EJ Dionne: Oligarchy Day at the Supreme Court.

[Nevilledog]

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EJ Dionne
@EJDionne
Oligarchy Day at the Supreme Court.
Today’s decisions mean: (1.) Manchin & Sinema have to protect #votingrights, not the filibuster; (2.) Congress has to act on big money’s political influence; (3.) Only Court enlargement will unpack the Court.
My column

Opinion | Oligarchy Day at the Supreme Court
Time for advocates of democracy and equal rights to stop pretending that the court’s conservative majority is impartial or nonpartisan.
washingtonpost.com
4:00 PM · Jul 1, 2021

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/07/01/oligarchy-day-supreme-court/

Thanks to the six right-wing justices on the Supreme Court, our country has just become less democratic. In twin rulings issued Thursday, they said that states can make it harder for people to vote and they made it easier for big donors to sway elections in secrecy.

You wonder if July 1, 2021, might come to be known as Oligarchy Day.

It should certainly be the day when advocates of democracy and equal rights rip off their blinders and stop pretending that the court’s conservative majority is in any way impartial or nonpartisan. The decisions in both cases could have been written by the Republican National Committee, attorneys for the Koch brothers and advocates of voter suppression.

In a much-anticipated case on voting rights, the court let stand Arizona laws requiring election officials to discard ballots cast in the wrong precincts and prohibiting campaign workers, community activists and others from collecting ballots.

The larger implication: The ruling in Brnovich, Attorney General of Arizona v. Democratic National Committee will weaken Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, the most important part of the law left standing after the court’s 2013 decision gutting Section 5 of the law. That part had required Justice Department pre-clearance of voting rules changes in places that had a history of racial discrimination.

*snip*

[Thomas Hurt]

1. Hell, let's kick this in high gear and set up another SC Bench same as the current number.

[appalachiablue]

2. On target EJ, as ever

[underpants]

3. Yep. It's was a big tragic day.

EJ got right on it.