‘Today, The Court Substituted Itself for Congress’
At the end of the term, Supreme Court makes big rulings maybe once unimaginable
With huge rulings rolling back affirmative action, LGBTQ rights and killing a key initiative by President Biden, the Supreme Court's right-wing supermajority showed itself capable of the kind of landmark decisions once rare in the court's history.
In recent days, the high court's six Republican-appointed justices issued back-to-back-back decisions that limit the rights and abilities of millions of Americans.
The court ruled against affirmative action programs at Harvard and the University of North Carolina in a decision that has broader implications in higher education and other sectors of American life.
Businesses can refuse to serve same-sex couples if doing so would violate the owners' religious beliefs, the Supreme Court ruled on Friday.
And, finally, the court effectively killed Biden’s student loan forgiveness program designed to help millions of Americans who would struggle with big monthly repayments.
“And the Supreme Court used to try to narrowly decide, what’s the most narrow approach we can take to resolve an issue,” said Van Jones, an author, political commentator and one-time advisor to President Barack Obama. “Now, nope. We’re going to entertain any theory that we can to go after certain groups. This is a legitimacy crisis now for the Supreme Court. It’s a legitimacy crisis that’s been brought on by a conservative movement that saw it was losing public opinion, it was losing a generation to more inclusive ideas.
“And so, now you’re using the Supreme Court to slam shut the door of hope, to slam shut the door of opportunity for generations of Americans, and it’s shocking,” Jones added. “The Supreme Court, those black robes are supposed to be referee robes. If you’re a young gay or lesbian person, you shouldn’t look at Supreme Court and see your opponent, you should see a referee, should see somebody who’s going to call it fair.”
The affirmative action decision will have serious political implications for voters of color, according to political activist and MSNBC host Rev Al Sharpton.
“I think that the politics of this is it will cut deeply into Black and brown voters,” Sharpton said. “When you look at the decision, saying that we, in effect, are ending affirmative action, but not in military schools. So in other words, you can go to the bunker, I was reading someone wrote, but you can't go to the board room, through being educated properly.”
The Biden White House complained not only about the new ruling which allows discrimination against LGBTQ Americans, but also that it was handed down on the last day of Pride Month.
“First, we are deeply disappointed in the Supreme Court’s decision today in 303 Creative which takes our nation backward in the fight for equality,” said White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, using the legal name for the LGBTQ discrimination case. “This decision undermines the basic truth that no American should face discrimination for who they are or who they love. And it’s even more disappointing as we close out Pride Month today.
“It chips away at a longstanding laws that protect all Americans against discrimination and public accommodations, including people of color, people with disabilities, and people of faith and women,” Jean-Pierre added. “While the court’s decision only addresses expressive original designs, as President Biden said today, we are concerned that the decision could invite more discrimination against the LGBTQ+ community.”
And the decision to block Biden's loan-forgiveness plan is also stunning in its own way, according to an attorney who served at the White House during the Obama administration.
“I think the problem with the student loan case is that the typical policymaking that is adjudicated between the legislative branch and the executive branch is here being irrigated onto the unelected judicial branch, and it just goes beyond in the pattern of a Supreme Court last term in Dobbs,” Norm Eisen said, referring to the high court's bombshell decision last year to overturn a half-century of guaranteed abortion rights nationwide.
Biden and top officials in his administration were quick to point out their disagreement with the Supreme Court's right-wing decision to kill their plan to help millions of student-loan borrowers.
“I think the court misinterpreted the Constitution,” the president told reporters.
Education Secretary Miguel Cardona was equally strong in his criticism.
“Today, the court substituted itself for Congress,” he said.
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