4:30 – COVID-19 Update
14:30 – The “Dark Cloud” Over the U.S. Supreme Court
44:52 – Voting Update and Early Voting Dates and Locations
In this episode we discuss the “dark cloud” hanging over judge Amy Coney Barrett’s Supreme Court nomination hearings. We play a clip of Senator Sheldon Whitehouse who warns against powerful “dark money” groups who have been pumping money into the Supreme Court for decades, encouraging the court’s conservative majority to decide cases against the interests of most Americans.
Popular coverage about the Supreme Court tends to revolve around hot-button social issues, such as abortion (Roe v. Wade) or gay marriage (Obergeffel v. Hodges). While important issues, and while the outcomes of such cases have been favorable towards social justice, the Court has presided over an enormous amount of cases over the past several decades that have promoted the interests of corporations and the wealthy against the interests of most Americans.
For example:
2010 – Citizens United v. FEC – unlimited corporate political donations is a form of free speech
2013 – Shelby County v. Holder – states with historically racist or restrictive voting laws are free from federal oversight on new voting laws they create
2015 – Michigan v. EPA – restricts ability of EPA to enforce regulations that make the appearance of costing corporations money
2018 – Janus v. AFSCME – restricts the ability of unions to collect dues
2019 – Rucho v. Common Cause – prevents the federal government from combating gerrymandering
ALL of these cases were decided 5-4 by the Supreme Court’s conservative majority, a majority about to expand to 6-3 with the suspected confirmation of Amy Coney Barrett.
President Trump, a president elected by a minority of the population, has effectively appointed a third of ALL federal judges and a third of ALL the Supreme Court justices. These judges and justices serve for life, and their decisions affect the lives of us all.
