We've been covering how the radical left is ramping up its attacks against institutions like the U.S. Supreme Court and the filibuster so as to completely transform the country. With the term coming to a close and the November election approaching, mysterious forces are looking to only further make the Court a campaign issue so as to more easily get their way on many issues.
Carrie Severino of the Judicial Crisis Network has been one to sound the alarm, laying out her specific concerns in a press call that Townhall participated in. From the start, Severino mentioned "if you look at what's been going on at the Supreme Court, you can see a real pattern of how this is, you know, maybe the next stage in a continued press against the Court to try to delegitimize the institution." As she talked about her book about Justice Brett Kavanaugh from 2019, "Justice on Trial," Severino pointed out "we have only seen [such attacks] accelerating, and recent events I think just illustrate that."
This includes the anniversary of Dobbs v. Jackson, which was officially handed down on June 24, 2022, although the draft opinion had been leaked in early May of that year. Severino pointed out "the pressure we have seen on the Court [has been] just building since then."
Speaking how conservative justices faced horrific ordeals such as illegal protests outside their homes, doxxing, and even an assassination attempt against Kavanaugh, Severino also explained that that no longer seems to be the tactic the left is going for. "But the direct pressure on the justices, I think they've realized isn't going to do the job. What the real goal here is of the Democrats is 'we need to switch the votes on the Court,'" adding "they have only a few ways they can do that, right?"
With how justices have life tenure, leftists have pushed older justices off the Court, as they eventually did with Justice Stephen Breyer, who was replaced by President Joe Biden's pick of Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson. There are also movements to pack the Court, with a particular lack of patience involved from such.
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"And now their next strategy, given that we finally have after, you know, most of the 20th century spent with a very liberal Court, we actually have a majority of originalists on the Court, now they're saying, 'we can't stand for this, we need to find a way to switch this, and waiting and working and convincing the American people that we want a different type of court isn't going to cut it,'" Severino pointed out.
The issue of today is what Severino describes as "faux ethics charges," which is how the left now "chiefly" operates.
Groups like Fix the Court are involved which, as Severino explained, "try to create the idea that Justice Thomas, for example, is behaving dramatically different than the other justices on the Court, or is doing something that's not ethically correct."
Such has been a relentless tactic from Senate Democrats as well, including and especially Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), who have introduced so-called "ethics" legislation to target the justices. Severino made clear that "there is nothing even close to a conflict that has been proposed for any of these justices." Further, such legislation that would be proposed to allow an outside body to make decisions about recusals. The justices "are supposed to be independent of Congress, not controlled by a group that Congress puts over them," Severino remined.
She also explained how that goes back to all the methods attacking the institution of the Court, including when it comes to packing the Court. "They're all just trying to build a case here, I think, to push the American people into the idea of accepting the sense of 'maybe we could pack the Court,' and if not, then at least they can delegitimize the Court, because what they've seen is we finally have a Court that has a majority of originalists, and they want to make sure that when these decisions come down, that they're not taken seriously, and that it bolsters the idea that maybe we should switch the direction, maybe we should look kindly on a president like Biden, who is who's defying the Court every chance he gets."
A particularly egregious example of Biden's defiance of the Supreme Court has been on student loan debt, though the courts continue to rule against Biden's plans. He's also repeatedly attacked the Court over abortion. Biden even threatened the Court over such an issue during his State of the Union in March.
Severino's pinned post features coverage from POLITICO, with a June 16 headline about Biden's fundraiser in Los Angeles reading "Biden rips into Supreme Court, calls appointments ‘one of the scariest parts’ of a second Trump term."
"This has never been a Court that’s so far out of step," Biden is quoted as saying at the event, where he specifically went after Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito.
When it comes to bringing this issue back to that Dobbs anniversary, there's a campaign worth being concerned about. Severino mentioned "there's no surprise" to see such a tactic.
🚨Democrats want to destroy the Supreme Court.
— Carrie Severino (@JCNSeverino) June 24, 2024
As the Court wraps up the term, the Democrats’ dangerous campaign plan to do so is coming to light.
A left-wing group called Stand Up America just announced that it will spend more than $1 million attacking the current makeup of… pic.twitter.com/UUecKOBftz
On Monday, the date of that two-year anniversary, The New York Times put out a piece on how "On Dobbs Anniversary, Democrats Look to Make the Court a Campaign Issue."
As The New York Times explained it:
A Democratic-leaning group announced on Monday the beginning of a seven-figure campaign to focus voter attention on the importance of the Supreme Court in the presidential election, with a heavy emphasis on the high court’s role in issues like abortion, gun safety and voting rights.
The group, Stand Up America, is kicking off the $1 million campaign on the second anniversary of the Dobbs v. Jackson decision, which overturned the right to an abortion and convulsed the country’s politics in its aftermath.
For years, Republicans have made the courts — especially the Supreme Court — a central issue in federal elections. The vacancy on the Supreme Court during the 2016 election was a central force behind Donald J. Trump’s victory. Among voters who said the Supreme Court was the “most important factor” in their decision, 56 percent cast a ballot for Mr. Trump, according to exit polls.
This year, Democrats are trying to harness that same energy: Though there is no current vacancy on the court, there is potential for a president to make appointments in the next administration.
With help from the actress Barbra Streisand and the TV host Andy Cohen, as well as social media influencers, doctors, lawyers, voters and politicians, the effort will include a website and a targeted digital ad campaign in presidential battleground states.
The goal, according to the group, is to raise awareness about the impact the election could have on the Supreme Court: Four of the nine justices, the group notes, will be in their 70s by 2025, giving the next president an opportunity to further shape a court that has become significantly more conservative since 2016.
...
The Stand Up America campaign comes as President Biden has been increasingly vocal about the role of the Supreme Court in recent campaign stops. At a fund-raiser in Los Angeles this month, Mr. Biden said that “the next president is likely to have two new Supreme Court nominees” and that Mr. Trump had nominated justices who targeted the rights of Americans.
“I think it is one of the scariest parts,” Mr. Biden said during the event.
The piece closes with a quote that distorts one of the recent cases the Court decided, Garland v. Cargill, and from the group's own executive director:
“Cases related to abortion, marriage equality, gun safety, voting rights, the climate crisis, anything you could think of, we think that’s not given enough focus,” said Christina Harvey, the executive director of Stand Up America. She added: “It’s pretty scary right now. I have a 12-year-old daughter who is in school every day, and frankly the decision last week eliminating the bump stock ban was pretty frightening.”
Severino took a question during the press call about who else might be involved in the project, though not much else is known. Severino did speak to the involvement of dark money groups, though.
"I don't somehow think Sheldon Whitehouse, as interested as he is in the dark money influences in the Court, is likely to be using his bully pulpit to go after this," Severino pointed out, emphasizing the senator's hypocrisy, especially since "his big scheme somehow ignores the idea of the fact that the left is spending a whole lot more money right now in terms of dark money organizations than the right is."
Far-left actress Barbra Streisand was mentioned in the report and by Severino, and has also posted about the Court as part of her crusade to delegitimize the institution.
Americans are rightly concerned about the direction of the Supreme Court. The Trump GOP Justices are delaying his criminal trials until after the election. Their views on gun safety and reproductive choice are profoundly regressive and are opposed by a strong majority of the…
— Barbra Streisand (@BarbraStreisand) June 24, 2024
In answering a question from Townhall about what happens if Democrats have their way in November and are able to "upend the Court," ideas like packing the Court could gain more support.
"I think you'd get people who, up until now, haven't been major advocates, who then are going to be strong armed by these same influence groups, the dark money groups, to move forward with something that is incredibly extreme and would have a major impact that I'm not sure you could go back from," adding it's "hard to imagine how to undo the incredible damage to the institution that that would create."
When it comes to proposals like packing the Court and "ethics" legislation, Severino pointed out that "all of these things really could stand to cause... virtually irreparable damage to the institution."
She was also clear that Democrats will go through with such proposals if they have the votes. "I think if the Democrats could achieve getting the votes to any of them, they absolutely would push forward," Severino reminded, emphasizing "really a lot rides on the elections for Congress," especially with control of the Senate not merely for judicial appointments, but protecting the filibuster. Without it, "you could start to see some truly radical proposals be put out there," Severino warned about the filibuster.
"I think it's it's very discouraging to see people who are willing to potentially destroy the the institution, simply to try it for an attempt to power grab and gain certain policy goals, when you consider how challenging it was to put together these separate separation of power checks and balances the Constitution has in place that would really undermine them all," she added.
There's also how Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) has claimed the Court has gone "rogue," while Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) claimed the Court is "brazenly corrupt and brazenly political."
Democrats like Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Corterz (NY) and Jamie Raskin (MD) of the House Oversight Committee want to "rein in" the justices. In a post from earlier this week, the Democrats on the Committee even bizarrely referred to the justices using scare quotes.
As right-wing “justices” on the Supreme Court violate even the Court’s minimal disclosure and ethics guidelines by accepting secret lavish trips from billionaires and engaging in blatant partisan activity, @RepRaskin and @RepAOC are demanding answers: pic.twitter.com/bQ9IgINtUZ
— Oversight Committee Democrats (@OversightDems) June 25, 2024
