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By: Jack Bernard

“Originalists broke with all precedent–the very idea of America (as) a nation of laws and not of men–to create a presidency where the person occupying that office will have…unprecedented latitude to do whatever they want.”- Reverend Warnock, 7-7-24

Just when I thought that our Supreme Court (SCOTUS) could not get any worse, they proved me wrong again. The “Trump Court” (per Tom Goldstein, publisher of SCOTUSblog) is even more right wing and biased than previously. They have created a four-year monarch, a dictator on day one…and afterwards. It may be their worst decision yet.

Per Sotomayor, SCOTUS’s ill thought-out immunity decision… based on no legal precedent… “gives former President Trump all the immunity he asked for and more”. It “shield(ed) a former President from answering for criminal and treasonous acts” and “insulated (Trump) from criminal prosecution”.

Does having a monarch seem reasonable to you? Will future Republicans want a progressive Democrat President unfettered by law and boundaries?

Since Nixon, there have been 20 SCOTUS appointments, three fourths by Republican Presidents. But I have never seen such a highly partisan, politicized, incompetent court. How it got this way is a tale of lies, scheming, plotting and revenge… and a broken democratic republic (https://www.npr.org/2023/07/13/1185496055/supreme-court-conservative-majority-thomas-trump-bush ).

However, our Electoral College is the root cause of the current, highly partisan Roberts Court. The Democrats have won the popular vote in every Presidential election since 1988, with the sole exception of W getting 50.7% in 2004. However, due to the Electoral College choosing our President, the GOP has dominated the Presidency. Both W (in 2000) and Trump (in 2016) lost the popular vote but took office.

Starting with the appointment of Chief Justice Roberts in 2005, SCOTUS has issued many highly criticized decisions. Per elections and polling, many contrary to the desires of Americans.

To quote NPR- “One of the many things that distinguishes this court from any other court of the last 90-plus years is that the current court has no center.” There are few unanimous decisions on controversial issues and no attempt by the right-wing to achieve consensus, a key principle pre-Roberts. The three liberal judges are just ignored.

This is the exact opposite of what Justices Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, Roberts and others said would happen when confirmed. We have been all been lied to by disreputable politicians in black robes.

Roberts stated prior court decisions would the basis for SCOTUS under his leadership. However, he has abandoned this principle (https://www.takebackthecourt.today/chief-justice-roberts-almost-always-votes-overturn-precedent).

Here are just a few of the poorly conceived Roberts Court decisions in past terms-

*Shelby County (2013) gutted the well-established, bipartisan Voting Rights Act despite recent reauthorization by a Congressional vote, an action which “damaged voting rights, the very basis of government by the people”, per Senator Warnock

*Janus v. AFSCME (2018) gutted union power.

*Trump v. Hawaii (2018) enabled Trump to limit Muslim travel to the USA.

*Heller (2008) gutted gun safety regulations, finding the Second Amendment protects the right to bear arms of individual citizens… as opposed to state “militias”, as stated in the Constitution.

*Citizens United (2010) gutted precedent, strangely giving corporations First Amendment rights and permitting dark money in elections.

*Hobby Lobby (2014) restricted employee access to contraception by permitting employers to cite religious objections.

* AT&T Mobility v. Concepcion (2011) alleviated corporate responsibility for fraud.

* Trump v. Karnoski and Trump v. Stockman (2018), gave Trump the ability to remove transgender military personnel.

*Dobbs v Jackson (2022) abolished a woman’s right to abortion, established under Roe v Wade, thus overturning a 50-year precedent.

The current term has proved the worst yet, with SCOTUS-

*restricting the ability of prosecutors in Trump’s election subversion case and the Capitol rioter’s obstruction cases,

*loosening gun control by prohibiting federal agency regulation of bumper stocks,

*permitting racial discrimination in restricting,

*gutting federal agency’s (SEC/EPA/CFPB) powers to regulate the environmental, health and financial industries, and

*deciding that government can remove the homeless from public places without reasonable restrictions.

In conclusion, the Roberts Court is clearly bad for America. Justice Sotomayor says it better than anyone else does when she described its latest ruling-”Today’s (Presidential immunity) decision makes a mockery of the principle, foundational to our Constitution and system of Government, that no man is above the law.”