June is Supreme Court season, and we should be very worried. All the big case decisions come at the end of June when the term ends and the justices get three month off and we have to live with what they’ve done. So far, we’ve gotten the ridiculous bump stock decision. You’ll recall the concert massacre in Las Vegas in 2018 when a gunman, using a bump stock on his rifle, fired hundreds of rounds down from a hotel window on an outdoor concert killing sixty people and wounding hundreds more. Even Trump thought this was madness and issued a ban on bump stocks. A gun dealer in Austin, Texas, not a surprise, went to court after the ATF confiscated two bump stocks from his store. Machines gun were outlawed in 1934. In a 6-3 decision written by Justice Clarence Thomas the court ruled that bump stocks are not included in the machine gun ban and could only be banned if congress passed a specific law banning them. Tell that to the people who were at that Vegas concert.
Two of the biggest decisions of the year will be coming in the next two weeks. Trump v. The United States. Trump is claiming he should have immunity from any criminal prosecution for conduct alleged to involve acts while in office. In other words, presidents can get away with just about anything like trying to illegally overturn the 2020 election. They would be above the law. Do you trust the court to get this right? Another case that would seem to be a slam dunk is The United States v. Rahimi. It challenges the law that prohibits people under a domestic violence restraining order from possessing a firearm. The claim is this violates the Second Amendment’s right to own a gun which has been responsible for the killing and wounding of countless people.
We can thank Trump for stacking the court with three extreme conservatives during his first term giving it a conservative lock. But let’s not forget two of the most notorious justices who have been on the court for years. We can thank the Bush father and son for two of the most disastrous nominations in history. George H.W. Bush nominated Clarence Thomas. He called his hearing before the Judiciary Committee “a high tech lynching” when he was accused of sexual harassment by Anita Hill. For his first ten years on the bench, he never asked a lawyer a question. He refused to report thousands of dollars of vacation trips and money to buy an RV from a big Republican donor. He finally admitted it when it was uncovered, but insisted it was all within the ethical guidelines of the court which are voluntary. Let’s not forget his wife Ginny Thomas who was actively involved in trying the overturn the 2020 election results. Thomas has refused to recuse himself from any cases involving the plot to overturn the election.
We have George W. Bush to thank for Justice Samuel Alito who will go down in history as the author of the Dobbs decision which overturned Roe v. Wade which guaranteed the right to an abortion. Alito also has a wife problem. He claims it was his wife who flew an upside down American flag in front of their home and an “Appeal to Heaven” flag outside their New Jersey shore house. Both symbols of the extreme right. Apparently he and his wife didn’t talk about it. He hasn’t recused himself from anything either.
Nominating someone to the Supreme Court is one of the most important and consequential decisions a president can make. It directly affects all of our lives for years. Justices have no term limits. Some serve for twenty or thirty years. That’s a long time for a court of fools.
Leave a Reply