The Supreme Court is currently occupied by MAGA extremists in Black robes - bought and groomed by right-wing money and oligarchs - who treat the Constitution as Play-Doh to be molded to fit their archaic vision of America.
Other than that, things are going great!
Due to the 6-3 right-wing majority, the highest court in the land is doing its best to undo nearly 60 years of civil rights progress from the bench. Norms, ethics, liberties, and freedoms don’t matter anymore. This is the same Supreme Court that gave Donald Trump a permanent “get out of jail” card with their summer ruling in which they held that the President has “absolute immunity” for core actions committed within the scope of their duties.
Justice Alito’s wife openly flew two flags associated with the January 6th violent insurrectionists, including one used by white Christian nationalists. She refuses to apologize. Justice Thomas might as well have a “For Sale” sign outside his lawn as he shamelessly profits and grifts from his privileged seat without consequence or accountability.
“It’s good to be the king.” When you have power, you can get away with anything and treat the Constitution like toilet paper. We have to look at the oral arguments made by the conservative majority during United States v. Skrmetti, a case that the Supreme Court is considering about Tennessee’s brazenly discriminatory and hateful law that bans gender-affirming medical treatments for transgender adolescents. Parental rights, which was one of the linchpins of MAGA’s culture wars, apparently don’t matter anymore. Expertise from doctors and health care professionals doesn’t matter anymore. The rights of transgender people don’t matter anymore. All that matters is that MAGA and the right-wing majority in the Court want an excuse to punish and remove transgender people from society.
Since MAGA now has all the power, who is to stop them? Does the rule of law even matter anymore as a plurality of Americans elected a convicted criminal to the White House? What can lawyers, judges, and activists do when outnumbered, outpowered, and outgunned? How can we protect the rights and liberties of future generations who will inherit the current chaos and backsliding of our democracy?
I unpack all of these existential questions about the state of our freedoms and democracy with legal expert Dahlia Litwick, who is a Senior Editor at Slate, host of the Amicus Podcast, and best-selling author of Lady Justice.
Grab a chai and give us a listen. I promise we end on a hopeful note!
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