The Bipartisan Establishment Exposes Itself as Democrats Refuse to use their Power to Delay the Confirmation of Amy Coney Barrett.
If Democrats actually wanted to advocate for marginalized communities they would've done a lot more to delay the confirmation of Amy Coney Barrett before Election Day.
Senate Republicans have announced that they have enough votes to confirm judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court. A vote on her confirmation is expected to take place today around 7 pm. As Barrett’s confirmation is upon us, some Democrats have made statements decrying the soon to be Justice as ‘dangerous’ and saying that any Senator who is on the side of the American public should vote against her confirmation. While I agree with that sentiment, I don’t believe that the Democratic Party does.
The Democratic Party has the power to delay the confirmation process of Amy Coney Barrett, Democrats in the House and Senate have simply refused to use their authority to do so. Their reluctance to use their power to delay the confirmation process of Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court just eight days before election day reveals that their resistance to Trump is nothing but political theater.
It’s blatantly hypocritical to allow Barrett’s confirmation to the Supreme Court just eight days away from election day because Republicans refused to allow then-President Obama to nominate Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court more than eight months away from election day. Even Lindsey Graham said after blocking Obama from nominating Garland to the Supreme Court:
“I want you to use my words against me, if there’s a Republican President in 2016 and a vacancy occurs in the last year of the first term, you can say Lindsey Graham said let’s let the next President, whoever it might be, make that nomination.”
Unfortunately, Graham and almost every other Republican have reversed their opinions on the matter now that Trump has nominated Amy Coney Barrett to fill Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s seat on the Supreme Court just eight days before election day.
Not only is Barrett’s nomination and subsequent confirmation process blatantly hypocritical, but it also puts basic human rights for millions of Americans at risk of being revoked. For example, a 6-3 conservative majority of the Supreme Court puts health insurance coverage for people with pre-existing conditions and protections for DACA recipients on the chopping block. It also puts gay marriage and Roe V. Wade at risk of being reversed.
If given the opportunity to reverse Roe V. Wade and gay marriage it’s highly likely that a 6-3 conservative majority on the Supreme Court would do so, but the consequences of Barrett’s confirmation that will be felt the quickest will be for undocumented immigrants and people with pre-existing conditions. This is because the Trump Administration has already been working for years to get rid of DACA and take healthcare away from people with pre-existing conditions.
Even though Trump has reportedly claimed that he's working to protect people with pre-existing conditions, his administration has been fighting for years to get rid of the Affordable Care Act in its entirety which would ultimately take healthcare coverage away from millions of Americans with pre-existing conditions. When confronted about the issue, Trump says that he has an even better healthcare plan that will protect people with pre-existing conditions, but he’s never made that plan available to the public.
The Trump Administration has also been fighting for years to end the DACA program which protects about 700,000 young undocumented immigrants from being deported to countries that many of them have never known. This past June the Supreme Court blocked a proposal by the Trump Administration that would have resulted at the end of the DACA program. According to The Hill:
“In a 5-4 decision that largely fell along ideological lines, the justices said the Administration failed to give an adequate justification for terminating the DACA program, as required by federal law.”
A Supreme Court with a 6-3 conservative majority would likely rule differently in that case. When Barrett is confirmed, it will solidify that 6-3 conservative majority on the Supreme Court for a generation.
That 6-3 conservative majority wouldn’t just revoke rights for women, the LGBTQ+ community, people with pre-existing conditions, and undocumented immigrants, it would also make it much harder for the government to create transformative universal programs to improve quality of life for poor and working-class Americans. A Supreme Court packed with ‘constitutional originalists’ like Barrett would see programs like Medicare for All, Universal Basic Income, and the Green New Deal as unconstitutional because they weren’t included in the constitution when it was originally written.
Of course, these so called ‘constitutional originalists’ don’t apply their wonky worldview evenly because they have no issue with disregarding the constitution as long as it allows the continuation of endless wars and the continued exploitation of poor and working-class Americans. You’ll hear them calling for the end of Social Security and Medicare, but you can bet they won’t be calling for the abolition of the Department of Homeland Security or the closure of Guantanamo Bay. They aren’t originalists, they’re hypocrites; the outcomes of their ideology are disastrous for poor and working-class people everywhere.
Unfortunately, Democrats have refused to use all the tools at their disposal to prevent these soulless ghouls from gaining a stranglehold on the Supreme Court. Democrats have had the power to prevent Trump from forcing through this nomination before election day since the day Ruth Bader Ginsburg died. Unfortunately, they seem to be allowing Trump and the Republicans to make a move that could take healthcare away from millions, end DACA, and put gay marriage and Roe V. Wade on the chopping block all because they want an excuse to pack the Supreme Court if Biden wins the Presidency.
If the Democratic Party actually wanted to protect marginalized communities and if they actually thought that Donald Trump was a threat to the survival of the nation then they’d be doing a lot more to prevent him from forcing through Barrett’s confirmation just eight days before the election day.
Specifically, Senate Democrats could’ve delayed the confirmation process of Amy Coney Barrett by denying unanimous consent because the Senate operates on unanimous consent agreements that set the daily schedule and terms of conduct to abide by on the Senate floor. Denying unanimous consent would’ve required just one Senator’s objection and if done in a concerted effort could’ve delayed the confirmation process until after the election. Democratic Senators could’ve also used quorum calls to cause gridlock in the Senate until 51 Senators arrive on the Senate floor. Democratic leaders in the House also could’ve delayed Barrett’s confirmation process until after the election by bringing another impeachment case against the President, and there is no shortage of ammo for the Democrats to use on that front, they’ve just refused to do so.
If the Democrats actually wanted to stand up for the oppressed they’d be doing everything within their power to stop Trump from filling this Supreme Court seat before election day. The fact that they’re rolling over and allowing this blatant power grab to take place only exposes the reality that the Republican and Democratic parties are just two different sides of the same corrupt coin.
During one of Barrett’s confirmation hearings, even Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein praised the right-winger (who has been affiliated with religious groups that have called for the criminalization of homosexuality abroad) for her performance. On top of that, in 2017 Senator and Vice Presidential candidate for Hillary Clinton in 2016, Tim Kaine, voted for Amy Coney Barrett to be approved as a circuit judge for the seventh circuit court of appeals. This doesn’t mean that Barrett is some type of a moderate, it exposes the fact that the Democratic Party is helplessly full of shit and much more conservative than they want anybody to know.
The reluctance of the Democratic Party to stop the nomination process of Amy Coney Barrett has further exposed the fact that both parties are more interested in representing their corporate donors and preserving decorum and the status quo rather than representing the poor and working-class Americans. More than any other example this shows that the Democratic Parties’ resistance to Donald Trump and his agenda is nothing but political theater because allowing Amy Coney Barrett’s confirmation to the Supreme Court puts every issue that Democrats say they care about at risk of getting a whole lot worse.
Any Congressperson who’s on the side of the American people would have used all their power to delay Barrett’s confirmation hearings long before now. As usual, Democrats have given up their leverage and are now resorting to meaningless grandstanding to make it seem like they’re fighting the confirmation of this right-wing extremist who will cement a 6-3 Conservative majority on the Supreme Court for a generation.