It is easy–albeit maddening–to follow the corruption of Trump and members of his administration, a corruption that exceeds even this administration’s overwhelming incompetence. Even low-information voters are now connecting the dots between soaring gas and grocery prices and the people in charge of the government.
Fewer Americans, however, recognize the role a corrupted Supreme Court has played in our current disasters, but without the co-option of the Court, Trump and his coterie wouldn’t be able to act with impunity. This Court has hobbled government regulatory activities, enabled racial discrimination by ICE, favored White Christian nationalists, and empowered a reckless, ignorant and mentally-ill autocrat.
The six Rightwing Justices are all culpable, but–as Robert Hubbell has recently documented— the Court’s rejection of stare decisis and its persistent failure to honor long-standing constitutional norms has been intentionally engineered by John Roberts. Roberts has carefully reshaped constitutional jurisprudence, “expanding and contracting the ‘strike zone’ at will—whatever was necessary to advance a conservative, pro-business, pro-religious cultural agenda.” Hubbell writes that Roberts is a creature of the Federalist Society, the Koch Brothers network and arch-conservative Catholic Leonard Leo, and he cites examples: The Lilly Ledbetter case in which the Court refused to find a remedy for pay discrimination (Congress later passed a law providing such a remedy); the horrendous Citizens United decision, opening the door wide for corporate and dark money in politics, and of course, Shelby County v. Holder, the first of the cases eviscerating the Voting Rights Act. (Hubbell’s essay preceded last month’s decision in Callais, in which the Court delivered the coup de grace to racial electoral integrity.)
Hubbell was writing in the wake of a New York Times report that centered on leaked Court memos. Those memos revealed that Roberts bent long-standing procedural rules “to reach a result that protected big business from the costs of clean-air regulations under the Clean Power Act of 2015. Roberts’ novel use of the shadow docket to protect polluters from President Obama’s Clean Power Act became the template for the Court’s repeated use of the shadow docket to defend and advance Donald Trump’s unlawful agenda.”
I have previously written about the current Court’s expanded use of the shadow docket–a term coined to describe that part of the justices’ job that involves summary orders addressing management of the Court’s caseload, rather than decisions on the merits of cases. Under John Roberts, there has been a significant increase in the volume of “shadow docket” rulings, and its expansion into cases that are far beyond the purported limits of that docket. That expansion has been used to allow the Roberts’ Court to issue orders changing the effect of lower-court rulings while those rulings are being appealed. Hubbell quotes legal scholars who point out that the use of the shadow docket to issue decisions going to the merits of a matter through unsigned and unexplained orders is unprecedented, and undermines the Court’s legitimacy.
As Hubbell noted,
The secrecy of Supreme Court deliberations provided Roberts the aura of deniability. He could deflect criticism simply by asserting that the Supreme Court was reaching the right result and its critics were sore losers not gifted enough to see the invisible handwriting in the Constitution that always seemed to favor conservative outcomes.
Under Trump, Congress has been neutered. Under Roberts, the Supreme Court has been corrupted. We the People have thus lost the guardrails–the “checks and balances”–contemplated by the Constitution. Our remedy for Congressional inaction is obvious: the franchise. We need a major Blue Wave that will replace the GOP invertebrates unwilling to do their jobs.
Fixing the Court is more complicated, but it can be done. As Hubbell writes,
John Roberts and the reactionary majority bent or invented rules to advance a racist, anti-democratic, anti-voter, anti-women, anti-LGBTQ, anti-free speech, pro-business, and pro-gun agenda. Democrats must be bold and courageous enough to bend or invent rules to promote an anti-racist, pro-democracy, pro-voter, pro-personal liberty, pro-free speech, pro-consumer, and pro-gun safety agenda.
Lawyers and the legal academy are considering a number of reforms, including term or age limits for Justices and expansion of the Court, among others. I have my opinions, and others have theirs, but there is no longer a case to be made for inaction. The Roberts Court has now exceeded the infamy of the Taney Court, which triggered the Civil War with the Dred Scott decision.
Granted, Roberts couldn’t accomplish the corruption of the high Court without the help of the other five “conservative” ideologues. It’s past time for a housecleaning.
All 6 of the judges who are abetting the destruction of our constitutional democracy were appointed by Republican presidents and approved by Republican Senators. Since Republicans generally work for corporate/banking America lobbies, what else should we expect but corruption and the departure from norms that ENHANCE democracy, not destroy it.
Everything Republicans touch dies.
Some Republicans are equivocating about the slush fund for Trump’s criminal thugs. Anyone voting for any Republican anywhere is culpable in this destructive time for our country. What a nauseating time for us to have the criminal enterprise/gangster in chief “leading” the nation during our 250th anniversary as a nation. The founders have to be spinning in their graves.
Well, Franklin warned us or told us what was required to maintain a representative republic. We haven’t done so well on our part, but that’s how we were structured.
It was an oligarchy afraid of an uprising, which is why it veered away from democracy (people’s power). What if the people were to rise up and steal our wealth?
I’m hearing more and more calls to do exactly that. While not a lot of people knew Massie, those who paid attention saw an extraordinary demonstration of the oligarchy at work, dispensing of a representative who didn’t kowtow to Trump and his bosses – both foreign and domestic.
Once you research where Charlie Kirk was before 2025, then evaluate the awakening that took place last year, you’d know that he wasn’t assassinated by the young man from Utah. The FBI’s case is falling apart. Their timeline is off because they had to use a specific narrative even though the evidence wasn’t so neat. Charlie was extremely popular among the young people and was being prepped to be our POTUS, but his life was ended because he turned on the billionaire Zionists and Israel. Once the people understand who and why he was killed, it all makes sense.
Why wouldn’t SCOTUS be corrupt at this stage? The groundwork started a long time ago. Just as the Founder feared, the current oligarchy can’t leave anything up to “chance,” or the people. Too dangerous, plus they’re ignorant.
I hope folks got to see the quote circulating from Jeff Bezos. He basically said his impact on humanity is much greater if he earns more money than he can contribute to charitable organizations. That is the ultimate justification for trickle-down economics.
“Let’s tax the billionaires out of existence.”
it can all be traced directly back to Mitch McConnell’s refusal to uphold his Oath of Office as a United States Senator and perform the duties and responsibilities of that position to protect democracy, Rule of law and uphold the Constitution of the United States of America.
NO ONE CAME FORWARD TO FORCE HIM TO PERFORM HIS DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES OR REMOVE HIM FROM HIS OFFICE TO BE REPLACED BY A LOYAL AMERICAN. THE BLAME IS ON REPUBLICANS AND DEMOCRATS ALIKE FOR THAT ABUSE OF ALL OF THEIR OATHS OF OFFICE.
McConnell is now screaming his opposition to Donald Trump and calling for Impeachment as the entire Congress goes home for the end of this session. They will enjoy family Memorial Day and 500 Mile Race cookouts and ignore their constituents to return to House and Senate rested and well fed and ready to get back in their full support – or fear of – Donald Trump and forget their upset at his Fascist antics to support him with his SCOTUS immunity protection.
Happy Memorial Day and 500 Mile Race weekend, y’all!
Jamie Raskin has introduced a bill to rein in the use of the shadow docket by SCOTUS. At least someone is paying attention, Sheila:
https://democrats-judiciary.house.gov/sites/evo-subsites/democrats-judiciary.house.gov/files/evo-media-document/shadow-act-1.pdf
Conservatism is bearable. Extremism is even understandable. But judicial, political prostitution is just plain wrong.
Mitch McConnell, as JoAnn says, and i’ve previously pointed out, owns a LOT of the blame for where we are. Now, once he’s no longer going to run for office, he’s willing to point to the Orange FOTUS (no typo) and call him out. How very convenient!
We have indicted Raoul Castro, maybe the ICC can indict Trump.
Hey! Can we all agree that the old saw about not talking politics in polite company should be tossed out the window? It should be part of dinner table talk. Political illiteracy is fixed by talking to each other. And not just in the family. We can keep the part about religion, because I have 0 to contribute to that convo.
Off topic, but just read that Paula Copenhaver wants to subpoena voters in the primary to challenge them about their voting in the primary. Here is the answer that I would give if I was in her district:
“I live in the district, and whoever is elected in the fall will be my representative in the Legislature. I have a right to cast my vote for whichever candidate I want as my representative in every election, and you have zero right to challenge my vote.
Here we are again. Republicans have focused on SCOTUS for decades, while Democrats gave too much credit to the idea of an independent judiciary. They actually believed that, since judges were a protected class by way of their permanent appointments, they wouldn’t be political. They have accepted the perjury of those who testified before the Judiciary Committee. It’s just too bad that there aren’t any Democratic Constitutional scholars in the Senate.
Blame McConnell for his actions, but understand that neither Senators nor Representatives are subject to impeachment. They have to be recalled by their constituents and there is no way in hell the people of Kentucky would do that. They’ve had six opportunities to send someone else to represent them, and he’s still there. He’s had thirty five years to learn the ropes and understand that the Constitution is toothless.
For future use we have to ask, what are we looking for in a justice? Objectivity, Temperament, Knowledge, Adherence to principles, and Character are starters. These same qualities that we should look for our elected officials.