Charles Lipson writes well-reasoned opinion for RealClearPolitics. Today his topic is the impact of the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the political race and, more broadly, on the country. A short version of his conclusions is that this is like pouring gasoline on a fire - explosive and dangerous. I recommend reading his whole column.
Like just about all of us who consider the national zeitgeist he sees extreme political polarization. This Court vacancy is, to continue the fire analogy, an accelerant. It makes the stakes higher, for both sides. The next few months will be, as Arte Johnson reminded us in a mock-Austrian accent, “veeerrry enterestink, but not fonny.” Of the 100 senators who will decide the issue, Lipson concludes:
All of them are hypocrites. They have flipped their positions, and their justifications (then and now) are nothing more than cloaks for political advantage. They don’t care about consistency or even logic. They are fighting to win control of the Supreme Court and defeat the other side in November. They will say whatever helps their cause and hope voters forget whatever they said last time.
You can’t be more even-handed than that. Looking at downstream implications, Lipson makes the point that what’s at stake is more than the Court balance and who wins the November election.
Democrat threats to pack the court and abandon the filibuster would change the way government functions, making it much more parliament-like where whatever the majority proposes gets passed and minorities have much less say. Important checks and balances would be gone, likely forever.
