Now that Justice Ginsburg has died, it is worth considering what her legacy will be. For one, she fought for women’s rights at a time when doing so was unfashionable. However, when it comes to American Democracy, the work Ginsburg did in the past was like applying a band-aid on the problem. Persistent inequalities in employment and other venues are proof that there is much to be done.
By refusing to step down during Obama’s Administration, Ginsburg effectively cut the jugular vein of American Democracy. She was asked repeatedly to step down so as to preserve the balance of the Supreme Court. A six-to-three Republican majority in the Supreme Court will undoubtedly result not only in the erosion of women’s rights, but in the revanchist demolition of all legal structures protecting equality; goodbye Roe v Wade.
Mitch McConnell will undoubtedly push a nominee regardless of the bald faced hypocrisy this would entail. It was McConnell who refused to give Merrick Garland a hearing when Obama wanted him to fill Scalia’s seat. McConnell claimed at the time that the will of the American people needed to be heard, and since an election was a mere 9 months away, it needed to be left up to the next president to appoint a judge.
The election is mere weeks away and McConnell now says that rushing a nomination is indeed following precisely the will of the people.
America splits almost evenly between Republican and Democratic tendencies. There is nothing about the will of the people being followed by stacking the court with Trumpistas.
Republicans deplore democracy. Republicans love power.