The battle for the soul of America is playing out in federal courtrooms
1st May 2023 · 0 Comments
In 2023, justice seems mutually exclusive in this country’s federal judiciary. Depending on the judges and who appointed them, rulings often emerge along partisan lines.
For all the protestations of some in the U.S. railing against “wokeness,” what’s going on in courtrooms is a prime reason to stay woke. It is in the hallowed halls of our nation’s courts that the battle for the soul of America is taking place against a renewed war between the states.
For decades, Trump has used the courts to delay or obstruct justice and avoid accountability for alleged misdeeds. An unspoken mantra, “Sue me,” surrounds him. Through his minions in the U.S. Senate, specifically then-Senate Leader Mitchell McConnell (R-Kentucky), Trump stole a Supreme Court seat and got three justices on the High Court who wasted no time doing his bidding.
The overturning of Roe v. Wade, the refusal by the Supreme Court to weigh in on unfairly gerrymandered districts that give Republicans control of state Houses and the U.S. House of Representatives, and the Court’s wholesale abdication of its constitutional supremacy to further states’ rights are tantamount to allowing the South to rise again in all of its white supremacy glory.
During Trump’s tenure, the only real work done by the Trump Senate was to confirm judges and substantial tax cuts for the rich.
Indeed, as the 45th president, Trump’s Republican-dominated U.S. Senate confirmed 234 Article III judgeship nominees, including three associate justices of the Supreme Court of the United States, 54 judges for the United States courts of appeals, 174 judges for the United States district courts, and three judges for the United States Court of International Trade. Twelve circuit courts of appeals judges were confirmed during Trump’s first year in office, which was then a record that has since been surpassed by his successor, Joe Biden, according to Wikipedia.
And as of June 30, 2022, of the nine justices of the Supreme Court, 6 were appointed by a Republican president, and three were selected by a Democratic president. As of February 14, 2023, of the 179 Courts of Appeals judges, 91 were appointed by Republican presidents, compared to 79 by Democratic presidents.
The partisan opinion of some federally appointed judges and justices is cause for concern, given recent rulings involving women’s bodies, voting rights, gerrymandering, and the right to peacefully protest in the well of state legislatures.
Thanks to Trump appointees on the bench, the white evangelicals’ agenda is being carried out, leaving an unjust balance of power in the hands of “red state” legislators banning abortions, refusing to pass gun safety legislation, and passing laws that suppress the votes of the young and people of color.
The war between the states is being carried out in state legislatures and federal courts.
A clear example is the bold attempt by Mississippi lawmakers in 2018 to call for a convention of the states to pass amendments to the Constitution that limit the federal government’s power.
Adding fuel to the legislature’s agenda to retain power, in February 2023, the Republican-controlled Mississippi House passed a bill to create a new court district in the capital city of Jackson with judges who would be appointed rather than elected.
“About 83 percent of residents in Jackson and 74 percent in Hinds County are Black, and the city and the county are governed by Democrats. The new laws were passed by the majority-white and Republican-controlled state House and Senate over the objections of most Jackson lawmakers and many local residents,” the AP reported.
Residents filed a second lawsuit last week claiming Mississippi violates its Constitution by requiring some judges to be appointed rather than elected in the state’s majority-Black capital city and surrounding county.
Some of these “conservative judges” opinions and rulings mix evangelical religiosity, white superiority, states’ rights, and right-wing ideologies to further longstanding Republican goals.
A case in point is the May 17 U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals hearing on the abortion pill ban ruling by U.S. District Judge Matthew J. Kacsmaryk in Texas.
When Kacsmaryk, a Trump appointee, declared the FDA had improperly approved the drug 23 years ago and sought to take the medicine off the market, WU.S. District Judge Thomas O. Rice, an Obama appointee in Washington state, declared that the current FDA rules must remain in place.
Kacsmaryk appealed the ruling to the New Orleans-based federal 5th Circuit Court of Appeal.
Knowing that abortion bans are widely unpopular across the U.S., the Republican-dominated 5th Circuit amended the original ruling to allow the pills to be prescribed under conditions that made getting the drugs extremely difficult, if not impossible.
The 5th Circuit is the most conservative federal Court of all. Indeed, some say the Court is a victim of institutional racism.
The jurisdiction covered by the 5th Circuit is unique in that people of color comprise most of the jurisdiction’s general population. In looking at the combined populations of these three states, one finds that people of color and women include approximately 55 percent and 50.5 percent of the general population, respectively, the Center for American Progress reported.
The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals is the country’s least racially and ethnically diverse circuit court compared to the general population. For instance, despite making up just 45 percent of the general population, white judges comprise 85 percent of all sitting judges and 81 percent of all active judges on the 5th Circuit Court.
And despite making up a majority of the general population, female judges comprise only 23 percent of sitting judges and 25 percent of active judges on the 5th Circuit Court. Moreover, no women of color serve on the 5th Circuit bench, and none of the Court’s judges self-identify as LGBTQ, according to the CAP report.
There’s a reason why some Republicans ensure that certain cases are filed in Texas, Mississippi, or Louisiana. The U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals predictably rules in favor of the GOP.
The current abortion bans that threaten women’s lives are proof positive that partisanship in the courts is unacceptable and that judges and justices who have given their power to the states are aborting their authority and allowing certain states to wreak havoc on citizens.
Now we see the injection of religious beliefs into the body politic with disastrous consequences.
Last week, a Texas woman suing the Texas government testified before Congress. The woman spoke about a near-death experience and subsequent stillbirth of her fetus and, as a result of not receiving proper and timely abortion care, the possibility of being unable to bear any children.
How is it that these courts are ignoring the Constitution and individual rights? Why is the government assuming it has the right to overrule doctors regarding necessary medical care for women? Who wants a lawyer to perform open heart surgery on them? Is that ok?
Their actions beg the question: Is justice still obtainable? Or is it just a relic of constitutional aspirations that were never real?
This article originally published in the May 1, 2023 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.
