Today, Thursday, June 27, 2019, the day our democracy died, is a day that will live in infamy.
Today is the day that the Supreme Court effectively put an end to free and fair elections, the foundation of our democracy, by ensuring that the Republican Party has the power to unilaterally rule America for the foreseeable future.
As of today, we no longer have the free and fair opportunity to choose our representatives based on their character, experience, ideas, and initiatives.
Majorities of the men and women who represent us in Congress and state legislatures, the people who enact laws that materially impact our lives and the lives of generations to come, will now be chosen by voters in electoral districts that have been or will be redrawn to favor Republican candidates and incumbents.
Republican governors and state legislators now have the unlimited authority to manipulate electoral district boundaries to choose voters who will vote Republican.
If you’re surprised, you shouldn’t be.
After all, it was the Supreme Court in Dredd Scott versus Sandford in 1857 that decided that black people were not American citizens.
It was the Supreme Court in 1944 in Korematsu versus the United States that decided it was perfectly fair and legal to imprison thousands upon thousands of innocent Japanese-American men, women, and children during World War II for no reason other than ethnicity.
It was the Supreme Court in 2000 in Bush versus Gore that gave the presidency to the candidate that lost the popular vote.
And, it was the Supreme Court in Citizens United versus the Federal Election Commission in 2010 that decided that a billionaire casino owner could use his wealth to influence politicians with million dollar donations to guarantee that they put the desires of one donor above the will of millions of voters.
Even after those problematic decisions, it is ironic, isn’t it, that “Equal Justice Under Law,” the words inscribed above the main entrance to the Supreme Court, no longer apply to protect free and fair elections in the United States of America?
The Supreme Court confirmed today that it isn’t equal justice under the law or even our democracy that matters . . . what matters is political power, wealth, and privilege.
If you have any doubts, all you have to do is ask Mitch McConnell, Donald Trump, complicit Republican senators, and the five conservative Supreme Court justices who killed our democracy.
They’ll tell you.
Won’t they?