Liberals Aren't Discrediting the Supreme Court -- It's Discrediting Itself

[babylonsister]

http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/steven-day/106386/liberals-aren-t-discrediting-the-supreme-court-it-s-discrediting-itself

Liberals Aren’t Discrediting the Supreme Court — It’s Discrediting Itself
by Steven Day | May 27, 2023 - 6:12am


To hear Chief Justice John Roberts, liberals have been unfairly impugning the motives of the six far-right justices who make up a majority of the Supreme Court—Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Jr., Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, Amy Coney Barrett, and, of course, Chief Justice Roberts himself. Roberts doesn’t use the words liberal or Democrat. Unlike his bull in a china shop colleague, Samuel Alito, Roberts is far too politically astute to make such an overtly partisan statement. But, everyone knows who he’s talking about when he says the fact some people “disagree with an opinion is not a basis for questioning the legitimacy of the court.”

In a later statement, he adds “you don’t want the political branches telling you what the law is. And you don’t want public opinion to be the guide of what the appropriate decision is.”

Take a moment to roll around in your brain how entitled these words sound. While it is acceptable, according to the Chief Justice, for mere citizens—perhaps even liberals, God forbid—to criticize the legal reasoning behind the Court’s decisions, it is out of bounds to bring their legitimacy into question by exploring a justice’s apparent motives in reaching that decision. In other words, it is acceptable for far-right justices to use their judicial power to engage in a broad ideological crusade. What is unacceptable is for anyone to be so rude as to notice it.


snip//

Right-wing justices on the Supreme Court have opened the spigots of unlimited corporate money being injected into the political process; supported efforts to make voting harder for Democratic voting groups, such as minorities and young people; and approved political gerrymandering, all very helpful to the GOP. Probably the most striking example of the Court majority’s partisanship, however, is the gradual disembowelment of the Voting Rights Act at the very time that the GOP is working feverishly to establish a new Jim Crow for voting rights.

The Chief Justice has good reason to worry about the Court’s reputation, entirely aside from the current scandals stalking the Court. A growing number of Americans are questioning this Court’s legitimacy for more fundamental reasons. Where his logic becomes muddled, however, is in how he tries to assign the blame. Contrary to his statements, the Courts’ dramatic fall from grace with the American public isn’t the fault of people who have criticized the Court’s actions, any more than the Emperor’s embarrassment was the fault of the people who pointed out he had no clothes. Having been given an honor and power most Americans could only dream of, these six far-right justices had a choice. They could strive to become either respected jurists or successful ideologues and political advocates. They couldn’t be both.

They made their choice. They have no basis to complain that people are now calling them out on it.