June 23, 2020

Don’t Give Up on SCOTUS

Recent disappointments notwithstanding, voting for the Court in November is still key.

After a couple of disappointing rulings — and punting nearly a dozen Second Amendment cases — some are wondering if it’s time to give up on the Supreme Court. This would be a huge mistake. The very nature of the High Court, designed by the Founders to be largely independent of political trends, means it takes a lot of time to turn things around.

Let’s review the state of the Court. We have four justices who can reliably be counted on to vote for a leftist outcome, four who can reliably be considered textualist and/or originalist (Neil Gorsuch’s recent travesty notwithstanding), and Chief Justice Roberts in the middle (though Roberts is more conservative as a swing vote than was Anthony Kennedy). Roberts, though, as chief justice, also tends to be very defensive of the Supreme Court as an institution. That has, ironically, frequently led to ill-conceived rulings that ended up damaging the Court’s reputation rather than strengthening it.

The fact is, the Supreme Court is one of many institutions unmoored from the Founders’ intent. The Left has consistently used it as a combination of a super-legislature and a quasi-constitutional convention. Reversing that has taken time, largely because nominees like Sandra Day O'Connor, David Souter, and Anthony Kennedy didn’t turn out so well for the Republican presidents who nominated them. They ended up as swing votes at best. Souter, a George H.W. Bush appointee, was a horrendous mistake.

Worse yet, a lot of talented textualists have thought twice about seeking a seat on the Court ever since Senate Democrats began turning Republican confirmations into a blood sport. Robert Bork, of course, is the foremost example of a superb jurist being defeated by grotesque and utterly dishonest leftist attacks. Even those who managed to weather the storm have ended up vilified and slandered. Ask Brett Kavanaugh.

One thing President Donald Trump has delivered on is his commitment to appoint good judges. But just as leftists escalated their attacks against past nominees, they have done so with many of Trump’s. Today, many leftists are open about their desire to pack the Court, supposedly in response to “politicization” of the Court. Of course, such a successful packing — which could be perpetrated only by a Democrat president and Senate — could reverse decisions like Citizens United, NIFLA v. Becerra, and Heller.

When it comes down to it, the real problem America faces isn’t that the conservative legal movement has failed. The problem is that its job remains half-done. The fact is, we need more originalist and textualist judges and justices on the bench. Over the short term, two such justices could replace Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer, but to have a good chance of accomplishing that, President Trump must be reelected, and the Republicans need to hold the Senate.

Who We Are

The Patriot Post is a highly acclaimed weekday digest of news analysis, policy and opinion written from the heartland — as opposed to the MSM’s ubiquitous Beltway echo chambers — for grassroots leaders nationwide. More

What We Offer

On the Web

We provide solid conservative perspective on the most important issues, including analysis, opinion columns, headline summaries, memes, cartoons and much more.

Via Email

Choose our full-length Digest or our quick-reading Snapshot for a summary of important news. We also offer Cartoons & Memes on Monday and Alexander’s column on Wednesday.

Our Mission

The Patriot Post is steadfast in our mission to extend the endowment of Liberty to the next generation by advocating for individual rights and responsibilities, supporting the restoration of constitutional limits on government and the judiciary, and promoting free enterprise, national defense and traditional American values. We are a rock-solid conservative touchstone for the expanding ranks of grassroots Americans Patriots from all walks of life. Our mission and operation budgets are not financed by any political or special interest groups, and to protect our editorial integrity, we accept no advertising. We are sustained solely by you. Please support The Patriot Fund today!


The Patriot Post and Patriot Foundation Trust, in keeping with our Military Mission of Service to our uniformed service members and veterans, are proud to support and promote the National Medal of Honor Heritage Center, the Congressional Medal of Honor Society, both the Honoring the Sacrifice and Warrior Freedom Service Dogs aiding wounded veterans, the National Veterans Entrepreneurship Program, the Folds of Honor outreach, and Officer Christian Fellowship, the Air University Foundation, and Naval War College Foundation, and the Naval Aviation Museum Foundation. "Greater love has no one than this, to lay down one's life for his friends." (John 15:13)

★ PUBLIUS ★

“Our cause is noble; it is the cause of mankind!” —George Washington

Please join us in prayer for our nation — that righteous leaders would rise and prevail and we would be united as Americans. Pray also for the protection of our Military Patriots, Veterans, First Responders, and their families. Please lift up your Patriot team and our mission to support and defend our Republic's Founding Principle of Liberty, that the fires of freedom would be ignited in the hearts and minds of our countrymen.

The Patriot Post is protected speech, as enumerated in the First Amendment and enforced by the Second Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America, in accordance with the endowed and unalienable Rights of All Mankind.

Copyright © 2024 The Patriot Post. All Rights Reserved.

The Patriot Post does not support Internet Explorer. We recommend installing the latest version of Microsoft Edge, Mozilla Firefox, or Google Chrome.