Much of the discussion these days has been about the recent Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. The Supreme Court overturned this decision and ruled that the decision about abortions really is up to each individual state – States Rights! Of course, we all know that this decision, in spite of reassurances from Justice Alito that this was only about abortion, is simply the harbinger of things to come. Some states, based upon this same argument will start attacking same-sex marriage, and potentially consensual sex between non-married adults and access to contraception. However, this push by Justice Clarence Thomas, towards States Rights is likely to have even more far reaching consequences for the future of democracy in this country.
If anyone has been following the hearings from the Jan. 6th committee, it is clear that this country came very close to having a coup on our own soil. Yesterday’s testimony by Cassidy Hutchison, a former top aide to Trump Chief of Staff, Mark Meadows, really painted a very grim and disturbing picture of what was going on with Trump and his allies surrounding the Jan. 6th insurrection. Remember, the rally and subsequent attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6th was really a last-ditch effort for Trump to retain power because the other plans had failed. Which brings me back to the Supreme Court.
Trump’s effort to stay in power, despite legitimately losing the election, was a multi-pronged strategy. One of those plans was to have some states, particularly those whose state legislatures were controlled by Republicans, submit alternate slates of electors to the Electoral College. The hope was that if there was a dispute about the legitimacy of any of the slates of electors, the issue would be decided by the Supreme Court. Enter the current Supreme Court and fast-forward to 2024.
Even though Justice Amy Coney Barrett was newly positioned on the Supreme Court due to the parliamentary legerdemain of Mitch McConnell, the Court had not really found its stride with the new conservative majority. However, now the Supreme Court is clearly feeling its muscle and is clearly more under the control of Justice Clarence Thomas than under the control of Chief Justice John Roberts. And don’t forget that Ginnie Thomas, the wife of Justice Clarence Thomas, is an active Republican activist and was, in fact, at the Jan. 6th ‘rally.’ (The entire optics of this is just atrocious!)
Fast forward to the 2024 election. Trump acolytes are running for positions in various states that will give them the power to oversee elections in those states. Some of these people will likely be successful in winning these elections. If the same or a similar scenario happens in 2024 when state legislators and election officials decide to not certify the slate of electors reflecting the vote of the people and decide to submit an alternate slate of electors based upon whatever bullshit reason they conjure up, the issue could very easily end up at the Supreme Court.
Given Justice Thomas’ continuing issuance of opinions to dismantle Federal authority and push everything to the states based upon arguments about States Rights, I can easily envision a scenario where the Supreme Court will argue that the governance for presidential elections is the responsibility of each individual state and therefore, the states have the right to submit whatever slate of electors they deem to be correct – REGARDLESS OF THE VOTE OF THE PEOPLE. If you think that is not possible, I would argue, given the current makeup of the Supreme Court and their penchant for disregarding legal precedent, it is more likely than not.
As I have pointed out in these blogs previously, one of the standard pages out of the authoritarian playbook is to stack the courts, particularly the highest court in the country, with loyalists who will interpret the laws in such a way as to benefit the leader. This is what has happened in Turkey and Hungary, regimes that are now only democracies in name only. The simple fact is, the recent Supreme Court decision about Roe v. Wade and states rights, is far more consequential than anyone can imagine right now.
There was a time when most Americans believed that the Supreme Court was the last line of defense to protect our democracy. I don’t believe we can believe that any longer. The Jan. 6th committee hearings have shown, in spades, how close this country came to losing the democracy that so many people have fought and died to protect. It is bad enough when you have one political party trying to undermine democracy but it is even more disturbing when that democracy is also under attack by the highest court in the land.
‘We the people’ are now the last line of defense for American democracy. If people are not motivated enough to vote for people who are willing to swear allegiance to the Constitution rather than an individual, ‘the great experiment’ of American democracy will likely come to an ignominious and possibly violent end.