The Supreme Court has made quite a number of unpopular decisions lately, such as Dobbs, which overturned Roe v. Wade; SFFA v. Harvard, which impacted affirmative action admissions, and Missouri v. Biden, which halted student loan debt forgiveness. Because of this, the general opinion of the court is at an all-time low. And whether you agree or disagree with the rulings in these cases, it is hard not to recognize that the court has become severely compromised, particularly concerning its most conservative judges.
Information continues to emerge showing that Clarence Thomas has been receiving exorbitant gifts from conservative supporters for many years, and nothing has been done to address that. According to ProPublica, as reported by NPR, Thomas has received at least 38 vacations, 26 private jet flights, eight flights by helicopter, a dozen VIP passes to sporting events, as well as stays at luxury resorts in Florida and Jamaica while none of these were disclosed. Texas billionaire Harlan Crow and oil baron Paul Novelly have been among the primary benefactors, and this has been going on since at least 1991, shortly after Thomas was nominated to the court.
Samuel Alito has also received gifts, particularly an expensive Alaskan fishing trip with hedge fund billionaire Paul Singer, who had cases before the court. Alito did not recuse himself from the case that came to the Supreme Court, and he ruled in Singer’s favor. In addition, both Alito’s wife and Thomas’ wife have shown support for the January 6th insurrectionists, which should lead to both justices recusing themselves from cases concerning that incident as well as Trump’s claims to immunity. But so far, that has not happened.
When we look at Neil Gorsuch, we find another justice in place under questionable circumstances. The Republicans controlled the Senate during Obama’s last term and refused to confirm Merrick Garland after the death of Antonin Scalia. Despite the fact that Garland was considered a moderate and acceptable to many people in both parties, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell stopped the nomination, saying that a justice should not be appointed by the president in an election year. He made the seemingly populist claim that “the American people should have a say in the court’s direction,” but he was definitely following an agenda. There was no precedent justifying this move, and the Republicans simply blocked the nomination until their person, Donald Trump, was in office, which then led to Gorsuch getting appointed to the court.
Then, Mitch McConnell quickly forgot the very precedent that he set when Ruth Bader Ginsburg passed only 46 days before the 2020 election. McConnell gleefully led the rapid appointment of Amy Coney Barrett in near record time while completely ignoring his previous claims that a justice should not be appointed in an election year because the American people should have a say through their vote for president (so much for his populism). And pretty much the entire Republican party went along with this despite the blatant hypocrisy. So in 2016, McConnell made up and enforced a precedent that never previously existed, and then he tossed it out the window in 2020 when it was no longer convenient.
Then there was the whole fiasco with Brett Kavanaugh. His was another nomination that was rushed through the Senate, and the background checks and requests for investigation into past misbehavior (including assault) were insufficient and glossed over. In addition, he lied under oath during the confirmation hearings multiple times and was never held accountable. His appointment to the Supreme Court was controversial overall and yet another example of Republicans pushing their nomination through as quickly as possible despite legitimate objections.
Another thing that should be noted is that, by all appearances, Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, and Barrett were recruited because of their opposition to Roe v. Wade and that they misled the Senate during their confirmation hearings. Republicans for many years decried activist judges legislating from the bench, claiming that they were forcing a liberal agenda on the country. But as soon as that party got the chance, they appointed judges with heavy conservative leanings, specifically targeting Roe v. Wade (even though they denied that in the nomination process) to champion the Republican agenda. This has led to the Dobbs decision that has subsequently allowed draconian and discriminatory anti-abortion legislation to go into place in many states (more on that here). And this has also led to other decisions that appear to be furthering right-wing extremism in this country, with the South Carolina gerrymandering decision as just the most recent example.
This has led us to a point where the public has a very low opinion of the highest court in the land. While it is true that the court must make unpopular decisions from time to time, the legitimacy of several of the justices is coming into question, and for good reason. Two are definitely compromised by their acceptance of gifts from conservative benefactors, and their ability to act in a non-partisan manner should be called into question. All three of the justices appointed by Trump have questionable marks against them, and either Gorsuch or Barrett should not have their place on the court based on the arguments made by the Republicans themselves.
There are currently calls for Alito to be impeached, and the same has been suggested for Thomas. There are also talks of adding more justices to the court to provide better balance and imposing term limitations to rein back the tenure of justices; with both of these options being constitutionally sound. However, the Democrats seem reluctant to take any of these actions, apparently for fear that it will be called out as partisan despite the fact that it is a response to the extreme partisanship infecting the current court.
The people are not happy with the Supreme Court, and the more it gets used as a tool to further the unpopular right-wing agenda, the more the dissatisfaction will grow. The answer is simple at this point: we must speak out and also use our votes as best as possible to guide how this country will move forward. Voting against those who represent the extreme right-wing policies and who are trying to use the government to force those views on the country is the most important action we can take. Despite frustration with the Democrats, who seem reluctant to take action in situations like these, they are the better choice than the Republicans who are trying to seize control to further their extremist agenda. We, the people, must let our representatives know how we feel, and we must take the country back from those like the Republicans who are quickly speeding us forward in the wrong direction.