Why You Should Care About the United States Supreme Court

I don’t normally like to talk about politics outside of family, but there are some things that are too important to ignore. The death of a Supreme Court justice in not a trivial matter, and the effects of its outcome will be felt for generations to come. As I’m sure everyone knows, justices on the Supreme Court serve for a lifetime, sometimes literally. Justice Ginsburg was 87 at the time of her death, and every justice on the court today, with the exception of Trump’s picks, are at least 60 years old. While that may seem old, every justice, with the exception of Trump’s, have already served for at least 10 years, and Stephen Breyer is the only justice in his 80s—who was Clinton’s appointee. A Supreme Court justice is really only as good as the president and Senate that appoint and approve them. As we’ve already seen twice with Trump, the president picks who they want to fill a vacancy on the court, and the Senate votes on the appointed; all that’s needed is a simple majority to approve. We already know what kind of ghoul Mitch McConnell is, but sometimes it’s nice to be reassured; McConnell, in 2016, refused to let the Senate vote on President Obama’s Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland, claiming something about “not voting in an election year.” Of course, now that Trump is in office, McConnell has no reason to stonewall the nominee, and is trying to push Trump’s pick to a vote before the election. I don’t want to talk specifically about Trump’s nominee, because I don’t really know anything about her, but I can only assume how dangerous she is for this administration to try and push her confirmation through. From before day one, Trump has been screaming like a baboon trying to get rid of Obamacare—the Affordable Care Act—which, while not perfect, ensures that millions of Americans don’t die on the street after being denied heath coverage. Today’s conservatives have also spoken out about access to abortion—Rove v. Wade—and two justices have recently published a letter against the decision that led to the legalization of gay marriage. Even something as crucial as voting by mail, which millions and millions of people will (hopefully) do in the coming weeks, could be deemed unconstitutional with a conservative majority in the Supreme Court. I don’t mean to ramble on, and I don’t want to sound like “the end is nigh” guy that you see in disaster movies, but the Supreme Court is something that everyone one learns about when they’re children, but I think few people actually appreciate the weight their decisions carry when they grow up. To tell the truth, there’s not much we can do as private citizens; the power really lies with Republican senators that hopefully grow a backbone for a couple days. While we may be powerless in this instance, I think we owe it to ourselves, and future generations, to understand what is going on, think about the potential consequences, and use that knowledge to shape our decisions when we do vote.