Google+

Politics Done Right

Progressive Radio

Andrew Schmookler on the importance of repairing the Supreme Court as a democracy-saving effort.

by

Dr. Andrew Schmookler did not mince his words as he slammed the Supreme Court for its corruptedness.

Andrew Schmookler

Watch Politics Done Right T.V. here

In this segment of our continuing series, A Better Human Story, Dr. Andrew Schmookler discusses the Battle Between Democracy and Fascism in America, given that today’s Supreme Court represents a most difficult challenge for the Forces of Democracy.

There are two primary ways this Supreme Court is a disgrace:

  1. The scandals like Thomas’s.
  2. The corruption in the decisions.

The unprecedented extent to which the Republican-appointed majority of the Court is NOT about applying the law but is rather a straightforward extension of the power of the Republican Party. The only near precedent is the way the Court — at the time of the Dred Scott decision — acted as the instrument of the Slave Power, contorting the law to serve an ugly partisan interest.

  • Republican policy preferences masquerading as “the Rule of Law.”
  • The obviously dishonest rulings in the Voting Rights Act and Second Amendment cases.
  • The indefensible use of the shadow docket in the Texas abortion case. Etc.
  • How turning the law into a means for a political power to dominate is the essence of what Fascism is about.

The Supreme Court, in other words, has been captured by the Force of Fascism. Fascism is the opposite of the Rule of Law, which is supposed to be the function of the Supreme Court.

And that poses a real difficulty for the Forces of Democracy, which are compelled to choose between two courses of action that are damaging to American democracy:

  1. Treating the Supreme Court with the deference that has been part of the American Rule of Law, which would mean conceding control over American law to the Force of Fascism that has captured the Court; or
  2. Fighting this Court to take power away from this Fascist Force could mean defying the Rule of Law in order to restore the Rule of Law.

If the Democrats only knew how to speak powerfully to the American people, I would have the Democrats take bolder action against the Supreme Court as the enemy of democracy that it has become. I would have the likes of Jamie Raskin in the House and Elizabeth Warren in the Senate sounding the alarm about what this Court has become. Arouse the people to set the stage for taking power away from Fascism in our vitally important Supreme Court, where the law and not just the desire to impose one’s will — not just Will to Power — is supposed to govern.