Here’s something interesting that you might want to point out to any of your acquaintances who say they vote for Republicans like Trump because they want to reverse Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113 . 1972: It was a Republican appointed majority who decided Roe and for the last 47 years since Roe, there has been a Republican appointed majority on the Supreme Court. Yet, they haven’t found the votes to overturn Roe. Why? Because for all of the talk about being “pro-life” Republican presidents don’t really care about abortion, and I am not sure how much their appointees care about abortion. To know what they they do care about, watch this video featuring Sen. Whitehouse:
Or in the classic words of “Deep Throat” from the Watergate era: Follow the money!
So how does this work for them? When there is a candidate like Trump, who is morally bankrupt, the right assures the “pro-life” movement that this time they will get a majority that will reverse Roe v. Wade. Even though it never happens, the social conservatives hold their collective noses and vote for Trump.
What they get, however, isn’t the reversal of Roe but decisions like the 80 5-4 decisions that favor the economic interests of big Republican donors described by Whitehouse. And it is going to happen again. Roe will still the law as of Nov. 3rd, 2020. Social conservatives will be told that the long awaited reversal is around the corner and the Roberts Court will keep protecting the economic interests of Republican donors.
It is past time for progressives to make the same argument that the Republicans make about the Supreme Court. Progressives need to tell people who are thinking about sitting this out because they don’t like Biden that it isn’t just about electing Biden, it is about stopping and then reversing the damage the Roberts Court is doing to America and working class Americans.
If HIllary Clinton had been elected president instead of Trump Gorsuch and Kavanaugh wouldn’t be on the Supreme Court. That means that the horrible decision involving the Wisconsin primary election wouldn’t have been made. If Gore had been elected instead of Bush, Alito and Roberts wouldn’t even have been appointed. In both elections some progressives and liberals didn’t vote for the Democrats because they were mad at Gore and Clinton. The composition of the Supreme Court is too important for that sort of response to Biden’s nomination. If the so-called “religious right” can accept the nomination of Donald Trump because of the importance of the Supreme Court and the rest of the Federal judiciary, then Progressives can accept the nomination of Joe Biden for the same reason.