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Garry S Sklar

Democrat Hypocrites Attack SCOTUS as the War on the Constitution Continues

During its current term, the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) has issued many important rulings. Decisions about Congressional redistricting in several states, affirmative action in university admissions and, most importantly, disallowing President Biden’s plan to forgive hundreds of billions of dollars in student loan debt have made headlines almost daily. The Court also ruled for religious accommodation for employees as long as special hardship was not placed on the employer. This decision was hailed by most religiously observant Americans and religious organizations. It was a momentous term.


Currently SCOTUS has what is described as a 6-3 conservative majority. The three justices nominated by President Trump and consented to by the Senate seem to come under special scrutiny by the media. It is true that these six conservative justices were nominated by Republican Presidents. The United States Constitution prescribes that Federal judges and justices are appointed by the president with the advice and consent of the Senate for lifetime appointments. Some presidents have not had the opportunity to appoint a SCOTUS justice, most notably Jimmy Carter, as no vacancy arose during his term. On the other hand, during Donald Trump’s similar four year term, three vacancies arose. As court appointments have become hyper-politicized in recent years, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was under intense pressure during the term of President Barack Obama to resign so he could appoint a younger

Democrat to the Court. She refused and subsequently passed away during President Trump’s term. With the election of President Joe Biden, Justice Stephen Breyer, age 84, resigned; whether or not he was pressured to remains in doubt. Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, age 52, was nominated as his replacement by President Biden and confirmed by the Senate.


It naturally follows that all of SCOTUS’ decisions are now scrutinized and politicized by the media which has become similarly politicized and polarized. This is not good for America. President Biden, as his predecessors did, has nominated hundreds of lower court judges (District and Circuit Courts judges) to lifetime appointments. Video clips on YouTube (© 2023 Google LLC) are available for all to see and be entertained by these nominees as they evade answering any and all pertinent questions by senators on the Judiciary Committee; they are overwhelmingly approved or disapproved on straight party line votes. This is unfortunate as judges, once in office, should be neither Democrat nor Republican, but nonpartisan dispensers of equal justice under the law. That is why lifetime tenure is so important. Judicial independence must be preserved.


SCOTUS has come under increasing attack from Democrats who do not agree with or approve of its decisions. Regarding the Court’s overturning President Biden’s executive order forgiving student loan debt, the President simply said that the Court was wrong. Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Ca) on a Sunday morning television news show denounced the Court’s decision, particularly emphasizing that the justices are not elected, and thus should not be in a position to overturn actions by the elected representatives of the people. This is an absolute attack on the doctrine of judicial review established by Marbury v. Madison (1803) and implies that any and all congressional actions should not be subject to judicial review. Of course, this idea offers no support to the issuance of executive orders which in recent years has become the new standard for law in the United States. At its most egregious, President Obama’s agreement with Iran circumvented the Senate’s constitutional right and obligation to approve treaties. Expanding executive power has been a major factor in American governance in recent decades. Attacks on SCOTUS are a new phase in the centralization of power in the White House.


It is noteworthy that the Democratic Party has long been ambivalent in its attitude towards an independent judiciary. As long as the courts issue decisions they favor, all is well. Appointed judges are fine as are elected judges. However, this tension has never been resolved within that party. In New York State, where the highest court is known as the Court of Appeals, judges were elected to that court until 1975 when the law was changed to provide for appointment by the Governor with the State Senate’s confirmation. The impetus for that change was the election of an insurgent who won the Democrat primary and subsequent general election over the wishes of party leaders. Previously, all candidates generally had multi-party endorsements, thus blocking the electorate in having any say in the election of judges. The intolerable election of an insurgent candidate put an end to the charade of election by voters. Significantly, the two Democrat leaders in the Congress, Rep. Hakeem Jeffries and Sen. Charles Schumer are from New York. Whether they are aware of their party’s hypocrisy on this matter is questionable.


One of Nobel Prize winner Sinclair Lewis’ lesser known novels “It Can’t Happen Here”, published in 1935, warned against the possibility of establishment of a dictatorship in the United Stats. The dictator, an elected president named Berzelius Windrip, should be a warning to all Americans. We don’t need or want a Berzelius Windrip or any other such character. It can happen here and this book should be read by all concerned citizens and their representatives. 1935 was a time of the rise of totalitarianism, hence Lewis’s warning. In 2023, widespread use of surveillance cameras, the rise of facial recognition technology and artificial intelligence represent a new threat to freedom and democracy. It is imperative for all citizens to remain alert to threats to freedom. Eternal vigilance is and remains the price of liberty. 2023 is just as dangerous as 1935 was!



Garry S. Sklar

Aruba

July 4, 2023



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