Sean CastenThe Roberts court is, above all else, racist. They don’t like the reconstruction amendments and they don’t like the laws that enforced them. There is no legal, constitutional or separation of powers principle here. It’s just racism. https://joycevance.substack.com/p/heres-why-weve-been-keeping-an-eye?r=5n3e&utm_medium=post+viewer
To the extent that there is something to be optimistic about, it is only that the American people are vastly more open and tolerant than SCOTUS. All of the African American MoCs I got elected with in 2018 represent majority white districts.
…that is a great sign of progress from the 1965 VRA era. But it wasn’t universal - those members are, predominantly from urban / suburban districts where diversity is seen as a strength. So progress, but incomplete and not yet fully tested.
To be clear, when John Roberts says that we are in a “post-racial era” just because we elected a black President, he is full of s*it. And when Sam Alito claims that the reconstruction era’s directives for race-neutrality were designed to protect white Catholics like him, he’s hating on originalism.
But at the same time, we should recognize Roberts’ bet for what it is: Not jurisprudence. Just the dying gasps of a racist ideology that is at odds with America’s promise, and the values of the overwhelming majority of our fellow citizens. They act from fear, not from the law.
The task before us now is first to justify that optimism at the ballot box. The heroes of the civil rights era didn’t bow before men in white robes and none of us are under any obligation to bow to their successors in black ones. AND THEN…
… demand that Congress use all our powers to check these anti-equality, anti-constitutional, anti-American zealots. We have the power to get into that good trouble. Let’s make some noise and demand it. https://thehill.com/opinion/judiciary/5785711-judicial-system-loses-trust/