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This Supreme Court takes away rights

The conservative-packed Supreme Court, which is grossly unrepresentative of the U.S. population, is most infamous for overturning Roe v. Wade, the first time in American history the court revoked a constitutional right.

There are fears it might not stop there. The Senate just passed a bill to protect marriage rights (not only gay marriage, but also interracial marriage, with most Republicans voting against it, see story here), because Democrats don’t trust the court to respect those rights or prior precedents upholding them.

The court has already blocked federal courts from interfering with the partisan gerrymandering that produces distortions like the 2018 Wisconsin Assembly elections that gave two-thirds of the seats to Republicans who lost the popular vote 53%-45% (see details here).

In a case now before the court, we could even lose the right to choose our presidents, if the court lets legislatures override voters’ will (see story here).

The court may also decide that recipients of federal assistance programs like Medicaid and food stamps have no appeal rights (see story here).

All in all, this is a court that’s taking away rights, and ruling that courts can’t protect and enforce rights. In the process, they’ve paving the way for rightwing authoritarianism.

The questions are how far the Federalist Society justices will go with this; and whether, at some point, Congress will stop them — which depends on electing Democrats.

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