President Trump is wrong to demand the impeachment of a judge whose rulings he dislikes, and Chief Justice John Roberts is right to rebuke the President and remind him (and us) that the normal course to be followed if one dislikes a judge’s rulings is the appellate process. But before one gets outraged at Trump’s (mis?)conduct, one should understand that his remarks are simply the latest incident in an escalating battle between the Democrats and the Republicans for control of the Supreme Court, and both sides are guilty of egregious words and deeds in the service of their respective efforts to control our judicial branch of government.
Why both parties are so motivated is obvious. Over the decades we’ve allowed federal judges in general and the Supreme Court in particular to play an outsized role in the shaping of public policy. Since 1954, for example, the Supreme Court has mandated school desegregation, and discovered new rights for defendants in criminal cases, as well as rights to abortion and gay marriage.
And once the Supreme Court makes a decision, that decision is likely to stand as the supreme law of the land for decades, if not forever. Brown v. Board of Education mandated desegregation—58 years after the Supreme Court, in Plessey v. Ferguson, established the “separate but equal” doctrine, the legal basis for racial segregation. Roe v. Wade, whereby the Supreme Court announced its discovery of abortion rights, stood for 49 years before the Supreme Court announced, for better or worse, that it had changed its mind. Whether one agrees or disagrees with the Supreme Court on particular issues, the fact remains that many of its decisions are likely to have profound impacts for decades to come. If there’s one thing on which Democrats and Republicans agree on, it’s that to control the Supreme Court is to control the future direction of public policy–hence the intensity with which each party fights the other.
Democrats, for example, accused Justice Brett Kavanaugh of being a sexual pervert and rapist, although charges that he tried to rape someone when both he and his alleged victim were both in high school have never been proven or supported by witnesses, charges that he exposed himself to others in college have never been verified, and charges that he was a serial rapist have been retracted by his accusers.
Democrats have also accused judicial nominees who were practicing Catholics of being religious zealots. Their most prominent target was Amy Coney Barrett, who is also growing increasingly less popular with Republicans for being too independent minded and insufficiently MAGA-oriented (I personally think anyone whom the left dislikes for being religious and the right dislikes for having a functioning brain must be doing something right). Also—something to think about if you go to one the fish fries put on by the local Knights of Columbus chapter—Democratic Senators have thought being a member of that esteemed organization may disqualify one from being a federal judge. And let’s not forget Democratic Senate leader Chuck Schumer’s bellowing that Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch would be in deep trouble of an unspecified nature (“they won’t know what hit them!” and “they’ll reap the whirlwind!”) if they attacked abortion rights.
Republicans have, for the most part, avoided the character assassination tactics which seem to be the Democrats’ stock in trade. One notable exception: A Republican Senator, upset with Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson’s background as a criminal defense attorney, opined that while the chief American prosecutor at the Nuremburg war crimes trials for major Nazis was Associate Justice Robert Jackson, had Ketanji Brown Jackson been at Nuremburg, she might well have been defending the Nazis instead. (Ketanji Brown Jackson a Nazi? Seriously???)
But Republican Senate Leader Mitch McConnell was the absolute master of the parliamentary procedures whereby he blocked President Obama’s attempt to fill a Supreme Court vacancy in 2016 and eliminated the Senate filibuster for Supreme Court appointments so that President Trump could fill it in 2017. And McConnell, more than anyone else, got Amy Coney Barrett confirmed only weeks after the death of Ruth Bader Ginsberg and just before the 2020 presidential election.
But however entertaining (to a political scientist and historian at least) the antics of our two parties might be, both parties are guilty of injecting large doses of malice and cynicism into the political system. It would be far better for all concerned if each party developed better ways and means of challenging Supreme Court decisions they dislike. Each party, for example, could develop better capabilities to propose and submit to the states proposed constitutional amendments to overturn Supreme Court decisions. And other reforms, such as a constitutional amendment to limit the terms of federal judges and justices, may be worth considering as well.
But the current system, with attempted character assassinations, parliamentary chicanery, and threats of impeachment (or worse), is becoming increasingly dysfunctional and should be changed before it’s too late. And those who may wish to promote change would do well to understand that President Trump is but one participant in this nightmarish circus, and his departure won’t necessarily make all its problems go away with him.
Malcolm L. Cross has lived in Stephenville since 1987 and taught politics and government at Tarleton for 36 years, retiring in 2023. His political and civic activities include service on the Stephenville City Council (2000-2014) and on the Erath County Republican Executive Committee (1990-2024). He was Mayor pro-tem of Stephenville from 2008 to 2014. He has served on the Board of Directors of the Stephenville
Economic Development Authority since 2018 and as chair of the Erath County Appraisal District’s Appraisal Review Board since 2015. He is also a member of the Stephenville Rotary Club, the Board of Vestry of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, and the Executive Committee of the Boy Scouts’ Pecan Valley District. Views expressed in this column are his and do not reflect those of The Flash as a whole.
Be the first to comment