A THREAT. TO. DEMOCRACY., perhaps THE THREAT. Why can MANY observers say that? Consider the following tests. Has the Roberts “court” honored “all Men are created equal” and “unalienable Rights [of[ Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness”? Has it honored the Constitution’s REQUIREMENTS to “form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility..promote the general Welfare”? Has it honored the REQUIREMENTS of the Amendments, most especially “The Bill of Rights”? Has the Roberts “court” done anything to remedy the Founders’ 4 major fears: corruption, slavery, religion, mobs – or – has it made the problems WORSE? Has the Roberts “court” in any way helped quality of life? Responses to these questions answer is the Roberts “court” a THREAT to American democracy?
*** A 1997 book, “A Matter of Interpretation: Federal Courts and the Law,” argued that judicial power is dangerous to our democracy if left unchecked. The author: Antonin Scalia.
1] “Supreme Inequality,” Adam Cohen
– “The past fifty years of conservative rulings from the Supreme Court have coincided almost exactly with a period in which economic inequality in the United States has soared to near-historic levels..made extreme educational inequality inevitable…The Court’s campaign finance decisions..are a major reason tax policy is so slanted in favor of the rich…weakening labor unions, it has driven down worker’s wages…making it harder to sue corporations…also contributed to dismantling of the social safety net…life expectancy in the United States declined…tens of millions of Americans are still barely managing to survive…these trends hurt all Americans – because they threaten America itself. Extreme inequality puts democracy at risk.” [Supreme Court rulings ‘THREATEN. AMERICA. ITSELF’]
[perspective: Barlett & Steele’s “The Betrayal of the American Dream”; Hedrick Smith’s “Who Stole the American Dream?”; Wilkinson & Pickett’s “The Spirit Level”: Stiglitz’ “The Price of Inequality”]
*** “There’s class warfare, all right, but it’s my class, the rich class that’s making war, and we’re winning.”
[Warren Buffett, billionaire investor]
2] a] “Let’s Admit It: The Supreme Court is Corrupt and Clueless”, Jim Hightower, Progressive Populist, 2/l5/23
“There’s nothing supreme about the six-pack of far-right-wing political activists who are presently soiling our people’s ideals of justice by proclaiming their own antidemocratic bias to be the law of the land.”
b]. “The Court’s Third Great Crisis'< Garrett Epps, Washington Monthly, November/December, 2022
“The shadow docket has become a kind of appellate star chamber, resolutely closed to the public or the parties, and aggressively wielded in aid of the Court’s reactionary project..major decisions..were written in terms so broad as to seem an open invitation for conservative advocacy groups seeking to roll back existing precedent in a wide variety of areas..Our Supreme Court is now something akin to the Guardian Council that ensures religious conformity within the “democratic” government of the Islamic Republic of Iran.”
c] “A Court of First Resort?”, Jamelle Bouie, New York Times, 12/11/22
“According to Mark A. Lemley, a law professor at Stanford, the Roberts court..is an “imperial” Supreme Court, undermining the power and authority of other branches of government, as well as weakening the power of lower courts..It gets its way, he continues, “..by undercutting the ability of an entity to do something the justices don’t like.”
*** “The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, judiciary, in the same hands, whether of one, a few, or many, and whether hereditary, self-appointed, or elective, may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny.”
James Madison, Federalist #47]
3]a] “High court grants blanket immunity to feds”; Anya Bidwell, Patrick Jaicomo; USA Today; 6/13/22
“The Supreme court just dealt a huge blow to federal police accountability…It held..a Border Patrol agent is entitled to blanket immunity from lawsuit simply because he happens to work for the federal government..Egbert v. Boule means that nearly all [if not all] federal officials are effectively above the law. If they violate your constitutional rights – even intentionally – there is absolutely nothing you can do about it..”
b] “Police Officers Can’t Be Litigated for Miranda Violations, Justices Rule”, Adam Liptak, New York Times, 6/24/22
“Justice Alito acknowledged that Miranda rights had constitutional roots. but he wrote that “a violation of Miranda does not necessarily constitute a violation of the Constitution…”Allowing the victim of a Miranda violation to sue a police officer for damages..would have little additional deterrent value, and permitting such claims would cause many problems.” [when things rooted in the Constitution really aren’t!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!]
c]. “The conservative Assault on the Constitution”, Erwin Chemerinsky
“For the first time in history, the Court concluded that the exclusionary rule does not apply if the Fourth Amendment is violated in good faith or even negligent police actions..is..a very significant undermining of this protection…Our privacy..is protected by the Fourth Amendment..Without [it], there is nothing to keep the police from stopping and searching any person, or searching anyone’s home, any time they want.” [how far from the Gestapo, NKVD, Stasi. Kempei, “morality police”. – is this???
*** “The makers of our Constitution..conferred, as against the government, the right to be let alone – the most
comprehensive of rights, and the most valued by civilized men.” [Justice Brandeis]
4] GUN. TERRORISM
a] “Americans are 25 times more likely to be killed by a gun than people in other nations.” {Gifford PAC] A child is shot in America every minute of every day. “States with the highest gun ownership rates have a gun murder rate 114% higher than those with the lowest.’ [Mother Jones]
b] “Newtown still tries to cope 2 years later”. [Pat Eaton-Robb, Assoc Press, 8/11/19]: Anxiety, depression, guilt, sleeplessness, marital strife, drug and alcohol abuse..the scope of the psychological damage to children, parents and others is becoming clear..agencies have been working to set up a support system for the next 12 to 15 years..”
c] “Rise of bullet-resistant backpacks” [Anne D”Iocenzio, Assoc. Press, 8/11/19}
d]. “Victims face another burden: cost of care”. [Abby Goodnough, New York Times, 4/23/13]; “medical costs for shooting victims average about $50,000..” [an average person’s yearly income]
e] “Not Just A Drill” [Erika Christakis, The Atlantic, March, 2009]; “There’s scant evidence that exercises to prepare students for shootings are effective. They can, however, be psychologically damaging – and they reveal a deeply misguided view of childhood.”
f]. “What’s the Limit on How Much We Can Cry?” {Elizabeth Dias, New York Times, 5/31/22]: “How much value do we place on a single human life?…Violence is an almost normal part of life in the United States..”
*** Roberts “court” responses to all this misery, fear, terror, nightmares, blood, death??? – expanded “gun rights’ – because – “the Second Amendment is in danger of second class status”. – so our[???] “supreme court” twists out of shape, for the first time in 218 years, what the Founders wrote, said, intended [“a well-regulated militia”] into “individual rights” to carry military style weapons anywhere – thus enabling violation of “insure domestic Tranquility”
5]. SEPARATION OF. CHURCH. AND STATE
a]. “If the state controls reproduction”, Ellen Goodman, Boston Globe, 5/11/1989
“As Harvard Law School’s Larry Tribe says, there’s no principled way to say that the government can use women’s bodies against their will to nurture the unborn without accepting the other serious and totalitarian implications about privacy.”..it is worth remembering that if you take away the right of individuals to make decisions about their lives, you cede it to the state.”
b] “When faith trumps politics, danger to the nation emerges”, Lawrence Brown, Cape Cod Times, 7/3/22
“Here’s my problem. Neither the idea of soul – not certainly of ensoulment – can be provided as evidence for our secular law. Citizens can reject..Others can accept..This is precisely what our freedom of religion protects..also what [Dobbs] endangers. [Dobbs] enshrines a faith principle [ensoulment] as a foundation for America’s secular law..It’s also an approach guaranteed to tear our country apart…the fear that in its moment of triumph, a religious minority has seized control of the law. This is where, Jefferson warned us long ago, our troubles begin.”
c]. “The Battle to End Roe Has Changed Democracy”, Mary Ziegler, New York Times, 6/25/22
“The decades-long fight to reverse Roe was..an attempt to change the way American democracy works…in 1992..with six justices nominated by Republicans, the court declined to reverse Roe, explaining that doing so would irrevocably damage its legitimacy. So anti-abortion groups set about to ensure that different kinds of justices would sit on the court…After Casey, some anti-abortion groups expanded their focus: To gin even more control over the Supreme Court nominations, they sought to overhaul the Republican Party and the rules of campaign spending…it’s hard to see the court’s aggressive move t remake constitutional law as anything but antidemocratic.” [perspective: Charles Kimball’s “When Religion Becomes Evil”. – the 5 indications}
*** “If and when these preachers get control of the [Republican] Party, and they’re sure trying to to do so, it’s going to be a terrible damn problem. Frankly, these people frighten me..believe they’re acting in the name of God..” [Barry Goldwater, 1994]
*** “Our goal is a Christian nation. We have a biblical duty..are called by God to conquer this country. We don’t want equal time..don’t want pluralism.” [Randall Terry]
6]. VOTING
a] “A North Carolina case imperils the U.S. electoral process”, Chicago Tribune, 2/5/23
“…”independent state legislature theory”..has never been sanctioned by the Supreme Court. Now..the court’s conservative justices could make this theory the new standard for American elections. That would prove disastrous for American democracy..would allow state legislatures to thumb their noses at state constitutions..would effectively create a license to gerrymander..it effectively negates the whole concept of checks and balances.”
b] “Courts have their role to play”, New York Daily News, 9/28/22
“If the conservative supermajority embraces the radical “independent state legislature” theory, it will deal a body blow to the integrity of American elections..Our democratic republic already has a hard time taking partisan thumbs off our electoral scales. Remove the courts from the equation, and it would be game over.”
c]”Future of democracy is at stake in N.C. voting case”, Michael Wines, New York Times, 12/7/22
“It is a case “with profound consequences for American democracy,” said J.Michael Luttig, a former federal appeals court judge long time hero to conservatives..what had been a fringe theory known as the independent state legislature doctrine..many in the legal and political establishments see a dangerous subversion of democratic values. Luttig said that, absent changes in federal law governing the counting of electoral votes, an unconstrained legislature might be able to substitute its own slate of presidential electors for the ones the voters had chosen..That would upset centuries of legal tradition.”
*** “It’s not the people who vote that count. It’s the people who count the votes.” [Stalin]
*** “There are no morals in politics; there is only expedience. A scoundrel may be of use to us just because he is a
scoundrel.” [Lenin]
*** “It is not the truth that matters, but victory.” [Hitler]
*** “I am the law.” [Frank Hague, mayor of Jersey City, 11/11/1937]
*** “As long as I count the votes, what are you going to do about it?” [“Boss Tweed; November, 1871]
7]. PERSPECTIVE
Before 2000, the consensus “worst” Supreme Court decisions were “Dred Scott,” “Plessy,” and “Korematsu.” these were joined by “Bush v. Gore” of 2000 infamy. The Roberts “court” has the “honor” of producing a steady steam of cases to be added to the above: “Heller,” “Citizens United,” “Shelby County,” “Espinoza,” “Dobbs.” The “independent state legislature” decisions awaits.
8] Return to basic American principles listed. The evidence, a SMALL fraction of the case that the Roberts “court’ is a THREAT TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY, says they have failed to honor these 1789- values. Opinion you say??? No – the evidence is THEIR OWN WORDS AND DECISIONS. In case after case, the Roberts “court” has FAILED to “form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, promote the general Welfare.”
As Adam Cohen, in “Supreme Inequality,’ stated: the Roberts “court” has FACTUALLY. made life worse for for the average lower 90% person.
This “court’s” TRACK RECORD: big business wins 75% of cases; “conservative’ fundamentalist religions win 90% of their cases. The Roberts “court” is. THE. most “business-friendly’ court since at least 1945. The Roberts “court” giving certain religions all they ask is UNPRECEDENTED. In the process they have created a class of “super citizens” [a category the 1879 Supreme Court refused to allow], who by claiming “sincerely held” beliefs are now A LAW UNTO THEMSELVES” – and. THEY get to define the terms!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! A very dangerous and subversive thing in a country supposedly a “democracy” which treats ALL. citizens the same.
And – a country that grants “super citizen” status to SOME PRIVILEGED PEOPLE. – can also declare others [like non-Aryans]. as being sub humans. – but certain religious groups ALREADY. want to do that.
9]. The announced goal of the power behind this “court” and other “conservative’ groups is to create a THEOCRATIC PLUTOCRACY. With Roberts “court’ decisions, those wealthy donors [of “Dark Money”] and religious zealots are moving closer to their goal with every case the universe of “conservative” legal groups can create.
10]. All of this, AND. MCH, MUCH. MORE, is why a variety of legal and constitutional historians and observers have been critical of the Roberts “court.” That criticism is based on one thing: THE RHETORIC AND. TRACK. RECORD. OF THE ROBERTS. ‘court.”
The ice may now have been broken on the restraint critics have shown. One commentator has now crossed the red line: saying the Roberts “court” was “Corrupt And Clueless.”
Other Supreme Courts have been criticized. None before this has been labeled CORRUPT. Which is why, increasingly, the Roberts “court” is seen as “a bunch of political hacks.” Which is why, by both historical and constitutional standards, the Roberts “court” is now rated a THREAT TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY. o
With Justice For All 