We’ve said our piece about Justice Amy Coney Barrett. Now, let’s talk about how she was confirmed.
After national outrage and cries of hypocrisy, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell tweaked his rationale for pushing through President Trump’s Supreme Court nominee but blocking Obama’s: “No Senate has confirmed an opposite-party president’s Supreme Court nominee in a presidential election year.”
Now, consider this description of the judicial branch of our government, headed by the Supreme Court, as defined by WhiteHouse.gov: “Judges and justices serve no fixed term — they serve until their death, retirement or conviction by the Senate. By design, this insulates them from the temporary passions of the public, and allows them to apply the law with only justice in mind, and not electoral or political concerns.”
Look at that last part closely. “Not electoral or political concerns.” The Supreme Court is supposed to be a nonpartisan body. But the Senate has turned the highest court in the country into an extension of partisan politics by only confirming potential justices endorsed by its own party — and refusing to consider the opposing party’s nominee. Our current Senate is making that hyper-partisanship even worse.
Justices are supposed to be elevated to the Supreme Court based on their judicial record, their ability to fairly interpret the law and apply those interpretations to individual cases in the interest of justice. Their nomination and confirmation should not fall strictly on partisan lines.
And yet, McConnell and his GOP-controlled Senate are eroding Americans’ trust in the Supreme Court’s impartiality. Refusing to give a nominee so much as a hearing because “it’s an election year” had many Americans calling foul. Reversing that logic and justifying the hypocrisy by saying it’s OK if the appointing president and the Senate’s controlling party are one and the same screams blatant partisanship.
We’re afraid McConnell has set a precedent for confirming justices. That his open political maneuvering has started a trend of confirmation vengeance, where SCOTUS nominees from now on will only be confirmed on party lines, further polarizing our government, our courts and our citizenry.
Justice Barrett’s tenure on the Supreme Court will always be tainted by the sheer wrongness of her confirmation, from the announcement mere hours after Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s death, to the rushed hearings and strictly partisan approval. Her virtues will be overshadowed by Trump, McConnell and the Senate’s decision to prioritize seating her on the court over providing relief to Americans during a global pandemic. Her ability to judge a case on its merits will forever be questioned because of an impeached president’s faith in her to help overturn some of the most protective rulings in the court’s history — and his confidence that she would weight the court in his favor should he contest the upcoming election.
If our judicial branch is going to be infiltrated by partisanship and politicking, then let’s elect justices instead of appointing them. That way we, the people, are at least permitted the illusion we have a say in how our courts are run.
