Senate Democrats are calling for a way to reign in the Supreme Court after the courts recently issued rulings they deem not favorable. In response, the far-right is now being represented by the Supreme Court, according to Mara Gay, an editorial-board member of The New York Times.
“In this moment in American history the far-right in the country, which includes several members of the Supreme Court at this point, is far less interested I believe, unfortunately, in precedent and in democratic institutions and far more interested in raw power,” Gay warned during an interview.
But Justice Samuel Alito begs to differ. During an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Alito declared that the recent attacks on the court have become preposterous.
“I marvel at all the nonsense that has been written about me in the last year,” Alito said. “In the face of a political onslaught, he [Alito] observes, ‘the traditional idea about how judges and justices should behave is they should be mute’ and leave it to others, especially ‘the organized bar,’ to defend them. ‘But that’s just not happening. And so at a certain point I’ve said to myself, nobody else is going to do this, so I have to defend myself.”
The current struggle between Senate Democrats and the Court has had many consequences already, leading to a heated debate in regards to the power given to the Court. Republicans are now worried about where the discussions will go in the coming months.
“The Supreme Court is the highest court in the United States and is actively involved in so many aspects of law and policy. The stakes are high, and[Republicans]do not want to see the Court be reduced to a political tool,” remarked one Republican Congresswoman.
The exchange between the Court and Democratic Senate members is not likely to get any easier. Gay suggests that Democrats throw around extreme ideas to get the public accustomed to the idea of Congress having no role in regulating the Court.
“Throw out an extreme idea that is anathema to everything that any American who has been to a high school social studies class would recognize as the importance of the balance and checks of power, and then get Americans used to it so by the time you’ve decided that Congress, despite Section 3 of the Constitution, has absolutely no role in altering or regulating the court, then Americans will accept that, as though it was true all along,” Gay argued.
The push and pull between Democrats and the Court shows no signs of stopping any time soon. There is no clear indication as to what will happen in the near future, but one thing is certain: the debate concerning the Court’s power is far from over.
