precisely why we should fall out of love with SCOTUS.
However, Jamie Raskin concluded the Democracy Docket online discussion with: “Democracy won’t end with right-wingers in black robes. Now is the time to campaign like never before for a strong democracy, freedom, and progress. The American people will have the final say in November. Organize!”
Hence, we can’t let the cheating that began in Florida in the 2000 election continue, because every Republican accusation toward Democrats is an admission of their prior guilt, both in 2000, and in 2024 by the way. We can’t capitulate when they, with the help of six racists in black robes, steamroll over the rule of law and basic human decency.
One other thing is for sure. Once Democrats take back control of Congress, Supreme Court reform, expansion, and accountability is a must, not a wish. And as for the hope I once held? Now I hope for the impeachment of the utter fraud known as Chief Justice John Roberts who clearly stands for nothing more than racial injustice.