Supreme Court Poised To Institutionalize Rethuglican Criminality

There’s so much Trump-inspired white noise out there that the undemocratic takeover of the country continues unabated in the shadows.

In this instance, buoyed by Mitch McConnell’s machinations that have yielded Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh, a profoundly injudicious Supreme Court appears ready to rubber-stamp an illegitimate census count. A count that will almost assuredly impact the country for at least a decade.

Here’s one take on the Supreme Court case that is designed to undercount Latinos to serve Rethug political purposes:

The case before the Supreme Court is about the legality of Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross’s decision to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census; it has been challenged by an array of states and civil rights organizations. Ross says the question was added in response to a request from the Justice Department for more detailed citizenship data to help enforce the Voting Rights Act, but three lower court judges have all concluded that the evidence shows he had already decided to add the question and used the Justice Department as a pretext. The judges concluded, too, that the administration violated standards of transparency and accountability required of executive agencies by failing to test the question and ignoring expert advice against adding it. Two also ruled that the question would violate the Constitution because it seems likely to result in an undercount.

The judges’ interpretation of the law will not matter, however, if the 5 Rethug Supreme Court justices make their judgments based on political expediency, which appears might well happen.  This law professor’s op-ed lays out how this will reflect on the legacy of the Court.

So, what we could well have here are 5 Rethuglican justices, at least two of whom were forced onto the court via illegitimate political means, supporting a blatant attempt by this most corrupt of administrations to undercount and, hence, disenfranchise millions of citizens. 

Just one more nail in the coffin of democracy.