People Don't Like The Supreme Court Any More-- What About The Senate?

I took seriously a tweet Thursday evening from former Secretary of Labor, Robert Reich: "We are close to losing our precious democracy in a fire sale to billionaires, courtesy of Roberts, Scalia, Alito, Thomas, and Kennedy." I agree. Conservatives have never been happy about democracy and have always attempted to overturn it. They've been making great strides in that direction in the last decades and the Supreme Court ruling, Citizens United that gives the wealthy-- not to mention foreign powers-- unlimited ability to pour as much corrosive money as they want into the political process. And Reich is correct to blame the five corporate whores appointed by right-wing Republicans to the Supreme Court, John Roberts, Antonin Scalia, Sam Alito, Clarence Thomas, and Anthony Kennedy. The last two appointees, Roberts and Alito are strictly corporate shills and their professional careers were based on that and that alone-- the reason responsible senators objected to their appointments.

Alito was voted out of committee on a strictly party line vote, 10-8 and the Republican cloture motion to shut off debate on one of the worst Supreme Court nominees in modern history passed 72-25 because 19 mostly conservative Democrats crossed the aisle and voted with the GOP. It was one of Obama's better days in the Senate; he voted against cloture. The aisle crossers that day-- each of whom should be held responsible for Citizens United were:

Dan Akaka (D-HI)
Max Baucus (D-MT)
Jeff Bingaman (D-NM)
Robert Byrd (D-WV)
Maria Cantwell (D-WA)
Tom Carper (D-DE)
Kent Conrad (D-ND)
Byron Dorgan (D-ND)
Dan Inouye (D-HI)
Tim Johnson (D-SD)
Herb Kohl (D-WI)
Mary Landrieu (D-LA)
Lieberman (CT)
Blanche Lincoln (D-AR)
Bill Nelson (D-FL)
Ben Nelson (D-NE)
Mark Pryor (D-AR)
Jay Rockefeller (D-WV)
Ken Salazar (D-CO)

That was January 30, 2006 and Alito had been Bush's second choice. Harriet Miers, a personal crony, had been loudly vetoed by the far right which felt she wasn't dependable enough. The year before the Senate was far less contentious when Bush nominated a more stealthy corporate whore to the bench. There wasn't even a serious move to stop Roberts. He was confirmed as Chief Justice on September 29, 2005, 78-22, Obama being one of the dissenters but, again, lots of corporate-oriented Democrats happily going along with Bush's horrendous choice... well, horrendous for American families, consumers and workers, fabulous for the interests of everyone's wealthy campaign donors. It was mostly the same list of conservative, corporate-leaning Democrats who crossed the aisle that day: Baucus, Bingaman, Byrd, Carper of course, Conrad, Dorgan, Landrieu, Lieberman, Lincoln, the two Nelsons, Pryor, Rockefeller, Salazar... and some senators playing bipartisan who, apparently, had learned their lesson by the time Bush rolled out Alito the following year. That would be Russ Feingold-- I wonder how he feels about that now-- Ron Wyden, Pat Leahy, Chris Dodd, Patty Murray and Carl Levin. Not the proudest moment in any of their careers.

Pissed off at the senators? Most Americans don't make the connection. But they're not happy with the Supreme Court. The Roberts Court is destined to go down in history badly, very badly. Friday a poll released by the Alliance for Justice showed that our fellow Americans are concerned about the fact that the Supreme Court is both pro-corporate and highly politicized. The approval for the Court is a dismal 41%.

• When asked about cases in which the Court decides between the interests of corporations and those of individual Americans, 52% of all voters believe the Court tends to side with corporations, while 28% believe it generally strikes a balance. Only 8% say it tends to side with individual Americans.

• More than half (51%) say they are “extremely concerned” that the Court consistently sides with corporations over workers and consumers, while 54% express extreme concern that it consistently sides with powerful interests over average citizens.

• When asked what change they would most like to see at the Court, a majority of respondents (52%) say they would like to see the Court protect the rights of ordinary people, not just wealthy individuals and powerful corporations.

• Fifty-seven percent of voters say they are extremely concerned that the Supreme Court makes decisions based on a political agenda instead of the law.

• Only 11% say they have a great deal of confidence that the Supreme Court puts politics aside and makes decisions based on the law.

• Voters are prepared to see any decision the Court makes on the Affordable Care Act as based more on politics than legal interpretation. Fifty-two percent say they believe that the justices will make their decision based more on their own political leanings (39% strongly believe this) than on their interpretation of the law.

AFJ President Nan Aron commented on the survey’s results, saying, “This poll demonstrates that the American people are beginning to lose faith in the fairness and objectivity of the Supreme Court. At the same time that cases like Bush v. Gore and Citizens United have led many to believe the Court is acting as a political body, a rash of pro-corporate decisions such as Wal-Mart v. Dukes and AT&T v. Concepcion have reinforced the notion that the conservative majority is interested mainly in protecting the rights of the powerful over those of everyday Americans.”
 
Aron went on to say that, “When only four in 10 Americans approve of the way the Supreme Court is doing its job, something has gone terribly wrong. The authority of the Court-– and acceptance of the rule of law itself-- depends on a perception that cases are heard fairly and equitably and that everyone who comes before the Court has the same chance for justice. When that perception falters, and the public feels that outcomes are predetermined by ideology or that powerful forces receive preferential treatment, the foundations of our legal system start to crumble. This poll serves as a wake-up call that something has begun to change in the way the American people see the Court and that their growing dissatisfaction can no longer be ignored.”