Tribune. The left of the American Democratic Party is convinced that only the addition of several Supreme Court justices can counterbalance the maneuvers of the Republicans and the dangerous right-wing movement that results from it. For President Biden, aware of the political risks (for him and for the credibility of the Court), it is urgent to wait. Hence the appointment, on April 9, of a commission made up of experts from all walks of life which must submit a report and its recommendations in principle within 180 days, ie in the fall if this deadline is met.
The Supreme Court is therefore more than ever at the heart of the American political game. It was a major electoral issue in the 2016 and 2020 elections as it is made up of increasingly conservative judges. They are ideologues, from the Federalist Society [principale organisation de juristes conservateurs], created in the 1980s to counterbalance the influence of progressives in federal jurisdictions.
However, the Court is powerful and renders partisan decisions in areas which call into question the democratic functioning of institutions. Let us quote the Citizens United judgment of 2010, which opened the floodgates of private and opaque money [qui permet la participation financière des entreprises aux campagnes électorales], and the decision Shelby of 2013, which dismantled the anti-discrimination mechanisms of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and cleared the way for states wishing to restrict voting access for minorities who tend to vote Democrats.
Nominations “stolen” from Democrats
By virtue of its function, the Court does not have to be representative, but of the six Conservative judges currently sitting, all but one (Clarence Thomas) were appointed by presidents elected through the electoral college but without a majority of the votes. popular. And two of the three appointments made by Donald Trump were “stolen” from Democrats.
The seat of Judge Antonin Scalia vacated by his death in February 2016 was frozen for nine months by Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell, who refused to organize a hearing and let alone a vote on candidate Merrick Garland (now Minister of justice) appointed by Barack Obama, which allowed Donald Trump to appoint his first judge, Neil M. Gorsuch, in the spring of 2017.
Then, when Ruth Bader Ginsburg died at the end of September 2020, six weeks before the elections, there was no longer any question of “waiting for the verdict of the ballot box so that the people could express their preferences”. The hearings were staged and the very conservative Amy Coney Barrett, 44, who can sit for 40 years, was approved by Republican votes alone.
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