HARSH REALITIES: THE SUPREME COURT

 

This started out as a much longer article about the harsh realities in the comics industry and in the outside world that I must learn to accept and deal with. Needless to say, even the rough outline of that longer piece was too depressing for me. Instead, I’m breaking it up into smaller bits. It’s still depressing as Hell, but, this way, I can perhaps avoid curling up into a fetal ball and moaning piteously until my soul dies.

The Supreme Court lost its greatest member with the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Naturally, Trump’s nominee to replace her is just about the worst choice one could imagine. This should not come as any surprise. If you look at the list of terrible people Trump has nominated or appointed to positions during his disastrous time in office, this was inevitable.

What’s also inevitable is that there’s not a blessed thing we can do about it. He has the votes to get Amy Coney Barrett approved as a Supreme Court judge with the certainty that she will be able to do awful things to our country for decades to come.

Mitch McConnell is about one thing: raw power and the hypocritical use of that power. His Republican senators are completely under his control. Don’t look for any of them to exhibit the smallest shred of decency and integrity that would prevent them from confirming a woman who believes her religious beliefs supersede the law of the land. I am heartsick at what this means for America and especially those most in need of the law’s protection: women, people of color, the LGBTQ+ community, legal immigrants and immigrants being denied a chance to enrich our country with their cultures, hard work, skills and desire to live the American dream. In McConnell’s world, dreams are only for rich and powerful white men.

Even if, by some miracle, Barrett is not confirmed in time to help Trump steal the election, even if he loses by such a large margin that he can’t stay in power, even if the Republicans lose control of the Senate, don’t doubt for a second that Trump, McConnell and the GOP will put Barrett on the Supreme Court before their control is ended. The last two months of the Trump administration are going to be a nightmare for this country.

What can we do in the aftermath of such treachery? Keeping in mind that the Republicans have stacked the courts with horrible right-wing zealots on every level of the judiciary. Sadly, there isn’t a silver bullet.

The Democrats would certainly have the power to add judges to the Supreme Court. It wouldn’t be unique in our history, but it would set a precedent that might not always work in the best interests of justice and our country. Mind you, I am not opposed to this plan. As I see it, the bad faith of the Republicans over the past fifty years plus justifies this action.

I suggest adding four more judges to the Supreme Court as a kind of stopgap measure to protect the rights of those the Republicans are already targeting. But I would also suggest a law that allows the Supreme Court to get back to nine justices through attrition. When a member of the thirteen-justice court leaves their position due to retirement, death or criminal conviction, they are not replaced on the bench unless the total number of judges dips below nine.

I’m not concerned about there being an even number of justices on the Supreme Court. They will just have to work harder to hand down rulings that a majority of them can agree with. Honestly, I never want to be able to tell in advance how any of them will rule on any case that comes before them. Their allegiance should be to the law and not to political ideologies or parties.

Wait a minute. Did Tony write something about “criminal conviction” up there? Yes, he did.

The other thing that can be done to minimize the damage that will be done by a Trump-ian Supreme Court is for obviously unfit judges like Barrett, Brett Kavanaugh and Clarence Thomas to be thoroughly investigated for criminal activity. I don’t believe Supreme Court justices have “get out of jail” cards. If found to have committed crimes, they can be charged and removed from the bench.

Despite Trump and his gang’s piteous moaning about being targets of “fake news,” the sad fact is the media has been way too easy on all of them. They allowed Trump to create a new “normal” that has been anything but normal or moral. Go after them. Show the country the strength of a free press that champions the people over the wealthy and the powerful. Take away their immunity and their privilege. Be Clark Kent and be our new super-heroes.

I wish I could be optimistic about things being okay once Trump is gone. They won’t be and, because they won’t be, we’re going to see a lot of good people suffering needlessly. I expect a lot of tears in the years to come. I’ll try to be a shoulder for those people, but it’s gonna be bad.

I have an entire list of harsh realities I intend to write about in the days and weeks to come. Some will be political and some will be personal. They won’t be easy for me to write and they won’t be easy for you to read.

When you see “Harsh Realities” in the title, know what you will be getting into. I’ll have other more entertaining content in between those HR installments, but the HR topics are things I need to work through for myself.

I’ll be back soon with more stuff.

© 2020 Tony Isabella