I was originally going to write this blog, with this title, about the foundations in which a friendship is built upon – about how you have to love and support one another, through the good times and bad. In since times, though, I’ve noticed another fragile foundation: America’s.
Ruth Bader Ginsburg was by no means an angel: she voted against rights of prisoners, called Colin Kaepernick “really dumb” for peacefully protesting on the football field, and struck down judgements that swayed in favor of indigenous people in America.
Despite her neoliberal ideology and… less than consistent viewpoints, she had one dying wish, and that was to not be replaced until a new presidential term. While that wish may sound a bit unconventional, it’s not a new concept.
In February 2016, republican justice Antonin Scalia died of natural causes. senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, took up authority, stating that any supreme court justice appointed (by democratic president Barack Obama) in Scalia’s place would have to wait until after the coming election. That seemed fair – it was the end of Obama’s 8-year term, and there seemingly wasn’t enough time to make a well thought out decision.
However, when justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died just a month and a half before the coming election, Mitch McConnell was more than happy to impose a heinously hypocritical view: that it is absolutely okay for president Trump to appoint a new (presumably republican) justice. Again, just a month and a half before the president could very well be voted out.
Because supreme court justices do not have term limits, their placements could mean much more harm for the country than a presidential candidacy. and in this case, it does.
Amy Coney Barrett is a threat to Roe v Wade, LGBTQ+ rights, and civil liberties in the united states. Mitch McConnell’s blatant hypocrisy will move America backwards. There is no use having more women in power if those very same women will take away the rights of their own.
For more information on how these cases are connected and why all of it matters, click here.
