I I’ve been reading too many pundits who lament, “What do Democrats want when they talk about Supreme Court nominees?” The question puzzles me. We live in a country almost equally into Democrats and Republicans with a smattering of smaller groups. And we want a Supreme Court nominee that represents the consensus of the nation. That is, someone who’s (again, roughly) in the middle of the legal spectrum. Instead, we get a list from the Heritage Foundation of white people they certify will vote Republican on every critical wedge issue. “No more Souters,” they said (and now “No more Kennedys,”). That’s clear enough: Republicans want unquestioning political loyalty on the high court. Straight-line ticket is one loyalty measure, but it misses a bigger loyalty.
“So, what’s the problem?” they ask. “We won the elections, which means that we can get anything we want and everyone who isn’t donating heavily to Republicans can pound sand.”
No. My answer remains unchanged. I know that, because of careful political work, open Gerrymandering, illicit donations, and possible foreign collusion, Republicans have parlayed their minority into simultaneous control of the Presidency, the Senate, and the House. Congratulations, I guess? Having won, the President and each Senator and Congressperson now represent their constituents. They’re not just looking out for their voters, and not just their base. That ended once they won. Now they represent all Americans, whether or not that makes them happy. Anything less violates that oath of office every single representative recited out loud.
Maybe they missed that part?
The winning President can populate the political levels of their administration based on his best judgment, subject to checks and balances. For the civil service, those are supposed to be career positions, and apolitical. Similarly, the Senate and the House get to populate their own offices, as limited by their own checks and balances.
[It’s interesting to compare how many Republicans that Democrats appointed (a fair number) to how many Democrats serve are in the current Trump administration (zip, and they’re reaching down to purge apolitical civil service positions, just in case the government accidentally employed any Democrats there, too.]We don’t live in a ‘majority-rule’ place, or at least that’s what we tell ourselves. Before I go on, I want you to pretend that Democrats got fewer votes than Republicans in 2016. (It’s not true, but pretend.) So, even if Democrats were only, say, 45% of America, we still hold — a core principle — that the majority should not be able to run roughshod over any minority. Even minorities should have influence and have their voices heard. I’m not saying Democrats were great about it all the time, but they tried. That was part of the reason Obama continued to work to appease Republicans (not that it affected their ‘winner-take-all’ positions). Obama’s Supreme Court nominee, Merrick Garland, was a painfully down-the-middle guy. Why? Because America believes we should support the little guy – the minority. It’s in our stories and our myths. (Someone queue up that Jimmie Stewart clip, OK?)
The problem is that “running roughshod over the minority” is the explicit Republican goal. In hobnails. It’s why Republicans broke the filibuster, and why Republicans attack every check on their actions.
We’re watching a criminal enterprise at work. It wasn’t always this way, but at least in the past few decades, Republican administrations work like short cons run by stupid criminals: steal as much as you can before you’re (inevitably) uncovered and thrown out of office. Russia and China run their long games, and even GOP strategists plan for decades of new wedge issues, but the instant Republican politicians get power, they fall over each other trying to grab the most swag as fast as they can while jimmying the locks for later. They hide, they lie, they cover up like the most corrupt people ever. They’re painfully honest in their actions, if not their words. Trump remains the natural leader of today’s GOP.
But the high court is not the EPA or a Senate committee. We expect reasonable jurors, not cronies and machine pols. The courts are the third, co-equal branch of government. We give judges lifetime appointments to the bench specifically to insulate them from politics. And in managing the judiciary, we expect our representatives to act in the national interest first; it’s in their oath of office. In fact, these days we demand they act better. That’s because, instead of honesty, the GOP we elected to protect the courts from overt political influence foster it.
So, no, I’m not going to pretend this isn’t GOP tearing apart the American experiment for their personal gain. No, both sides don’t do it. No, not all politicians are liars. Yes, Virginia, there really are public servants who work for less so they can do good things.
And no, this isn’t an ordinary moment or a common problem in America. The Republican corruption is literally an existential issue: America as the experiment we know may not exist.
One of the major American parties is working for total dominance. And so far, at least, they’re winning.
Vote in November. That’s the biggest part. For extra credit, find issues and groups that hold similar views and help them. And I don’t care what side that’s on. I say the same thing to my conservative neighbors. We all need to grab political control back from the corporations and the rich. Otherwise, Republicans threaten to destroy us in this grab at dominance.
