Unpacking the Bench The Supreme Court’s Role in a Divided America
| Published date | 01 September 2024 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/20419058241282455 |
| Author | Thomas Gift |
| Date | 01 September 2024 |
SEPTEMBER 2024•POLITICAL INSIGHT21
Late-19th-century humorist Finley
Peter Dunne famously wrote that
the US Supreme Court ‘follows the
election returns.’ He meant that
America’s highest Court rarely gets too far
ahead, or behind, expressions at the ballot
box. Today, many on the political left would
question the fairness, if not the accuracy, of
that statement.
Elections have clearly shaped the current
Court. Former President Donald Trump’s
unexpected victory in 2016 culminated in
three Supreme Court picks – Neil Gorsuch,
Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett
– cementing a six-three conservative
supermajority. This occurred despite no
Republican winning the national popular
vote in the last four presidential contests.
President Joe Biden’s appointment of
Ketanji Brown Jackson, the Court’s rst Black
woman, in 2022, briey blunted Republican
momentum, but did little to slow the Court’s
rightward shift.
Recently, the impacts of these
appointments have become evident
through a series of high-prole, conservative
rulings on issues such as abortion,
armative action, and the environment.
Many Democrats have responded by
attacking the Court as shamelessly partisan
and calling for aggressive reforms. Biden,
for instance, has derided SCOTUS (the
Unpacking the Bench
The Supreme Court’s Role
in a Divided America
The Supreme Court is one of the most important institutions in US
public life – and one of the most contested. Thomas Gift examines
the politics, and the future, of a court that could play a key role in
November’s presidential election.
Supreme Court of the United States) as ‘not
a normal court’, while his Vice-President and
Democratic presidential nominee Kamala
Harris has labelled it an ‘activist’ court that
jeopardises ‘fundamental freedoms’. Other
left-wing lawmakers have denigrated
the Court as ‘brazenly corrupt’ and ‘out of
control’.
Meanwhile, Republicans have punched
back. Trump decried ‘vicious attacks’ against
his ‘brilliant’ Supreme Court appointments.
One prominent Republican senator declared
that ‘at a time of deep political division,’ he
could imagine ‘few things more irresponsible
than attempting to shake Americans’ faith in
the impartiality of the Court.’
Are any of these characterisations fair?
What do they imply for the future of SCOTUS
and the country? And what attempts are
being made to ensure accountability for
America’s nine most inuential judges
cloaked in black robes?
Political Insight September 2024 BU.indd 21Political Insight September 2024 BU.indd 2121/08/2024 16:2321/08/2024 16:23
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