The Threat of the Supreme Court
After four tense days of checking and rechecking election results, Biden’s victory was a relief to millions, and had much of New York celebrating in the streets. The end to Donald Trump’s tumultuous reign signals new hope for America and all the rest of the world, on healing the nation of it’s racial struggles, a new precedent for climate change, amongst many other priorities. Whilst Trump will probably never concede defeat, the recent announcement from the Electoral College confirms Joe Biden’s victory, which almost completely invalidates any fraud claims. The 21 January deadline looms for Trump, whether or not he concedes.
“Whilst Trump’s tenancy in Washington may have run out, we will long be living with the consequences of his term”
There is certainly much to celebrate at Trump’s departure from the White House, but he has made his mark in American politics, and nowhere more so than in the Supreme Court, which he sealed to a conservative majority, as he promised four years ago. Whilst Trump’s tenancy in Washington may have run out, we will long be living with the consequences of his term.
The Federal Government is made up of three parts: the legislative branch (Congress, the Senate and House of Representatives) which makes laws, the executive branch (the President, Vice President and candidates), who carry out these laws, and the judicial branch (the Supreme Court), which decides whether laws are constitutional. The Supreme Court consists of nine judges, appointed by the president and approved by the Senate, who hold lifetime positions. Whilst these judges are intended to be unbiased, they are picked by the President to maintain and protect their interests – and hence the court is partisan. The ripple effects of an appointment can be felt for decades, and so the fact that Trump has selected two Supreme Court judges in his four-year term, seals the court to a 6:3 conservative to liberal standpoint. In 2018, the selection of Brett Kavanaugh to the court was met with dissent, as he has been accused of sexual assault by numerous women.
Both of Trump’s appointments have been highly controversial, but the choice of Amy Coney-Barret has come at a particularly contentious time- as she was sworn in just weeks before the election, and replaces the liberal-icon Ruth Bader Ginsberg, who was heralded for her stance on abortion and gender-equality. Her death in September, of pancreatic cancer, was particularly painful as she desperately wished not to be replaced until a new president was installed, but Trump delivered to his 2016 voters by securing another conservative favourite to the court.
Whilst she has conveniently insisted she will not impose her personal convictions on the law, her strong Christian faith and alignment with certain groups, has led many to question her political neutrality. Amy Coney-Barret is only 48 years old, so her influence over the court will long outlive Biden’s presidency, and many after it. Her response to the issue of climate change- as a ‘contentious matter of public debate’, therefore has many concerned.
Her very appointment, in the year of an election, has raised questions of fairness, especially as Republicans blocked Obama from filling a Supreme Court position in 2016.
As a staunch Catholic, Coney-Barret is a pro-life figure, and has leant her named to many anti-abortion groups, whilst also working for the largest anti-LGBTQ organisation in America, the ‘Alliance Defending Freedom’. A strategic move- as Trump vowed in 2016 to recall the 1973 legalising of abortion by appointing judges to the court. Her affiliation with the secretive religious group ‘People of Praise’ also has many concerned- the group stressed the submission of wives to their husbands (and is rumoured to call it’s female members ‘handmaids’). Her political impartiality on issues of abortion and LGBTQ rights are called into question by ties to such groups, for example her stance on the Affordable Care Act, which she has often criticised (due to requiring employers to cover the cost of birth control). The Human Rights Campaign has described her as ‘an absolute threat to LGBTQ rights’- in particular she poses a serious threat to the 2015 ruling on same-sex marriage.
The conservative sealed majority in the court is a concerning barrier to the success of Biden’s presidency, in which he will prioritise healthcare, access to abortions, climate change and modernise gun laws. The awkward position of the court may slow these plans. It is difficult to judge how loyal Trump’s appointees will remain- especially as they have now refused to look into his fraudulent vote claims. His undignified departure has lost him support from within his own party, maybe the Court will move forward with the new presidency. However, with such a group of individuals , we might expect trouble.
Whilst the result of the election is hugely promising for America, the third branch of the Federal Government has confirmed it’s conservative status, and does not represent either the American people, or the President-Elect and his office. Whilst the danger of the Supreme Court is definitely contained by Trump’s defeat, we may be hearing the ratio 6:3 for a long time.
Cover image credit © Joe Ravi [CC BY-SA 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons
Accompanying image credit © Lucy.Sanders.999 [CC BY-SA 4.0], via Wikimedia Commons
