...is this statement:
The Constitution has failed, and we no longer know which institution will rescue it."
The Constitution hasn't failed, the people who are supposed to protect the Constitution have failed.
I wrote this on another website earlier tonight:
We have to stop fooling ourselves; the rule of law in the United States is dead.
This Court is an embarrassment to every good thing this country has ever stood for in the areas of human rights, due process, and equal treatment under the law. For over 50 years, there's been a concerted effort in this country to make the judiciary one that's more conservative and more constrained by the text of the Constitution. As bad an idea as I think that is (and "originalism" is even worse), this Court has expanded the power of the president in the face of his lawlessness, and even giving him enough wriggle room to commit a vast array of crimes for which he can never be brought to account for. The lower courts spend time and effort analyzing facts and law, and writing well-reasoned decisions only for this Court to pull inane, specious, and just plain nonsensical interpretations of law straight out their asses.
These people are moral failures and hypocrites, unworthy of their positions. They turn the concept of law itself on its head. If we could trust the mighty and powerful to do what's moral, equitable, and right, we wouldn't need laws, or by extension, courts. The Republicans on this Court are simply another arm of Republican politics, and are entitled to no more respect than what's due to a crooked politician.
The Trump Cabal is expending most of its sick efforts right now on immigrants and those who can be confused for those immigrants, but make no mistake, when the rulers have been put about the law, they'll go after all whom they don't like, and all who disagree with them. The Republicans on this Court are as weak and corrupt as the principals in the Trump Cabal, and have no issue with their racism, fascism, and lack of regard for due process. They're bought and sold, and are just as all-in as any of the disgusting members of Trump's Christian Nationalist, white supremacist, oligarchic, kakistocracy.
We have to stop fooling ourselves. The highest powers in our country are just fine with killing American democracy. And they're doing it with all the speed they can muster. And this Court is happy to help. May they all be damned.
The District Courts and most of the appellate courts have done what's be needed, even in courts at these level occupied by Trump nominees. And this Supreme Court had generally undercut some of the most constitutionally sound conclusions I've ever read. There was a time when those who gained any significant measure of power in this country would be concerned about their place in history. The Republicans (not "conservatives"; these guys are unabashed politicians in robes) on this Court will live in the same infamy to which FDR once relegated December 7th, 1941. Their ill-repute will rival that of Roger Taney, but it doesn't matter to them because they know most Americans have no idea who that is. Whether their motivation is greed, ideology, religiosity, or just plain "owning the libs", it's drives them far more than love of country, love of law, or love of the Constitution. I never thought I'd see the confluence of corruption, ineptitude, disdain, and misguided personal preferences infect the Supreme Court in the way it has. It's a sad sight.
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