Will the Supreme Court Decide this Election?
It’s the final full week before 2024’s election and I honestly don’t think about the candidates, or how abortion will fare in the ballot. I’m focusing on the Roberts Court, and the lawlessness that has taken root. The conservatives on the Court have been obsessed with overturning any decisions that they disagree with. They’ve gone for everything from upending abortion rights to erasing the power of federal agencies to interpret their own regulations.
Just as the conservative legal movement is using the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision and Roe’s reversal to come for a host of other rights, the Roberts Court is poised to craft a direct line from overturning progressive legal precedent to potentially overturning the will of the voters. The conservatives of the Court have plenty of time to cause chaos in pursuit of partisan ends. From the flurry immunity victories for Donald Trump that were issued at the end last term, to the flood of petitions related to the 2024 elections already making their way to them this week. And lets not forget that three of the Court’s current justices–Chief Justice John Roberts, Justice Brett Kavanaugh, and Justice Amy Coney Barrett–all worked for Republicans who successfully tilted the 2000 election to the GOP in the historic Bush v. Gore challenge.
I’m not trying to be an alarmist here. We can and should consider the Court’s conservatives to be self-interested political actors during this election. That’s what they have shown themselves to do. Rewire News Group, in a special issue called “Power Grab”, published back in 2021 before the Dobbs trial had been heard, explained how conservatives, with their co-conspirators at the Supreme Court, would use the overturning of Roe as a way to gain a host other rights and even democracy. Since then, the Court overturned Roe, appears ready to use that precedent to upend trans rights later this term in the Skrmetti case, and has played footsie with fascists to greatly expand presidential power.
Despite ethics scandal after ethics scandal, the Court’s conservatives have made it clear they don’t see themselves as accountable to the public. Does this mean that they are not accountable to the voters? This election could be the one to find out.
