See below for some reactions to this disastrous Supreme Court term, starting with Rep. Jennifer McClellan (D-VA04)’s reaction to the “devastating #SCOTUS decision that will allow businesses to discriminate against the LGBTQ+ community”; the brilliant David Rothkopf, who asks, “Has there ever been an institution as dedicated to promoting straight, white, male, Christian privilege as this Supreme Court? (Other than say, the KKK or Nazis?)”; Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA11) on the Supreme Court lurching into a “full-blown legitimacy crisis“; etc. Just horrendous, and the direct consequence of the fact that the Supreme Court is completely/wildly unrepresentative of the American people, thanks to decades of efforts by far-right groups (e.g., The Federalist Society), Donald Trump, Mitch McConnell, people who couldn’t bother to vote for Hillary Clinton in 2016, people who voted for Donald Trump (or Jill Stein) in 2016; etc. And now…basically, we are f’ed (as Elie Mystal says, “If we don’t expand the Court, no liberal policy will be allowed to exist for the rest of our lives“; and as Jennifer Rubin says, “Expand the court. Enact term limits. Limit its jurisdiction. We are at a constitutional breaking point.“)
“Has there ever been an institution as dedicated to promoting straight, white, male, Christian privilege as this Supreme Court? (Other than say, the KKK or Nazis?) Two knee-buckling blows to students seeking to make it against the odds in America this week.
The affirmative action decision makes it harder for students of color to get into college. The student loan decision makes it harder for those who had to borrow to pay for school to shed the burdens that causes them.
They are different sides of the same coin, legal underpinnings notwithstanding. They are an effort to maintain the structure of American privilege and all the impediments to the rise of everyone else that are essential elements of it.
So too are laws that force women to carry children to term, that make them second-class citizens where their bodily autonomy is concerned. So too are decisions that allow businesses to discriminate against members of the LGBTQ community.
Don’t look at these decisions individually. Look at them as part of a comprehensive effort on behalf of straight white male Christian minority rule in America. And then look at the developments yet to come from this court.
Soon gay marriage will be banned. Soon states will have the right to ban birth control. With each decision we will become less free. With each decision we will become less equal. With each decision we will be come less democratic, a lesser nation, farther from our ideals.
This is a grim moment in our history. And the only antidote is to ensure Democrats win the White House, the Senate and the House in 2024 and that we can begin to strip away the unfair, inhumane advantages these white supremacists are seeking to reinforce within our society.”
As Kagan notes in her dissent, “The Court acts as though it is an arbiter of political and policy disputes, rather than of cases and controversies.”
By relying on their legal innovation of the major questions doctrine, the Court aims to wield legislative power from the bench. https://t.co/nkgS1JMy2O
— Rep. Don Beyer (@RepDonBeyer) June 30, 2023
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