Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy just announced his retirement. Trump has publicly and repeatedly promised he would only nominate Supreme Court nominees who will reliably overturn Roe v. Wade. While Trump’s a worthless liar, in this case, I believe him. Whatever else happens, and whatever anyone says, every Trump nominee will be rock-solid against Roe v. Wade. And we already know that nobody in the Party of Frightened Trump Loyalty will stop him. They’ve shown us that there’s only one answer left: vote out the GOP.
Don’t lose track of the stakes. Trump will nominate someone (someone who will reliably represent Trump’s interests). Garland was as close as Trump gets to moderate, and that was when Trump wasn’t feeling stressed. With Trump running scared of Mueller, he’s not going to allow anyone on the court who isn’t completely beholden to him.
And we can’t even affect that choice. The advice part of the “Advice and Consent” bit in the Constitution is long gone.
We probably can’t stop the GOP. McConnell will call whoever it is ‘conservative,’ and he’s already promised to rush a vote, no matter whoever Trump nominates. And we can’t stop him. We can slow it down, but that’s not enough.
Scary thought #1: Think about the high quality of Trump’s other nominees.
Scary thought #2: McConnell doesn’t care that we know he’s an unrepentant hypocrite with no morals and no policy desires beyond his own power. Has he resigned himself to losing power in January, or does Mitch just think it’s already too late for us to do anything about it?)
With a new, presumably reliable judge, we can expect a slew of snappy 5-4 decisions, with Roe v. Wade first up. After that, kiss goodbye to ‘liberal’ principles like healthcare, environmental rights, labor rights, reproductive rights, voting rights, immigration rights, general human rights, and all the rest. Kennedy decided same-sex marriage, LGBTQ rights, heck, he was the deciding vote to block the execution of children. Think about it. Say, making birth control illegal again would be chump-change by comparison.
Democrats cite how McConnell blocked any vote on Garland under Obama, purportedly because it was an election year and “People should have their say.” That same rule, they claim, should apply here. They talk about open hypocrisy and the treatment of rules in a democracy. We should do the same now as we did then. They seem sincere about it.
What will Democrats do after McConnell instantly says ‘no’? The GOP isn’t about to slow down. And all those Democrats and media pundits who swear that Republicans should act consistently? They don’t believe it will happen, either. Democrats aren’t honest with the GOP, they’re lying, and they’re lying to us.
Under Obama, McConnell could block Garland’s nomination simply by not scheduling a hearing. Republicans had the majority in the Senate, so it was easy-peasy. The GOP still holds the majority, so they’ll schedule a hearing roughly five minutes before Trump’s announcement. Democrats might try to deny the Senate committee a quorum, but that will fail, too. McConnell will do whatever he can because he can, and because he has no morals other than power.
After squalling about how it’s so unfair, the left then talks about how we have to fight as hard as we can. It’s possible to block this nomination if we apply enough pressure, politicians and media people shout. We can block this! It’s something we can do, they all declaim. We only need to focus and call our representatives and let them know. We have to volunteer with other Democrats to organize. Yadda, yadda, yadda.
Probably not.
The American people can’t stop Trump and the Republicans from nominating some ideologue. Can’t. We have no say. When Trump sends his nominee to the Senate, we’ll do what we can to slow things in the workings there, but again, there isn’t much we can do. We’ll pressure the very few moderate Republicans left not to support someone too extreme. I’m sure a few Republicans will talk about moderation and common goals.
Will that work? Probably not. Until now, Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski have caved on every other important vote, no matter how much that vote violated their supposed principles. Remember the Dreamers? Yeah, neither do they. Same with Flake and Sasse and Heller and the rest. Maybe one or two, but I expect a few Democrats in conservative districts (like Joe Manchin) will probably fold, too. So, we’ll probably lose. Maybe not, but I’m not betting money the other way.
I’ll be protesting alongside everyone else. Don’t get me wrong. I’ll be volunteering and calling and pushing every political lever I have. This nomination is important, and we need to do everything we can to stop this horrible corruption of the American experiment. It isn’t impossible that we can delay this monstrosity.
But yes, in the end, I expect to lose. Republicans have already given up on most American principles. The Supreme Court will no longer represent most people. The courts will no longer protect ordinary people from the rich and the powerful. That part of our history is done. We cannot depend on the courts that Trump and the GOP are frantically loading with similar ‘conservative’ (GOP) ideological judges.
So what can we do? Are we helpless? No. We vote the GOP out of power. We need to use the legislature the way we designed it so long ago: to write good laws and as a check on the Executive. Maybe we can start doing everything Trump’s GOP has forsworn.
To do that, we need to do what we should have done from the beginning: change the legislatures. Win a majority in Congress. Win a majority in the Senate. Make them do what we know we want.
Vote the bastards out. That’s all that’s left. Kennedy’s retirement doesn’t just make it clear; it’s the only power they’ve left us. Vote in every election. Vote in every primary. Whatever else, vote out the GOP. They’re too corrupt.
Besides, wouldn’t it be nice to see some real oversight? Imagine that.
