#SCOTUS remade by #Trump ushers in historic defeats for #CivilRights
The court is the first since at least the ’50s to reject claims in a majority of cases involving #women & “#minorities”.
The shift ends a streak of successive courts expanding protections beginning with the civil rights era. But the historic nature of the current court is also evident in other key areas of the #law over the 5 terms since the 3rd of Trump’s appointees joined the bench.
In addition to #CivilRights, the court powered by #Trump’s picks — Justices Neil M. #Gorsuch, Brett M. #Kavanaugh & #AmyConeyBarrett — has pushed to the right of any modern court on #religious rights & #voting issues.
The court has also entered a new era of extreme #partisanship. None over the past 7 decades has been as starkly polarized.
“There is no center now,” said political science professor Lee Epstein, who performed the analysis with Andrew D. Martin & Michael J. Nelson.
A yawning gulf has opened between the left & right flanks of the court, Professor Epstein said.
“The #polarization in American society seeps into the #Senate. It seeps into the #presidency. It is naturally going to seep into the #courts. It would be surprising to see another John Paul Stevens,” Epstein said, referring to the late justice noted for his moderation. “Partisan identity & ideology have become so intertwined.”
The analysis examined 270 decisions handed down by #SCOTUS between 2020 & 2024—the first 5 terms of the 6-justice conservative majority—& drew on the Supreme Court Database….
The professors compared that data to the body of rulings under Chief Justice #JohnRoberts before 2020, as well as rulings handed down under the 6 other chief justices dating back to the New Deal era. The analysis did not include rulings from the current term or orders in cases on the court’s emergency docket.
Overall, the Supreme Court has consistently leaned to the right for 50 years. That pattern has persisted despite the country being closely divided politically & the White House & #Congress regularly changing hands between Democrats & Republicans. Republican presidents have had more opportunities to name justices than Democratic presidents have had.
The current court has expanded upon the pattern.
One of the most notable findings of the analysis was the court’s shift on civil rights, Epstein & Nelson said. Since the 3 #Trump appointees joined the court, the share of cases won by the side advocating an expansion of #CivilRights fell to 44%.
In all the other time periods going back to the early 1950s, #SCOTUS issued rulings in favor of expanding civil rights in a majority of such cases. The high-water mark for rulings in favor of civil rights was 74% during the court of Earl Warren.
The Warren court of the 1950s & 1960s is remembered as one of the most liberal in history, banning school #segregation in the landmark Brown v. Board of Education & expanding #Votingrights & the rights of criminal defendants.
Nonilex
John Tinker